Look good on the outside, feel good on the inside

For the six years we've been in this house, we've been dying to fix up the front porch and yard. The house is so old and the porch so settled that it really needs to be completely redone, but we don't have the time nor the money for that.

So last weekend when my mom sent The Mr. some birthday money, we gingerly spread it around getting some touch ups for the front of the house.

There used to be these ginormous bushes on both sides of the house that The Mr. and I genuinely hated. It covered up the front of the house and took up nearly half of the front yard. So we tore them out with the intention of planting grass, etc. in that area. Well, that was about four years ago and we're just now getting around to putting in more stuff.

I was never really ashamed of telling people where I lived, but I did think twice about who I sent past our house since the paint was peeling on the porch and there were big holes and bare spots in the front yard. Now, I've been telling everyone who knows where I live that they should go by the house since we did some landscaping.

And even though we really, really, really should have put that money towards bills, I think we both felt that we needed a little pick me up, a little something to make us puff out our chests and take pride in ourselves. I think sometimes you have to throw some serious caution to the wind and just do something different, something sort of out of character, something that makes you feel alive.

OK, so a little landscaping and paint might not be The Thing that makes us feel alive, but if you are/were feeling as hopeless as we are right now about our financial situation, just this little something is enough to push you back to that place where you remember what it feels like to not be at the mercy of the bank. And that, my friends, can give you a glimmer of hope.