Cold weather and house pictures

Y'all. It's so cold and windy outside.

Abe went to Costco, but I prefer to experience the howling of the wind from the comfort of my pajamas. I don't know about you, but I believe that people who live in places with months of 100+ degree weather should be allowed to whine and sit inside by the fire when it gets cold enough to kill the aloe vera plants.

Ergo: wah!

I got sort of bored with whining (who knew that was possible?), so I decided to take some crappy cell phone pictures* of the kitchen/dining area of our house in its still-in-progress state.

*I still haven't packed and moved my camera charger because I'm lazy.

This is the kitchen/dining area:

Likes: the fireplace, the big window, over the sink, the color of the kitchen cabinets.

Dislikes: SoMuchBrick!, tile floors, kitchen lighting.

I'd like to paint the brick and take down the mantle, but 1.) I'm pretty sure we're not allowed to do that, and 2.) I'm afraid we might be overwhelmed by too much white space on the walls.

The tile floors would be great, except that they weren't sealed well when they were installed, and are prone to staining and sucking in dirt like weird little tile vacuums.

I'm not sure what we'll do about the lighting.

This is a better picture of the kitchen:

(Note the little bird salt and pepper shakers to the left of the fruit bowl. Love them.)

We painted the kitchen and dining area much brighter colors when we moved in (previously, the rooms were a combination of beige, dark grey, and wall-to-wall wood paneling). I love how bright the kitchen is.

On the other hand, I wish the countertops were solid surface instead of tile. I also have a love/hate relationship with the mini blinds. While the kitchen gets fantastic light during the day, and I love being able to open the blinds to let the sun in, the mini blinds are sort of ugly. Abe hates curtains, so I'm guessing we'll end up getting Venetian blinds or something similar.

I doubt that we'll upgrade the appliances (except maybe the fridge) since it's not our house.

So that is that.

In other news, here is a picture of Bailey looking pensive by the fire:

And here he is doing his Mrs. White impression:

"Fl- flames... Flames on the side of my face!"

And I think it's time for me to put the cell phone down now.