Simplifying Life

ceridwen

Hi Charis

Re your comment about medical provision - I remembered the free online book "Where there is no doctor" - so I went scouting round Internet.

I found:

www.hesperian.org/publications.download.php

(on the first page you need to click in the first para to get to the downloads, then you need to look for the bit on the right on the page you then get forwarded to "Free downloads - click here")

and there is that book there on that site and several other books that are free to download. Perhaps rather pertinent now - in view of the difficulties many are experiencing in getting an NHS dentist - they have a free book there entitled "Where there is no dentist".

I do follow your point re its not possible for many people to buy acres of land and set up a homestead. The Dervaes family - on their website - certainly demonstrate just how little land can grow LOADS of food - but even a plot 1/10 acre including house is too expensive for most of us in a country like this one.

Aril

Hello virtual friends:j
Thanks for the link to the transistional towns- I've never come across that before and needless to say my home town is nowhere to be found on their list:mad:
After a manic week [looks like the next couple of weeks are heading that way...bring on the lavender to keep me an oasis of calm:D] I'm pleased to say I've had a straightforward weekend just pottering which suits me down to a tee. The material girl tempted me with a lovely skirt in the window of the charity shop which I didn't need but I indulged myself for once. It's good for the soul to do that once in a while....and when I got home I found that the pair of earrings I bought at Christmas match it exactly. How about that for coincidence!
I seem to be in a phase of tying in ends at the moment and clearing space to get back to unfinished projects. The cupboards have now been pretty much cleared other than a half jar of mincemeat and we've planned how to use up the last of the lasagne. The small person's Dennis the Menace's cushion has now been finished and I've gone back and undone the mistakes I'd made in my current dollshouse carpet so I can restart it. I'm going to try and continue in this vein as I now will be tied up with studying for my new course several evenings a week. Will definitely ensure that I continue to drop by for my drop of rest and relaxation:D
I spotted this quote yesterday on our local Unitarian notice board. I know I've quoted him before but the words of Khalil Gibran really resonate with me. Hope you enjoy them:
Your daily life is your temple and religion.

Aril

mary43

Hello all !

aril - couldn't find anywhere on the list around our area either. But you never know, maybe in the not too distant future, hopefully, the 'men in suits' will wake up and see things as they really are.
Seems like you were destined to have that skirt............lucky you..........I've just come up for air from trying to clear out my wardrobe...........I must have had more than enough 'retail therapy for the soul'..................6 bin bags and I've not done yet !! Still got the baskets on top of the wardrobe yet........they contain the summer stuff, t-shirts etc.......and I just know there's some there to be chucked out. Don't think I can face any more today though...........at least I can see what I've got and just hope I haven't gone too mad and find myself frantically searching for a jumper I've no longer got !
I send copies of some of Dads music programmes off to local history site and they cant find where they've filed them on the computer so will I send them again..............would love to once I've worked out where I 're-housed' them................thats the trouble with having a de-clutter - stuff finds a new home and the brain cant quite get to grips with it so at the moment de-cluttering my house isn't de-cluttering my head !

Oh well, such is life. I'm off to have a quick search but have a sneaky feeling I just might have sent them to my son along with other 'bits' about his gramps !

Love the quote Aril..............keep em coming:j

Charis

I've had a good read about Transition Towns. It's an eye opener. I think we will all be familiar with the concept in a few years. I feel myself being pulled in that direction, maybe as a skills sharer. We 'elders' (surely I can't be one of those already?) who were born before 1960 and can remember how people coped before the days of central heating, synthetic fibres, supermarket shopping, will need to pass on our knowledge to those born later, for whom all those things, together with foreign holidays, mobile phones, freedom to travel anywhere and everwhere by car, are all so taken for granted they can't imagine it any other way. I feel the need to do a bit of reskilling myself. Might get to grips with a few veggie recipes and grow some salads in the garden this year. When I see the price of 'tomatoes on the vine' in Tesco it makes it well worth the effort. I haven't done much sewing lately either and my knitting needles must be rusty by now.
Here's the list of towns which have signed up or are interested
http://transitiontowns.org/TransitionNetwork/Mulling#England
in case anyone wants to check their locality.

mary43

I'm definitely one of the 'elders' and remember well the lack of central heating !!! Hated that and it was bliss to get heat at the touch of a switch I have to admit.
As for waste......well there seemed to be none or at least very little. Just after the war it was still a 'waste not want not' time and everything but everything seemed to get used/worn until there was nothing left.
Mum darned socks and jumpers that she'd carefully knitted for us, dresses she made for me had a good hem so they could be turned down as I grew taller............food waste ? The birds had most of it and if I remember right, gran used to feed her chickens on anything and everything.
Food wasn't pre-packed as it is now so no cardboard wastage and folk bought as they needed, not as they wanted.
Different times and different ways. Some good but going outside to the loo at grans and it being what we always called a 'bucket loo' wasn't the most pleasant of experiences. Getting water from the well, now that we loved as kids wondering how many newts grandad would get in the bucket.
Milk from the farm in a little milk churn, eggs fresh from the hens, water from the well for washing, from the pump up the lane (very ornate it was) for drinking; no fridge and if something had a bit of mould on it gran scraped it off and carried on using it. I'm still here to tell the tale so no harm done.
Home grown veg and fruit was a big thing then both for my grandparents and my parents...........but then gardens were bigger and allotments had no queues -there were plenty of them.
My kids are in their 30's now and they take notice of things more as they've grown older but the teenagers we care for I've tried talking to about it and they just laugh it off. If there's no button to push it's no good (i.e. tele, play station,phones, microwaves etc.)
Oh well, we can but try ...................

