Ch-ch-ch-changes

Sometimes, with life, I start to feel a little stagnant. 

I start to itch for a change.

I am sure I am not the only one.

I am sure, though, that the major difference between us is that, when I start to feel that way I have a tendency to paint. 

It is cheaper than redoing all of the decor in our house and it makes everything feel so clean and fresh.

It is not that I love painting.

(Although you may doubt that statement given my track record)

I just love the way it feels when it is done, so it is worth the effort. 

Our kitchen has been pretty ugly since the day we moved in. 

It is old and out dated but, in the end you work with what you got.

The cupboards. Oh the cupboards.

They were a taupey brown in the center, and who ever painted them before painted all of the hardware. Plus, we don't have a hood vent above our stove so the cupboards all had a greasy, sticky, yellow film over the top that had been on there for many years and refused to come off.

No worries. Paint covers it all up.  

White cupboards seem to warm my soul.

Still old, but I can totally handle that.

The hallway in our house has been painted this color since we moved in.

I actually repainted it right when we moved in, in the same color. 

I never really had a problem with it.

But I decided to paint the baseboards because they were all hacked up, and Blake suggested that I paint the walls a lighter color.

*collective sigh*

Clean walls. White baseboards. Ahhh.

And since I obviously can not get enough of painting I picked up this little desk at the D.I. for Laney and Penny's room. 

It is going to get a nice new lease on life too. Just like the dresser behind it. 

And when it comes to treasures I also found this little chair at Thrift Town that I couldn't resist for the new desk. 

For $1.99 it practically jumped in my cart on its own. 

Mozzy

Mozzy has been with us for about a month.

We have learned a couple of things since:

Grabbing him around his middle when he is trying to run away...seems to work. Somehow when his back feet are off the floor it slows his escape.

Although he likes his, not very frequent, alone time. He also is a busy body.

Canon loves him. Loves him to the point where I fear he might smother the cat. Canon is under the impression that him and Mozzy are buds. The crying meowing doesn't have me convinced.

He is a good sport and lets Penny carry him around a little haphazardly.

The other kids carry him like a baby. 

Side bar--

I was always under the impression that he let the kids carry him on his back because he was mellow and didn't care. At night, he goes into the bathroom to sleep and we close the door. When morning comes, as soon as he hears the kids talking he starts meowing. The other morning I went down and he was meowing but the kids were still sleeping. So I grabbed him and took him upstairs. I was holding him and petting him but he wouldn't stop meowing. I told Blake I didn't get why he was meowing so Blake picked him up and laid him on his back like a baby. As soon as he did that he started purring. 

Dumb cat. Loves being a baby. 

Mozzy has figured out the art of hiding. Which has made it hard at times for the kids to find him. 

In the eyes of our kids, he is the best.
Through the eyes of Gavin, he evidently looks like he is cross-eyed..and maybe not quite right in the head.

The child that is the most scared of animals can get over that fear pretty easily...then in turn instills that fear in the cat instead.

Our house feels just like it did before. 

Although now we have a cat that says night time prayers with us. 

How Did That Happen?

I am old. 

Or at least I feel that way. 

But let's not make this about me...because it isn't.

Lets talk about what is making me feel old.

Gavin turned 8 on Tuesday.

He couldn't be happier.

Me? I may have curled up in the fetal position and cried a little.

 Somewhere along the lines he went from no teeth,

to having lost some.

Not that having missing teeth changes the taste of cereal.

Fruity Pebbles...nasty to me...gold to an 8 year old.

In the form of abnormally colored artificially flavored fruit bits.

Gavin had to wait until dinner time to eat cake and open presents. 

I am sure it was torturous for him.

When the time came...he was ready.   

 I made an Apple Fritter Cake. I thought it was a good idea. 

Epic fail. No one liked it but Penny and I.

At least Gavin was gracious and said that even though he didn't like the cake it was still a good birthday anyways.

Not that bad considering, he has had some worse reactions to cakes in the past. 

The only thing he requested for his birthday was a certain Pokemon card.

We had to mess with him a little and put it in a bigger box.

Wrapped in another big box.

With a side of Skittles.

Until he unwrapped it.

Bliss.

Which happens to be the same feeling I get every time I look at him.

Resolutions

Last year seemed like it was a little rough. 

A lot of things happened that I probably could have done without.

But as a whole when I think about the year it doesn't seem that bad either...

Which means...that I am crazy...or..I don't have the best memory...or I have a selective memory...or get distracted easily. 

What was my point?

I kid.

This year I made some before New Years resolutions. I typically am not a "resolutions" kind of gal. I figure if you want to change something, you don't need the new year to do it. So I started in November.

My goal is to work on being grateful and satisfied with what I have.

One way for me to do that was to be happy for the clothes that I have (no matter how trivial that sounds) because truthfully...I have a lot.

I wanted to wear somethings that haven't seen the light of day for awhile. And by awhile, I mean that I still have a blouse that I had when I was dating Blake. 

So I switched all of my clothes backwards on their hangers and when I wear something I turn it the right way. 

It is fun to try to find some new ways to wear stuff and realize what things that I need to get rid of.

Plus, I don't care what anyone says...getting dressed in the morning is the quickest way for me to start my day off right. 

Especially when it is an outfit that I like.

They aren't all great, but they are not pajamas so that has to count for something. 

And...and...all of these pictures are a really good graph for how often I make our bed. 

Consider "making our bed more" a new resolution to start in February.

No Shame

The other day Canon was in the kitchen "just chilling." 

I couldn't stop laughing at how funny he looked so I took a picture with my cell phone.

Imagine my surprise when Blake sends this picture to me the same day...

I just can't figure out where he gets it from?

And why I evidently, have no self respect.