the half project, my version

I read an article about this family who decided to stop taking & start giving. They sold their million dollar home, purchased a smaller one at half the price and gave $80,000 to charity.

I love to hear about this sort of thing.

I don't have much financially to give, but I do have quite a bit in the way of possessions.

I am doing a major cleaning of my home this year, a true spring cleaning, and have found for me it is not so much about making money as it is being free of those items that have been hiding under the bed or in the closet.

I want to own my possessions, not have them own me.

side note here, if you have never heard George Carlin's bit on stuff....check it out!

I found some things I of course will keep, like my photos and fave books, but also found lots of stuff I do not know why I felt the need to hold onto.

My goal is to have at least 2 bags of items going to a local thrift store, homeless shelter or just given away via freecycle to someone who needs it each week until I am purged of all of it.

wish me luck as this is going to be a major undertaking for me.

hhhmmm

I feel like I am changing, evolving...though into what I am not entirely sure.

My friends are in different places than they were and also in different places than I am. I am happier than I have been in forever, yet am wishing for more. Why on earth are we never satisfied?

We want to have more money, less weight, bigger and better everything.

Why?

What will this do for us?

I know for me a bigger house would just mean I had to spend more money to live in it and I would probably fill it with even more stuff I didn't need.

Someone once said to me when you are thinking of moving do not ask what can't you live without, but rather what can you live with? What do you need to be comfortable and survive?

I need a bed, some books, comfy clothes and blankets. I need my friends, I need my family, I need a job that makes me happy & pays me enough to pay those necessary bills.

Oh, wait...I have all of that!

So, what do I have to complain about?

So, in my massive cleaning undertaking I found a huge amount of photos from the past decade. I worked at the same restaurant job for most of it, 2002-2008, and had some amazing times that were over shadowed by how bad it was at the end. Finding these pics made me remember the better times, the fabulous people I met through there and the fun experiences.

I posted almost 200 pics on FB as many of my old crew is on there & I felt they would enjoy it also...and they did.

The funniest thing to come of it for me though was having a couple of people ask me to take off a certain pic of them as they felt they looked fat or ugly in it. Got to say while I did that for them, if I did that with every pic of me from the past 2 decades I did not like

there might be about 5 pics total.

Why is it that we are never satisfied with ourselves. We always want to be skinnier, have a better job, nicer house etc.

I am trying to live in the now. Be happy with the things I have, including this body of mine. Is it in the best shape it could be? no. Am I working on making it better, thus me better by being a healthier, and possibly happier me? yes.

One thing I will say is that regardless of what I weighed in these pics I found, I was happy in them. That means more to me at this point in my life than anything else so I am letting go of all the rest!

out damn spot

I am taking today to do a major house cleaning. Opened up the windows to let the sun in, cranked up some tunes and dug in. At a stopping point right now due to there being a load in both the washer & dryer at the moment so thought I'd pop off a lil blog action, go me.

It is always amazing to me how when you are doing a big clean like this your house can look even worse as you do it. I mean currently I have bedding piled on my couch, clothes all over the bed and luggage from my trip last month waiting to be put away in the closet.

If I had to walk away right now for any reason I would be quite embarrassed for anyone else to see this place!

On the positive side of things I do see the light at the end of this cleaning tunnel. I have 3 bags of stuff I want to donate sitting by my front door and have a box of books ready to go out in the post today, which means less in Mt. TBR.

I will get fresh sheets to sleep on this eve and the smell that comes from a clean home after my ever so long 4 hour shift at work.

silver and gold

There is a saying about friends being either silver or gold, new or old. I have a friend that is a huge part of my life as she has been a part of it for so long. We went through first kisses, driving & first cars, high school with all of it's dramas, boys, clothing fads, drinks, graduation, college, marriage and babies (those the last two were all her!)
There are have been great times and some that were hard. We always come through it all stronger than ever. I just drove the 5 hour distance between us for one last day of spending time just the two of us as within 2 weeks she is moving out of state. It meant the world to me to get some time for us to just be together, no big party or night out of drinking. We sat on the couch went shopping and to the beach, ate, talked and just were there enjoying each other's company.
I know that while we will not be able to see each other as often, we have a special bond which will not disappear with even more distance being put between us.
I love my sweet cmg and will start saving my pennies for a visit to the "wilds" of Montana.

falling to pieces

I thought the whole having your body fall to pieces thing happened when you got older, like 50 older not 38! This has been a strange 6 months for me medically. While I have always had a bout of bronchitis or strep each year, from childhood on...it is kind of my norm this year it kicked in hard. In the last 6 months though I have had in the following order; kidney infection, kidney infection, ovarian cyst, bronchitis then damage to my chest wall from coughing so much while having said bronchitis, now I managed to jack up my shoulder somehow and still have a cough after weeks of meds and rest.

I mean really? What the chatta? I am taking multi-vitamins again for the first time in years, also melatonin for sleeping better.

(which is AMAZING, I mean I am actually sleeping a full 7-8 hours each night...crazy talk)

Also my diet is much more on track than in previous times, but yet my body still has issues and is trying to fall apart...well ain't gonna happen man. I am bound and determined to have this be my year of treating this body of mine better & it needs to return the favor!