Out of my Mind or completely Mindful?

" Delight in imperfection and you'll be constantly delighted."

-- doug smith

I am taking an online course on Mindfulness. I have reached the halfway point and obviously I will have plenty of time on my hands to finish up,probably by this time next week.

After my rantings yesterday, I caught myself wondering if in fact any of what I am learning is sinking in. Admittedly, I kind of lost it a bit when I wrote to you last.

I asked myself was I out of my mind or in fact was I being completely mindful.

After deliberating this mentally for the better part of the day yesterday, I have come to the understanding that in fact, I was being as mindful as I can be.

Mindfulness is not about quieting the mind. It is allowing the mind to go where it needs to go.

My tirade and histrionics were exactly what I needed to allow my innermost thoughts to reach the surface. Some folks meditate.

Others do yoga. Some take long walks or long runs.

These are all meditative tools.

Tools that help one reach a state of meditation.

Meditating and meditation are not the same. One is an act,the other a state of being.

My meditating tool is writing.

It opens the doorway to reflection and thoughtfulness for me.

Before writing early yesterday morning, I had spent a number of hours fitfully trying to get some sleep. After I wrote, I took a relaxing shower and fell into a deep, albeit much abbreviated sleep.

So I'll keep wring.

And hopefully,you'll keep reading.

That would be awesome!

Are we nuts?

 "Human Beings have a gap—between who we think we are and who we really are. Closing the gap is where being awake is."

~ Natalie Goldberg

Are we nuts?

4:00 a.m.

The ad on the television was designed to help me understand that this particular news team was the one I needed to watch to guide me through and into what they claim is the new normal.

Are we nuts?

There is nothing normal about any of this.

It's a freakin' quarantine.

Absolutely the definitive abnormal!

All being hyped 24/7 by the same people who want me to "trust" them.

Are we nuts?

We are being asked to cheer for and give thanks and praise to people who are doing their jobs.

You want me to cheer for the supermarket worker who a month ago was giving an 80 year old woman a sneer as she popped the gum in her mouth because the woman asked her to not overload her grocery bag since she had to carry it from the car herself ?

The same grocery store clerk who wouldn't let me in her express lane because I had too many items, even though it was 10 o'clock at night and there was absolutely no one else on line?

Are we nuts?

We are living in a time where we are making super heroes out of everyone and everything.

Are we nuts?

I just saw a posting encouraging everyone to go out every night at 9 o'clock and bang pots and cheer for our health care professionals.

Seriously?

This is the career they have chosen.

They signed up for this.

I appreciate what they do. I just won't stand up and cheer for them.

They have their pride and take pride in what they do. If they don't, then maybe they shouldn't be doing it.

Growing up we had this thing called the draft.

You turned 18, you had to sign up. Sign up to possibly go fight a "war" in some God forsaken corner of the globe that our government felt you needed to die for.

No awards.

No promises of glory. It was not a choice. It was your duty.

Today, we choose this as a career path and then expect, yes I said expect, to be honored for it.

It is a conscious career choice people.

I know I am probably pissing a lot of people off here.

No apologies.

Remember, I have a daughter who is a nurse,doing her job on a daily basis,being the caregiver that she has chosen as her career.

Her husband is a cop. You know, one of those first responders who puts himself in the line of fire on a daily basis.

I am proud of the work they do and their commitment to doing it.

I would be really upset to think that being praised was a motivating factor in their career choice.

We are all heroes of our own lives.

I have a daughter who answered the call to become an entrepreneur, opening a small business, the backbone of our economy and the stuff that Americans used to dream about,creating jobs and serving the community.

Go bang a pot for her.

I have a son as well.

A son who gets up every day,5 days a week,50 plus weeks a year and goes to work at a job.He is the American working man.

No one throws a parade for him. No one lauds praise upon him.

It's his job. He takes pride in doing it ,which by the way, is more than I can say for the bagger at the supermarket who is more interested in the time clock than he is in making sure my carton of eggs doesn't get broken.

