Momentum

Momentum is a funny thing.  Once I get some, it's hard to stop me.  Strangely though, my momentum has a sense of inertia - if I change my general activity, I loose all impetus.  In January we were remodeling two rooms in our house.  The place was a construction zone mess and I didn't even try to do more than the minimum cleaning because there was no point.  In January, I read a lot.  I wrote a little.  I enjoyed January.  The trajectory of my momentum was quite pleasant.

In February, our remodel was finished. I had to pay a little more attention to the things I neglected in January.  I've only read one book instead of the five I finished last month.  I've barely written anything.  I've taken almost no pictures.  I HAVE cleaned most of my house fairly well and recovered from the construction mess.  Today, I went to switch from housecleaning mode to blogging and discovered I was just loafing around Facebook.  Then I started a computer maintenance project that has been nagging but isn't urgent, it was just a way of procrastinating.  I lost momentum.

So, I hit reset.  I strapped my laptop to my treadmill, closed everything but blogger and here I am, walking and deciding which of my posts-in-progress I'd like to work on first.  (Does anybody else think a little better when they're moving?)

One random thought:  Most people love the movie Finding Nemo.  It is one of my favorites.  One of the best moments is when Dory sings "just keep swimming, just keep swimming".  It became my motto during some rough days when I had three small kids and the great recession was eating us alive.  Recently though, I realized I was applying it in a defeatist way.  Instead of encouraging myself with it, I was  coming to think of "swimming" as drudgery.  Just getting by.  That's no way to go through life.  Another favorite movie quote sprang to mind.  Its from The Big Lebowski, and when I thought of it,  I immediately thought "But, today I'm going to eat the bear!" I like that idea.  It feels powerful and positive.  When I find I'm loosing momentum, I'm going to remind myself that I'm not just swimming along, I'm gonna eat that bear!

Road Trip! Destination: Puppies

I barely slept at all again last night, but insomnia had nothing to do with it this time.  Last night I was too excited to sleep because today is the day we will be making the six hour round trip drive to my Step-Mother-In-Law's farm to meet the Heirloom Puppies!  For that kind of time in the car, we could almost be in Disneyland.  Honestly though, right now I'd rather wallow in puppies than Disney and that's really saying something because I could happily live in Disneyland.  Oh sure, it's going to be fun to see my Step-Mother-In-Law and her husband, to let the kids run around her farm enjoying her chickens and donkeys but the star of the day will be the puppies hands down. 

Develop Does Not Mean Destroy

When people think of a new housing development, one image that springs to mind is heavy equipment grading acres, clearing the ground of all native vegetation and leveling the natural movement of the land.  The neighborhood my husband is building in right now is different. It is considered a smart desert community.  The homes are all energy efficient, low water usage designs.  They're built with a sensitivity toward their environment.  They're all set low on their lots,  all single story so as to preserve their beautiful desert vistas.  These practices really maximize the beauty of the desert setting because they are sensitive to the needs of the desert itself.  One example of the development's success hopped right up to me today as I was photographing our home's new concrete retaining walls.  Two fat jack rabbits came to see what I was doing, curious and not really afraid.  My husband says there is also a fat coyote who likes to pass through the lot.  These are two notoriously shy desert animals, and if they're still comfortable in this community, the community is probably doing something right.

Looking east.  The street in the distance is actually densely populated but its difficult to distinguish
the homes from the landscape.

Looking south.  There are three homes on this street, but none impedes the view of the other and the native
vegetation is left in place.

Looking north west.  Would you guess you were looking at a populated neighborhood?

I turned to the back of our lot and found I had a long eared friend.  Can you see him?

This guy was about six feet from me and happy to let me take his picture. His friend was more cautious, but they're obviously not threatened by construction.

In consideration of the natural environment, this project is starting with retention walls  so as to disturb as little of the lot as necessary.

So, How Was Your Night? An Ode to Insomnia

Brain distraction device?  Check
Cozy sleep headphones? Check
Comfy pillow? Check
Sleep? No check

When I was pregnant with my first, I developed insomnia.  At first it was kind of awesome because I was able to get up and accomplish a lot during the night.  After a few weeks though, then two more pregnancies during which I couldn't get up and clean the house lest I wake light sleeper babies, it became less awesome.  Fortunately for me, it more or less went away once the babies were born but sometimes the old brain still likes to work overtime and I barely sleep at all.  I usually distract it with some Netflix on my phone (I even have special headphones for sleeping) or an audiobook.  Generally, distraction works like a charm and I sleep pretty well.  That was not the case last night.   I actually composed a sort of poem about last night as I blearily stumbled through my morning.

Sleep?  Who needs sleep?

My feet itch.

My head aches.

What?  Cutthroat Kitchen is over already?

I always sleep to Cutthroat Kitchen.

{An audiobook will put you to sleep.}

So does Alton Brown.

{You keep waking up when it’s over.}

I won’t this time.

{Uh huh.}

I’m awake again!?!

My feet itch.

I should bathe the cat.

I’m thirsty.

{Don’t get out of bed!}

I wonder what the cat is doing right now.

My arms itch.

Maybe I should turn on Good Eats.

{You should go to sleep.}

I should call my mom.

{Go to sleep!}

I’m hot.

Are the cats fighting?

Let’s make a list of what needs to be done tomorrow.

{Let’s not.}

I’m cold.

I wonder if my dogs are together again now they’re both dead.

I want some chickens.

How many chickens should I get?

What kind of coop should we build?

I want to paint it blue.  

No, it should be green.

No, blue.

Four chickens. 

One more episode.  Gotta get to sleep!

{NO! Don’t be an idiot!  Choose an audiobook!}

It’s only three. 

{You’re awake again dummy.}

My feet itch.

Where should I hang our new painting?

Did I lock the truck?

I should have put gas in the truck today.

Who is snoring?

Gosh I like this new pillow.

What?  It’s already five?  

Okay, okay, audiobook, here I come.

*beep*beep*beep*

Six.

Six -thirty.

Uggggghhhhhhhh. 

{Well, at least your feet don’t itch.}

SHUT UP

Austrian Flexibility

Nature is pretty cool.  We've received 13-15 inches of snow in the past 24 hours (depending on which part of my yard I measure in).  School has been cancelled for the first time in our district's history due to white out conditions in areas.  The guys remodeling my house have had to reconfigure their work space because they can no longer cut tile in my driveway.  But this tree?  It doesn't worry about the snow, or the wind.  Sure, its branches are bending but they're only shedding the snow that continues to fall,  not breaking.  Its life is not being disrupted, it is just going on with its day.  This Austrian Pine has enough flexibility to deal.  Flexibility is a good thing.

You ought to be more flexible.
(I couldn't resist a quote from Mrs. Incredible, a.k.a. Elastigirl.)