In Which We Make A Shopping List

Connor did use the potty today, so I guess that's proof that we didn't screw up too badly yesterday. Hopefully we'll be back on track soon!

We're less than a week away from owning a house now, and I have packed a grand total of half a box. Granted we're taking a month to move in, and we'll probably be saving the physical move for the last twelve days or so since we're going to try and get as much done on the house as we can before we move in, but I'd still better get crackin', as we're going to have our hands full during that period!

This weekend we plan to do some bargain shopping for a lawn mower and a refrigerator. These are not things we've needed while living in rental homes or apartments! We're going to try and buy things that are wheelchair friendly (Well, not the lawn mower of course-- though does anybody have any clue how that would work? I'm all curious now.) so we'll be looking for a fridge with an ice and water dispenser on the outside and either a french door model with a bottom freezer or a side-by-side model. These are apparently much easier for someone in a wheelchair to access, and even though Jer won't always be in one the hope would be that somewhere years down the line Connor might be able to use it. There's also the chance since we plan to adopt more children with special needs that there'd be another one with limited mobility. Or I could get hit by a bus or something, I don't know. Anyway, we figure it's best to plan as if we'll always have someone in the house who will need a wheelchair accessible space, as it's better to go ahead and do it that way now than having to go back in later and replace things. Plus it will be nice to have a house that anyone can visit without having to worry about things like not being able to use a bathroom or the kitchen. It's more likely as Connor gets older and we're more involved with his school that we'll have friends who have children with a variety of special needs. I like the idea of being able to throw open the doors and welcome anyone and everyone inside!

We also spent some time looking at wedding rings today; Jer's was lost in Afghanistan so we'll both be getting new rings and renewing our wedding vows. We have a general idea of what we want, and now we're doing some shopping around to see what's most economical for us. I think Jer will be happy to have one back on his finger-- he said it feels pretty weird not wearing a ring. And I'll be happy for him to be wearing it too; that way I don't have to worry as much about beating the women off of him, as my claim will be clearly staked.

Right. Anyway, we still have fairly vague ideas about how we'll renew our vows; we talked about doing it while Jer was still in the hospital but ended up not being able to look at rings due to no Internet access, and then life kind of grabbed us up and yanked us along for the ride, so we haven't had a chance to sit down and really talk about it. I think once the whole moving thing is over and done with and we're settling in we'll probably be ready to start planning. We may decide to go off just the three of us to a B&B for a couple of days or something right in the middle of all of the renovations. We'll probably be pretty close to killing each other right about then, so a break from living in the house during the remodeling might be an order.

I'm already researching wheelchair accessible accommodations around the Pacific Northwest; we'll see what we can come up with!

~Jess