Addicted to Pinterest

It’s almost better than reading books and much more instantly gratifying:  Pinterest.  I love this site.  It’s the new method of flipping through magazines for ideas and putting them all in one place:  quotes, decor, motivation, design ideas, garden ideas, etc.  Now if I could only get OFF pinterest and start working on my own abode…I’m still planning, okay?! This is everything I love all mixed in one.

Headed Home!

We’re headed to Oklahoma – and we’re calling it HOME. That’s a major milestone. We never did call Texas “home” though we loved the people there. It just never felt like home. I can’t wait to see my hubby again and the next 4 days until we close on our new home are going to seemingly be the longest of my life, I am sure. I hope to have some great home pics to share with you relatively soon (we have lots of furniture buying to do to replace what we sold in Houston). In the meantime, check out these great house pictures I’ve found at www.houzz.com. Lovely site for browsing the night away — much more fun than television, anyway.

Last Day of School

I’m extremely sad today. My boys are growing up. No more kindergartner for 2 years (and then I’ll REALLY cry!). Not to mention that my kids are about to wreak havoc on my life for the next 3 months! I absolutely love having them home but — let’s be honest — I’m not going to enjoy cleaning even MORE than I already am for showings, etc. I think we’ll be playing outside. A lot. I think I might pull out some summer plans that we made last year that we never got around to doing for one reason or another. The kids had some great ideas:

– talent show
– visiting an old folks’ home
– plant a garden (we’ve put off too long thinking we’re moving)
– surprise a family with cookies
– study birds
– visit a farmer’s market
– make homemade syrup night (elderberries, anyone?)
– pumpkin patch
– art night at a museum
– bike night
– rolfson track & field
– numbers night (I don’t even remember what this is!!!)
– tent in the backyard
– camping
– dance night
– cooking night
– campfire night
– no tv week
– reading night (okay, so we practically do this one every night)

Not a bad list to start, right? I’m going to aim low – one special thing a week. I can handle that!

Say Hello to Fisher & Paykel – Our New Washer!

Fewer moving parts. Top loading high efficiency. GREAT price. This machine usually sells for around $900 but Don and I put in a marathon clearance shopping trip to Lowes and Nebraska Furniture Mart last night. It was next to a brand new Whirlpool Duet high efficiency front loader in a discontinued color of shimmery brown (normally about $1,000 but for sale at $550). The Fisher & Paykel was marked down because it had been returned. The Whirlpool was new but the color was discontinued. After talking to the service people there, we had actually decided to NOT get a high efficiency machine until after we moved because they can be difficult to move and expensive to fix. We were looking for something really cheap to get us through then after we moved, I could use the machine to felt and we would replace it with a new high efficiency set in Houston. Well, the price of this thing convinced us. Fisher & Paykel warranty it for TWO years (Whirlpool only offers one year) and then we splurged for the 4 year Lowe’s plan that starts AFTER the 2 years are up – so our washer is covered for 6 years. We had a 10% coupon, too, so this is how the deal went down: $324 washer plus $59 delivery fee (we wanted them to take away our old one) plus $26.81 tax = $409.81 for TOTAL washer, delivery, takeaway. Add the other $99 for the policy and we spent just a bit over $500 for our new high efficiency washer. I’m so excited to have a top loader because a) I don’t have to bend and b) I don’t have to buy a podium/stand and c) they are much sturdier and more reliable than the front loaders and d) better for felting. What convinced us is that we saw the same exact machine at NFM for $900 that very night. It was a difficult choice. The shimmery brown Whirlpool was pretty but it wouldn’t match my already white, working-perfectly dryer. So that sealed the deal. I can’t wait to try out all of its features. You can check out the machine and capabilities here and here – then you will KNOW we got a smokin’ deal.

Gabe’s ’08 Birthday List

I meant to post this in March but just ran across it today. Gabe is so sweet. He was turning 7 when he wrote this note. I should be glad that HOME even made the list with competition such as Noah’s Ark, Mahoney Park and Chuck-E-Cheese. I do believe we took him up on the HOME option as well. The year before he was spoiled with an all-class-and-neighborhood blow up event so he should be good for a decade, right?