Home is where the dishes are...

Last night I spent a lovely evening with a good friend. We had a short discussion about contentment, and how hard it is for us to be content with what we have. This is a particular challenge for me. I do strive to be content, but I find myself becoming bogged down with frustration over my house - instead of taking steps to change my environment, I feel overwhelmed by the tasks at hand and seem to make little to no progress. 

Even though I very much like my home, I don't love it as I did my last one. Granted, my last house was about twice as big as this one and was appointed with some very nice features - a beautiful, lush garden that I planned and planted, a huge kitchen that facilitated friends sitting and talking while I cooked, a living room that could comfortably accommodate a night of friends over for a movie. This house, although it has more historical charm than my 1980s cookie-cutter Cape Cod, doesn't quite have my stamp on it yet. What is it I need to do to fall in love with my current "here"? 

I think I need to spend some time getting this place organized to my liking. Because I haven't ever made space for my kind of productive activities (other than in the kitchen), I seem to have a hard time tackling some of my favorite projects - sewing, making stationary, etc. That has got to be a first step to getting myself feeling lovely here. The yard is another sore point, but one I am getting a great start on this summer. 

I think, too, in order to feel really comfortable here, I need to do some culling of my life. How many of us are saying the same thing right now? Boy, don't most of us have too much stuff?! Don't get me wrong, I like my stuff - I love most of it! After all, I've spent years accumulating it. Doesn't mean I don't have too much of it. I've gotten a good start on this by getting rid of a good many clothes this spring. I'll continue that trend as summer progresses and I over and over again choose anything over that shirt, those pants. ;-)

With these long, sunny days, hot afternoons, and cool evenings, I should be able to make some good progress on all this. Maybe by this fall, when asked, I can say, "Yes! I love my house!"