Are you sick of my home-related blog posts yet?

Well, too bad. It's the biggest thing we've got going on right now!

I really love this house. When we first got to walk through it after the sellers moved out, it was pretty dirty. They left the place without even a basic cleaning run-through. I loved it still, but was down. Fingerprints on the walls, little tracks of mud on the tile, soap residue in the glass shower. (Seriously, people, haven't you heard of a squeegee?!?!) After our realtor had a battalion of cleaners run through it, it returned to being the home that I remembered. After Michael and I spent a weekend painting while Mom ran around the house with Magic Erasers, it really started to take shape and look like a brand new home again. I walked through the house and our furniture started popping up in my mind. And so did our future.

There against that wall would be our couch, where we'd snuggle while watching episodes of Grey's Anatomy. Over there in the corner is where our Christmas tree will go. The bed will be positioned just-so in the extra bedroom for our overnight guests. There's the laundry room, from which Michael will emerge, exasperated, crying, "Julie! You forgot your clothes in the washing machine again! How long have they been sitting in there! Two days?!"

This being said, I do have quite a list of To-Do's. After I read off my list of projects Michael laughed somewhat nervously and muttered, "Sounds like a five year plan." I'm torn here. There are a few 'must' things that we have to do, like install a peep hole. Then there are a lot of things that I'd like to do for my own aesthetic tastes that might make living a little more pleasant. (Oh, plantation shutters, how I covet thee.) Then there are huge projects that Michael and I have discussed, like getting rid of most of the carpet (except bedrooms) and installing tile throughout. But how much money do we really want to put into this place? It's not our forever home, but we do certainly plan on living here for at least five years. Then there's the issue of cost of projects versus the factor of increasing the property value.

Wow, home ownership is a lot of work! ...or I guess I should say, "Thinking about home ownership is a lot of work!" I need a latte, stat!