So I've been on vacation for the last few days, enjoying time with Artemis and her mama. I've arranged the finances for the house purchase, so that's a relief. We spent a lot of time shopping - we have a good system where we use our little digital camera to keep track of our favorite furniture and design ideas. I think we've settled on our new couch and chairs (first things we'll purchase as a reward), and I've also been working on a strategy for tackling the many projects that we want and/or need to do.

One correction from last week - the house lot is closer to 10,000 sq feet, not 20,000. I did a rough walking measurement this weekend and realized my error. Still, a lot of space as one can see from the photo above. That's actually the "Garden Side" of the house - the main entry is on the opposite side, out of view.

The project I'm working on most is the kitchen design - it looks like we'll have the space we need to fit everything in. Indeed most everything is already in the room (about 81 sq feet, 7.5x12) - it's just in a terrible configuration. The trick will be to remodel it quickly without blowing our budget for the year. I plan to do most or all of the work myself, which will certainly help. Also, we're not running new plumbing, and probably not much new venting. We'll again go with the combination under-counter washer/dryer, which is perfect for a small house. Stone countertops (granite or Silestone, probably). We're debating using a single unit stove or separating the oven from the electric cook-top (separate units cost much more). Anyway, there's still a lot of planning to do but I'm optimistic we'll come up with an efficient, attractive design.

I'm not sure how much interesting stuff I'll have to post this week - the news stories and such have been pretty slow. Also, I'm very focused on the house which is of limited interest to anyone besides me (even my wife glazes over at my design questions). Have a good one and thanks for visiting!