Lovely Life

Lovely Life

I have been working my tail off on the roof. With the four dedicated days a week I try and work on it, I was able to get the roof rafters in, it all sheathed, the sky lights framed in and cut out, and the whole roof papered... The next step will be metal roofing, flashing sky lights and getting them in. Once I get the roof done I can move on to covering the walls and putting the windows in. How exciting!!! In case any of you wondered who my valentine is this year, it was my house. :) I have been very fortunate to spend time with lovely friends lately, but at the end of the day, when my kids are off visiting their Dad, I am devoting my time attention and love to my home, it's so romantic. 

On Sunday, I had planned to climb a mountain, but instead I hopped a ride with a friend out to the coast. When someone has a dream, sometimes you just go with it... :) The ocean always calls me. It has been so nice to be disconnected lately. Still without a phone for now...

At any rate, I have enjoyed being present with people around me. Working hard on my house, without the distraction of a phone to slow me down and take me off task. I have had very few pictures of the building process in the last few weeks. My Mom has taken a few pictures that I got off her phone, yay! Thanks Mom!

I got the opportunity to get out to Port Townsend twice last week to collect some things for my house... I got a few port holes and a captains wheel for the kids room, some hinges, and some great ideas. We got some of the things at a marine exchange there, it is a store front down in the ship yard area where are the boats are being repaired. People just donate all of the ship stuff to them, and some guys sells the stuff. Nice business, eh? Anyway, the kids had a great time looking around at all the boats in dry dock. One old wooden ship was being repaired, and we watched the guy pound cotton in the cracks with a chisel, and he came and talked to us and educate us on some of the process. It was great, and very educational for the kids. We live in a place with lots and lots of water around, the ocean, the straights, rivers, lakes, canals... and we love boats.

Also, while I was adventuring out at the ocean I stumbled on an abandoned ranger station that had been pretty trashed and had lots of junk laying around. I walked through the house and found a nice camping pot, a few pulleys, a colorful crab trap float and a few round floats. Since it was only a day hike, I tied it all up on some rope and drug it out of there. I thought it would be fun to put a counter weighted pulley system going down from the boys loft with a float.

It is always nice to feel the energy of the ocean. I allowed it to flow through me and cleanse out some stagnant energy. After living away from the ocean back in college for 8 years, I have a lot of gratitude having the ocean so close. I really missed it during that time in my life, even though I lived on a lake.

There is a very rhythmic powerful pull and push that you can enjoy from the ocean, that not too many other things in life can offer. Its an opportunity to reset, to love where you are, and to appreciate the loving kind people around you. I haven't spent a lot of time single in my life, and I must say I am loving it. I have been so fortunate to have partners come and go that I have loved so much, and learned so much from. I also spend a lot of my time mothering and taking care of two sweet little boys. Having weekends free now has allowed time to be me, to work, to build my house, and to do things that really feed my soul. Being in nature, hiking, sitting at the ocean, beach combing, being around people that lift me up are what carry me through a fast paced week. 

Thanks to kind friends that have invited me out to golf, to shows, to dinner and dancing, fund raising events, dedicated songs to me ;);), gone on drives to the ferry with me, attending building expos, love my kids like their own while I work, driving around looking for things for my house, ocean trips, playing darts n pool, and lots of general adventuring... who needs valentines day when you appreciate having wonderful people in your life everyday? Cheers to great friends. And to continuing to work my ass of on this house. It's all coming together.

Its the calm before the storm...

