Fabulous 50th - At The Halfway Point

Wow… it’s been 6 months.  How the time is flying! 

 

Time… now there’s an old nemesis.  “Never enough time” to get everything done on my list.  I thought it was me.  If only I could get caught up…  But I’ve come to realize that there is never enough time when you combine perfectionism with procrastination.   It’s a recipe for misery. 

 

 

Over these last six months I’ve learned to put away the ‘tyranny of the urgent’ by getting things done before the last minute (tho I’m still working on that one!  LOL) and by working towards “TANE” in my house keeping.

What is TANE?

Tidy And Non-Embarrassing!

I don’t live in a magazine spread.  You know… I’ve read blogs were magazines have come in to photograph the bloggers home.  The photo shoot people erase all signs that someone actually lives there in the search for “perfection”. 

What an “Aha” moment!  Perfection is lifeless.  A ‘perfect home’ is a house that doesn’t look lived in.  There are no children’s drawings on the fridge.  No doggie nose smudges on the window.  No laundry in a hamper.  No crumbs from a yummy dessert on the counter. 

Perfect.  Sterile.  Lonely.

What a difference it has made in my stress level to embrace TANE.  My house is my HOME.  And I like it this way. 

 

 

I mentioned last time that I was truly realizing the blessing my family is.  This took me down the path to evaluating those relationships that are NOT family.  Acquaintances… pals … friends…   I have come to realize that far too many are not a blessings in my life.  That got me to thinking about those we socialize with.  You know, it takes time to get a house cleaned up “company ready” and it takes a decent chunk of change to put together a good meal.   Then there is the time spent with the visit.  All in all, it is truly an investment into a part of a person’s life. 

So why are we spending an evening looking at the top of people’s heads and listening to infrequent mumbles?  Seriously, we had a couple out and over a 2 hour visit their phones rang/chimed/beeped in excess of 30 times!  What kind of visit is that?  Whether we were being the hosts or being the company – if there is not going to be visiting and eye contact, I have a whole lot of other things I can do elsewhere!

So we have started cultivating new friendships.  We have been out several times with these new people and have never looked at the top of someone’s head.  We talked and laughed and shared.  It is exciting. 

My creativity projects continue and I’m having a blast trying out all sorts of methods... paper art, collage, assemblage, painting & drawing, and so on.  It is fun, frustrating, exhilarating, and even sometimes depressing.  But what surprises me is how it has affected other areas of my life.  The more I ‘create’, the more I find myself thinking clearer, sharper, faster.  I feel less stressed.  It’s really pretty cool.

My culinary endeavors are coming along well enough.  I’m trying a new recipe pretty much weekly and I’m working on increasing that to three times a week. 

A large part of my creative has been working towards setting up my studio downstairs.  I am so excited at how quickly it is coming together.  By the middle of next month I expect to have it functionally finished – with the walls painted too.  Then I will be able to work on refinishing the furniture I have in there (new builds I put in will be completely done when installed). 

I haven’t taken many classes these six months.  Opportunity (classes not being held) and time (being gone) have interrupted that.  I’m planning on working harder to find some I want to take part in.

All in all, I’m quite happy with my halfway point of my Fabulous 50^th.  There are a few things I have to work on in this last half… but it’s been good.