At least, I hope it's a happy Wednesday for you; mine is off to a fabulous start and just may improve with the (possible) delivery of our new sofa and love seat for our living room! Just imagine a living room devoid of ANY furniture, paintings...nothing. Okay, how 'bout I help you all along just a wee bit:
There. That's a photo of our living room as it looks right now, as it has looked since we moved into this house at the beginning of June, 2010. Crazy, eh? And it's not that Ramón and I are negligent or indifferent to our surroundings -- we're adaptible, but not oblivious! -- it's just that living rooms and love-nest-ing are put on hold when the good ol' government forgets to pass a paycheque your way for, oh, close to eight months. But hey, we got through it and, even though it had its challenging (and comfortable seating-less!) moments, we actually grew in our relationship with one another and in our appreciation for the little things that we have had -- like health and sunshine and each other and our dog...and delicious food! One of my passions in life is cooking (not to be confused with baking, although I do occasionally bust out some Mennonite desserts!), and now that I'm not working full-time anymore I have more time to dedicate to diversifying our menu. I love both of Martha Stewart's websites, http://www.wholeliving.com/ and http://www.marthastewart.com/ -- but I digress! Once we get our furniture delivered and situated in the living room we hope to decide upon the appropriate paint swatch and begin the transformation of the empty house in which we live into a cozy, inviting home.
So! Along with all this growing that Ramón and I have been doing (which thankfully hasn't included growing waistlines due to our twice-daily walks with Keipo!), we have also become keenly aware that we truly can live without most things that we formerly took for granted. We have also gained, I believe, a better sense of balancing both extremes (materialistic consumer vs. tight-wad martyr) and are on our way to acquiring some of the things that perhaps are essential to balanced living -- and, okay, a few little splurges here and there that just bring us a little more enjoyment. One of these is a washing machine!!! Yes!! For the past year I've been laundering all our clothes by hand, which I know a lot of people do and I actually don't mind all that much despite its time-consuming nature. But thanks to a great sale at our local mall we bought a lovely little Samsung number for $179, taxes in. And she works like a charm! I must admit, I was almost giddy with excitement when we tried out our first load of laundry with her -- the clothes just seemed to wash themselves! It's AMAZING!! In fact, I know get excited when I have enough clothes to throw in a load -- adjusting water levels and cycles appropriately, of course, and always without hot water as that's a luxury lacking in our entire home -- and I just HAVE to share with you the result:
Beautiful, isn't it! I mean both our washing machine and the clothes hung out to dry. Ahh... these are the little things that kind of feel like the big things sometimes. And I can't wait to share with you a photo of our livingroom once the initial pieces of furniture make their way here!
We still have plenty on our list of things eventually to acquire -- not that we want to fill our home with stuff just for the sake of it; rather, we do enjoy sharing our home with others and entertaining guests with a meal and a comfortable, welcoming space so that they feel at home, too. So, part of that includes outfitting our spare room (also effectively empty at present) and the bathroom (Keipo's room when we are both away from home) and putting some original, practical and inviting touches on the living room and dining room -- but we'll get there. And we'll thoroughly enjoy the process with a greater appreciation for the little things as they come into place and a gratefulness for the fact that we know we can go without them once again, if need be.
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