and now, a Rambling.

I get asked a few of the same things all the time.

1) Mom! Do you know where my DS pen is?
2) Why do you paint furniture?

The first, I never ever know the answer too. I refer to my daughter's "DS" video game thing as a "Gameboy" all the time, thats how not in the know I am with that stuff...I dont even know why they have pens...whats wrong with fingers and buttons like we used in my youth? Wal*Mart money grab is what that is..

For the second...I've painted furniture ever since I can remember..which if I stretch my memory, was probably around 8..since I remember picking out colors with my Grandma for a French Provincial desk set she was gifting to me. Mostly, it started out of nessessity since I never got brand new stuff growing up..but the idea of taking something solid and with purpose and transforming it into something one of a kind and personal with purpose..using simply paint... amazed me. Then when The Mister and I moved out together, I was in college full time,  he worked at a framing shop back in the day when minimum wage was $4.75 an hour. We lived in an old mansion in Lethbridge that was converted into apartments. We paid *gasp* $400 a month rent because we splurged on a 2 bedroom suite. The local news anchor lived directly downstairs so I thought we were living pretty high-class sharing a roof with her. We also had our '86 Jetta for a whopping $150 a month. It had no fan belt since we didnt have any money for the upkeep, but, so as long as we didnt hit 3 red lights in a row, we didnt need to worry about the engine overheating...We were living pret-ty sweet.  My mom's house was 3 blocks away, so I trugged home our laundry every other day around dinner time...it was well calculated. The rest of the week, we used our expired Costco card to get us in the door so we could wander around and eat the free samples. We left full and pretty proud of ourselves. Sometimes when we go home, we drive past that old castle of ours. The Mister and I laugh and laugh while the Bunny looks mortified. I have to assure her that in 1998 that place was (I think) swanky and did not have abandoned grocery carts on the front porch.. Anyway, Im rambling....the point is, all of our stuff  had to come from garage sales or had to be free, but with paint...I made it ours. Our dining room table, I found in the alley and hauled home myself...stripped , sanded and restained it in our kitchen (hindsight, that wasnt a great idea) and I still today have it in my basement for keepers. I still madly love it. I actually just dusted it off yesterday in my quest to find our old VCR and plan to bring the table back upstairs this afternoon.. I'll smile everytime we all sit down at it to play board games or do puzzles on.

11 years ago, we moved to the big city and over time, I got carried away from myself...Didnt paint, didnt write, worked full time at a job that gave me zero anything but a paycheque and a headache...and sometimes, even the paycheck isnt worth what it was costing me to get..Eventually it all caught up with me...tailspin is a great word. Swallowed up whole is an accurate description. Fast forward to 2 year ago when The Mister and I, realizing how far we had swayed from who we truly are, sat down and decided to simplify....simplify our life, simplify our wants and needs, simplify our time....simplify every-single-thing...BEST ever sit down chat it out life changing choice ever made. Now, I stay home and do what Ive always been passionate about...I paint, I write, I be my Bunny's mom and the Mrs to my Mister. I take care of our simple life and make sure we follow thru with it everyday. In living as authentically as I can with myself and doing what Im passionate about, I live beyond happy and beyond fullfilled and my family is glowing.. and, ya know what?  The Universe seemed to just step up and handle the things I didnt know exactly what to do with after that...When I made the choice to stop having "good enough" actually be good enough, Wow. Amazing things started happening. So, why do I paint furniture? I paint because I HAVE to...I need the creative outlet to live my best life and I need to use that side of my brain to keep the rest of me in balance...the surprise to me, and at times a tad overwhelming, is that people love what I do and want my pieces in there home...It makes me proud of myself, but also confirms that Im doing exactly what Im supposed to be doing, exactly where Im supposed to be doing it, with my family, and my authentic happy life as the trophy I have to show for it all..