Basement Media Center

This was one of the first weekends we've had where a) we've both been home together b) the weekend hasn't been completely booked with other things to do c) one of us hasn't been really sick. HUZZAH! Thus, we were finally able to spend some time putting the basement in some kind order. We didn't get everything done we wanted to due to some uncooperative speaker mounts, but we still made progress!

 TV and various gaming consoles were hooked up

 chargers plugged in and charging, 

extras have been organized in the below cabinet.

 While it took MUCH longer than we wanted, 

we did get the two satellite surround sound speakers up and working 

 I actually took this photo after we got the TV hooked up,

but we also have a clear sofa and coffee table now too!

 Reese kept us company (don't let his pathetic face fool you in this pic)

and happily ran up and down the stairs with me

when I brought empty boxes to the garage for recycling (YAY!)

 Sunday morning we tried a new brunch place. 

Not as good as we were hoping, but not bad.

 Sunday night I made a ham dinner :-)

with green beans and sweet potatoes - YUM!

All in all, a productive weekend as we also celebrated my Mother-in-law's birthday Saturday night, I got my desk cleaned off, bills paid, I'm almost caught up on laundry AND Matt and I still had time to sit and watch FROZEN together in the new basement space - it was epic - it was awesome!

We have some busy weekends ahead so there may not be another update for a while, but at least I can hang out down there and watch tv, sit on my laptop, etc while Matt is working on grad school :-)

Musings...

One of the blogs I read, Playing Sublimely, had an interesting post the other day. I've shared an excerpt of it below as it asks a question I've never really thought about before.... What is the way I think best? Is it in a certain place? Is it while doing a certain activity?

"The story of Gillian Lynne, the famous choreographer.  When Ken Robinson’s TED Talk video went viral several years ago, it brought a voice to the way many (yet a minority) had felt and looked at creativity and education.  I’m late to the party, and am only recently loving this man’s perspective.  Ken shares the story of his friend Gillian Lynne, and I wanted to share it here with you today, mainly because of a question that stirred in my soul at the end of his story.  Below is an exert from his 20 minute TED Talk speech.

 I’m doing a new book at the moment called “Epiphany,” which is based on a series of interviews with people about how they discovered their talent. I’m fascinated by how people got to be there. It’s really prompted by a conversation I had with a wonderful woman who maybe most people have never heard of; she’s called Gillian Lynne – have you heard of her? Some have. She’s a choreographer and everybody knows her work. She did “Cats” and “Phantom of the Opera.” She’s wonderful. I used to be on the board of the Royal Ballet in England, as you can see. Anyway, Gillian and I had lunch one day and I said, ”Gillian, how’d you get to be a dancer?” And she said it was interesting; when she was at school, she was really hopeless. And the school, in the ’30s, wrote to her parents and said, “We think Gillian has a learning disorder.” She couldn’t concentrate; she was fidgeting. I think now they’d say she had ADHD. Wouldn’t you? But this was the 1930s, and ADHD hadn’t been invented at this point. It wasn’t an available condition. People weren’t aware they could have that.
Anyway, she went to see this specialist. So, this oak-paneled room, and she was there with her mother,and she was led and sat on this chair at the end, and she sat on her hands for 20 minutes while this man talked to her mother about all the problems Gillian was having at school. And at the end of it –because she was disturbing people; her homework was always late; and so on, little kid of eight — in the end, the doctor went and sat next to Gillian and said, “Gillian, I’ve listened to all these things that your mother’s told me, and I need to speak to her privately.” He said, “Wait here. We’ll be back; we won’t be very long,” and they went and left her. But as they went out the room, he turned on the radiothat was sitting on his desk. And when they got out the room, he said to her mother, ”Just stand and watch her.” And the minute they left the room, she said, she was on her feet, moving to the music. And they watched for a few minutes and he turned to her mother and said, ”Mrs. Lynne, Gillian isn’t sick; she’s a dancer. Take her to a dance school.”
I said, “What happened?” She said, “She did. I can’t tell you how wonderful it was. We walked in this room and it was full of people like me. People who couldn’t sit still. People who had to move to think.” Who had to move to think. They did ballet; they did tap; they did jazz; they did modern; they did contemporary. She was eventually auditioned for the Royal Ballet School; she became a soloist; she had a wonderful career at the Royal Ballet. She eventually graduated from the Royal Ballet School and founded her own company — the Gillian Lynne Dance Company – met Andrew Lloyd Weber. She’s been responsible for some of the most successful musical theater productions in history; she’s given pleasure to millions; and she’s a multi-millionaire. Somebody else might have put her on medication and told her to calm down.

Gillian’s circumstances are obviously rare and unique, and her fame and success is not necessarily my point.  What caused me to pause was her statement, “The room was full of people like me…People who had to move to think.”  Immediately, I began looking for a pen to write down the question whispering in my ear,

“Amy, what do you need to do to be able to think?”

I think if we could honestly answer that question, we would take a giant leap in the direction of creating our art.  Of living our call.  Of finding freedom in our purpose."

I need people or music...maybe noise? I need the distraction of a voice(s)/music to allow my brain to unfocus and just listen to itself. For example, in college, I found I could do much better work for my writing class while in a lecture. The professor's voice and classmates around me were enough of a distraction for my conscience thoughts, that I was able to just write. I find music sometimes does the same thing for me - it does for most people I think - having music playing while painting a room, doing dishes, cleaning, working on a project, keeps things moving and productive! It's why I get home and turn on music or the tv. Not to actively sit a watch/listen, but just to fill the house with happy sounds.
The other place I love to think is in nature. One of the reasons Matt and I bought our house is that on the back deck, if you stop and listen you can hear the wind through the trees, the birds - it's peaceful. I also love the water - the ocean - the waves crashing against the rocks or up on the beach, the call of the birds, the wind through the grass, sand, dune grass.
Where do you think best?

A Day Late.....

I know! I've been posting on Mondays this month and I missed yesterday - I'm going to blame it on my cold/sinus thing that just won't die! OR, I could say I was frozen through yesterday after sitting at work all day in a building with no heat. yep. The boiler apparently broke down over the weekend and no one noticed until 8.30am Monday morning when the building was a lovely 52 degrees. I wore my down coat all day - Thank You L.L.Bean for keeping me warm!

 Last weeks warm days mixed with snow made for a few foggy mornings!

 The sectional for the basement finally arrived - yay!

 we celebrated by taking the tv out of it's box. 

still not hooked up yet, but at least not in the huge box.

 Reese has discovered that the lower couch arms make for better yard watching,

Kel believes he's contemplating the meaning of life :-)

 my weekend trip to connecticut was canceled due to my sickness

I swear the timing is vindictive!

Anyhoo, so Matt stayed home with me and made me delish eggs with stuff :-)

& Reese continued to try out new ways to snuggle and make me smile :-)

Next up will hopefully be some more movement in the basement! Now that we have all the pieces down there, the ball is back in our court to get it done so we can start to enjoy! 

The Weather Rollercoaster

This past weekend it was just me and the dog hanging out :-)
Matt was off at grad school in Mass for the weekend and so Reese and I took advantage of the 49 degree weather (yay for melting!) on Saturday and went for a walk/hike at Kingman Farm. I wore my boots and was hoping for a walk, but the melting snow, ice, mud combo made it more of a hike! Nevertheless, we enjoyed the slip-slide-hike through the woods and across the fields!

 Usually I let Reese off-leash to run around but there were so many people out enjoying the lovely weather (cross country skiers, snowshoe-rs, and all sizes of dogs) that I switched out his short leash for the long extendo-leash so he still had some room to roam without getting either of us into a sticky situation!

 he's not always a fan of posing for pictures :-)

he was refusing to look at me because of the camera

 We tromped around until my boots were soaked through and getting

 squishy and finished up our errands before going home.

 This was the happy face I woke up to on Sunday morning - 

tail thumping and ready for another adventure! :-)

It was a productive weekend for me crossing little things off the list such as groceries, cleaning out the fridge, a trip to GoodWill, replacing the stove top light bulbs, laundry, watched the Oscars (I know, I'm a week late!), taxes, read up on a few new recipes I'd like to try out soon and hung out with my Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.
We're up for another 2-day storm this week, so I'm incredibly happy we got to get out and enjoy the sunshine!

February is over?

The last week of February flew by. literally. I started back at CrossFit, we enjoyed a double-date night on Wednesday with friends, my mum was up this weekend - so it was go, go, go! all week long :-)

enjoyed an allergic reaction from wrist wraps.. I'm fine now but
it was a fun surprise! 

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that we worked in the garage and basement on Saturday in order to get both cars back into the garage - it took a bit of work as the new Accord doesn't fit in the smaller space, so we switched places as the CRV is just a few inches shorter allowing both cars to (snugly) fit!

we got the side clean

in between the cars is cleaned up so there is room for doors to open

less clean down the other side of the garage, but still workable

The front is still a mess but the important thing is that both cars can live the rest of this winter in the garage. 

I have a garage clean-up already on the calendar for later on in the spring 

when we can pull everything out and get it organized.

Breakfast of champions after swimming Sunday morning :-)

Mum and I had an egg inside 1/2 an avocado with bacon and espresso

YUM!