Archive for the big purge category
January 31, 2011
(Better late than never, right?)
JANUARY
Wrote 21 posts on this blog plus 20 on my French blog, for a grand total of 41 posts — I was on a roll!
Faithful to my yearly ritual, I picked a rune: Ansuz — amazing how spot-on it ended up being. Wait till you see the one I picked for 2011 — YESSS!
Started this big 12-Notch plan with my usual over-the-top enthusiasm. I wanted CHANGE. I wanted ABUNDANCE. I wanted 2010 to be the most creative and productive year ever.
Of course, my plan was well organised and came with monthly goals, weekly baby steps, weekly updates, and a monthly trophy for reaching my monthly goals. I’m quite the Master Planner.
Did a whole lot of walking, that month. Could be it was a way to get out of the house for exercise… or could be it was a way to get out of doing the work I was supposed to be doing in order to move onwards and upwards towards a brighter future. In any case, I’m sure it’s what was best for me at the time — riiiiiiiight.
Saw the movie Avatar which had me imagining Cameron’s first draft… 
FEBRUARY
Wrote 8 posts + 8 posts on my French blog = total of 16 posts.
I stretched daily — it was my first goal.
My second goal was to come up with a decent about me page. A goal I reached in OCTOBER… and it’s still not completed. Must be my penchant for suspense, eh?
Ended up giving myself half a trophy and finding all kinds of excuses to justify my lack of action.
On February 27, I wrote 20 pages in my Journal about what poverty represents for me. It was — and remains to this day — an eye-opening and life-changing exercise.
MARCH
Wrote 4 posts + 4 posts on my French blog = total of 8 posts.
Though eliminating ones clutter is very feng shui and clears the way for the Law of Attraction, I must admit that physical work such as emptying storage units and moving personal archives around from boxes to shelves to more boxes has often been an excuse for me to not do what I should be doing in order to make my dreams come true — *sigh*.
But, I did end the month on a most positive note: got rid of my Pax The Singing Clown costume which was a constant reminder — as it hung in my closet — of my being “poor” and having to busk the metro for spare change back when I was in my fifties.
Goodbye “poor” me — Helloooo RICH moi!
(to be continued)
November 13, 2010
I would have loved to spare you these “BEFORE” pictures of my bathroom, but you would have missed my Frida Kahlo / Fernando Botero period, and that would have been such a shame.
Yes, sweet souls, it was way too many years ago that I painted Madame Pipi during one of my numerous fits of boredom. The walls were already banana yellow, so I opted for the *green-yellow-red* colour combination, hoping this would give the room a Jamaican look.
I started by measuring and drawing nice neat squares. Afterwards, I proceeded to paint: one green — skip the yellow — one red; one green — skip the yellow — one red. And it’s in the midst of this repetitive and meditative exercise that I eventually had the spontaneous urge to create Madame Pipi.
Unfortunately, my Kahlo/Botero period didn’t last long enough for me to finish my masterpiece. After all these years of putting up with this creature, I’ve finally decided to get rid of her and adopt a more Zen decor. So whatever happens to me in July 2011, if I move out of here or not, it’s plain to see the room is in dire need of an exorcism, right?
More photos to come.
Bring on the change!
November 13, 2010
The beat goes on! Now that the renovations for the doors and windows are done, I need to give my bathroom a make-over. I also need to create my Theatre of the Absurd / playroom. This means a significant part of my living quarters will be a mess for the following two, maybe three weeks. Which is — I have to admit — something that bothers me quite a bit.
Here’s what I bought last Sunday when I spent the weekend at my son’s place: a new counter top for the bathroom sink; baseboard heaters for the bathroom and the Theatre of the Absurd / playroom; all the stuff for painting; mini scaffold step ladder (not at all to be used for painting — it will become a prop for my Theatre of the Absurd… I’ll tell you more about that later); and the reward = a Christmas tree.
Once I got back home on Monday, it was clear I was going to put the tree up that same evening…
Ta dah!
Why decorate 47 days before Christmas? Because at the end of each day’s work, I can reward myself by snuggling into my comfy armchair and letting myself be carried away to the magical world of Christmas.
Ain’t life beautiful?
November 11, 2010
As I begin to look back on 2010, I’m starting to notice how my desire for change has been acknowledged in more ways than one. Though I hadn’t thought of change in the form of new windows and a new patio door, that’s what I got recently and I’m really grateful for the gift.
