Painting is the FUN part!

I spent the day with DH (dear husband) doing some more prep work on the walls in my son's bedroom.  The walls were previously wallpapered, and now are in some rough shape!  So it's taking a bit of time to ready them for the paint.  Not the best way to spend a day, necessarily, but...it was fun to be doing some work on the house again!  It's been awhile.  We're fortunate to be able to hire a lot of it out.  But for years we did most all of it ourselves, and it was fun to re-visit those times!  In fact, there is a certain joy in looking back at our early years, how little we had to work with, and how much fun it was to be efficient with what we had.  I look back at the old pictures, and remember how much I labored in our first house, painting, repairing, decorating...now, I don't have as much time, having 4 kiddos and a world of busy-ness!  Sometimes keeping up with everything that needs to get done around here seems like a chore.  I look back on our 10 years in the house and am amazed at how much we've accomplished.  Sometimes, I look at the projects I've done, and I can't believe I did them!  I used to be MUCH more ambitious...!

I have a friend down the street who reminds me A LOT of the younger me.  She has talent for decorating, and making unusual use of different items, and enjoying the thrill of the hunt: finding a great deal at a garage sale, or Goodwill, and making it her own...I do miss those days...I really have no use for them anymore, because I've reached the point where I don't need to acquire any more stuff.  And I have the money to buy things already done.  Which is where I always strove to be!  I'm in my dream house, with the money to fix it up, and the money to furnish it...incredibly blessed!  But I love looking back at the days when my creativity really blossomed, and most everything I used had my own mark on it.  Sewing curtains, recovering chairs, painting furniture...yup, it was fun!  I hope my own kids get to have fun doing the same thing someday.

So, off to sand down the walls...and to relish the good feelings that come from doing the work yourself!