Chocolate couches, purple paint and an iPod

While I debate selling the house vs. keeping it, I have decided it is time to start making it "mine" instead of "ours." I feel that I am at a point where this is necessary to keep moving forward. Plus, even if I do decide to sell, I could still be here for a while.

I decided to start with the guest bathroom. It is a hideous mustard color with a green counter. I have been wanting to paint it since we moved in, but never got around to it. After we pretty much painted the entire interior of our 1800 sq. foot house in Arizona, James decided that he was never picking up a paintbrush again, so I knew if I wanted it done, I was on my own. I decided the bathroom would be a great place to start because, as I said, it is hideous and it is the room with the least emotional attachment.

In November, my aunt came to town on business and helped me pick out a set for the bathroom. It is the Rainier collection from Bed, Bath and Beyond (I will cry if they ever go out of business). Slowly, I started to accumulate all the pieces of the collection and with the help of a generous gift card from my mom, now have it all. I also have a bazillion paint samples on the wall and now that I have the whole bathroom set can decide on a color. My goal is to get this done Memorial Day weekend. It's not a firm goal should I get a better offer for that weekend.

In the meantime, I have been contemplating painting the bedroom purple (lavender) and getting new couches. I had a vision of pale purple walls and a new purple and white floral bedspread. Then I remembered that I have two dogs and I hate floral prints. I can't seem to get past wanting to paint the room purple though, despite what a colossal pain in the ass it would be. So, I have been thinking I should paint another room. Like, say, the living room.

A couple of weeks ago, my cousin was visiting and we were at the mall. We stopped into a furniture store and tried out all the couches. I found a couch and oversized arm chair I really liked. The model name is Godiva Chocolate, so now I have a vision of the chocolate couches with the lavender walls. My co-worker has assured me this would NOT look good. So, I probably won't paint the living room. But I am tempted to get the couches. A charitable organization came knocking on my door the other day and will haul away the old ones. And we had decided that we were going to replace the couches within 5 years. But, we made so many major decisions sitting cross-legged facing each other on the current couch and that is a little hard for me to let go of. (Ironically, one of those decisions was to replace the couch and love seat). And there is the cost of the couches, which is conveniently just about the same as my tax refund. I swear all signs are pointing to me getting the couches, but I should do something more responsible with the money. But where's the fun in that?

Which leads me to the iPod. I have been thinking about getting one. I have a subscription music service I listen to at work, but our system is too slow to support it, so I am constantly having to stop it so songs can load so lately I have been just bringing in CDs, which means I am paying for a service I am not using. Plus, I joined a hiking group and it would be nice to have something to listen to while walking if my friend isn't there to talk to. An iPod is a lot less expensive than couches and if I get the Nano, it comes in purple. And the Macy's at the mall has an iPod vending machine that I really want to try out.

Ah, decisions, decisions. It's actually kind of fun.