Decluttering Originally posted 3/25/19

I took a break from decluttering while we were on our cruise and this last week as I was

trying to get caught up on the laundry from the trip and was subbing all week.  I also took a break from technology while we were traveling as well and as always I enjoyed that. I am

thinking I will limit my online time this summer to only an hour or so a day. I can live without my phone and computer and spend my downtime reading rather than online.

This weekend I have just taken some time to relax as I am worn out. I think this next week I will try to spend 20-30 minutes a night working on decluttering after school. I have a pile of

books to go through as well as a pile of magazines and some odds and ends in boxes in the living room that I need to decide if I want to keep or not and if I keep them where I am going to put them. I want to finish the living room before I leave on my trip with my dear friend from high school.  

I am working out a plan for decluttering this summer while we are also doing some work on the house. We are planning to strip the popcorn ceiling in the living room, kitchen, and hallways. I would also like to do my sewing room and Tom's room. He has all kinds of things in that room so I am not sure what to call it.

I would love to strip out the carpet upstairs this summer as well, but that may have to wait until next year. I will be leaving with my son Bryce in early August to drive down to Illinois where he will be attending graduate school. I plan to take a little trip and visit some friends and relatives while down there before returning home in September.

Here is a story of one of my previous decluttering projects for your enjoyment.

Last summer, before I had even heard of the Uncluttered course, I took my sewing room apart and moved everything out except my fabric shelves while my husband was out of town for two weeks. Then I went through all my fabric and rearranged it by color and pulled out what I would never use or thought was ugly to gift to a friend for her guild's charity quilts. I went through everything that had been in the room except three boxes that I need to pull and go through when I am done with the rest of the house. I had five or six 13 gallon bags of fabric to gift, three bags of scraps which I sent to other quilters for the cost of postage, a couple of bags of things to donate, and about four 13 gallon bags of trash. I organized all of my patternspatterns into binders by kind, and have my works in progress organized. I am now working slowly on completing projects and have a rule. I must complete three things or move them forward to a completed top before I can start a new project, and I need to bind two quilts a month as I have 37 quilts that are waiting to be bound. To be fair I got way behind about three or four years ago when I fell and broke my wrist and tore ligaments, so was unable to do any hand stitching for about four months and then only or short periods of time for a few months after that. Then I was also traveling back and forth to Tennessee a lot to care for my mom and step-father. I was also subbing full time when I was home, and then spent a summer from hell in TN and lost my mother so ignored my quilts for a few months. I am working hard at getting back on track and I send my larger quilts out to be quilted so some times they get done faster than I can hand bind. I still have my scrapbooking and cardmaking things to go through in the family room, but am thinking I will wait on that until May, as I am subbing the next few weeks and then will be gone for two weeks. I think I will just focus on finishing the living room and maybe my bedroom until I leave.

Saying American’s First is Now Considered Hate Speech in America

In the land of the free, home of the brave it is now considered hate speech to say put Americans first, to say we need to take care of American citizens and Veterans first and foremost, before we take care of others.

I feel we need to take care of our own before we take care of others. Just as a mother will take care to make sure her children are safe before helping someone else. The illegals who are trying to break into our country need to go through the appropriate legal channels to come here. We as a country cannot take on the world’s problems when we have our own that need to be dealt with. We do not have the money to take care of everyone else. Sneaking across our borders is a criminal act. We need to send those who come here illegally packing. We can give them the appropriate paperwork to apply legally to gain admittance to our country, but we cannot deal with being overrun by illegals financially, or infrastructure wise.

On Thursday I got a message on FB that my comment  was considered hate speech and it was removed.

It all started with a comment I made on someone’s post. I did not attack any one, I defined the term illegal as it applies to immigrants who come to this country outside of the legally prescribed channels. This along with the fact that I believe we should take care of our citizens and veterans first was said by FB to be hate speech. This is not hate speech. It is simply my opinion, and not an attack on anyone. I seriously am at a loss as to how anyone could take what I said as hate speech.

