We started getting ready to paint our living room early February. It is still not done. We do have the paint on the walls, the first coat on the ceiling, but there are yet to be anything hung on the wall, or anything finished.
Issue #1: I am really, really, really not good at decorating. I stare at things for hours, I look through blogs, magazines, and I just don't see how to put things together. It takes me a long time to figure it out, so if I post something decorated, it means a really big deal to me.
Issue #2: I am really, really, really, bad at spending money. As in, I don't. Unless it is completely essential (read: food, chocolate, and clothing for the kids) and I absolutely have to buy it. Not the, "I'm just gonna die if I can't have it!" type of I absolutely have to buy it, but more like I actually go through my entire cart when I get to the checkout line at any place and will hand items back to the cashier if I don't deem them necessary. Then I often pull things out of the shopping bags at home and give them a second look and decide which ones I should probably return. I haven't bought myself a new outfit for over a year now. I'm too practical for my own good. I'd be a great Amish wife. One outfit and a hooded bonnet. Done.
Issue #3: I'm stuck when it comes to my dining room. The issue is we don't have one. We have what you would call an eat in kitchen, but our kitchen is more of an "I desperately need an island and more cupboard space" type of kitchen. So right now our dining room table (which is kind of massive) is squished up again the side of our living room, which means our couch and TV (hallelujah) took a trip to the neglected basement where they will most likely remain until we move.
Speaking of kitchen island, I want my husband to build something like this for me:
Issue #4: I have two children. Lily eating spackle once was enough to scare me from ever busting out home improvement projects when those two are awake. I feel terrible for the thoughts I have in my head whenever Keith (dare he?) comes home and wants to relax. I bite my lip and let him relax, imagining him instead painting, moving furniture, doing my bidding, replaining the backyard, putting in the door in the laundry room, building us a kitchen island, finishing the bathroom, etc. while I head out to the gym or catch up on laundry. He's making progress, but I have watched too many HGTV episodes where they fastforward through all the hard labor and Whalla! it is done and beautiful in half an hour.
I too often start worrying about my little home issues, and then I get one of those reminders that I am lucky to have a home. Tsunami in Japan? Flooding throughout Australia? Tornadoes ripping across the U.S.? Can't decorate the living room? Not sure the last one matters.
But it might still matter a teensy bit somewhere in the back of my mind. If you want a try at it, I might just bake you some REALLY good chocolate chip cookies...
