One of the benefits of having a blog is that I can spend time on Pinterest and shopping sites like Overstock and call it researching (rather than just piddling away time on the internet). 

Matt and I want to spend the next seven months buying things for our new house before we move in, so that a) we can spread out the costs over more than half a year and b) we have everything ready and in place right when we move in (since we could conceivably be moving in two weeks before the baby is due). Fortunately, we have a garage and a spare bedroom in our

When I started last week’s post about our next steps related to settling into a house, I was feeling uncertain and indecisive. As I got to the end of it, I was feeling a bit more sure that buying a 1/2 acre in the neighborhood where I want to start a school was a good decision. By the time I sifted through all the comments, I was even more convinced that we should take the giant leap. 

Many of the comments, however, were pretty critical, and I wanted to take some time to address them. I don’t mean to try to convince you that we’re making the right decision (because