Well, Hello, Mr. Tax Refund... We've Been Expecting You!"

"It's so good to see you again! But tell me, how long are you planning on sticking around? Every year it seems that just as soon as you get here, you disappear just as quickly as you arrive? Why is that?"

Every renovator out there knows the answer to that question. In our household, anyway, our tax refund money is spoken for a whole year in advance. Last year, we bought flooring for the kitchen, living room, and hallway - and pine planks for some of the ceilings. We really wanted to get a new washer and dryer as ours are very, very old and cantankerous. Our washer literally tries to escape from the laundry room every time we use it. Seriously. One morning I'm going to wake up and find it eating breakfast in the kitchen. But...our refund budget didn't allow us to buy a replacement washer and dryer last year. You can bet, though, that it was at the top of our list year!

Though I've been really excited about getting a new washer and dryer, I was less than excited about actually shopping for a set. Because our old set is so...old, anything - anything at all will suit me just fine. As long as it's extra large capacity and front loading and stays put, I really don't care what we buy. Hubs, however, being the great researcher and comparison shopper he is, put a lot of time and energy into finding just the right washer and dryer at just the right price. He really knew better than to try and take me comparison shopping with him. All the numbers, the models, the features just totally overwhelmed me. Like a moth to light, I was only interested and drawn to the shiny and colorful models (figures). I nearly swooned after seeing the Wild Cherry LG washer and dryer. *drool* I just wanted to hug that washer and dryer in all it's red and chrome goodness. But even I knew that paying an extra $300-$400 for a color other than white just wasn't making practical use of our tight budget. I told hubs to just buy whatever he wanted. He ordered a white GE and it will be delivered on Saturday - yee haw! Our old washer is going to a bachelor friend. His current washer has gone through a form of appliance menopause (it no longer has a spin cycle), which means he has to wring out his clothes before putting them into the dryer - ugh!

The rest of our tax money this year will go to buying solid wood interior doors, oil-rubbed bronze knobs, and hardwood flooring for the kids' rooms. I was really hoping we'd have enough to go ahead and get the flooring for our masterbedroom, too, but it may have to wait until next year.

For any of you that live in the South East, it may be worth your time to take a trip to Southeastern Salvage Home Emporium in Chattanooga, Birmingham, Chesapeake, Cincinnati, Mobile, or Shreveport. They have the best products and prices for home building and renovating materials. At Lowes or Home Depot, we were looking at paying between $165 - $200 per solid pine six panel wood door. At South Eastern Salvage, we'll custom order our doors and they'll make them for us out of solid Brazilian Pine - for $98 any size! They come with hinges that match the oil-rubbed bronze finish knobs I want to use. To get that particular finish at Lowes or Home Depot, we would have been charged extra. Their oil-rubbed bronze door knobs are from $4 to $12 each and you just can't beat that! So we're pretty excited about this resource. We bought our porcelian tile for the bathroom there a while back and saved heaps of money.

I promise that the next entry I make will be the one about our "Ugly House Vignettes". You may want to skip it if you're especially sensitive to such disturbing viewing material, lol. It sure ain't gonna be pretty.

By the way, the Carl Larsson painting at the top called "An Evening by the Lamp". I love it because it pictures a small space packed with homey furniture, especially the extra large coffee table filled with newspapers, books, and other things. That's the way our coffee table stays, it seems! The next painting is called "Cottage in the Snow". Just lovely!

Off to work on some craft projects now!