Surprise, surprise

Before moving into this house, I had certain assumptions about how things would be, what things I would like, what things I hoped to change and what I already knew was going to drive me crazy.

It's funny how all that changes. Really, whenever you are faced with a new situation it almost never turns out how you'd expect.

Same with houses, I guess. So here's my top 5 list of things that have surprised Kody and I around the house.

1) Keeping dirty dishes out of the sink hasn't actually been that difficult!

• I knew I'd be okay not having a dishwasher for a while, but I was concerned about the piles upon piles of dirty dishes I imagined would stack up in the sink. I'm not sure whether it's because we've been doing a great job keeping up with the dishes or whether I just haven't been cooking, but I can proudly say that there have been very few nights where we've gone to bed without doing the dishes. That never could have been said back in St. Charles! I originally thought we'd try to find a good deal on a dishwasher around Thanksgiving, but now I'm thinking I might be able to hold out even longer! And I bet it'll make me appreciate a new dishwasher even more when we finally get one. Now putting the dishes away is another story.
  

2) Sweeping isn't all that bad either.

• One of the things that concerned Kody and I moving in was all the hard wood floors. We're carpet people who like to have something soft under us...as is our dog.

I love the clean look freshly vacuumed carpet gives a room. The awesome thing about hard wood floors though, is that even if they're not swept, they look freshly swept (unless you get up close)! In our apartment, even if the room was picked up, it didn't look clean to me unless the carpet was vacuumed. In the new house, if it's picked up, it always looks clean! It's awesome! I also have a "clean feet" problem that I don't like walking on carpet without shoes, socks or clean feet. Mega weird, I know. The nice thing about wood floors is I can wear shoes around all the time without having to feel guilty about getting the carpet dirty! Kody got me these awesome "ballet" slippers to wear around the house when I don't want to wear shoes. As for cleaning though, I enjoy the floors because they do hide the dirt/dog hair really well. However, when I sweep (which I have been doing quite regularly), I about want to go insane with the amount of grossness that apparently blends into the floor. And don't get me started about how dirty my rag gets when I start to mop the floor. I try not to think about it and I make sure to avoid sitting on the hard wood. I'm already anal, so I just hope these floors don't tip the scales and send me straight into the looney bin. That said though - sweeping is slightly therapeutic, but only when you don't look at the ridiculous amounts of dog hair in your pile and when your dog doesn't ruin all your piles.

3) Laundry in the hallway.

• Not that I've actually been doing much laundry these days (thanks Kod!), but I kind of like having the washer and dryer in the hallway. It's super convenient and I walk past it all the time. When we didn't have curtains up in the past, it was so easy to throw a load in. Not that curtains do much to block that, haha. Can I also say that it is awesome to have a full-size washer/dryer. I used to do 4-5 loads each week...now I do 1 load per week! Amazing!! Only thing that has me concerned - I use the same amount of detergent in my one large load as I previously used in each of my 4-5 small loads. Can you say detergent happy? Maybe now we won't have to buy detergent so frequently! Kody and his dad also installed these magnificent cabinets in the "laundry room" that certainly help with having a good attitude about the laundry.

4) All the small pleasures.

• I never would have thought I'd get such a kick out of the little things about owning a home. Our own mailbox. We get to tip the mailman and trash man at Christmas. Our own recycling bin. Trick-or-treaters for Halloween. Neighbors who you can't hear through the wall. Decorating our house for Christmas. Taking good care of the stove because it's actually ours now. Kody playing the piano at midnight. Blaring the tv/music. Opening our front door when it's nice outside. All such little things, but so fun!

5) White painted doors.

• I have always loved the french doors that lead from the living room to the kitchen.
  

Kody, however, not so much. He told me he was going to take them down before he started school, but I stalled long enough to convince him to paint them white and now he loves them! He says they kind of give the living room a sunroom-like feel, which I definitely agree with and they really do look great! It lightens everything up and now there's only a few small places that show the original wood color that was everywhere when we moved in (not that we didn't like it, but we just really like the white).

And now for your funny Noodles picture-of-the-week:

Caption contest, anyone?

I'll go first -

"This chair ain't big enough for the two of us."