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Posts Tagged ‘simplicity’

Winter Simplicity

Posted in Musings and Epiphanies, tagged , , , , on December 28, 2011| Leave a Comment »

There are many goals I set for this winter break, as I have the three previous years since starting at my job.  I have even accomplished some of those goals.  Yet today I have thrown motivation to the wind for a marathon of Cartoon Network with my sons.  We watched Scooby Doo and the Legend of the Phantosaur.  Now however they are watching the Amazing World of Gumball and it makes me physically sick.  I owe my sons thanks for helping me rediscover my motivation for my little goals.

Today’s goals are to clean my bedroom and paint the Brachiosaurus on the boys’ wall.  It’s been sketched on the wall for months.  Paint colors are chosen.  Just need to paint it.  The bedroom is another story.  It has become the dumping ground for things I don’t know what to do with.  I now need to grab a garbage bag and be “mean” about whether or not the items are actually important enough to save and find a home for.  The only good thing about letting these piles sit for months at a time is that when I finally do get to them, most of the stuff has become moot simply because of the passage of time.

The best thing on a personal level is not starting any new projects this week.  That’s one of my big problems.  I have thirty projects half finished and rather than finish even a few, I start twenty more.  Yes, starting a project feels great-an easy step forward showing clear progress, but I am focusing instead on the completion of projects to feel that sense of progress.  I will clean the bedroom, the shark room, and finish the two bathrooms before next Monday.  And now that anyone who reads this knows I’ve set these goals, you can check me on my progress and give me a good kick in the virtual butt if I get lazy.

One compliment to Amazing World of Gumball…nice use of the word “wretched”.  I told my sons they could use that word.

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The Sour Cosmos

Posted in Musings and Epiphanies, tagged , , , , on December 26, 2011| Leave a Comment »

What a wonderful holiday celebration in our home over the past few days.  Christmas Eve service was beautiful.  A lovely change was instead of singing “Silent Night” our wonderful minister of music played it on the harp.  Breathtaking to hear such beautiful music in the glow of over one hundred candles.

Santa finally left our home at 3:30.  My sons woke us up at 4:15.  Yes, you read that correctly.  We’re still recovering.  The boys loved their presents.  Our youngest really loves his bike.  The oldest is somewhat reserved about his bike because there are no training wheels.  He’ll get there.  It’s time for him to learn this skill.  It was simply a morning filled with happiness, love, and laughter.  Cinnamon rolls for breakfast, nibbling on candies and cookies throughout the day.  The house was cleaner than I usually manage.  The coffee table had the cheese, crackers, and cheese ball, plus the pretzels with the Hershey kisses with the M&M’s goodies.  The chess table had candies and a platter of cookies. The dining room table had both leaves in it decorated with festive holiday settings.  I even remembered to light the candles in the wall sconces and the “Believe” Nativity candle holder.

Then for several hours our home was filled with family enjoying the food, the festivity of the season, and whiskey sours and cosmopolitans.  Life was good.

The boys were exhausted but wouldn’t take naps…or so I thought until I found our youngest snug-as-a-bug in his bed, sound asleep.

Laughter filled the rooms.  Good aromas filled the air.  Yummy food filled the tummies.  A Christmas Story played over and over in the background. The very old dog even got some turkey brought down to him as a special “we’ll pretend you’re not diabetic” treat.  I happily stayed up washing dishes so I wouldn’t face them in the morning to keep the feeling going.

Another fun-filled evening at my folks’ house this evening with more laughter and love.

Tomorrow night my brother-in-law and his lovely wife will be over for the “left-overs” dinner.  But it’s not just left-over food in my house.  The vibrant memories are still lingering within the walls of our home.

‘Tis the season to be jolly and joyous, fa-la-la!

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Simplicity and hoarders

Posted in Musings and Epiphanies, tagged , , on December 19, 2011| Leave a Comment »

The other day I attended a lovely holiday shindig.  The home was extremely clean and tastefully decorated.  Yet there were very few items that seemed to possess sentimental value.  The house had no clutter anywhere.  Even the storage spaces were tidy and organized.  I realized if the owner of this house came into my house she would think she had walked into an episode of Hoarders.  So I began to wonder if my “hoarding” is connected to something.

The things in my house are hard to get rid of because I feel an emotional connection to them.  Yet I know I don’t want to keep many of these things for a long time only to then throw them away.  But I don’t want my home to feel sterile.  When I was younger, some of my friends’ houses seemed that way, like nothing in it belonged to them or meant anything to them.  How do I figure out what is crap, if you’ll pardon the expression, and what truly has value, enough to keep?

Then my thoughts wandered to my quest for simplicity and how the clutter simply does not work with simplicity.  And really, do I need the “things” that remind me if the memories?  I stopped saving every movie ticket stub years ago, yet after seeing The Muppets with my sons I find it difficult to throw those stubs out.  It’s not like I won’t have the memory of the theater experience without the tickets and they don’t really help me remember anything except the day and time we went-but I don’t actually care about that-I care about the smiles, the laughs, and the conversations we had that day.  So no, I don’t need the stubs.  I don’t need the cards, the ribbons, the stuff.  I keep the memories in my heart.

Life would be so much simpler without the stuff.  I will be off from work next week for the holiday and will be the queen of purge.  The quest for simplicity without sterilization continues.

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Back to reality

Posted in Musings and Epiphanies, tagged , , , , , , , on October 6, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Here I am back to reality.  The show is over…Mame was a blast and I miss it terribly already.  The fun part though is that my sons are doing bits from the show every day-walking like Ito, writing in their notepads like Gooch, and singing “Bosom Buddies”, although they only know a few of the lyrics.  They simply repeat those lines over and over.

My sons, as I may have written already, did a wonderful job with the Halloween decorations (yes, I will take pictures tomorrow).  We’re going to the fabric store tomorrow to get the supplies for their costumes.  I’ll drag out the sewing machine and whip up a clown costume and a Headless Horseman cape.  The boys declared this evening that they want to trick or treat with their friends, not Daddy and me.  Whoa, slow down on the growing up stuff!  The compromise will be they can go with their friends while one of us trails behind, one house back, to give them their independence.

Many moons ago I wrote about rediscovering my audacity.  That is still a quest and I am still making progress.  Our little family has a number of our own rules, guidelines, if you will.  Our own way of doing things and that’s perfectly fine by me.  Embracing that each day takes some effort, but when I am self-aware, it happens.  As I work on being my audacious self, I am also working on developing that sense in my sons.  And in my house, which has suffered at the hands of Mame.

But never fear…yard sale weekend is here.  I told the boys simply not to look at the toys I’ll be hauling out because they haven’t asked for them in six months.  I promised them none of the important ones were going on the block.  As their faces showed scenes of Toy Story playing in their mind’s eyes, I reminded them even Andy outgrew his toys.  I also told them they would still have the thousands of toys on the floors to entertain them (yes, probably literally thousands if you count each Lego individually).  Purging the unneeded items out of my attic and shed and backyard, oh my.

And the funniest thing happened today.  I had been in tense, psycho-mode (just ask my hubby) and then work provided me with a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment that it had not done in a while.  As usual the details aren’t dreadfully important, but to sum up, I rock at physics.  Sure, I know nothing about the field of physics other than an apple fell on Newton’s head, but physics was fun tonight.  I felt energized when I got home.  We then had our late supper, together, the four of us.  Then the boys and I went over their homework, dinosaurs were played with, fervent debates took place about who likes paleontology more, teeth were brushed, and blankets were tucked.  I still had energy and did some grading, laundry, and cleaning.  Even replaced the light bulb in the bathroom.  Good times, good times.

Finally, here I sit washed over with a feeling of calmness.  Simplicity has been around even amidst the chaos of the past few months.  Grace has been my friend as I’ve needed it.  Okay, I’ve been spazzy about the mess in the house, but I’m getting better.  I’ve realized that I literally say the same things over and over.  Lately, as I begin to say them again, I stop myself and save the energy.  Perhaps that’s how I managed to do so much tonight.

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My cup runneth over and

Posted in Musings and Epiphanies, tagged , , , , , , , on August 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »

my plate is full.  My goodness, I do like a full plate.  The question is will I eat everything I put on it?  Remember how your parents always taught you to only take the food you knew you would eat?  If you wanted/needed more, you could always go back for seconds?   I think at the moment I am working a salad, dinner, and dessert plate.  Perhaps I should have waited to take seconds.

I am having a blast doing all of the things I am doing.  For the first time in a while I am doing some things I really want to do.  But (there’s often a but), doing all of these things requires time.  And it seems they all come due at around the same time.  I suppose that’s the part I’m concerned about.  If only they had been spread out a wee bit more.  If only I had the foresight to realize they were all going to come due now…ah, well, such is life.

That is why one simply has to embrace what one is doing and enjoy each moment.  The tricky thing is my confidence level is severely low for one of the things I am doing.  The play I am rehearsing for is the first one I’ve done in over three years (…I think I have referenced this before) and the first musical (requiring singing and dancing AT THE SAME TIME!) in over a decade.  I’ll admit I’m a bit rusty.  I feel like the Tin Man but without a Dorothy to oil my mouth, arms, and legs.  I do know I have heart so I trust it will kick in all the way once I’m finally off book, but this is new territory for me.  I have faith that the old adage will prove true, it’s like riding a bike.  You never forget.  Well, as long as I don’t forget my lines.

