sabbatical

Yikes, it's been too long. I apologize for my (unplanned) blog sabbatical. I'm pretty sure I'm not using that term correctly, though. I think the word "absence" would do just fine, but it just didn't sound fancy enough. So here I am-- fancy and inappropriate. Like a brothel....hahaha...I just crack myself up sometimes.

Life Update: We're still buying a house. It's looking more and more like it might actually happen and we might live through it all. We've been much happier since changing banks and if things keep falling into place, we should be homeowners by May 23 (if not earlier)! Now we've moved on to the more serious considerations of things like appliances (we need to buy a fridge, stove/oven, washer, dryer, and maybe water heater), flooring (three rooms are nothing but a concrete slab), blinds for a million windows, lots o' paint, a few ceiling fans and light fixtures, a replacement toilet seat...and the list goes on. [side note: anyone else as disgusted by squishy toilet seats as I am?? I mean, seriously? GROSS. The master bath at the future house has one of these delightful thrones and I am oh-so-happy that it is broken and in legitimate need of replacing. If there's someone out there reading this who is a huge fan of those, PLEASE explain to me the appeal!!] [side note #2: I have a theory that the same people who like squishy toilet seats are also fans of waterbeds. I'm pretty sure those two passions correlate.] Umm...where was I? Ah, yes, the freakin loads of cash we're going to be dropping on Lowe's soon. If ever you had a desire to purchase stock in home improvement stores, now would be the time, friends. Their bottom lines are going to be looking real good in a few weeks, thanks to us!

A current debate in our heads is whether to do hard floors (laminate) in the bedrooms. Here's the deal. The past owners ripped out the carpet in the living room, master bedroom, and one guest room. (The other guest room still has carpet and it's in great shape) So we've got to put something down in 3 rooms. Originally I'd thought we'd do laminate in just the living room and do some more carpet in the 2 bedrooms. However, after a trip to some friends' house (who have the same flooring we're probably going to get) and hearing their opinions about having it in all the bedrooms (which they do), now I'm leaning towards wanting to do it in all the rooms (except the one that already has carpet...not touching that). Thoughts? Opinions? Are you a fan of non-carpety bedrooms? Is it the most un-cuddly thing ever? Or does the high sanitary-ness factor outweigh the low-cuddliness factor. These are all things to consider. Oh, plus the laminate is MUCH cheaper than carpet. And lasts longer. And cannot be destroyed by Lola traipsing through with Georgia red clay on her paws.

These are the things I ponder. All. Day. Long.

In other news, we had a wonderful weekend with friends and we're looking forward to another one this weekend as the Goldens come to stay with us! And then next weekend we're going to Greenville to visit with all my old high school friends as we celebrate Liz's baby and the Boxes' upcoming move to Iowa! (And could I have put any more links in that paragraph??) So we have an exciting few weeks coming up...and somewhere in the midst of it all I must make life-altering decisions about ceiling fan hardware, guest bedroom decorations, and what the heck to do with the future-nursery (let it sit empty until such a time comes that we need it? put something in there that I know we will ultimately have to find another home for? Stick some lawn chairs in there and call it a day? Ha).

And Matt just called from the grocery store, wanting to know my opinions on Brownie Mudslide Icecream. These are the kinds of decisions I feel competent to make!!

PS. Don't forget to leave a comment with your opinion on hard floors in the bedrooms! Whoever leaves the most convincing comment will win a free night in our dee-lux guest room!! Or the other (empty) room, whatever you prefer.