Break on Through to the Other Side

TEAR DOWN THE WALL: The fun never stops here at MPA. This weekend's thrills included finally punching through the wall separating the kitchen and the living room/view.

We've wanted to do that since the day we moved in here about three years ago. Below is the monstrosity looking from the living room to the north.

And below is the ugliness from the other side. The hideous cabinets and oven have to go to, but one thing at a time. We removed the over-the-oven microwave and the upper cabinets will be torn out soon. 

The kids wanted to get in on some of the demo work. 

This isn't the first wall they've helped knock down, that's for sure. 

We only made a little portal for now. I was so fixated on opening the view to the south, that I wasn't really thinking that from the living room we'll now be able to see the kitchen. We're going to have to up our kitchen cleaning game, I'm thinking. 

HOT AND COLD: Meanwhile, in other home improvement fun, this weekend we poured a new concrete pad on the west side of the house. It will serve as a new platform for the new heat pump we hope to have installed within a couple of weeks.

That will be a game changer - no more oil furnace and air conditioning on demand. Hooray!

LOVE BUG: Daises are blooming all over our yard right now. There are hundreds of them. 

I cut some that had been knocked down by a rainstorm and stuck them in the cute little Volkswagen planter Renee bought for us. 

Perhaps not too surprisingly, it turned out there was a bee on one of the flowers.

Speaking of bees, we've had another swarm take off from the western hive. Crazy. That's three swarms this year already. It's actually a good sign regarding the bees' health. The colony is thriving to the point that they grow to a point of overpopulating the hive and take off! 

Sign of the Times

BATMAN FOREVER: This message is on the marquee of the historic Kiggins Theatre in the smallish town where I grew up. Its sentiment is powerful ... but I also wear the mask to protect perfect strangers. Everyone deserves that kind of consideration and respect. 

Speaking of masks, how do you like CJ's new look?

IT IS WRITTEN: Annabelle recently wrapped up a two-month class on Outschool. It was our first experience with this pay-for-classes platform. 

Following, she tells you more about it. 

My Creative Writing-character building and story development class on Outschool was an opportunity for me to learn from an actual published author (Jessika O'Sulliva) about what goes into good character arcs, character-driven stories, and how to brainstorm new ideas. The class lasted about 8 weeks, meeting once a week over Zoom in the mornings 

During the class, most of our homework was dedicated to brainstorming short scenes or arcs for our already established WIP characters and stories that we came into the class already writing. Jessika coached us through different ways you can develop a story, including everything from dramatic events that can kickstart your character’s journey to how to pitch your finished product to agents for publishing. I learned a lot about the writing process during this class, and I feel like I can use the information I’ve been given to really improve my stories and ideas in the future.

TAKING STOCK: Most all of our shelves are in, so we're starting to fill them in our new storage space off the kitchen. 

I do wish I had found flooring already. Because when I do, all of this is going to have to come back out. Sigh.