Well, I have unofficially decided against an SLR. I did a little research and looking at what can be done with the bigger p&s, and I'm thinking that for what I want to do, they'll work just fine. There are some fairly decent p&s that have respectable macro. I also borrowed my wife's Panasonic Lumix FH20, went into the basement and took a few shots. Not bad, and it's just a regular pocket sized point and shoot.
I'll have to go in and check them out in person, but I'm confident that I'll find something that I like in the range of $300-$500. Without actually looking in store, I'm looking at something like these:
http://estore.canon.ca/eStore/product?pid=4812&
https://panasonic.ca/english/audiovi...ll/DMCFZ47.asp
http://store.sony.ca/webapp/wcs/stor...52921666297852
http://en.nikon.ca/Nikon-Products/Pr...LPIX-P500.html
From the reading that I've done, the Nikon sounds the best, and is at the top of the list, but we'll see.
The main reason for this decision is the $500 price tag on a macro lens. Add that to the price of the camera, and it's more than I want to spend... for something that may not end up being used to it's full potential.