I'm home and all caught up. I spent almost all afternoon reading all the diaries I'd been missing over the last few days. I missed you all so much. It amazes me how much I've grown attached to peeking in on your lives. I'm such a freaking voyeur!

Before our drive home today, we toured a model home that I absolutely love. It's big--3000 sq. feet--but that's the size I want. The facade is craftsman--large porch on both sides of the centrally-located front door with a cedar shake paneled upper level. Beautiful. Inside, you walk into the great room that opens up 2 stories high. Most of the lower level consists of this great room, the kitchen (completely open to great room with half-wall), and semi-formal/casual dining area. Beyond the kitchen there is a powder room and the garage. You access the garage through a lane behind the house. I *love* that aspect. Off the dining/kitchen/great room area is a bedroom suite. The room is about 13x14 and has a nice bathroom, water closet and large walk-in closet. It could be used as a master suite or for guests/children.

Upstairs there is a huge landing--15x12 roughly--that would be a perfect open library/office area. Off to the left is another bedroom suite almost identical to the one below it but the closet is bigger. That could be used as a child's room or master suite, though I would most likely use it as a child's room. On the right of the landing is another suite. The bedroom is about 12x18 and has a walk-in closet and a bathroom/water closet ensemble. Straight through the landing is a HUGE room that they call a bonus or bunk room. It is approximately the size of the garage but deeper--probably something like 25x20 with lots of windows all around. It could easily accommodate several children if you wanted to set it up Brady Bunch style though you'd need more than the one closet in there. It adjoins the bathroom from the long bedroom. I'd probably set it up as a media and game room with a pool table (well, that would be hard to get up the stairs, I think) or ping pong table plus a scrapbooking area (oh yeah). I'd put in a mini-kitchen (sink, small refrigerator, microwave for those important TV snacks ).

I love this house. I've never walked into a house and been so immediately taken with the layout as I have with this one. It has my most important elements--great room, flexible dining space (instead of an eat-in kitchen nook and under-utilized dining room), good gourmet kitchen with lots of counter space and multiple workstations, good space for entertaining (both downstairs and upstairs, good location for a Christmas tree (could easily put up 2 Christmas trees in this house!), garage not dominating the front facade, garage access from an alley/lane behind house, open floor plan, library/office area that doesn't take over a bedroom, guest room, bonus room, craftsman-style facade, porch, lots of square footage. The only complaint Ed has is that there is no foyer. He loves my sister's house because it has a secluded foyer and he wants one, too, but that will be hard to come by unless you have a custom home.

We'd really like to move to Bend but because it is a small town (approx. 50,000) with limited work opportunities for people with our skill sets. We might be able to work something out--we sure hope so. It would be fruitless to consider it until I have my master's degree, though, so that's 2.5 years away. It might take us awhile to get there, but when we do, I have my house all picked out. :-)

Joey was kind of crabby tonight so Ed didn't want to try to work with her on her soccer skills so I said I'd go out there with her. I wasn't going to kick the ball with her because of my ankle but I could coach her. I saw that we had a ton of ripe strawberries in our patch so I picked all the good ones (quite a big handful) and set them on the patio table. I set up some goal posts and told her that she could have a strawberry for every good solid kick that made it through the goals. She loved the challenge and went right to work. She kicked so much harder and more aggressive than her timid little standing kicks at soccer practice. She ran up to the ball and kicked hard. She hasn't mastered the inside-of-the-foot kick but I figured I'd work on strength and aggression first then turn to style. She was so stoked by her progress and is now looking forward to soccer practice. We'll play again tomorrow if it isn't raining.

I found out my new neighbors who I am really liking lived Redmond, OR, which is the next town over from Bend. They loved it there but were forced out for economic reasons--no job market for her husband's skill set after his company closed down. They'd love to live there again (well, in Bend actually) but are wary of moving to such an area with so few employment options. Perhaps Bend needs to grow just a little more (but then stop!).

Tomorrow is barkdust delivery day. I hope my ankle is strong enough to handle a few hours of spreading because I'm pretty sure Ed is expecting my help. This his last week of sabbatical. I'm bummed but I sorta want to get back to regular life, too. (I'd like my own time back since my time has become his time since he's been off and project oriented.)

Jay Leno's headlines are on right now. That is one of the funniest things on TV so I must go pay attention to it.

--L