Terassi Siperian lehtikuusesta

Terassilautakuorma saapui juuri sopivasti ennen juhannusaattoa. Se olikin kaksi ja puoli viikkoa myöhässä toimitusvaikeuksien takia. Pohja terassille oli valmiina, joten rakentaminen alkoikin heti. Itse en ole päässyt (tai joutunut) siihen osallistumaan, koska laudat on laitettava yksi kerrallaan paikoilleen. Sen sijaan olen kyllä päässyt tapetoimaan ja tekemään teippauksia.

Juhannusaattona ystäväperhe tuli kylään, ja mies sai terassin valmiiksi ruokailukatoksen alapuolelta. Ehdittiin juuri nostaa kalusteet katoksen alle (tai ainakin melkein).

Terassilaudat ovat Siperian lehtikuusta. Pinta on mukavan tasainen ja näyttää hyvältä. Parin vuoden sisällä puun pinta harmaantuu.

Sunnuntaina oli jo vähän lisää terassipintaa tehtynä, ja vähitellen alkaa hahmottua miltä tämä tulee näyttämään.

Kyllä tähän työtunteja kuluu, mutta katse on lopputuloksessa.

Seize the Day

Repost from 24.8.2015 (Sky is the limit)

"The limit is not in the sky. The limit is in the mind."

-Unknown

It’s really hard to change the way we are thinking. We all have our own limits. Many times we limit ourselves more than we should. That results in "playing it safe." Not taking unnecessary risks and only doing things we are comfortable with. Sometimes also spending all your time with people you know well and avoiding to get to know new people. It's easy and nice. You could also call it boring. 

In reality there are many possibilities in life to learn new things and jump outside the comfort zone. Making your dreams come true usually needs some bold steps to be taken. And nobody else can take them instead of you.

Can we really achieve things we dream about? People dream about extraordinary lives and many times end up living ordinary lives. Maybe it's the lack of confidence and fear of taking risks, that stops us from going after our passion. Life should be an adventure, right? 

Sometimes I wish there were more people who would say: "Go after your heart" than those try to make you understand how impossible your ideas are. The voice of doubt is always there. It seems like we are usually encouraged to "play it safe." Every now and then I have to tell myself: "I think it's possible". Every dream come through starts somewhere. Without taking risks you will never find out. If you have a new idea or something you want to achieve, it's always worth trying.

"We can not become what we want to be by remaining what we are"

-Max De Pree

I believe, that you can do more than you think. It's true, that every person has special gifts and can do some things better than others. Still also practicing  is needed. Nobody becomes a skilled musician without practice. Also writing needs practice. How much do you want to learn something new?

When we started renovating our old house together with my husband we had no idea what we were getting into. There were lots of new things to learn and sometimes you learn only by making mistakes. That way of learning takes a lot of time. Always the result is not as good as it could be, which may lead into doing the same thing one more time. While learning wallpapering the walls did not look as they should. Some years later it bothered so much, that we did the walls one more time. Another thing was grinding the walls. Learning to do that took time and patience. The machines are not that hard to use. But getting a smooth wall is challenging. And if you don't take the time needed, the wall will look very bad when it has paint or wallpaper on it.

What do you want to do?

This is my own list for taking steps outside the comfort zone

1. Learn new things
Life is about learning. Be curious and practice new skills. The lifelong practice of learning is what makes us humans and our lives worthwhile.

2. Be ready to make mistakes
Turning thoughts into deeds requires confidence.I guess nobody really wants to make mistakes. Still it's impossible to avoid them if you want to do something new. There is a saying that "Mistakes are the steppingstones to learning."

3. Seize the opportunity
Keep your eyes open. When the opportunity comes, be ready!

Planning is everything

Repost from 21.5.2018 (Well planned is half done)

Plans are nothing; planning is everything. -Dwight D. Eisenhower

There is a difference between having a plan and doing real planning.

Last year when I planted my vegetable garden, I had a plan. My plan was to buy vegetable seeds, and I knew more or less what to buy.

The carrot seeds (and some other seeds too) were so small, that I accidentally planted too many of them. When the carrots (and the other vegetables) started growing I had no idea whether they were weeds or not. This happened because there were not growing in obvious lines. The other challenge was, that they were growing too close to each other and didn't get enough space.

At that point some of the plants should have been removed and the ones remaining could have received more space. Survival of the fittest.

Although I forgot the planning, my vegetable garden was quite alright last year. It could have been better though.

The challenges were:

• I didn't remember what was growing there
• The plants were not growing in clear lines, which made it hard to find the weeds
• Some plants were removed with the weeds
• The carrots became very small
• I forgot to collect some of the vegetables
• I found some surprise vegetables

The strengths were:

• Peas, potatoes and salad was growing well
• We did eat most of the vegetables (that were identified)

This year I did some things differently.