What have we created?

The society that has given us a culture in which showing up deserves an award, is now exalting everyone and anyone who is doing what they are supposed to do....the right thing!

And don't get me started on humility.

That is certainly no longer an attribute that has any meaning to it.

As you can tell, I am riled up.

Riled up and disappointed.

Amazingly, I actually have a whole lot more to say about "are we nuts?"

Our government? news media?Our so called leaders?Self righteous "Hollywood" types and campus intelligencia?

Are we nuts?

I can create a never ending list of the bad roads they have lead us down over the last 50 or more years.

Maybe I could write a daily on just that....a column called are "Are we nuts?".

Who knows, it may be a new career. And some day, someone will honor for me it as well. I might get an award.Now there's a reason to go do something.

Public displays of adoration.

Are we nuts or what?

I for one am embarrassed by praise.

It's unnatural.

It doesn't feel right..

I have both my pride and my humility.

They are mine and mine alone.

I for one think they are complementary and certainly not mutually exclusive.

As an old coach of mine was fond of saying"you put your jock strap on,suit up and go out and give it your all".

'nuff said,time to go back to bed.

To close for comfort

“On the other side of a storm is the strength that comes from having navigated through it. Raise your sail & begin.”

 –Gregory Williams

To close for comfort.

That's what my house is feeling like.

The mental part of cabin fever is not an issue for me. It's the physical part.Since we did the work on the family room, my workspace has been reduced to a 4' by 5' area.

Normally it's fine,given that I don't spend as much time behind a desk as I once did.

However, during this quarantine, I find myself sitting back here for much longer stretches.

Another factor is that normally when I am at my desk or working from g=home, there is no one else here.

My space is usually mine. No noise. No interruptions. No "din".

The longer this quarantine goes on, the more background noises compound on each other. The furnace,the bird, the music,all seem to be increasing in volume creating a cacophony on the sense of hearing.

Add a couple of barking dogs,feet on the staircase, telephone conversations others are having and the level of distraction can be maddening!

The inclement weather we have had for the last 48 hours certainly is not helping. Outside is cold,wet and dank, a far cry from Friday afternoon when I actually fell asleep sitting in the sun (yes I did get that first burn of the year glow!).

Interestingly enough, my daily message from Darren Hardy addressed the issue of Spring cleaning your workspace.

Even before listening to his audio message, I had spent the morning cleaning my work area, filing, tossing out a whole bunch of unnecessary paper work and mail and reorganizing draws and file boxes.

I have also made the bold decision to expand my work space.

I am going to move my desk forward into the room by 6".

I know,crazy huh!

What a wild man!

Cabin fever?

Maybe just a little bit!

Shavua Tov!

Oh well...............

“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.”

 –Helen Keller

A while back, I started following a new social media platform called Nextdoor. It seemed like a decent enough place to connect with the local community.

Every once in a while a message would pop up about a missing cat or dog. Sometimes it was an informed update on some incident or situation in the community. Often it was " does anyone know a good .....?" looking for a contractor of some sort or doctor or other professional service.

There have even been PSA's by the local towns, a great way to get the word out when necessary.

As it is with any of these sights, there are those who for lack of a real life of any sort, post daily, repeatedly and have very little to offer of substance. They ask a question and then ignore the answers or recommendations. They just like hearing themselves talk.

This morning, when I opened my emails to start my day as I always do, there it was. A post berated and attacking the President in a fairly childish and sophomoric way.

Once again, what started out as a useful tool to help us connect has become a vehicle for dividing us and spreading the cancer of incivility.

I have seen many posts and heard many comments in the past few days ,lauding praise on Americans for how we are responding to "the Crisis".

I for one don't see it.

That we we are praising should be the norm,not the exception. Helping our friends, family and neighbors.

Health care professionals doing the job they were trained for and signed up for.

First responders responding.

Parents paying attention the their kids.

