busy as a beaver

Phew it's been a couple *very* busy days around here! (okay, busy few weeks lately) Yesterday I got off to a slow start as we found ourselves heading into town (40 kms away) for 'supplies' (We've been watching Little House on the Prairie again, LMAO - I often find I end up speaking like them, ha ha ha)... so I didn't get started until ~4:30. But I put in a solid 8 hours despite the late start.

I wish I'd taken before & after pictures. I sanded my daughter's dresser, which I found out was her great-grandparents when her grammy was a young girl. I sanded it down and painted it white to match her bedframe (which was her aunt's when we were growing up; and my daughter's great-grandfather built it). I will get new pulls for the drawers of the dresser & the drawers on the bed so it looks like a set. While I had the white paint out, I painted the inside of the front & back doors and the bathroom door. Wow did those doors ever need painting!

Today Grampa came out and helped immensely. He stubbed the plumbing pipes that'd been sticking out of the wall in the kids' room and then he built the wall dividing their room into two rooms (each room is now 15'x8.5' - so quite ample still). We framed it, insulated it & sheeted with drywall today!!! HUGE progress. We still have to mud/sand/mud/sand/seal/paint & then put all the furniture & toys back, so there's still a LOT of work to be done, but we did a lot today. I was the one screwing the sheets of drywall to the wall and my knees are rather sore tonight (despite a hot rose bath).

But what all this house maintenance has reminded me is that house maintenance is a necessary evil and must be done; it cannot be avoided forever (despite my trying to). It also reminds me that our homes are a reflection of our selves and if anyone were to come and look in our windows tonight, well... is that *really* how cluttered and unkept-up my body/mind/spirit is? ack! say it ain't so!

I've been motivated lately to get some of the long-overdue house maintenance done because I keep thinking, well, when we win the lottery (which for some foolish reason I keep thinking will be very soon) I'll be getting this stuff done, so I might as well treat myself as if I've already won the lottery and get started on what I can. It's weird because I can see how doing this invites prosperity into one's life, but when it comes to treating my Self with as much respect, well, I fall short. Like I tell myself, ya know, if you'd won the lottery, I'd bet you wouldn't be going out the door with your hair not brushed and in sweats, right? And yet, that's exactly how I went out the door. I just wanted to hide, even though I was going out in public.

I yearn for the time, a year ago, when I was fasting. Even when I was going in to the fast. I was so much happier with my body image than I am today. A lot of that is a vicious cycle - I try to eat well but have put way too much crap in my mouth the past year than I would like to admit to, I've put on weight, I've not exercised regularly. yadda yadda yadda. It's a vicious vicious cycle. I honestly don't know what it's going to take for me to snap out of it. I need to take the bull by the horns. Anyways, while I'm very happy with the progress I'm making with the house maintenance, the body's maintenance needs a tune-up, too.

In peace,
~n~