I simply stated: American’s first, citizens not illegals. I explained that illegals are not immigrants in the true sense of the word. They are trying to come into our country illegally which means they are criminals because the word illegal means criminal.

According to the Mercian Webster Dictionary an illegal alien/immigrant noun

“Definition of illegal alien/immigrant

: a foreign person who is living in a country without having official permission to live there.

illegal adjective

il·​le·​gal | \ (ˌ)i(l)-ˈlē-gəl  \

Definition of illegal (Entry 1 of 2)

: not according to or authorized by law : UNLAWFUL, ILLICIT

also : not sanctioned by official rules (as of a game)

illegal noun

Definition of illegal (Entry 2 of 2)

sometimes disparaging + offensive

: a person who enters or lives in a country without the documentation required for legal entry or residence

Synonyms & Antonyms for illegal

Synonyms: Adjective

criminal, felonious, illegitimate, illicit, lawless, unlawful, wrongful

Antonyms: Adjective

lawful, legal, legitimate” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/illegal accessed July 7, 2019).

I took a picture of the above comment and inserted it on my own page along with the following comment, which interestingly enough was not deleted though it appears to have contributed to my being place in FB jail when I went to the help center trying to get some answers to how my comment could be considered hate speech.

I was told that my comment went against FB standards when I was standing up for American citizens first over illegals. American Citizens should be taken care of before anyone else and we have a lot of American citizens that need help. Our veterans need to me taken care of before we take care of these illegal aliens who are invading our country. I find FB’s comment that my comment is offensive, to be extremely offensive to my personal beliefs. I don't believe they should be able to censor my opinion and my thoughts. Talk about a bunch of BS.

The first amendment guarantees freedom of speech and FB is suppressing my freedom of speech.

I have added into this blog the exact wording from the United States Constitution First Amendment.  

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” ("First Amendment". Cornell University Law School Legal Information Institute. July 5, 2019.)

If Congress can make no law restricting or abridging freedom of speech then FB should not be allowed to suppress free speech either.

Suppression of free speech is violating my constitutional rights.

I feel that I was banned for three days in error.

My comment was not hate speech. I was simply expressing my opinion and the fact is that FB is censoring my opinion, which is allowed under the Constitution. It’s called Free Speech.

Having an opinion that does not meet the liberal, socialist agenda has become a crime, if you choose to voice it, at least on FB.

I feel that we are not allowed to have an opinion unless it is biased toward the liberal looney left. I believe in different things and should have the right to express my opinion. When I posted stating that FB was censoring me for having an opinion that different than theirs and that is a large part of the problem in today’s society, people cannot agree to disagree.

I posted my opinion on having my comment censored stating that FB was suppressing my right to free speech, which is guaranteed in the Constitution of the United States and I got banned for three days. Please explain why? It makes no sense to me.

I want to know why there is no way to appeal and explain my comment and have it reviewed immediately, with discussion so that the intent behind my comment can be explained to the faceless FB person who banned me for something that was not hate speech. I did ask for my comment to be reviewed and it is still in review three days after the fact, which in my opinion is totally ridiculous. FB also does not have a space where you can give further information or ask questions when you submit for a review.

This whole thing has me perplexed. My mind is muddled as I do not see how what I said can in anyway be taken as hate speech. I did not have any animosity behind what I said, I simply stated what I believed and tried to explain to the person who I believe is a complete idiot for not getting the concept that these people are not immigrants, they are illegal because they are not following the law to try and gain access to our country.

I feel very strongly that we should take care of our own first. We have hundreds of real American’s who are hurting and in need and hundreds of veterans who need our help and we need to take care of them first, especially the veterans who put their lives on the line in defense of our country. I personally believe they should receive the pay of football and other sports players and football players and other sports people should get minimum wage, just as Congress should get minimum wage.

There is a legal way to enter our country and that is the only way they can and should enter. In my opinion people who are helping the illegals or encouraging them to come to AMerican, which we all know one particular political party is doing, are aiding and abetting criminals., which is also a crime.

