“Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new.” ― Thoreau
So why not just laugh now? – G
“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?” — Unknown
Recently I posted a picture of myself in my kitchen, and I immediately started receiving generous messages from people wanting to help me “update” it. Along with their messages came pictures of how my kitchen could look, if I’d just put some effort and money into it.
I’ve always loved my kitchen, but after seeing those pictures I found myself looking at it through new, critical eyes. Maybe it was all wrong. Maybe the 80’s counters, laminate cabinets, mismatched appliances and clutter really were mistakes I should try to fix. I stood and stared and suddenly my kitchen looked shabby and lazy to me. I wondered if that meant I was shabby and lazy, too. Because our kitchens are nothing if not reflections of us, right? I decided I’d talk to Craig and make some calls about updates.
But as I lay down to sleep, I remembered this passage from Thoreau’s Walden: “I say beware of all enterprises that require new clothes and not a new wearer of the clothes.” Walden reminds me that when I feel lacking- I don’t need new things, I need new eyes with which to see the things I already have. So when I woke up this morning, I walked into my kitchen wearing fresh perspectacles. Here’s what I saw.
You guys. I have a REFRIGERATOR.
This thing MAGICALLY MAKES FOOD COLD. I’m pretty sure in the olden days, frontierswomen had to drink warm Diet Coke. Sweet Jesus. Thank you, precious kitchen.
Inside my refrigerator is FOOD. Healthy food that so many parents would give anything to be able to feed their children. Not me. When this food runs out, I’ll just jump in my car to get more. It’s ludicrous, really. It’s like my family hits the lottery every freaking morning.
THIS CRAZY THING IS A WATER FAUCET. I pull this lever and CLEAN WATER POURS OUT EVERY TIME, DAY OR NIGHT. Mamas everywhere spend their entire day walking miles to and from wells just for a single bucket of this- and I have it right here at my fingertips. I’m almost embarrassed to say that we also have one of these in each of our two bathrooms, and one in the front yard with which to WASH OUR FEET. We use clean drinking water to WASH OUR FEET. Holy bounty.
This is the magical box in which I put uncooked stuff, push some buttons, and then a minute later- pull out cooked stuff. It is like the JETSONS up in here.
This is my medicine cabinet. Since my Lyme is in remission and each of my babies is healthy- there is nothing in here but vitamins and supplements and tea. Thank you, God. This medicine cabinet is a miracle to me. Every time I open it I feel like I should kneel down and kiss the ground. I have an inbox full of letters from mothers whose medicine cabinets look very different.
Speaking of ground- this is our kitchen floor. It’s not fancy, but it’s perfect for our most important kitchen activity: DANCING. When Chase was three a librarian asked a roomful of kids, “what do we do in the kitchen?” Everyone else called out “cook” or “eat!” But Chase yelled “DANCE!”
I can’t even talk about this thing. Actually, let’s take a moment of reverent silence because this machine is the reason all my people are still alive. IT TURNS MAGICAL BEANS INTO A LIFE-SAVING NECTAR OF GODS. EVERY MORNING. ON A TIMER.
And look you guys: LOOK. This is the kitchen corner where I keep all my kids’ school stuff. My kids go to a FREE school with brilliant teachers and a loving administration and they’re SAFE there. The school sends flyers home about PROGRAMS and CLASSES and CLUBS to make my kids’ hearts bigger and softer and their brains sharper and their bodies healthier. This corner reminds me everyday that my kids have at their fingertips what so many around the world are giving their lives for: quality education. When I wear my perspectacles I can’t look at this corner without a heart explosion.
My perspectacled kitchen tour taught me two things this morning: I’m insanely lucky and I’m finally FREE.