Before planting there was planning. I sketched the whole area on paper. Planned the rows, what would be growing where and made paths in places, that would make it easier to pull weeds.

Planting sticks worked as a reminder of what what planted.

This year I know at least what is growing in my vegetable garden.

Rakentamista ja palautumista

Projekti etenee vähitellen. Terassin rakentaminen on meneillään ja puutarhatöitäkin olisi. Sunnuntaina ehdin tehdä maalaushommia ja kitkemään kukkapenkkiä.

Kun kotona tuntuu rakennushommia riittävän loputtomiin, pitää välillä lähteä vaikka pienelle retkelle.

Terassin pohjalaudoitusta


Onneksi kivoja retkikohteita löytyy ihan lähiseudultakin. Lähdin lasten kanssa käymään Pienellä kotieläintilalla Tuuusulassa, vain 12 minuutin ajomatkan päästä kotoa.

Ohjatulla eläinkierroksella pääsi silittämään eläimiä niiden aitauksiin.

Parasta vierailussa olikin, että eläimiin pääsee tutustumaan lähietäisyydeltä.

 

Kanoja kävimme katsomassa useampaan kertaan.

Kotiin tullessa jaksoi taas jatkaa pihatöiden parissa. Ja lapsille on hyvä keksiä mukavaa tekemistä, kun nyt kesälläkin ollaan paljon kotona.

Instagramista löytyy muutamia lisäkuvia.

Leading your own life

Repost from 22.10.2018 (Leading Yourself)

Every moment of every day we are each called to be the leader of our own lives. We have the power to make our own choices.

What does it mean to be leading your own life?

Simply it could be taking care of yourself. Making good choices and getting things organized.
Someone has said, that before you can lead others, you must be able to lead yourself.

I think the important question is, how is it even possible to be organized without getting stressed out? When you have a lot of things to do, it seems almost impossible to be well organized and unstressed. The key to this has to be in prioritizing things. It takes a lot of self-discipline.

It's easy to make lists of what you should do and how to take control of your life. In reality it's much more complicated. I don't want my life to feel like a day in the army. Now you do this and now you do that, and in the end of the day you feel exhausted. On the other hand I don't want to be struggling with an endless to-do list, without getting anything done and dreams waiting for their accomplishment until forever.

Well planned is half done. With good planning it's possible to get more time for the things you would like to do. Those things are making you feel relaxed. I enjoy singing, playing guitar and drawing. Still these are something, that I don't have much time to do.

Here are some important points to think about:

Limit time wasting activities

Can you stay away from your phone, when you don't need it? Social media takes easily a lot of time without even noticing it.

Work - life balance

Finding rest, not burning yourself out. Getting the exercise you need and eating well. This has also to do with knowing your own limits. It's good to sometimes push yourself beyond your limits and reach out for your dreams. And sometimes realize, that we are only human. Every moment can not be effective.

Leadership is action
Make good choices. Every action is a reflection of the character. Today's actions are tomorrow's results.

Everything can't be done in one day
You have to take one step at a time.

Life is like walking you take one step at a time. -Taylor Swift

 

Summer is here

Now it's June. Summer is here. 

A bit different than expected. Still very summery and very green. If there would be no Covid-19, our family would right now be possibly in France, driving a convertible red car towards Finland. Sounds nice, right?

Now we are instead at home, building a terrace, digging in the garden. planting flowers and the kids are swimming in the swimming pool. Well, the terrace we had in our plans before. I don't remember if we had planned to buy a pool.

Things get a completely different perspective when something unexpected happens.

Here is an old post from last year.

--

Repost from 11.11.2019 (Happiness is a strange word)

Everyone else (or at least a few friends) seem to be on on the beach in Spain enjoying the sun. While you are carrying groceries in November rain after an endless day at work. How is someone on holiday again? While you are not?

I guess we all care about wrong things sometimes. Worry about something we can't change, and avoid doing things we should do. Why can it be so hard to concentrate on the important things? Why isn't it possible to be happy all the time? What is a good life?

These are a few questions I was thinking about while reading Mark Manson's book "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck."

Reading the book really made me think about many things. Nothing really new, still things you don't think about every day.

We shouldn't care about wrong things.
A good life is more than watching what someone else is doing and dreaming about success.

Real life is not on Instagram. Real life is something, that challenges you. It's not only highlights.

While doing the right decisions, you don't always feel good. We bought an old house over ten years ago and started renovating it. There was a lot of work to do and we were running out of money many times. Still we carried on renovating, doing the things that we could. It's much easier to pay someone else to do the work instead of doing it yourself. Still it's much more rewarding to do it yourself and see the result.

Results come from hard work.

Also it's not possible to always feel good.

Why should we even try, when it's not possible?

Happiness is letting go of what you think your life is supposed to look like and celebrating it for everything that it is. - Mandy Hale