The last major house project of the year is finished. I wasn't sure if I wanted to embark upon the painting of the ceilings, walls and trim of the main part of the house after working on the deck all spring and summer, but with the two paint cans full of brilliant light blue (which I cut with another can and a half of white to lighten it even more, thanks, Krissy!) sitting right near the fireplace, and the kids back in school, along with a sudden burst of autumn-cleaning energy, I did the ceilings and walls last week. Kenny helped me do the trim over the weekend... it took us ten hours total, with both of us working on it. It was exhausting, but also fun, and we played a lot of old cds we hadn't listened to in quite a while (like Toad The Wet Sprocket and Dream Theater.)

The great thing about this color blue is that in most lighting it looks almost white, with just a hint of blue to it. It reminds me a lot of the color of the office I work at, which is where I got the idea and desire for this shade of blue for the walls. The shade of blue I have here is just a wee bit lighter than the office. Initially, I was going to go with a gray-tone white, but I'm so glad I went with the blue instead. It's a happy color. :)

With the walls painted, now I'm doing a full-blown fall cleaning, and making a lot of room changes while I'm at it. Each autumn (and spring), I get into this 'move stuff around' mode, along with a 'organize and clean stuff' mode, which is pretty normal for a lot of folks.

But then the mode, for me, ends up trickling into other areas of my life, like at the office... I so badly want to mop and shine up the kitchen and bathroom floors there, and do a Murphy's Oil Soap washing of the stairs, along with fixing some white paint along the backboards of the staircase. Some would call this frame of mind OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), but after years of describing myself as being somebody who has OCD, and after having a very happy dream last night of washing the staircase at work, I don't think it's OCD at all... I think I'm just nuts. Really. Not nuts in a bad way, just nuts in a 'somebody who really enjoys the look, feel and smell of cleaning stuff both during and after the process.' That's exactly how I think and feel about cleaning and organizing stuff, and I guess that is sorta odd, based on my close friends telling me over the years that my love (literally) of cleaning/organizing borders on crazy... each close friend has gotten a free housecleaning outta the deal, though, so it's not like anybody was calling me crazy in a mean way, just a matter-of-factly 'you are insane when it comes to cleaning, but if you ever want to go crazy on my living space and clean and organize it, knock yourself out!'

And I have, which I guess is weird, but it doesn't seem too weird, just different, I guess. And it's the kinda weird which doesn't have a negative impact on my life or anybody else's life, so it's all good, as Martha (one of my favorite tv chicks) would say.

My last few blog posts have been about the Muslim crusade I've been on, to alert them to some groups they could join... I was focussed on that for a few weeks, but now, having done what I could to spread the word, I've let it go... allowing my mind to get back to a world view that involves only the people around me, those in my life and things in my life, responsibilities in my life and decisions in my life. Once in a while, my mind kicks into this gear where I want to take on a global conflict and try to figure out a way to solve it... or at least try to put in some input that will get those involved in the conflict on the right path to resolution with it. Something outside of 'my' own life, but yet something that does or could directly impact 'my' life.

I don't know why my mind does this for sure, but I am pretty sure an accurate guess would be that it's a combination of a few things... sometimes, it's because I am trying not to think about something else in my own life. Sometimes it's a few 'something elses.' I also have a sincere desire to not see the world in constant upheaval and chaos, on a global scale. I feel a strong connection to people on this planet, even though I'm Agnostic, I just have always had this sense that somehow we all are very connected to each other, as oddballish as that probably sounds, for somebody like me who isn't considered spiritual by conventional definitions. I don't think it's through a God that we are all connected, but I haven't ruled that out as a possibility. And lastly, but not leastly, I get outraged when I think any group or individual is being inaccurately portrayed by the media and/or the government. When I'm outraged, I take action, and most times my actions are in text. I not only blogged about the Muslims, I spoke with quite a few of them from all over this planet using instant messengers. What I learned is that the vast majority of Muslims are not represented by the extremist groups, but the USA media tends to group the extremists as the spokespeople for the entire Muslim sector... which is horribly wrong to do, but it continues to be done. It would be like all Christians and Catholics being represented in the media by a group of extremists that condone blowing up abortion clinics... the majority of Christians and Catholics do not approve of that method of spreading a pro-life message, but it is exactly the same type of portrayal being pushed upon the Muslims when they are constantly being reported upon using the extremist groups as representation.

The way the media should be reporting on Muslim extremist groups is by calling them, naming them, for what they are... extremists. To use the word Muslim without adding the word 'extremist' is basically to group all Muslims in with the extremists, when the views are VERY different, the actions VERY different, between a Muslim and an extremist.

Hopefully, in time, this type of unfair reporting will stop. But the Muslims will have to speak out in greater numbers, for themselves.

So, having let that all go, my mind and energy are now focussed upon getting back to some other writing I've put aside for quite a while. And autumn cleaning. And warm days and cool nights... and just thinking about some of the great things coming up the next few months. A trip to New York to hang out with Urgo at the park in a few weeks, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas... this time of year is my favorite. Fires in the fireplace, hot apple cider, leaves changing color, snow falling in December, quiet and slow-paced days. Family gatherings. Playing board games at the kitchen table.

I'm about to start my day... 3 cups of coffee in me and the sun shining in through the sliding glass doors on my cheek. A fresh blog post complete. A perfect way to start my morning. :)