The money pit

Ok, the title is a little harsh. My house is NOT a money pit. But, I will be spending a lot in the next couple months on some repair projects. I took the day off of work Friday to have the Sears repairmen come out for my yearly maintenance on the washer/dryer, frig, and dish washer. I bought the 5yr warranty when I got the appliances and that includes free maintentance. So, hell yeah I'm going to use it! I figured that since I'd be home anyways, it was a good day to have people come out to give me quotes on new siding. I got four different quotes. One for vinyl (which I really don't like the look of), two for 'hardi-plank' which is some expensive shit, and one for just a patch job - taking off the sections that are warped and replacing it with new siding that matches. The patch job guy just painted my parent's house and did a really good job. I'm pretty sure I'm going to do the patch job because most of the siding is still in really good shape. It's just a couple of sections that need to be repaired. Maybe in 10 years I'll have it all redone, but I don't think I need that just yet. They are also going to paint the whole house, so I'm trying to decide what colors I want. Right now it's cream with dark brick red trim. I kinda like it - it looks good with the rock face. But, it would be kinda boring just to go with exactly the same thing.
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The backyard needs a new fence too, but I was going to wait a couple months for that. Well, this morning my neighbor on the right comes over and says she's redoing her fence and already got a quote. She wanted to know if I could pay for half of the side we share. Well, of course! And since she's already going to get hers done, I'm gonna call the guy on Monday and see how much more it'll be for the rest of my fence. I know the people on the left will chip in, but she and I both don't know the neighbors behind us, so that's going to be awkward. 'Hey, I'm putting in a new fence....which we share part of....can you pay for half of your part? Please?' Hopefully they are nice people and will chip in. But, really I can't make them. It's just all part of being a good neighbor.