Stress Managed

When the going gets tough, the tough redecorates. The reality it has only been a week since Christmas hit me last night. A lot of life has taken place these last seven days. I am ready to start fresh with a new organized color coded calendar. (Makenna has been watching Friends on Netflix this last week and now calls me Monica as often as she refers to me as Sheryl. At least Monica suits me.) Now if everyone who loves me could just adhere to the plan, that would be great. I wish 2017 to be restful and maybe even boring. For real.

As the craziness of 2016 unfolded, I craved a retreat space for us to escape the madness. We went to Home Depot before December kidnapped my husband and bought a large framed mirror I had two possible plans for. It has been waiting in the garage for me to get some time to start moving furniture. I started on Friday night and cannot believe how much space the change created. And the overall feeling of the bedroom is inviting. Both Greg and I are pleased. But the biggest change was the addition of a smart TV so we could arrange furniture the way I wanted as opposed to the way the cable hookups demanded.

Greg and I had been discussing updating our bedroom for several weeks. It is a space that hasn't been on the receiving end of our attention like the rest of the house and serves more of a catch-all. I kept sentimental pieces and mix matched furniture in there, falsely believing it was a good place to do that since we are the only ones who see it. So I impulsively spent some money on Saturday afternoon.

I shopped online quite a bit and couldn't believe the price I found on this model at Best Buy. In fact, when I stopped in to look at it, the salesman was convinced I had the price wrong.  When I pulled it up on my phone, his eyes got big and he flagged down another associate. Not only did I leave with a new TV but so did the couple next to me and I suspect the salesman did too. It was Christmas money well spent. In fact, it is most likely the only part of the room change that Greg cares about.

The furniture was from my childhood and is still in great shape but the boxy mirror with shelves was dating it quite a bit. I was ready to let that part go. Now I am deciding if I am painting the dressers. I haven't committed to a decision either way because as I already mentioned, this past week was one of the longest in the history of weeks. I am tired.

We would like a small seating area at the bottom of the bed and need to replace the flooring but our budget took significant hits in 2016 and the TV was the extent of splurging we could do in this moment.

In the meantime, the space is welcoming and the project served me well. I stayed pretty busy the night I said goodbye to Lauren. Greg says he is glad I didn't marry a blind man because I move large things when I am dealing with stress. He makes a good point.