“Change is the only constant in life” said Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher . I agree!! Some changes we don’t even notice till we are looking back while others are more monumental.
Thirteen years ago my husband and I bought our first house (yes, we are still living in the same house today). 
We had been looking for over a year. We looked at MANY homes and even began naming some: The Volcano House, The Cat Poop House (yes, we walked through a home that had cat poop here and there in the basement along with their bathroom sinks being used as an ash tray, ick!), and The Mechanics Heated Garage House, to name a few. We put offers on some but those offers were not accepted. Then finally we found this one, our offer was accepted, and things fell into place for us to buy this home.
After moving in and starting over I noticed my husband was really down. He is usually a very happy person and when he does feel down he is good at covering it up. At this time of our lives I could see it and so could many around him. He didn’t feel like doing anything. Nothing seemed to make him happy. He was having a hard time with this big change in our lives -I’m sure the newborn- nightly,every 2 hr feedings weren’t helping the matter (I nursed, but the baby was sleeping in our room for a while and he wasn’t getting much more sleep than me) .
“Time never stands still; it must steadily march on, and with the marching come the changes.”-President Thomas S. Monson
My husband has a hard time with change. We loved the LDS ward we lived in, before we moved, and we really grew to love so many people in that area. We loved our little apartment and the fishbowl feel we had with friends living nearby. (The set up of the apartments were almost like a duplex but there were three-so a triplex?- three on one side and three on another, facing each other with a path down the middle. We called it our fishbowl as we were close enough to the apartment across from us to see inside to each other’s living room, when the blinds were open. We became close friends with many who lived in our little fishbowl). We’d just had child number two, which is a BIG change by itself plus buying a home means big commitments, money and otherwise.
In our new home we started going to the new ward where we knew no one. Also, when I was unpacking I noticed that the front room of the house was FULL of dried dog pee. So much that it went through to the sub floor and the carpet wasn’t salvageable (no wonder the last owner always had smelly candles lit when we walked through the house). We ended up needing new carpet and painted the sub floor with Killzall to get rid of the smell. Soon we wondered what else we overlooked. My husband is a worrier and was feeling a lot of weight on his shoulders, wondering if we made the right choice to buy this house.
As he was struggling I tried to do what I could to help him see the positive things and choose to be happy regardless the circumstances. Things can be fixed, new friends can be made, and we have each other. So when I saw this sign (not even sure where I bought it) I decided it would fit very well in our home and be a good reminder. 
THAT WAS 13 YEARS AGO! Many things have changed since then including the color scheme in my home. Back then I had many dark accents- black, brown and red. Over the years I have changed the colors in my home and have tried to brighten it up a bit. The sign isn’t fitting in so well with everything else.
Items I buy to decorate my home are usually bought because they have some kind of meaning (like this sig) beyond the fact that they are cute. I hate to just get rid of something if I can change it to match. I decided it was about time I changed this sign to go better with my decor, so that’s what I did
First I did a white wash over the whole thing, making sure I could see the letters through the paint. I used this chalk paint with a sponge brush with plenty of water in it. I went over it a couple of times, still making sure I could see the words.
Then I chose a turquoise acrylic paint and a fine paint brush and traced the letters with the paint. When I FINALLY finished the words, I sanded the edges of the frame to give it a Shabby Chic look.
I put it up on the wall but felt like it needed something more…
…so I got the sponge brush again and plenty of water along with the turquoise paint and went around the edges giving it a little more color, fading towards the words. Now I can keep it for 13 more years and still be reminded to Cherish Yesterday, Dream Tomorrow, and Live Today!! The end result will do just fine!
Looking back on those first years in our home, they were hard adjusting to new things-new bills, making new friends, being responsible for the upkeep of a house, etc.- but I feel that they have helped shape us into who we are today. It wasn’t long before my husband was able to get out of his funk and realize that this is where we were meant to be. By child number 3 he was called to be Bishop of our ward and is now serving as Stake President. We LOVE our ward/stake and as tight as we are in our home with now 5 children we would sure have a struggle if we were to ever leave here. BUT in the future if we feel that we should move, we can look back on our experience with buying this house and know that everything will be alright no matter what changes come!
SEE THE HAPPY!
Such a great idea! I did this one time a long time ago.
Awesome Jenny, I love making something old look new again!