In terms of parenting, marriage, home, clothes – I will not be a slave to the Tyranny of Trend any longer. I am almost 40 years old and no catalog is the Boss of Me anymore. I am free. I am not bound to spend my precious days on Earth trying to keep up with the Joneses- because the Joneses are really just a bunch of folks in conference rooms changing “trends” rapidly to create fake monthly emergencies for us. OH NO! NOW IT’S A SUBWAY TILE BACKSPLASH WE NEED! No, thank you. Life offers plenty of REAL emergencies to handle, thank you very much.
I’m a grown up now. I know what looks good on me, and that doesn’t change every three months. I know how I like my house. I like it cute and cozy and a little funky and I like it to feel lived in and worn and I like the things inside of it to work. That’s all. And for me – it’s fine that my house’s interior suggests that I might not spend every waking moment thinking about how it looks.
Sometimes it seems that our entire economy is based on distracting women from their blessings. Producers of STUFF NEED to find 10,000 ways to make women feel less than about our clothes, kitchens, selves so that we will keep buying more. So maybe freeing ourselves just a little from the Tyranny of Trend is a women’s issue – because we certainly aren’t going to get much world changing done if we spend all of our time and money on wardrobe and kitchen changing.
BUT. Listen. I’m nothing if not a tangled, colorful ball of contradictions. I like a good make-over as much as anybody else. So . . . HERE WE HAVE IT. HERE IS THE MELTON KITCHEN MAKEOVER FOR YA! READY FOR THE BIG REVEAL?
Before:
After:
Ba- BAM! Extreme home makeover! My kitchen IS beautiful because it is full of beauty. SO IS YOURS.
Today I shall keep my perspectacles super-glued to my face and feel insanely GRATEFUL instead of LACKING and I will look at my home and my people and my body and say: THANK YOU. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. THIS IS ALL MORE THAN GOOD ENOUGH, ALL OF IT. Now. Let us turn our focus onward and outward. There is WORK TO BE DONE and JOY TO BE HAD.
Love,
G
Author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller LOVE WARRIOR — ORDER HERE
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2,233 Comments
I grew up in a family whose business was remodeling perfectly good kitchens like yours. This was so nourishing to read. Thank you.
Beyond brilliant- humbling. My perspectacles have been cleaned and now I see clearly. Thank you for the reminder!
LOVE your post. Maintaining that perspective is key.
The only thing I would correct is that no school is free. “My kids go to school, and the cost of their attendance is shared by everyone living in my local area” … then your post is both true AND an inspiration. 🙂
Thank you!!!! Beautiful, poignant, and never have words rang more true.
Bloody BRILLIANT!!!!!!
I love this! Thank you for being a voice of sanity. As I said when I shared your page, “This is a nice antidote to too many episodes of House Hunters where the participants say, ‘We’ll have to gut this,’ about attractive, useful spaces!
You rock! And, speak the truth clearer than most. We are all so blessed…
I love this soo much. Food in the fridge and cold clean water and a healthy self & family, seriously thats pure blessings.
This is beautiful!!
Thank you for reminding us of all the beauty we have surrounding us-it is so easy to get caught up in material things. In the end, its really about what we did while we were here, cuz we can’t take any of that shit with us.
So, so amazing a reminder to us all. Thank you for reminding us that so many of us have life so much better than we think!
Hey, ya know what? I even have a machine that DOES MY DISHES. Wow. And cabinets to put those dishes in after they’re cleaned and SANITIZED. Amazing. I am so very, very blessed, and I appreciate your post so much!
Best post I have read, any where, in a long time.
In an old Neil Young song called “Tell me why” there is this haunting line: “Is it hard to make arrangements with yourself, when your old enough to repaint, but young enough to sell?”…This line resonates with me, because we wealthy Americans easily fall prey to advertisements aiming to make us dissatisfied with our lot, so we will buy, buy, buy more of their products. But you are right to point out how blessed we are in this country. ….One tiny correction to your piece, though. Your schools may be excellent, but they are not free. Someone, actually every homeowner, is paying for them, handsomely, through their taxes.
