It is possible that this very moment in time is not the right time to buy one of the Outer Banks homes currently available on the market what with the weather there right now.  But next week is.  Coastal North Carolina is a beautiful destination with many attractions and events to amuse you.  Having a vacation home there would be idyllic especially if you, like me, are a west coast (or western US) native and have never been further east than the Mississippi River.   There would be much easier access to cultural sites all along the eastern seaboard.

The main thing my husband wishes the house came with that it didn’t is a fireplace.  After all the work he’s been putting in on the pool, I’m pretty glad he doesn’t have to look after a fireplace too.  And that I don’t have to help him do it.  I can just picture myself stuck halfway up a chimney and my kids having to climb up on the roof to drop food down to me.  Or not so I can lose enough weight to free myself.

One day, we will probably look into electric fireplaces and see if something like that has a place in this house.  They really look good.

When we first moved in we did a couple upgrades to the house’s hardware.  Mainly door knobs were replaced in this refurbishment.  But to save money, we didn’t replace them all – just the ones truely in need.  I may have over estimated the ability of 34 year old door knobs to last because since that time (a mere 2 months ago) another 2 knobs have lost their spring.  I have to pull them back to a normal position after turning them.  I’ve included before and after shots to show you exactly what I mean.

So I think now, these are on my shopping list.  I might even be able to afford them before next year since knobs are usually really affordable!

One day – after the kids have grown and their kids have grown – I’m going to replace my brown couches with some contemporary sofas.  By that time, of course, contemporary will be old fashioned.  Or maybe it will have been so long since it was in style it will be in style again but with bell bottoms.  You know how fashion works in cycles.  I just hope that I don’t end up so old that I think polka dot couches would look great in my striped room on the plaid shag carpet.

I don’t need to look for the best slimming pills when I have my sweat diet going on.  I spend 4 hours in the sauna called my living room unpacking and I loose 2 pounds.  At this rate I only need to put in a week of unpacking and I’ll reach my goal weight.

Two weeks and I’ll dwindle down to nothing.

Not that I’m bragging all you people out there who actually exercise to burn off weight.

I am dog tired.  It might be the fact that I’ve been chugging caffeine all day and am finally crashing.  Or it may be the fact that we’re keeping the house at 84 to save money.  Top that little tidbit off with the fact that part of the house seems to not be connected to the A/C and I’ve been working in 90 degree heat and we may have the real reason behind my fatigue.

Resolve:  I will get someone to come out and tell me why half the house won’t cool BEFORE winter comes and it becomes pointless.

I’ve been watching too much HGTV.  I want to have more modern furniture and I’ve convinced myself that all I need to do is paint it all black.  The bed will be black, the bureaus will be black and all the bookcases will be black.  And all the walls will be yellow.  I will paint the cabinetry blue and the front door will be red.  I will paint, paint, paint until everything looks like it has been given a beutiful sheen (it will all be a gloss finish).

Another surprise that came with the house was the horrible damage done to my patio chairs.  This summers wretched sun has completely disintegrated the covers on the pads and if I plan to keep them, I’ve got to learn to sew.  I don’t plan on buying new ones since even on clearance they cost about $15 each.  I’m not going to drop that kind of money on cushions that fall apart after only a couple years.

Maybe I’ll find some used ones somewhere.

The new house came with a variety of gifts left behind by the previous owners.  Along with the bath mats and a table on the back porch, we got a large number of loofahs and sponges and some half used proactive junk.   They left behind used qtips and a cat food bowl with just a little bit of cat food in it.  They moved out  a long time before they sold the house and I’m not sure how they were expecting to sell the house with the trash in each drawer.  Weren’t they lucky we came along?