Guess Who No Longer Sleeps in the Living Room?

That's right ladies and gentlemen...Claire has moved into the bedroom.  My split box springs were delivered to my home this past Monday.  One might ask why it took me so long.  Trying to be independent I attempted to get the mattress up the stairs on my own.  I found out that was IMPOSSIBLE.  Tonight (on the Sabbath) my visiting teachers came over to teach me.  They got the tour of the house and saw that I was living in the living room.  They offered to help me bring the mattress upstairs.  Three women carried all the pieces to the frame, carried the mattress upstairs and put everything all in to place.  When they had me guess what the visiting teaching message was about I said, "keeping the sabbath day holy," because it definitely felt like maybe we were not doing that.  Nope, about self reliance.  I sure want be self reliant and feel like most days I am, but there are just too many tasks that require other people help.  I take all the help I can get...sometimes even if it is on Sunday.  Photos to come.

Cycles

My life goes through cycles.  I am not sure how often this happens to everyone else, but I am currently in the book reading stage of my coping cycle.  It is kind of like the chicken and the egg conundrum, I am not really sure what comes first.  So, I will just start with the self-pity stage.  It seems that life becomes difficult and then I have a very difficult time relating to others, or convincing myself to do anything.  Then eventually there is a lull in the number of terrible things and my poor ability to deal with the circumstances.  Over the past year and a half the amount of time I have spend in this stage has been more than I would like to admit.
After this stage ends then I move onto the book reading stage.  This stage is filled with less self pity, but still an acute awareness of the loneliness of living alone and the lack of social interaction with friends or family.  Part of the reason for this loneliness is directly correlated to the previous cycle.  It is difficult to keep friends close when you can't relate to them and have difficulty convincing yourself to spend time with people.  I know that there are people out there who will feel guilt about the loneliness and my other feelings, but I don't believe that is the fault of other.  Humans are built to think of themselves and their families first. Plus who wants to hang out with someone who is unhappy?  So, here I am hanging out alone (in the circumstances I have created for myself) filling up my time reading book which become my friends.  I think that this is why I read so much as a child.  I have always struggled to connect with others.  So, I read and become drawn to the characters, relating to them and being engulfed in their stories, which decreases my sense of isolation.  Therefore, I feel like the book reading stage is not necessarily a bad thing.  Plus, my brain gets smarter...at least I think?!??!
Next comes the self motivated stage.  Suddenly when it is least expected I will be filled with unbelievable motivation.  Filled with enlightenment and energy I feel like I can take over the world.  This stage of the cycle I cannot seem to force and then of this stage is also unexpected.  Something emotionally difficult to manage comes along again and suddenly I am filled with self loathing and depression once again.
I wish that my entire life could be spent with the feeling of fulfillment and self motivation, but I suppose that my Father in Heaven has to present me with struggles in life to appreciate my accomplishments.  I am hoping that after I start teaching classes at the beginning of July that I will move back into the 3rd stage.  I am sure that I will be spending most of my life fighting to be in the self motivation stage.

Alligator House Anyone?

As I was reading the blogs I frequent I came across this little ditty:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/outdoor/theres-always-one-crazy-house-on-the-block-flickr-find-148784

 Now I am not certain that every neighborhood has one of these homes because I have driven through many neighborhoods and have not been able to appreciate a single home with absurd decor.  Although, I know that my neighborhood growing up it was the "alligator house".  It was always exciting to see what they were going to be up to next.  In this article you could tell that this family was not going for the norm.  The sad thing about the alligator house was that you got the idea that the family in our neighborhood thought that they were improving the decor and bringing a bit of class to the neigborhood.

It all started on day with a water fountain.  This fountain really just looked like someone had driven up with a truck of rocks and plopped them right in front of the house.  Then to make it look even more amazing they placed to large alligators on top of the pile.  It was such a sight to see.  The house was planted on a major road for everyone to enjoy this spectacle.

As the owners of this home had more and more improvement ideas, we were able to relish with amazement in the tackiness of it all.  Next came the spray-painted driveway, which was supposed to give you the feeling of bricks....which in my mind was unsuccessful.  Then came the lions.  Now I can't remember clearly if the alligators disappeared, but I think that Noah's ark may have just arrived unannounced.  Next thing I know I was seeing a metal giraffe poking it's head over the fence.  As I would frequently walk by on an early morning walk (which I think my mother was with me), we had to see what was going on in the backyard.  It was like a zoo.  The animals were strategically placed, where someone might think that it would look good, but somehow it just didn't hit the spot.

After years of pure enjoyment I can certainly say that I don't care if this home decreases the property values of its neighbors.  It has delighted me for years.  Perhaps I should mail them some pink flamingos to help with their motif?

Good Help Isn't Hard to Find Here in the Twin Cities

Natalie came and helped me paint the floor.  I personally like the floor.  In this picture it may look the same as the previous paint job, but it is darker and I really love it.

She also helped me put the vinyl up on the walls.  We did pretty well for two single gals.

I put a new medicine cabinet up and I think it looks pretty good.

Another view of the shower, as I am trying to put up the shower door.  I have to admit that my work has stalled as my carpal tunnel was terrible, but it is getting better so the projects should be continuing soon.

Branch Issues

I bought my house and realized afterwards that there was a random, very large branch hanging in my tree.  Unfortunately, I have been told it costs between $640-$1000 to trim and take care of one tree.  I was trying to decide what I was going to do with this branch and what it would do if I came out of my tree.

The day of the recent tornado here in the Minneapolis, the wind took my branch right out of my tree.  Here it is hanging in my tree.  It is taller than my house.

It came down like a spear into the ground.