time for a little change

Lolly & I have recently been getting bored with our house and looking to make some little improvements. We've adopted a new color for the door: deep eggplant. Yes, our house will now have on it yellow, green, and purple. NO. It is absolutely NOT a mardi gras house. Not at all. Trust me, I tested it. The eggplant color is the perfect complement to the dark green trim color, yet contrasts in a fun way for an inviting front door. Do I work for southern living? I sound like I think I do.

Anyways...we've decided our next task, upon completion of painting, will be to take out a wall. Ambitious, huh? Well, we originally wanted to move the wall further into the diningroom, but have decided that would be costly and require that we replace ALL of our cabinets. Lots of cost for only 3 extra feet in the kitchen. SO not worth it. So we're going to turn the remaining half of that wall into a pass-through complete with bar. See image below:

Should be a fun reno!

Progress photos to come as the renovation begins...

waiting. ugh.

So,

A friend recently said that waiting for something was just torture.  Having to wait for something you want was just plain not fun.  It made me think back to a book I read:  The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey.  In it, Dave says that if you can live without it, it's worth waiting for. 

That's most of everything we buy today.  We "need" it, but dont really need it.  Its more of a mental thing.  We force ourselves to believe we need it when in fact, we just want it and consider it essential.  No matter what.  No matter how insignificant.  Its not so much that we cant live without it, but that it would make life so much easier, therefore we need it.  Or it would make us happy, therefore we need it.  Ever since I first read Dave's book, I've begun to realize that we "need" far more than we actually need.  As a generation, we consume massive amounts of materials all in the name of "need."  (i apologize for the overzealous use of quotations, but I "need" them.  hehehe)

We tell ourselves we must be prepared for every possible outcome of every situation of every second of every day.  So we fill our lives with "needs" or stuff.  We dont need it.  IT gives us security and makes us happy that we are able to provide for ourselves.  So we get IT.  Again, we dont really need it.  

I think that's one of the biggest things I've taken from the last few years.  I've learned to periodically purge and remove this excess from my life. This was hardly once the case; when I used to collect coke stuff or whatever struck my fancy.  These days, I would lose my mind.  Minimal.  That is life.  Why have all this excess on the off chance that you MIGHT use it?  Share things.   We borrow things from our friends who also have kids.  It may make us seem like a mooch at times.  But hey, why buy that thing if somebody you know has the same thing isnt using it?  Why consume so much excess on the off chance that you MAY one day need it?  It's not essential, so just wait.  Save up.  Get it when it actually becomes essential, which it most likely never will.  There are far too many other good things to do with your time and money than to consume and buy and fill your life with all this misc junk you really dont need.

but that's just my late night thought for the day.  Who am I kidding.
(see previous post for comments on opinion) 

Noooooow I get it.

Boy,

Opinions really are like...well...you know. Yeah. Everybody's got 'em, but nobody really wants to hear 'em. Lesson learned. I think it hit me like a ton of bricks b/c I have always just thrown mine out there like it was the word of God and didn't really care if it bothered anybody. Well, looking back, it bothers ME. What a douchetard. Why does my opinion really matter in the grand scheme of things unless it's to me? Who really cares? Unless somebody asks, NOBODY cares. Thats what I've learned.

Especially since lately, listening to everybody's opinions about where we should live, how we should raise our family, etc are just plain annoying. Actually, they at times make me angry. What gives you the right or makes you think you opinion is really valid as it pertains to me? GOD I have a lot of work to do before I no longer throw my opinion out there too. But hey, I'm glad I finally caught on.

lullllllllllllllll

Sometimes, work shifts into high gear and you feel like there's not enough hours in the day to get everything done. You think that any minute, you'll snap and just walk out. There's just not enough of me to go around! It can be quite maddening.

well...this week is not one of those. For some reason, we hit a major lull here and I really don't have any pressing deadlines or anything of the sort. What has this taught me? Well, I now know that I work well under pressure. In fact, if there is no pressure I pretty much don't work at all. What does that say about me? Am I unmotivated? Am I lazy? Do I need something else in my life? UGH Who knows.

Guess I'll go break my 2-week streak and have a cup of coffee. Hey, I've held out long enough. Danget.