Call for Help (and a Bonfire)

We’re getting so close.  This past weekend Sean and I hung the cabinets This Old House style and thanks to our neighbor Al, the counters are also installed in the kitchen.  Everything is farm house straight:

We also spent a day attending to the yard and putting away materials in preparation for some more excavating work.  We are extending our driveway along the house and adding gravel as well as preparing the site for our garage to be built next year.  As it turns out, we are also having our septic repaired. (Sigh.)  

The project list is shrinking, and we’re feeling the pressure to get the rest of it done… yesterday.

We need some help. 

I didn’t have the walls ready to paint this past weekend because I’ve damaged my wrist (at least temporarily) from mudding and sanding.  I’m going to keep it wrapped and pop lots of ibuprofen this week and do my best to finish the last coats of mudding in the living room, stairway, and one more bedroom so that all remaining rooms are ready for sanding and paint by Saturday. 

If I can hang on and push one more week out of my arm,  maybe our sweet little C. will not have to finish the rest of it up for me:

I’m feeling the burn to get this done.  Can you help us!?  For an hour?  Or four?

Needed this Saturday September 26th

• Sanders (first thing Saturday morning!) and Dust Wipers
• Wall Painters (I know you’re all out there!  About ninety-eight thousand people have approached me about helping with this in the past six months.  The time has finally come.)
• Pressure-Washer Operator (for porch and window trim)
• Cleaning Helpers (to bravely take on The Dust.  Vacuuming floors, walls, window sills; wiping cupboards, ceiling fans and light fixtures; washing  windows and screens, steam cleaning the couch… everything is filthy.  It just has to end.)
• Child Care!  Okay A. and L. are too old to need this, but they are usually game for tagging along if you want to take the whole crew.  Especially if it means getting out of doing yard work or other manual labor on the house.  Or babysitting.
• Meal Preparation and Cleanup.  Cook and serve food to our hardworking friends so that we don’t have to stop working except to stuff our faces! 
• Roofer to finish installing ridge caps, top the chimney pipe and trim the valley shingle edges

Sean and I need to be able to finish installing floor transitions in two doorways and the wood treads and landings on the steps.  The idea is to be ready for floor finishing during the week of Sept. 28 – Oct. 2, and to forge ahead full steam…

Next Saturday, October 3

• Exterior painters for porch and window trim
• Interior trim installers
• Gardeners/Grass planters
• Closet organizer installer
• Window insulator/sill-board installer/caulker
• Child care helpers
• Meal preparation and cleanup
• BONFIRE ATTENDEES!  Yes, it’s time for a party.  We plan to burn a huge pile of brush and junk wood.  (And make merry drinking beer and pop and eating snacks. )  Fire starting around 7-8 PM.  Bring your own chair and a song in your heart.  Be sure to call us to let us know that you’re coming so that we can talk you into helping us at some point throughout the day too. 

If arrangements work out, carpet will be installed upstairs between Oct 5 and 9… and we’ll be ready for the last wave of help by…

October 10

• LARGE ITEM MOVERS! The massively heavy couch (two recliners) is already moved, our giant living room armoire is sold and we are hiring out to move the piano…  (“You’re welcome,” to everyone who has ever helped us move!)   The bulk of what’s left will be managed in small bites as we go but we’ll need help with a few large items:  stove, washer, freezer, desk, dressers…

If you can help with any or all of it, I can’t even begin to tell you how deeply appreciated it would be!  We are SO aware that we can’t do it all alone.

Authenticity (and Humility)

When did I become an underachiever?

Once upon a time I was going to write books and make art and be a rock star and save the environment and bring about world peace.

At the very least, this time last year I was attending informational sessions on getting a Master’s degree in education to go teach art.  Now I work at a soybean seed plant. 

I can’t decide if I’m actually cynical about this or if there’s a truly beautiful lesson about authenticity (and humility) hiding in the story. 

Fifteen years ago: I was one of the smartest kids in school.  Ten years ago: I was a funny and creative mom who wrote and illustrated books starring my kids (just for fun).  Five years ago: I took on organizing and directing a praise & worship group at church. 

Being an overachiever has its rewards.   I’ve always been a positive feedback junkie and there were plenty of good grades and compliments and affirmations to keep me feeling great about myself.

And then my faith began to deepen and I began to wonder if earthly approval is really all that special.  What a mess THAT created for a junkie like me, addicted to the quick fix of hearing that I’m smart or special or talented.

Now I wonder about my reasons for doing ANYTHING.  I wonder if my actions reflect the real me or if I’m still chasing affirmations. Who is the ‘real me,’ anyway?

In the doubt about who I am, it doesn’t take much to summon up the old fashioned desire to be liked and respected and I find myself dancing around and putting on whatever color people want.

The more I dance around and change colors, the further from authenticity I travel. 

And watch it spiral from there, because I recognize what I’m doing, and it pisses me off.  And the more pissed off at myself I become, the harder it is to believe what God wants me to hear: that I’m loved, no matter what I do.  That I’m beautiful because He made me.

Does God give a shit about my artistic achievements? 

I think He cares more about what’s in my heart than my list of earthly successes. 

And perhaps a heart that works at a bean plant is easier to keep humble than a heart that is all hopped up on compliments about creative brilliance.

Of course, that assumes my creative work would ellicit such a response.

Sigh.

I guess I won’t count humility on my list of achievements.