Added another bin bag to the collection making it 7 now but am calling it a day for the moment now as my back is telling me 'enough's enough!'
Seeing my counsellor at 11...........maybe she can de-clutter my head as well as I did my wardrobe.................lol
(was looking for particular jumper this morning and its one I slung out.............lol Hope that doesn't happen too often or I'll be tempted to put them all back before they're collected at the weekend !)

mary43

Just to say counselling went very well...............two more sessions and that should be it...........my head more or less sorted (or at least as much as it ever could be). Counsellor is moving away from the area........I could change to another but I think I'm getting on top of the problem now..........might know better when I've seen Mum which I want to do next week. Just a quick two day visit -that'll be enough for Mum and enough for me.
Letting go of Dad is the biggest problem but a few things have been solved there as well.............his Memory box that I feel I have to keep downstairs almost as if he's with me can be relieved of a few things that aren't so important for me to look through when I feel the need, making room for those little pieces that tell a tale every time I see them. Whats upstairs in his suitcase then becomes almost 'out of sight out of mind' though not quite. Some of his dance band items can go to the history site........he;d be overjoyed to think he was on the world wide web............lol - so all in all, I'm getting there.
Just wish big bruv. could share how I feel but I have to accept that we're never going to have that kind of close relationship that I would have liked.

Insurance folk have agreed to the repairs to roof and 'building site' room so the rubble heap can be restored to something resembling a room of sorts albeit just for storage/boiler/freezer.

And even the sun is shining........................................:j

mary43

Sun no longer shining.............in fact its been peeing down with rain !
Not that I noticed for a while as I was stuck in boxes and bags of stuff inside our bedroom cupboard !
Sorted it now (I think)..............some stuff to go to ex foster girls sister, some I'm sending to my son and others I'll have to ask him about -does he want them ? Has he forgotten they''re there ? Can I get rid of them please?

Couldn't possibly post them all too him.........postage would be horrendous and to be honest I do have more space than him in his flat.
One shelf in the cupbooard I couldn't reach so those things can stay for now but at least now I can hang my shoe thingy with pockets up (complete with shoes), boots are on the floor and there's space for bags and coats (well 2 anyway.
But all this clearing out sort of fills my head up with 'stuff' .,............is it just me or does everyone get this kind of 'cluttered' head when they're de-cluttering everywhere else.

(Oh and is this a thread just for me now.............?????.............lol
No-one's popping in to say 'Hi'................ )

Ellidee

Hi Mary I'm just having a quick cuppa and a catch up. Well done on your decluttering -I find it's never ending. Not quite as bad as pigpen but bad enough ! We have had new bedroom carpet fitted this am so had to clear the room and now putting it back in 30min bursts. So trying not to put everything back - sorting out winter clothes to store in the loft and being ruthless with stuff to chuck or take to charity shop. I will get there !

I know what you mean about cluttered head, sort of brain overload when it happens to me I think.

Charis

mary43 wrote: »

Sun no longer shining.............in fact its been peeing down with rain !

(Oh and is this a thread just for me now.............?????.............lol
No-one's popping in to say 'Hi'................ )

Hi Mary. Today it was not raining here However I was going to a Red Cross event at a big house locally and it had to be cancelled due to the waterlogged parking area, which resembled a lake from our vantage point outside the house. I did get to go to lunch there, however, as they were desperate to use the food they had prepared and my neighbour knows the lady who organised the event. We took a couple of cancellations. Prior to that, the nearest any of my family has got to dining in a big house was when my nan was a scullery maid :rotfl: I think my Dad gets to have mince pies with the Lord of the Manor at Christmas, near where Dad lives, but I got to use the silver cutlery.

mary43

Mince pies with the Lord of the Manor ? Silver Cutlery ? Oh how the other half live............but I bet they didn't taste any better........or did they ?
Well, the rain has stopped at last, having drenched the garden and OH on his way home.................lol Not looking to bright a sky either so expect there'll be more to come.
Well, I've dragged the 'stuff' from the bedroom cupboard downstairs and had another look through it...............music papers could be e bayed (if only I knew how) think I'll ask ex foster girls sister to shove them on there for me. Extra cash would be handy however small it was and I'm sure my son wouldn't mind.
Bits of MDF that were 'waste' from my sons art college project (He's as bad as me -why on earth did he keep them ?) Well, one piece fits in a little cupboard I shabby chic'd that needed a shelf and three more pieces I can possibly paint and make little sets of 'pegs for bags' or something like that.
Videos OH is looking forward to watching as don't know whats on half of them.............lol
Found a tatty t-shirt my son had painted one of his silly cartoon like characters on so I'll post that to him along with his long forgotten little teddy
that my Mum carefully knitted trousers for.......and his artists brushes.
There.........now I've brought it downstairs and sorted it out a bit my poor little heads not so cluttered. Everything has a place it's either going to.
Oh lor.........never did sort out my summer stuff !!! Oh well, what I don't want can go to the charity shop..........won't weigh as much as the bin bags full of jumpers..................lol

ellidee -hope you've managed to de-clutter your head and not put everything back where it came from. Not easy that I know -I've done it.........lol and OH is worse than me sometimes...........bits of my sons waste chipboard he has now deposited in the 'building site' room -just for now he says...................lol:rotfl: