Simplifying Life - Mark II

mary43

When I first started to de-clutter last year I did my computer room first -only me uses it and it was fast obvious that its mostly me who creates the mess !
I did a corner at a time -that way I didn't create so much mess and by the time I'd done it looked to nice I was keen to get on to the next corner. I must be a really messy person to be in almost the same position this year !
Last week my other desk was neat and tidy after I'd put my books on the wall. This week its cluttered with endless photos:eek: But I'm winning :T
Not so many bundles left now - was going to give a rest today but thought I'd do just one -album to put all the garden photos in. Did that and then found an album just right for all the photos of the young people we've fostered over the years. So now I've got
Youngest son; teenage grandchildren; garden 1995-2006; some old black and white ones now all in one album' two albums of 'general' stuff (just need to put the dates on them. Had some nice stick on letters I used for the garden one, my son, and grandchildren. I'm going to cover the fostering one with some nice paper as it looks a bit boring and plain.
To do: Holidays, pets, and some more 'general' ones.
And looking at my albums I don't think I'm going need all of them..........more space on my shelf for something else :j

OH thought he was feeling better last night but today he feels full of it again..........think its one of those colds that lingers on and on. Must have shares in Beechams by now !

ceridwen

mary43 wrote: »

And looking at my albums I don't think I'm going need all of them..........more space on my shelf for something else :j

I saw that comment Mary :whistle:

mary43

ceridwen - oh dear :think: Well if there's a space to be filled and I just might happen to have something to fill it........................:rotfl:
I just might mean that the two shoe boxes of stuff(much needed must add) can move from the top of my cupboard on to the shelf above then the three little boxes my friend bought me that I keep bits of small card making stuff can go on top of the cupboard............leaving a space on top the filing cabinet.............oh dear............another space Ah Ha !!! My sewing box can stand on there.............its on the blanket box at the minute and I have to move it when I want something from the blanket box ! Problem solved (I think )

ceridwen

Well - yesterday was "6 of one, half a dozen of the other". I'm still literally picking up free contributions to my "larder" - 'twas a green pepper yesterday (which will be going into a casserole tonight) on the one hand - well, 'twill save me a few pennies towards an estimated £5 to buy a piece of land on the other hand. Yay - I'm gonna be a landowner (errrr....probably literally a few inches worth - wont go far towards a smallholding......;) ) - ie part of a field near Heathrow (ie on some land at Sipson Village - where it is proposed to build a 3rd runway for Heathrow).

Some celebrities clubbed together and bought a field right where the airport expansion is due to be - and now we can all join in and buy it off them - so it has as many owners as possible.

Er....think I might just have "complicated" my life a bit by visions of getting served a compulsory purchase order at some future date - 'twill be worth it for the greatest "enjoyment" possible derived from spending a fiver:D It'lll give me a LOT more satisfaction than a bottle of wine I might otherwise have bought.

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/climate/join-plot-stop-airport-expansion-20090112

A blogger friend of mine has posted a comment on my chez ceridwen blog post I made on this (see my homepage) - and is obviously enjoying herself as well - shes now a member of this Forum (so hiya Sue).

I'm in there already suggesting what good O.S. use the land could be put to - ie dividing it up into raised beds 4' square (a la Square Foot Gardening) and growing some food there for the hungry.

mary43

ceridwen - well done you getting a piece of land for that price and for that cause............brilliant ! Will you be able to actually use it or is a 'principle' type purchase ? I have visions of all sorts of people doing all sorts of different things and overlapping each other. (Having said that haven't read the link yet and that may reveal all )

Now, back to my photos - well two more done today but, sad to say I don't think I'm going to create any extra space Don't know quite how thats worked out - I've got rid of more old albums than I've replaced with new
Just Holidays, garden and another 'general' to do..........thats 3 and I've only got two 'nice' albums left ----Ooops..........sorry.........just noticed two more................lol

Today might have gone a bit better and me get a bit further had our lad decided firmly that no way was he going to get out of bed and go to school !
Mad ? You bet I was:eek:

