Hot

We will be so glad to spend next summer in our new place that has air-conditioning. It has been SO bloody hot in this house. Ick.

We did our weekly trespass this afternoon and, for the first time, climbed up into OUR unit. Fun! They don't have the staircase in yet, but they have a wooden ladder built in. It felt stable, so we went on up ... carefully. Most of the drywall is yet to be hung, so it didn't feel homey yet, but we saw where they'd installed some of our upgraded electrical, extra TV outlets and phone lines, etc.

We checked out the view from our great room and balcony, which is really decent. The YMCA hides the view of the ugly industrial building to the southwest, so that's a blessing. Our windows face west, so we'll get afternoon sun, which is nice for light but sucks for cooling. Might have to get some UV window treatments to keep our stuff from bleaching in the sun.

We walked through several of the other units in the first building where they're further along than ours. One had the Shaker-style cabinets that we'd wanted (though in a different color), but really, I'm just as happy with the ones we got. The Shakers are prettier in small doors like in the showroom samples, but in life-size cabinets, I think they're too stark and cool. And that same unit had the granite countertops installed, which was cool to see. It was a Plan 4, which has a larger kitchen than ours (but the unit itself has much less personality and only one window in the great room). They'd gotten square edges on the granite, and we ordered bullnose, which I think will be much better.

So, I'm getting more and more excited about our choices. We have a 6-inch granite backsplash; I wonder if putting mirror from the top of the splash to the bottom of the cabinets would look nice, reflect light and make the kitchen look bigger -- or would it just look cheesey?

I'm a little concerned about having only two bedrooms, because we fully utilize three now. Once we eventually need to make the second bedroom into a nursery, we're really going to have to be creative with storage. The biggest issue is the computers (and desks). I may have to get a notebook computer to save space (I was planning to get a new system as soon as Vista comes out anyway, because my computer will be 4 years old then), but we still have the huge multifunction printer that I use for the notary business. I'd like to get a nice computer armoire, but we would really each need one; so, where to put two huge pieces of furniture? Maybe if I get a notebook, we can get away with one computer armoire. The filing cabinet is big and not particularly pretty, but that can probably go in the closet of the second bedroom, even if it's a nursery. No other options, really.

I think we'll get rid of most of our books, the second bed, the elliptical machine, etc., and we'll probably put one of those garage organizers above the garage door to store seasonal and holiday stuff. From what we can tell, the garages are fairly deep, so if we just park the Civic in there, we'll have quite a bit of room in front of it.

Guess I've been rambling more to myself than anything else, so I guess I'll quit now. :o)