BQOTD: Are you inked?

Today's Burning Question of the Day: Do you have any tattoos? If so, what and where? If not, why not?

Personally, I've always loved the look of tattoos, and would secretly love to be pretty heavily tattooed like some of the girls featured on Tattoo Tuesday over on Sometimes Sweet...I think the half sleeves are more often beautiful than not, but I'm not sure that I'm cool enough confident enough to be able to pull it off!

Justin and I have both talked about getting lizard tattoos for Lizzy (if you're scratching your head at this, we used to call Lizzy "Lizard" before she was born, and still occasionally do). Right now, this is what I have bookmarked:

Source: tattooique.com via Meredith on Pinterest

Something like this where two lizards form a heart, but smaller, and maybe on my inner arms/wrists.

So why not? For one, tattoos are expensive! They definitely fall into the "extravagant" category for us. Also, I always seem to think about it in the summer, but really should get tattooed in the winter to avoid the sun contact, at least initially. Lastly, I've actually looked through the portfolios of most of the local tattoo artists (there aren't many), and I just didn't love any of their portfolios, so I'm not sure that I'd want to be tattooed by them, you know?

But what about you?!

Things Learned from Pinterest...

So, I was browsing my "House Inspiration" board on Pinterest this morning. I've been pinning things to it, but haven't actually opened it up for awhile. As soon as I did, I laughed out loud, because this is what I saw:

Source: houseofturquoise.com via Meredith on Pinterest

Source: wanelo.com via Meredith on Pinterest

Source: remodelaholic.com via Meredith on Pinterest

Source: community.thebump.com via Meredith on Pinterest

Source: houseofturquoise.com via Meredith on Pinterest

Source: homelife.com.au via Meredith on Pinterest

Source: nikinikinine.blogspot.com via Meredith on Pinterest

Are you picking up on a theme here?! And yet, my house? The walls are definitely more gray than blue...which was all the rage on The Nest when we bought our house. I didn't really know what I liked at the time in terms of style, so I just went with that, and it does look nice, but I think this color blue is a lot more "us"--or maybe I should say it's more "me", because I don't think J has particularly strong feelings about paint, other than he doesn't particularly want to spend money on it ;)

 Maybe someday!

I Need Accesories Help...Badly!

If you've been reading this blog for long, you probably know that I'm basically allergic to everything. Christmas trees, grass, dust, pollen, 95% of flowers. For years, I was so allergic to metal that even the button on jeans gave me a huge rash, so I really never wore jewelry that wasn't pure silver. But recently, I've noticed that I'm able to wear earrings/necklaces for several hours at a time without breaking out into hives. And consequently, this month I'm on a quest to buff up my stash of accessories. I like to dress pretty basically, and I've increasingly come to believe that some well-thought accessories can make the difference between looking put together and looking sloppy.

This month, I'm planning to spend about $50 to update my accessories, but I need your help! Because I've never really done the whole accessories thing, my stash is pretty pathetic. I don't mean "pathetic" as in I have a ton of stuff but I don't really like it and want an excuse to buy more. By "pathetic", I mean pathetic. In fact, here is my accessories collection in its entirety:

{this is a ring}

Yep, that's it. I could definitely use some updating, but I don't really know where to start or how to get the most bang for my buck since I don't have a huge budget to work with. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE some suggestions if anyone is willing to help me shop (and feel free to show me your own etsy shop!). Here's what you should know:

-I don't like gold (save for white gold), but I can handle bronze a bit better.
-I have almost $100 in credit at Amazon, so buying there would be ideal, but not a necessity.
-I'd like at least one long necklace, at least one pashima-style scarf!

Any suggestions for me? Pretty please with chocolate sprinkles?

