Finding the creative energy within

Its been a long time since I've posted anything. I admit I'd like to create perfect little blurbs about the workings of my mind, but the truth is I just don't find myself being creative in writing (I must have missed that class in high school, just like I missed speech. Public speaking makes my body go limp). I would not say I couldn't do it if I put my mind to it, but if I'm not feeling it then what's the point? But the creative outlet I do find myself enjoying immensely is photography. Ever since I was in high school I wanted to get into photography. I even convinced my parents to help me buy a nice camera at that time. I started taking a class at a photography store but quickly found myself lost in the technical terminology that I was not ready for. I wanted the basics to taking good pictures, eventually I would learn the technical stuff along the way. So what happened? I slowly abandoned that endeavor. It lay dormant beneath all the other interests that had taken priority for the moment. However, gradually my interest has been piqued again and here I am, without a digital camera (apparently I missed the fact that we're in the 21st century or maybe I just haven't been able to afford the one I really want?) attempting to learn the basics. So far I'm content with my progress. I've started a photo blog and I've actually been taking photographs. It makes my heart smile.

Photography is how I can express myself without using words. Its a way of looking, seeing, and capturing what is right in front of us. It allows the details to be seen that might otherwise be overlooked. It captures the essence of that thing. It captures the beauty that some at first glance might think is ugly. Photography captures a piece of life in a single shot. The more photos you take the pieces come together. So I'll keep taking photos.

Yard Work

Today was a good day. We got our new fence in the backyard. Though it would be nice to not have a privacy fence, these days it seems inevitable with our forever barking dogs who dislike the neighbor's drunk friends. We don't exactly care for the drinking or the noise produced by our neighbors either. Eventually one can only handle so much "community". When dogs and drunk people do not mix you know you need privacy otherwise an accident is waiting to happen.

A perk to having the privacy fence is the ability to make it look like our own little haven in the midst of chaos. I'm excited to think of planting a small tree, some flowers, grass (our backyard currently consists of lots of concrete), maybe one day a garden too.

We'll see how we progress.

Purging

This last week I finally had some motivation to set foot in the attic. My attic is like the black hole that swallows you alive if you enter it because of all the stuff everywhere (I'm being nice by calling it stuff). We've been needing to clear it out as much as possible in order to continue our renovation project on the house. So I pulled out boxes one by one and went through them to determine what of my stuff might still be of use or sentiment to me. It was nostalgic to look through things I had not seen in over a year since I moved. And it was freeing to toss out many other things that I really had no use for anymore. But that was only the beginning as I could only carry a few boxes because others were just too heavy to get down the stairs alone.

But thankfully my parents came into town this past weekend and my husband and I with their help went through everything! Unbelievably you can see the floor in more than 2/3rds of the attic. We had all the piles going: trash, recycle, sell/charity, keep. And without too much thought, because if you think too much you decide you still need everything you really don't, we purged quite a bit of material baggage.

I still have the keep piles and sell/charity piles in the house, but soon they will have a new place and I look forward to it.

But much to my surprise the attic wasn't the only place we cleared and cleaned. After my parents had already left for their journey home, the DH decided the garage needed to be cleaned out. One could not imagine my excitement at this decision. So I happily helped him clean what is primarily his space in the garage.

And all I do now is take a deep breath in relief. Renovation will continue AND surprise! my dad offered to come and do all the electricity in the living room, kitchen, dining room, etc..

And finally the cars fit nicely in the garage!