One Mans Trash

First of all, thank you for all the kind birthday wishes. You all were so kind to guess a lower age than you probably actually thought. I just celebrated my big 3-0. I'm so glad to finally be in my 30's. I'm tired of the looks I would get when people learned I had 4 kids and was still in my 20's. I will admit though, I didn't like my son asking me why I had little scratches (wrinkles) under my eyes this morning.

Okay, I've mentioned that I've had some big projects going on around our house, well they are all outside. Basically we finally put in a sprinkling system, laid sod and planted flowers. We haven't had a front lawn for the last two years. We are those neighbors everyone hates. It's been a lot of hard work. We finally got to a point were we enjoying a nice yard and decided the finishing touch would be a playhouse for the kids.

After spending way to much time looking, I realized what I wanted wasn't in our price range. Thats when I had the idea to ask my dad to custom build it for us. I should have known better, my dad always goes over the top.

Instead of buying all his supplies at the store, he visited all the neighborhoods having their yearly garbage pickup. Soon our yard was covered in this,

and this,

and he even filled the garage too.

He has the ability to see new things in others trash. I think if it were anyone else I would be scared. I asked for a five foot playhouse with a sandbox under it. I wanted a slide and a simple railing around the sides.

Instead he built this. It's got three levels. The sandbox on the bottom, a middle inclosed level, and a top level that will be half inclosed and half a balcony.

My kids are loving the sandbox.

Here is my favorite part. He's designed it to be a castle. He took these old fence boards and cut them down to look like bricks.

Don't you love the look.

Now here is the sad part. Our neighbors have a hard time minding there own business and like to call the city for EVERYTHING. We were red flagged today and can't work on it anymore until we get proper approval. Who knew you had to get a permit for a treehouse. I'm so mad right now.

It will be weeks before we hear back from the city and we are praying they don't make us take it down. We didn't break any codes, our neighborhood is just like that. Wish us luck, I was so excited to show you a finished product.