Simplifying Life - Mark II

pagangirl

Mary - sounds like you're doing well - hope you'r eyes get better soon. Chest infection now gone (keeps fingers crossed) and going into work tomorrow. Have sorted 1 kitchen drawer out today, suprised myself by how little I actually need - why do I collect all this stuff???? Gone out - 1 bag recycling, 1 bag rubbish, 2 bags charity shop, only things back in - loaf, milk and veg.

Firework - I always take note of what Ceridwen says - she's so on the ball - even BEFORE things happen !

mary43

pagangirl - glad you're ok now. You have done a lot considering -well done:T
Beat me, even on a good day............lol Must have been a snail in some former life the pace I go at. Still, I get there in the end and blame advancing years................lol:rotfl:

I beat OH today anyway..............his vow to do something 'positive' came to a bit of a standstill today - still, he did buy me some lilies, a couple of mini daddodil plants and a little portable radio -desparately needed so at least the volume and station won't vanish mid programme. Plus he took our young lad to get some passport type photos done for a project he's doing. So, I'll let him off.
I'm catching up with printing some stuff of my local history site. Mums friends niece visits Mum regularly, loves the history of the town we both grew up in and doesn;t have access to a computer so I try and print off what I can that I know she'll be interested in............just a small 'thankyou' to her.

You're right about ceridwen............finger on the button all the time - how does she do it ?

Take care and don't go too mad when you get back to work

ceridwen

firework wrote: »

as some of you know i have been playing catch up reading the first simplifying life thread, tonight i got to page 90 and could not resist copying this gem for you all - posted by Ceridwen on 7th April 2008 - talk about having your finger on the pulse!

Quote "I personally am "balancing out" a bit - in that I have been anticipating a big Recession for some time now and doing a bit of judicious stocking-up of items I will find useful when it starts (which I have very nearly finished). So - in my case - its not all been one way (straight out of the house) - but I have still managed a net loss of stuff in my house."

i am in awe!:A

No need to be in awe....I just tend to think its a good idea to believe very little of what you "hear" being said....and instead go by a lot of what you personally "see" as obviously about to be the case....

...and Mary....well...that just gave me my 2nd laugh for the day.....mardatha has been keeping me supplied with comments that make me laugh in PM's today...(a comment about sticking a recorder down my cleavage was not untypical - and caused me to burst out laughing.....errr....well she has noted this I guess...as she knows what I look like!!!...)

You lot are giving me a lot more credit than I'm due you know....but...shucks....folks...and thanks.....

Maybe I'm a bit more "cynical" than some??? Dont know.....but I tend to think its a pretty good "rule of thumb" to remember that in many circumstances in life that people often see what they want to see/hear what they want to hear.....and I've lost count of how many times I've done that myself....

I do understand...and sympathise with this. I dont really know how to put this into words...but I tend to think its best to try and "see" as straight as I can possibly manage about how I see things going. Now - I'm even more "stuck" as to how put this....but when I sit down and try and analyse what makes me choose one course of action, rather than another, then if I try and put it in words I guess the best way I can put it is that out of the possible courses of action/way I thought things might work out is that one of the available "options" had "shone at me" - ie it felt like it was the one that struck me as having a bit of a "light" around it (it had a sorta "glow" around it....does that make sense? Probably not....)....That is a positively terrible way of phrasing it...but I cant think of a better way of putting it (puzzled!!!....). Thats about the best way I can think of...and hope people understand.....by saying "Think out what all the possible options are as to how things might go...and then choose the one that has "light" surrounding it and is "glowing" at you trying to draw your attention to it".....sounds awful....and very very unclear....but 'tis the best way I can phrase it. HTH.

firework

well i spent the night with an excruiating back pain - second only to my labour pain, sat/laid/writhed on the couch crying for nearly an hour till my ibuprofen kicked in. i'd sat up till 2am anyway as it was niggling - so thought i'd catch up on old thread, wrote myself some simplifying notes and eventually dozed off and woke at 6 in complete agony.

amazingly by about 10am i had pulled round and on a rare day off decided to have a big tidy up. typical me - bad back so goes on decluttering spree.lol! main reason for tidy up is that my mobile hairdresser was coming at 7pm, a lovely girl, but a bit of a gossip, and so I always make sure our house is super tidy when she comes in:o . said to OH today that we should get her in more often - might spur us on a bit!

anyway i wanted to get DS's christmas toys out of the dining room and into his room, but that was a no go as his room was a complete tip, and has been for some time - so bad that last night whilst writing my notes i decided i should get a rug for his room.... when i got in there and cleared the boxes and debris from the floor i realised that he alread had a rug (playmat thing) in there - i just hadn't seen it for so long i had forgotten it existed:eek: .


two hours later and i had boxed toys, put a load into drawers, and got 2 bin bags full of junk, rubbish plastic toys from the pound shop (mother!!!), kinder egg cases, crumpled pictures, cardboard boxes and about 50 felt pens - non working! it was hard work but i was spurred on with simplifying thoughts from all on here:T

the room has been reclaimed after two months - he has been sleeping in the spare room, and finally the christmas toys have left the dining room ... mind they only made it up there at the last minute and are now residing on the landing next to the christmas tree / decorations. hey, i never said i would finish - just that i would start!

mary43

firework - I do sympathise with the back pain - I've suffered on and off for some years now -not pleasant.
Still, you've done well..............a lot better than me today - all I've done is sort through my family history folders -re-arrange them a bit and label them all with the names -much easier to find which bit of the family I'm after.
Then I sorted out my box of cards that I've made.......some done, some half done -that took longer than it should have really.
Made me laugh about the room and the rug...........the oldest lad we look after has a tip for a room (I'm sure there are better squats!) and somewhere there should be a rug -I remember getting it for him but it seems to be hidden by all sorts of debris..............lol
Eyes a bit sore today........think I must have rubbed them in my sleep:eek:
Was going out today but the thought of the cold wind and my eyes running/sore made me think twice.
OH had promised to give Henry an outing this afternoon - the carpets will be pleased...............lol (as will I) Its too heavy a machine for me to manage.

Am eyeballing a shoe box on my shelf that has so little in it now I get the feeling I could 'lose' it..give me a bit more space maybe and stop me knocking over photo of grandchildren every time I get something out of it. Yep..........it's got to go !!! Can be re-covered and used as a gift box:T Decision made !!!!!!!!!

ceridwen - I'll try very hard not to fill the space with something else.........lol

firework

just got this by email and thought it was worth sharing...


Dust if you must …

but wouldn't it be better to paint a picture or write a letter,
bake cookies or a cake and lick the spoon or plant a seed,
ponder the difference between want and need?!

Dust if you must…

but there's not much time ,
with bubbles to drink, rivers to swim and mountains to climb,
music to hear and books to read, friends to cherish and life to lead.

Dust if you must…

but the world's out there with the sun in your eyes, the wind in your hair,
a flutter of snow, a shower of rain.
This day will not come around again.

Dust if you must …
but bear in mind, old age will come and it's not kind. . .
And when you go - and go you must,
you, yourself will make more dust!

It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived

firework

don't usually go in for these emails that do the rounds but these struck a chord today...hope you don't mind...


Dusting

Remember...a layer of dust protects the Wood beneath it.

A house becomes a home when you can write 'I love you' on the furniture

i used to spend at least 8 hours every weekend making sure things were just perfect
- 'in case someone came over'
Finally I realized one day that no-one came over…
they were all out living life and having fun!

NOW, when people visit, I don't have to explain the 'condition' of my home .
They are more interested in hearing about the things I've been doing while I was away living life and having fun.

If you haven't figured this out yet, please heed this advice.

Life is short. Enjoy it!

firework

i like the poem about dusting - but think you could substitute dusting with shopping, working unneccesary overtime, having too many non essential commitments and generally being tied up with things that really won't make a damn of difference when we are all old and grey and in the rocking chair!

Lula-Hula

thanks for the dust poem firework, I love it as I've always despised that activity ( probably where my ornament phobia stems from too).

I enjoy having a clean bathroom & kitchen & dont mind doing this chore - probably for hygiene rather than aesthetics & am slightly ashamed to say that the tv I bought recently is more treasured because it doesnt collect dust rather than its entertainment value . ( The shame being that I actually bought it)

I've had a succesful day simplifying wise ; took a load of old carboard boxes to the recycling bins at the dump. They have lived in my shed for years in case the item they came in broke & needed to be returned. I think the receipt will suffice. I also took along the old broken hoover & printer to be recycled too so I now have a lot more space in my shed .

Well done on the kitchen drawer pagangirl; I really need to tackle mine, just how many nuts, bolts, screws etc does one woman need

Happy week end all

lula

lilac_lady

I'm really trying hard to declutter and have put bags of stuff into one bedroom so that the rest of the house is tidy. I hate clutter and do get rid of stuff but drawers and cupboards are still full so I think I must secretly be a hoarder although I'm not sure what I've hoarded.

Maybe I should just padlock that bedroom and forget about its contents? I want to live a simple life and my non action is making me feel guilty.