Home Improvement

Yesterday cute hubster stayed home from work so that we could get serious about working on our house. We aren't planning on moving soon or anything but with both of us in school and working and with two little kids running around there were definitely a lot of things that had been neglected over the years that we have been living there.

We started working as soon as I finished my class at the gym. Because cute hubster was home I got to attend Multi-Step at the gym and it was a blast! I got a very good sweat in and I feel like I am getting better and better at Step in general.

We finally brought the couch we were given in from the garage (it has been sitting in there for several weeks) and that necessitated that we rearrange the furniture in our basement. We reorganized and cleaned the entire basement and then started pinpointing improvements that needed to be made - a light fixture that needed replacing, blinds that needed replacing, curtains that needed to be put up, etc.

We made a "quick" trip to Wal-mart (meaning it should've been quick but ended up being quite long) and spent a pretty penny to obtain everything that we needed to do the little improvements throughout the house. As everything started to come together I felt an immense sense of satisfaction. No longer would I need to look at the hole in my ceiling and think, "We really need to get a light to cover that." No longer would I need to go into the newly established toy room and think, "I really wish this closet had a door or at least a covering of some sort."

And that really got me thinking about the way that we live our lives. I think that we get to a point where we are comfortable in the place that we are. We realize that there are little things that we have neglected here and there but they aren't things that interfere with our day-to-day functioning in the here and now so we ignore them and put improvements off.

I am starting to realize, though, that life and change is made up of a bunch of little improvements here and there. As we take the time to recognize the improvements that need to be made in our lives and put in the extra effort to make those improvements the satisfaction that comes with it will leave us wondering why we put it off for so long.

I am of the personality that always strives for improvement. I have had to maintain a careful balance between challenging myself and pushing myself to unrealistic expectations. But, little by little, I have made improvements in my life and I have reaped the benefits of those improvements.

So I guess what I want to leave you with today is this:

QUESTIONS FOR MY DEAR READERS: Are there improvements in your life that you have neglected for too long? Are there things that you know need to be changed but you haven't done it yet? Have you recently made improvements in your life? What were they and how did you go about changing them?

Loves...Shayla