2 Phone Calls and 1 Email

2 Phone calls and 1 email.

All received today, from loved ones and friends far and near.

Each one saying pretty much the same thing . . .

      "What's going on with you?" 
            "Where have you been?"
                  "Why aren't you writing?"
                        "Where's the vlog?"
                               "What's happening?"
                                     "Are you alright? Really?"

2 Phone calls and 1 email.

How cool, don't you think? Yes, I am blessed. My support system is far and wide, and each time I begin to feel alone . . . out of the wood work they come. Angels, I call them. And I am surrounded by them. If you were one of the three who reached out to me, I thank you and I love you. Truly.

      "What's going on with you?" was one of the questions asked of me today.

The answer? I'm . . . living. It sounds much more pathetic than it really is. The truth? I'm finding my way. I'm thinking . . . alot. I'm taking deep breaths and trying to enjoy the little moments in my days. There was a time not so long ago when I was able to write freely about these little moments in my days. Lately, it's harder to write about them. Harder to sit down at this computer and click away at the keys. But, I'm trying.

I am having moments that are magical . . . I promise you that.

I actually have been doing a different sort of creating these days. We are changing some things in our house, did I tell you? This June, we will be in our home for 11 years, and it is time we start making some changes. Our upstairs carpeting desperately needs to be replaced, the living room and hallways need to be repainted, and it's about time we add that back splash to our kitchen. My nose has been stuck in what feels like thousands of home decorating magazines, and HGTV has become my best friend. There isn't a single home improvement job that I can't handle! (kidding! But don't they make it look so easy?)

So, we started this past weekend, with our living room. Did I ever tell you about our living room? Here is a photo of it from a few years ago.

Yep . . . here it is. And it has look this way for about 11 years. I am a BIG fan of Frank Lloyd Wright, and had a vision of what I wanted this room to look like the moment we built our house in 2001. Phil completely supported my idea, and our ORANGE room was born.

And boy-oh-boy, this room has taken a lot of heat through the years. I remember it was the very first room that Phil and I painted when we moved into our house. We picked the color out together, and worked on the dry brush cross hatch glaze technique for hours and hours . . . I remember my arm muscles being so sore once we finished.  I also remember my Mom coming over the day after we finished it and clearly telling us how much she disliked the color. I think she said the color made her feel anxious. But, we didn't mind. It was our house, and we were so proud of this room.

As our living room, it is the first room guest step into when coming to our home. It houses our Christmas Tree during the holidays and has served as a dining room for a few family gatherings, too. It's my quiet space. My thinking space. My warm and inviting space. My happy space.

But, it was time for a change.

The furniture is in good shape, so most of it is staying. But the color of the walls, the rug, the curtains . . . all gone. And let me tell you . . . I LOVE the new look! I'll share an "AFTER" picture with you in my next post. You're going to LOVE it!

Next job will be the carpeting. Then the kitchen. I'm having fun with all of this!

All of these changes are REALLY good for me right now. I need to change my environment . . . the Gemini in me is needing to look at things a little bit differently right now, and I am loving all of these projects.

Other than the house, my focus is on these two . . .

Here they are during a particularly beautiful Easter Sunday afternoon. Although our Easter Bunny brought a little too much chocolate (and our little Ella has been feeling the after shock of sugar overload all day today), we still are having a wonderful spring break week.

That's all for now, my friends. This is . . . officially . . . blog post # 598!!! Remember, I'm planning a wonderful give-away to celebrate my 600th blog post. Holy cow . . . I still can't believe I am approaching blog post 600! No wonder I'm at a loss for words lately. I've written 598 POSTS PEOPLE!!! That's A LOT of writing! ;) 

I am thrilled to be here, though. And can't wait to celebrate the BIG 6-0-0 with you!

See you in a day or two with "after" photos of my living room, and other tales of our happy chaos.