Yes, MORE Snippets

-Snippets are seriously the only thing my mind is capable of in this crazy sleep deprived state. I don't know if this is STILL teething or what, but Lizzy is STILL waking up screaming hysterically several times a night. She is fine as long as we're in the room with our hand on her belly, but as soon as we leave (even if it's been an hour), she dissolves into someone-is-killing-me screams. Like I said, her pediatrician says it's not an ear infection. And that it IS either her teeth or separation anxiety. That's nice...I just don't know what to do with the sweet baby in the meantime other than letting her scream like that for hours, which is clearly just not an option. I'm okay with a little cry-it-out, but not the someone-is-killing-me scream. Any advice?

- Yesterday, I was 20 minutes into a 25 minute run when my treadmill slowed itself down to 1.5MPH and I could not get it to speed back up no matter what I did. I promptly dissolved into hysterics because I am almost seven weeks into a nine week program...it would just figure that the treadmill would break now and that I wouldn't be able to finish it. I kept telling Justin "THIS IS WHY I NEED A JOGGING STROLLER". And I do want a jogging stroller, but I'm not sure that I need it just yet. My dad says the treadmill is hopefully an easy fix. Plus, a (new) jogging stroller and a laptop screen just happen to cost the same thing. And truthfully, I need a new laptop screen more, since it is our only computer. I just do not have a very patient personality, and when I want something, whether that may be a particular food, or to watch a particular movie, or to have a particular thing, I tend to want it right then {ahem, if you'll notice, one of the tags on my blog just happens to be "I Want" ahem}. I want  a jogging stroller RIGHT NOW. I already scoured the second-hand shops (before the treadmill broke), but they only had a two-seater that was like $180. It's probably good that they didn't have one, because even though we don't have money in the budget for one, I would have bought it anyway and put it on the credit card...which is obviously a bad course of action, and something that I'm trying not to do in general. Just call me Veruca Salt. Anyway, I am very hopeful that Justin will be able to fix the treadmill tonight, and then it will be a non-issue.

-In the meantime I just keep singing that kid's song (sing it with me), "the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfullness, gentleness, self-control, against such there is no law" in my head. Because clearly, both patience and self-control are things that I need to work on right now!

-It's exceptionally difficult to take a picture of a computer screen, but I think you get the jist:

Broken screen courtesy of pregnancy leg cramp, circa 2009

To be honest, this picture doesn't even do the damage to my trusty Dell justice. The whole top inch of the screen is green and black dead-pixelness, and then there are dead pixels all through the middle of the screen too. This makes editing photos exceptionally difficult. And, I've already had a couple of calls about photo shoots, so it's probably about time to get it taken care of.

-My blog has been seriously lacking in terms of photos lately. I need to remedy that ASAP!

-I'm heading to the library today (one way I am successfully working on the patience thing--it's so hard for me not to just run out and buy books that I want to read!), and as always, I would love some book suggestions if anyone has any!

Want/Need

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. -Psalm 23 (NIV)

A few months ago at mom's group, we were doing a craft. The daughter of one of our friends was painting something to hang up in her room, and wanted her mom to write "her verse" on the paper. As it turns out, her verse was a version of Psalm 23: 

The LORD is my shepherd, I have everything I need. -Psalm 23 (similar to The Message translation)

This sweet girl's version of Psalm 23 has really been on my mind ever since. For me, it brought a whole new spin on things--because traditionally, I always heard Psalm 23 and thought of being "in want" as dealing with the big, extravagant things--boats, Hawaiian vacations, shopping sprees. This child's version of Psalm 23 has caused me to look at the verse through a lens of Need versus Want.

I struggle often with being in want, especially now that I am a stay at home mom. Because the honest truth is that money is tight, every month. We've dipped into our savings more often than we should have, sometimes out of necessity, and {honestly}sometimes because it's been hard for us to transition from two incomes (and thus more discretionary income) to one. I think sometimes we wanted to continue living virtually care-free about our spending. But the bottom line is that we just simply can't be as carefree with money as we once were.

