Newsflash!!

I'm just doing a quick entry to say I am backed up on posts (been trying to follow up on comments!) but hope to have some new stuff out later today.

I'm not doing Menu Plan Monday this week because I have no idea if I will have anything to cook WITH this week. Why, you may ask?

Because we found a wonderful rental HOUSE to move into! A whole house! With our very own parking space! And a mailbox right outside the door, instead of up on the north 40! And best of all, no neighbors living right on top of us with their midnight laundry loads and continual door-slamming that sends Huckleberry into a 10-minute barking frenzy. I think he's convinced some intruder is slamming OUR door. We have an "English Flat" style apt., where the foyer is on the ground floor and the rest of the apt. is upstairs.

We're so excited. It's not far from where we're living now, so DC's work commute won't be too much longer. It has 4 bedrooms, and a nice, big family room in addition to the formal living room and dining room. It has a very nice kitchen with lots of storage space and an island. I didn't get the gas stove I've been hoping for, but the smoothtop electric is a big improvement on old Gussie with the ring-burners here in the apartment. (SHE doesn't even have a self-cleaning oven!) I am so happy it's an eat-in kitchen as well, and it also overlooks the family room, so I won't have to feel I am in exile while I'm cooking and everyone else is watching House re-runs. Plus, there is a great big pantry! And a side-by-side fridge, which I have never had. Wow, there might even be enough room for ALL my kitchen stuff (currently half 0f which is stored above the cabinets because it has no other home).

DC is tickled pink because there is also a study with French doors right off the family room, big enough for the two of us to share, and hardwood floors. All 3 of us have terrible allergies, so hardwood is much better for us than carpet. (And since we are all so terribly allergic, of course, we must have 3 industriously and continuously shedding pets. Someone over at Glaxo-Smith-Kline is probably going to be able to take early retirement, they are making so much $$ on our allergy meds.)

DS is already bargaining to get TWO of the 4 bedrooms (one for his band's equipment and practice space.) But I say that's what the 2-car garage is for, LOL! He was complaining to a group of our friends over dinner recently that the garage is not "climate controlled." To which someone replied, "That's as it should be: you have to SUFFER for your art! Oh, and just know it's an obligatory part of being in a band that you must at some point live in your car." Hee, hee, for once DS had no response to that.

It looks like we'll start moving stuff over tomorrow, which means my kitchen is about to get dismantled. Or at least, partially dismantled. We''ll move everything but the furniture and our washer and dryer ourselves; we've got to have movers for that stuff. We're hoping to be all moved and unpacked by April 1, because both DC and I have business trips coming up around April 10-ish. Our lease here doesn't expire until the 17th, but we're eager to get settled, as both of us are or will be shortly experiencing major crunch time at work.

Woo-hoo!! Single family dwelling, here we come!