I think it's been over 15 years.

Yesterday I did something I used to do regularly as a teen, but can't recall doing in over 15 years.  I mowed a lawn.  It was as boring as I remember it being; walking back and forth for an hour in the sun.  We bought a mower for our place, and decided to go electric, even though it cost a bit more.  Not having to deal with gas, or oil, or most importantly, the stupid pull start, made me decide to give it a shot.  We'll see how it all turns out.  The mower isn't as quiet as you might think, though it is much quieter than a gas mower.  It basically sounds like a giant fan, which is essentially what it is.  It was nice to finally be able to start on the yard after finishing things up in side.  I also put a couple of gallons of Round-Up on the weeds proliferating along the edges of the lawn, within the cracks on the driveway, and around the bases of the trees.  The yard is going to be a long, slow, multi-year process to get it to where we have something that we like looking at and enjoy being out in.

Thus far, here is the exciting list of what we have done inside the house:

Painted most of the rooms.
Changed out the electrical sockets, which took forever due to trying to figure out the kitchen wiring for GFCI outlets.  Dad was a huge help here.
Changed out the light switches
Changed out the vent covers
Sealed the shower and sink tiles
Grouted the tub fixtures
Changed the kitchen sink faucet
Changed the door locks
Added a deadbolt
Killed some ants
Laid shelf paper in kitchen and bath cabinets

Aside from painting, not much of it has had much visual impact.  Here are some photos of the painting:

The Living Room

The Dining Room:  The striping was done by painting the same grey color in semi-gloss stripes over a grey matte base.

Collyn's Office (corner bedroom)

Guest Bedroom (front bedroom): Onle the one wall is green.  The rest is white.

Master Bedroom (Back bedroom):  We left two walls the brown color, and painted the other two the same blue as the living room.  It looks quite nice with the two tone.

 Looking out the master bedroom across the hallway.  All the walls in the house used to be the brown color of the hallway.  It's now much more colorful and each room is different.

 We didn't take any picture of the basement, but it looks hugely different with the paint work we did.