It's hard because I want clothes that fit and feel flattering. I want lasagna for dinner instead of the chicken salad we have ingredients for. I want to be able to meet a friend for lunch and coffee before she goes away to medical school. I want to be able to go and visit my parents or Justin's parents as often as we want to, even if that means driving there two or three times in a week. I want to be able to occasionally buy Lizzy a cute outfit when I see it. I want to be able to put more money in savings. Heck, I have a whole tag on this blog called "I want." Justin has his own set of "I wants" as well--not extravagant "I wants", but just little things. 

Sometimes, these things that I want to do or have feel like needs. But really, they're not. I may feel like "Oh, I need to go grocery shopping, I have no food in the house." I may not have the groceries that I want, but my cupboards are not actually bare.We have food. It may not be a meal that I would typically put together--it may be a mish-mash of things, but we have food.When I think about it long and hard, I can't really think of anything that we need but do not have--we have a home, we have food, we have transportation, we have each other.

As I've said before, sometimes it is HARD to be in this place. I feel like I deserve to have these things that I want. They are small things after all. Sometimes I find myself looking up jobs on Craigslist, thinking how much easier it would be if we were back to two incomes {And yet, I do know that the grass is always greener. The additional money would come with sacrifice as well--either hardly seeing Lizzy or hardly seeing Justin}.

On the other hand, I know with every fiber of my being that it's God's plan for me to be a stay-at-home-mom right now. Justin and I have prayed about it long and often. I know it, I feel it, and I'm at peace with it. I have faith that our NEEDS will be provided for during this time, I just have to reconcile with the fact that our WANTS may not be. Honestly, this is probably a good lesson for me, even if it isn't always a particularly fun one.

This next month in particular, I really would to spend time thinking about where every single penny of our money is going--not that some of our money won't be spent on wants rather than needs, but I have a feeling that if we really continue to remember that we do have everything we NEED, we'll find a lot more discretionary income than we thought we had.

That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life--whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn't life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for you heavenly Father feeds them. And aren't you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

And why do you worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for the wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? -Matthew 6: 25-30

Burning Question of the Day: Vacation

Today's BQOD: If you could go anywhere on vacation for two weeks, where would you go?

I would go to Fiji, and stay in one of those little huts out over the water (like in Couple's Retreat). Man, do I ever miss the ocean. I would be totally content to lay around, swim, and snorkel for two weeks!

A DIY Project in the Making...

A little while ago, Leslie shared the Knock Off Wood blog. And I am totally addicted. And I have a project in mind:

The Reclaimed Wood Look Headboard. This headboard was made by Nicole from Create and Delegate. I hope that she doesn't mind me using her picture. I just think her work is so stunning and beautiful!

We don't have a headboard right now, and I really want to make this one. I think this with a very dark stain, it would be gorgeous in our bedroom. Even though our dresser is white, I think a dark headboard would work just fine. Though white would be nice too. Since we have a king sized bed, I am wondering if we would have to assemble it in the room. And I'm also wondering if we'd ever be able to get it OUT of the room, lol! Would it be totally weird to sell the headboard with the house if we ever moved?!

Blessed!

The last few days have been hard for me (see tomorrow's pregnancy post for why), and darn near anything can make me cry lately. But my sweet, sweet, darling husband made my day today. He came home from work, and we both petered around making dinner and what not, when suddenly he popped out a little box wrapped in a brown paper bag with a message that said:

To My Mere-Mere: I hope you like it and aren't mad at me for it, but I wanted you to have it now and not later. I love you, Justin.

Inside the little brown box was:



Yep, that's right...the 50 mm f/1.8 camera lens that has been topping my Christmas list for awhile!!!! *Squeeeeeee* I can't wait to test it out!

For the record, J thought I might be mad because he told me that I should buy it for myself last week, but I told him NO...that we had bills we need to pay and a savings account to replenish after paying off our fridge this month, and that it could definitely wait until a Christmas bonus or tax return. Nevertheless...how could I possibly be mad at my sweet thoughtful husband for this?!

