I've been collecting this pile of sticks for as long as we've been in the house -- three years. I've also been staring at this pile of sticks, from my kitchen window, for as long as we've been in the house. It's brush we've cut from shrubs around the yard, and piled up, always saying, "We'll put it in the truck and drive it to the dump... someday."

Well, the lesson I'm re-learning these days is, someday IS now. Today is the someday from a few years ago. And the "someday" of right now? It's probably a lot closer than I think. A year, two years, they go by so fast.

I had a lazy day today, but in the evening I felt antsy and needed to burn off some steam. I put on my rubber boots, went into the backyard and down to the pile of sticks. I brought the green bin. I cracked and broke the sticks and put them in the green bin, until it was full. Then I kept on breaking and cracking, and made another pile, one that could go in the green bin when it's empty again next Friday.

Lately I'm excited because Elise Cripe's Get To Work Book is in the mail on it's way to me. One of the phrases she's using in her promo is "You gotta do the work." And that's what I thought as I was breaking and cracking all these sticks. The backyard I want, with a pretty little patio and a fire pit and nice plants, well, it's not just going to appear. The brush pile isn't going to pick itself up and walk to the dump.

And, it's therapeutic! Aside from a few scratches from rose bush branches, I feel much better now.