1 . Standing in the store, I looked at the painting supplies excitedly.

“Are you sure these are what you want for your birthday?” my husband asked _________.

“I’m very sure. I really want to give it a _________,” I replied. I was smiling with _________. He looked at me hesitantly and _________ his head.

_________, this was a secret I’d kept for a while. Every day, my husband went to work. I’d look after my son, clean the house and prepare dinner. It had been a decade since I took any time to pursue my own _________. I had become a drudge (苦工). I wanted excitement and creative expression, but mostly I wanted colors. So I _________ the most interesting supplies.

“I have a feeling that you’re going to put all these in a toolbox and never _________ them again,” my husband said.

For the first month, he was _________. I put the supplies into a toolbox. I admired them every day, but I couldn’t seem to find the time to start painting. I found one reason or another not to __________.

One day, when my son caught me __________ the toolbox again, he asked curiously, “Mommy, when are you going to __________?”

“No __________ day than today,” I announced and brought out all the materials.

From then on, my house seemed to never be perfectly clean, but my life was full of __________. Most importantly, I no longer felt like a drudge. I had a new __________.