I'm really tempted...

To go pick up this maternity coat from Target. It's $40. I do have one maternity coat, but it warm, and the one above is wool. I also do have a regular pea coat that I can still wear unbuttoned, but because I'm wearing it unbuttoned, it just looks like I'm huge instead of pregnant.

What's a girl to do? Probably not do anything for weeks, until I finally decide to buy it and discover that they've already sold out in my size...

Dreams of Sugarplums....

This is our dining room table. It's actually the dining room table that J grew up with. His parents were kind enough to give it to us when we got married and had no table. But the truth is, the table is not my style. Justin loves it because it's old and wood. And if it's old and wood, he loves it and never wants to part with it ever.

Although the shape really isn't my style, even more than the shape, the color of the wood matches NOTHING else in the house. And we have quite a few pretty significant wood pieces--the table just does not match any of them. Not the hutch, not the buffet (that J insists we MUST keep even though it doesn't fit anywhere in our house), not the cabinets (which I also want to paint white, but that's a story for another day), not the wood floors.

What I really want to do, is paint the sucker white. My dad has a paint sprayer that I'm sure I could borrow, and coupled with some no-sand primer, I'm thinking this wouldn't be THAT big of a project. And because the wood isn't in great shape and there are butt-marks on the chairs, there's a small chance that Justin might actually go for it.

But honestly, I'm a little intimidated....I don't really paint furniture that often because my husband tends to think it's a mortal sin to pain wood. What do you guys think? Do-able?

Decorating the Nursery...

So, I'm finally starting to pull together what I want our nursery to look like. First of all, regardless of whether we're having a girl or boy, I want to do turquoise/aqua walls. It's my absolute favorite color, and I've always wanted to do a turquoise or aqua room--and I figure that I can make it either girl or boy appropriate with the right accessories. We also plan to do a tree mural (with the tree being a white silhouette of a tree) on the wall you'll see below along with the crib (which will also be white) I got a couple of Behr paint samples today, and whipped up some color swatches on the wall. I think I'm slightly favoring the middle color, though it isn't exactly what I had in mind...I can't seem to FIND what's in my head. The middle color seems almost too neon, and the right color seems almost too dull to me. Justin likes the right-most color the best. What do you think?

(L to R: Behr Mermaid Treasure, Gem Turquoise, and Embellished Blue)

As far as the tree murals go, these are the type of tree that I can get Justin to agree to--he likes the wind-blown look. The only trick is that we'd be working with a much smaller wall than the two in the picture, so I'm just not quite sure how that would work. We'd definitely have to scale it down a bit. Both of these trees are from Dali Decals, but we would need to paint something similar, because a decal won't work with the texture on our walls.

Our flooring will be the leftover Costco laminate that we installed in the rest of the house (assuming they still have it in stock and we can get two more boxes), which looks like this:

So, in order to balance out the dark floors and bold walls, pretty much all of our other furniture would be white or white with tan accents. I've made my first official baby/nursery purchase today (I have been really superstitious about buying any baby things...part of me is convinced that the second I do, something will go horribly wrong) in the form of a glider for $169. Talk about a steal! It's from Wal-Mart, and it's actually un-upholstered...I debated buying it because the slipcovers that accompany it have been discontinued. But it's a pretty standard size chair...I'm sure I can find a slipcover somewhere! Any suggestions you guys? I didn't get the ottoman, but may purchase it eventually. We'll see.

As far as bedding and linens go, I'm really excited that my mom is going to make the fitted sheets and bed skirt for the crib for us! I'm not stressing too much about having a quilt, because I've heard most people don't end up using the quilt that came with the sheet set anyway. And I'm not doing a bumper, because those are now no-nos due to the suffocation concern and the decreased air-flow with them. If it's a girl, I'm thinking I may go with a white fabric with small light pink flowers. If it's a boy, I'm thinking chocolate brown polka-dots.