At this point, I have hit rock bottom financially. Don't worry! It's a good story... I am sitting in the Starbucks while my kids are at school (a private school I am behind on paying for), my occasional Tuesday job doesn't have enough work to pay me to come in today, my other job that I started wants me to jump through all kinds of hoops to get paid, so that is taking a while, my third job that I fill in at should be paying me via direct deposit any day for filling in one day almost two weeks ago, my fourth stream of income I deposited a check I was handed from an angel today, but my account is over drawn $13 and I deposited it, but it is processing so I couldn't pay for the hot tea I just ordered so I could sit in this starbucks and use the internet to write a blog post... AND my gigantic tax return is in the mail... AND this is the longest run on sentence in history.  I am so beyond grateful to be sitting here. Alive. Healthy. Happy as a clam. Maybe I should be embarrassed? I don't know... I might sit here until my deposit goes thru so I can pay for my hot tea. But I am so stoked on life I can barely sit here still. I keep looking around me, I am surrounded by old people, because I live in a retirement community, playing cribbage, talking about their fixed income and dentures.

I am so stoked on life because it can only get better from here. There is no possible way to go down! At least financially. HA! It is so interesting and different for me to look at any negative in my life. I see it, but then, I focus on why this is happening? What have I to learn?

I saw someone today that has always been a big part of my life. Someone in her family has been a key person in my life since I was possibly 10. Now, not one of them is. In fact, they have in a way disowned me, or so it feels to me. I don't blame them. I made choices that didn't involve them. But, where I am going with this, is that I saw her today. I wasn't really ready to see her, so what do I have to learn? I need to forgive, I think. I need to forgive myself. It was okay to chose a path for myself without considering everyone else, like was accustomed for me. I need to move forward. But, not without acknowledging where I have come from. It is easy to sit here and panic that I can't pay for a hot tea. The sweet lady behind the counter told me not to worry about it. But... I will pay for what I have asked for.

I could have easily asked two friends that I have seen here to pay for my tea. I could have walked the easy road. I could have stayed comfortable, worked the job where I made loads of money but wasn't growing anymore. I could have stayed with the man I agreed to marry and traveled around with him, but I wouldn't have learned these lessons for myself. It was important to notice the destructive patterns and consciously decide I would be no part of them anymore. It was time for me to grow.

I could have chickened out in this whole journey and given up when it got tough. But, I am a different person now than I was before I made some tough decisions. I am aware. I am awake. The things I am learning and the path I am on is one I chose. I choose to be in a different space than where I have been the last 20 years. I have learned so many things from this journey, I can hardly contain or remember it all. My mind is full of thoughts, my arms are full of books, and my heart is filled with people. My path to transformation is leading me down a road of simplicity, detachment, learning, loving, and a shit ton of hard work. But, I am moving forward. I may not have one dollar in my pocket (I have 3 but left them at home) but I feel accomplished and rich with knowledge and love. Love powers the universe and all of the energy that surrounds us, its the life force and the battery I choose to run off of. Money may make the world go around, but its also just paper. Without money, there is still hot tea. There are still people to love. There goes one more person I could have asked to pay for my tea. But, I need to go at this alone.

At lease I got the "bring your own cup" discount. As I am flying with my projects and with my love for life, learning and the people I encounter I give thanks for the people who got me where I am. I am so fortunate they have loved me, even if they no longer do. And, I will continue to love every person I encounter with the hopes of sending enough love around the world to get back to the people who gave it to me. One big circle. But, this journey I had to go at alone. I will have built this tiny house with my own two hands and done it without any debt. In this last sentence I have figured out what my lesson was, what the hell was I doing buying hot tea? I should have been buying a 2x6.

Hopefully everyone is up for a laugh...

I love getting on my computer and finding hilarious pictures of my boys. One day they are sitting over in the corner somewhere in the house with my computer on their laps and just giggling and laughing away. These are some of the gems from that sitting. Enjoy, laugh, heal, smile, enjoy joy. 

This one is so sweet. <3<3<3

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

These ones came from an early morning where Nickolas swiped my computer while the whole house was asleep and went out into the field with a blanket and enjoyed some alone time. I love what he created. <3<3<3

You will do great things, Son.

I thought you all might enjoy these. They make me smile and laugh. It's all for them. 

We are so near our goal, just waiting on a call that the trailer is ready, then it's go time! Thank you for checking in on us. Please send your positive thoughts our way. :)