Sunday, August 26, 2018

Sunday, August 26, 2018

Tonight's picture was taken in August 2008, shortly after Mattie was diagnosed. Mattie's art therapist got to know him quickly! They understood right away that he was a Scooby Doo fan. So they traced a Scooby scene on a ceiling tile and for a couple of weeks we worked on painting it in. Needless to say that ceiling tile is one of the only painted tiles that remains in the clinic today. 


Quote of the day: The objective of cleaning is not just to clean, but to feel happiness living within that environment. ~ Marie Kondo


I do not think Peter nor I had cleaning in mind today. It kind of just happened. Yesterday, we were riding up our complex's elevator and posted on the elevator wall was an ad to purchase a dining room table and six chairs. Given we live in a huge complex, people are always selling or giving away furniture when they move. We have lived in this complex for years, and NEVER was I tempted to buy someone else's furniture. Things never appealed to me, well that is until yesterday. 

However, I knew who was selling the furniture, as it is our next door neighbor who is moving back to Ireland. So I text messaged my neighbor last night and made an appointment to see the furniture at noon today. Peter and I went in and I was happy that the photo lived up to the actual product. Needless to say, we purchased this Macy's dining room set for a steal. Our neighbor even helped us carry in the table and chairs.

This photo was taken on Thanksgiving of 2017. You can see our old dining room table here, surrounded by horrible chairs. We have had this arrangement for a good portion of our married life, but I was never happy with it. Mainly because it wasn't comfortable to sit at this table, given where its legs are located, not to mention the chairs never went well with the table. The chairs always were too low for the table. 

However, our old dining table belonged to my paternal grandmother. She lived in a small apartment in New York and her table was very clever for her space. The table folds up and can act like a side table (perfect for a small apartment). I did not want to get rid of this family table, so instead we folded it (which is how I remember it at my grandmother's apartment) and it now sits in front of our picture window. 

Here is the set we purchased today. It is in excellent shape and we are so excited to have real furniture, that we ate lunch together at this table! 

However, you know when you change one thing around, you begin to look at other things. We have two break fronts in our dining room, and literally we went through every drawer and cabinet today to purge out items that we no longer use. It took hours! We literally filled four packing boxes and three garbage bags! I can't wait to donate these items tomorrow. Tonight's quote is spot on.... cleaning things out does produce more happiness living in my environment.