I’ve got another crazy weekend planned! You may have all read about the craziness of last weekend and helping my mom paint, plant new plants, and rearrange her living room. We were busy, busy, busy last weekend! (Oh, I forgot to add that going to my moms from my house is a 4 hour drive too!). We took our kids to Bay Beach last weekend too! (For those who don’t know, Bay Beach is an amusement park in Green Bay. Rides cost 1 ticket to get on (each ticket is 25 cents!). There are some two ticket rides too. The new roller coaster they put in, The Zippin Pippin, is $1.00. (We wen’t on it — it’s worth a $1!).

This weekend is shaping up to be busy — just not quite as busy. Tonight, I have to go to a dinner with Bill for work. These things are always nice and well, boring. I’m hoping to get some more of my own yard work done this weekend.  I want to put a border around my front pine trees, and then add the rocks that are around the side of my house under the tree.  It isn’t like we can grow anything under those trees anyway.  However, something I’ve noticed that has happened with all of the yard work I’ve been doing — I want to be more active.  Now, I’m not saying that I am going to run out and get myself a Recumbent exercise bike or a gym quality bikes or even a Keiser indoor bike (though I could if I wanted to). Instead, it just makes me want to get out and exercise.  For me, that is a great thing since I don’t normally have any motivation to do so.  If it doesn’t rain, I’m going to paint my front porch too.  The only problem is that I can’t figure out what color to paint it!  Also, if it doesn’t rain, we are going to take the kids to be Morton Arboretum.  They have an awesome kids section there and I got a great GroupOn for it a couple of months ago.

As you can see, we have a crazy weekend scheduled.  What does your weekend look like?

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This is a guest post.

Choosing the right sofa can seem like an easy decision but in truth it is a minefield of mini decisions and considerations like…

How will the sofa fit in with the rest of the room’s decor –

Seems obvious but when buying new sofas you should consider how the colours and design will fit in with the rest of the room. Obviously it is easier to change sofa colour then repaint your living room!

How long do you want to keep this sofa-

Your sofa budget should be dictated in part by how long you intend to keep the sofa if you have just moved into your first home then you might want to spring some cash for a lifelong sofa commitment. However if you are renting then you may want to opt for a portal cheap option.

Sofa or sofa bed-

This one is tricky and will depends on how many guests and visitors you are expecting. Sofa beds are notoriously uncomfortable so make sure you get a good sofa bed. Watch out for sofa beds that uncomfortable when living life as a sofa or as a bed. Ideally you want to find a sofa bed that is uber comfy in both incarnations. You want your guests to come back right so make sure they don’t leave your home with a bad back!

Leather or fabric-

Leather is more expensive but much more durable, be sure to get good quality leather as thin leather will age much faster. Fabrics sofas are easier to clean and can be a better option if you have kids!

What type of fabric and covers-

Sofa fabrics now come in a wealth of colours and textures so spend some time getting exactly what you want. The best sofa companies let you order fabric samples which are a good way to figure out which fabric your heart desires.

What is the sofa hiding-

People often use sofas to hide that hole in the laminate flooring, ugly radiator or hideous skirting board. Take the shape and size of your sofa into account when trekking around the sofa showroom. Measure up your sofa at home and check out the dimensions of the new sofa in the shop to make sure you don’t have any moving disasters!

What shape -

Sofas now come in a plentiful range of shapes and designs. However make sure you can fit the new sofa through your doors or it can be taken apart otherwise you’ll be stuck sitting on your new sofa in the street!

They say moving house, getting married and going on family holidays are the most stressful things you can do in life well buying a new sofa should rank highly up there with them too!

Jonathan is a freelance writer who enjoys lazing in any of his sofas

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When we came back from Green Bay last weekend, we started getting to work getting ready for Will’s birthday which is coming up very soon (I’ve only got 2 weekends left to get a ton of work done!!!!)  We decided that we wanted to pull my curio cabinet out of the basement (though I could really use some Corner Etageres instead — right now I’ve got it angled in the corner and it is such a waste of space!).  We put my water globes, plates, figurines, and my Thomas Kincade items in there.  I have to admit that it really does look pretty nice.  Unfortunately, we did have to move Bill’s rocker recliner downstairs (which is he super excited about) into the man cave.  However, the chair was so large that I can probably put up 3 cardtable chairs up in its spot when we have company!  We also moved a ton of pictures around too (which had to be done since Bill bought me a big screen TV for the living room for my birthday.  The TV is now where 3 pictures use to be).  By moving some of our artwork (one piece is now hanging in my bedroom) and pictures around, it has made a big difference.  I even cleaned off the top of our huge IKEA bookshelf, and we put picture up there too!

Do you rearrange your rooms when the seasons change?  (Or am I the only weird one that does that?)

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NOTE:  If you are reading this by a feedreader this may be a duplicate post for you.  Hint of advice to everyone, don’t write a post while you have DNS changes going on or it’ll get eaten. 

I know, interesting title.  But see, you have to know what the last week was like in my house.  Last weekend we were gone to a wedding.  All week, the earliest my hubby came home from work was 7 pm.  Needless to say, the house was a wreck.  On top of all that, I was changing hosting due to many issues with Bluehost (which I will blog about later!).

Hell froze over because well, the hubby actually got it into his head that we needed to clean the house.  Not only that, he helped.  We went from room to room and actually cleaned the majority of the house.  He actually got on his hands and knees and cleaned the tub.  He used an old toothbrush to clean the jets on the whirlpool.  That’s what a good job he did.  We rearranged the living room again too!  After the kids went to bed last night, he also went grocery shopping and managed to spend less than $200 too!  (However, some of his choices were not so good so I’ll be going back, but I am not complaining.)

It feels good to have a semiproductive weekend.  This afternoon we will be going to one of his friend’s house for a little party, and I am not sure what we have in store for tomorrow.

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I know, I know — Mother’s Day is just around the corner. However, I like to think ahead and figure out what I am to do for Bill for Father’s Day. Since we are remodeling the basement, I would love to get something for him for down there. We are adding a bathroom, a living room area, and a toy room. My upstairs is only 980 sq feet, so we definitely can use the extra space. Right now, I am waiting for the waterproofing people to get here. They are the first part of the transition. They will be here today and tomorrow, and then the contractor who is adding everything else starts. All this construction will last about a month. Fun times, I know.

That being said, Bill’s brother started pulling the wire this weekend for things like the satellite, phone, etc. I am wondering if I should have him pull some wire for a Home Theater System. I think he (Bill) would be completely floored if I made something like that his Father’s Day gift. We currently have a system in our upstairs. However, the DVD player no longer plays half of the DVDs we put into it (including brand new ones!), so we are in definitely need of something like this. I think he would definitely be surprised and truly enjoy a gift like that. What you are getting the “father” in your life for Father’s Day?

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