In my opinion, FB is totally biased toward the liberal media and has drunk the Kool-Aid along with all the liberals and been brainwashed to believe the garbage they are spewing regarding socialism.  

The liberal agenda includes crying about the small number of children separated from their parents, well what about the hundreds of thousands of American children (citizens) who are separated from their parents. Thosewho have parents in prison for committing a crime. Those who are in foster care, and more importantly,in my opinion,  those separated from their parents in the military, who may never see their parents again because they could die in the service of their country.

If you do not agree with me, that is fine but tell me to my face, do no anonymously report me and hide behind someone’s skirt. I am open to civilized discussion regarding my opinion and yours. I would love to know why you disagree with me and the facts behind your opinion. I will give you mine and we can have a civil discussion, not whiny, yelling, and tattling like a two year old who has to go running to mommy to fix everything and can’t think for themselves. I am more than willing to have a civil discussion and to listen to someone who has views that differ from my own. I would like to know what facts they base their opinions on and why. By facts I mean real facts, that support their beliefs not the garbage being spouted by the looney left regarding how great socialism is.

A person has a right to state their own opinion and to be heard. Others have the right to agree or disagree, but to censor or ban others speech harkens back to Nazi Germany and I feel that we need to stop this before we become like Germany was when the Jews, Gypsies, and others were sent to concentration camp, and killed for not being the right kind of people, or for disagreeing with Hitler and his Nazi agenda. The Christians are being persecuted as are the Jews, which tells me that they (and you all know who I mean) are emulating Hitler and following in his footsteps. They want to ban all who do not drink their Kool-Aid and spout their party line. This is a crime in my opinion and it violates the Constitution of the United States of America.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Facebook Nazi’s censor free speech and violate out constitutional right to free speech. It is time to take a stand against the oppression. This needs to stop because censoring free speech violates the constitution. It is time for us to rise up against the socialist liberals who are trying to destroy our Constitution, our government, and our country.

On a side note, I cleared a bunch of liberal socialist from my friends list and there are more I still need to clear. I am decluttering the garbage, the socialist, and those who do not believe in free speech.

Life in Today’s World

The world is so far gone at this point in time I am not sure where I belong. Things have gone so far off track from the way I was raised that I feel I do not belong here. What was once mental illness is considered the norm by many, but in my opinion it is still a mental illness and these people need serious help.

The dumbo craps are upset they lost and won’t let it go so the rest of us have to suffer their ranting and crying. The Republicans are fighting back and our country is going to hell in a hand bag because of it all. As an independent I will never vote for a Democrat socialist, and in this case I actually feel that Trump has done more good than bad for our country with regard to employment and such.

I do think that we need to get the government out of education and health care as they do not belong there. We need to let states decide these issues and work things out themselves. We also need to put restrictions on pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies so that people are not priced out the health care they need. Teachers need to paid a fare wage equivalent to the education they are required to have, just as doctors are.

We also need to reduce the money paid to our Congressional members and cut their perdeim. They should not be making millions off the backs of the tax payers and speaking of taxes, we need to set a 10 or 15% tax for everyone, with no loop holes and no discounts for anyone. You make a $1.00 you pay a dime and you do not get it back. This will set a guaranteed budget for the government to stick to. I also feel that those who are serving in our military should not have to pay taxes on their military wages at any time. They are putting their lives on the line for our freedom.

I Don’t Know How to Adult

I nearly choked on my tea listening to the news tonight. I could not believe the ridiculousness of what I heard. In case you missed it there was a report on millennials taking adulting classes, because they have no idea how to adult and take care of basic common sense things like budgeting, cooking, and minor home repairs.

Give me a break, they have no common sense and have no idea how to adult. They don’t know how to budget, keep a check book, or make simple household repairs. What a total joke. They are more concerned with their feelings than with how to survive in the real world and I blame that on the parents. Maybe if they focused on being in the real world they would learn more about how to survive in the world, instead of being attached to their phones and their online personas.

In the adulting classes they are learning things like how to create a budget, and how to balance a check book as well as how to fix a loose hinge and such. These are skills that should be taught by parents. Common people quit worrying about their feelings and teach them how to survive in the world like you parents did you, or should have done.

The news said that millennials are the most educated group in the country today, but they do not know simple basic common sense tasks. How stupid can they be. They are not the most educated in my mind. They may be book smart but they have absolutely no common sense. Maybe that is why so many are still living in their mommy’s and daddy’s house at 30.

The people who raised them obviously failed big time as parents. Budgeting is basic common sense, you cannot spend more than you bring in and survive. As for fixing basic things in your home, that is common sense, if you don’t know how to do it you get a self-help book and read up on it, or call a friend and if all else fails you call a repair man.

We have raised a generation of idiots who are more concerned with their feelings than they are with how to survive in todays world. I mean give me a break, if a nuclear bomb goes off they will probably run outside to watch the fireworks and then wonder why they are dying.

The news put blame on the schools not teaching these skill, but in fact the blame really belongs on the parents. The ones who did everything for their kids and who were more concerned that their feelings might be hurt than if they knew how to survive in the real world.

God help us all with these morons in line to run the country they are worse than the screwed up idiots who are currently in office. (I would say more but will keep my political opinions to myself as I know some of you are bleeding hearts.)

I taught my boys how to do laundry, cook, and sew before they left home. They learned these things through doing their chores. They also learned about a budget because they were given x amount of dollars a week for lunch and told if they spent it all in the first two or three days of the week there was peanut butter in the cupboard as they were not getting more. These are basic skill that all parents should be teaching their children in everyday life. My kids also learned about cost comparison when we went to the store and looked at which item on the shelf was the better deal. They learned that bigger is not always cheaper than smaller and that sometime you have to go with cheaper or do without. They learned to change a tire, which I know how to do, but I can never get the lug nuts loose after they are put on at the dealer when we have them changed over at the end of one season or the other. My boys both learned to listen when Mom says do not put your reds in with your whites and had to deal with pink undies for a week. They learned that if they wanted the really expensive shoes that they had to find a way to earn the difference between what I was willing to pay and what they cost.

This is common sense people. PARENTS! Wake up and do your job, teach your kids these basic skills. Quit worrying about their feelings and let them learn some things from the school of hard knocks because life is not fair. It is your job to teach your kids manners and basic survival skills, and saying well I work to many hours is no excuse, you are still expected be a parent, or maybe you should not have had kids in the first place.

Kitchen and Clothes II

I spent time the last few days working on the shelving unit in the kitchen. I cleared out a ton of paper trash and other things. I have a bunch of stuff to recycle or donate. I also rearranged and moved some things off the kitchen counter and found new homes for a few things.

I went through my knit jackets and dress jackets and have several in the to be donated pile, which opened up some space on that hanging rack. I kept a few that might still end up being donated.

I also pulled out and organized my pants and long sleeve tops.  I need to try on my jeans and leggings and see which ones are keepers and which ones are going away.

I feel that I am making good progress, slowly.

This week I am stepping back as I need to pack for an upcoming short trip and get some other things done, plus I am subbing for a couple of days.

I am almost done reading The More of Less by Joshua Becker, which is an excellent book.  I have learned a lot from the book and from the Uncluttered course. I have another of his books, The Minimalist Home, waiting in the wings to start when I finish this one.

I still have a long way to go on the decluttering, but I have made quite a bit of progress and am continuing to work on it slowly.  I need to send a bunch of stuff to Goodwill that is ready to go, and I am sure I will have several more loads as I continue to clear things out that we do not need or use.  I am finding it to be rather freeing to clear things out of the house. When I am done with this first round of decluttering I plan to do a second round through all the rooms and I am sure I will find more to send out the door as I see more that we do not need or use.

