My Monday was a pretty easy one considering I have eight kids here. They spent most of the day like this…watching the workers outside my windows. We’re getting new cement.
I’m so happy. It’s been a long debate between Hubby and me trying to decide if we wanted to afford cement. The stuff is expensive. We finally both got on the same page and decided it was time. I was tired of the childcare moms coming in with nice shoes only to have them covered in mud. I was tired of yelling at the kids to stay out of the puddles. I was tired of Hubby dragging in mud.
Today they started out small. See the fence along side our house. I hide the kids’ ride on toys behind there. I requested that we cement that small area.
They did. This is now the “parking” area for the ride on toys.
We had them pour a new back step too. I’m loving this already.
Then we decided to bite the bullet and cement the driveway. Originally we were only going to do from the corner of the porch back to the garage but we decided to do this instead…..ALL OF IT!!
Tomorrow the cement trucks will be in and all of this will be poured. As that settles, they’ll be moving on and doing the sidewalks too.
One of the kids said, “I didn’t think your sidewalks were that bad”. Well…They aren’t good and once the new driveway get poured they will look that much worse. Besides, our cement guy is SO busy. We asked him to do this project last year at about this time and finally he’s getting here now. He’s a busy guy and works super hard and we love his work and his crew. He’s worth waiting for but we didn’t want to be stuck on a list again….so we did it all.
This means I should probably be a good girl for a little bit and not spend too much money….
I know I am going to love it and already don’t regret the decision at all. I know the childcare kids will love it too.
Sometimes our home improvements are cheap like the new microwave cabinet…sometimes they are big like thousands of dollars of cement. Thankfully once this is finished, most of the really expensive improvements will be finished.
OH how nice Jo!
yes it is expensive but think of it this way. You will never have to do it again and the kids and everybody will be a lot happier that is worth a lot.
Cement work is hard!! My husband has spent an entire week up in Ossian pouring cement on his churchs’ parking lot….and last week had a lot of hot days in it! Glad that’s done and now he can help me :) Ha ha
Love your back step! You’ll enjoy it!
Yep, it’s expensive, but well worth it. Good to have that done!
The child care kids will have a wonderful time on the drive way once it is finished and come winter with less mud coming into the house it will make one heck of a lot less work for you. I think it is a win win situation. Good plan.
It just looks lovely! It will be so much easier for you, too, when winter sets in.
Love the rounded cement by the back door. Cement with personality, not just character. Had to tell you I picked up lunch today in a trendy part of town, antiques and such. I saw a cabinet much like what you just reworked, just not nearly as nice, and painted royal blue. The price tag?? $1250.00!! Hope you feel great about the work you do.
That looks great. I have been told it is cheaper to do a bigger job than a smaller job since the cement has to be mixed in big batches. Not sure if it is true. I need to do my driveway too. Just saving up the money.
Looks nice, happy for you. Drive way looks like a big job. Surprised that you are doing the sidewalk, and responsible, but then it needs it. Here side walks are city property and maintenance, and area between sidewalk and curb.
Good for you jo! You will appreciate all the benefits of the concrete driveway. And yes the cost has increased over the years. 20 years ago it was very affordable, not so much now.
It is the gift you give yourselves, enjoy it. The kids will love riding on all that cement and you will be much happier with less mud coming into the house.
Had to laugh at the photo of the childcare kiddos watching the concrete work! About 10 years ago, we had the driveway redone in the house we were living in. I had two elderly neighbors come down and watch my driveway being poured! They couldn’t see well enough from their yards! Apparently watching concrete work being done is a lot more interesting than I thought!
What a great investment, Jo! I can think of few things that will be better for curb appeal than what you are doing with the concrete. I sure wish we could do the same, but we have too much drive way…would have to win the lottery or discover a rich uncle!
Good decision!