A spare of the moment re-purposing that supplied some breathing room and much needed relief.

My Mom and I are feeling empty nest again with my kid back to Hawaii for school.

Looking for a distraction she mentioned the pile of family and friends’ photos that were piling up and looking a bit messy. It was also making her sad that she could not see all the faces she is so proud of. Transfer of emotion and all that, I guess.

So, I popped into action; I grabbed the project board I made for my son a few years ago, while in High School (You know, the one to keep all his school and extracurricular activities organized!).

We spent the next half hour reminiscing and pinning up all of those little but important photos. It was a great moment.

It is a temporary solution but, now she can clearly see what she is so proud of and can pull them off the board as she finds proper places and frames for them.

I realized with this small impromptu project, that that organization advice rang true – you have something around the house that will work better and harder, you just need to take another look around.

It’s such a positive change in her personal culture with very little effort. It refreshed her bedroom and made her happy, which makes me happy.

I say, “Look around. Is there something simple you can do to increase your happiness quotient?”