In spite of…(the room re-do)

I am not accustomed to being sick, and it really bothers me to not be able to do and think and go at a pace that I feel is needed (Yeah, I know).

Not only that, but with all three children at some stage of sickness as well, so much of our normal “M O” has been left by the wayside.    The oldest, faithfully slow and methodical, has averaged about 8 hours to complete 2 subjects.   Our youngest has skated, given that Mom generally crawled back in bed for the day after her morning break.   By the time I tried to get us back on track at week’s end when I feel better, I realized quickly the impact of even a few days of inconsistency.    Our son is getting his work done, but not much else in terms of his responsibilities.   I chose not to immediately address any of this, less I respond out of my own aches, frustrations, and downright crankiness.

When I grew weary of lying in bed, I forced myself to keep moving on our no-cost home improvement project.   You could argue that I’m not paying attention to my body, and maybe you’d be right, but I’m also a believer that so much of our body’s state of being is first and foremost a product of our state of mind.   So, once we began moving furniture, we did as much as we could before having to stop and repaint our daughter’s room.

Color choice is always an interesting discussion in our home.   The kids always want what they want.   Yet, with an eye for future buyers, I try to stay in a certain pallette.   I love earth tones, but I’m not that crazy about green.   So with all of these different needs as a backdrop for the back-and-forth color choice negotiation, our youngest finally settled on “whispered purple.”

I didn’t plan on painting, and now that my fire for home improvement projects definitely needs rekindling, thank God for a growing son anxious to show himself a young man.   He couldn’t  remember to do his part with the laundry, or to pack his dance bag with socks and water  before time to walk out of the door, or to take his phone rather than mine, but he can paint.     I need to show him some grace, as I’m sure that he’s been in a stuffy-nozed, sore-throated fog, too.   One day he actually tried–on his own–a home remedy suggested to me recently: raw garlic cloves.   He must have been feeling pretty badly.

The room came out great, but all the new colors in the house got me thinking about how we might adjust the artwork to make better use of what we now have.   Just as one example, these sconces (there are two of them, one pictured here) once hung inside our home in our largely empty great room.   They and the picture they complemented matched nothing, but they filled a space on what would otherwise be an empty wall.  

Now they will greet everyone who comes to the front door.   Hopefully, they speak a graceful welcome to others, and nudge me to spruce up the wreath they now complement.   Can’t wait to post the other house upgrades later.