As you probably already know, we are currently renting an apartment.  We'll be here for at least another 2 years, unless we win the lotto or something (and you can't win if you don't play, LOL).  So while this is a temporary home for us, we will still be here for a while.

I've been hesitant to really do any decorating or to make the apartment too "homey," because is IS temporary.  I have realized recently, though, that this is not the right attitude to have.  Regardless of how temporary it is, or how much I want to buy a house NOW, it's still home for the present time.  So I've decided to try to make things a bit more home-like.  This weekend, for example, we're going to actually hang some of the pictures that we have stored in my mother-in-law's basement.  No sense letting them gather dust down there, when they could be gathering dust on our walls, right?

I don't want to spend a lot of money in decorating an apartment, of course.  Our windows were looking kind of bare and institutional-looking with only miniblinds, but I didn't want to fork over big bucks for curtains that likely wouldn't go with our future house.  I looked through my fabric stash, and found a couple of flannel prints that I had bought for 99 cents per yard on Black Friday at Joann's.  I made very simple valances to go over the miniblinds.  I think they came out pretty cute! 

Here's the one in the kitchen (excuse the streaky window... apparently I need to clean it!)

And here's the one in the living room:

They were very easy to make, and I think that next time I see flannel on sale, I'll make some for the bedrooms and bathroom as well!  I could actually make one for the bathroom out of the frog fabric.  We'll see.

In other news, J has just gotten over pinkeye, and R is in the throes of it.  There was a little girl at the ER the other day who had it, and I can only assume that's where they got it from.  Rebecca is perfectly fine now.  We have an allergist appointment in August (that's the first time they could get her in), and her pediatrician gave me an EpiPen for her, just in case she has another reaction, as subsequent reactions can be worse than first-time reactions. 

I think that's it for today!  Have a great weekend.