Less than a month.
In less than a month, I'll have a house. Huzzah! The toughest part is not going crazy trying to think of all the stuff I get to do. Sanding, priming, painting, building walls, tearing some down, stain the outside wood of the house and all that fun stuff. Oh yes, and I get to climb up on the roof to get rid of some buildup before it does damage. I can't wait! No, really!  This is the first time I can do more to a place other than paint white walls beige. Now, if I don't like the floor, I can save up and replace it! Ahhh, the freedom.

Week 1.
I'm in week one of trying to get a bit more healthy. Years ago I lost over 50 pounds, and at least 15 of those are back. So I've started to make sure I'm eating just healthy stuff, trying to remember to have breakfast, and of course, been working out. Why do I say of course, well, what else makes you lose weight without hurting yourself somehow? As long as I don't go overboard and hurt myself working out, then the weight will drop and I'll be quite healthy. Plus, I've started using weights so that when I go to do reno work on my house, I don't end up being unable to lift anything after a day of working.

Yes, but what color should it go?
The thinking has began and the question of the month is, what color will the various rooms go once they're ready? It's become apparent that while I enjoy dark colors and earthy shapes, my husband prefers very sleek, and modern styles in lighter colors. I've suggested that he simply stay enclosed in his office and do what he wants there, but he refused to hand over the rest of the house. (It was a long shot anyway.) We've begun to browse online and find photos of places/things we like. By collecting them, we can browse through each others selections and get a feel for the sorts of things we each like, and which things we both agree on.

Speaking of houses and marriage.
While chatting with Mzebonga one evening, before buying the house, I told him how much I liked this house (yep, the one we ended up buying!) but that I didn't want to push my husband into buying it by telling him just how much I liked it. Mzebonga laughed and told me marriage isn't supposed to work that way, and we both laughed. (And YES, Mzebonga was JOKING.) For the record though, I didn't push my husband because he's been working hard and when it comes to a big ticket item like a house, no one should be really pushed. I knew that if he was pushed, he'd not feel good about the whole thing and become quite stressed. A stressed spouse doesn't equal fun. Houses are for sale all year long, and if he decided to hold off, we'd find another one we liked at another time. It's tough sometimes to hold back on the excitement and desire to do something new, and in this case, it has worked out well. We both get to move and look forward to it, on our own terms. The plus side is that I'm getting the house I wanted all along.

Have I mentioned this yet?
I'm moving! Oh come on, I had to say it again. And don't think I'll be shutting up about it anytime soon. (If anything, I might end up with some horribly lame section off this so I can show off the work I've been doing.) For some reason, I find it amusing that the very first house we saw is the one we've bought. We went on at least 3 different occasions to go look at houses, and saw over 25. Through it all,  the first one was the one that stuck  out in my mind. There was another house that wasn't bad at all, but due to other requirements we have for the place (FIBER!) made it out of the area we needed to be in. So yes, I'm moving, have I mentioned that yet at all?

Reading & Writing.
What I'm hoping that I will get back to doing after I move (and when I'm not working on some project) is to spend more time reading and doing some writing. I've gotten away from these things over the last year and have been focusing on photography. While I still plan to do photography (just try and stop me), it'd be nice to get back to reading at least a book or two a month. (That's a pretty low goal so I figure I should be able to do that.) I'm still reading "Lonely Planets", but that's been going on for a least a month or two now. I need to FINISH it, and FINISH "Cryptonomicon" as well.