Yay for new stuff!!

Jeff and I did our taxes and were relieved, and excited, to learn we could expect a return. With us being fortunate enough to be a one income family so that I can stay home with our babies, money is strictly budgeted throughout the year and we don't buy big-ticket items, opting to put them on a wish list for someday when we have the money. The moment our return got deposited into our checking account we rejoiced; SOMEDAY HAS COME, SOMEDAY IS TODAY!!! We looked at our wishlist and decided what were our top priorities and what we could afford.

Jeff picked out man things. You know... a lawn mower, hanging shelves that hang from the ceiling of the garage so that he can store stuff up out of the way, peg board for behind his workbench - man stuff. I think he still wants to buy a saw too. I don't know what kind. That gets too complicated for me. But you know.... a saw... to cut wood.

I picked out grown up fancy homeowner things. You know, stuff that makes you feel grown up, like a responsible homeowner when you go to Lowes and proudly buy them. For your home. That you own.

Our entrance way/hall was always kind of dark. There is only one window at the front of the house and it's in our bedroom, so all the sunlight filters in through the side, back and bedrooms of the house. The front of the house was like a dark dreary cave. (Ok, not really THAT bad, but it was dark, and I wished it could be bright and cheery like the rest of the house.) We solved that problem by buying a storm door!!!!

This puppy comes complete with a window to let the beautiful sunshine in, as well as a screen so I can open the window and let the fresh air blow through our house when the weather and breezes are warm. I can't fully put into words how much happiness it brings me to have the entrance way flooded with light and fresh air. (See all that snow? I didn't open the window today since we got a random snow storm. But, the light was still heavenly!)

Next up was a new dining room table set. The one we had was ok, but it wasn't really functional for what our family needed. It was round, and the chairs were round. It was too small, and Bean's booster seat was strapped precariously onto the round chair. The top of the table and chairs were wood, but the legs of both and the backs of the chairs were wrought iron, and it was heavy. Bean has pulled the heavy, metal, chairs over on top of herself a few times in the past and I was just over it. I dreamed of a grown up, family dining table, that would last us through the years that we could comfortably sit at every night and make memories at as our kids got older. We found the perfect table, chairs, and bench at Oak Express. "Bench?" Yes, bench. I'm ssssooooo excited that our dining room table has a bench for the kids to sit on!! So far, Bean says she likes the bench because it's like a "bestaurant" :)

The washer and dryer we had were the ones that came with the condo Jeff bought back in 2004. They were good machines, but they were the smallest capacity that would fit into our tiny condo laundry room pantry. Like I said, they were good reliable machines and we were so thankful to have them, but because they were so small I'd have to wash a week's worth of Jeff's work pants split up into THREE loads of laundry. Washing bedding was a nightmare. And Bean, with all of her toddler laundry, had to be broken up into multiple different loads as well. A few months ago, when we had the money, we replaced the dryer for the largest capacity dryer Lowes carried (that we could afford), but had to wait on the washer. Not anymore!! With our tax return we went back to Lowes and bought a big, fancy, grown up, Jetson's style washing machine!! There isn't an agitator in the middle so I can do LARGE loads of clothes now and not have to worry about them being too crammed to actually get clean. And it has a glass lid, which I think is SO fun!! ha! (The dryer has a glass window door too, and when we first got it I would just watch the clothes tumble, mesmerized. It's the little things in life, people.)

Do you hear angels singing when you look at this washing machine like I do? Because I do. I hear them every time I look at it. As you can see by all the fancy lights, I had just started a load when I took this picture.... what might I be washing? Lets take a peek....

Eeeeeeppp!!! Baby boy clothes!!!!! ♥ I had bought a couple things already and then my friend sent me a box of baby clothes that her son has outgrown once she learned that she will be having a baby girl this next time around. I love hand me downs! I love wittle baby clothes!! They're so tiny and cute and soft! ♥

So, that's pretty much it for our tax return purchases... There are a few others, like window blinds and placemats and dinners out for a change. Oh! And we paid my car off!!! Which is a huge relief to not have that $200 payment every month anymore. There will be a few more items before our money is spent till someday or next tax time which ever comes first, but these are the big ticket items that I was excited to talk about. If it weren't for tax return time, it'd take a LONG time to save up the money needed to buy these items on our one-salary-income, so I'm so thankful for the money we got back.

Today's blog post was brought to you by the letters:

I, R, and S

as well as the number:

'12

get it... since it was our 2012 IRS tax return? get it? huh? huh?

Oh, and for good measure, here is a cute picture of my cute Bean skillfully blowing bubbles.