Confessions

Housecleaning can be a bag of mixed emotions. You feel good to see it clean again, but tired when it's all over. Sometimes you can't decide where to put stuff and other times whether to even keep it at all. How do you organize it all anyway? They teach small children how to sort in Math class-- by color, size, or how to follow a pattern. Why can't organizing your house be that easy? There are so many "patterns" it gets to be pretty complicated.

I've been house cleaning out of necessity this summer. I share a small apartment with my college age daughter and we are REALLY close on space. Her stuff and mostly my crap. I've pared it down several times in the last 5 years-- mainly because I'm sick of moving it around, but now it's because I've filled every inch of my closets, under my bed, behind the doors and furniture and every inch of my small storage unit to the point that I have to quickly shut the door before it all falls out. I'm good at arranging things to maximize the space. Good in some respects, but come moving day... "there's still MORE in there?!"....

I have a confession to make to the world. Some people have a drug or drinking problem. I have a fabric problem. The day I realized that was when I found an old fabric purchase receipt (one of many) that was 3 feet long and it totaled more than $180. I wrote a note to myself on it "How much fabric DO you REALLY need?" and kept it as a reminder. I have gotten rid of boxes, yes boxes, of fabric 3-4 times in the last 5 years. This week I have gotten rid of some more. If I haven't gotten around to making that outfit with that fabric I bought in 1982 I really don't think I'm going to do it now. I figure I've spent more on the sale stuff for those future projects than if I would have purchased it at full price at the time that I REALLY needed it.

I wish they had an AA of sorts for fabric recoverers. I've had to really talk myself into, first STOP buying new fabric when I have a store full at home. Second, instead of spending time creating in my mind while looking at all the lovely fabrics in the store, spend time actually creating the projects I intended to do sitting at home in tubs. One time I actually sat down and worked pretty steadily on several projects and it didn't hardly put a dent in my SCRAP pile (not the actual fabric boxes).

I realized my issue was that I loved to create. I was loaded with lovely ideas and I loved seeing the cool things that can be produced. It was a venue I was pretty good at, but I just can't keep up with making it all. I never learned how to say ENOUGH to myself. We need to learn to say NO to ourselves, too. Knowing when to stop eating so you don't get fat, when to stop drinking so you don't get drunk, when to stop buying shoes or buying fabric or ______ (fill in the blank) falls under that category. Enjoying life is a must, but accumulating stuff isn't.

Part of my "cleaning house" has been to understand that I can enjoy beautiful houses, clothes, cars,... stuff.. in this world and not have to OWN it. I can go window shopping and enjoy what I see and go home without a single bag in hand and feel fulfilled-- and FREE! It greatly reduces the housecleaning, organizing and moving hassles and gives me more time to see the beautiful world that exists once every day.

Definately for the "Faint of Heart"

Below is a web-site of this guy that is stronger and healthier now at 65 than he was in his 20's as a football player! His site is worth looking at for those that are willing to change their lives. Please explore!
http://www.treeoflife.nu/

Mr. Stinky Feet Live!

I got to see the Rockin' & Rollin' ist performer of kids music ever, at the public library today!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpsKmn8L6MQ&feature=related

He was dressed just like in this video, but didn't perform with his band. The kids ages 18 months and older were up and grooving to the beat, clapping and singing along. It was darling! The guy had kids come up from the audience to play all kinds of intruments along with him, and he had a kid soloist help sing the song about the plastic dinosour, polar bear, & grasshopper that danced in their underwear. He definately knew how to keep everyone's attention for a full hour and he didn't even look like he'd broken a sweat!

What a treat today! Read more about him. http://www.jimcosgrove.com/bio.htm

Pinnacle

My dad taught me how to play Pinnacle when I was in high school. We'd play on Sunday afternoons after church and lunch, before the other activities of the day. My mom, younger brothers, and I would sit around the dining room table trying to find ways to outsmart him. He was pretty good ( in our novice brains). He usually knew how many cards were still out after each round. I think I beat him once.

It wasn't really something a christian church going family was supposed to be doing--especially on Sundays. So the game went from using face cards to a Rook deck. Same thing. I could understand the Rook deck easier, just numbers in 4 different colors and of course the Rook (which is actually a crow holding cards in it's claw-- go figure). What does Rook mean anyway? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rook Oh, I never knew that! Guess you learn something even when you're an old Wolverine!