But, listen to me whining.  I have a happy family, a messy home, and we survived an earthquake and a hurricane all in a week with little to no damage.  And no tornado (sorry, Dorothy).  No, this time in the theatrical zone of proximal development will pass.  I just don’t like the uncomfortable phase.  But who really likes be uncomfortable?  Not a lot of people or we wouldn’t be spending so much money on our mattresses.

Sleep well, gentle reader.  I’m going to my comfortable bed.

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When’d that happen?

Posted in Musings and Epiphanies, tagged , , , , , on August 27, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Last night as I tucked my sons into bed, it hit me.  They are 8 and 6 years old.  When did that happen?  I’m pretty good at keeping the special stuff and packing it away for when they are grown-up.  I write in their journals (plan on doing that when Irene knocks out my power).  And I am a photo fiend…more pictures have been taken of these boys than any child needs.  But where did the time go?

Like slamming into a brick wall, the reality slapped me across my face that I had gotten wrapped up in fungible time.  Yes, I am currently obsessed with evaluating my fungible and epochal time.  I’ve missed so much epochal time with them.  I could not say with 100% confidence right now what they are thinking about and being about.  I can rattle off list after list of what school supplies they chose or what toys they want.  But what their hopes and dreams are, I haven’t a clue.

This is a struggle all parents face.  How do you keep your own sense of self, maintain your personal interests so you don’t look back 20 years later and have resent or regret, and be there for your children?  I believe I need to keep involved in things for myself.  I also need to keep my marriage strong.  And I want to be the mom that my boys come to with stuff.  If I could change the time continuum, this would be a breeze.  But since I lost my flux capacitor, I have to work with only 24 hours in a day.  The trick I remind myself of is to let go of the little things and embrace the epochal time as it’s presented to you.

We are in Hurricane Irene’s path.  Hopefully not right under her center, but more in the green section around the red section in the computer models.  Because of Irene, I don’t have to go to work today or tomorrow as scheduled.  Because of Irene I had to postpone my oldest son’s birthday party today.  But I gained 48 hours of epochal time.  I used the first 12-14 hours to secure things that could fly around and hurt people or stuff and to sleep (ah, sleep without an alarm clock, other than my diabetic dog barking to go out).  The rest of these hours are going to be spent celebrating my oldest son’s birthday with cheese sticks and marinara sauce (I had been making marinara sauce when I went into labor, so I crave it every August 27th).  We’re going to bake his cake and play Yahtzee.  We are going to talk about my boys’ dreams.  About what they want to be when they grow up.   About what they think about.  About who they are in this moment.

Happy birthday to my big guy and, again, happy birthday to my little guy (July 31st).  You have both given me eight and six amazing years of life.  And a lot of Legos to step on.

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Run away to the circus

Posted in Musings and Epiphanies, tagged , , , , , on August 16, 2011| 1 Comment »

We went to the circus the other evening.  The Cole Bros. Circus under the big top was a wonderful, old school circus.  Amazing acts-the aerialists in particular-and the whole presentation was traditional.  This is their 137th season, impressive record in my book.   They still use the old tricks of diverting your attention with the clowns while they strike the one act and set up the next one.

They did a fantastic job of blending tradition with today.  The aerialists came out dressed in pirate costumes marching to the theme from Pirates of the Caribbean.  Imagine half a dozen “Jack Sparrows” holding the ropes for the trapeze artists.  The one was using the silks (or whatever they are called, I’m not wonderfully schooled in circus lingo) and the long white pieces of fabric looked like the sails on the mast.  Another was using a net and creating images of the sea.  The dozen or so worked together to create this flowing ship using nothing but fabric, netting, trapezes, and physical agility the likes of which I’ll never possess.  It was awesome.

The motorcyclists (including a 12 year girl!) braved all three of them in that metal ball thing and they kept going around and around.  Then amazingly, the ball separated and the girl was on the bottom with her father (?) and brother (?) in the top half, several feet of space between them.  My jaw hung open the entire time.   I always wonder, when and how do they discover they can do that stunt?

The clowns were good old fashioned clowns.  The cops chasing the clowns in the black and white striped clothes, the lady clown clearly using balloons for her endowments, the car separating, or clowns chasing a balloon while going topsy-turvy on one of those giant trapeze type devices. 

To go with the clowns, they had the pink poodles in the car and they did their dances shortly after the camel and horses did their dances.  The tigers were beautiful and did classic routines with just enough Vegas to keep it up to date.  The elephants were still as graceful and gentle as I remembered them from my childhood.  The three grey beauties did their routine and linked trunk to tail after each trick.

All of this was guided smoothly by the ringmaster in his red coat for the first act and his white coat for the second.  The popcorn smell that filled the air was delectable.  The light-up swords and glow-jewelry lit up the darkness of the giant tent like very active and very large fireflies.  The cotton candy was the BEST I had in years…the flavor was so delicious!

