I Decorated!

This year I made some New Year's resolutions. I didn't keep them, of course. (Isn't there some kind of rule that one is not actually allowed to keep New Year's resolutions? It's only the changes that occur during the year that count?) But they did allow me to pay more attention to my life. I had wanted to work on finally decorating and cleaning the house, and Jeff and I even came up with a plan to tackle a room a month. But real life kicked in, and in "failing" it forced me to realize how much time we spend just sustaining life. And I wanted to begin migrating to all natural skincare, hair care, and makeup. That has happened, I suppose. All I've purchased since then is makeup, and it's more natural than I bought before. And I haven't purchased anything else (even when it was on sale and I had coupons), so restraint in avoiding traditional products is good I guess.

The one thing I really wanted to do was to write every day, and I managed to do that for awhile. I didn't get around to it for a few days, and the time crept away from me. Then I read an article where a woman said each night she wrote one sentence in her journal about the day. That's it. One. So I adopted that strategy, although I quickly forgot to do that, too. But I did allow myself to do catch up, so sometimes I write three or more days at a time.

I figured I could take the same approach here. Maybe not a sentence at a time, but a five minute limit on writing. I've tried that before, and it's been successful. This has already taken seven minutes, so I am technically over my time, but one quick story.

On Tuesday when I got home from work, the first thing I heard was Jeff say, "Leon, what are you supposed to tell Mom?"

Then Leon proudly exclaimed, "I decorated!" and Jeff groaned. That was not exactly what Jeff had in mind. On Monday night Ree accidentally left her favorite ball point pen on the couch. She likes it because it writes well and always produces a thick, dark line. Leon had used it to make designs all over the back cushions on the couch. He COVERED them in designs. Jeff, my hero, then spent 2 1/2 hours on Tuesday night removing the designs with a Magic Eraser. (Not a remotely natural product, but it worked.)

My lesson in all this was perception on beauty. While Ree was taking her bath, she asked out of pure curiosity why we couldn't color on the couch. It was harder to answer than I thought. I initially said because couches cost a lot of money, but we both quickly realized that made no logical sense. Why would spending money prevent you from decorating? We spent a lot more on a house and immediately painted the rooms. So then I had to further explain that when you buy couches, it's because you like the way they look, and you want them to continue to look the way they did when you bought them. That answer made sense to her.