Power Washing Palooza!

Oh my goodness, PEEPS. Where did the past week go? I think it just vanished (poof!) into thin air! 

Though, I'm grateful to say that most of the week has been solid and manageable; just busy. Busy, busy, busy!

Thankfully, as the week was busy vanishing into thin air, at least I was living off the high of my birthday (on the 30th) and the holiday weekend. It was such a lovely, relaxed, low-key couple of days, which was pretty much all the present a girl could ask for (although, I also got some fantastic bday gifts that I'll hopefully have time to share later!).

And on that note...I have so many catch-up posts to tackle. :(

Mostly because I'm still, still battling with my angst over the loss of my beloved posting app. I don't think I realized just how fine-tuned my posting habits were (always at night, with a lot of muscle memory to the navigation of the app and the editing of pictures). And those habits have basically gone up in smoke, so...

Give me a bit of grace (I'm trying to give myself some grace) as I lean in to my new (begrudging) normal!

And in the meantime, please allow me to entertain you with my recent adventures in...

Power washing!

That’s right. No need to adjust your electronic device. I typed power washing.

Before I get into the whole backstory of it all, please examine Exhibit A, below: The evidence of before and after power washing!

That’s not a shadow in the pic. That’s the demarcation line between clean and DIRTY.

I mean…the horror! (Perfectly timed for the launch of spooky season, I suppose, ha.).

Honestly, I’m not sure what sparked this whole insane-in-the-membrane project beyond the general sense of loathing I've long felt for our driveway. Pretty much every single time I look at it or step on it (which amounts to a whole lotta loathing!).

I’ve always been vaguely aware that the pebbled style of the driveway isn’t necessarily my favorite and lends itself to dirt upon dirt (upon years of caked dirt!) settling between the pebbles. But, I didn’t spend a whole lot of time thinking about a solution—until recently.

I got it in my mind that it would be a super-fantastic-amazing idea to tackle the power washing myself (I've had a power washer for a couple of years that has helped with porch cleaning). We've had vendors come to the house offering estimates for professional services, even in the past year, but I wanted to pull up my Big Girl Panties and do it for FREE. Just to try to get things looking a bit lovelier.

Of course, I had no idea when I launched this project (and unearthed the first before/after horror of just how DIRTY the driveway was) that it was going to take hours upon hours. UPON HOURS! I mean, not only is it sort of a slow and steady, painstaking process, but if you've ever been to our casa, you know that we have a whole lot of driveway square footage!

All that said...it's insanely SATISFYING. Something about uncovering the lighter, brighter color is just so rewarding and cathartic (or, maybe I've finally lost all my marbles). 

Even on my birthday weekend, I spent hours upon hours out there, happily listening to an audio book as I worked away.

It’s tedious, but sooooo happy, happy, joy, joy. I mean, just LOOK at some of these work-in-progress pics! The difference is astounding. 

Of course, it wasn't until after I just randomly selected the first section to cleanse that I realized I needed to better scope out the lay of the land (quite literally), so that the dirty wasn't traveling downhill and mucking up some freshly cleaned sections, but...you live and you learn, right?

Other things I've learned:

It would be sooooo helpful if I had not one, but, two power washers! Then I could put one of my adorable spawn to use! Little Man was thrilled to come out and test things out for himself, one night. It's definitely like operating a toy--or a high powered paint brush, ha.

For now, since I don't really want to invest any money into the project (or it will defeat my FREE, hard work!), I'll have to continue to truck away, alone, but it was nice to see him mildly excited, in case I attempt this again in the future and decide to buy a duplicate device.

Another difficult bit of learning???

Don't forget to put sunscreen on your FEET. Ouch!

Talk about some unfortunate tan lines. :(

In total, I've spent more than 20 hours (yikes!) and I'm just over halfway done. If you're like me and you want to cry about that, I think that's perfectly fine, ha. I've got about six hours left before I complete this book series I've been listening to, and then I might get even more angsty over the process.

But, for now: onward and upward!

I can't wait to see how it all looks and feels when it's done.

Unfortunately, without the before/after vibe of some of the clean sections next to some of the dirty sections, I think it will be hard to appreciate all the hard work, but...I'll KNOW what was underneath, and all I did to unearth the beauty!

Okay, peeps. Wish me luck with the ongoing process! 

And also wish me luck with more catch-up posts, soon! (I hope!)

Until then: HAPPY SATURDAY!

Over and out.