Had phone call from Mums friend who'd been to see her and said how well she looked, was chatty and made sense of what she was saying - yet at the weekend she was 'down' again............think we're going to have this for a while yet...........up and down like a yo yo to keep me and big bruv on our toes..............lol

ceridwen

Hi Mary

Waiting to see the details of my "land ownership" - whether they want any money from me/how much exactly/etc...so time will tell. Read summat subsequently about only 4 people allowed to have their names on the deeds on the one hand versus a lot of people could have "beneficial ownership"on the other hand... So I wait to see how much money exactly/when/etc this is required. Right now - I'm deriving a lot of "pleasure" from throwing my little "spanner in the works". Quite frankly - one of the things about The Great Depression Mark 2 (which IS what this is - blow talk about this being yet another Recession - it IS much deeper than that) is that there will be a lot less air flights booked to anywhere, by anybody - so I am doing my teensy tiny bit to ensure that resources dont get wasted for the future many people thought we would have - as opposed to the future we actually WILL have. What on earth is the point of building another runway - when people arent going to be flying as much as now? As you know - I do hate to see available resources wasted. I often wonder whether I'm really a frustrated "businessperson" - but with a set of moral values that would dictate I sometimes acted differently to what pure business logic would dictate.....:cool:. I do believe that we are not the owners of Planet Earth - but the custodians. In Christian terminology - we are the stewards of this Planet we find ourselves on - and it behoves us to care for it responsibly.

On a different tack - I know what you mean about parents' health being up and down like yoyos. As the daughter of them - you sometimes dont know whether you are coming or going. But ...what can you do? I've just made it plain to my parents that they are free to do whatever they themselves decide about life in any shape or form - and then interject what bits of "practical" help one can at intervals. What more can any of us do ultimately?

mary43

ceridwen - couldn't agree more - I was so thrilled when I heard that land had been bought where the new runway was planned...........makes me laugh in a way. I don't go abroad - been a few times in the past but prefer the ferry to flying. The idea of flying into London amid fog and spotting the post office tower out of the window quite put me off. Plus there is so much of this country I've not yet seen, and a beautiful country it is. I'd rather put my money in the pockets of people here than across the sea. Just my little opinion.
And you are so right about our planet - its merely ours on a sort of ''loan'' basis - bit like kids...............they're never really yours to keep........it's up to us to maintain it just as we would the four walls we live in.

You'll be pleased to know there's definitely no space where my photo albums are.................all done now except the 'holiday' one. I've thinned out a lot of blurred ones (why do I keep them??) thought I'd end up with less albums but I haven't - I've just changed the old ones for nicer ones.
And there was me -my mind running riot and mentally re-arranging shoe boxes of 'stuff'.............in fact there is one that can disappear - the bits and bobs in it fit easily into another............sadly it doesn't give me a space to fill:mad: I'll keep trying..................:rotfl:

ceridwen

Hi Mary

Someone said to me once - years ago - that he took it that it was the right thing for him to do to care for the "bit on his doorstep" and, by implication, that if we just cared for "our patch" - then it would all come right.

Actually - I think theres a lot in that thought - and I did take it quite literally - as in regarding the area within a certain distance of "my doorstep" as being my responsibility - so I take care of it and try to keep it clear of rubbish, etc. If people just took the attitude of "I'll just keep an eye on the land in my 'territory' - ie within say 100 metres" then it would help a lot. But - having said that - there is also the bigger picture and future generations to bear in mind. What was that phrase about not inheriting the land from our ancestors - but caring for it for our descendants. It was summat along those lines anyway - that was the general gist of it. "Borrowing" it from our descendants - or whatever the phrase was. Agree with that.

It annoys me when I see a bit of land treated as just some sort of "space" measuring so much x so much....instead of appreciating that it is a bit of Nature and worthy of respect in its own right and with other species living on that bit of land - and with rights. We arent the only species on this Planet - and it does frustrate me when people act as if we are and try treating the land the other species are living on it as just something that is there for our convenience:mad:

mary43

ceridwen - if everyone took care of their little bit in their community then the world would be a much better place in many ways.
I remember well the days of doorsteps being scrubbed regularly and there being a general feeling of 'care' for where you lived whether it was a small rented cottage or a privately bought house. Sadly, as I notice with the endless fly tipping and general discarding of cans and paper and anything thats no longer wanted, this seems not to be the case.
I wonder........will the younger generation be bothered to have some 'community spirit' or have they grown up in such a disposable society that it won't seem to matter ?
In our little town our street and the adjascent on has formed a group to try and make our part of the town just that better place to live in. It works very well -we have street sales of goods outside the houses once every two months and I have met people who are 'neighbours' but I've never met them before, due to their work of which end of the street they live in. As a result people seem to be taking more of an interest in where they live - a small step but it can make a lot of difference:o

*moggins*

Thanks for this thread Ceridwen (I love the name, mainly because it's my youngest daughters name )

Life has definitely got over complicated for me over the last two years. This is the year when I make changes (getting rid of materialistic OH might have to be the first one)