Stash vs Hoard

 In minimalism, stash vs hoard is hotly debated.  To hard core minimalist any sort of ‘extra’ is an abomination.  Yeah, whatever.  Methinks someone people need to minimalize their rules for other people…

 In my opinion, a hoard is having excess of what you need and/or keeping everything because you can’t bring yourself to discard.  Hoarding affects everyday life.

 A stash is a collection made to have materials on hand for a future project.  Mind you, a stash CAN become a hoard if you’re not careful.

 A few of my creative stashes crossed the line into a hoard.  Not good.  Those have been the hardest to deal with.  What I did to deal with it was to allow myself ONE reasonable size storage container (ie I can easily lift it when full) for holding the stash.  Then I did a KonMari.

 It worked…

Give Thanks, You'll Be Thankful You Did

 

Thanksgiving... a day set aside to be grateful and to give thanks.  A very nice day.

 So how about "being the change" and start acknowledging you gratitude at every meal?  You will be amazed at how your attitude about life will improve.  Your gratitudes don't have to be huge ones.  "I got a close parking place", "my donut was so fresh" and so on are perfect starting points.  The more you do, the more good things you will realize are happening in your life.

 Give it a try for a month...

 

 

Make a List and Combine Trips

 Global warming, nasty air quality, expensive fuel, traffic jams...  All good reasons "to be the change" and combine trips when you go out. 

 Next time you need to leave your home, make a list of other errands you can do while out.  For us living out here at The Sticks, just to get to town is a 15 mile trip that takes about 30 minutes with traffic and stop lights/signs.  Then you gotta come home.  An hour out of our lives to pick up groceries.

 Combining trips just makes sense.

A Tea for Three

 Twelve years ago today we had a 'high tea' in Scotland.  We were discussing the tea culture in the UK with our friend Dave.

 High tea, afternoon tea, low tea, cream tea:  we were so confused!  As he explained, afternoon tea and low tea are the same.  Delicious tasteys served in a beautiful display... on low tables in a posh setting.  Cream tea is an afternoon tea that features clotted cream as a spread for your scones.  High tea is a light meal to ward off hunger when getting home from work.  It is served at the dinner table (the 'high' table).  It too has a tray of goodies, but fewer and not so fancy.

 Then Dave decided to treat us to a high tea at a pub he knew just down the road.

  

Dave pouring his tea.

  

Our entrees.

 

And our simple selection of scones and treats.

 

 

 

 

 

Money From Mark

 I'm sure you've heard about the class action law suit against Facebook over personal info being sold to a political 'machine'.

 The case settled with a 725 million dollar ruling against Facebook, to be awarded to people who had a Facebook account(s) between May 2007 and December 2022.

 That would be me!  And I filed for my piece of the action.

 It is a bit dicey about how payment will be made.  This is the best explianation of how that is going to work.  " Using an oversimplified example, if the net settlement amount is $100 and the total number of points for all claimants adds up to 500, you would be paid 20 cents ($100/500) for every month you had an open account between May 2007 and December 2022. If your account was activated for, say, 52 months you would receive $10.40 (20 cents x 52 months). If it was activated all 187 months of that period you would receive $37.40."  (ABC News)

 I really don't care about the amount.  I will be happy if I get .25c out of Mark Zuckerberg's pocket!  When (and if) I get anything, I'll let you know.

 

 

Practical Minimalism

 I’ve been thinking about “practical minimalism” as a lifestyle…

 There are SO many facets to a life that have to be focused on, isn’t there? Not just a home and how much you have crammed into it. But rather how much you’ve crammed into your personal ‘world’. Your physical self, family, friends, the maintenance of home & yard, hobbies/recreation, groups/clubs, and so on. Lots of ‘so on’.

 Therefore I’ve decided to make a list of all those things above to decide what needs to be in my life, AND how to make what I pick focused.

 The point is to make deliberate decisions on everything immediately. Don’t have to implement all at once, but I will have a plan  when the time comes.

A Midnight Toad

 

Have you ever seen a black toad?  Neither had we until we came across this dude living in my herb bed.  Goggle says that "black toads" live only in a small area of California.  Another entry said that Eastern Spadefoot toads can be "almost black".  But nothing else seems to match. 

Seems we have a bit of a warty mystery out here in The Sticks.

Bad, Bad Weather

 This is a section on the NOAA weather web site.  It shows all the severe hail, wind, and tornados so far this year.  Oh my goodness!!!  The site also breaks it down monthly.

https://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/summary/     

  

Cherry Gunk (recipe)

 Here is a favorite dating back to my Senior year of high school (that would be 1979-1980).  My best friend Paul would show up carrying a bag from Krogers with the main ingredients of this cake... asking "would you make some of that cherry gunk?"

Cherry Gunk

 

1 box yellow cake mix

1/4 cup oil

2 eggs

1/2 cup water

2 cups cherry pie filling

1 cup crushed pineapple

 

Pre-heat oven to 350*.

 Pour oil into a 13x9 pan to cover bottom and sides.  Put cake mix, eggs, and water into pan.  Stir with fork until blended (about 2 minutes).  Scrape sides and spread batter evenly in pan.  Dump in cherry filling and pineapple into batter.  Use fork to stir fruit into batter, creating a marbled effect.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Minimalizing With A Capsule Wardrobe

 Because of Covid and Himself's immune issues I have not been clothes shopping for years.  I did have clothes in smaller sizes that I moved down thru.  But it is time...  I've decided I want to do a capsule wardrobe with just the colors I love in my color palette and have only clothes that fit perfectly.

 "A capsule wardrobe is simply a collection of clothing composed of thoughtfully curated, easily interchangeable items designed to maximize the number of outfits that you can create. What is this? Essentially, a capsule wardrobe allows you to create a variety of different looks with a small selection of clothes."  There are all sorts of ideas about how one goes about this.  They range from the simplicity of the above definition to geeky bossy you can only do "X" or you must follow said guru's literal selections (bought thru their web site, of course).  I'm a simple living sort of girl... who doesn't need to be micro managed.

 I did a very serious Kon Mari of all my clothes and accessories.  There's not much left!  Now it's time to rebuild my wardrobe. 

Here is the basic format of building a capsule wardrobe...  I already blew off Rule 1.  I do not like navy and black is too harsh with my complexion.  My choice- charcoal grey. 

Now the fun part!  Picking my accent colors.  In the past I did the "Color Me Beautiful" class.  I am a "Summer".  So from that pallet I picked sky blue & periwinkle, aqua, rose, and lilac-orchid-plum to be mine.  They work well with each other.

 Let the shopping begin!  I am on my way to curating a look that is all "Teri"!

Project Minimalization

 

I've decided I need to set myself a personal ultimatum for minimalizing "things".  Basically I realize I've started slacking.  UGH!  This is not good!  I must take control for my own peace.

 Therefor I have set a deadline that ALL "things" belonging to me will be: dealt with - decluttered - minimalized by midnight 31 Dec.  Including electronic.  Organized or removed.

 That gives me a max of 87 days to be done (Sundays and booked up days subtracted).  House living areas, my studio, attic, garage, shed, yard, computer, papers files. 

 I really want 2024 to be about becoming my best ME. 

 

A Simple Bound Journal

 Because of our Covid ‘seclusion’, the last class I was able to take was a cooking class at Whole Foods (which no longer exists).  That was February 2020.

 The post craft shop has started offering classes again.  Interesting classes.  I’ve jumped on this opportunity!

 

First one was a bound suede leather journal.  Pretty, soft, and flexible.  And the last time I’ll ever use suede again!  In binding the cover to the pages it was almost impossible to see the punched holes in the fuzzy suede texture.  UGH!

 

The binding threads made a nice pattern.  In the future I’ll add beads to make it nicer.

          

The pages are made with mixed media paper so it can be used for about anything.  Five sheets of paper were folded in half, which makes 10 pages per signature (book sections). 

 I did 5 signatures.  So this journal has 50 pages total.  That’s a good size to have.

 I have an idea of what I want to use it for.  Just have to see if the event I want to journal about actually happens.

Beer Bread

 Himself found a bottle of beer pushed way behind other things on the shelf.  It had been there a long time.  Hmmm...  When life gives you stale beer, there is only one thing you can do with it.

 Make beer bread!!

Bisquick Beer Bread

 

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter, softened

3 cups Original Bisquick mix

1/3 cup sugar

1 bottle or can (12 oz) light beer (dark works fine, just more ‘beery’)

 

Steps

1.  Heat oven to 375°F. Grease bottom only of 9x5-inch loaf pan with 1 to 2 tablespoons of the butter.

 

2.  In large bowl, stir together Bisquick mix, sugar and beer with whisk until well blended. Pour into pan.

 

3.  Bake 45 to 55 minutes or until golden brown.

 

4.  In small microwavable bowl, microwave remaining 2 to 3 tablespoons butter on High until melted; brush over warm loaf. Cool 15 minutes before slicing.

Give a Compliment to the Boss

 The world is becoming a mean place.

 It has been breaking my spirit so I've decided to "become the change I want to see".  No, it won't make a huge difference to the world but it will make a huge difference in me.

 

Each month I will start a new habit/action that will have a positive change.  I'm going to share so perhaps you will join me...

 

September's action is to recognize workers who are doing a fantastic job.  First, they will get a warm 'thank you'.  Second, I will make sure to tell their boss; either in person or with a phone call when I get home.

Medicare warning #2

When you start Medicare, they encourage you to make a "Intro to Medicare" appt with your new Medicare health provider.  Also an annual "Wellness Check".  All either of these appts are is TALKING to you.  Medicare will pay for that.

And if you get labs - which your new provider will tell you they need - Medicare pays ZERO.  You will be looking at a $400 ish bill that you have to pay. 

 (Just got hit with this one today - SEVEN MONTHS after the appointment!!)

Apple of My Eye

 It is coming up season for fresh apples! 

 I can’t wait to see what they have at the produce auction.  But I always have trouble remembering which types are sweet verses tart.  I like mid-range heading up towards sweet and Himself likes the tart ones.

 This chart will be helpful…

 

Bye Bye Bonsai Belongings

 An ongoing part of my refining my focus on everything was to decide where I wanted to go with my bonsai.  While I really like many things in the bonsai world, to actually DO them just does not work for me.  Stress vs fun.

 I did a KonMari on all bonsai related items I had:  pots, stands, books, decor, tools.  All of it.  As I sorted I thought heavily on what I do enjoy about doing bonsai.

 I just don’t care about showing trees.  And I don’t like being pushed to do so.  I love reality; not artificial (hard to maintain) perfection.  Since I am not going to show almost all of my stands  and other show ‘needs’ are leaving.  With this realization I found the name for my bonsai garden - Atsumatta Wabi Sabi.  “Gathered Imperfect Beauty”. 

 Gathered.  I’m not going to buy bonsai or pre-bonsai trees.  Yamadori is stock collected from the wild, or in my case YARDadori… collected from my yard (which is pretty wild).  Gifts will be accepted too as long as it isn’t a white elephant.  In that case, “Thank you so much but no thank you”. 

 I adore the small size bonsai and really shallow pots are the ‘gold standard’.  However, they do not adore me.  Too much maintenance.  My focus will be medium size bonsai so all of my small pots are leaving.

 Out of a tall stack of books, only 3 are staying.

I ended up with enough to cover two 8 foot tables.

 My plan for all this surplus is to offer it to a couple guys (bonsai buddies) who do this stuff professionally.  I hope to work a swap with them.  One afternoon this spring helping me get a few trees styled in exchange for all the stuff.  Or I’ll put it up for sale… take one, take all… for $TBD. 

 

One small portion.

 

Community

 One of the good things about living out in the country is the sense of community.  Recently a family lost their home to fire.

 

The area came together last Sunday and had a BBQ pork dinner fund raiser.

 

J&R's is the local "watering hole".  Definitely not posh but it was well attended.

 You could eat inside or do take-away.  And if you didn't want to go inside the smokey bar, you could ring them up and they would bring it out to you.

 

Himself coming out with his "plate".  That smile tells it all!

 

The servings were amazing.  There was enough for several meals.

 

 

Nightly Light Show

 The lightning bugs (or fire flies) have been amazing this year.  The yard is absolutely full of them each night.  99% are the regular yellow-green lights but the other evening Himself saw a bright orange one!

 We even have a bunch of synchronous lightning bugs!

 But one bug seemed to have decided to go the spot light route.  He NEVER shut off… no flashes whatsoever!  Well… maybe that is not quite right.  He would go from bright to dim to bright to dim.  Shining all the time.  Himself caught him for a closer look.

 

Bright.

 

                     

Dim.

 Of course we let him go right away.

 

 

 

Studio- a place for everything

 I have been cutting way back on my stash of ‘creative’ supplies.  I ask myself “what is the point”?  If I don’t have a place/method to display or use it… there is no point.  I’ve rehomed a LOT.

 

This is all my paper supplies now.  I make books & journals.  I do mixed media art that I put those journals. 

 

This hutch holds all my tools, painting supplies, and some odds and ends on top

 

And this wall my jewelry making bits, upcoming projects, and more odds & ends for creating. 

Everything is labeled and easy to get to.  Pretty soon the creating will begin!

 

 

 

My Current Hero

 

Books Are Not Sacred

 I’m a member of a Marie Kondo method Facebook decluttering group.  The area that gets to largest wails of “I can’t get rid of ANY”, “they are my precious friends”, “I’ve never thrown away a XXX”, and so is the book section.  

 

The wails are usually accompanied by a photo of a junked up mess of Precious piled up with absolutely no respect.  And there are 100s of versions of the Meme “It’s Not Hoarding If It’s Books”.  Uh… yes it is.

 Because of that one of my first areas of minimalizing was my book shelves in my studio!  (Upstairs books will be gone thru as I rework each room).  I’ve actually done this before and thought I was pretty much done.

 

Doesn’t look bad… especially when you consider I used have THREE of these units… filled.

  

It took me a full day to get it to this.  (Still a mess as I now have to organize and pretty up the space.)  I smile every time I walk past!

 

 

 

 

 

My Studio - The Starting Point

 I've finally gotten everything OUT of my studio that doesn't belong to me.  Sheesh, didn't think it would take that long.  Sad thing is that it pretty much looks the same!  

Oh well.  I jumped straight into dealing with all those irritating tubs I gritched about earlier.  Things are either getting put away properly or they're gone.  It is going well albeit slow.

As I finish each section, I will share what I've done.  Keeps me accountable!

The Yum Factor

 

Himself just whipped a loaf of banana bread using a couple bananas that ripened waaaaay too fast.

It is nice being married to a baker!

Fresh Tomatoes

One of life’s great pleasures is munching a warm off-of-the-vine tomato.  And I am the worst at growing tomatoes!

 I decided to try again- with cherry tomatoes this time.

 

It’s working!

 

This just makes me happy.

 

Wonderful treats.

Absolutely True

 

When Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

 

For the last couple of days we have been stuck inside because of the Canadian wildfire smoke.  It is not bad here, tho the air is definitely "different".

Hibiscus Ikebana

 

A branch hanging too low over our sidewalk becomes a lovely ikebana arrangement.

Day 1 of My 61st Year

 

I Think I'm Becoming a Minimalist

 

I am finding myself becoming really annoyed with the amount of things I (personally) have stashed in tubs.  Certain “stash” is good… building supplies, light bulbs, and so on.  But tubs of unknown trinkets, odds & ends, impulse buys, and no longer used décor has become - in my mind - stupid to have.  

There is definitely levels of minimalism.  It doesn’t just mean Spartan, tho if you Google minimalist images about all you get are photos of white rooms with a tiny bit of white furniture.  Ummm… No.  Basically each person has to work out what it means to them.  It is usually a continuously evolving process; that is definitely true for me.  

So I am at it again.  

My two biggest stash areas are my studio and the garage.  Over this summer’s hot and miserable days I intend to cull thru until I have ZERO anonymous tubs of ‘stuff’.  And my creative stash will take a huge hit as I am working hard on learning to focus.  Too many squirrels! 

 

 

FedUp with FedEx

I am DONE with receiving… or NOT receiving.... deliveries via FedEx.

 Last week I had four deliveries from Walmart for things they don’t have IN the store anymore.  So aggravating. 

 The first delivery was on the 3rd.  Delivery notice said “Delivered to front door”.

 

Apparently I live in my mailbox…

 On the 5th was my second delivery.

 

I do not have a deck with wrought iron chairs.  I don’t have a deck at all. (Next day a sweet young man knocked on my door with my package that had been delivered to his house… which isn’t even on my road!)

 I tried contacting FedEx about the issue.  Their customer dis-service is set up the be 100% robo agent loops back to “contact your shipper”. 

 I found an article titled “Why Is FedEx So Bad? (11 Reasons Why Customers Are Fed Up)”.  One reason was “Perhaps one of the most common complaints customers have about FedEx is that delivery drivers lie about delivery attempts.”  Yep.   Then there was “Customers have recorded FedEx drivers throwing and dropping packages. Understandably, this leads to ripped packaging and damaged items.”  Try YouTube search for FedEx Delivery Fails (last year FedEx threw a DVD player in our ditch AND “lost” a microwave.  Yeh right, some FedEx jerk has a new microwave!!)  Also, FedEx delivery drivers are not FedEx employees.  They are lowest bid contractors.  You get what you pay for…

 On the 7 th my last two deliveries arrived.

 

Seems my “front door” is still my mailbox.  At least the blasted jerk got it to my address!

 Four for four deliveries screwed up.

 This radically changes my online shopping.  I will be checking delivery method with every order.  If it is FedEx; the order gets cancelled!  There will be no more Walmart delivery either.  They use ONLY FedEx to ship.  That sucks.