The results are in...

Well, my flooring saga will soon wrap up because we quickly came to a decision. I went to my favorite paint and flooring store and got all kinds of help, came home with a mittful of samples, and Matt quickly pointed out the one he liked best. And of course, it really was the best match. And it's quite consistent with the advice I received from everyone...a little blend of light and dark. And it's very soft and fluffy, so three cheers for that!

So here it is...



The carpet dude is coming this afternoon to measure our room and give me a quote (which I already quickly calculated and have a good idea how much it'll cost - about a third of what we would've paid to have the floor refinished, but I don't want any huge surprises). I'm quite excited.

Now for some randomness...

Matt "gave" me some money for my birthday. It's funny when your spouse gives you money, because, well, it's all from the same pot anyway. But every few months you have one of those random extra paychecks because of how the pay cycles fall. And the super-cool thing about those paychecks is they don't have your benefits deducted from them. We always do something very practical with the extra paycheck...make a huge payment on the car, pay for a repair, allot it for a certain savings account, etc. Well, for my birthday, Matt gave me my extra paycheck to do whatever I wanted! Because whenever I get, like, a Title 9 catalog, I'm always like, "I wish I just had a thousand dollars so I could buy it ALL!!" But then when I have the money, I'm like, NO!!! I don't want to spend it all!! So I did buy a few things I had been eyeballing for a while but would never just up and spend our money on them...some clothes for summer, some makeup I really wanted to order from Arbonne, sent some flowers to a friend, etc. Then I decided just to save the rest for a very fun, very rainy day.

And then I decided on something better.

I want a dishwasher.

One that actually works and does not only get used as a glorified drying rack.

We looked at dishwashers the other weekend but decided, crud, we'll just wait because we're already spending money on the flooring. And then it occurred to me: I have more than enough left over to buy a GREAT dishwasher!!! We have a dishwasher, but it's terrible. It looks nice and that's IT. I wash everything by hand and stack it to dry in the dishwasher. I would LOOOOOVE to just stack it in the dishwasher and actually have it WASH!!! So we're getting a great Whirlpool super-fine dishwasher and it'll come in a few weeks and then my life will change forever.
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I love these spring mornings. I love the weather finally getting warm(er than it was three months ago) and looking out the window and seeing COLORS. I love getting up early, grabbing a cup of tea, flipping on Moody radio (I know, way dorky but it's my fave), and cleaning the house. Today is a glorious day and the highlight so far has been hanging my laundry out on the line. Clearly, I'm quite easy to please. So is Molly.


(Funky picture because it was taken through a window screen.)

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My cousin Kelly is getting married tomorrow!!!!!!! So we have a wonderful rehearsal dinner tonight at my aunt and uncle's house (sweet cookout, love those) - that awesome log house where we had Christmas, one of my favorite places in the WORLD - and we're very much looking forward to boogying tomorrow evening at the reception.

My parents are staying with us over the weekend for the wedding. I always feel so self-conscious because our house is so teeny. I'd love, love, love to offer a guest room to more than one person, but for right now that's all I can offer - a very nice bed for one, and the other has to sleep on the couch. My mom doesn't mind sleeping on the couch at all, so it works out well. Still, it's a discontentment that I wrestle with. But it's what we've got for now, so it'll have to do. But I really do love having people stay (those who don't mind a bit of a cramped lifestyle). I try to be all Martha Stewart and put out all those thingies that make the stay comfortable and inviting. Like towels in a cute basket.


And toiletries that you may have forgotten. Or would rather use than the old stuff you brought.


I just have a LOT of little thingies because whenever we go on vacation and stay in one of our timeshare places, we get a whole bag load of thingies.

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Speaking of Martha Stewart, I was trying to channel her as I was wrapping my cousin's wedding present. I had this image in my mind and just KNEW it would look fabulous, creative, and trendy.

But it doesn't.

I wrapped it, a flurry of wrapping paper, ribbon, tissue, and pre-made bows. As it took shape, I knew this was not going well.

When I finished, I stepped back and cracked up. It looks like a wrecked wedding cake.

But I'm not doing it over again because it's too funny NOT to bring to the wedding. I mean, if you're going to crash, crash hard and do it in front of everyone, right???


Right.