And yeah...that's all I have in mind so far! Any suggestions or tips?

Shop With Me...

So, over the weekend, one of the things I hope to do is to throughly weed through my closet. There are already tons of clothes that don't fit me, and they just need to be put away in my new best-friends, which are Space Bags. You know, the kind you vaccum all the air out of? Anyway, I've begun to look for a few maternity clothes. I totally envy all of you that were/are able to spend the whole time in yoga pants and comfy tees. Unfortunately, since my job includes court appearances, I also need some clothes that qualify as business-wear. Also unfortunately, my weekend stuff tends to be MUCH more casual, so I also need some super casual stuff that I can wear on the weekends, and will transition as best it can through the hot summers all the way through January.

To make things even more difficult, I am almost 5'11. Finding pants with a 36 inch inseam was difficult and spendy before. Now, it's absurd. I usually wear a 36" inseam. I have only found ONE online store that sells maternity pants that long (RG Maternity). Still, they don't have many options. Apparently, us tall women aren't supposed to get pregnant, or if we are, we're supposed to live in high-waters the whole time. I can occasionally get away with a 34 inch inseam if I only wear them with flats, wash in cold, and never ever dry them. I now have one pair of dress pants and one pair of jeans from Motherhood, but I'm not sure that will be enough.

Whew. Anyway, here's some maternity clothes that I actually like (but probably won't ever buy because they're too spendy):

(Old Navy)

(Old Navy)

(Old Navy)

(Gap)

(Motherhood)

(Motherhood)

PS- Why are so many maternity clothes pink and blue?

House To-Do's

I have a LONG list of things that I'd like to do in our house. I feel like it never ends! I thought I'd compile a list of things that I'd still like to do, in order to keep track of them!

For J to do:
-Weed N Feed the front yard, then begin edging
-Install transition strips for new flooring (no, this still hasn't happened)
-Re-install trim around baseboards and doors
-Raise up back yard, install sprinkler system, and then lay seed.
-Bring in rail road ties for above ground garden beds.
-Spray for spiders and stupid earwigs!

Other projects:
-Paint the cabinets white. After that, re-evaluate whether or not I still hate the countertops.
-If I can live with the countertops, install a tile backsplash
-Consider repainting dining room
-Finally make my DIY headboard!
-I would REALLY like to repaint the kitchen table and chairs as well, but that may be a bit ambitious. I'd probably have to get them dipped to strip off the current stain and seal.
-Turn our two spare bedrooms into actual usable, functional spaces...not just storage!

The only problem? Pretty much no expendable income to work with! We'll have to see how I do with a budget the size of a pushpin!

Love.

Old Navy, why do you do this to me?

Now, my intent was just to post cute pieces that I LIKE for spring and summer, but may not actually purchase. Well...I think that I HAVE to get this dress. It's my favorite color ever, so cute and simple. AND IT COMES IN TALL!!! I seriously want one in EVERY color. I really shouldn't buy it, but I'm pretty sure that I will. I just don't really have any idea what size I am in Old Navy Talls yet--so far, I've purchased something in almost every size.

Turquoise Inspiration

Okay...so here's the deal with the turquoise room. Though it's currently "my" spare bedroom, it will eventually be a nursery. I hope to keep the room turquoise even when it turns into a nursery--I think turquoise and white can work for either gender. I can picture having Renee paint the white outline of a tree on the wall by the crib, and LOVING it.

In the mean time, it would be nice to have somewhere for guests to easily sleep. I'm thinking that eventually, when we have a bambino AND a guest, the guest could always sleep in our bedroom, and we could sleep with the bambino for the night.

