Where The Boys Are

I love my boys.

They bonded over wood for a few days.

Jeff is making a gorgeous oak and black walnut end table.

Norm has been doing unique things with wood and knots - putting them together to make beautiful serving trays.

They both love working with wood. It's fun to watch them. I am constantly amazed by my family's range of creativity and enthusiasm for creating things.

Oh The Joy!

The upstairs is finished!

This was before

Here is after

And here's the art room:

Every time I go upstairs I'm happy.

An Ode To Discipline

Discipline

Blah! The word sounds so negative and confining

Yet as we end our third week of our exercise/eating plan,

I find myself in much more positive state of mind

I had lost control of another area of my life

It took a great deal of discipline to wrest the sovereignty back

Somehow I expected that with that success,

the rest of my life would flow smoothly again

Alas, life is not so easy

I didn't realize that with the loss of control in the one area,

came the loss of control in other areas

exercise, eating, chores

All these areas of my life had fallen into a state of lack of discipline

Yet after just three weeks of self imposed discipline,

it's wondrous how much easier the course becomes to navigate

At first it's so difficult

You have to summon the will constantly to fight the urge to slip back into lethargy,

old ways of no control

With each success, it becomes easier

You feel stronger

I am amazed that I ever got so far off course!

Aah, but I am wary of the call of chaos

its tendrils are always trying to wrap themselves around me,

pull me down into the despair

of no discipline

Discipline

It is a lie that it is confining

it is liberating.

A bevy of birthdays

August is here and with it the birthdays of three of my favorite people:

Mom: August 3

Judi: August 4

Kate: August 16

Happy, happy birthday! I am so thankful for all three of you and I can't imagine my life without you!!!