Life Lists

I've always found the idea of a life list interesting, but I've always hated the terms "Bucket List" and "Things to Do Before I Die List". They both sound SO depressing. However, I have found a phrase that isn't negative. From Goddess Leonie I found "Things to Do This Life." It was such a wonderful, optimistic thought, it inspired me to start my own right away.

I've got 150+ items on it so far, ranging from the almost done #23 (Create a Vision Board), to the silly #07 (Have a bicycle with streamers on the handlebars), to the unlikely #129 (Canoe down the Amazon). A few of them I'll have done by the end of this year. A few, like #129, I'll only get to do if political climates change so that it's safe to do them. Most of them will take time and/or careful planning.

But it's the dreaming that's important--whether I actually accomplish everything on the list is irrelevant. After all, it's the journey that counts.

Ready for Summer

We moved our 'office' down to the basement yesterday, or at least enough of it to work for the next few months. It's SO much cooler down there, and we think it will save us tons of money on AC costs. We've meant to do it for the last couple of years, and not gotten around to it, but this weekend we decided to just do it. We moved the printer, the external hard drive, my laptop, and a few supplies. As soon as Don gets a docking station from his office for his work laptop, we'll be moving the monitors and keyboard down, too. Of course, for the last few days the weather's been too cool around here to worry about air conditioning. . . :)

Not that I would ever, EVER complain about cool weather, mind you! I spent this afternoon sitting outside reading, needing a jacket, but reluctant to go get one because I was enjoying being cold so much!

Life's Lessons

I was thinking today, "I HATE this house," as I've thought so many times since we weren't able to sell it and I started feeling trapped here. But this time was different. In the past month I've been reminded by two separate teachers, concerning two unrelated issues, that everything comes in its own time, and I really do believe that, even if I forget it occasionally.

So, instead, I started thinking of how much I've learned from this house.

1. I didn't think I needed light, since I like the dark so much, but this house is SO dark that all I want now is glass--casement windows and sash (?) windows and french doors and anything else, so long as it lights up the room naturally.

2. I didn't think I needed fresh air, since it seems I'm always inside with the heat or air conditioning on, but since most of the windows that this house does have don't open, I've found I really miss it, and on the next house I want to be able to open every window in the house up. More like a beach house, even if it is in the middle of Ontario.

3. I never thought I'd miss having a deck/porch/patio, but spending the last 5 years not really able to build one, as I've mentioned previously, I'm dying for one. I plan, on the next house, to spend as much time outdoors as I do indoors, no matter the weather.

4. I really don't like basement ceilings that are lower than the ceilings in the rest of the house.

5. I don't like dark-wood in kitchens as much as I thought I did when we put this one in, although it definitely beats the pink-and-green monstrosity that was here before.

6. Last, but not least, WE DON'T NEED THIS BIG A HOUSE!

All of these things, I would never have known if we hadn't lived here, and some of them I wouldn't have learned if we'd sold the house two years ago.