I think it’s that time of the year where the blahs set in. It’s that point right before the trees start blossoming and the weather starts getting nice, and I’ve just been feeling a little bit stir crazy.

So in an attempt to brighten things up a bit, I have done a few things in the last week or two that have made me feel significantly better about this time of year, and it all started with a trip to Ikea. Because really, Ikea makes everything better.

I bought a duvet cover in a gorgeous, deep, rich shade of red which I’ve been lusting after for about 3 years now ever since I first saw it at Ikea Seattle. I didn’t buy it then because it was poorly designed, with the down comforter being held in by some loops with knots loosely pulled through them, and I could see that that would not work. They made some great design improvements, closing off the old opening so it’s merely decorative now, and smartly putting in snaps on the bottom to keep the comforter from slipping out. My last duvet cover was worn out and the once-peaceful shade of beige was now a depressing shade of ugly brown. The new color brought a lot of life into my room and even inspired me to finally put pillows in the pillowcases I bought in Qatar when I was on R&R there during my deployment.

I have one more thing I really want to do for our room which is to replace the painting above the bed with a tapestry that’s similar to these pillowcases, which unfortunately will involve having to find someone who can sew fabric loops on the top so we can hang it from a pretty rod. I don’t know when that will get done, hopefully before we leave here but I’m not too optimistic.

Then yesterday, B and I rearranged the living room. We should have done this sooner. It’s amazing how much space swapping two pieces of furniture can free up. Everything feels much tidier now. I still have to put up a few pictures next to the entertainment center and hang the painting behind the sofa, but I did finally hang our curtains - 2 years after we moved in.

I also finally got around to printing out a bunch of photos so I could start scrapbooking again. The pictures turned out so beautifully and I’m so excited to be able to put them in an album and finally get to use some of the creativity that lately I have had no outlet for, other than cutting out beets for Valentine’s day.

We may stay here until June of next year but since that’s not official yet, I am preparing to leave at our projected rotation date of January, 2009.  That means we my be packing up our stuff in about 10 months, so I’ve started going through our house and purging clothes, books, papers, etc.

I have come to love this part of moving - it is so freeing.  I get rid of so much stuff!  Ill-fitting or dated clothes, household items we don’t use, stacks of papers from the kids…so much stuff piles up and I know if we settled down somewhere, that stuff would get out of control.

I’ve gone through the kitchen cupboards and drawers and our closets and have gotten rid of several garbage bags that are divided between the garbage and the thrift store, and in about 6 more months (provided we don’t get extended), we will start getting ready for a big garage sale - we’ll be getting rid of our dining room set, our bedroom set, our entertainment center, clothes, dishes, Isak’s bed…all to make room for when we move.

When we got married, we bought a $200 hand-me-down sofa and a $150 assemble-it-yourself entertainment center.  Everything else was given to us, from the rickety metal shelf, the formica table and mismatched chairs to the patched-up-with-wood-looking-tape headboard that attached to our lumpy, saggy mattress to the Navy re-utilized furniture everywhere else.  We’re finally starting to accumulate our own nice - albeit tiny - house of furniture.

2 years down, 1 to go - and looking forward to it.   I think this will be a very good year.

“Mamma, when I grow up, do you know what I want to be?”

“Tell me.”

“I’m going to be a shopper and a cooker.”

“Oh. What’s a shopper?”

“A shopper is a person who goes shopping for stuff and people give you money so you’re not poor.”

“Oh.”

“But then I’ll have to get a job, huh.”

“A job, huh? Like what?”

“I’m going to be a person who takes carts back and a cook.”

“You’re going to be a cooker and a cook? What’s the difference?”

“A cook cooks everything. Like dessert.”

“Mmmmm, okay.”

“And I’m going to have four jobs, I’m going to be a teacher and a lifeguard who blows their whistle at people who jump off the diving board when they’re wearing goggles. ”

“And what are you going to do with all your money?”

“I’m going to buy stuff like presents for people who, and, uh, other stuff.”