Spring and Summer plans

I am coming up on the one year mark in my lovely home. Right around a year ago, I had some pretty crappy things happen while I was living in Maryland, and an old friend from high school who was relocating asked if I'd like to rent her house and move back "home" to Pennsylvania. At first, the idea of moving back "home" seemed burdensome, but I've realized in these last eleven months that it was the best thing I ever could have done for myself and my peace of mind. People often point out how lucky I am - an amazing deal on rent, a beautiful home, a nice little relaxing piece of land nestled out in the country. I realize every single day how lucky I am to have come back to this place, and to have been given an opportunity to live here.

With the warmer months coming up, I've been brainstorming a list of things to work on around the house and the yard. I want this place to feel like home for as long as possible - how fitting that my blog has been called "feels like home" for years, and now I'm at a point that it really does feel like I'm home.

So far, plans for the Spring/Summer include:

• Clean out the fire pit. We used it last year and there's some things in it that didn't burn down. I need to grab a good shovel and just clean it out.
• Get all of the leaves out of the yard. I made a huge dent in it before it started snowing in the fall, but there's still a lot left.
• Plant grass seed to fill in a few bare spots and to make the yard more full.
• Power wash the deck.
• Organize the shed.
• Organize the basement.
• Plant some sort of easy-to-grow flowers along the sides of the walkway. There are already flower beds there - they just need some love, and some kind of flowers that even I can't kill.
• Talk friends into giving me flower bulbs from their homes so that I can plant around a tree in the front yard that already has a cute little rock wall around it.
• Turn part of the yard into a lovely place for wildlife to visit. Add bird feeders for different types of birds. Plant flowers that birds and butterflies will come check out. Put up a squirrel feeder or two. Find a pretty bird bath.
• Plant some sort of flowering bushes or shrubs right in front of the deck.

I have absolutely no gardening experience. I don't think I've ever grown anything in my life, actually. Please send help, as I attempt to become a master gardener over the course of one summer.