Teachers actually working hard at being creative and stimulating young minds.

These things should be the norm. It's what we are supposed to do as good decent, caring human beings.

Istead what I see more of is unwanted hysteria, hoarding and a complete lack of the spirit that got us through WW1,WW11, the great depression,9-11 and many other times when we needed to step up and face a challenge.

We have become cowering sniveling images of the greatness that we are want actually be.

I for one am ashamed, not proud of how we as a country,a nation, a people, have stepped up.

This is the America that we live in and I for one am greatly saddened by it.

Shabbat Shalom!.

This is Not another Plague

“Always listen to the experts.

They'll tell you what can't be done and why. Then do it.”

Robert A. Heinlein

I am really getting tired of seeing posts or messages from friends and others referencing our current set of circumstances a "the 11th Plague" or another plague, as if this has anything to do with the upcoming holiday.

I get it. We all choose to view life through the lenses we elect to wear.

There are those who will always be afraid, and wake up each day willing to accept gloom and doom as the natural state of affairs.

There are others who choose to wear blinders and refuse to see anything.

There are those that put on glasses that are just the wrong prescription,therefore obscuring everything they see making it impossible to comprehend what is before their eyes.

And then there are those with 20/20 eyesight and a clear vision who come at life with their eyes wide open to possibility.

4 different ways to view life.

Kind of like 4 different kinds of sons!

Hmmmmmmmmmm......seems to me that there are probably a whole lot of metaphorical stories we can draw from the Haggadah than simply adding another plague.

It just depends on the way you choose to look at them.

It's getting to be that time.................

“Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.”

Helen Keller

Yes it is getting to be that time. The first seder is 2 weeks from tonight. That also means that today marks 2 weeks until the fast of the first born.What's that you ask? Everyone, Jew and gentile alike knows Passover, however the same cannot be said about Ta'anit B'chorim....the Fast of the First Born.

This fast commemorates the salvation of the Israelite firstborns during the plague of the first born.It is a unique fast which usually falls on the day before  Passover and requires only firstborns to fast.Usually, the fast is broken at a siyum celebration (typically made at the conclusion of the morning services), which, according to prevailing custom, creates an atmosphere of rejoicing that overrides the requirement to continue the fast .

It has been the Spiegel tradition,since 1967,first along with my dad and later by myself, to provide the celebratory meal at our synagogue.

In our community, as in many around the country, our shul is on lockdown. No services. No meetings. No gatherings.

So what does that mean for this 53 year long tradition? What does this mean for our families seder?

How will this affect our Passover celebration?

The last 2 questions are easy to answer. It won't.

We will begin our Seder at app. 8 p.m. 2 weeks from tonight.

As per our tradition, the entire family will be there as well as anyone else who wants to join us.And yes that was an open invitation to you!

There is nothing, no flu, war,civil unrest or governmental policy that will stop this from happening.

As for the siyum? That's another story.

I know how I feel about it. Then again, I have no real say in the matter.

I will wait for those with a much higher pay scale than I have to make the call on that. I am sure they know how I feel.,no matter how much or how little that will weigh on the final decision.

"In every generation they have sought to destroy us...................."

Hasn't worked yet and it won't happen now!

Hineni?

"You must do the things today that others will not do, so that you can have the things tomorrow that others will not have."

Author Unknown

A day after posting my March word of the Month,I had an interesting as well as disturbing dialogue with a colleague.

I have been working with this person for a number of years. Our conversations,casual and mostly about business, have not been what one might consider deep.Still, I was fairly sure that in the 3 plus years we have known each other, they had some sense of who I was and what I was about.

Surprise!

They really didn't have a clue.

I was mortified.

Not at them, but at myself.

How is it possible that in the hundreds of interactions we have had since we have known each other, they are just starting to know me?

They certainly have experienced and heard about T.G.F.D. (Thank Goodness for David!).

They were a part of my launch of the What about Me Movement I started 2 years ago.

