I think the food is fun. All of our kids and now the grands would love something like that for lunch. Actually, they sort of create their own fun images as long as they're not told, "don't play with your food!". lol I believe we're all born creative. How that creativity develops has more to do with whether it's nurtured, or not. My DH is a good example. His parents discouraged creativity and turned every activity into a chore. Result? DH would not practice his music lessons. DH would not attempt to learn a foreign language and avoided majors in college that required such. DH would get angry when he tried a new skill and wasn't perfect right away saying he, "just wasn't creative" or not good enough. Etc. etc. I was raised differently. My Dad was strict but stressed creativity and patience. When I became too ill to play my piano any more, DH missed the music in our home. One day I said to him, "Rather than complaining about what I can no longer do for you why don't you learn to play yourself?!" To my surprise, he said, "I'd love it if you'd teach me." That was almost 3 years ago (will be in January). He has been diligent with his practice and there is beautiful music in our home again. Suddenly through his own effort he's become "creative" and has started listening to Scott Houston and learning to adlib his own riffs. I love listening to him, smiling, and remembering how he grouched, "I can't do that." Creativity is just a skill like any other. It needs to be nurtured, practiced, and used. Some are born a couple jumps ahead of the rest of us but I really believe we are all full of creativity. I lost my art supplies in Sandy. I said there was no need to replace since I can't even write now much less draw. He purchased new anyway. I see what's coming...DH wants to try charcoal. He's not fooling anyone! :) I've been planning how I'm going to encourage and teach him a bit about perspective and shading and ratios... (grin) A few years ago, I was watching one of my 5 grandsons play. He was fiddling around with action figures. He'd pretend to have a "war". But, I noticed there was a rhythm to the way he had each figure interact. He made "boy" noises along with his "battles". I told my DS & DIL - get that boy a trap set - SOON. Now, two year later he plays drums in church every Sunday. He's now 10 years old. My Yamaha Clavinova (the first thing replaced in our home after Sandy) can be set to become a full drum set. DGS pounds away on it whenever he's here. He's good. My almost 13 year old DGD is an accomplished pianist and uses the piano to express her emotions rather than acting them out. Listening to her it's easy to tell her mood. She's also getting very good with her violin. She started her own henna tattoo business a year ago. No lessons in music or art. I did get DGS a few basic drum lessons since I don't play and didn't have a clue how to get him started. I think it was six lessons and he's been on his own since. Encourage creativity wherever you see it. It's everywhere if you look. /tricia

I married a butcher/meat cutter. I am a very clean cook, but I also am a cat lover. I could not believe my spouse when we married to his objection to cats, and it all came down to the counter issue in a nutshell. He is an animal lover, and we've been married over a quarter of a century now, and he also loves the cats. I don't voluntarily let my cats on or near the counters or tables, but I have to laugh because I've done the squirt gun routine for years, but I also know that they find their way there when I'm not about, and occasionallly 'forget' to jump down and hide when I come into the kitchen. My beloved little siamese/tabby mix was particulary fond of my advent wreath and would curl up inside the ring of it, with candles and bulbs all around her. She was an inside only kitty, and I suppose it reminded her of the great outdoors with the scent. I have to admit, that neither I nor my husband removed her from her throne. As for people who do not 'like' cats, I don't trust them because I suspicion they are likely control freaks who can't abide animals who don't drool and slather at them in worship and who can't respect personal space, mine or my cat's. LOL. Cat haters will also be quite open about your animals with a look of distaste on their faces and a smirk. Anyone who can sit in your house and rag on your beloved cat would just as easily tell you your kids are ugly and they don't like them either. ;-) As the old saying goes "love me, love my cat(s)" However, I do respect people with cat allergies. I warn them beforehand and we often visit in our gazebo, instead...or at least I keep the kitties in another part of the house, so they're not jumped on or smooched. BTW, as for clean counters, I just 'assume' a cat has been on mine, whether I see them do it or not. I use a cutting board I keep put away, and I also bleach/sanitise my counters before I cook. I have a picture somewhere of my siamese on my puter counter with her head submerged in my mug, drinking my iced tea. I tried not to think about that, says the lady who keeps her cups of tea parked all over the house.

I'm late to the conversation, but I'm glad you are leaving the room the colors it is. I went through this with my dd two years ago. She was almost six and had picked out the bedding, curtains, and pink wall color herself. She was really upset that her room was to be changed. It wasn't worth stressing her out any more than a move already does. At the stager's suggestion, I took down the pink curtains and replaced them with white. I switched out the bedding for a more nuetral color that went with the garden theme of the room. Dd's stuff (with her permission) that wasn't used for staging went into a box for the new house. When we walked through the house with the new owner, she complimented the room. It was the only room in the house that she complimented. IMO, it helped sell the house. I think if your rooms look magazine worthy, then leaving them as is, is fine. If they are just a hodge podge and a mix of stuff, it is better to repaint or stage so that it looks more appealing. I have seen some kid's rooms that made me cringe because everything clashed or looked like it had been thrown together with no thought of what worked.

We also eat in our family room chairs, but I guess that is not so good a thing to teach the kiddos, huh? There are probably the lift-up coffee tables available at times at thrift or second-hand stores. I almost got one a few years back. Here is a source for the mechanism if you want to make one yourself. It would give two people sitting on your couch an eating surface, which would be good in your sized home for the odd get-together if not for every day. http://woodworker.com/coffee-table-top-lift-mechanism-l-r-mssu-164-228.asp?gclid=CjwKEAjw6_q5BRCOp-Hj-IfHwncSJABMtDaiwuFq_E-O8Tt2tvGtgIm0ue8hjOppr8QYC2w6gA73wBoCptPw_wcB Or here are a bunch on eBay. The other thing to keep in mind is that this item would also give the kids a place to do homework or anybody a place to pay bills, right in the center of action, not tucked away in a corner of a bedroom or basement. http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/281621336698?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_noapp=true Another thing you could be on the watch for is the console dining set. I saw one from the 1930s that had beautiful wood work. Many look like hall tables or buffets, but the insides are hiding the dining table leafs. Sometimes folding chairs fit into the space that looks like it is a buffet storage area. Sometimes that area is full of 6 or 8 feet of real wood dining table. In that case, you end up scattering dining chairs around the house. One in each bedroom, one next to the front door, one in the kitchen.... wherever you can fit one! No, it is not convenient for daily dining. "Okay kids, go wash your hands for dinner and get your chairs!" Another option is to make your couch area in the living room into very comfortable buffet seating, so that it does double duty as couch and dining room seating. Where is the table? I don't know the layout, so I can't tell you where to hide it! One option is a ottoman that "grows" to table height and then the top turns over and is a hard laminated surface instead of a plush top. It is a bit tricky, as you have to have the ottoman make room for feet and legs, but I bet there is one out there or that one could be designed. The table top almost has to be 12 inches bigger than the ottoman top on at least two sides to make that extra leg room, though. I guess you hide the chairs for the other side of the table in the bedrooms in this case, too. I have tried using a portable island for dining, and if there is not adequate leg room, it is no good. I believe 12 inches is minimum and 15 comfortable. We have 14" overhang for our island seating in the kitchen and our knees do not bang on the back at all. I have used a tea cart pulled up to my family room chair and it is okay for two, inadequate for three, and I cannot see it for four. Only two people will have the fold-up top part to sit at, the others will have no place to put their legs. I have also used a fold-up table that I got from the drugstore. It is about 48" x 18" and it seats 3 for dinner if you fill your plates in the kitchen and carry them to the table.