Rain Barrel
This past Christmas I received a rain barrel. I finally set it up a few weeks ago and just last week it rained. After only one relatively short downpour our 55 gallon rain barrel was full to the brim!
Here are Libby and I gathering water for the plants on our front porch:

We'll probably buy another one for the other side of the house. I doubt they will pay for themselves anytime soon, but it feels so nice to have a giant barrel of "free" water.
New Furniture
The $5 garage sale television stand that has proudly sat in our family room for almost 3 years has been retired. In it's place is this monstrously beautiful television mansion:

Naturally Libby was compelled to sit inside this new behemoth for about 10 minutes for a closer inspection.
Porch is Complete

We're still working on the landscaping, but you can see that Shannon has already set out some fall decorations in the corner. I'm going to be laying down some more mulch tomorrow, then Adirondack chairs in a week or so, and eventually a porch swing. Whoop-dee-doo!
Porch Almost Finished
The porch continues it's march toward completion...
Tuesday - The frame goes up:

Thursday - The roof is (mostly) completed:

Friday - Gutters are added, electrical boxes are positioned in ceiling:

Our Porch Continues to Progress
It's pretty cool how much has gotten done over the past couple days.
Thursday - bottom layer of concrete and base is laid down:

Friday - framing of porch and fill-in with rock/gravel:

Monday - brand new slab of concrete has been poured and smoothed:
