as a holy woman would

"Pick one thing a day, and do it as a Holy Woman would..." she had suggested.

For some reason, this day I chose to scrape off the wall paper border in my totally dated honey oak and americana-decorated kitchen.

"In can be a regular ordinary day thing, just do it with proper Spirit and appreciation..."

Scrape. Scrape. Scrape.

Curse that inventor of wallpapers. Curse this for being the style oh-so-long-ago. Curse me for thinking we'd only be in this house five years when we moved in and put up the gul-durn wallpaper border 8.5 years ago.

"Everything we do can be done better, with more peace, with deeper intent, from doing our daughters' hair to driving the carpool to cleaning the grout on our tiled floors."

So here I stand, sweating, precariously balanced on my kitchen chair, towel in my left hand and scraper in my right, and the challenge of Being a More Holy Woman pops into my head. It has been an unseasonably warm couple of days--normally in the 60s but today easily 75, and here I am wearing a long-sleeved sweater and jeans--when I finally stop putting off my intention of scraping off that blasted set of Americana stars and hearts and put the late 90's to rest. Google searches don't offer too many options that don't include a lot of elbow grease. And thus, I spray and scrub, scrape and sweep, cleaning up as I go.

Up and down off my chair as I get warm (because I am simultaneously baking 6 loaves of cranberry bread for Christmas treats for my neighbors--6 of the 14 I am making this season I might add...why do I do these things to myself?) thinking that I needed to get this kitchen remodel going if it is going to happen before Nursing School starts in... ohmygosh...less than 5 weeks.

Scrape scrape scrape.

Ok, as a Holy woman would scrape.

I'm blessed to have a house in which to scrape wallpaper borders tediously off my walls. So many in these past few years of economic woes have lost homes, foreclosed, had to move, etc, and I remind myself that we are blessed to own a home with less than 16 years left on the mortgage.

Scrub scrub scrub.

I'm happy that I'm physically well enough to be able to get up and down this chair, laboriously scraping and washing and scrubbing.

I'm grateful that I have saved a teeny tiny budget in which to redo this kitchen, most of which won't be hard, just labor intensive. I'm grateful that I have been blessed with surplus when others are struggling just to pay bills.

Well crud, now I feel bad for not using my teeny tiny kitchen budget on the less fortunate.

How about I invite the less fortunate over for a meal once I get my kitchen redone?

Scrape scrape scrape.

Seriously, who's grand idea was the wallpaper adhesive? Cuz he may deserve some sort of prize for his effective product. That stuff sticks. Good. Well.

I'm really grateful that I only have 2 walls of this stuff in my kitchen, and that it's just a border and not an entire wall-worth.

Wait, back to the Holy Woman and doing this with proper intent.

I'm thankful for the energy to get my entire to-do list done today. I feel like a very accomplished lady at present. Covered in wallpaper debris and flour and all.

Just sent a picture to my hubby--he loves the change. My hard work will be worth it. And I'm pretty sure I'm burning calories scrubbing and scraping away, so I will allow myself a pat on the back for that.

And a chocolate chip cookie.

And I'll eat it like a Holy Woman would. :)