And they have been part of and observed and benefited from the strengths and additions that I have brought with me. So why is it that 3 years later they are first saying" so now that I know ....about you....".

It's not like I have been hiding it.

Or maybe I have been?

It's all very odd to me.

Aha moment.

If I have only just begun acknowledging and understanding just who I am,then why should I be surprised when others don't get it?

It's about time for me to fully embrace the name I was given at birth.

It is important. David...........

It's time for me to be DAVID.

March Word of the Month

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

March Word of the Month

HINENI

Hineni is Hebrew for “here I am,”

and is the response

Abraham gives when God calls on him to sacrifice his son Isaac. 

March Word of the Month

HINENI

Hineni is Hebrew for “here I am,”

and is the response

Abraham gives when God calls on him to sacrifice his son Isaac. 

I just had one of the most disappointing things happen that has ever happened since I began writing almost 7 years ago.

As you know, I never pre-plan what I am going to write. I open my computer, add my quotes of the day, change the date and subject and then I am off to the races until I feel as if I am finished.

Very stream of consciousness.

Today after what felt like a particularly gratifying entry, I accidentally hit something and everything I had written vanished.

Gone.

Unretrievable.

I became physically ill.

It was as if I had been kicked in the groin.

Once the wind has gone from my sails,there is no going back.

I can not nor will I even attempt to recreate what had just poured out of me, no matter how good I thought it was.

Disappointed?

Absolutely.

And no I move on.

Vacations

"You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give."

Eleanor Roosevelt

As I have mentioned on more than one occasion, I hate vacationing.The idea of sitting around doing nothing for a week or 2 is insane to me. Having little or nothing to occupy my time other than hanging around, eating ,and drinking seems like an absolute waste of time. I get really antsy after 24 hours of that.

Friends and family get annoyed with me. They keep telling me that you need to shut things down every once and awhile. Our minds and bodies need a break from the stresses of everyday life. They tell me what could be better than disconnecting.

Go get a cabin in the woods and walk away from the constant grind of your every day work all day life.

Go down to the shore.

Sit on a beach chair and do nothing for hours upon hours.

Go on a cruise where you are limited to where you can go because that's the way ships are.

People tell me how much I am missing by not vacationing.

So wait.

Why is everybody freaking out now that we have to stay home?

Was I right all along?

Is vacationing not only unnecessary but actually a bad thing.

Pack the family up and supplies in the car and go to the beach or the country.

Sound a lot like hoarding and quarantine to me.

Just sayin'.

For those who play golf,sightsee, or take wilderness hikes......all still available.And talk about social distancing.

No problem. So for ll of you who get on me for not vacationing, stop the whining about the way things are right now and enjoy your vacation.

FYI...........I still don't like them.

Shabbat Shalom!

No News is Good News!

“Hope springs eternal in the human breast;

Man never Is, but always To be blest.

The soul, uneasy, and confin'd from home,

Rests and expatiates in a life to come.”

~ Alexander Pope

I'm not sure what it is like where you are,but here in Northern New Jersey, the lockdown is continuing.

On a daily basis, more businesses are closing and the roads are getting emptier and emptier.

Social distancing is relatively easy.

There is no one around!

The quarantine whether self imposed or mandated is real.

I have chosen to self quarantine. Not so much from others but from any sort of news.

I have turned off the television.

If I watch anything it is on Amazon or Netflix or Disney.

The only part of the newspaper I look at is the crossword puzzle.

When I am in my car, IF I turn on the radio it is to the local college radio station which never does news,occasionally giving me the weather and the traffic.

Quite honestly, I don't even need that.

I can look up for the weather and look ahead of me for the traffic.

There ya go!

Done deal!

No news whatsoever.

I have often said that I would be a happy as the proverbial pig in poop if I could just live in a cabin in the woods and have zero contact to any sort of news medium.

Not one thing in the headlines would have any effect on my life.

I have no need for politics.

I could care less about the human condition anywhere else other than in my limited circle of acquaintances.

