Simplifying Life

ceridwen

Charis...amused by the mlutter monster - think we can all relate to that one - we've all got that character living in our heads at least some of the time.

I think I will borrow Aril's "place" on this thread today and give a link that I was reminded of the other day by a virtual friend on her blog <waves to Pixie Sue>:

http://www.kyphilom.com/www/seattle.html

as in Chief Seattle's wise words.

We all know the experiment of the Century - indeed of many centuries - is happening today and have varying attitudes to it...ie the particle accelerator.

Personally - I'm in the "what the heck do they think they are playing at? and the money could have been spent so much more constructively" camp. I'm scared...and no whit reassured by the fact that today has gone according to plan - as the scientists in the "anti" camp reckon it could be about 4 years before we all thought "whoops....well..it didnt work out then" - which neatly matches the ancient Mayans stopping their calendar at 21st December 2012 and we wonder why...

Well...on the one hand it was deemed a bad idea some centuries ago to try and sail off and find America - as in it was thought the world was flat and they would sail right off the edge of it...didnt happen...they found (refound?) America and apparently when the first nuclear weapon went off some people thought that could be that at that point and it wasnt - for most of us (errr...but they found out about the radiation subsequently! and I'm in the "they shouldnt have done it" camp obviously anyway as a pacifist.)

Time will tell...and lets just hope this all works out okay and that in fact we get the "maybe" bonus of really finding out just what makes the Universe tick - and perhaps the troublemakers of this World (warmongerers, egoists, etc) have a total change of heart overnight and stop creating such problems for the rest of us.

Anyways...on a different note....must trundle off and have an investigate how things are going for the baby M.S.E. "Kindness Forum" that Tashja will be co-ordinating....I've got some ideas....no surprises there then.......:D

Aril

Hello virtual friends:j
Hope you are all fine and dandy!! Thanks for the link to Chief Seattle's speech Ceridwen.[waves!] I have copied and pasted it to read properly later.
Things here are fairly quiet and settled at present [I like it that way thanks:D] and the small person has started Scouts tonight so I'm here on my own. It's quite strange really because it's rare for me to have the house to myself now that OH works from home. I enjoy being with others but I am also fairly solitary and am quite happy pottering around on my own.
Is it only me or do you find when you're racking your brain to a seemingly unsolvable problem the minute you forget about it and concentrate on other things the solution will pop into your head fully formed? I have been wracking my brains to come up with something for my Dad for a certain festival later in the year:D and constantly coming up against a brick wall. Now a fortnight later I've got it. My Dad is a closet jam/chutney maker. I shall buy him a book of recipes but am also going to compile a book of more unusual recipes I've gleaned from lots of different sources. I'm going to make a jar of either Christmas jam or Christmas chutney to accompany it...both recipes I've found on my recent trawl of the internet. Blimey I'm relieved and looking forward to putting it all together. It might be a very simple idea but I think he will be pleased that I've put some thought into it and made it relevant to him.
Just a short quote this evening but maybe one to bear in mind before we all moan about the rain again [guilty as charged here:D]
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...it's about learning to dance in the rain.

I hope you enjoy it.
Arilx

ceridwen

Hi Aril

Good to see you visiting again.

Re the unsolved problems - I sometimes find that the "sleeping on it" technique works. I permanently have a notepad and biro by my bed - as well as the bedside light I want for one of my little pleasures (ie reading in bed). Its surprising how often I flick that light on and write down an idea, back off to sleep and flick the light again for next stage of that idea, etc. Saves the cluttering up my brain thinking "Thats an idea - I must remember it in the morning" - I cant possibly forget it that way - but its not there cluttering up my brain either. That doesnt stop the "oh thats another angle on that idea" thoughts that sometimes follow along bit by bit later - but it helps.

Re ideas - as in Mardatha's idea this time (which she mentioned on Kittie's "If things get tougher" thread) - M.S.E. hasnt given permission to expand on the idea of a Kindness Forum on M.S.E. They explained their reasons - and I understand why they say so - but shame to keep a good idea down - so I've put a "post" all about it on my blog (where we are free to say what we like) - so:

http://chezceridwen.blogspot.com/

see todays post about Nonee Mouse.

Now ya just knew my blog would come in handy at some point didnt ya?:D

(thinks....now maybe I can get an uninterrupted night's sleep again tonight hopefully....having had a night "flicking switch" at intervals yesterday re the above - <grin>)

annie123

ceridwen wrote: »

I permanently have a notepad and biro by my bed - as well as the bedside light I want for one of my little pleasures (ie reading in bed).

I do that as well.
Use to do it much more when kids were younger, always remembered someone should be somewhere doing something that was not written down on the calender just as I was drifting off to sleep.
Still do it now with ideas that I would have forgotten in the morning

Beki

Well, today i raked half of the drive (200ft long :eek: so no mean feat!) of fallen leaves, bagged them up in black sacks and will leave well alone for a few months to make leaf mould (compost/mulch) - not bad for free!

Also, collected more windfalls for the chooks - much appreciated; got a few clucks of thanks

And chopped some logs into smaller logs ready for the winter fires (i say me, what i mean is the OH, with me barking orders; "smaller! too big! give it some welly!" etc etc :rotfl: )

LameWolf

Something that just occurred to me, a very good book to read, if you can get the Library to get it for you, is "Time Management for System Administrators" by Thomas Limoncelli. My husband has a copy, as it's pertinent to his work, but it's a very easy read (you'll find yourself giggling at some bits), you can skip the techie bits, and much of it is relevant to our OS lives. I read it, firstly to see what Mr LW was chuckling at, and secondly to see if any of it could relate to energy management, as one of the problems with having lupus is major chronic fatigue, and I found it very helpful.

jasmine_from_the_north

Charis wrote: »

http://organizedhome.com/articles/cut-clutter

http://www.flylady.net/pages/FLYingLessons_Declutter.asp

http://www.getorganizednow.com/

Three of my favourites.

Charis

Charis thanks a lot. Great stuff!!! Very helpful. :T :j:j:j

mary43

Hello all................thanks for the lovely quote Aril - just may pinch that one and add to the others.
No, its not just you who thinks too hard about something only for the idea to appear when you're concentrating on something entirely different......least thats what I find as OH will vouch the number of times I leap up (well not quite leap) on the sofa with a sort of 'eureka !' moment ! Bit like not seeing the wood for the trees this thinking lark...........the more you think the less thoughts come to mind.............(or is that just me??)

ceridwen -Not quite sure how I feel about this major experiment........methinks too much interference with nature is not good and I got very weary yesterday of trying to explain to our lads, plus all their mates that no, the world isn't about to end as a result.
OH seems to think this experiment, if it works right, could provide mankind with all sorts of benefits but time will only tell. Just seems an awful lot of money to spend on a 'maybe' when there are more than enough things currently that desparately need some kind of cash input.

Life been anything but simplified today..........meeting this morning then one arranged for this afternoon..........that one was cancelled but didn't find out till 3.30pm -bit late then to set my stall out and get stuck into something.
Still I did manage to do a little bit more to my christmas creations, plus print off some more history info for my friend.
Visting a friend tomorrow who's just out of hospital so nothing will happen on the de-cluttering front or anything else really...........have to be weekend tasks I think...........hopefully.

ceridwen

Just to say "Hi" to Jasmine - welcome on board.

Blairweech

I am currently (very slowly) decluttering and have just come across my old school shirt - the one that got signed on the last day of term. I do not know whether to keep it or not - most of the writing is illegible now, and I hardly speak to any of the people that signed it....but will I regret throwing it away....