The Objects of my Affection

I've been a very bad blogger. I'll not spare you with all of the boring details (we moved to KY, brought my mother-in-law with us...she stayed for almost a month...we had an awful ice storm that left us without power or heat for a few days, etc.). I dare say, we are finally settling in. We're trying to discover our new normal, since Mike works all.the.time. Did you know there is no such thing as a weekend in Drill Sgt. land? He was home by 6pm tonight. That would mean it's been his shortest day yet, well except for Sundays when he only works a half day. Today, he only worked 13 hours. He has worked as many as 17, twice. Fun stuff, let me tell ya. Other than the ridiculous hours, he doesn't seem to be minding it too much. Anyway, on to more important business. Check these babies out....

The washer is a GE 4 cu. ft. Front-Load Washer with HydroHeater™ Internal Heater for Cleaning Tough Stains, and of course, the matching dryer. I *heart* these babies. They're so pretty! And so quiet! I feel like I should display them in the living room for all to see! If I had guests, I would wisk them to my laundry room to have a little look see. Maybe it's a good thing I don't have guests? :p I agonized over which brand to buy. Samsung, LG, GE, no how about Whirlpool, no, LG....no, Samsung...GE? Mike was every so grateful when I decided on the GEs. I was interested in the Samsungs because they have noise reducing technology or something like that. The LGs were interesting because the salesman at HHGregg was going to give us an awesome deal. Sadly, when we went to purchase them, the deal wasn't as great as originally offered. The GEs though, we got a great deal on them. No pedestals as of yet. I'm trying them without to see if I can justify the extra $400. Really, the pedestals are just storage drawers...spendy ones at that! My laundry room is pretty small. I'm not even sure how well they would fit with pedestals. It would be nice not to have to bend down to rotate the laundry though. Amazingly enough, I've been caught up on my laundry since these were delivered. :-)

Next...this isn't a great picture, but my new sofa and loveseat...

Please excuse the messy TV stand. I cleaned it today, so it's much tidier now, thank you very much. :p The sofa reclines. Very comfy. Very, very comfy. I sleep on it nearly every morning. 'Cause you know, I'm not a fan of mornings, so when I get up to send Devin to school (really all I do it tell him good-bye...sending him off to school would require me getting up more than 5 minutes before he has to leave the house), I crash on the couch for another hour or so before I get up to start the day. We had our hearts set on red, reclining sofas. They were not to be had. Well, I take that back. We could have had them for double what we wanted to pay, and I would have had to wait 5 weeks to get them. Those of you who know me know waiting isn't my strong point. So, chocolate brown it is. I LOVE them. We're mean though...we don't let the kids recline them without permission. Could you imagine? Five rough, tough kids yanking on the reclining mechanism all the time? Nope, these couches need to last me a few years, thank you very much. They don't complain about it too much, and I'm grateful.
Here's a little Valentine craft I worked on this week. 'Cause you know, I'm bored out of my mind since my husband works all the time. HA! It's a banner that I hung on the wall. The rectangles are 4x6, so it's pretty good sized.

Here's a close-up of my favorite square...

I should probably mention that this wasn't my idea. I stole it from my copy-cat sister. heehee

I have been knitting. Quite a bit, actually. Here's a sneak peak of a Loopy Ewe package I got in the mail the other day. It was like Chirstmas, I'm telling ya.....