I appreciate the advice everyone, and ps2cho, thanks for that awesome tutorial. I was not eager about dropping $1,200 for the job, but after reading some of your comments, that shop will definitely NOT be getting my business.

I'll be doing the work myself, but the off chance that one of those springs could come loose and mess up my pretty face scares the hell out of me

Just out of curiosity, have any of you ever heard of an upper strut mount completely failing and the strut coming up and breaking through the hood of the car?