A promise to keep

I did promise my mother many times that I would always move forward and never cling to grief. That's a tough promise to keep. But I am ready to try. I know I will never get past losing her because I still mourn for my father and brother after twenty+ years. But it is a kind of loving grief that I feel for them now. I know they're gone but they are still both so much a part of who I am.
My remaining dog Brady is lost. We moved here in July and my youngest son went back to the city after two months. A couple of months later, Brady's constant companion Beulah, my dog of almost 13 years, left us. Than a couple months after that, Mom passed. I can tell you, Brady is sticking pretty close to Paul and I. That's okay though, what's life without a dog to spoil?

If I don't shake a few things up in this house I will begin to believe it's a sad house and I know that's not true. It is one of those houses that you feel at home in the moment you walk through the door. I don't want to cast a gloomy shadow on a house that radiates love. So for Beulah, my mom, the former residents of this house and for Paul and myself, I am ready to live in love with life again.

This is a little off topic but I just can't resist. Here is a picture of Amos (A. Mouse) the rat. He is gardening in a plant arrangement I have on a side table. He just digs a hole in the center and chills out while Paul and I watch some television.

We are going to turn this big house into a B&B I think. We've got lots of work to do and I know it will be an on going hobbie. The bathroom on the second floor is completely off white. Clean and tidy enough but boring. I have picked my colour scheme for the room based on a teddy bear, cream and sugar set, from two of my collections and a button wreath I made several years ago. I just hot glued white and off-white buttons to a styrofoam wreath. Paul has to do a bit of repairs in the room but then it's mine. I am moving furniture around but I need to put my personal stamp on the bathroom quickly. I also found an old chandelier at a place called Beyond the Blue Box. You buy stuff by the pound there. I got the chandelier for a dollar and I plan to give it a facelift and put it in the bathroom. Hopefully I'll add a pic tomorrow.