I’m so glad you didn’t change your kitchen. I think it looks just fine. If it were mine I’d have a whole lot of handmade by friends and family decorations covering the doors, pots hanging because there’s not enough cupboard space, jars of goodies lined up on the counter because there’s no pantry – but that’s my style, not yours.
I had an 80’s tiny kitchen that I loved to bits. Literally. It fell to bits, lol
So I had no choice and we got a new one 3 years ago and it’s twice the size with ample storage, a pantry and no need to have anything out on the counters.
I often look around my shiny new modern kitchen and wistfully remember the old one, with all its scars and chips from energetic activity, its rustic charm and memories of family gatherings, and most especially, the cupboard doors hidden by handmade gifts and childrens paintings.
I don’t know that I would trade back, but, I do wish the old one had been able to go on just a little longer 😀
You seriously got this right!!!
perspectacles……..BRAVO
This is wonderful. After attending Fashion Design school I developed a strong distaste for “keeping up with this Joneses.” It opened my eyes to how ridiculous it all is.
I love that you just get it, and I hope that more and more people do to.
I happened upon your blog tonight via a friend’s facebook repost of your blog post article. Way to go on your post! Currently my husband and I along with our two girls reside in a small village in Mozambique, Africa as missionaries and while we our kitchen looks a lot different then yours so many times we so easily forget about the simplicity of life and to be thankful for what we have (what the Lord has blessed us with!)! We have a small refrigerator and it runs until, well like today, the electricity goes out in the village (ours is one of the only homes with electricity-so to have it most days is a blessing in itself) and we may have to filter all our water we use but instead of fetching it from our well, we hit a switch and the pump puts it in our water tank and yes it comes out of the faucet and then into our ‘make-shift’ water filter but we have CLEAN WATER whereas 99% our village friends don’t. Thanks for reminding us that sometimes it just means stepping back and re-evaluating and discovering the joys already in our life!
Thank you, thank you.
Very we’ll put….should read this daily to remind us to be grateful for all that we have…I too love the per spectacles!!!
I’m so glad I came across the article… We were talking about this just yesterday…. Being thankful for what we have.so many people have so little!! Its different when your hit smack in the face with this!! Enjoyed reading your perspective!!
Thank you for this post – yes, yes, yes! By the way, it’s a pretty nice kitchen anyway!
I love your kitchen. It has love in it. I love your kitchen it has devotion
in it. Your kitchen has knowledge in it. Your kitchen has years of experience
in it.
Your kitchen has years of precious memories. You can not replace this kitchen. It is you and your family and they can not be replaced.
Thank to this post, you kicked in the butt all the people who are not grateful for what they have.
Happiness IS Being Grateful. Period.
(I check the box below that says I’m NOT a spammer but in fact I am one…)
This is one of the best articles I’ve read this year! Thank you for finding the time to write it.
My niche is ~budget~ because I… am broke? I mean I am an educated white girl in the PacNW of America – I could get a better job than the one I created for myself (you’re looking at it) and I could get way more money. I have in the past! But… instead, I choose to live no further than my needs, and let me tell you (though you clearly already know) – it changed my life. The things that are important to me are the things that are going to be there when everything else is gone. That’s what I choose to nurture and build as opposed to my resume, my car collection, my Pinterest home, or my home’s square footage. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to live in a place where I have access to the things that I need! I’m happy to use and take just that. So nice to see the same sentiment reflected somewhere else!
xo,
Lindsay
Lovely message. We are such a throw away society it’s nice to see real values. Recently read the article about the young Seik girl with facial hair which made you think about what we are like inside and not appearance.
Love the makeover handsome hubby and kid and a dog. What more could you want.
The best thing about your kitchen is your husband. WOW.
Oscar, um…gross.
LMAO!!!!!
Amen sister!
Thank you for sharing this beautiful lesson with us!
