Lumber and stuff

[vaneramos]

I have the whole shop to myself for the week. Denis, who Les hired to help with the Vancouver project, injured a finger and will be off work for a couple of weeks. Les himself is in Mexico.

He left plenty for me to do. A couple thousand board feet of poplar arrived on Friday, and I am cutting about 90 boards of various dimensions for the frame of the organ case. I started by cutting them roughly to length. Now I'm cutting them to width and thickness using the jointer, table saw and thickness planer. My inexperience proved a liability in manouevring the few longest boards over the jointer; hopefully Denis can come in for a few hours tomorrow to hold the ends steady while I give it another try.

The vast majority I can manage alone. Individually they are not heavy, but collectively I can't imagine how many tonnes of poplar I have lifted this week. With all tools, but especially the jointer and table saw, I must maintain constant vigilance about my fingers. In the middle of using the table saw just now I had to take a break to ease the burning between my shoulder blades.

Last night on the way home I felt keen to start a new project: compiling a list of tasty recipes toward the goal of planning and preparing healthy meals. I had to catch myself; that's the goal for September. It's interesting how the 6 Changes Method instills discipline. There's no reason why I couldn't make that recipe list now, except that it's obviously a distraction from the less-pleasant financial objective currently at hand.

I like having a road map for the year. I like looking forward to things. I like the way deferring some objectives encourages me to think about them and plan, rather than always acting on impulse, using B to distract myself from A, and C to distract myself from B.

Tonight I will try to apply that same creative, list-making impulse to the current goal. hangnaildhole suggested some cost-free treats to substitute whenever I feel compelled to spend money. That's a good idea, and I can think of some things he didn't. Some are activities I enjoy but never do. The path to better financial responsibility will be fraught with emotional landmines. I'm going to list fun tools to disarm them.

Comments

[eniastoa.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I understand about discipline, but I find almost everyone finds it easier to really follow through if they interleave bits of things to look forward to, even if they know full well they are distractions, as respite from dealing. In moderation, of course, and it helps if what you're looking forward to itself makes sense ...

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I agree, but there are distractions and then there are distractions. Part of the reason I adopted the 6 Changes Method is because I was trying to change too many things at once last fall. I ended up hardly following through on any of them, and burned out.

This little recipe list will probably turn into a fun but time-consuming cookbook. I think I'd do best to wait and look forward to creating it at the designated time, and use the incentive to help me complete the preceding assignments.

Don't worry, I have other fun activities to offer respite.

Fingers

[(Anonymous)]

After all that heavy lifting, how are you even able to manipulate your fingers on the keyboard?!
Try to keep all 10, my Friend.
Hugs,
Sarah J.

Re: Fingers

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I don't know, it's no problem, but my legs certainly hurt when I get up from the chair!

I appreciate your concern. I will be careful.

[ubermunkey.livejournal.com]

good on you Van
Cheers.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Bud.

[pippasporch.livejournal.com]

Leo Babauta, I know, is very strong on building anticipation before starting a new habit - deliberately NOT doing it for a while before starting. I can see how the recipe goal can be both an incentive and a reward for staying the course right now in first focusing on your budget. Besides, getting the budget right is going to help you in achieving the goal of preparing healthy, varied and exciting meals.
(I was just thinking today about cravings as distractions - we have the ability to play marvellously intricate games with ourselves unless we stay aware. But awareness of what we're doing, and changing that pattern, wow, how empowering that is! You're weaving new patterns, Van, and that is amazing.)
Hope you get to rest those muscles this weekend!

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

You've been reading Leo, too! (Who knows? I might have learned about him from you.) It's quite an education. Have you read The Power of Less?

[pippasporch.livejournal.com]

Oh, you have a copy of The Power of Less? Must be an awesome read! Less is definitely what I strive for in my life. I'm limited to what I can read on Leo's sites, which fortunately adds up to a LOT of inspiration.