07/27/2015 DianaK

Appreciations Year Three: Day 341

Improv Study Group with Amy & Alison. How wonderful to work in a beautiful, quiet space and have work time punctuated by hilarious bits. ❤

Room progress! Window framing installed, caulked, and primed, 2nd coat & touch-ups on everything that was dry enough. Getting closer!

Learning that the ceiling tile support pieces that we thought we’d have to sand and paint were actually just covered with smoke residue from former tenants’ smoke. So kind of a Yay! and an Ewwwwwww! situation all at once. 😉

All the help we’ve had with this room project. Thanks, Mom & Dad, Mckenzie, Katie, and Cina. In a few more days we’ll be ready to start the next one. 😀

07/26/2015 DianaK

Appreciations Year Three: Day 340

The amazing (if somewhat terrifying) Luna. Bwahahaha! Thanks for the photo, Cina!

More progress on the room – 2nd coat on walls and trim! I was gonna post pics, but guess what? It looks exactly the same as yesterday. Hahaha! 😉

Painting with Mckenzie – we make a good team. Just when I’m getting sick of painting trim, he’s ready to stop rolling the walls, so we just switch jobs. Perfect!

Movie at the Riverview with Katie & Cina and the Delaneys. Spending time with these beautiful people fills my heart right up. ❤

The most awesome Lemonade and Rock stand we passed on the way home. We didn’t stop, but have it on good authority that the lemonade was refreshing and cool. 😀

Dinner with Laura and the Toms and Katie and Cina. I’m so excited that Jeff & Laura are moving back to MN. Fun!!

Miraculously fast errands after painting tonight… still got home before 11. All the green lights on Lyndale!

07/25/201507/26/2015 DianaK

Appreciations Year Three: Day 339

Continued progress on the room! Window framing almost done, walls and trim with first coat of paint. It’s coming together!

Fabulous rehearsal and mini work session with Alison during which we learned a lot about Sean Cassidy fans, stolen buses, and Russian chefs…and nobody pulled a hammy. 😛

So much fun to see everyone at Rindo’s BBQ. Thanks for hosting, Nick!

Back home and appreciations complete in time to go to bed before midnight. 🙂

07/24/201507/24/2015 DianaK

Appreciations Year Three: Day 338

A day with perfectly timed texts, phone calls, and arrivals.

The ginormous mushroom growing in our yard!

A productive day in which we made and went to a bajillion appointments, fixed the toilet (yes!) ourselves, tidied up the hall closet (using the KonMari method [ http://tidyingup.com/ ] both Sarah and Kari told me about last weekend!). I don’t have before pics, but here are the afters. Before it was the closet from hell, spewing boxes of kleenex and other items onto you if you dared to open it. 😛

But wait…that’s not all! We also finally finished mudding, sanding, and cleaning up the seams and corners in the downstairs bedroom so we can move on to painting next. Whew! (After being covered in a fine layer of dust for several days, Mckenzie and I are beyond thrilled to be done with this portion of the project!)

Nice little thunderstorm during the night.

Beautiful blue skies again this morning!

07/23/201507/23/2015 DianaK

Appreciations Year Three: Day 337

Ho hum. More gloriously beautiful weather. Hahahaha. 🙂

A wonderful visit with Pam yesterday, including meeting Regine and Kristin. What lovely people. And we had so much fun with our group coloring project. I so enjoy spending time with grown-ups who love to play. Pam’s nurse, Ali, played with us, too. What a delightful person! Pam sure attracts the best, brightest, most fun people into her circle! ❤

Amy’s drop-in class was really fun. She did a great job!!

Riding around town with Alison in her sporty little convertible – great weather for riding with the lid down.

Fun dinner with Alison, the hair whisperer. She is so funny and bright and makes me giggle! 😀

Hanging out and talking with the kids before bed. I so adore the people in my life.

07/22/2015 DianaK

Appreciations Year Three: Day 336

What’s so great about accidentally waking up at 5:38?
1. Feeling that the choice to ding around on facebook for awhile before starting work is perfectly justifiable.
2. Learning that the sun comes up even earlier than you previously thought.
3. Purring cats are more cuddly at this hour.
4. Coffee tastes much better before 6 am.
5. Any actual work completed before 7 am counts double.
6. Planning your 11 am nap. 😉

Blue skies, green leaves, red cardinal in the tree, all the flower colors.

Really nice pens.

07/21/201507/21/2015 DianaK

Appreciations Year Three: Day 335

Cindy’s hilarious cat post https://youtu.be/C6-NdOPXYYQ and Debb’s idea for dentist waiting room conga lines, both of which had me giggling out loud during my wait at the dentist this morning. 😀

More expert advice and plus help on the room project from Mom, Dad, and Mckenzie. We are making good progress (though it looks much the same): seams and corners sanded and 2nd layer of mud applied, window framing project two well underway.

The huge pile of books Robby brought me the other day. Looks like I’m set for the next couple months. 🙂

Gorgeous weather for an evening walk.

07/20/201507/20/2015 DianaK

Appreciations Year Three: Day 334

Gorgeous weather! Sunny and not too hot. Perfect for a morning walk with Katie and Cina to the coffee shop. Plus, then there was coffee. 😉

Progress on room project: All wall seams mudded, all corners taped, new window framing installed and primed…plus bonus fixing of wonky knob on kitchen drawer. Yipee!

Going to see Dynamic Duos with Alison tonight. What a good day!

07/19/201507/19/2015 DianaK

Appreciations Year Three: Day 333

Day 333 of my 3rd year of appreciations, obviously. So many threes! 😉

A productive morning getting more work done on the first room. Guess who knows how to tape a corner bead now? Yup, it’s me. Well, so does Mckenzie. 🙂

We also learned that I already have (and was able to locate!) all the tools we’ll need for the various parts of this project – hack saw, miter box, jigsaw, putty knives, caulk gun, tin snips. Each time we found one of the necessary tools, it was like finding a little treasure!

My Dad’s enthusiasm for helping and showing me how to fix up the room – I’ve never built a custom frame for a window before. Fun!

Wonderful visit with some of the cheezy folks today. It is so great to get a chance to reconnect like this!

Lovely walk with Suz, complete with awesome butterfly dance sighting. At first our little friend was camera shy and wouldn’t sit still, but then we got lucky.

Feeling lighter, happier, and more hopeful than I’ve felt in awhile. Mmmmmm. Nice.

07/18/2015 DianaK

Appreciations Year Three: Day 332

Re-reading last year’s appreciations as I edit the spreadsheet to include current appreciations. I get to relive so many fun memories! I also come across really good advice like this from Jill last year: Chase joy rather than perfection. Thank you, again, Jill! 🙂

Homeopathy – helped me move from bright red, glued-shut allergy eyes yesterday to barely pink, only slightly itchy eyes today. Thanks, belladonna!

Gorgeous thunderstorm at bedtime last night. What amazing sounds and lights!

Sweet little impromptu visit with Sarah and Ida this morning. What a treat! ❤

Phase one of paint & reorganize bedrooms complete. And by phase one I mean paint chosen and procured, first bedroom prepped, and half of it primed. 😉