I'm baaaaack. Very ready to fire up my blog again after a several-months-long hiatus. This blog has been in hibernation for the winter because a) I'm not a winter person, b) We've just weathered a really tough and painful season with Tessa's behavior that we're now so happily emerging from, c) I took a break from home projects at my husband's request, and d) I've been really tucking into my work. I took on a few more freelance clients (D. Luxe Home, Bynum Design, and T.J. Anderson Real Estate Partners), and it looks like a few more are about to sign on. I love that I've accidentally developed a niche with home improvement/interior design/real estate/building companies. It's probably, actually, not very accidental at all since these are the things I most like to write about and don't have to feign enthusiasm to do so. The irony hasn't been lost on me that I stopped writing my own blog so other people could pay me to write their blogs for them. But this space remains important to me.
As always, it's been tough managing a full-time-work-from-home schedule while also managing these two little girls, wiping their perpetually snotty noses, staying patient and kind and fun--and staying focused on paying off our debt. We are proud to have paid off $10K in 2013 and have another $10K (and then some) left to go; this includes paying off our car but not our house. Some days I have to all but sit on my hands so I won't use them to online shop or drive as fast as I can to T.J. Maxx, which truly is my happy place. But I'm so thankful to have hit my stride with having two kids. It was a tough adjustment for me--going from having one apple of my eye to two--and it only took me a year. This is something I'd like to write about here soon. It's helped getting Livvy into one of Tessa's Mother's Day Out programs twice a week, and we're budgeting for even more childcare starting next month. I need the time to get my work done.
I also need the time to get back to doing some of the things that make me happy. Like painting everything in sight. Yesterday morning, before the gray skies broke into a long rain, I got back into the swing of things by painting my back door Martha Stewart's "Duck Egg." I flipping love it. And this morning, I started the process of painting our kitchen cabinets. After much debate, I decided that I'm going to do it the "right" way--with more durable oil paint, which takes forever to dry--rather than with water-based or chalk paint, which I was considering using. I'm using Martha Stewart's "Bedford Gray," which I chose based on this kitchen transformation. Crossing my fingers it turns out as gorgeous and fresh as I envision. Here's what our kitchen cabinets look like now.
Cheers to spring--I'm a little premature to be sure, but I feel her coming. She's in my heart--a whole new season.
Glad to see you back here! I've been checking in from time to time. Love the hippie sign by the door! TJ Maxx is my happy place, too. *sigh*
ReplyDeleteI want to say the article is great! Thanks for the Post.
ReplyDeleteI am a winter person unlinke you and love winter a lot.But you really deserve a standing ovation for managing all your work single handedly along with these two little cute girls.
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