Clearing Email

Is there anything worse than trying to clear your inbox? Well, I mean, other than illness and death and desolation?

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Jeez, if you put it that way, it seems a bit petty to complain, you know?

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Let's talk about cabinets.

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Did you know that you can MAKE your own cabinets? Me either. Well, let me clarify-- John can make our own cabinets.

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We are on phase 5 of the renovations! Last week while Sheree & I were at the Expo, Barry & John were making cabinets. I came home to this:

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well, minus the curtain and stuff on the shelves....that's womens work. Sha right. That's "I don't want to deal with what's behind the curtain" work. Let's see if I can pretty it up and pretend it's not there...

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The next night this happens:

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Dig the cacaphony of colors... and I ain't talking about the mural....
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Can I digress for a moment here and get your opinion on my husband's pants?

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And what's that lumberjack song? From Monty Python?

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Just kidding.... talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth. Hey, what's that mean?

Anyway....

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Here, you'll see my best buddy waxing philosophic on the art of cabinet making....

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Or more likely, if you know my buddy, he's saying,

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"That's some bull*%$#$ right there"

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C'mon...you know it's true!

That's a beautiful thing right there.....

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And the cabinet doors aren't bad either... ba dum dum

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I have to admit.

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I really love these guys.

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So macho and cute....

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And the cabinets sort of rock, huh?

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Me and T are pretty daggone lucky.

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Here's that latest attempt to hide what I don't wanna deal with:

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Oh, how lovely it all looks...course, I'm running out of time. The "boys" are building the base cabinet for the left side tomorrow while we do the Intro workshop.....

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Can't wait to see it! And see what happens to all the stuff behind the curtain. YIKES.

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See, now wasn't that more entertaining than complaining about clearing email? Ugh. Back to work....

Okey Dokey, Here you go....

Carpet. Barry & Rhia wanted it to look like the beach and we decided sand was cushy. Mmmm, yoga last night.... heaven.

These are all just taken in natural light from the windows. You should have seen the moon shining through the windows last night when we were doing our tree pose... again,,,,, Mmmmm.

The cat's new perch.... And here's the tip of the iceberg that's left:

This is the place where the built ins will go. Johnny C & The Bear will build over head cabinets on both sides and to the left will be counter with deep cabinets underneath. The bench to the right holds my blankets, ties and cushions for yoga and is pretty comfy to put your feet up and rest on.

This is the nightmare which is my office. Barry made me a desk which made us have to go to Ikea and get some stuff and OMG I have to take it all down and start all over and I don't even really want to talk about it, you know?

Isn't the room lovely?

Talk to ya soon....

Woo Hoo!

Here they are! Windows with trim!!

On to carpeting :)

We may make that deadline yet....

Daily Life Returns

Barry had to go back to work. He's been off the last 3 weeks since Christmas. Unfortunately, he did not hit the lottery. And we are still not independently wealthy. The room project is now delegated to little snippets here and there. What would probably take just 2 days to finish is going to take about a week or so longer cause he just doesn't have the same amount of time, plus, when you sit at a computer all day it kinda drains your mojo so your get up and go will kaput. You know?

We have had a really good time doing this room. Barry & I always get along best when we are working on a project or traveling together. We have always been really good friends-- I know it's sappy but it's true. There is no one I would rather hang out with than him. When we have to do the mom/dad wife/husband delegating of mindless chores and daily to dos is when we conflict. Doesn't everyone? If we were independently wealthy and had a maid/butler/governess (who has a governess? and I can hear you now "aren't your children grown? duh, that's why I didn't say nanny....) chauffeur/accountant/secretary we would just happily sing and play together all day. We share the same goofy sense of humor and child like ness. (Don't say child ish ness!)

We have many dreams and get very excited and passionate about our projects. When we get going on something like the room or our ponds/gardens etc. we do not stop. We work til we ache. We become obsessed and nothing else exists until it's done. Cept when he has to go back to work. Now we rattle around drumming our fingers until we can get some blocks of time to finish. Trim and carpet. And the biggest part, the built ins. A built in, cushiony nook with overhead cabinets on one side and a built in counter space with cabinets under & above.... all my stuff, ribbons, oils, paints, material, books, papers, magazines, glues, everything I need to do my work all in one place. Just the thought of it makes me ....... well, words escape me.... polite words anyway.

