Busy bee

Work became a lot harder this month.  I was given my own region and told to handle it.  I'm trying to do as much as I can on my own because the two people who were taking care of it have their own regions to handle.  I'm not drowning yet but I feel like things are piling up and there just aren't enough hours in the day.  I would feel a lot better about this if I was eligible for overtime, but I'm salaried - a fact I did not know when I accepted this job.  Dang it.

I'm also trying to make improvements on the house.  I have quotes for painting, gutter replacement and shrub removal.  Of the three, painting is the most immediate need.  My neighbor offered to loan me his power washer and samples of the paint he used on their side.  Maybe I should take him up on that.  I'm scared of heights, though, and there are portions of my house that stand over 2 stories high.  Still, I'm not sure I can cough up the $3,000 the painter wants for painting, repairing the fascia, and bracing, washing & sealing the deck.  He also wants to paint my gutters and garage door, which I'm not sure I agree with.

The lawn is another ongoing project.  I think I did it all wrong this spring.  I put out TurfBuilder 3 weeks ago.  The label said not to put it down when you expect rain within 24 hours.  I didn't expect rain but I should have checked the weather report because it rained overnight and continued raining for 3 or 4 days.  Oh, well.  As long as the weather was going to be rainy I decided to put out grass seed.  Again, I should have checked the weather report.  I've been outside watering the seed almost every day for 2 weeks.  It has rained once since I put the seed down.  Frak!  Should've gone for the TurfBuilder again!  There's a good chance my seed isn't going to germinate because apparently you're supposed to wait 4 weeks after putting down that stuff.  I didn't see any of that on the label.  The dandelions are thriving, maybe the grass seed will pull through.