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

Reflections and connection.....

It's a reflective Sunday morning here at home as I sip my tea and listen to the rain outside of the meditation room window. Flute music is playing softly and vanilla incense is wafting from the room to throughout the house. I like these kind of mornings.......quiet, calm, peaceful. It feels as though the world is still asleep and the frenzied pulse of life has not yet taken over.  It makes me feel like this is 'my time' and these kind of moments often make me reflective. This mornings reflections are steeped in gratitude.

I am on the first day of my two weeks of holidays and I am always grateful for time at home. We are not going away on a holiday during this time off work but instead we have chosen this time specifically to complete another portion of the home renovations that have been an ongoing project since last July. We are beginning to feel a bit weary of all the work that we have been doing but it is bringing what is now our home together, back to life after so many years of passive living and merely existing as four walls. We have been breathing new life into what we are now making 'our' home and it feels wonderful and I am so grateful for this opportunity. I feel as though the house is smiling back at us and is quietly whispering a thank-you. A house needs to be a 'home' and a home needs to be a person's sanctuary. That place that you know you can wake up in and return to each day and feel both comforted and safe. It needs to be that one place on this vast planet that you can call your own and always feel like it is giving you a big hug when you walk through the door and reassure you that life is going to be ok. We all want to feel a connectedness, which in turn makes us feel supported and I feel that a home can do that for us. I have been in homes where I have felt that connectedness that it  has with its owners and I have felt the opposite also. Our homes are often a reflection of who we are as people and where we might be at in life.

For us our renovations are heading into the final stages of completion I can feel everything coming together and the connectedness is falling into place. It's a very good feeling and I am grateful for so many things involved with it. We are blessed to be able to do alot of the work ourselves and that we have had the resources to take this all on. When it is all said and done we will be able to sit back and smile and know that we did our best and our home will be a happy one.

Warm blessings to all,

Maggie

Leek, Potato and Mushroom Soup.....

I came across this soup recipe several years ago and it is now one of my 'go to' soups for the fall and winter. It's simple to make and the ingredients are often in the refrigerator or the pantry making it even easier to make on the spur of the moment for a last minute dinner idea. It's one of our 'comfort' foods here in our house and goes well with a crusty bread and a nicely aged cheddar. The one ingredient that surprised me the first time I made it was the dill weed. It totally makes this soup taste fabulous! Give it a try and let me know what you think of it!

Here the ingredients are all coming together in the soup pot! If only you could have been in my kitchen to smell the wonderful flavours! 

Finished product in the bowl for tasting! Actually this is the last serving of this delicious soup! We had it for dinner one night this week and the rest of the week it went into work with us for our lunch! So yummy! 

Here's the recipe everyone! 

Leek, Potato and Mushroom Soup

5 tablespoons butter, divided

2 leeks, chopped

2 large carrots, sliced

6 cups chicken broth

2 teaspoons dried dill weed

2 teaspoons salt 

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 bay leaf

2 pounds potatoes, peeled & diced

1 pound mushrooms, sliced

1 cup half & half

1/4 cup all purpose flour

Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Mix in leeks and carrots, and cook 5 minutes. Pour in broth. Season with dill, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Mix in potatoes, cover, and cook 20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender but firm. Remove and discard the bay leaf. 

Melt the remaining butter in a skillet over medium heat and sauté the mushrooms 5 minutes, until lightly browned. Stir into the soup.

In a small bowl, mix the half and half and flour until smooth. Stir into the soup to thicken. 

Serve and enjoy!!

Maggie

in the moment.......

I awoke this morning and there was a calmness and a feeling of resolute in that this day is  a gift that can only be lived this one time. This particular morning is not really out of the ordinary. I am off to my job soon and am in fact working all weekend. But there seems to be something this morning that is saying loud and clear that this day, and all others that follow, need to be lived in the moment and experienced fully. This is not an epiphany for me because I have felt this before and understand the beauty of this choice but we all tend to fall away from this easily. It seems that in this busy, crazy world that we live in, our minds are full of things we know. Some of these 'things we know' are in our everyday consciousness and we are fully aware of them and access them reliably without even a thought. It's just what we do. But some things live in the back of our minds and we need to be reminded of them from time to time and have them pushed into the forefront or pull them there ourselves. Great Spirit has a way of pushing things onto our path and placing them where we will notice them whether it be through an incident or a thought. For me this morning it seems to be through thought.  I know that this day has a finite number of moments that I can choose to live in one way or another. So how do I really want to live those moments. I can choose to live inside of each one of these moments and that then allows me to fully experience them in a way that I think, feel and understand each one. I must be 'present' to do this. This is one of the key factors in living an authentic life. If I choose to be fully present then I am able to exist within that moment and make the best choice possible or be witness to one. To be present may simply be as a bystander and that then is also the experience.
My life lived in the present moment is necessary so that I can feel it fully. This may be both tough and easy because life is full of paradox but I will have done my best.

May you live in the present moment today and for all new days that come.

Namaste,
Maggie

all good things.....

It just needed to be shared! Have a great day everyone!

Maggie

the wise choice......

I blogged yesterday and noted that I had so many things that I wanted to get done. Well, I can truly say that I did accomplish many things and yet it is this morning right now that I am simmering the pear jam on the stove! So as you know the pear jam didn't get done but it was for the right reasons. I had a busy day yesterday with many things on my agenda and did the prep work for the jam throughout the day but by the time I was ready to put all the ingredients in the pot it was 4:30. The 'get it done' part of me pulled the pot out of the cupboard, looked at the clock and sighed deeply knowing that I was in for another couple of hours of work and then my 'wise mind' took over and said..... 'No, it's getting too late in the day to start the canning process now'. Now in the past the 'get it done' part of me would have thought that this was the 'wise' thing to do in an effort to complete the task and be able to then subconsciously reward myself for a job well done. I would have thought it was fine to push myself to the edge to get it done. I would have though interrupted our dinner time and yesterday I would have actually missed out on a Harley ride with Kelly. I have in the past pushed myself to get things done and then I didn't have to 'feel bad' for not doing what I had set out to do. It was a form of self criticism that carried over from early childhood parental criticism and neither has any benefit. As I have become older and 'wiser' I am able to see the difference that a decision can make. I would have upset my own applecart so to speak yesterday if I had continued with my task at hand. I would have missed our Harley ride and I would have tried to make dinner amongst the jam process which would have been very frustrating and a dinner prepared while feeling that way will not feed your soul. I also would have been more exhausted than I already was and I was truly tired after a long, busy day. There was no need to rush the process and 'tick' it off my list of things I wanted to do yesterday. There was no need to say 'look at all the things I did today', because I still did plenty. We have these preconceived notions that we are less than ourselves if we don't get done what we set out to do. I now know that it's all ok to fall short of my plans. It's just plain ok. There is no longer that subconscious report card at the end of the day that says I did good or bad and if someone else thinks that way about me then I'm sorry for that but I'm taking care of my wellness by making that decision. It's a mind game that we play with ourselves and I will admit I have done it for too many years of my life and now I know better. Yesterday was a quick catch on my wise mind's part to tell my 'other half' that it was ok to leave it and deal with it today. So the prepped pears went into the refrigerator and off we went on the bike for a great ride in the country. Jam I can make today.

This is what I would have missed if I had chose to finish the jam.........enough said.

Make wise choices.......

Maggie