He made me a pantry last night. It is pathetic how excited I am about this. It's like how some women would say "he bought me the biggest diamond you can imagine!" It's a beautiful thing. At 11:00 last night I'm emptying all the canned goods & appliances & cleaning supplies from all the many places they have been stored and putting them all in one space. I am thrilled, I just keep looking at it. I can SEE everything! It's like .... butt--ah! like a big bowl of butt-ah....

Okay, well, now that you know just what a geek I am, I'll leave you there. Gotta go re-arrange the rest of the cabinets now. Yay!!!

Are you thinking about my pantry?

Imagine me with nothing to say.

I thought perhaps I should actually write an entry that didn't have anything to do with the new room in case my readers are like I was last week with the "would you get on with the room already??!!" But alas, it is the only thing on my head right now. I mean, I could tell you about the birds going wild outside my windows but that will lead to an explanation of how we can see out all 4 sides of our house now and how marvelous the new windows are and then of course, I'd have to tell you that the color we painted it changes with the light and sometimes it's blue and then sometimes it's green and then I would hope that you would say that you can't wait to see it and then I would show you these:

Okay, that was sneaky. And my horoscope today said to watch out for deception. Yikes. And sorry. I have gotten some neat emails lately, here's a sampling:

"When we are on top of a mountain, it is as if we have ascended to an alternate realm, one in which the air is purer and the energy lighter. Many a human being has climbed to the top of a mountain in order to connect with a higher source of understanding, and many have come back down feeling stronger and wiser. Whenever we are feeling trapped or limited in our vision, a trip to our nearest mountain may be just the cure we need. " DailyOm (wouldn't it be cool if the nearest mountain was Mt. Hood in Oregon? sigh.)

Claiming your own blessedness always leads to a deep desire to bless others.
Henri Nouwen

You cannot know God until you've stopped telling yourself that you already know God. You cannot hear God until you stop thinking that you've already heard God.

I cannot tell you My Truth until you stop telling Me yours.

Conversations With God, Book 1Neale Donald Walsch

That was a good one. So there you go. 3 for the price of 1. Soon I'll be relaxed, writing in my new office, perhaps you'll knock on my door and we'll sit together quietly sipping tea, watching the birds as they scramble in the pyracanthia and the chipmunks playing in the fountain in the corner. Shall I put some music on or is just their singing enough?

See you soon!

Oh wait! I made a new card last night:

"The Symphony of Creation"

I love this card. It's how I feel in the Spring when one by one the sprouts start bursting through the ground. I always feel like God is tapping his stick saying, "Okay, now! Cue the daffodils! Crocuses, you may exit to the left and let's bring on the dogwoods!" And then the frogs begin croaking in the pond and all is right with the world......

Workshop this weekend at CCPC. Maybe we'll take a small field trip to my house, whaddya think? A walk will do us good :)

Soon and Very Soon...

If you can stand it, here's the latest pics:

This is the view from my office as they begin to break through the wall. Of course, the kids had to draw all over it first.


Feels like the light is trying to come in, huh? Of course, when there's destruction at hand, who do you call? Cory... and his mighty hammer:



After we cleaned up Cory's mess errrgh!!! and finished off the opening:


It's so weird to have light coming into my office....

Does this man look tired to you? Poor guy.

What are you doing sitting?????

Just kidding.

Will keep you posted. Whether you like it or not. Sorry!!! I'm just really excited.

I did post a meaningful message on my website if you miss the ole' wisdom...

http://www.yolinna.com/

The Calvary

So yesterday the Calvary came in.... or Mighty Mouses "here I come to save the day!" Our bestest buddies came in and helped Barry with his project. And look what happened:

From here--

To Here--

Yep, they got all the Sheetrock done! In one day!!! Look at the light in this room:

And that's late in the day since we overslept... cause of that rotten football game and the drowning of our sorrows. It's also missing one of the windows that we had to send out for repair! Here's more:

That's where the built in pantry on the utility room side and built in desk and storage spaces on the room side go. Here's what we're looking at when we do our Sun Salutations:

That's the back corner window looking out to the veranda HAHAHA.... Oh how we do put on airs... the other windows look out to sky.... can you tell I am totally psyched?

If you see my good buddies today, give them an extra squeeze for us, we don't know how to thank them. They are just the salt of the earth, you know?

Off to Mud. The nail pops are a callin'