Love it!!! Going to the vision center for a pair of perspecticals today!!! JK – this was nice to hear! I love my kitchen and house..it’s comfortably cluttered and I LIKE IT! 🙂 thanks for the reminder of what’s important
This was great! Love those perspectacles. Right on! No one should ever have the right to tell us how we think of ourselves or whether we need a makeover (really, chutzpa if you think about it). Laughed OUT LOUD with the coffee maker gratitude. Amen.
Thank you for sharing.
I am thankful for the Penn-Dutch looking folks on my 80’s kitchen tile backsplash. Amen.
Wow! I am totally an addict to buying and buying and thinking about buying and buying more to cover up my bad feelings and make me feel good enough to be out there in the world. This is so helpful to me. Thank you.
Coincidentally, the music that was playing while I was reading this had this refrain: “we all want what we ain’t got”.
Magic.
Thank you.
Each day is a gift , and as you said, Be thankful for what you have and don’t get caught up in consumerism.
well done ! we need more people like you to remind us all to be thankful and less materialistic everyday.
OMG THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH YOUR KITCHEN
SERIOUSLY
Yes. THIS. I just love it, G. Thank you for saying it so well. It is the BEST reminder when I feel like there are so many NEEDS. We are so lucky. And I just need to be grateful. Thank you.
Great post. I don’t have Lyme, but I have another chronic illness – Chronic Epstein-Barr. I keep it under control by being organized and planning things as far ahead as possible so I can plan needed down time in between taxing activities and by keeping my stress levels as low as possible.
I have to prioritize what I consider worth spending my energy on more than a lot of other people do. One of the things I continually ask myself is: “Is this particular thing going to matter a year from now, or 10 or more years from now?”
Are my kids (ranging in age from 28 to 8) and grandson going to care or even remember if everything was always tidy, or new, or the latest trend, or if I always looked super sharp, or if we had the nicest looking yard? Or are they going to remember and care about all the times I chose to spend my limited energy on making good memories with them and helping them to succeed in school and with their individual interests?”
The Bible tells us not to worry about food and clothing and roof over your
head..you need to trust and believe God will provide…and don’t worry about
keeping up with the “Jones” It’s what’s in your heart that can make your happy
not things of this world.
Reading this from NZ and love love love the idea of perspectacles and at a time of huge change in life, sometimes it’s about reframing them! Thank you so much for helping me to clarify this for myself! Sometimes it’s hard to add that when health, heart, home, work all face huge changes at the same time! But the most important thing is family, good friends and the three gorgeous young men I have created and looking at them and their amazing positive contribution to the world ❤️ Thanks x
Frankly, what I saw was a very well-organized refrigerator.
I have been reading your blog for awhile and have enjoyed many, but this one hits at something that began bothering a few years ago. People who complain and want “new” stuff or a “new” look so frequently and don’t stop to think about what they COULD be doing with the effort, money, and most importantly TIME they would spend on an otherwise unnecessary and severely limiting endeavor. I began the process of no longer wishing for things I didn’t need. I simplified my life. I got rid of “things” – because that’s all they are. I would rather spend my time making memories with my children and serving those less fortunate than us. It bothers me (and I am working on this part – because it shouldn’t bother me – I am no one’s judge) when I see “need gone ASAP, updating/remodeling/new furniture arriving soon” posts on FB or Craigslist. We have become a culture of wants and trends and I think it has more to do with wanting to be better than others than keeping up with others, and that is what scares me.
I guess I’m just glad to find there are others out there who find this idea unsettling and have found peace in the life they have and the blessings they have received. And I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that you referenced Thoreau! My daughter and I are doing a “book club” with it now.
Fantastic , thanks for a great reminder – must go dance in our kitchen now – our tile floor is also good for twirling on too.
Love this. Thank you so much for the truth that is so contradictory to all negative, cloying voices I hear that require more, more, more.
First time visitor to your blog and so happy I found you! This is quite possibly the best post I’ve ever read! Your kitchen is beautiful!
