Peeking In

• Wanna know what I've been up to? Well, I've cooked a total of 4 pounds of beans this past week - they're now divided into 2 & 3 cup containers and stashed in the freezer, ready whenever I am. Canned beans run 62¢ each down here, so this is a substantial savings.
• After I finished taxes, Daughter happily took over the computer so she could play Chuzzle.
• The brown tile floors are not what I personally would have chosen, and I decided that a bit of shine would probably make me dislike them less... turns out I was right! Amazing what some "advanced polymer technology" and a dollar store mop can do. Oh, and a some good old womanpower, too. The entire living room floor has officially been done - yes, every bit of furniture was moved, and the floor got TWO coats. Took me a couple days to get in done (between waiting for stuff to dry and having hubby help move the entertainment center) and I'm quite proud of the finished results.
• And finally, I would just like to say that allergies are kicking my hiney this year. I've had minor issues ever since having kids, but this Texas spring evidently has some pollens that cause my sinuses to seize up while simultaneously making me teary-eyed and generally irritable. I also seem to have come down with a bit of a cold, so the combo is downright nasty.

I realized that I have yet to share a full picture of the living room - so here 'tis! I know the lighting isn't exactly ideal; hard to get a good pic with so many windows. You don't see the entertainment center (would be on the left), and there's a kitchen passthrough/breakfast bar thingee behind the couch in the foreground (it's a 2' x 4' window with a counter that juts into the room 16"). The window treatments were all left behind, and while I can't say I adore the colors, they work OK (and I *do* like the general style) You can see a bit of the green accent wall here by the fireplace, which was originally the same orange as the drapes. Eww! And that cool trunk? Well, that was an fabulous find at Sam's last week - a friend and I decided to head down because we both needed a few things, and this just happened to catch my eye as we were passing the furniture aisle. It was actually a set of three (the other 2 are currently stacked in the front room, as we have yet to decided where they'll permanently reside) and the last 1 left so had been substantially discounted. I've been wanting a trunk for a coffee table for years, but anything that I like is way out of our price range; rather than settling for something, we'd said that we'd wait until we found something we really liked and make the investment... Once again, God provided a little want in an unexpected way!