the floor - continued.......

I posted a few weeks ago about the big job that was ahead of us in that we were going to be tiling several areas in our house. Something that we have never done, but Kelly took the workshop at Home Depot and read books and she was good to go. Oh, and I should mention that her dad was only a phone call away on the west coast and he had tiled an entire home before! I read over that post again and could feel the excitement that I was experiencing with all of this and how "ready, set, go!!" we were with it all. My excitement remains but it is tempered with the fact that it is taking us much longer than we had anticipated and are so ready for it to be done. We have worked tirelessly at this project and it has turned out to be so much more than we thought it would be. Although maybe it is a good thing that we were naive in what we were undertaking because if we had known we might have given up on the whole project which would not have been good. We wanted to save some money by doing the work ourselves and that is a good thing, but we have had to make sure that the cost of our physical and mental health is not impacted too. Kelly also loves doing reno work so she was just itching to get at it.
Oh gosh, we have each had our 'moments', but we have been supportive of each other and spurred each other on as needed. Our 2 weeks off seemed to go quickly and now finishing the work is left to our weekends off which are very precious to the both of us. Kelly is off every weekend but I do work every other one and this makes it a bit harder since it is easier to do the job when we can both help out. We have learned so much from this renovation experience and I'm sure there will be more to learn before we complete the job. We are already so proud of what we have accomplished and can only imagine how awesome it will look when we are all done!

Here is a photo of the dining room in it's almost complete state. We are leaving all  the grout work until the end so still more to do with this room.

Here's hoping my next blog will show you just how much farther we have come!! 

Maggie

the floor we walk on.......

Kelly and I have been working on renovations to the house for over a year now. It has taken us this long because there has been so much to do. I have lived here for 20 years and over time the house has become dated and some things that needed attention just didn't take priority. When Kelly and I decided to live together it was a perfect opportunity for us redecorate and renovate and renew! I was thrilled in that Kelly is very handy and can do a lot of the work herself. I don't have those kind of skills but am able to help out with whatever else might be needed. Once the renovations are completed the house will only resemble itself from its basic structure. Pretty much everything else has been transformed with paint, carpeting, light fixtures, vanity, counters, window coverings and even a new garden bed in the front yard. The next and biggest project for us to undertake is the tile flooring that we are going to be putting in this week. This is seriously a big job and it makes me a bit nervous when I think about the enormity of it! It's ironic that we both admit that we are becoming a bit weary of all the renovations and here we are now with the biggest job of all. Did we save the best for last?? Well, it could be that we did! It has been a challenge right from the start of making the decision to having tile flooring. The colour choice ended up being so different from what we thought we wanted but we feel now we have made the right choice. We had a lot to take into account as the tile will be in three rooms and the hallway so it had to look right everywhere. Then the measure and the ordering. When we signed on the dotted line it was a done deal and there was no turning back! It was ordered and the call came in that it was ready for pick up..... all 475 sq. feet of it! My back will never forget the day we unloaded all those boxes from the truck and stacked them in the garage. It was the heaviest lifting I have ever done, but we did it together and after it was all done I said that it was now coming in the house just one tile at a time! lol!! It took all of yesterday for my back to feel normal again. So now the fun begins and we start with our biggest project ever! I will post photos as we move along in the process!

Here is a pic of all the tiles on the skids at the hardware store ready to be loaded into the truck. It was a back breaking job but we managed to get it all stacked in the garage and now it's ready for the floors!  

And here's a picture of the small bathroom downstairs that will be for my Reiki clients when they come for treatment. It has been completely transformed and I think looks beautiful! 

More pictures will follow to let you see how the tile floor turns out. I can't wait to get started! 

Maggie

catching up.....

I feel as though I need to do some serious catching up with my blog and hopefully in the next week or so I can do just that. It is a busy time of year right now with all the fruits and vegetables coming into peak harvest season and I love to do a bit of canning. This has kept me away from the blog and busy for the last several weeks. I don't go overboard with it but I love to walk down to my root cellar with jars in arms and line the shelves with natural goodness that has come from the earth and will grace our table in winter. There must be a pioneer woman inside of me that is manifesting herself in my current life and she helps me get back to my roots of living a simple life. That has been a common thread vision that has been a part of my being for as many years as I can remember. To live a life of simplicity and to live happily and quietly with myself and others. Preserving helps me to do that.

I still have some canning on my list of things to do before the harvest is over and then I hope to get back to more regular posting. After the canning season is done I will be gathering my energies to reestablish my Reiki practice once again. I am excited about this and will write more about that as things progress.

For now though I must close the laptop and get myself ready to head off to work. Yes, that paying job that allows me to live the life that makes me happy. So, we will come together again here soon and we will chat and reflect on many things. Until next time........

Blessings,

Maggie

abstract 'doing' .....

