New Neighbors

We have some fun news - our friends Sara, JR and their son Logan will be moving into the house next to ours! Our original neighbors were elderly and had to be moved to a retirement home so they can have 24-hour care. This couple's son was looking to either rent or sell the place so he gave me his phone number in case I thought of anyone who might be interested. Turns out, Sara and JR are! It's perfect timing for them because the lease they have with their apartment is up at the end of March and they were planning to rent a house. They came over Saturday to look at the place. It is a little outdated, so the owners' son said he would refinish the hardwood floors and repaint the walls whatever color they want. After they found that out (and that they get to use the washer and dryer) they decided to rent it. The best part of this is that we will know our neighbors. We won't have to worry about a family moving in next door that will get angry when Travis and I have people over, which is only about once a month. We're not a rowdy group, but the smokers do have to go outside which is basically in our neighbor's backyard. They won't move in until the end of March or the beginning of April, but we're excited!

Travis and I had a fulfilling weekend. Friday night I went out for dinner (Mexican) and a movie with Sara and Dana. We saw 27 Dresses - it was cute. Travis hung out with the guys at Chris R.'s house. It sounds like he had a good time too. It's been a while since we've each gone our own way for the evening. Here's a photo from my view at the restaurant:

Travis worked all day Saturday to make some extra cash and I went into work for an hour. In the afternoon I went over to the neighbor's house to check it out with Sara and JR. They hung out for a few hours afterward. Then in the evening we went over to Shannon and Chris' to do our taxes. We didn't get nearly as much back as we had hoped for, but at least we don't owe anything!

Sunday we stayed at home. I was supposed to volunteer at the aquarium, but I took the day off to get some stuff done around the house. Travis finished putting up the gutters (I heard a few grunts of anger and frustration coming from his direction - I may have also seen an entire gutter thrown javelin-style into the side yard). This is very exciting because that means that I can now put mulch into our flower beds. We couldn't do this before because the water would roll off the roof and land directly in the flower beds. Then it would carry all the mulch and some dirt away. While Travis did that I weeded the yard. It's about time for some weed and feed!

That morning when I let Callaway in he tracked mud all through the house before I realized what had happened. I shooed him outside and nearly broke down. We have white carpet and it has been very difficult to keep it clean. Travis decided to go rent a carpet cleaner and now we have beautiful carpet again! We'll see how long this lasts. We already bought a carpet runner and cleaned another rug to put on top of the carpet. It seems so silly to cover up our carpet, but we want to sell this house in a couple years so we have to keep everything in tip-top condition. It's proving difficult with all the animals we've adopted...

I'm looking forward to Valentine's Day! 3 days and counting!!