Simplifying Life - Mark II

mardatha

Was jsut thinking about life ... I do sometimes ! LOL
Ok so you start off with a lovely fire, then you add an oven at the side of it and a hook above it, and maybe a couple of pot rests either side of it. You stoke it twice a day with wood or coal , it cooks, it heats, it gives gentle light to the room, it never goes out unless you put it out.
Fast fwd a few generations and you have no fire, but an elect cooker in the kitchen that costs a fortune to run. You have no fireplace to sit at, just gas heating. If the elect fails then you cant cook or get warm, because the gas needs elect to work. If the gas fails then you can cook but you cant get warm... And whatever fails you're left in total darkness until you find a candle... all totally outwith your control.
My goodness isnt progress wonderful ?

mary43

marthada - know what you mean - if we had all of that I wouldn't be bothered about a silly radiator not working.

Well, todays little thing to prevent me from simplifying my life:

Went to have a bath ...............no cold water.......sink was ok but not bath tap ! Just nothing at all. Wasn't going to scald myself so it was an old fashioned 'all over' wash like we used to have.

So now we need an electrician to sort out the phone box and a plumber for the bath tap !! No chance of any of that before tomorrow and to be honest I can't be bothered with the hassle so it'll wait till Monday when we get back.
Boxes all ready to be loaded........just need to pack small case and we'll be sorted (I think/hope).
Going to check insurance cover to see if I'm covered for tap problem...........doubt it but you never know.........................lol

Aril

Hello virtual friends:j
Yep back again!! Hope all are well. Still reading regulary but as a lurker rather than as a contributor:o
Is it me or in the run up to Christmas I always get the urge to declutter. I'm currently sorting through/freecycling the small person's clothes that he's outgrown. I think perhaps it's to do with moving everything around before putting up the tree. It makes me look at everything through fresh eyes. The small person is looking forward to Christmas...particularly decorating the tree here and at his Grandparents this coming week. Bless him all he's asked for is a Beano and Dennis the Menace annual and even then he just hinted really rather than asked outright. He's having a bike from my parents this year which he's been out to choose. As a family we've all agreed to not spend a lot so he chose one from a chap that does up second hand bikes and then gives the proceeds to charity or ships them out to Uganda. The small person was so over the moon because his "new" bike is a mountain bike with 21 gears. I don't think he's entirely sure what he's going to do with all these gears but evidently it's an "exciting" thing to have if you're a 10 year old boy. I don't have this problem with my 26 year old boneshaker which has the huge choice of 3 gears:D
Following several recommendations from this board I have just finished reading Nella Last's War. It more than lived up to expectation and I thoroughly enjoyed every entry. I rather liked the following extract in which she compares the different generations view of life going on around them. I think in this time of Credit Crunch I for one am really having to look more closely at my everyday life in detail to unearth the blessings and not take everything for granted. I hope you like it:
Saturday 27th January 1940
"Of course living today is in every way more exciting and thrilling but where today it's as if people snatch a piece of rich Christmas cake and eat it, with creamed coffee, on top of a good dinner, we took our cake and ate it slowly, savouring each mouthful and finding time to think how wonderful it was that the ingredients came from so may different far off places...."
Arilx

mardatha

I first read Nella Last about 30 years ago, when I was working nights on 12 hour shifts, & had 3 kids aged 10, 8, and 1. I was always knackered but I remember thinking of those wartime mums who had to queue for HOURS to get food, had longer hours than me, and no gas or coal, and it gave me the ooomph to keep going . I know she's out there somewhere smiling at us all reading and enjoying her words !

mary43

Aril - such beautiful words as usual.

Well, anyone want my little list of 'unsimplified life' ????

