Let's call some contractors.

I just spent the better part of the last hour making phone calls to get estimates for:

• Laying sod in our backyard (the dogs have made a mockery of every attempt to seed the growing bare patches over the past two years.) The bare patch is in the foreground and runs up through the center of the green area. It's all wood chips to the right, and the edges at the top of the picture and left side will be native Illinois flowers and plants.
  
• Re-paving our driveway. I could probably get away with sealcoating most of it, but the apron right by the street is totally cratered. It's a mess, and it gets harder and harder to pull into or out of the driveway. This falls into the category of things that, if not taken care of, will result in having to spend money on other things. Like front-end repair, and new car suspensions.
  
• Repairing or replacing our garage door (both springs busted, leaving the door damn near impossible to lift open.) We may run electric to the garage and install an opener.
  
• Tearing off our old front porch and building a new one. We haven't decided finally yet on whether we want a simple wooden porch, or one made of brick.

I got no idea how much any of this stuff is going to cost, SO...I have no idea how much of this stuff we'll actually be able to get done. Our goal is to reduce the overall white-trashy, rundown feeling without spending too much money. The porch is really the one thing that HAS to be done. I've been staring at the lopsided slab for way too many years now.

I need a drink.