In the interest of getting some actual (if boring) content on here, I had two recent minor "i am a successful homeowner" victories:

1) Snaked my own sewer pipe. I could tell it was time to clear the roots out of the main sewer line again, so I decided to rent an electric snake and do it myself. The snaking itself was super easy. Actually getting the 100+ lb. snake out of my trunk and into the basement (and back) -- not so much. Mental note: make sure there is another adult available to help next time.

2) Upstairs sink was draining slowly again, so on a semi-desperate whim, I used the toilet plunger on the sink. Holy moley, does that ever work! (Side holey moley: there is some amazingly gross crud hanging out in our sink trap!

Of course, I'm still barely keeping up with mowing and not killing the front landscaping. One minor victory at a time, people!