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.