Notches in my belt

It's hard to believe how fast time can seem to pass when looking back. I've been traveling for work and now that I'm back (and not jet lagged) it's time to get back into building mode again. During my travels I finished a book I love called "the rock warriors handbook". You don't even have to be s Rick clone to get some amazingly precious nuggets from its message. And upon finishing the book on my flight home I was reminded once again to..... ENJOY THE JOURNEY!

It was good timing for that message because I found myself feeling overwhelmed at the thought of trying to finish my home by May. First, I created a deadline for myself which was first inspired by the possibility of being on the home and garden TV show that had approached me in the fall. They didn't think I'd be done by April when the next season would air. I pushed to prove I could... And in the process got burnt out. So now that I'm back from my trip...I took all deadlines of the table and am already feeling more energized and light.

Next, I realized much of my overwhelm was coming from trying to hard to look at the finished product. There is SO MUCH work left to do.... Especially on the raft side which I still haven't redesigned. But the book reminded me if I'm not enjoying the simple steps of each movement, feeling the joy for being able to do this.... Then I'm doing it for the wrong reasons. Doing this to be done just to said "i did It", just to build a list of accomplishment to move on to the next item on the list is WRONG. And I know those aren't my reasons. I chose this for me, for my vision of my life, And that in itself is my joy in this process.

So I pulled back that vision and focused only on a single track today. First with some finishing touches in the loft. Earlier in the week I attempted to do the windows but everything felt difficult and it took me to long to do s simple task. So I stepped away, revalidated and was able to easily accomplish it today (while enjoying each step).

nailing in the prestained cuts...finding out my measurements weren't so great..nothing new!

Next I wanted to finish up some of the trim work... Only I realized after the fact that I had used the wrong boards in the wrong place... Luckily it was an easy fix, I had the right supplies! I also needed to cover up the silicones hosts that we leaking before the silicon... Now it's looking much cleaner and I'm confident it won't leak again! 

hiding the sticky seams

used the board in the wrong place...luckily I had more and they were the same size!

I was definitely feeling like I needed to do the tasks I was somewhat avoiding since I was in a better frame of mind and so I worked to finish the remaining walls with whatever materials I had left. 

That included a cut I am super proud of....A single piece that not only had to work around the shape of the octagon window, but also had to lock in the upper and lower sections of the tongue and groove! It ended up being a very satisfying challenge! 

before

after! I'm so proud of this!

I had two full sized tongue and groove pieces left...and I immediately knew what I was supposed to do with them, even though I resisted it at first. I needed to use them to finish up each wall at the top. My resistance was that I had to decide to either rip them to fit just below the roof joist beams and then figure out what to do with the portion above that line or notch them out to give it a more finished professional look, help to hide all my carpentry mistakes and be done in one shot. After some deliberation, i realized I could totally do the notching I had avoided numerous times during this build. Now was the time to face my fears!

Part of my apprehension was the fact that I learned the hard way about how being off even a 1/16 of an inch can add up over a run and drastically change your measurements down the line if not corrected for immediately. Then I realized....it IS a lesson i LEARNED! I won't make the same mistakes because I am totally aware of the consequences now....So, armed with my new awareness I slowly took my time and used my new skills to measure out and create the notches.

I have to say too, I thoroughly enjoyed that part of the journey (armed as well with my new attitude). I had an opportunity before me to be a proficient notcher-outer! So, I measured three times and cut iteratively, allowing myself space to breath and correct for errors. And only slight mishaps (including breaking a few scroll saw blades and cracking some wood) that just add character to my story....I FUCKING DID IT! And my second super proud moment of the day ensued!

measuring  three times

ideally cutting once!

before installing notched board

after the notches....wow it looks so good!

just starting to get dark, but the last one is done!

To celebrate I spent some time cleaning everything up...my goal tomorrow is to have some fun painting the mandala on the canvas for the ceiling. No clue how exactly I'm going to do that....but that will just be another step I will thoroughly enjoy tomorrow!

looking aft

looking forward...to tomorrow! :-)