I’ve been living in this housing co-op since 1982. And yes, I know, I dearly want to move out… as expressed in this blog post. But for the time being, and with everything that has happened all through the year, I’m living in the present moment and enjoying the abundance. I say “abundance,” because our housing co-op received a $19 113.47 grant from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation to replace doors and windows in all 5 flats — that’s a total of 7 windows, 5 patio doors, 2 balcony doors… and a partridge in a pear tree!
So here are a few pictures of what has been going on in my little world between October 25 and November 4.
Hole in the wall — looking into my home office.
Inside home office — window waiting to be installed.
Worker installing new window in living room.
Worker installing window in what will become
my Theatre of the Absurd / Playroom.
Hole in kitchen wall… waiting for patio door.
Workers taking a well-deserved break.
There were 4 guys in the team… all good-looking!
This post is in the “big purge” and “law of attraction” categories because renovations are all part of purging the old and attracting the new — I’m on a roll, people… YESSSS!
Stay tuned for more pictures — am now starting to make changes in my bathroom… and in my former home office that is patiently waiting to become my Theatre of the Absurd / Playroom. I can’t wait for THAT room to be ready and rocking!
August 10, 2010
I will be 60 on August 16…
at exactly 9:10 in the morning.
I’m thrilled about the upcoming new decade. I even talked about it in EPISODE 11 of Radio FaceBoo; recorded on July 31 — a saturday night — I went on and on, saying how exciting it is for me to be turning 60… that I’m finally at ease with the thought of being the clown-without-a-costume that I’ve always known myself to be in my heart and soul.
On the eve of stepping into August, I was possessed with an urgent need to clear up space for change. And so it was that I started to demolish my bedroom.
You see, I’ve been sleeping in my living room — in my big comfortable recliner arm chair — since last September. This means I wasn’t using my bedroom anymore so might as well get rid of my queen-size bed (with its rock-hard mattress) and other pieces of furniture that took up space and blocked the good chi.
A longtime friend of mine offered to take the bed off my hands and was happy to inherit the vanity which belonged to my mom.
My huge trunk is destined to hold a special function in what will become the Giggle Theatre. For this to happen, I cleared my office of all ITS furniture as well — I’ll keep you posted on this work in progress.
As for the wicker table, the rococo lamp, and the guardian angel, they’ll probably end up in my kitchen — “to be continued.”
So that’s what happened on July 31.
I’ll be back very soon with my account
of the first days of August — woo hoo hoo!
March 7, 2010
Notice to the Universe:
I’m kicking butt!
Notice to Mizz Law of Attraction:
I’m making room for abundance.
Even if I didn’t publish my “Notch #3 — BABY STEPS / Week of March 1 to 7″ post, I stuck to The 12-Notch Plan and to my goals for the month of March. Photo proof: here’s what I’ve eliminated from my storage facilities.
This pile represents approximately a quarter of the stuff that needs to disappear. Tomorrow, I’ll bring some of the items to the local friperie (our version of Goodwill). Tuesday night, I’ll put the rest — i.e. garbage — out on the sidewalk.
MODIFICATION TO THE PLAN
It was getting redundant, all these posts — at the start of each week — about what baby steps I would be taking, and then the following posts — at the end of each week — where I’d give my update about said baby steps.
And I didn’t find it interesting or esthetically pleasing to see all these titles — identical words, series of dates — listed in the sidebar under “Recent Posts.”
So I’ve decided to drop that method; from now on, I don’t need a leash to hold myself accountable. I will continue to take my baby steps and promise to report back to you through informal posts with fun titles.
DAMN FEAR
Last Tuesday, as I was about to press the “publish” button and announce to the world my firm intention to move, I was struck with the Big Shit Scare.
Oh yeah.
Having not had the time to publish my post before leaving for my son’s cottage in beautiful Boucherville (school break = fun with the grandkids), I found myself later that night sitting in my son’s basement, feverish and fatigued, staring at the computer screen, my hand resting on the mouse, my index unable to budge.
What was I thinking?!!! How could I possibly move out of my housing co-op when I don’t even have the financial means to pay for anything other than the flat I’m living in at the moment and whose rent, thank my lucky stars, is calculated based on my yearly income?!!!
Deap breath…
And then I got a flash. I saw the progress I had made since the beginning of the year. I thought of my report on poverty. And I immediately understood that I simply had to take the leap of faith: click!
Now I’m even more determined.
IT’S GOING TO WORK!
I’M ATTRACTING MY IDEAL HOME
REFERENCES: The 12-Notch Plan — Notch #3 – GOALS for March
