A Few Random Thoughts and Photos of My Home

 Yesterday was my birthday.  Good old 9-11.  Growing up I thought it was one of the best days of the year.  Now, it's generally a national day of somberness, mourning and remembrance--not so much a party day.
So my birthday usually doesn't have much to distinguish itself from any other day (aside from the stream of birthday wishes on facebook...)   It's usually a day of self reflection.  You know, the typical, "wow, I'm one year older.  What have I done and what I'm I doing with my life?"

My blog just reached six months old.  It's hard to believe it's been that long as it seems as though I just started.  I know very little about computers.  So in keeping this blog running I have had to figure out how to do the most basic things.  It has taken me many hours and many days sometimes but I have learned so much.  I have just a baby blog that I do myself.  No husband setting it up for me or professional web designer.  I don't have an expensive camera with all kinds of fancy editing software or a pro photographer to take my blog pictures.  It's just me and my point and shoot.  I don't even use any editing software at all so what you see is what it is. 


                                 
 I took the day off today from work to get caught up on a few things and decided to show a few pictures of my home the way it normally is.  (Gasp!)

There are things I like about my kitchen and things that I could do without.  I love the big window over the sink but it faces the side of my neighbor's brick house.  So not much of a view.  I had to remove the cabinet door a number of years ago because my young children would slam  it and open it repeatedly so that the hinges started to break.  I kept all the plastic plates and cups in there so the kids could reach them themselves.  My children are past that stage now but I still haven't reattached it.  And of course there are always items left out on the counters.  Everyone will deny doing it so I'm sure the cat is to blame.

I bought a sad little hutch at the Salvation Army and fixed it up for extra storage space in the kitchen.  (Unsurprisingly, It ended up being filled with new items instead.)  It's somewhat of a catchall right now while I'm working on a few projects.  Also, notice the crown on top (courtesy of Burger King.)  My youngest brought it out for me to wear on my birthday.  (The princess that I am.)

 The chalkboard with my birthday wish to myself.

 The kitchen table which is patiently awaiting a makeover. 

 (Now to the slightly embarrassing part.)  WARNING:  If you have an aversion to unstyled rooms and junky clutter then please discontinue reading...

 I'm totally keeping it real here, folks.  This is one of the hardest working rooms in our house.  We're using it as an office but I guess the builder called it the formal living room.  It's the first thing you see when you open the front door to our home.  I'll see these beautiful pictures of home offices with shelves filled with stylish knick knacks and one laptop sitting on an empty desk.  I would love an office like that but the reality is that 5 people in our family use computers--many at the same time.  My husband usually works from home part of the day so we have a number of monitors, computers, printers, laptops, speakers, headphones and lots and lots of cords.  Everything is mismatched.  The only reason I'm showing this embarrassing room is that it will be facing a major redo sometime in the near future.

Here is the opposite wall.  (You can see some decor from the bathroom redo shoved behind the chair.  I have a hard time getting rid of anything.)

Typical scene.  The dog (Bella) passed out in the corner.  (Barking at squirrels is so tiring!)

Every photo shoot begins with an inspection by the nosy cat (Lacey.)

 This post is different than my usual posts.  (A lot wordier and no real point to it.)

As for my birthday yesterday, my husband brought me pink flowers (per our daughter's directive), a unique cake with homemade frosting was made and many birthday wishes were given through the phone and in person.  Overall, it was a lovely day.