By Your Side

So there's this song by Tenth Avenue North called "By Your Side" that has sort of become my anthem this week, so I guess we could call it a belated Sunday song. Part of the song goes, "I'll be by your side, wherever you fall. In the dead of night, whenever you call. Please don't fight these hands that are holding you." Let's just say that I've been doing a lot of late night calling lately, and this song brings a brief moment of comfort. Here's the You Tube video:



I talked to J. There's pretty much no way that he'll be flying back on Friday. They're thinking that he may be driving back on Sunday morning if we're REALLY lucky, but more realistically, Monday. I have to say, hearing that was like a punch in the gut. I really had my hopes up that he'd be back on Friday--there are just a ton of things that we're supposed to be doing this weekend and that he'll now be missing: our niece's birthday party, my dad's birthday, my aunt and uncle coming to visit us and see the new house, he's supposed to be leading two worship services on Sunday, and he'll most likely be missing band practices on Monday. And that's just the external things...forgetting the fact that I NEED to have him here. For some reason, my mind equates him being gone for work this week with him being gone forever. Somehow, my mind has me convinced that he's going to get into a car crash, or airplane crash, or construction accident, and I won't ever see him again. I know that's a pretty irrational thought, but in my mind right now, it's a very real thought. I know that there's absolutely nothing I can do about it, but right now, it's completely consuming. And I'm having a hard time coping. To be honest, I'm kind of a basket case. If there weren't so many things going on this weekend, I would probably drive up to see him. It would be totally worth it, even if I only saw him for a couple of hours at night. Honestly, I won't relax at all until I see him.

I'll tell you this much--if he does come back Monday, I'm taking Tuesday off work, and we're locking ourselves in the house all day long.

Kitty!

Well, we went to look at cats and kittens yesterday. We went a couple of different places and didn't really see any that we liked and that liked us. I was fairly tempted to get one of the ugliest cats I have ever seen in my LIFE from the humane society, but I didn't. Instead, we headed over to a pet store that we knew was having cats from a rescue mission in CA.

We liked a couple of the cats, but most of them didn't seem to have any interest in us. Except for this one little sweetie, who immediately started sucking on Justin's ear and licking his chin. I LOVE the little neurotic cats, so we decided to take her home!

She spent most of the afternoon under the couch yesterday, but has since started to venture out and climb all over J and I. And she's starting to talk all the time. She's about 7 months old, and was abandoned on the side of the road in a box. Her name was "HMS Pinafore", but I think that's about the dumbest name for a cat ever, so we've renamed her Bones. Personally, I was voting for Lucy, but Bones will do. And hey, she IS neurotic like the TV character.

Her claws are extremely long...I really should take her in to get them clipped today (she won't let me anywhere near them), but I think that might be a little traumatic for her. I DO need to call the place that we adopted her from because once we got her home, we noticed that she still has stitches from being spayed--something they didn't mention to us at all. I wonder if we need to have them taken out or if they'll dissolve themselves?

Anyway, it's nice to have some company...J is out of town all week for work (dropped him off at the airport at 5am). He's supposed to be coming back Friday, but I have a feeling he'll be there longer from the way the guys were talking. Ugh. I hate him being gone.

Typing Out Loud

- Woke up in the middle of the night to hear hubby puking his guts out. I finally convinced him to call in sick...not sure if it's the flu, or if he ate too much of the wonderful Superbowl food yesterday. My tummy is a little squeamish now too, but I'm the type of person that throws up just because I saw/smelled someone else throw up.

-This morning, my computer wouldn't turn on. At all. I was dreading calling Dell Tech Support, but they were awesome! Turns out it's a memory card AND a memory card reader problem. Once we isolated which ones weren't working, we were able to stick the working card into the working reader, which was a lifesaver. So, although I'm running using like 80% of my memory for the next couple of days, the tech guy should be out at the house here in 2-3 business days. Now getting the time off work will be the problem. Maybe he'll agree to come next Monday.


-We are thinking about making the road trip up to P-town to the nearest Ikea to get this flooring (it's the Tundra line). However, I'm a little nervous because I've never been to Ikea and I've never seen the flooring in person. I've heard from some that the quality is crap, but some people think Costco's quality is crap, and I've never had a problem with their laminate. I don't know...I'm not really sure that I love this color...I just don't know.

