It was two years ago I got a bug up my butt and painted one of our living room walls orange. I liked the orange, I liked it a lot. BUT, I also liked the red that I had painted over and was still the color on the wall on the other side of the fireplace, really the second half of the wall I just painted. In all of my wisdom I left half of the wall orange and half  the wall red. I liked it. It was funky. The best of both the orange and red worlds. AND maybe I was just a little bit lazy and never finished painting so it all kind of grew on me.

Now in present time I’m in my cleaning frenzy and I’m realizing just how half baked this half red/half orange wall looks, but part of me still kind of likes it. I’m not an interior decorator, nor have I ever claimed to have any decorating prowess. I’m trying to decide if I should go with my funky wall for a little bit longer or if I should paint both halves orange.

To paint or not to paint, that is the question.

I hate to admit it, but funds are tight right now and we really didn’t have the money to eat out. I’m trying to get the house cleaned up and in order because we have an appraisal on our home coming up and I want it to look as nice as possible. I’ve had more than one person tell me that the cleanliness doesn’t matter, but I think it does. It gives the appearance of a well maintained home which, in the end, might be worth a pittance more.

Anyway, in my quest for cleanliness I had the carpets cleaned yesterday. I could have saved some money and done it myself, but there were some stubborn spots, most of which were vomit related, that I couldn’t get out so I had the guys with the big steam cleaning truck come. It was SO worth it.

While the carpet was drying the entire family was stuck in the dining room and kitchen area. Hubs started to go over dinner options and I suggested maybe we should go out because the carpet cleaners didn’t cost as much as I thought. Off we went.

We ended up at Bonefish Grill. It’s one of my favorite restaurant because they have a decent gluten free menu. I have had food from Bonefish on several occasions, but I have never dined in the restaurant. I am the queen of takeout, but, like I said, we rarely dine out. The food was delicious including the two desserts that we split. We had a flourless brownie and creme brule’e. Much to our advantage and disadvantage the computers at the restaurant went down right after we ordered so it took FOREVER to get our food. We were starving and I was the kids were impatient, but it gave the carpets more time to dry.

In the end the dinner was FAR more expensive than what we had saved on the carpet cleaners, but it was tasty and we had fun so I guess it was all good. We might be eating bread and water for the rest of the week – that is, if I could eat bread.

Not valuing the treasures prevents stealing.

Not seeing desirable things prevents confusion of the heart.

LAU TZU

These quotes have been the focus of some discussions around our house and Hub’s workplace. If you have any input feel free to jump in.

If you don’t know who Lau Tzu was then you can go here to read a little more about him.

There was a promo going on so I got a whole box of cards free of charge from Zazzle.com. I chose these cards. It was a lot of fun because I designed my own card. I put all of our names on the card, along with our address and phone. When the cards first arrived I was a little apprehensive. They looked spiffy, but I all of a sudden was afraid that a family calling card was too pretentious. I got over it and was prepared to hand them out when I needed to give out our info.

Here’s the deal – I haven’t needed to give out our information ONE time since the cards arrived. I have to say, I’m just a little bit bummed out about it.