Nice memory. My dad was not one to do things with his kids, but once in a while you had a few fun moments to tuck away into your memory scrapbook. Thanks, Dad.

"The Wizard of Oz is one because... "

When someone says "summer", images of my childhood summers come to mind. Walking to the dairy after swimming at the pool to get an ice cream cone, playing Barbie's in the grass with my neice all afternoon, laying out on the patio of my parents' apartment reading books from the library.

I was first introduced to the wonderful world of reading when I was gifted a large, beautiful Fairy Tale book with large, ornately colored illustrations for each story. As a third grader, I had never really thought of actually using my reading skills for anything other than reading in school. The illustrations of the book drew me in to the world of every tale--the princess who had an ogress for a mother-in-law, the cat that could talk and run in human boots, the prized white stagg that only the King could hunt, the gems that came spilling out of a young womans' mouth simply because she said kind words. I savored every story, imagining myself there as the hero or heroine.

About the same time, someone thought that I needed to round out my reading material and gave me a simple, illustrated version of The Iliad and the Odyssey. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliad The book looked old fashioned and uninviting to a young "princess" like me, but desparate for new adventures, I began reading it. I found it to be full of fighting and stupid behavior on the part of men and hardly any girl stuff in it. It didn't keep my attention for long. One day, my dad came home with 2 books from the university library. One was a 2" thick book about Irish fairy tales (fine print, no pictures) and the other was titled The Patchwork Girl of Oz.

I didn't care what size the print was in the fairy tale book, nor did I even notice until later, that it didn't have pictures. Reading it consumed every minute I could find. I even read in bed, by the light of the moon coming in from outside my window. A whole world of make-believe and magic was opened to me. Fairy rings and mischievious brownies. There were rules about how to relate to humans and how some of the fairies would lure humans into the forests and lakes only to see them be caught in a snare or drown in the lake. What a strange place, this Ireland. I wondered if any one had ever really seen a leprechan. (Aside from Sean Connery in Darby O'Gill & the Little People.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7WaKOvirvQ&feature=related (By the way, listen to the crickets!) I didn't realize until I was an adult that my celtic roots were actually beginning to awaken with these tales from the Emerald Isle. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland


Now for the Patchwork Girl. Ah, now that REALLY gave me the reading fever! I could relate to the Patchwork Girl. She was giddy, slightly airheaded, but would occasionally come up with some really good ideas. I thought her dress and the way she was constructed was cool use of fabric. Oz was a fabulous place. A place I definately would want to live. I was elated, when I wolfed down this book, to find that it was part of a series..... and so the appetite grew. I had to read every book in the series, beginning at the beginning with the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum. (No, it's not like the movie with Judy Garland.)

As part of required reading in Junior High, I had to read To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Kill_a_Mockingbird I never understood Atticus' problems, but his daughter had great summer adventures. The images I conjured in my mind from reading what she did and where she went still linger in my memory as if they were my own. For a long time, as an adult, I couldn't remember how those images got there. If they were really mine or if someone had told me theirs.

The hot, lazy days of summer. Lemonade. What were the neighbors doing. Doing nothing in particular. Oh, what joy. I wished many times while my children were growing up I could do that again. Fortunately, I have been able to the last several summers. Doing nothing in particular, watching a summer afternoon "B" rated movie, eat watermelon till I feel like I'm going to bust, go swimming, watch fireworks and, of course, read books. I think everyone needs to have several months of vacation every year. Make time for yours.

Finer Things of Life

Ever hear crickets early in the morning? This spring and summer have been unusually nice where I live. Cooler breezes, blue skies, fluffy clouds, some rainy days, starry nights, birds twittering outside my back door and, crickets chirping when I wake up. The heat of the summer hasn't really taken hold of the area and the LOUD droneing of the cicadas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada hasn't kicked in yet, but crickets are nice. It means summer. It means cooler in the shade. It means rest at night. It means safe and friendly sounds while you calm down from your day or, in my recent experience, you wake up to the friendly, "Hel-lo- still-here." (By the way, SEEING the cricket and HEARING the cricket are two different things. Bugs stay outside of the house!)

When my family and I lived in Alaska for two years I never noticed there were no crickets until we came back to the lower 48. Oh, ya, Crickets! Summer wouldn't be complete without cricket chirping.-- Kind of like summer without watermelon.