Last week...

our floors were finally sanded! And then we found out no, they weren't exactly. The generous soul that sanded the whole place for $200, missed the hall closet, did the edges of the room in a rougher grit than the rest of the rooms (so there's a very visible outline) and missed a few other spots. I used my new orbital sander to rough up the closet and missed spots - check. The floor quite a few dark spots that went unnoticed when we were looking to buy the house ("That's why there were so many rugs!"), so those boards had to be replaced. Which required power tools...yay!

Then Thursday was Ben's only off day, so he and I went to IKEA to buy some furniture. I did some price comparison the day before in town to see if our trouble was about to be worth it. Can you believe it was cheaper to rent a pickup, drive four hours to Atlanta, and spend $80 on gas than to buy a couch from someone in town? I can, since we live in one of the richest counties in America! (Williamson County is the 17th highest income county) We got a couch, dining table, some dressers, TV console, bookcases and some little things that I knew were worth getting there. It's tough, we both don't want an entirely IKEA home, but agreed this is what we would do for now and replace when the time and budget was right.

Friday and Saturday were spent replacing boards, getting pieces for finishing the closets, getting ready for Ben's birthday, and being sick. Diane and I have both become slaves to our allergies and sinus problems. And yes I have been wearing the mask while working, but I still feel like someone has punched me in the face.

And yesterday was Ben's birthday! He turned 33 this year and we had a pretty great time. I got him a Heavenly Chocolate Pie(?) from the Puffy Muffin for his cake...he's obsessed with this pie. I wish I had taken a picture before we devoured it. Honestly, though, it's not much to look at; it looks like a giant cream pie with six different kinds of chocolate. It had something I've never experienced before: cinnamon foam? It was this hard, brittle, white layer and when you put it in your mouth it just disintegrated...wonderful! Anyhoo, Ben got to watch his football team, ate his mom's awesome steaks, had pie, I gave him a new Lego Star Wars ship to add to the collection, checked out the house (and replaced a few more boards that weren't working out), went restaurant hopping, and came home to watch some more True Blood.

Last week was an eventful and successful week!