Monthly Archives: October 2019

One day to Halloween. The decor is actually out before the day. This is a triumph.

I am wearing one of my Halloween dresses and planning on tomorrow’s. Part of me wants to try to do victory rolls to go with it, but the saner half keeps reminding me that it took me more than an hour to do it last time and I will not get up early to do it on a work day.

At any rate, the traffic tonight is awful, since there is wet death from above. (That would be rain for the non-Virginians in the crowd. Not to be confused with white death from above — snow) That means 80s on the Pandora app and me singing at full voice as much as possible.

Gratitude:

1) That the Confide App exists

2) That the bronchitis and asthma have not dropped my voice too low to sing Bangles songs.

3) That my family is willing to indulge in Halloween decor.

EBay: chess pieces, and a Sleepy the dwarf figurine.

Is it really only Tuesday? This is going to be a long week.

So, I am going to bed early and giving people the reminder that teamtrees.org exists and that we all need air to breathe.

Gratitude:

1) my prescriptions were ready on time

2) Pandora lets me play 80s music whenever I want

3) Astonishing Legends did a podcast on a true crime that has sent me seeking further information and desperately wanted to write my profile of the killer and/or add it to a book.

Gratitude:

1) The rainbow I saw on the way home tonight.

2) 1800Junk for hauling the mattress out of my bedroom and the sofa out of the living room so I didn’t have to

3) That my boss trusts me to cover for him when he’s out

Trying to get the house in order. Took down a pencil tree which kept trying to fall over and break ornaments and heads. Took the electronic recycling over to Office Depot and picked up some ornaments hooks to put up the Halloween Shiny Brites.

Most of the Halloween decor is actually placed and it’s not even Halloween. Lol. And most of it will shift easily over to a more general harvest theme next month.

Time to get cleaning. Later, cuz.

Gratitude:

1) That the pencil tree fit into the trash bin

2) The YouTube #teamtrees campaign that Mr. Beast organized.

3) Tester pots of paint that should be enough to do the accent wall in my bathroom without having to buy a full gallon

I was listening to a podcast this morning that sparked me to think about my relationship to things. Physical things. I grew up as what is termed a Global Nomad. We are the children of service members, national company officers, diplomats, etc. We are used to moving every few years and attend multiple schools through our lives.

We do not have a family home.

This is a huge difference between my parents and myself. They have a town that they grew up in. Their parents lived in the same houses for more than forty years.

I have been, for the first time in my life, living in the same house for more than ten years. This is a huge shift and the coping mechanisms and the life I was used to hasn’t completely shifted either me.

As a nomad, my things were what I attached the term “home” to. The bed that moved with me, the teddy bear who traveled Europe with me, the collection of things which has followed me from place to place. What it also means is that I was used to a purge every two years because we were moving.

That hasn’t happened in years.

Thus, there is too much stuff in my life right now. This is part of why I am doing the eBay thing. To reduce that amount. Also, we have sent so many boxes to Goodwill that the people working there recognize my father. And still there is more stuff.

There’s not really a resolution to this explanation or exploration of my brain, but It is something I am trying to be aware of and change my thinking on. I do not need to surround myself with stuff just to have it. I don’t need to tie my memories or sense of home to them. Don’t get me wrong, I will never be a minimalist with a white box of an apartment and three pairs of black pants in my closet, but I am working at curating my life more and releasing the things that are just hiding in the closet.

EBay: Penny doll

Gratitude:

1) That people will listen to my ramblings

2) That I have a possible new job opportunity

3) That I have the time and space to store things while I try to sell them and recoup some of the money to put against debts, as opposed to being so against the wall from packing that I just donate it all and hope for the best.

Yesterday was mostly bland, punctuated by a little venting and whinging.

Gratitude

1) Johnathan Coulton’s “Re: Your Brains” for always making me smile.

2) Hank and John Green for being adorkable and intelligent nerds.

3) My memory for lyrics which lets me sing along with songs in the car

Discovered a new charity today by watching a video: onesimplewish.org. It provides gifts to kids in foster care who might otherwise not have anything special in their lives. You can donate a straight amount or you can choose a particular wish to sponsor. I love shopping for others, so this is right up my alley.

Similar to this is modestneeds.org which allows you to help families out with simple needs that might otherwise cripple their finances. For example, brakes on the car or new glasses.

You can help teachers out on donorsChoose.org if that’s your bag. I love buying books or art supplies for classrooms on this.

Just… do a random act of kindness today. We need more kindness in the world right now.

EBay sales: pattern, necklace, vintage Ewok, 2 books, collectable banks,

Gratitude:

1) the meeting this afternoon which had the potential to go nuts was actually really well received and did not turn into something nasty

2) That the podcasts I listen to on the way to work and back are interesting and well produced.

3) That Nanowrimo is on its way and I know what I am going to write for it this year