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"