"If"

Have you ever read a book to your children or grandchildren called, "If You  Give A Mouse A Cookie"?   It's a great little book about how even the simplest things can get complicated before you know it.  If you give a mouse a cookie, he'll want a glass of milk, but you have no milk, so you'll need to go to the store.  When you get home you'll find that all of your glasses are too big for the mouse to hold, so you'll need to find a little glass and.....whatever.  And it goes on and on.  It's very cute.

I have come to the conclusion that that book is really an introduction to home ownership.  "Huh??"  you say. Really, it's true!  I'll prove it to you....

We had some hail damage to our roof a couple of years ago and the roof needs to be replaced.  Okay, that happens.  Not great news, but not horrible either.  With the interest rates down so low, the decision to replace the roof became a decision to re-finance the house..  Because we are in a good equity situation with the house that led to a decision to take out money for the re-roof rather than finance it separately.

While we were looking at the roof, we were reminded that the deck needs replacing too and that project could be folded into the re-fi.  And I've always wanted a pergola for our completely open and uncovered deck.  If we are replacing the deck (which is neither very large nor multi-leveled), it would only make sense to add in the pergola at the same time if it isn't cost prohibitive.

Okay, we've got a plan!  Okay, time to get the bids....Okay, got the bids...Now for the okay on the re-fi.....Okay we got the re-fi....Now we have to get the HOA approval....Once we get that, we're good to go.  So we're getting closer to actually getting started on the roof.

While we were waiting for all that, we decided to go ahead and replace our garbage disposal.  It was 20 years old and recently gave up the ghost.  So....we were in Home Depot looking at disposals and the Big Guy said, "You know, if you ever wanted to get a different kitchen sink, this would be the time."  Really?  Well, of course, I've wanted to get a new sink that was deeper that the 7 in deep sink we have now!  So we bought a disposal....and a sink.   And then Mikey said, "You know, if you ever wanted to replace the old Formica counter top, this would be the time."  Really??  Really???  So we're looking at new counter top materials.  No decisions on that yet, but I bet we'll find something soon!  Mikey will do those projects himself, so they are not as costly as they might be otherwise.

And you know, with the new sink and the new counter tops, and the pretty view of the new deck and pergola outside the windows of the kitchen......this would be the perfect time to do something to update the cabinets....paint and new hardware maybe??  Oh and the lighting fixture will then look even more dated than it does now.

No, No, don't even look at the wood flooring!   Really, NO, don't look....that flooring covers not only the kitchen, it also runs into the family room  and down the hall to the front door area.  DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!  Hmmm,  I hear bamboo flooring is nice......NO NO NO NO NO!

So you see...."If you give a mouse a cookie...."