From Blaze to Glory

From what I understand the typical thing that a woman does after a major break up or divorce is change her hair. I sort of like mine, so that was not something I wanted to do, but I did need to make some changes.
Considering I had the house and everything in it, typically not a bad thing, but how do you separate yourself from all of the memories that you have over the past 13 years in that home and start over? You change things. I can’t do any renovations or afford to change our furniture, so I thought I would start with a few things I could do.

First on my list was the front door. I have always thought that a nice home has a nice front door. I love the Alder wood doors, but out of my budget… so I did what I could. I painted it red. It changed it enough to make me happy.

Then I was onto the trees in my yard. First to go was the cherry tree, I hate cherries and I think that it is an ugly tree, it belongs in an orchard. So I had it removed.
Next was the Hawthorne tree out front, it needed to me pruned. When the landscaper I hired was done it looked about half the size and like it had been scalped. But it needed it, so I can’t complain.

The next tree to tackle was a very large Autumn Blaze Maple that was my favorite tree for years. We planted it the year we moved in. I had an arborist check it a few years ago when the leaves were turning yellow in the spring. They were not sure what was wrong, but this same type of tree was having issues all over the valley. So it had to go. Now was the time.

Before and after the big yellow tree was removed. We needed a new tree and a big one, well as big as I could afford to replace it. The new one is an October Glory, it looks little compared to what I took out, but I swear it was huge at the nursery.
That should be enough changes outside for this year.
Now I think I will move inside and make a few changes, first will be the baby’s room, correction, The Boy’s Room. Then my room, it could use a paint color and change of bedding. After that… I am saving up to change the Kitchen! (Dreaming BIG!)
Sometimes you can’t avoid change, but when it is a change for the better and on your terms, it is actually fun!