Budgets

Budgets and I have a love-hate relationship.  I find anything having to do with numbers difficult, and this nightmare never ceases. The current budget situation is an upcoming decrease of income which means I must continue my struggle for a budget that works and seek new income streams. Goal #1 has been met. One credit card is empty, not being used, and set aside in the file for “emergencies”. The truth is I intend to never use it again. Goal #2 has been met, with great effort. My credit card is empty, but not yet retired. The retirement will be … Continue reading

HOPE

HOPE, a supernatural virtue. Back in January someone suggested choosing a word for the year. I chose HOPE. Everyone knows the verse about Faith, Hope, and Charity and I realized that I needed to dwell a bit on Hope. Hope is a big part of Trust, and trusting God is essential for happiness and peace. I get anxiety so growing in peace would be very nice. So I added the word HOPE to the insert that marks the weekly spread in my planner. It is in green, a color of growing things, and this urges me to be hopeful. It … Continue reading

Getting distracted vs. blocked

I’ve been blogging on the virtues inherent in “tidying up” which includes the goals of getting rid of clutter and excess.  When these goals are not being met, there are reasons. Sometimes we get blocked from the plans we make, sometimes we get distracted. Most of my plans are somewhat dependent on my husband’s work progressing and leaving me spaces to transform-that would be blocked. Sometimes I get distracted by tools I think I need but could probably work around–that is distraction. So, here I sit, still not doing much in the way of images for my blog and I … Continue reading

Tidying my Office–Before

Post 2 on my struggles in housekeeping.  Today, I continue with step one in THE LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP by Marie Kondo. My office is currently in our RV, which is also under renovation.  The good side of using the RV as my office is it gives me ample time to figure out what I want changed in here, and what things belong in here and which do not. Right now my desk looks like this: It is a bit cluttered. I like having the family photos on my desk. I feel good having them there. The only family … Continue reading

CONVERGENCE

THE LIFE-CHANGING ART OF TIDYING UP is all about beauty. The ordinary beauty we make for ourselves in our homes. Yet in a culture that devalues beauty, attempts to define it down to function, and links the value of everything to the money it can produce, our lives are filled with clutter and ugliness. Returning to my original discussion of the loss of beauty in our culture see how wrong the culture has this entire concept? “What is beauty?” is a question that this culture is as ill-equipt to answer as Pilate was to answer his own, “What is Truth?” … Continue reading

Everyday Beauty VI: Revisiting my office

I am now thinking about the effects of beauty on my workspace. At this moment, my workspace is a mess. I have a number of things I love on this desk. However, it is difficult to enjoy them fully when the space is so cluttered. I “see” my office without the paper clutter. I see my office with shelves. I see the cupboards with bins in them that make pulling out what I need easier. As it stands now I have to struggle to get to what I need. If there were bins, then I could pull whatever bins I … Continue reading

Ordinary Beauty VI: health

Our culture does not value beauty beyond its relationship to function or earning power. Girls are taught to pursue careers and earn good money; they are taught to develop a career before they consider marriage and family. Men seek wives who can add a solid second paycheck; men used to seek wives who had the skills to create a beautiful home for a family. There was a time when the beauty created by home makers was valued. Girls were taught the skills and could expect to have those skills valued.  Those days are long gone. Our culture glorifies the career … Continue reading

Visualizing A Tidy Home V–The Living Room

I’m still blogging on my responses to the book THE LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP by Marie Kondo. Today I wanted to think on my Living Room. My living room is a long room, a bit on the narrow side, with lots of but in shelves and cabinets. Storage is no problem there, but getting to the storage is! Too much stuff left over from the last move, sitting there, in boxes, and I cannot find what I need, and I suspect a lot of that needs to GO. But today I am to be visualizing. So here I go. … Continue reading

Visualizing A Tidy Home IV–The Library

Today I am moving my visualization to the center of our house, a roughly octagonal library space. I am continuing with the book THE LIFE-CHANING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP by Marie Kondo.  The library is my favorite part of this house, or would be if I could see it properly and walk through it. Due to lack of display cases for my beautiful collection of antique typewriters, they are in huge boxes with huge amounts of packing material, being safe, but also filling the entire middle of the Library with their presence. I visualize the Library so very very differently. … Continue reading

Visualizing A Tidy Home III–The Kitchen

Once more, I visit the topic of visualizing my space. This is supposed to help me learn the mind-set that will make keeping a tidy home possible. I am getting these ideas from the book THE LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP by Marie Kondo.  Today, I am visualizing my kitchen more fully. I have a lovely huge kitchen. It has granite counter-tops which are pretty. The backsplash is white tile with colored tile here and there in a random pattern. The cabinets, a bit battered, are cherry. The appliances are a mix. There are black and white and stainless finishes … Continue reading