Simplifying Life

ceridwen

2cats1kid wrote: »

I'm going to come out of lurkerdom on this thread I think. I have just read the first 6 pages, and if you lot stop posting, and I catch up at 6 pages a day, it will take me about 3 weeks to catch you up. So I'll see you in about 3 weeks, ok?

Welcome to the thread .....and we'll see you again then;) :rotfl:

So - one of my virtual friends has found my Sunday "Thought for the Day" useful - glad for that <waves>

One of the reasons for all the "strategies" I have copied or devised over the years is to ensure that I do actually keep at least relatively on top of the "practical" side of life. I dislike housework for instance (bar experimenting with cooking - when I have the time) and sometimes energy is on the low side for no good reason - hence I try to be very organised and also to find ways to deal with my recalcitrant "self".

So - if anyone has any specific simplifying thoughts on keeping themselves personally "up to the mark" at keeping things organised and running on the homefront (or life front generally)...then all thoughts welcome.....

ceridwen

And....I'll start this one off...I found an entry just now that I think is worth reading here. Its on a blog I dont normally read - as I dont resonate with it as a whole - but this post - well I know I need to remind myself of this one:

http://philipcarrgomm.wordpress.com/2008/04/30/in-the-eye-of-the-storm-how-to-stay-sane-in-an-insane-world

mary43

cerdiwen - thanks for the beliefnet link...............my word I could have done with that a few months back..............still not a bad idea to do something along those lines. I'm on top of things now (I think) but you never quite know when the day will arrive and all the negative thoughts will re-appear.
Haven't quite absorbed the other link yet..........bit early in the day...........lol
Trying to enjoy some 'me' time at the moment ..........got an appointment to take our young lad to this afternoon plus its ex foster lads birthday........I'll either be dropping his pressies off or he's popping up........not quite sure yet.

2cats1kid - welcome to the thread. See you when you've finished reading through it all. Must have a read through myself sometime and see what I felt like at the beginning compared to now.

mary43

Well, the appointment with younger lad went very well, then ex foster lad and his friend came up...........pressies were opened and off they went to the wild life part of the garden to give our overgrown willow tree a bit of a haircut (much needed)...............bit of a tidy up all round, trouble is I can now see even more tidying up needed outside..............plus his dog decided to do unmentionables on a plant !!!!!
Dinner was cheap............OH did us proud with left overs from yesterdays chicken and bacon, broccoli and cauliflowe and some courgettes from the garden all done in cheese sauce.............he reckoned 50p per person..........not bad I thought.
Older lad arrived home with a bunch of shallots for us.(been working on a farm and had them given to him).............we smiled thankfully and broached the subject of his 'tip/squat' of a bedroom.......at that he had a very quick 'tidy' up (he said) which means stuff shoved up a corner and has now gone off to see some friends ............well he says friends but I know these well and they're not the kind I'd want him to mix with if you see what I mean. Not a good influence at all. So, not having been too pleased with room tidying request and spending probably the rest of the evening with his new friends, not sure what he'll be like or what mood he'll be in when he gets back. Ho hum..............aint there always something.
Apart from that the weathers been good and I'd say its been not a bad day
at all..............:T
Now............must make a list of the endless 'projects' I've got in my head for christmas pressies (cheap or free, depending on whether I can use stuff Ive got kicking around) and hope there are enough hours in the day for all this..........................:rotfl:

annelouise_2

Wanting to make little Christmas Lavender Bags any ideas of where to get patterns and motifs that are easy and cheap.I am collecting the lavender this afternoon to keep in ziploc bags.

Any help appreciated.

annelouise

mary43

annelouise - have a look at the Special Occassions Board.......there's a 'craft' thread running on there and someone on it is bound to be able to point you in the right direction.

Well, so far my day not going as planned but in a positive kind of way.........at last the builder has turned up to do the plastering (how many weeks have we waited ???)..........so I've currently not only got plaster on the walls,I've also got it on the carpet and kitchen floor :eek: But, he's friendly, knows what hes doing and above all...............cheap !!! Thankful now that I didn't hoover yesterday..........think I'd be crying by now !!
Gives me a good start when he's done and with the mess he's making whatever I do my floor in the lounge will actually look as though its been done !
I now realise there's a lot of 'stuff' on top of cupboards etc. (took me ages to move it all and I must remember where I've put it !)..........noticed some stuff that would make christmas pressies and help fill up a gift basket and I probably wouldn't even miss them !
Best bet is to do it when OH comes home otherwise I'll be putting something upstairs in my spare room of christmas 'stuff' that he'll be frantically looking for.....................lol
Typical.............weeks and weeks of no work and now he has two days delivering furniture..........so I'm left to do the clearing up. Thank goodness he cooked a chilli last night in advance....................lol
So, off now to make yet another cup of tea to keep this chappie going !:j

mary43

Builder now done and gone..............phew !!! He might be back tomorrow afternoon as one wall needs another coating but at least he's finished in the front room. Not putting all the stuff back...........just the bits that are meaningful to us. No point in trying to discuss it with OH tonight.........he's been helping someone move house, shifted a lot of furniture down spiral staircases and is worn out so much so he's had to nip off for a pint of liquid relief ! He brough in a huge bin bag full of tinned and packet food..........perfect for our store cupboard and will help out no end.........especially now I've paid the builder !
Not getting the hoover out till I know whether he's coming tomorrow or not.........would break my heart (not to mention my back) if I did it and had to do it all over again !!! Not to mention the kitchen floor !! OH is out tomorrow and he normally does it to save my back .............so, kitchen floor can stay as it is............far as I know the queen's not due for a visit.
Oh and just to make my day............baby grandson is now walking !! I'd sent for some freebie 'walking nappies' off the freebie board, they arrived today just in time !:j

EagerLearner

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

At the moment the technical difficulties are such that there simply isn't an economic way of harnessing wave power.

