it's not going to make her happy

tonight, i was talking with my mom after she got home from work. we got into the "do you remember what the house looked like when we were looking at it and other people lived here?" conversation. my mom is really stressed out by the way our house is. it's dirty. no one really cares except me and her. that makes three other people, who don't care about it at all... when other people lived here, it looked really good. there was pictures on the walls, there were statues. there were vases. everything was in it's place, and adorable. but then we moved in. our houses have never really been... clean. we throw everything everywhere... we save things from a billion years ago. we don't really.... get rid of things. spring cleaning never existed in my house. so i was talking with my mom, and she started telling me that she has all of these things that she wants to hang up, but there isn't a place for them. and if there was, she wouldn't know where to put them. she started telling me about all of them, and i was like. mom. we have to do something. so we started talking about what we could do... the upstairs is prepped and ready for wall hangings. everything's painted. we just need to clean, and rearrange. i told her that if she brought me stuff, i would hang it up. the one thing that she's really wanted to get done, is the downstairs hallway. we've been taking down that wallpaper since we moved in. just about 7 years ago. it's time to finish it. so i told her that if she took the rest of the wallpaper off, i would paint it. and i'm getting really excited about it. we already know what we're hanging on the walls down there when it's finished. i was thinking about paint colors... the tile that we put on the floor down there has these weird blues and purpley grays. so i'm going to get a bright blue, and a lavender. the lavender will be most of the walls and the light blue will go on the side with the closet, and my parents bedroom. it's going to look really good. and it will give me something to do. i think. i might fund the paint, and say it's christmas for dad. since i'm getting my mom something else. maybe it will just be for the both of them. it's not going to cost me very much... and i love doing these projects. and now, i have something to look forward to. something to plan. if i could do this for the rest of my life, i would. but the thing is. i know this isn't going to make her happy. i was so excited to paint my room. to put everything the way that i wanted. to let go of my old me, and embrace the new one. and after it was done.... i was like... okay, now what. it didn't make me happy. i don't even remember the excitement i had before it. but what else can i do? maybe if my mom and i work on this together, we can get something done. we'll work on the next project. maybe we'll even clean out the porch. maybe we'll be able to get rid of all the junk in our house. maybe we can save money to get a new couch. maybe maybe maybe. it's not about short term happiness.. my mom has been waiting her whole married life for her dream house. maybe all that we really need to do is clean up this one. and i'm pretty sure that we can have it up and looking sharp within the next six months. and i'm willing.