Time to Come Out of Hiding

First of all, I'd like to thank everyone who offered kind words during my family's recent troubled times. I turned off comments on the last post such that you wouldn't feel obligated to keep offering condolences, but some of you commented via e-mail or on other posts just the same. I appreciate all your comments, kind words, and kind wishes. Secondly, I think it is time for me to come out and blog my usual self again, as taking time off is snowballing into one, big, never-ending, break, which I don't really want. I was even considering doing a March version of NaBloPoMo to give myself a kick-start, but then thought better of it. Mac and Cheese for 31 days in a row would give anyone indigestion. No need to loosen your belts yet.

So I bet you're all wondering how I've been spending my past few weeks. As a distraction from my MIL's passing, I decided to start working on Pumpkin's new room since she will be kicked out of the baby's room when the new baby comes along. Obviously we need to get her in there a few months early such that she doesn't feel "replaced", so I got started on it, beginning with the painting. No, I didn't do it myself - that doesn't bode well with my inherent laziness, so I called a painter to do her room, as well as my own bedroom while I was at it. My own room was a essentially the same colour as our furniture, which provided us with a disturbing lack of contrast. Hubby then suggested that I get our hallway done too, which entails one of those two-story entrances that the 'burbs are known for, as well as the actual halls. Big job, but the existing taupe/pink colour has been wearing on me for a couple of years now, so I jumped at the chance to get rid of it and bring my house out of the '80s. No offence if you happen to like taupe/pink. I tacked on the painting of the office since there was no point in wasting having a painter in the house. In addition, since the sconces had to come off the wall for painting purposes, we decided to lose them and order something more modern, as once again, the existing ones reeked of the '80s. Right now, we just have holes where sconces will one day be again, but I think I prefer the holes to what was there before. So Pumpkin's room became more-or-less of a complete household overhaul, at an odd time for us, but it was a good distraction. So does anyone want to buy some sconces? I've got seven of 'em:

Did I say, "reeked of the '80s"? I meant, "A classic look for the traditionalist!" An equally attractive, stairway chandelier will be coming up for grabs sometime soon! Don't miss out!