Hollywood,showbiz, sports,the stock market,? None of them mean anything to me.

Just let me get up each day,make a pot of coffee and go about my chores.

I found out late last night while having a conversation with a friend that there was an earthquake somewhere.

Who knew?

And from my perspective, who cares?

I didn't feel it.

I know it's Springtime when I see buds on trees and robins appear.

The forsythia are starting to bloom.

It's Spring.

I'll know it's Autumn when the leaves start to fall.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out when Summer has hit. Or Winter for that matter.

I don't need some economic feature to tell me about my economy. I can count what's in my pocket.

And I will leave the swamp to the swamp creatures. I have never been to the Everglades and don't really need to. Giant swamp!

This self imposed mental quarantine is suiting me just fine.

Now if I could just afford to buy that cabin!

Shabbat Shalom!

A Brief History Lesson

“At all times and under all circumstances, we have the power to transform the quality of our lives.”

Werner Erhard

So here we are.

Could you have ever imagined living under these conditions?

I certainly never imagined it.

Do you know who did?

The framers of the Constitution.

Hence the 2nd amendment.

I am sure that no teacher is teaching this to their students.

I know, I am sounding like some sort of radical conspiracy theorist but am I really.

Our leaders, have determined that this temporary shut down is what is best for the immediate future. With our consent and cooperation , they believe that this short term remedy will get us through.

Once again, the key words behind this thinking are consent and cooperation.

So what happens when that no longer applies?

What happens when the constraints and restrictions become overbearing and more than we can tolerate or accept?

What happens when those in government think they know what is best for us,even when they might not?

I know, you're thinking that could never happen.

Wrong!

It can and to some degree it does all of the time.

What has been referred to as the swamp,has been doing this forever.

We,the American public has allowed it and put up with it because it hasn't really mattered or affected our daily lives.

What happens when it does matter?

What happens when ideologues with their own agendas get so polarized and convinced that they know best that we don't matter?

Wake up people.

We are at that doorstep.

Our response?

Hoarding toilet paper!

Our forefathers understood that there may come a time that we will need the right to bear arms.Not to protect ourselves from intruders or robbery or burglary.

It's to equally arm ourselves as a militia against the tyranny of an out of control government.

Waiting until that time comes would be way too late.

I never have and never will own a gun.

I may consider however, looking into buying a tank or some other armored vehicle.

Just in case!

Just ask me

"Our lives are defined not by the challenges we encounter, but by how we respond to those challenges."

Jonathan Lockwood Huie

When I was in elementary school, my parents went to a parent teacher conference. You remember them. The babysitter shows up and your mom and dad go off to hear about how you are doing in school.I know my mom and dad used these occasions to stop at the Suburban diner on their way home to grab a cup of coffee, a piece of pie and a few minutes away from us.

At this particular meeting, my teacher commented that although I was always prepared and did my work, whenever she would tell me to do something I would resist.

My dad's response was "that's David!".

"Ask him to do something and he'll walk through fir and crash through walls to get it done.Tell him to do something and he will turn his back to that same wall."

I am no different today than I was 57 years ago.

This shutdown we are experiencing where I live is bringing up all of the same ill will that I would have reacted to way back then.

Governor Christie's chronies went to jail over shutting down a bridge for a few hours. Our current governor is shutting down the entire state. Hardly seems reasonable to me.

I am all for due caution, but this is way overboard for me.

I am an adult and I can make responsible decisions.

I am not going to a movie theater under these conditions. I have chosen to not get my haircut and go with the homeless look until we get the all clear.

(Although if this keeps up to long , I will look the part when I do become homeless without income!).

I grocery shop for the few items I need TODAY daily. I am not hoarding anything especially not toilet paper.My 15 minute venture to the market helps me keep my sanity.

We have to close our shop by Saturday.

Why?

Our shop by the way it is constructed is perfectly set up for social distancing.

My customers are responsible adults.

