Oh, as a side note, even though Preston and I have been sick we have been still killing ourselves making our home more livable :-)
One weekend we went completely nuts and painted the entry hall, stairwell, and upstairs landing the most beautiful blue. Also we re did the light fixtures on both floors and they look amazing! It just goes to show, if you have mildly good light fixures and are willing to take a chance with spray paint and new globes you can save $$$$$$! We also caulked the entire upstairs, on a whim. Let me tell you, so many people take caulk for granted but Preston and I have become HUGE fans of caulk.
We also have finished the upstairs master bedroom and closet, which makes us feel really good about our home improvement skills.
We also had a whim and put in french doors. Who does that?! We do. We put in french doors from our dining room to the sun room. That was a crazy whim but completely worth it, they look beautiful and have really helped with our electric bill.
Also, the first cold snap that we had we went completely crazy and ripped out trees and bushes, and bricks, and all kinds of other crazy things out of the front yard. We worked literally all day and made a dent. The lady who lived here before us apparently loved the look of brick, broken up concrete and was a hoarder that spilled over to the yard. It took a whole day but it looks better. Just waiting on the electric company to cut the tree limbs that are laying down on the power line.