The last thing I plan to tackle is my books as I know that will be one of the hardest things for me to part with. I love to read and I have reread some novels multiple times. There are many that I love and others that I use as references when writing and others I have for sentimental reasons that belonged to my grandmother. I am trying now to send some out the door as I finish reading them, but some are hard to let go of because I really enjoyed them.

I am off to bed after a relaxing evening sewing once I finished my decluttering project for today. Tomorrow I may try on my leggings and jeans, but they may wait a day or two before I make any decisions related to where they will end up.

Wishing you all a wonderful week. If you are thinking of minimizing or decluttering check out Joshua Becker's blog, Becoming Minimalist or sign up for his Uncluttered course.  He has tons of information to help you declutter.

Happy Decluttering!

Uncluttered - More things I have decided to clear from my home.

Last week we tackled clothing!  This week it is the kitchen.  I subbed fulltime the week before last which slowed down my progress and then thought I would use the weekend to get a lot done but woke up sick and did not get much done other than a few drawers. This last week, I was still sick so did not get much done.

I have uncluttered my clothes several times in the past but I also know that I have a lot of things I never wear. I have done the flip the hangers and if not worn in six months or a year it goes out the door, and I lost weight, so now I am clearing more clothes, and the why did I keep this I never wear it clearing of clothes. I still have clothes I never wear and it is time to clear more and send them out the door.

When I was working on the bedroom I did clear a drawer of old nightgowns and pajamas that I never wear and those darn socks that lost their mates, but I still have more things I can clear that I never wear. Even though I was sick I did go through several drawers and clear things, and I have some clothes in a pile that I need to try on and decided if I want to keep them or pass them on. I still have a bunch of scarves to go through on the second pass and a couple of more drawers as well as my closet in the other room and my jackets and dresses in the bonus room, which need to be weeded down. I do not wear the dresses very often so know that several of them can go away. The biggest thing will be going through my skorts that are hanging on the doors to the family room and office. I have a bunch of them, but I wear most of them, often.  I do have some that can go and will try them all on when I get to them.

This week due to not being 100% and needing help with regard to reaching some things I did not get as far as I would have liked.  I did go through a pile of cookbooks that were above one of the cabinets and most of them are in the donation pile. I am a vegetarian and do not cook out of a cookbook very often except for when making cookies and such so am sending most of the books full of meat recipes out the door. There are a couple of holiday ones that I am keeping as I like recipes in them and a few that are special ones like The Double Musky Inn Cookbook and my The Little House Cookbook.  I am also keeping a couple of kids cookbooks that I like for that day in the future when I hope to have grandkids as my boys liked making recipes from those two books. I think I have about 60 books going out the door and I have others on another shelf that I already reduced last year, but will do a second round of review on. There is a ton of stuff above the cabinets that I need my husband to pull down for me to go through as I cannot reach it or do not feel safe trying to pull down. I can tell by looking at a lot of it that it needs to go out the door. have already reduced the Tupperware cabinet a couple of times and will go through it again as I know more of it can go away also. I am slowly replacing the majority of my plastics with glass for storage and lunches. The one thing I will keep for sure is the two cup round Glad containers that hubby uses for his yogurt each day.

Most of what is on my counters will stay as it is things we use every day or darn near like the toaster oven, microwave, Vita-Mix, Expresso Machine, and basket for fruit. The one thing I want to move off the counter once I clear the shelving unit next to the counter is the Seal-a-Meal. It does not get used daily, but I certainly use it when I am packing for traveling. I rarely use the oven anymore with just the two of use so do most of my baking in the toaster oven.

I have one cupboard that is hidden that I need to go through though most of it will probably stay there as it is my Noritake china. I do not use it very often but it is special as my mother helped me select it and my father bought it for me when he was stationed overseas. I am thinking I may pull it out and use more of it every day. I have not checked that cupboard since the earthquake in November as am a little afraid to look in there to see if the china or the crystal glasses that came from Ireland are okay.