They should be able to choose.

The Senior Center I work at is closed. Our choice and probably a very smart one.

I would like to have more choices.

I hate being told by the government that I don't have a choice.

The government who is still going to get their paychecks during all of this. The government that still will collect taxes, delayed or not. You can bet they will always get theirs.

This is the kind of stuff that revolutions are born out of.

I can't imagine that there aren't others feeling like I am who do not like having a choice.

I kind of wish Iwas a day laborer who worked landscaping or construction. No shut down there.

Just sayin'.

Once again,it's US getting squeezed.

Without being able to choose.

I am getting a bit pissed off.

And I can't imagine I am the only one.

I want the ability to make choices.

Then I can feel human once again.

This is not helping anything. But hey, that's just how I feel.

The Hardest Part

"Energy and persistence conquer all things."

Benjamin Franklin

Like many others, my work is in shutdown. By Saturday, our shop will be down as well.

For me, the hardest part of all of this is accepting that it's okay to do nothing.

As I have said many times before, I don't do free time well. I don't enjoy vacations. Giving myself permission to do absolutely nothing is very, very difficult bordering on impossible.

As more and more businesses go dark,I am trying to accept what is happening. For some,it's about being bored.

For me, it's about letting go.

I am not worried about the financial aspect of all of this. We are all experiencing it and we will get through it.

Sitting around and watching t.v. or indulging in some other nonproductive activity is what is making me so uncomfortable.

So I have to make plans.

Plans to find some way to be productive. Cleaning the shop next week from top to bottom.

That's a start!

The past 2 days, I spent part of the day delivering meals on wheels to some of the seniors .

There is a possibility that Friday will be a full day of deliveries.

I suppose that's useful,if not productive.

I have 2 online courses that I can dive back into.

I have phone calls I can make for Halloween, although I can't imagine how well they will be received given the current state of affairs.

Or I can just let go and ride this out.

Okay........no I can't!

Time to Man Up

"Ben Zoma says:

Who is rich?

The one who is appreciates what he has…"

~ Talmud—Avot 4:1

One of the lessons I learned early on in life was when you meet or encounter someone, you look them in the eye and shake their hand with a firm grip.

That is what a real man does.

A firm handshake and significant meaningful eye contact is what real men do.

It's time to man up!

Last night after a brief encounter with a police officer (that's another whole story!), I stuck out my hand to shake his. He responded in kind . I commented "I wasn't sure if I could shake your hand given this social contact anxiety". He laughed and said" no problem, I have wipes in my cruiser".

I suppose in different times I would have been offended by the idea of after touching me he had to wipe his hands. However given the overabundance to caution that we are all experiencing, I appreciated his initial response of grasping and shaking my hand as well as making sure he looked me squarely in the eyes.

In these times of being afraid of everything including one's own shadow,it was a welcome gift to exchange a hearty handshake, wipes or no wipes.

Time to man up!

Enough is Enough!

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Susan has been dealing with some medical "stuff" for the last few weeks.

After a visit to her primary care physician, it was suggested that she go for a mammogram. Nothing to get hysterical about, but always stressful, especially given what her prompted the initial visit to her doctor.

The resulting suggestion after the mammogram was"let's do a biopsy.....it's probably just fatty tissue ,but we should check".

Fine!

Biopsy scheduled for the following Monday.

Now, barely 24 hours before said procedure and after weeks of growing anxiousness, the hospital just called to cancel the procedure.

Why?

You got it. The coronavirus stupidity!

That's it!

I'm done!

Enough is enough!

Here are some real numbers.

Over a quarter of a million women in America are diagnosed with invasive breast cancer every year.

Another 50,000 are diagnosed with non-invasive (the earliest form of breast cancer).

42,000 women will die from breast cancer this year.

This is approximately 1000 times more people than have currently died from this stupid hoax of a pandemic thus far in the U.S.

I have had it.

Enough is enough.

My response therefore can only be one thing.

Denial!

I refuse to play this stupid game.

I refuse to buy into the hysteria around what is just another new virus, which in my brief time on this planet has occurred more times than I can count.

I hereby vow to:

Not buy into the hysteria.

Not wipe anything other than my ass when I am done taking a crap.

Not worry about sneezing or coughing in public.

Not quarantine myself in any way.

I will continue to lead my life in as normal a fashion as I possibly can.

Enough is enough.

If this flu kills me, it was just my time.

If my germs infect somebody else, too bad.It's the natural course of things.

I will not allow the madness of uncertainty to interrupt my life.

According to the same health care professionals and experts who have no idea as to how much of a problem this Woohan flu is, my wife's tests for something that is a) completely preventative and b) absolutely manageable, which effect 1000's of more women year in and year out than this stupid nonsense has to date,must now be shelved due to histrionics.

I'm done!

A New Day

“We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.”

Martin Luther King

When my day ended yesterday,I was anything but a happy camper.

After a morning of demolition tearing out sheetrock, removing old insulation and getting rid of the old entry and storm doors to the house and an afternoon of installing a new front door,storm door and french doors to close off the room, one would hope for some sort of feeling of accomplishment. Instead, I found myself feeling nothing but frustration.

The new front door was sticking when you tried opening it. The storm door needs major tweaking to get it to function. The french doors don't close properly. The storm and french doors have no handles on them.And the floor which went down a week ago has to be redone. It's just not even and the flooring will crack if not addressed.

Guess which of the 7 dwarfs I wasn't?

Yep...........HAPPY!

So after losing an hours sleep last night, I dragged myself out of bed, went and picked up Luis, hit Home Depot for supplies and began tackling the check list from the night before.

It's now mid day.

The french doors have handles and are now functioning perfectly.

The front door has been fixed and now swings like Tarzan from a vine.

The front wall is re-insulated.

Some sheetrock has been installed and the the section of floor that has to be redone has been taken up.

With just the storm door to tackle and some self leveling cement to be applied to the floor, my day has taken a remarkable upward turn.

What a difference a day makes!

And the Sun is shining as well.

Life don't get much better than that!

Shavua Tov!

Biting off more than.......

"There are some people that if they don't know...and don't know that they don't know...you can't tell them."

~ Louis Armstrong

I love the idea of go big or go home. If you are going to do something do it in a big way.Never shy away from a challenge.In keeping with that philosophy, the work continues on the room that I am refinishing.

This morning,all of the sheet rock on the front wall of the house came down.My initial thoughts? Maybe I have bitten off more than I can chew this time!

My house was built in the mid-50's. Naturally that means that the framing I have just exposed has not seen the light of day in almost 70 years.

The insulation (or the backer paper of it) reads Celulite Cotton Insulation. No fiberglass in those days. The insulation itself is basically non-existent. Only the paper that held it together remains. Behind that, I found that instead of plywood or particle board the house was built with planking.( I seem to remember that from when i added the family room 28 years ago.)

With the sheetrock gone, I can now see the framing I did when I removed the original picture window almost 3 decades ago and have a better understanding of what is in store for me now that I plan to reopen that.

Daunting would be an understatement!

I decided to take a break,make a pot of coffee and contemplate my next step.

My initial thoughts...........am I out of my mind?

However, after a short break and fresh cup of joe,I am okay with all of this.

The new front door was delivered this morning. With any luck, we will have it installed by around noon. After lunch,which will happen only after the door is in, we will install the storm door.

By then , with any luck, the french doors that will separate this room from the kitchen will arrive.My plan is to get them installed by the end of the day today as well.

Sounds ambitious right?

Like I said, plan big or go home!As luck would have it, I have the day off tomorrow ,which means hardware, new insulation and the start of the sheetrocking process.

Did I bite off more than I can chew?

Not really. I may have put a lot on my plate, but I have enough sense to eat it slowly taking small enough bites so as not to choke!

Shabbat Shalom!