The windiness arguement is a red herring - it's always windy somewhere in the UK, and onshore and offshore wind could generate really useful amonts of energy for us if only we would allow the local authority planners to get them built

Penny. x

This is a great technology - currently being tested off the Portuguese shores due to strong Atlantic wave power there and should the technology work 100% there I heard they were going to bring it to the UK as we certainly have lots of wavy waves too I am also pleased as I am half Portuguese Half English, so both countries can benefit so to speak :T

Planning to get a wind up radio for the kitchen, little step but at least something extra to what we're already doing. Then I will prob freecycle our cd/radio tuner and the new one will free up space too :beer:

I love Rhonda's blog but somehow can't connect mentally to it as so much of it is so different to our lives - we both work full time and have a tiny outside space. However, as she suggests, I sift through the thread for the bits that do relate to us and it's an inspirational read anyway.

mary43

Oh what an 'unsimplified' day................... Started off ok. Young lad off to school,OH off to deliver furniture to Cambridge and off I go into town to collect pension, pop into charity shop and treat myself to a lovely fluffy cardigan -seemed a bit daft buying it on a hot day but I think I may need it later on............bought paper to re-cover photoalbum...got home...coffee and relax...................footsteps upstairs !!!:eek: Panic !!! Then down the stairs comes oldest lad who apparently didn't go to work this morning ! He normally leaves early so OH assumed he''d gone as usual. 'Why aren't you working?' I ask............'I got the day off' says he 'because I worked overtime last week'
'Ah, but last week',says I 'you were thrilled about the extra pay you'd get for overtime........now you say you have time in leiu ??'........'Yes' says he at which point his mates (who obviously must have known he was home today) knock on the door and now he's off playing football...............joined by the younger lad (at least the mates they're with aren't the dodgy ones!)
On top of that, I was expexting phone call this morning from builder and soc worker. Both said they might be here this afternoon.............no phone calls, no messages..............then at 2pm I get two phone calls, from both of them.............builder can't come till next Tuesday,soc. worker wanted to call but by this time a game of football is well underway. He's now on leave so it'll be at least two weeks before he comes !! Hadn't dare start doing anything 'in case'.........***s law, if I had the builder or soc. worker would have arrived.
So, plans being somewhat messed up, I phone transport dept. to see what arrangements are being made for contact visits for our lad now school is finished............'oh' says girl on phone 'out of term time we don't provide transport' :eek: ..........so I phone another soc.worker who just might know who does what -she's off sick, no-one seems to know but someone, I know not who, will get back to me tomorrow ! Will they I wonder ? Or will it be me making phone calls again ?
Still, I did perform my 'random act of kindness' by ordering some low energy light bulbs for my disabled friend who never seems to get offers like that.
Don;t you just hate it when the whole day seems to go pear shaped ?
Tomorrow will be better...........it will !!!!
Timetable being:
Phone transport -if they''ve not phoned my by 11am
Cover photo album (before I crease the paper!)
Cover coffee boxes with paper for gift boxes (before the boxes get recycled by OH who can't understand why I want to do that)
Get washing done and on the line
Coffee.................and relax...................................:o

For now though I need to clear my muddled up head a bit and unwind before I start getting dinner ready - even cooking ready made pie can throw me into a panic !

Aril

Hello virtual friends:j
I've had a simple revelation today:D Day off work :j so I went out with my Mum to Gun Wharf Keys as have never been there before and had heard good reports. Loved spending time catching up with my Mum and seeing the Spinnaker Tower but the shopping did absolutely nothing for me. Other than buying a pair of shoes to replace ones that are elderly and split across the bottom I realised that I am out of the habit of buying [do still indulge the material girl once in a while] but it simply doesn't give me a buzz anymore. Mum felt the same way and I think next time we get together we will sit and yatter over a cuppa and our current craft projects instead. Shopping for me once upon a time not so long ago was a real prop if I was having a bad day but the habits I've learnt from the redundancy have changed my attitude and for the better I think. I can't see me returning to my old ways- I get pleasure from far simpler things these days. The exciting news for me today is that our first cucumber is on the way. Woo hoo!!!
The following I found this morning when I decluttered a folder first thing and found things I hadn't looked at in 3 years:o. I felt I still needed them 6 months ago but not now so more stuff in the paper recycling.
If the Earth were only a few feet in diameter, floating a few feet above a field somewhere, people would come from everywhere to marvel at it. People would walk around it, marvelling at its big pools of water, its little pools and the water flowing between the pools. People would marvel at the bumps on it and the holes in it, and they would marvel at the very thin layer of gas surrounding it and the water suspended in gas. The people would marvel at all the creatures walking around the surface of the ball, and at the creatures in the water. The people would declare it precious because it was the only one, and they would protect it so that it would not be hurt. The ball would be the greatest wonder known and people would come to behold it, to be healed, to gain knowledge, to know beauty and to wonder how it could be. People would love it and defend it with their lives because they would somehow know that their lives, their own roundness, could be nothing without it. If the Earth, were only a few feet in diameter.
Aril xx