Today I have decided to try on clothes and to go through a couple of drawers in the kitchen and see what I can delete from them. I know my spice cupboards are good as I went through them a few months ago and cleared out the old stuff and organized the new as we kept buying spices we already had.

Next week will be a new adventure in uncluttering as I believe it is the children's areas and since I do not have children at home I will focus on the family room and office.  I also plan to clear the upstairs linen closet/pantry closet, as the pantry cabinet is not too bad since I go through it at least once if not twice a year, though there are a couple shelves in it that also need to be gone through. I keep finding things that should not be in the places they are and moving them into my husband's room (I have a sewing room and he has a room where he keeps all his art stuff and God knows what) so he can find them a home. In fact, at the moment I am looking at the stud finder that is sitting on my bookshelf in the living room.

I have two boxes of books and a book of odds and ends that need to be moved to the car to be delivered somewhere besides in my house. I will have to get after my hubby to move them out to the garage or the car until he can take them somewhere or I can arrange a pickup. The cookbooks can go to the used bookstore if they will take them or donated somewhere.

Uncluttered Weeks Two and Three

Last week I worked in the living room. I made progress and though I still have more to do I am happy with what I was able to accomplish.  I was able to clear out an entire section and move things to other rooms that needed to be moved and to bag up a bunch of paper for recycle and things for the trash and to donate.

This past week I worked in the bedroom and cleared out a drawer full of old nightgowns and pajamas that I never wear.  I also went through a bunch of socks and deleted those I do not wear and those that the dryer ate their mates long ago. Why I kept them I am not sure, maybe I was thinking their mates would find their way home from wherever they had wandered off to.

I went through a ton of little catch-alls in one corner of my bedroom and discovered that I should own stock in several ink pen companies. I even have refills for pens I do not have unless they are hiding in another room. I am setting them aside until I can check in the family room and office, as there are probably more pens in those rooms and I can see if the refills work for them, if not out the door they go.  I am only keeping the pens that I like and their refills. I am very pen picky when it comes to writing in my journals and have developed a liking for certain pens over the years. Many of these others were ones I was trying out at different times and they are all going Good-Bye!  I will deliver them to the office of the school where I do most of my subbing as I am sure they can put them to good use or share them with the teachers. I know I went through a ton of pens in my many years of teaching full-time. As a retired teacher, I do not use them as often since my primary writing is letters and in my journals. I prefer fun colors like pink, teal, and purple for my journals, so only need to keep a few blue and black ink pens for those occasional official documents I have to complete.

Word of the Year - 2019

     Last year I started reading a book on Ikigai and it really interested me.  Ikigai is your reason for being, your passion.

     I have been thinking a lot about the idea of my reason for being and the concept of passion and what is my passion. I decided that this year I want to focus on this, as I am very interested in my passion and discovering what my reason for being is.

     I also still plan to focus on Lagom from last year which is balance everything in moderation.  That concept works pretty well for me last year, except in terms of doing a long term sub job and all the English Language Learner's Testing and foreign language testing. This year I am once again doing the testing, but I am not trying to teach at the same time. That was way too much and threw me totally out of balance.

     I want to focus on what my reason for being or passion is and figure out what it really is. At one point in time I would have said it was being a mother, but with my children grown and off on their own, I am not as focused on that as it should be.  I am looking forward to someday being a grandmother, but that is not in my control and I will enjoy it when the time comes.  I loved teaching for many years, but at starting to think that I am about done with subbing and ready to move on to other things, but what those things are is still up in the air.  I love my quilting and sewing, but is that really my passion, or is it more my art journaling, or reading, or maybe it is writing and I should focus more on that and try to get published in a magazine.

     This year I am going to focus on finding my reason for being, my Ikigai.

Things I learned in this weeks lesson on decluttering.

I like the idea of looking at things in terms of how many hours I worked. A yard of fabric is equal to roughly a half hour of work before taxes and such. A massage is a half-days pay with the military discount since my insurance will not cover it. It makes much more sense than looking at dollars spent to look at it in terms of time.

