Mommy, raise your hand.

Austin was taking polls the other day.  He would say, "Raise your hand if ___________."  One of them was, "Raise your hand if you're beautiful."  No one raised their hand.  He turned to me and said, "Mommy! You were supposed to raise your hand." 

Just one sentence from my sweet little boy can turn my whole day around.

Be Intentional.

Have you ever heard a word or phrase over and over and finally one day it hits you?  Suddenly, you fully understand it.

I read a blog called The Intentional Home. The writer discusses different ways of being intentional in life.  For some reason when I read the word "intentional" today the light bulb came on.  Be intentional.  With finances. With family. With your time. With your home. With your talents. Live life intentionally. ON PURPOSE!

I no longer want to allow the days to go by, stepping through the same routine day in and day out.  I no longer want to waste the time wishing to make my photography business grow, wishing to get closer to God, wishing to make a leap in our finances and debt relief, wishing I had a better relationship with people, wishing to set aside special time with my kids as I sit staring at a screen or watching episode after episode night after night.  Time is valuable and I need to start prioritizing and making my keystrokes be worth something more than points in Words with Friends.

Tonight I turn over a new leaf with a new look on life.  Its time to live life on purpose.

January: Home Improvement

A blog I follow mentioned doing "12 in 12", as in a new resolution for each month. I kind of like that idea. It makes it seem more feasible to obtain the goals.  I have declared 2012 my year for improvement, whether it be health, home, mental, spiritual, relationships, etc.

Since there are a few house projects I started in December that I would really like to get finished up, January is home improvement month. 

I worked on the boys' room between Christmas and New Year's Eve.  I was able to set up a new storage cubby with canvas bins, hang two shelves, frame and hang puzzles with their names on them and Mark installed the tv bracket, tv and dvd player.  We also took out the junk collector-I mean desk. (I am hoping to take, then post, some photos later of the work we did get accomplished.)

I was hoping to get them some seating but cant decide if I want a couple of kids' sized nest chairs, ottomons with storage inside or bean bags.  In the next couple of months we will install new flooring and Mark is going to build the beds I posted a picture of.  We just didnt have the time or funds before the kids came home.

On top of the work in the boys' room, I also disassembled the master bedroom and began painting. This is the biggest project I want to finish in January.  This Saturday, hubby is dragging in the ladder so I can paint the vaulted part of the walls and I'll get a second coat on the entire room.  As part of my Christmas gift, from my brother-in-law and his wife, I received a Groupon for Dali Decals.  I used it to purchase a monogram for above our bed and a set of 12 birds to strategically place on the wall so it appears they are sitting on a line. We discarded all of the trim in our bedroom when the flooring was installed because the previous owners wanted to bring color into the room my painting them an awful purple/brown mixture.  Instead of trying to salvage and continually coat the old trim in paint, we're just going to splurge for new trim and paint it crisp, clean white.  The finishing touch will be white crown molding over the windsurf blue paint. 

I certainly believe our room can be complete by the end of January.  The most time consuming portion is the painting and, as I stated before, I am hoping to knock that out this Saturday.

Today, the Christmas decor begins coming down.

The Boulton Boys and I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. 

This is a time of renewal and growth.

A clean slate.

 A fresh start.

Use it to your advantage!