A Looooong Journey

Little did I know that a little search would lead me down the path I'm currently on.

Many months ago, I did an internet search for cleaning because I wanted an easier/simple cleaning schedule. I found a single blog. I found it so entertaining, I started reading from the beginning. That led to (eventually) a total of 5 organizing/cleaning blogs that I subscribe to that, yes, I have read from the beginning. All 4 are fun to read from ladies that I would love to meet. One usually has me in stitches....LOVE her humor. :-)

I discovered through those blogs that it is easier to clean clear spaces that are sorted and organized than it is to clean junk. Gotcha. So.....that pushed back the cleaning schedule (still not sorted...oops) and started in on phase 1 of......yeah, who knows how many phases. Time to organize. While I was organizing, I started to get rid of some things that I either 1) Didn't REALLY like to begin with so why sort them and/or 2) Didn't want to sort them/organize them.

Then I innocently went to our local library in search of free organizing books. I have bought books before, got them home, just to discover they weren't for me. Sooooo....borrow first and then if I like them ALOT, then I can buy them. Yeah....little did I know I would be "introduced" to an author that would turn our lives another direction and make my current path a little clearer. Who? A gentleman by the name of Brooks Palmer. He wrote a book that I could not put down. I have tried for YEARS to de-clutter and have.....some. Something clicked. I suddenly realized it was okay to toss stuff....I'm keeping the memory, but don't have to keep the {insert item}. I happen to be a sentimental type...the one that remembers (for the most part) where {insert item} came from. That, very irritatingly at times, makes it rather difficult when it comes to getting rid of stuff. Well, I can't get rid of the vase because our friend brought it back especially for us. *sigh Because of that one trait, we I have kept more than I actually want, but hard to get rid of. Somehow with that book, it was okay to donate that hideous interesting sweater vest mom gave me. Does she still love me? Yes. Do I still love her? Yes. I kept it for one excuse reason or another, but....it's now gone. Pppfffeeeeewww


That phase has been going along nicely....lots of bags of clothes to the bins for donation; garage sale; classifieds to sell some, etc. I went through a period of "THAT'S IT!!!!!!!!!!!!! TRASH IT ALLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" (screamy bits are intentional since that's what I felt) Then we did our garage sale and I came back down to earth. Things are now on the classifieds (overseas at the moment so no Craigslist, etc.) or to be taken to a thrift shop or two (no Goodwill either :-( ).

Then................along came my next blog. Not sure exactly HOW I came to finding it/start reading it, but it has altered my thinking yet again.

Every time I mentioned de-cluttering to someone it would be with a sigh and an explanation: "I'm a wanna-be minimalist that was raised by a pack rat." I believed that that whole living with nothing or next to it was pretty much impossible for me. Then along came the current-catching-up-on-reading-blog...www.becomingminimalist.com Yeah.....TOTALLY altered my thinking. How? I've discovered that a minimalist doesn't mean a bed in a room with boring white walls and that's it. Au contraire my friend. It means to live with what you need and love and that's it. A LOT different from the nothing-in-a-room idea I had. Ahhhhhh that....maybe. So....I we are now on the way to becoming minimalists. I thought it would be just me, but hubby is totally on board! Sooooo much easier. :-) Wish me us luck :-)

5 Places to See

Well, one of the many (and growing) blogs I read just posted about 5 places. Hers was where she'd rather be (over housework), mine is more.....dreams. Places I would love to visit and are on my bucket list to go to. Sooooo......

1. Egypt
The pyramids, the sphinx, the Nile, ahhhhhhh. One of the top ones, if not the number 1. Hubby, not too sure wants to go, but would probably tag along with me.

2. Australia
Not sure where, just the whole continent would be nice. A swing by Sydney to snap a few pics and the rest is up to whatever tour guide/hubby takes me. One of the items on my bucket list was to see in person (no zoo) a kangaroo. Imagine my surprise when hubby & I went to visit my parents' house September a year ago. We went to a local event called Frontier Days. Long story, but can be a lot of fun. We were meandering around and found 2 very cool things (AND got to cross not one, but TWO things off my bucket list). My mom & I got to ride on an elephant AND they had a Joey there. Yep, I got to hold a Joey inside of his bag. Soooooooo cute!!! *sigh

See? He's waving. Collective: awwwwwwwwwww

3. Pompeii/Herculaneum
This one is actually a possibility in the foreseeable future. Ok...rabbit trail. For those of you who don't know, back hundreds of years ago, when Pompeii was being destroyed on one side, Herculaneum was being destroyed on the other. Most have never heard of the town since Pompeii is the biggie. I, however, took ancient Roman history and both towns were mentioned and discussed. Pompeii is more touristy because there is more of the city unearthed/preserved.
We live in the northern part of Italy at the moment because of my husband's job. While we are still here, these are 2 cities that we both want to spend some time in. They will probably be on our "Rome" trip. Yep, that one's coming up too. :-)

