Thoughts on Construction

Discontent is the first step to progress
(Chinese Proverb)

The one thing I do know about construction: it always takes three times as long and costs three times more than you planned. Last April I first started some construction in my house, deciding to take out the old carpets in the bedroom and replace with laminate flooring. This decision stemmed from health issues, and deciding to look at how to clean up my environment as part of an alternative health program for asthma.

My mom was an interior designer, then an architect, and our house was constantly the show case or under construction. The running joke was: as soon as the Master bathroom was complete in any house, we moved. And moved we did. When I came to America at 15, my bedroom was framed, but lacked drywall. I started working on my mom's construction teams, adding tiling and landscaping to my budding resume.

Three planets in Virgo plus a Swedish mother has made me be the tidiest person on earth, and if there's anything I hate, it's mess. I picked the house I live in now for a reason: minimal construction. As far as I was concerned, my house was just a blank slate, waiting to be painted in, but I always loved the design, the basic structure of the place. It never needed anything major till now.

I hired a contractor to rip out the carpets & haul them to the dump, wanting to avoid the allergens, but quite willing to install the flooring myself. Or should I say, with the help of my mom. My dad & I do lunch - My mom and I do projects. It's the only time we seem to get along. Probably because she can tell me what to do.

But the contractor had worse news - termites. Now I had to hire an inspector and go through a few bids, and here was that extra time and expense so intrinsic to construction. But as I surveyed the raw wood of the sub-flooring today and contemplated the termite feng shui, I could really see in what stations of my life things were just bugging me. What had been eating away at me lately?

I haven't been blogging in a while, but I've been doing a lot of journaling that will eventually get turned into blog posts. I've been busy teaching my summer tarot class, and one of the requirements is keeping a tarot journal, so I've been sketching a bunch lately. I am constructing my reality, tearing down all that was damaged or decomposing, making improvements for more space, more light, and more ease in my life.

I also teach a class on the law of attraction and the power of desire, key word, desire. Without desire we would never improve, never change, never evolve as human beings. I'd put myself out on a limb quite recently, and while the part of having a crush that sucks is the crushed part, I discovered I was not willing to lower my standards. Instead, I am ready for better, ready for improvements.

I am the Source
of all strength and power

With every breath I take
The flames of zeal and passion
Burn brighter in me.

My body is a sacred temple
And my soul fills it
With song and laughter.

I make my dreams reality
With each day that passes.

My mind contains
The infinite blueprint
of my success.

My life, love and joy
Are unstoppable waves
Shaping the world
With every beat of my heart.

I choose to liberate
My power
Today.
(from Fierce Magazine)

As far as my house goes, in the end I decided to go green with Coast Termite and do an Orange Oil Treatment. The inspector was great, and the two technicians who later came were knowledgeable, friendly, and one even confessed to being a dungeon master at a go-go bar after seeing my framed print of kd lang and Cindy Crawford. What can I say - these are the moments I love my life.

I met my mom for a deceptively good morning at Ikea. Let's just say my mother could be a travel agent for guilt trips. After tacking down meters of foam padding and removing base boards, we have finally begun laying down the flooring itself. I have no doubt it will look beautiful - I have no doubt, it will be months more work and more money on my credit card as well.

The road to success
Is always under construction
(Chinese Proverb)