This weekend I spent hours pouring over wallpaper samples and paint chips. I stopped at a flooring place. At 215, I am going fully armed today to my future home with all samples in hand. I spent the weekend, putting the different samples on the pics of our house in the graphics program. We priced pella windows at Lowes and somehow I have a hard time justifying $1000 in labor for our back slider, though I'm sure Pella thinks it's justified. Their work is warrantied, but somehow, if I pay a handy neighbor guy in a small town, if it isn't right, I can call him and he'll come fix it til it is, too. For the front window on the house, I am willing to pay Pella. That's the wind side of the house and that has to be right and the workmanship guaranteed and the windows guaranteed, etc. If I think there are distinct differences between having a workman do the work and Pella doing the work between the two items, I will probably then ask Pella to come do the rest, but I'm doubting there will be that much of a significant difference.

After all of this mumbling about a new house, I suppose you'd like to see pictures, huh? That doesn't have all of them, but I'll try to remember to take more today between samples and paint chips. For my final project in the learning disabilities class, I have to do something from a book without any other help, so if escrow closes on time, I'm going to put in a terraced garden/retaining wall in the front yard. I already know how to do the gardening part, but the terracing is new. I have an idea about how to design it and everything. Should be fun. It'll be entertaining if nothing else.

I gotta go make Bear a lunch. Mike told me this morning after I made him up tacos to take that his iron stomach had been less than iron last night, so he may be having F-U-N fun today.