4. Japan
Again, don't really care what part, but want to see most of it. I would love to add Tokyo to my list of visited cities as well. Mainly because that's one of the biggies that we've all heard/read about. I would love to see
the culture, taste the food (to see if it's anything like the "Japanese" restaurants we go to), walk around and see the pagodas, take pictures of the lovely tress only seen in geisha films (there were 2 or 3 that came out not tooooooo long ago that made me want to go even more) or in other people's pictures.

5. Anywhere sightseeing with my hubby
I know, sounds rather awwww or sappy, but it's true. While most of the ladies I know want to visit Such-and-Such with their girlfriends, hubby is truly my best friend. We travel well together: I drive, he navigates. I love seeing new things/sites/experiences with him. There are times that I could've gone somewhere, but unless it's somewhere that I know (or am pretty sure) that he doesn't care about, I won't go. There are 2 places around here and 1 thing that I'll go without him: a glass place, a ceramic place, and a tour based on an author's character. Other than that, I want him along-side me. We can look back together, via memories and/or pictures and re-collect the experiences that we had on that particular adventure.

What about you? Where do you want to go?

Why the Gap?

I was looking through this blog and saw a HUGE gap between last posting and the first time I posted this year. You might be wondering why the gap.... So, here's the skinny.....

I originally started this blog as a take/viewpoint from a Conservative on politics. From looking at the number of posts from 2008, it is rather obvious that that was just a "flash in the pan" thing I did. The positive thing is that I DID start this. I've discovered I even enjoy posting. (Not sure how many/any is reading this, but eh). Once my obsession over politics and the particular election was over (still same views, just not as...not sure....just different), the blog, like many other things in the past went by the wayside.

Me then? Not a lot different than now...other than I lived in a different house and a different country. I now live in Italy because of my military husband. The house of 2008 was in England.

Fast forward to December 2011. I discovered blogs. And not just blogs, but ones that I enjoy reading and follow rather religiously. While there are only about 7 I am subscribed too as opposed to the dozen or more that others follow, I am subscribed to each one and normally wait rather impatiently for. The majority are based on the house and organizing or crafty, although 2 I LOVE!!! reading for the humour of the writer. She is (as the old saying goes) a Hoot! There are times when something has struck me as hilarious and next thing you know, tears are streaming down my face. While reading one of said blog posts, I wanted to have my own say and "link up", so....that's where it all started back. You can thank that lovely writer. Just in case you want to shake your proverbial fist because somehow this post/posts are horrid, I won't mention her name, to keep her safety in mind. ;-)

An Ant or a Thinker

I was sitting here at my computer desk when my mind wandered. I am supposed to be doing a number of things: working on school work (I'm in college), posting in my on-line classroom, reading my decluttering book, laundry,.....Well, you get the idea.

There I was, just sitting here, when I leaned back in my chair with who-knows-what thoughts bouncing around in my head. When my eyes lit on the little shelf attached to the desk, just to my right. On that shelf is a candle (always, but changes when one burns down) with a topper on top of an ant family. There is the daddy ant, the momma ant, and the little boy ant. They are around a picnic basket, with the dad inside holding binoculars. That reminded me of the story of the ant and the caterpillar.
You know, the ants work their little ant butts off all summer long and most of the autumn while the caterpillar laughs at them while lounging. Well, winter comes and of course the ants are golden: they worked to eat as well as gather food to store for the cold weather (which obviously wasn't here in San Quirino, Italy, but I digress). The caterpillar, of course, is starving because he did nothing to prepare for the upcoming chill and just was lazy. I don't remember the end other than the ant telling the caterpillar, "Told you so."

So, now you know the story (or were reminded). The story rambled through my head as I was looking at this topper. Then, my eyes lit on an object literally right next to it: a marble thinker. Yep, the dude sitting on his fanny with his elbow on his knee and his head propped in his head. A view:

What a complete contrast of opposites. The thinker: one of the laziest people around right next to a family of ants: one of the most productive creatures God created. Which did I want staring at me when I'm on the computer or doing school or whatever? So, the question was: which did I want to be: An Ant or A Thinker? My choice: an ant. The family of ants, while the manufacturer probably didn't go as in depth, shows me a few things. 1). Work my tail off now in order to eat and to store (save up/put aside) when times are chill (lean/golden years/etc.) and 2) Take time to spend with family and to see the sites (or to travel).