I’m with you all the way! So refreshing your article! Since I’ve had lyme too, I’ve looked at things so differently now and I’m so grateful for that. My lyme arthritis has just started acting up again but I appreciate everything I have! Less is more! I’m not a fan of clutter 🙂
Sweet Baby Jesus, indeed! Completely and totally the most perfect piece I’ve EVER had the privilege to read. THANK YOU.
Love, Love, Loved this!!! Thank you!
After seeing your brilliantly white floor, I am going to do my own kitchen makeover and mop mine. lol Yikes! Thank God I own a mop. 🙂 Blessings to you for writing just what I needed to hear this morning.
Thank you so much for this! I SO needed this. I was just feeling sorry for myself that I didn’t want to invite friends to our home because I felt it didn’t look good enough. Thanks for reminding me of the proper perspective.
This is so right. And good. Thank you. I currently live in rural Alaska, and don’t have running water reliably. I turn on my faucet and nothing comes out. I can’t tell you how much we take for granted until it is gone.
I’m getting really good at washing dishes by hand and boiling water from a bucket on my stove for washing though! Perspective is so super important, and it doesn’t take an extreme situation like mine for people to realize that- thanks again for sharing your beautiful kitchen and family!
A whole lot of misery could be avoided by learning to distinguish between “need” and “want.” May more folks be blessed with your “perspectacles.”
Just Brillant ! :-))))
Thank you for always being spot on! Love, the tin of Old Bay Seasoning in your “medicine chest”.
You are Spot On – thank you for always inspiring us in amazing, creative ways. Quick question, how did that tin of Old Bay Seasoning get into your medicine cabinet?! Color looks great but that might be a stylist overlook…. But now that I think about it, I have a bottle of Fish Oil in my spice cabinet – literally! Whatever works, right.
Some people pay extra for a 1954 stove like mine that hasn’t moved from its spot since the previous owners of my house installed it that year (except when we clean under it every once in a while). You echo my sentiments exactly. The greatest luxuries in the world are indoor plumbing (including RUNNING HOT WATER), heat in the winter, and a safe place to sleep. I share your gratitude that we have access to the necessity of food and we have the gift of health. Thanks for this post!
Yup. The path to filling your life up with new stuff is an empty one to beware of.
simply beautiful, i am grateful for your perspectacled view and for the word perspectacled…from this day forward i am adopting it into my inner dictionary and my way of living 🙂
Love this post. Indeed, we spend way to much time worrying about whether things “look right”, and forget about what really matters. Are we ever blessed to have food, water, health, and love! May we spread it widely!
It’s very telling that in this day and age people offered remodeling advice without it being requested. With pinterest, many people seem to think that they’re interior decorators. It also seems to facilitate competitiveness even with the most personal or family centered aspects of life: the home. With the online comment features on most sites, everyone thinks their opinions matter even when they’re not being requested and it offers them a platform to show off. I love and profoundly appreciate the author’s optimistic and humble response.
shame on me….I fall into that trap all the time….thanks for the reminder….i LOVE your kitchen treasures…..
Love it, puts everything into perspective once again. Being grateful for gratefulness!!!
Love it, love everything about it. Could use some pictures of the kitchen dancing though.
I’m 69 and wish I had worn my perspectacles a whole lot more than I did……but I really wish I had made my husband wear his at least once!!
Don’t regret at age 69 what you can fix at 39 by just putting on your perspectacles daily….yes, daily!
Right On! Love hearing about your perstectables! I have some too and have been through this same experience. When a well-meaning friend in the construction business came over to my house, wham-bham, all I heard about was all the great changes that needed to be made to my kitchen for only 10k to 15k. Ha! For a while I could only see my kitchen as dreadfully shabby and also decided I’d never have that couple over for dinner, because clearly my home and kitchen were too miserable for them and there’s plenty of folks who come over and see the Beauty in my amazing kitchen! What a difference a good pair of perspectables makes! I LOVE my kitchen and, like you, just feel incredibly lucky to have one. I just adore your article and agree with you every step of the way! Frigerators and hot running water – what miracles, every day! Hooray!
