A New Kitchen

It's been a busy month or two.  The busy hasn't been so bad.  Sometimes you need that just as a good distraction for awhile.  My wife and I started a reorganization project and as part of that, decided to renovate our kitchen.  It needed it.  We hated it.  We decided to do this on an incredibly tight budget.  While still finishing off the last couple of things, I have to say that I am quite happy with it.

Really, though, why is a new kitchen so important?  I spend a lot of time there.  I love to cook.  My wife enjoys it too.  The kids like to help.  Maybe it's corny, but this was a big step for me in building that house I envisioned, and the family I pictured in it.  And as irritated as my wife and I can get with each other mid-project, we do these things well.

One of the first great moments in the new kitchen:  Isaac had to stay in the living room to clean up his toys so Avery and I went out to the kitchen to work on dinner.  We heard Mama tell Isaac he did a good job, then the familiar sound of little steps as he came out to join us.  Avery decided she wanted to go back in and see Mama.  But Isaac wanted her to stay in the kitchen, since he finally got to come out.  He was very upset, so Avery turned around and stroked his arm and told her "little buddy" that she wasn't going anywhere.  He stepped closer and leaned against her and the tears stopped.

Of course, then they proceeded to drive me crazy by playing with stuff off the shelves and asking, every two minutes, what we were doing.  Yeah, I loved it.

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Feelings

I've been feeling down lately.  It's the weather.   The holidays are over.  And it still feels like I have a hundred things to do.  The feelings are there every year.  I really do hate cold weather.  It has me thinking a warmer climate seems like a great idea.

It's time to take a break from those feelings.  At this very moment, I couldn't be happier.  I'm home from work.  I've started dinner.  The three greatest things I can imagine are peacefully taking a nap upstairs.  The cat's hanging out with me until they get up.

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