Perhaps it's that totally blase time of year when I get totally sick of my indoor surroundings. Or maybe everything in my house really is ugly.

Whatever it is, a couple weeks ago it was as if I had been walking around in my house blind for several years and all of a sudden had the haze lifted. With my new-found sight, I discovered something -- I hate just about everything in there!

Yep, after living in this house for eight years, I suddenly realized that I've hardly invested any time, effort or money in to decorating our home. My wall decor pretty much consists of scraggly items that likely were given to me by someone who was trying to unload their old stuff or they were in the clearance bin at the Christmas Tree Shop.

Well, not everything falls into those categories. I do have a few things that are lovely. Every time I come down the stairs, I encounter the mirror with the words "live simply" painted on it from my mother. That's her daily message to me, and she looked long and hard for something with those words on it. Yeah, my mother has witnessed the insanity that I call my life.

And then there are the framed photos of our kids, me with my sisters, etc. Those only exist because of rare moments of focus in which I really wanted a particular photo framed -- or they were given to me already in the frames. I guess it just seems like such a chore -- and a commitment — to shop for and buy things for the house. I mean clearly anything that makes it onto our walls is going to stay there for a realllly long time with these decorating habits.

Don't get me wrong, I would really enjoy spending some time decorating a room. And I don't think a small budget would be a major hindrance. What is, however, a major hindrance is my severe lack of time to invest in this part of my life. Whenever I have time to even think about decorating (in the shower), I come up with some fun ideas. It's finding time for the execution I'm no good at.

This morning I was in the shower and started shouting to my husband about what we should do to remodel the spare bedroom. It wouldn't take much to transform those icky pink walls with flowery wallpaper and border into something that won't make my sister puke when she comes to visit. Seriously, my sister, the finish painter, has been encouraging (aka harassing) me ever since we moved in to please redo that room. It's just coming up with the time to do it. Our weekends get eaten up so quickly.

Here's something that I will commit to doing sooner rather than later: I've been saving a few pieces of artwork -- really cool stuff -- that my kids have made in school. They are odd shapes, so I would really have to get them professionally framed. But they would be meaningful and colorful decor for the living room. Then I can pitch that ratty eucalyptus wreath that's been hanging in there for nearly a decade and stop sweeping up the pieces of it that keep falling off.