Amen, amen, AMEN!
I was tempted to write A friggin men, but then I thought that might perhaps be an oxymoron.
It’s so easy for me to become distracted with realtors banging on about resale values that I forget this is the house that’s filled with LIFE — not on a magazine cover.
And that’s just fine with me.
Thanks for the reminder.
And I LOVE that Chase thinks that kitchens are for dancing!
THANK YOU. (incidentally your kitchen is downright fancy compared to mine – I don’t even have the magical cooking box) But seriously awesome post and such a fantastic reminder. THANK YOU.
You kind of saved my life with this. I’m a big Walden fan and for some reason forgot about Thoreau’s message. Thanks for the reminder. Life is perfect. I’m so, so LUCKY!!
I found your blog from Stevie at Sprinter life and just say hallalujah!! In this country, so full of “need more” it’s so refreshing to hear someone say what many of us believe, that the culture we live in always requiring “more” does not make anyone any happier. I love this post!
Loved your comments. We all need to be happy with what we have. If we have a roof over our heads, food for our bodies, family and friends. Many people are not that blessed. What more could we ask for.
I came across this via FB. What a wonderful, wonderful post. Keep on sharing your perspecticles. So great. Thank you.
I’m sure a thousand other women needed this but it was if you were speaking directly to me! You’ll never know how much this changed my life–and helped me put on a new pair of spectacles
Great article. All young people should read. Love your perspectacles!!
Love this! So inspiring! Wish many more of us would like of a redo in the same way. Thanks for your perspective. Even though my children are gone from home and raising their own children.
One update you should do is change those sockets to GFI. 20 bucks a pop and you wont short yourself or your children. Its now code within a certain number of feet of running water.
Live within your means… New is not automatically better.
This is one of the most awesomest things I’ve ever read. In a shorter blip of perspective, “Judge not.” I freaking love your kitchen and you have better things to be doing with your time! 🙂
Don’t know if you came up with the ‘perspectacles’ but I love it. I’ll be sure to keep mine on all the time! Really great article. Thank you.
This came at just the right time for me. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Well. I think your kitchen was perfectly nice before…..but the makeover was awesome!!!!! take care
Just to say Thank You. For an exquisitely well-written treatise on gratitude. Sending you great love and appreciation!
A friend shared this with me, because the article reminder her of me. 🙂
As someone with a messy, cluttered house as mine is often with kid flyers and everything else needed in my daily life… “I take care of the living”. I always try to approach each day that way and save the clean house for parties!
Thank you for this wonderful article.
I. Love. You.
It’s like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders and those feelings of inadequacy because I can’t keep my home spotless and contemporary have dissolved. I just may take this blog post of yours and wallpaper my kitchen walls with it because your words are more beautiful than any Martha Stewart pattern out there.
Good for you! Good for you! Good for you! I wish you lived in my town- I would love to be your friend. You have your head on straight and your priorities in line. Your family is so lucky to have you as it’s anchor. The world desperately needs well brought up children as I’m sure yours are. GL
Word! Sometimes I get annoyed by the clutter in the house, the fact that we don’t own our home, that our downstairs neighbors smoke constantly. But we have a roof over our heads, a safe place to sleep, clean water and so many other things too many live without. I’ll try to keep my perspectacles on today!
Oh my goodness!!! God Bless YOU…..and I can see that HE has…I can so see where you are coming from..and where you have been….I am a Goodwill shopper, can not tell you when I have actually bought at a retail store!!!I love old stuff and drag “stuff” up and re do and paint and use. Was just so inspired by your article….God is Good..Been married 49 yrs. to the same man, live in same house built in ’72, counter tops in kitchen are that yellowy color…Luv it!!! Thank you for brightening my day. ..keep on dancing!!!
You are a gem! Thanks for helping me rethink my outlook. Love your before & after, that’s what its really about.
