Yesterday, I had a particularly bad day at work. When I say "particularly," it makes it sound like all of my days at work are bad. Which is definitely not true. It's just that this one day was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day (just like Alexander). Not like a "ehh I'm tired day." A full-out presentation-to-the-city-mayor-goes-poorly, clients-say-personally-mean-things, director-thinks-your-reports-are-wrong kind of a day. What could possibly turn around such a train-wreck of a day? Retail therapy.
Perhaps you've never heard the term. Perhaps you're male and can't comprehend the term (or are wondering if I don't really mean therapy FROM retail). Allow me to explain. I'm definitely NOT the kind of person who thinks that money can buy happiness. True joy does not come from money or from anything money can buy. But, I will admit that there are certain days when a little shopping trip can be a pick-me-up. I think it's more the distraction than anything else. And that, my friends, is retail therapy.
On my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, I first stopped at the Salvation Army store to see if there was anything cool for the house. There was not. So I wandered around Michael's craft store for a while and tried to forget about the presentation and the angry client and the confusing numbers. Crafty things tend to do that for me. I won't run you through the whole aisle-for-aisle affair (after all, it was my therapy session), but I will show you what I brought home:
It didn't look like that when I brought it home (c'mon, it was a craft store!) I actually just bought the white frame and one grayish-blue piece of scrapbook paper. The best part (the turning point for the bad day) was when I got to the register and found out the frame was 50% off!!! Oh happy surprise!
I already had the image - it was something I ripped out of a Real Simple magazine.
I could hardly call it a craft project, since I only took 5 minutes with my paper-cutter to stick that baby in the frame (and an extra 2 minutes to windex both sides of the glass, just to make my mom proud).
The image stuck out to me when I flipped through my magazine. I think it's because I remember my parents "jumping" me as we walked along. And because it reminds me of the way I hope Justin and I will parent someday - side by side, taking time to enjoy the simple joys of our family and everyday life.
So although nothing about this picture shouts "bathroom," it does perfectly match the new paint. And I'm hoping it will bring a smile while we're brushing our teeth. Even on bad days. Maybe five dollars and eighty one cents CAN buy a little slice of happiness.
***Update: While literally mid-word in writing this post last night, Justin discovered a sewage leak in our basement. Yeah, it's possible for a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day to get worse! At least I had one bright spot :) Today has been spent managing the phones between the plumber, the sewage clean-up crew, our insurance company, etc. My outlook has improved over night (despite the sleeplessness that inevitably comes from having toilet paper swimming downstairs) and I'm able to count the blessings in this situation - our insurance is covering most of it, it wasn't upstairs, our basement is a lot cleaner and more organized post-flood, the leak occurred on the side of the basement where 99% of the stuff was in rubbermaid bins, we learned which plumber will be good for our upcoming washer/dryer and bathroom renovations, etc., etc., etc.
Fair warning, this weekend's upstairs renovation progress may be slowed given the repercussions of this leak - but such is the joy homeownership :) I'll do my best to continue to keep you posted.
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