Go off to Mums.............OH starts to put together her bird feeder - lens falls out of his specs ! Much annoyance as he tried to see to replace it. Lens back in, bird feeder up by which time Mum is fast asleep !
Off we go to see son and family..........arrive safely till OH gets out of car, trips and twists his knee in a nasty fashion..........lens falls out of specs again ! OH managed to hobble to opticians in town and get lens replaced.
Baby grandson is now running amok and OH is spending his time saying 'Ouch, my knee'..............Saturday evening - lens falls out of specs again. Son manages to fix it with piece of fuse wire (Jack Duckworth style specs by now!) OH is now wearing tubi grip bandage on knee in effort to ease it and give support. Teenage grandchildren arrive........loads of fun and laughin -OH almost forgets his painful knee and dodgy specs............Sunday morning - lens falls out yet again and is held in with yet more wire...........begin to think its time we came home hoping OH's knee will allow him to drive. Stop for petrol..............lens falls out of specs on opposite side this time........OH is getting frustrated and aggitated by now. Can't fix specs so has to drive home without them - luckily good straight road and car almost knows its own way back. Relief to be home and in our own bed.
Monday - OH decided new specs can wait until after christmas -saves him driving 40 mile round trip to specsavers or going to local opticians and waiting two weeks for them to be done. Leg seems easier and swelling gone down.
OH goes into town -walk will do him good he says. I attempt to put up decorations - tree up, bits of greenery here and there -can't find holders for christmas cards so have major flap to myself ! OH returns...........goes upstairs and notices bathroom radiator not working.............looks in back bedroom and wall is as damp as before the builder 'fixed' it and radiator not working in there either. OH not a happy chappy by now and frantically searched yellow pages for plumber - I calmly find plumber in my little phone book (smile smugly to self and ring plumber who is coming in the morning)
Phone builder - hes returning in the afternoon to inspect bedroom wall yet again. Now need electrician to fix phone socket in the kitchen.
Tried to ring ex foster lad all morning to help me with decorations and wield Henry the hoover about - he rings at 5pm !! Just got up !! Promises to call tomorrow.
So...............looks like tomorrow it'll all be happening.........hopefully not at once...........can't cope with instructing plumber and builder and ex foster lad at the same time as to what wants doing let along negotiating price with plumber (wouldn't you just know the cover on boiler has just run out !!)
So, there you have it....................my last four days - feels like a fortnight - is it only me and at christmas that these things happen ? If so...........why is that ? Should I be now wishing for 2009 to come pretty darn quick and will all these hiccups vanish at midnight new years eve ? I think not...............it's just 'life'................(watch this space.................)

ceridwen

Well - latest noticeable bit of simplifying is I have collated my gardening notes and "stored" them online. Being a techno-illiterate as I am - I put them in blog form and I have left this "blog" open so that anyone else can read it and make helpful comments.

So - now I can get a better idea of what I'm doing/hoping to do.

Anyways - for anyone wanting a looksee:

http://mygardeningnotes.blogspot.com/

mary43

ceridwen - thanks. That'll be useful. I've been very good this year and kept my gardening journal well up to date, including bits about what the weather was like. Helps to compare with next years garden progress.

Plumber has been so radiators now work.plus cold water tap in the bath.............have now located christmas card holders..........but can't find the christmas cellophane :eek: OH is getting me some more and you can bet your life the other will turn up.

Oh, such is life pre-christmas................:rotfl:

ceridwen

Been browsing on the ZenHabits blog again - and a little thing coming up that we might like here on this thread:

http://thepowerofless.com

which will be on this site soon - (direct link didnt work unfortunately - not from techno-illiterate me anyways:o ) - the link to this is further down on this "page"

as in a free e-book that looks like it could be much in tune with our thinking - coming up in a couple of weeks time - so worth keeping an eye out for....

Whilst I'm here...

I just want to wish everyone visiting this thread a Happy Christmas/Happy Yule/etc and hope you all have the opportunity to "go back to base" for a re-charge so to say before the year ahead.

We have all had one heck of a rollercoaster of a year in this society - and across the world and are now moving through uncharted territory.

So - take a few days to "recharge your batteries" and I wish you all the best for the time to come.

Right now - I am reminded of Aesop's Fables (have I got the right name?). I am remembering the one about Pandora's Box - and at the end what came out of the box was Hope. We have a "road" ahead of us in the next year that will not be easy - but we have hope and we have each other. This we must remember.

I wish you all All Best Wishes for the Future.

love

ceridwen
x

ceridwen

And two links for you - a song that Saoirse has put on his justfortheloveofit website (i.e. the guy who is planning to live for a year on no money) and I cant figure the technology to send you all an e-card for Christmas - so click on the link below and mine is the protesting snowman (well - being me - what else would it be)?

http://www.foe.co.uk/cards/index.html


http://www.seizetheday.org/music.cfm?albumId=4&trackID=57

Greenshieldstamp_2

Hello there, back again.

Sorry I have been lurking rather than posting recently, but I am still here.

Ceridwen - What a really lovely post you have written about the roller-coaster year. You are very good at summing things up. You have given us all so much by starting this thread and I have enjoyed being a small part of it. I am enjoying your blogs too. May your square foot gardens flourish!

I wonder where our Simplifying journey will take us next year?

Mary43 - I hope your visit to your mum went well and I wanted to wish you and your family all the best for 2009.

Aril - Thanks for the quotes. I have really appreciated them.

In my clumsy way, (I have never been very good at getting the right words) I just wanted to wish everyone who contributes to Simplifying Life and MSE Old Style health and happiness for the year ahead.

Take care of yourselves and thank you
I'll catch up again soon.
Greenshield