Minimalist Monday (1)

(I realize it's Thursday)

Why minimalism?
Very honestly I am not sure what attracts me to this way of thinking. I suppose I like the feeling I get whenever I have gotten rid of the old and that general sense of less clutter.

I suppose I also realize that moving is always been handled better with less 'stuff'.

Not to mention kids need not be so dependent on their things so much as their relationships.

Therefore, I started in the kids rooms. And it went well.

Wesson's was first and will be the easiest of all my rooms because his is relatively less pact. We came out with a trash bag of toys and a medium sized box of books.

I had them narrow down the stuff that was multiple by half. We had 8 'trucks' and we now have four.
Really though, did we need more then one??

Shawn was surprisingly willing to give up his extra stuff. He did give me a hard time about stuffed animals and my heart didn't let me fight that one. He got to keep all of 'em.

I got half a trash bag out of his as well as random storage boxes and a dry erase board. Suddenly those toys he never played with are rediscovered.  
Go figure!
I suppose my goals with all of this is to be able to better manage our 'stuff'.
To not feel overwhelmed with a mess.
To actually USE the stuff we still have.
To put more value into relationship with people instead of things.

I have pictures and have decided to post them at a latter time so that I have a good collection of "before" and "after".

Stay tuned.

A WEEKEND IN JUNE

I didn't get around to doing my Pinterest weekend project. I wanted to make a fire pit but Mike talked me out of it... logical reasonsoning of course....


We rent and our land lord would definitely not appreciate a fire spot in our yard.
We can't make it on the concrete because I guess concrete gets hot and will crack (yeah, for some reason I did not know this!).
He said we could buy one, but I wanted to 'make' it.... so that idea failed.


No big deal, I had a good weekend nonetheless.


I worked on Saturday and went to St. Louis shortly after for our monthly seminar. The speakers were Bill and Jackie Lewis. Pretty big names in our business and an equal performance was given. The largest nugget I took away from the event was:


A non-dreamer will never understand a dreamer.


I needed to hear that. I needed some justification about why those who don't understand why I want better in my life are that way.


I can't expect them to know any better then the quiet destitution they have given their lives.
To each their own.


We stayed over night at my grandparents house and went to my cousin's baptism the following day. 


Family is always good to see :) 

I'll end with some pictures I took over the weekend...



This is the hilarious picture that Shawn took of himself while at church



While on our drive back home we stopped at a gas station and I had the honors of looking at this sign... and I though, "I wonder if the original sticker poster will ever think that some one (me) appreciates this"



Shoes I got from Wal-Mart (not even a SUPER Wal-Mart) for $3.00  -SCORE-



Also got these for a good price at said small Wal-Mart for $6

 

And this is what we made this morning with our 15 random oranges in the fridge!  It better be delicious because I attempted to put the pulp down the garbage disposal and I believe I may have broken something in the process.  It was an amazing start to my Monday morning :-)



Been doing some thinking about this blog and why I seem to come to a stand still whenever I want to say something but can't find the words to say it.  What "it" is comes out sounding lame, not deep enough, too deep, boring, irrational, wishywashy, etc.
So most of the time I let "it" defeate me and no entry is made.
So....
I decided to make a schedule of topics for daily entries.  Not concrete by any means, but a place to start and a way to have something to work from.

Here's what I'm thinking (and honestly I borrowed some of these ideas from other blogs I read... my English teachers would hate this but I'm not going to site where these are from):

Monday:  Minimalism Monday
Tuesday:
Wednesday: Moving on Wednesday
Thursday:
Friday:
Weekend: Pinterest inspired Weekend

It's amazing how much have a plan can make a situation much more exciting!

part·ner·ship (pärt n r-sh p ). n

Wikipedia says: A partnership is an arrangement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests.

This is probably why my first marriage failed!  We weren't willing to agree or cooperate nor did we share any mutual interests.

Mike and I are different.  We have together, as partners, decided to make a committment to moving to Florida in one year.

For me it isn't where, he picked that part. For me it's the opportunity for a new life. At least a different one, with different scenery.  Different people.  Different feel.

You know what I'm talking about, right?  When you are some place different you get a new feeling. 

okay, maybe too mystical or deep or maybe even made up to make sense

We came to this conclusion for a lot of reasons and I am not so interested in listing them out. They don't matter, what matters is that Mike and I are doing something together and are going to make this happen.

Art in the Park with Wesson

Today I took Wesson to Art in the Park. I know this event is nothing new but I don't recall going before. Mike and Shawn were sick and stayed home. So it was a rare opportunity to enjoy Wesson's company. I will speak for both of us that is was a great time. We saw shrub animals, played in the sand, people watched, played in the water fountains, and ate some Jamaican food. I also was on the receiving end of a random act of kindness... A gentleman gave me a bag of pop corn I was about to pay for because his daughter didn't like kettle corn. How often does that happen?!

Don't let things own you

Just had an intellectual moment.
Was talking to a member on the phone who was completely fed up with setting up her home banking.
"My head hurts from this"
"I can't do this"
"soo... frusterating"
It's not like this was a need, the girl only had a savings account and not huge balance at that.

It honestly made me think of myself.
I get frusterated about things...
like money
and weight
I get stressed out...
and guess what
IT'S NOT WORTH IT!

The advice I gave this girl was something I should listen to myself
Just leave it.
If you can't control it
Whatever you do
DON'T LET IT CONTROL YOU

The peace we have when we can wash our hands of a situation is so nice

Granted,
there are things that need to be dealt with
Even if they are hard

But priorities should dictate this

"worry is like a rocking chair -- it gives us something to do for a while but gets us nowhere"

Some thoughtful questions...

-Where in your life do you sense false "niceness" ? What's hiding under the "nice" facade?

I feel like I'm falsely nice... a lot. In the work environment we are encouraged to make the "customer" right and that's when I feel my ego stepping up when the feeling isn't reciprocated. Something I heard last night made me think about this. I was actually at "robbery training" and one of the gentlemen giving the presentation said something that I already know but never consciously think about. It's about he energy you give off in a situation. If someone is irrational and hysteric then the entire situation is going to have that feel. So, it's always a good idea to give off the energy that you wish to receive from a situation. Nice doesn't have to be false because I'm not against being nice but I guess what I'm getting at is that I need to mean it in order for it to be given back. In fact at that point it's more likely to be given back and I do think it's entirely possible to be nice in almost all situations if everyone is willing to participate.

-If some one is repeatedly doing rude or harmful things to do you, they may be trying to control you. Who does this to you? What do you want to stop doing for them? What do you want to start doing instead?

I like to believe I've rid those type of people from my life, so instead I want to talk about me being the controller. It's happened. When I was married to Patrick I was controlling of him because I wanted so much more out of him then he was willing (possibly able?) to give. It was exhausting on my end! And I know that it didn't make Pat any closer to the person I wanted him to be. So, basically it was pointless and it took me too long to realize that. I have, however, applied that knowledge to my new relationship so that I don't make that mistake again. I make a conscious effort to not be rude to Mike, to leave him to his own decisions and to accept what he decides. As close as we are we are still separate people and I believe he would and does the same for me so we really shouldn't have an issue unless one of us lets our guard down.

-Where are you telling yourself to not think bad things about someone? What if your thoughts are justified?

I have to remind myself on occasion that everyone lives their lives differently and everyone defines success in their own way. I have a tendency to judge others based on their life choice thinking that my way would have been better. It's hard, but I feel like in this situation giving people the benefit of the doubt or allowing them to reap their own outcomes will be better. One because I'm not projecting my prediction of failure on them and two because it's not something that I need to worry about.




...just a few I wanted to answer. More probably later.