A house is not a home

Nice weekend around here. Didn't do much - just hung out by the pool. Went to dinner last night at Cafe Red Onion. Thought about going to the drive-in, but it was late so we didn't make it. Which was actually OK with me - I'd seen one of the movies and didn't really want to see the other - I know WALL-E is getting great reviews, but I'm thinking now that my girls are older, I can get a pass on animated films.

(I'm really holding out for the next big summer movie: Mamma Mia. Opens July 18, and the girls and I are totally jazzed. We'll be knee-deep in boxes, and while it doesn't have to be the 18th on the dot, I am going to make time to see this. I'll have to see which friends I can scrape up to go with us. Helen? JoAnn? Christine? Could be a party. I've got ABBA on in the background, getting me in the mood.)

We are enjoying the last few days in our Houston house. And I do mean enjoying, because we like this house. Then again, we have liked all our houses. We loved our very first house back in Peoria, and we love this one.



It looks remarkably like every other house in the neighborhood, which is a slight drawback - when we first moved in, I was shocked that the girls didn't get lost walking the dog or coming home on the bus - the neighborhood tends to have a bit of a Stepford-esque quality.



The family room is great - it's where we spend all our time. When we're not in the pool.




The kitchen is moderately high-end. No restaurant-grade range, but we've got the stainless/granite look going on. Though the orange kitchen walls were not a hit with all who looked here. I love them; I'm not a big fan of the bland neutral walls.



Dining room, which is much too small. As is our living room (not pictured). But our bedroom is giant - go figure.



I do love the master bathroom. The closet is huge, too. Can you believe someone commented that they did not like this tile? How is that possible? We think it is fabulous.



The afore-mentioned gigantic master bedroom. What do they think we need all this space for - what do they expect us to do in here?



My favorite hang-out spot - the backyard pool. Makes the summer (and Houston in general) bearable.

I like all of this. But I'm not too sad to leave - we will get all of these features in the next house - nice kitchen (as soon as I get the contractor started - !), master bathroom (same deal), pool, master bedroom with fireplace, much nicer (bigger) gameroom for the kids, with more privacy (ours is too open to the main floor, so the noise tends to carry over).

It's just a house, and after owning five of them, we know that there is always another house. Always. It's having my family there that makes it home.