So, which one are you? OR Which one do you WANT to be?

~Gen

5 Things to Be Thankful For

I was reading a blog post and it reminded me that the majority of us have so much to be thankful for. I'm not talking about huge houses, fancy cars, or fat paychecks. I'm referring to the sometimes little things. The post was about people that are persecuted for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's rather eye-opening when I think about the normalness of getting up, getting dressed, and going to church in the morning. It's nothing really special or even thought about much other than the normal "To Do" list that tends to go with it like every other day. I have to: dress, breakfast, grab Bible & other stuff to give to "so and so" when/if I see them, ensure dogs are taken out & treated, get safely down the stairs, drive to church in time to meet/greet folks, etc. That's it. I don't have to think about a different route to ensure no one is following me or pretending to go to a friend's instead of meeting for Bible study/prayer or dodging roadside bombs. None of that. Just normal every-weekday stuff. Something to think about.
And on that note. I got to thinking about what I'm thankful for. Really, truly thankful for. So.....

1. The Everyday Blessings.
Just like above: the normalness of my day-to-day life. Not worrying about hunger, bombs, or persecution. Just the everyday stresses and a few added-on ones being a military spouse. But still, even those on a normal basis isn't really much. He's home at the moment and not deployed somewhere, so there's no worry about his safety.

2. Unknown Blessings
How many times have I complained in the past about "Why isn't X going faster? Don't they know I'm in a hurry?!?!?!" "ARG!!! I woke up late, now EVERYTHING is behind" I read a "conversation" on Facebook about talking to God and asking Him about the irritations in life. It was the gripe, gripe, gripe on the side of the human with God listening and taking all of the questions in before He responded. The response was....well, in short: unknown blessings. The late waking up? The devil was fighting super hard and Heaven was fighting super hard right back for you...letting you sleep through it. The X going slow? The slow driver just helped divert an accident that you would've been in if you would've been at X intersection/light at such-and-such of time. It really made me realize that there are soooo many instances where we didn't get hurt; didn't get into an accident; didn't get side-swiped; didn't get killed; didn't....well, you get the idea. And for those (and some I do know/find out about) I am beyond thankful.

3. My husband.
I will write about love and how I know one day, but this is about something similar, but different. Oops! Horrible sentence, but I'm leaving it. ;-)
I am thankful that I have a supportive husband. I quit my job on-base back in 2007 to return to school in order to get my degree. While I "should" have been done by now, I'm not. Although there are reasons and kind-of explanations, I think it's more...well, see #2.  Either way....not done with the bachelor's degree yet. I have 3 classes left. Then starting on my masters....I hope. He has been supportive through this process. When I need to do homework or whatever, he leaves me be and does things around the house so I can focus on whatever I need to focus on. After the first couple of years-ish, we (um....actually he) had to pay for the classes out of pocket. I cut back on the number of classes (hence one reason it pushed my timeframe back) so as to pay for said classes and still have money to eat. They have went up also $100 in just a year. Really?!?!?! I digress. Although he wasn't happy, he sees it as an investment for our future....we will see the investment return with dividends once I start using my degree in my chosen profession: accounting.

4. My dogs.
We have 2 mixed-breed dogs. We got Danny about a month after we got married. Belle was my Christmas present that same year. They have been with me/us ever since. Danny just turned 13; Belle turns 13 in August. They seem to know when either of us isn't feeling well and just need a furry body to pet or curl up with. I have spent every single Christmas since we got them with them. Hubby has been deployed a few of those times, but when he's home, we're all together. I am grateful that they are there...especially when he's gone on a deployment (was 4 months now 6 months or longer) or a TDY (temporary duty....kinda like a business trip). They are there....reminding me that someone loves me and is there...sometimes just to listen and be close.

5. My heavenly Father.
I am grateful to be a child of God. While I was raised in church by a preacher, when I graduated basic training and one thing after another happened, I kinda went my own way. Fast forward years later: I returned to His loving arms one day in church here. I have not regretted it one day. I have thought about regrets (walking away all that time ago), but realize that my experiences and choices made me who I am today. If I hadn't walked away, then ran, I wouldn't be as thankful or understand as much as I do today. Although I never dropped to depths of some folks I have talked to, I did my share....within reason. I can now tell people, "Just because you're a good person doesn't mean Jack. I was there. I wasn't a "bad" person, I just wasn't a Christian." I am now. I am thankful that He never gave up; always kept trying to speak to me in different ways (sometimes through other people); protected me; loved me.

~What are you thankful for?