Out with the old...in with the new

There have been a couple of recent outdoor changes at the Sharp house. One was planned, the other was not. One cost a little bit, the other, a lot! One was frivolous, the other, a necessity.

This was our mailbox. It must be original to the house, which means it was likely close to my age. The door wouldn't shut all the way. The wood was splintered, cracked and fading. It was sad.

So my very talented father came to the rescue and built us this nice new post. It probably took him about 5 minutes. He's good like that. We picked out a new box. We weren't planning on getting one this large but I liked the decorative touch and it closes like it's a Cadillac. Then we (Brad) stained it, set the post and mounted the box. We had bought numbers for it but when it was time to put those on we realized one of them was broken. Brad actually went and got another one today and put it on the post but I had already taken this picture. I hope to plant some flowers around the bottom, but it's hot outside and I'm 6 months pregnant, so don't count on that happening too soon. I think it's a vast improvement from the original, though!

After we had the mailbox stuff together but before it was in the ground, life decided to throw us a curveball and let our air conditioner die. I came home one Thursday afternoon to an unusually warm house. The air was blowing and it wasn't hot but it definitely wasn't cold. The first thing I checked was the thermostat to make sure what I was feeling was not just the hormones of pregnancy. Nope, it wasn't the baby's fault. It really was warm.

I checked the breaker box and the AC breaker was flipped. I flipped it back and tried to get the air to come on but it didn't. I went outside to check the unit and nothing was happening. We had our inside unit replaced nearly 3 years ago and they said the outside unit was fine and still had some life in it. That life had come to an end (sniff). I came back inside and Will was standing by the hall door looking stressed. He pointed down the hall and made his 'I need something' noise which sounds something like 'eh eh'. He looked like it was very important/urgent. I followed him not knowing what I was about to find. This is what he was up to while I was outside: cans in the can! I really need to bug Brad more to install the toilet lid lock.

Boy was I glad he didn't try to flush! After I called my husband, which I'm sure just made his day, I did what any girl in my situation would do: I called my father and my brother to come fix it! Then I called my in-laws and asked if we could bunk with them. Unfortunately there was nothing my heroes could do. It was July, I'm pregnant, and we live in Mississippi. We needed a new system. We needed a professional.

The guys came out Saturday morning and ripped out our old system (which is pictured in the back of the truck). I had planned to go out of town with my mom so my sweet dad came and stayed in the warm house while the AC guys finished up.

When I got back on Sunday I had a nice new Trane outside and some cool temperatures waiting for me inside. We definitely wouldn't have chosen to spend money on a new AC with a new baby coming, but it is nice to know that we should have nearly a decade of cool temps in this house.