Minimalism equals simplicity is also a good way to look at things, and reduces stress, which means better health.  I would rather spend my time quilting and reading than dealing with stuff and bills.

It took years to accumulate all this stuff and it will take time to go through it all and reduce or simplify.

Things I am focusing on this next week:

My motivations are that I desire to own less because I want less stress. I want to focus on my quilting and creative projects, peace, calm, family, travel, and my relationship with God.

I believe it is possible to simplify, but will take time and focus to achieve it.

I am ready to move on to the next step and focus on reducing clutter.

Uncluttered

I decided that one of my goals this year was to unclutter and the earthquake last November was one of the things that helped to spark that decision. I have been working on this off and on for several years, randomly, but this year I really mean to stick to it and to assist with that goal I signed up for an online class called Uncluttered.  They hold the class about three times a year and it lasts for about twelve weeks.

I have read about the Art of Swedish Death Cleaning or Hygge, and Marie Kondo's Magic Art of Tidying Up along with multiple other books related to decluttering and that gets me motivated for a week or two, but I don't seem to stick with it. I have gone through my clothes, and through my spices, and the pantry, but then I seem to fizzle out.

I signed up for this class along with an online quilting buddy so that we can encourage each other to shed or purge things we do not need.

I have done some since the earthquake as I had to clear off and move some shelves to clean up broken glass and for Tom to repair the seam that split in the corner from the jolting of the earthquake. In starting to put things back on the shelves I have been cleaning and clearing out books and such that we do not need or do not want. It is still ongoing progress as I have also been subbing and we were gone for two weeks in December, plus it took Tom a while to finish the repair. We are also going to pull everything down and paint the living room this summer, so I will probably get rid of more at that time.

The first assignment was to answer three questions related to your goal. I have been doing some thinking about my answers to the questions and I believe I have finally come up with my answers to declare my why. The questions ask you to think about what benefits you, what you look forward to, and what kind of example you want to set for others.  Lastly, you need to state why you want to own less.

I am feeling overwhelmed by all the stuff in the house and feel that by clearing some of it out I will be less stressed and more at peace. It will also mean less stuff is left here when I am gone for others to go through. I want less stress and anxiety, fewer distractions and less chaos.

I want to focus on my quilting and other creative projects and not on stuff. I also want to focus on travel, and family, and my relationship with God. I want more time, peace, contentment, and comfort. I want to be able to create, relax, and feel joy in my space.

I want to set an example for others that less is more and show that we often get weighted down by all our stuff. If we have less we have more freedom in life and can focus our time on other things that are more important to us than on stuff. I want to feel calm and at peace in my home.

I desire to own less because I want to feel free from the stress that occurs when I am overwhelmed by all the things in our home so I can focus on peace, calm, my creative projects, travel, family and my relationship with God.

The next class will be published on Monday, January 21, 2019, and I am looking forward to the information shared and the challenge for the week.

Grilled Veggies

When we grill, it is always veggies as I am a vegetarian, so even if I have a burger it is a veggie burger.  I have a sauce that I mix up for grilling that adds just the right touch of flavor to the veggies.  I also use this sauce when I make a veggie stir fry and when I bake the veggies. It is my favorite and tastes great with them all.

We grill all kinds of veggies, though our favorites include:
orange, yellow, and red peppers zucchini, sweet potatoes, onions, garlic, asparagus, broccoli,
cauliflower, and of course corn. We also grill pumpkin, butternut squash, yellow squash, jalapeños, and even pineapple.

We have a couple different grilling sauces we use, but our favorite is the following:

1/4 c Braggs Amminos or Soy Sauce if you prefer
2 Tbsp Sesame Oil
2 Tbsp Rice Vinegar
1 or more Tbsp Agave (to your taste)
1+ tsp grated ginger or ginger powder (to taste)
1+ tsp finely diced garlic or garlic powder (to taste)
Hot Shot or Black Pepper to taste

Mix it really well and brush on veggies as they are grilling. It adds just the right amount of spice and sweetness.