My weekends off start on Fridays. I have the day to myself as my partner has taken Micah to daycare for the day and that means I am free to go about as I please. I have had my tea and  now my mind begins to roll infinitely with all the things that I could possibly do today. I am forever one who fills the day with tasks and then, and only then, will I be able to feel that I have accomplished anything. It's not really a good thing for me to do because I have filled my plate far too full, far too often only to have less than optimal results. I end up exhausted and spent both physically and mentally. I have always struggled with this concept of doing. But even as I write about this I can understand that if I sit quietly and relax with a cup of tea or read a book, that I am in fact 'doing' something. There may not necessarily be anything to hand to you at the end of that time and say....'here, look at what I did', but I will have done something. So my accomplishment is an abstract one as opposed to something that is physical in existence. It can't be held, touched, seen or felt. But it's there. And more importantly I did it for myself. 

I only truly have one commitment today and anything else that comes about will be by choice. So I will look at what my choices might allow and move ahead from there with my day. 

It fascinates me that I continue to learn and grow in spite of the fact that I might have thought that I learned a certain lesson before. I can know what to do but the actual carrying out of this can be my hurdle. But I keep on learning and the choices come quicker and quicker knowing that I must keep myself happy and not look back at the end of the day and wish that my choices had been different. 

Aah......life is so interesting. 

That is all for now. I must move on with my day.

Blessings to all,

Maggie

Reflections.......

I had a difficult conversation last evening. All the emotions that came up for me during and after the conversation were ones that reside deep inside of me and some go as far back as my early childhood. It amazes me that as much as I have worked on my emotional and psychological health for many years both professionally and personally, these emotions are still there and come up from time to time. They are not suppressed because I know that I have worked on them and understand them, but they never really leave.  It merely proves to me again that 'cell memory' exists and it can bring back both physical and emotional responses very quickly. In fact in just seconds I can 'feel' just like I did when I was in a previous situation that was similar. Our minds and bodies are amazing.

This morning I am reflective in my thoughts and am taking some time to observe them. I sit in my meditation room with a cup of tea and some quiet music playing. The door to the room is ajar so that all or any of the furbabies can enter the room also if they need to. Currently Micah our Weimaraner lies beside my chair. I have smudged with sage from a special place that I visited with my partner Kelly called Lillooet. It hails from British Columbia where you can simply stop by the roadside and pick some sage. It's scent is so wonderful. I now can also smell the sweet scent of vanilla incense and have said my prayers not only for myself, but also for you, as I pray for all of mankind each day.

As all of this exists around me I can better ground myself and come to understand the emotions I was feeling surrounding the conversation. I can now see it was not at all the content of the conversation that was affecting me, but the way it made me 'feel'. It conjured up feelings and reactions from my past and it felt very uncomfortable. So now I can better work through all of this and come to an understanding of another piece of me. We are complex beings. We are intricate beings. We are hard to understand. But if we take the time to reflect and listen to the voice in our soul.....well, then we often can begin to discover who we really are and why we feel the way we do. It's work.......but, it's good work. Work that we must do to reveal our true selves and then live our best life. The authentic life we were destined to live.

The way I was feeling this morning drew me back to this painting. It is one that was given to me by a friend back in 2000. I look at it and can see myself as the woman sitting on the boat reflecting on her thoughts. I am always drawn to 'the water' when I feel this way and this morning I may be sitting in my meditation room, but I can go to 'the water' through this picture. I close my eyes and I'm there.

I pray that your day has a few quiet moments where you can reflect on life, a few moments where you can witness joy and a few moments where you can know yourself a bit better than you did yesterday. Every day brings growth.........thankfully.

Blessings to all,

Maggie

Two things......

Two things...... "life is short" and "am I making a difference?". The first quote came up for me yesterday after hearing from a friend that a life had been unexpectedly lost in a car accident. A partner of 18 yrs now sadly gone. It conjures up this all too familiar statement of 'life is short' and yet I wonder if we ever really hear ourselves when we say it. It rolls off our tongue so easy and then more than likely minutes later we have forgotten the real meaning of those three words and we are back to living life outside of the moment. Yes, outside of the moment because if we are living in the moment then we are aware of just how precious life is. Life needs to be lived fully and in the present moment. The next time you hear someone say those 3 words listen to them carefully and reflect on how you are choosing to live your life. I pray that it is a life that enjoys each and every moment as best possible.

The second quote was noted today in a conversation on FB and a friend wrote and said  "am I making a difference?. In our world today we applaud so much that is on a grand scale. Everything is about 'big' and 'global' and in the world of accomplishments. These accomplishments are not to be disregarded but  neither are those that are any less. We can all make a difference whether it is big or small. I believe that every time you make an effort you are making a difference. Your energy goes out to the universe and it's vibration is felt globally. So never underestimate the power of your small efforts because they all contribute to the differences that are happening in the world today. Yes, you do make a difference!.....and I am grateful for your effort.

Those are just a few words for today.......

Blessings to all,

Maggie