Mischief Managed

I made beans and rice for dinner last night. This is Ruth's post-dinner shot. You can't see it from this photo, but she basically dumped her whole plate of beans and rice on the floor and managed to get some on the wall, too. She's shirtless because she was wearing a white shirt, and I took it off before dinner so she didn't stain it. She also decided to take out her ponytail during dinner, resulting in the mohawk/bed-head mess you see. She smiled for the photo, so you can see her two little teeth. :) Can you say blackmail material? :D Oh, how I love her!

In other news, we have found a cosigner for our house! It's very exciting. We are in no hurry to find a house because our lease isn't up until the end of February, but we will probably meet with a real estate agent next week. We're looking forward to taking advantage of the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit, assuming they pass it. We hope we can find something worth buying in our price range. The amount we're looking at spending would make our total mortgage payment (including taxes, insurance, etc.) cheaper than our current rent payment. Here is a picture of one of the houses we are looking at:


The idea of buying a house and making it our own is very exciting! It makes me want to buy up a whole bunch of copies of Better Homes & Gardens and get decorating ideas. For those of you who have already bought a house, do you have any tips? Is there something you wish you had known when you went through the process, or is there something you wish you would've done differently?

Thanks for your help. And happy Halloween Eve! We're going to a Trunk-or-Treat and Halloween Party at church tonight, so I'll post photos of Ruth in her costume tomorrow.

-Meredith