As the lights came up, and the circus hands started packing things away till tomorrow’s show, all I could wonder was am I too old to run away and join the circus?  I think if my sons asked if they could, I might say yes.

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Journals…the low tech blog

Posted in Musings and Epiphanies, tagged , , on August 1, 2011| Leave a Comment »

In my continuing efforts to purge my house and soul from clutter, I went through a large storage box containing my college journals.  Oh, gentle reader, I’ve been blogging for years.  Just did it using paper and pen.  I refrained from reading every single page since the point was to purge, not walk down memory lane.  But the pages I did read included the typical stuff of a woman in her early twenties, friendships, guys, the really cool shoes at the mall that I couldn’t afford if I wanted to eat that week.  Obviously, if I had been Carrie Bradshaw, I would’ve had the shoes.  I am more practical and have never had her bankroll to be less practical with.

But there was also heart on those pages.  College was an interesting time for me with a lot of personal stuff going on, much like many college students.  The problems I faced then were the largest problems I had faced to date and I miss those types of problems now.  I sweated the small stuff.  Yet at the time, it was not the small stuff.  That’s the interesting thing about that approach-it isn’t small when you’re sweating it.  It is only in hindsight that you can realize it was the small stuff.  I think I have gotten better at keeping perspective about what is big and what is small now.  My husband and sons will always be big stuff, but some of the day-to-day involved in sharing a home together is small.  To remember that and handle the small stuff with grace and patience is the key (I’m clearly still working on that).

I couldn’t dispose of any of the journals, even though I am aware they’ll never do anything other than sit in the box, but I did purge the old tax records from over a decade ago and “IMPORTANT” papers that have no bearing on my life now.  It felt good to release them and the emotions tied in with some of them.   It’s weird to be reflecting back on some major life events and realizing they don’t really mean squat anymore.

What does mean something in my life are things like my oldest son having had a great week at camp, learning archery, and focusing during vespers.  It matters that my youngest is now six and had “a really fun birthday”.  I watched Michael Jackson’s Thriller with him last week-Michael is his “favorite singer”.  I got the same goosebumps I did when I first saw it in 1983.  My son got goosebumps and declared that he wants to be “one of those zombies for Halloween”.  My six-year-old loved the “stomach bug germs” we gave him for his birthday, some of the guests didn’t quite understand it, but who cares.  My oldest taught me the “Addams Family” prayer he learned at camp.

These are the things that are important now.  That and helping my sons not sweat the small stuff too much when it truly is small stuff, compared to the larger parts of their lives.  There are still paper journals in my life.  I write in a journal for each of my sons regularly, so when they are older they’ll have a written record of their small stuff that was so big.

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My Cup Runneth Over

Posted in Musings and Epiphanies, tagged , , , , on July 14, 2011| Leave a Comment »

My cup is truly filled with grace and happiness today.  Touching base with my first love, I have been cast in a show, a musical to boot!  It will wonderfully exciting to “move well” across the boards again.

My sons are having a wonderful summer, digging in dirt, spending the day with their friends, getting a treat from Mr. Softee.  They are filthy by the end of each day and it’s wonderful.  My sons, two of their friends, and I will be going to the local zoo tomorrow.

The weather is beautiful this week.  I’ve actually enjoyed some of it.

Vacation Bible School (VBS) has surrounded me with wonderful, talented, giving volunteers again.  I am very excited for it to start next week.

The class I teach is going nicely with a good group of students and an even balance in the classroom.  The class I’ll teach in the fall is looking full and happy.  My job is going well.  Friends are getting good news and enjoying good developments in their lives.

My house is getting cleaner.  My soul is getting cleaner.

Hugh Laurie and Robert Sean Leonard will be back on House.

Life is good.  I am thankful for the blessings of God’s grace filling my cup till it runneth over.

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Living Deliberately Slowly

Posted in Musings and Epiphanies, tagged , , on June 26, 2011| Leave a Comment »

“As for the complex ways of living, I love them not, however much I practice them. In as many places as possible, I will get my feet down to the earth.”[Henry D. Thoreau, Journal, 22 October 1853]

I continue to strive to live as Hank prescribed.  Challenging task to accomplish each day.  In this walk of mine, I stumble regularly and waste energy on things that are not important in the big picture.  How does one stay on the path and not wander?  I don’t play chess, but I know a bit about it.  This walk feels somewhat like a chess game.  You need to know where you want to end up and the eight or nine moves you have to make to get there, planning, of course, for the possible defense put against your moves.  Yet at the same time of planning all of these moves, I remind myself to be ready to throw away the plan for staying in the moment.

As John Lennon sang, “life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”.  I sing that song to my boys each night (they call it the “long lullaby”).  So it is a balance for planning and realizing life happens whether you want it to or not.  How are you going to spend your life?  I have to “practice” certain “complex ways of living” but not all.  I keep finding new ways to “get my feet down to the earth” while I walk this earth.

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