This is exactly what i needed to read today. One of my favorite parts in what you so beautifully expressed….. “I remembered this passage from Thoreau’s Walden: “I say beware of all enterprises that require new clothes and not a new wearer of the clothes.” Walden reminds me that when I feel lacking- I don’t need new things, I need new eyes with which to see the things I already have.” I am committing to get back into the habit of thanking God for what He so generously blesses me with. Even in our day to day trials, thanking Him for making me stronger, more understanding, better prepared for the next challenge that comes my way…. in general Thanking Him for making me more not for giving me more. Thanks for sharing….. have a blessed day.
Hi,
I love your article so much. I would like to translate it into French, if it’s not already done.
Let me know if you would agree.
Thanks.
Marie
Your kitchen looks very modern, compared to my mom’s. She still has the same kitchen dad built for her in 1959, when he built the house. It’s been painted multiple times of course and she did consent to haven’t one wall updated with wallpaper – oh, probably 20 years ago. I know some of the relatives make fun of her behind his back because she doesn’t remodel her house every other year like they do. But mom’s not a consumer. If something still works, she doesn’t replace it with the latest newfangled version that some talking head on TV (or one of my aunts) thinks she should have. Once I came real close to telling a relative that if more folks were like my mom, there would be fewer landfills. Plus, instead of constantly remodeling one room or another, my parents took us kids on great vacations. I don’t think the majority of my cousins were outside of the state we were born in, until they reached adulthood. But they
I really have a great dislike for “auto correct”.
Your kitchen is just like mine. We are lucky ladies.
This could have been a Psalm of praise straight out of the Bible. There is NOTHING wrong with your home. Nothing. You have learned the lessons that so many others will never learn.
Less is more.
Enough is as good as a feast.
Appreciate what you have and don’t dwell on what you don’t have.
There is always someone worse off than you.
Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
We all need to recognize the blessings that are right in front of our eyes.
Thanks for the reminder.
Thank you for sharing your perspective. I really needed to be reminded of how incredibly fortunate and blessed that I am.
I’m always getting asked about when I’m updating my kitchen. Truthfully, I would some day like to have a new kitchen for the fact that the cabinets are falling, the counter is slanted, and the floor has a couple rips….. BUT I do still love my old kitchen…….I love the old 70’s colors, after all everything goes with bright yellow counters. About 10 years ago I thought I would do it soon and did need to change the ripped floor so I grabbed new linoleum and threw it down, nothing fancy. Guess what, never did that kitchen so now we have bright yellow counters, white floor with blue boxes and a lovely shade of yellow seeping through the floor from the glue. One thing we have always done in the kitchen was danced!!!! Love that you do that with the kids- My girls are grown and they still dance in the kitchen while cooking, cleaning, or walking through! You should totally do a I love my kitchen tour and we can all link back to you! Great post and nice to meet you!
Yes, yes, yes, yes! Thank you for setting such a wonderful example and for explaining it all so clearly! Gratitude is not only the best therapy, it is transformative in every case. Whenever I look at any situation for how I can be grateful, any negativity is washed away. [Shared it on FB – please add me if you are inclined to meet more like-minded folks.]
This is truly wonderful! Thank you!
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I needed to read this today!
Thanks for the wonderful piece. My kitchen is mauve (really), but the refrigerator is covered with family photos that track the adventures of our family over the past twenty-odd years. We get sun through the big sky knight and lovely views of the woods through our oversized windows. And we still celebrate and laugh and yes, on occasion, dance there too. So thank you for helping me look past the old wall ovens, funky floor tile, and all that pink. I’ve found my
perspectacles!
Thanks for sharing and keep looking onward, outward AND upward. Thank God for our blessings and be grateful for each one of them EVERY DAY!
Am I the only one, who is disappointed that she took the fridge out in the makeover? Just kidding.. RIGHT ON!! So many more Moms, Americans, Women, Children need to see this. Thanks so much for this. Shared!