Good things come in threes

I am starting again today from scratch. I had written a very poignant and thought provoking entry last week and was just putting the finishing touches on it when my iPad erased it. Or at least I think it did. Either that or it has joined with all the single socks in the great sock migration.

Anyway, like I said, it was profound ...very profound. Lets see if I can remember some of it. It all started when I came home from walking my kids to school....

When I get home from the big drop, after I feed myself and check the globe and mail,(shameless plug for one of my main backers) I try to prioritize what I should work on that day. 

Should I:

 - attempt to finish painting one of the 10 rooms that needs painting, 

 - go outside and lose myself in the abyss of overgrown perennial trimmings, or 

 - finish off one of the "regular and everyday" chores. 

This particular day, I went with D- none of the above, and instead,crawled into bed and pulled the covers over my head. I was sinking fast into the abyss of home reno depression.

So, I decided that I needed to get my hands on some heavy duty druggage to cure me of all that ails. I checked our medicine cabinet. Unfortunately the  best I could come up with was some weird green drink with an extra dose of vitamin c and...

Super Fast Acting Laxative Tea

(Hmm...Smilin laxative?? That is the definition of oxymoron)

I knew it wasn't the pick me up I was looking for so I did the next best thing..... I cried. I cried really hard for a really long time.

As I was reflecting on my demise and my woes and my troubles and my worries and my disappointments ...(I had a lot on my mind)...

God spoke to me. I always know its him by the response it elicits in me, (and by the fact that it is usually the exact opposite of what I would have said)

 He said..."Beauty takes time".

Beauty take time...the immense truth of this statement is startling.

Mahatma Gandhi said "real beauty is my aim"; if this is my aim as well, then I must begin to change my focus and allow myself the time it takes for something truly beautiful to form. 

I believe that we as humans have great potential for beauty. What if the seeds of our beauty are lovingly planted inside of us, present from our  beginning, just waiting for the right conditions to begin to grow? Imagine the possiblilty that our beauty is limitless when nurtured in an environment of gentleness, acceptance and love.

"God is beauty" St Francis of Assisi said - and since we are carriers of the life and breath of God, we then are vessels of that beauty. Perhaps our beauty is untapped or unknown, but it is present nonetheless...waiting.

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful,

we must carry it with us or we find it not. 

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

I had a really difficult time writing this blog entry...even beyond the iPad deletions. Hopefully it is because it is a thing of true beauty and not for some other reason (like it takes me forever to organize my thoughts into something that actually makes sense).

I pray that today you will find true beauty. It may only be a glimmer of what will become, but the result is worth the effort and the wait.

Second Verse-Same as the First

I must admit, the trepidation I felt in writing my first entry has doubled for my second. Is it too early for me to claim writers block... or do you have to write more than 100 words to qualify for that? I wonder.

Regardless, I am here writing.

We have just moved into a 1978 Tudor style house in beautiful Summerland B.C. Notice I didn't say that the house was beautiful - because it's not, but it does have a few good things going for it. It is very large and it has a pool. Both of these seem to be negatives at the moment though as the pool is a delectable shade of emerald( home to hundreds of water creatures and a death trap to all the local mice) - and most of the house is empty because we have no furniture to fill it. To solve this conundrum, we tore out the old toilets and decided to set them up in our living room for the guests to sit on. This was quite a hit as you can imagine!! Our family is proud to be taking recycling to the next level. (David Suzuki eat your heart out)

So, in order to make our house beautiful, we have sought the help...

 of Qualified Professionals. Or so we thought.

(Believe it or not...they look a lot like this guy)

Note that he doesn't appear to know where to put the nail.

Our first encounter was with our friendly neighbourhood big truck guy. This is the guy, and we all know one, who has every big truck, tool and electronic device that you will ever need.  This man will make short order of any work that you need to get done -  providing that you don't mind things driven over, pulled out, or cut off.  Fortunately, there weren't too many things that I was overly attached to and...perhaps my junipers will eventually grow back??

Next were the heating guys.  Notice I say guys - because that's all you ever get. (Where are all the women trades people - that's what I want to know) One of the frustrating things about dealing with men, is that they always want to talk with my husband - it's like I'm invisible or something.  "Is your husband here?" ...."Would you like to discuss this with your husband Ma'am?" ... Ma'am? I am not a ma'am, and I can make a few decisions on my own thank you very much.  And um no...I don't know where the fuse box is.. I'll have to call my husband. 

So anyways, on to my next challenge...trying to communicate with the furnace fellows why I didn't want my thermostat in the middle of my dining room wall. "I know it will be faster for you to just cut a hole there but you can't!!" I guess I could have found a way to do a picture cluster around it, but surprisingly that was not really the look I was going for.

My last frustration is with electricians in general.  Why are they so elusive and elitist?  I have phoned a couple of different guys (note I said guys again..sigh) and they won't even return my calls. When they do finally get around to calling me back, they seem quite giddy to inform me of their outrageous prices and that they can't do any work until 2012.

Whatever...who needs em.  Oh right, we do. Crap!

Humble Beginnings

I haven't even started to write this blog and I am already questioning my qualifications.  Just trying to set up my account required supervision by my husband and having to come up with a title almost stopped me entirely.  But nevertheless here I am.

(Yet another thing to disqualify me is that I started the last sentence with but..) 

Since we are on the subject of my shortcomings, I also can't type more then twenty words a minute. Don't care though. I have things to say. Some might even be worth hearing. You can decide which are which.  Hey, I already think my typing is getting faster :)

Is it just me or are sideways smiley faces incredibly odd ways to communicate that you're smiling.  

Whatever, I am not here to question tech stuff and how or why it works the way it does.  If there is one thing you can not expect to find on my blog it is technological advice. Case in point, I just hit the wrong button and thought I had lost everything I had just written.  Arrg...computers.

Well I am actually pretty happy with myself.  I got through my first entry and I am still somewhat sane. At least as sane as when I started...Hmmm...

Thanks for following along. Even if you're not - it helps me to think that you are. Feel free to leave a comment but, as a forewarning, I will not respond to any criticisms of my spelling or punctuation :)

Sideways smileys - bahhh.