- I found a pair of jeans yesterday at Wal-Mart of all places that I loved. Tried on a pair, and then I decided that I wanted the jeans in a different wash. So I bought the same brand, same style, same size jeans in another wash. Got home...they don't fit. Not even close. Has anyone else noticed that this seems to be happening more and more? Not just at Wally world, but I've also had it happen at Old Navy, Gap, and Target recently. Drives. Me. Nuts, especially since I have to order a lot of my clothes online since I'm so tall.

-Off to search for a rug and possibly a flat screen. I think we've got our living room almost how we want it, save the wood floors. The arrangement that we wanted didn't work at all. I'm not loving the current arrangement because it just feels a little cramped, but I guess that I need to think of it as COZY rather than cramped. And there is so much more seating.

Things to come...

Well,I've got to say that we've come a long way baby in terms of our house. It's finally starting to come together, even if our garage IS still filled with junk (and there's actually a reason for that, believe it or not). However, we also can't help but think about the exciting things that are to come, due to the First Time Homebuyer Tax credit. In terms of the house, there are several major things that need to be done:

1. New flooring in the living room and bedrooms.
2. All new landscaping outside.
3. Overhang built off of the back patio.

While the last two are certainly important, I feel like it's most important to me to have our living space taken care of before we start working on the outside. So, I think that in terms of the refund, the portion that we've allocated towards the house shall go to that.

First, a quick breakdown of what we're planning to do with our refund, which looks like it will total about $8500.

• $3000- Directly to savings. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Our savings took a serious hit when we purchased the house and then the camera, and I really feel like we need to beef it up a bit in this economy. Dave Ramsay advocates to have a $1000 emergency fund and then start snowballing debt. However, $3000 is more than two months' mortgage payment, which I feel more comfortable with. Ideally, I'd like to have six months worth of mortgage payments (or more), but I think this is a good start. I should also mention that a portion of this will include paying off our fridge, which is on a no payment no interest for a year plan, so I'd rather be gaining interest on that money, rather than pay it off early, thank you very much.
  
• $1500- Debt reduction. This will essentially wipe out our credit card debt, which would be FANTASTIC. We have never carried high balances, but I'd like to wipe it out nonetheless.
  
• $3500- We had budgeted this money for house renovations, mostly in terms of floors. Happily, after consulting with contractor dad, it's looking like it will cost $800-$1000 to put in new flooring. Justin and I have allocated another $1000 or so towards buying the loveseat portion of our living room furniture, and probably a flat screen TV. We will also need a light colored area rug, as we'll likely be getting darker hardwood and we already have fairly dark furniture, and we'd like to get a double curtain rod for the living room as well. I will also be scouring Craigslist to see if we can find a futon for the spare bedroom.
  
• If there's any money left over, I'd like for us each to get $100 or so as fun money. Obviously, this would be icing on the cake, but I also know that when we get any sort of "windfall", it's hard not to want to buy things for yourself. I find that if we give ourselves a budgeted amount, it's easier to stick to it--AND we're not looking back and saying "what in the WORLD happened to all that money?!" (last year's tax return anyone?).
  

And that's that. Be on the lookout for a post outlining exactly what we plan to do to the living room over the next few days!

Oh, and also...

I am SERIOUSLY trying to convince J to let me adopt this sweetie. He said that he almost got me a kitten for Christmas, but I don't want ANY kitten, I want THIS kitten. Who is adorably named Twilight, and is just waiting to be brought home from the shelter. Seriously, I am in love with this darling sweetie.




I'm still wishin', hoping, and praying for our rent refund check to arrive soon--though I know it probably won't arrive until the last possible day they have to return it to us--the 10th of January. Especially since they haven't re-rented our unit. But it would be an AWFULLY nice late Christmas present if it were to arrive early.