Wishing you all a year filled with Health, Love, Forgiveness, Peace, Joy, Abundance, and Learning. Happy New Year!!! ~Rue

The traditional lentils are simmering on the stove.
The ham is braising in the Coca-Cola.
The snow is falling softly on the cedars.
This year is a year of culmination and I am stoked!

A while back I wrote about how I was embarking on a journey of simplification. I've made numerous trips to my local charity drop-off and I'm still over-flowing with stuff. I'm not discouraged but I am freaked a little. Starting tomorrow I will go through one drawer per day. Just one. Instead of going through everything in the drawer I will look and pick 5 items I cannot live without. (5 because I've noticed there are drawers I NEVER open.) The rest of the contents are for: GIVE, RECYCLE, GARBAGE.

So far I've made the following changes:

Instead of buying books, I borrow from the library. If I've borrowed a book more than twice, and I really cannot live without it, I purchase a copy. This is working very well for me so far.

If I buy a new item, I go through all the similar items I own and if I haven't used them or think I never will I pack them up and give them away. Ie: shoes, handbags, etc.

I have chronic dry skin and eczema. I used to buy every single lotion/cream on the market hoping it would be "the one" that doesn't sting or cause flare-ups. For the most part, most of the lotions I purchased, did. I used to just toss them in a cupboard and forget about them. The search is over. I currently have a core group of products that always work for me and I will stick to these. I've packed up all my incompatible products and given them away!

Shoes uncomfortable? Gone.
Clothing that doesn't fit right? Gone
Accessories I have and will never use? Gone.

I work full-time and have a young family so many of the above changes are done in small bites. I am beginning to feel the difference though and it is liberating!

I've been asked this question no less than three-dozen times in the past week. Granted, I do work in an environment where I see at least 150 people/day, lol. My reply is and has always been: "I'm ALWAYS ready for Christmas!"

This is long before the tree and lights go up, a present is purchased or a cookie is baked. I have recently replied: "I am ready for Christmas in August!" I love Christmas. Christmas is truly a celebration of family (whatever your family consists of), life and love like no other. Despite my significant pagan leanings I am an old-school pre-Vatican II Roman Catholic* at my core. Christians accuse me of being pagan, pagans have dismissed me for being christian. Frankly, I don't care.

It's the Yule -tide season and Advent is in full-swing. Time to bring on the baking, halls-decking, and merry-making because longer days, Jesus, St. Nick, and La Befana are coming!

I'm thinking and blogging about simplifying and ridding myself (and my family) of all are superfluous stuff. Procrastinators by nature my husband and I -and it appears we've bred the trait true in our offspring. Chances were pretty good the weekend would roll around and come to an end, without getting anything done. Unless... we should have a flood in our basement due to silly human error, and now we are motivated to empty out the basement as much as possible. LOL. ~R

Then there's all that other stuff. The stuff we keep because someone or we've convinced ourselves these objects have meaning. These objects are all that is left of a person, place, time. I know it. My dishes are for the most part the dishes my parents had when they were married. They are the same dishes my dad held onto for 30 years after they divorced. They are the same dishes I rescued from the stuff my dad was carting off to the local Sally Ann. They are the same dishes I had in my appartment. These are the dishes we eat from. Not all of them. Oh no. I actually 'topped up' these dishes with ones from the same series from eBay.

I have things in my home because my father gave them to me. I don't like them. They're not me. Yet, somehow I can't get rid of these things. These things that mean so much because when he was alive I got so little of him. So little of his time: my aunt and uncle raised me. So little of his love: he was always angry and resentful of my mere existence, I later learned. Yet, I hang on to his crap. Both literally and figuratively.

As I sit here, contemplating how I'm even going to begin telling my tale of transformation, I can't help but wonder whether there are unseen forces orchestrating it all. Perhaps those of you adept in astrology can shed some light onto what has happened to me. I'm feeling a strong drive to downsize and simplify. This drive to simplify has permeated every aspect of my life.

All the stuff I never or seldom use. All the clothing, shoes, accessories, I never wear. All the books, cds, dvds I don't love. I want to strip all my kitchen tools, cookware, dinnerware, down to bare essentials. I want to read mainly books from the library and purchase only the rare, hard to find ones I have to have.

I've already drastically reduced my makeup and perfume collection. Sold what I could, gave some away. Will give the rest away as soon as I pack it up.

I was going to color my hair and embark on the ordeal of growing it out again, but my children asked me "Why?". They love their new pixie cuts and can't imagine going back to longer, perpetually tangled, high-maintenance hair. They've suggested I cut mine like theirs and keep it natural.... We all have a hair appointment Saturday morning and I'm genuinely excited!

Taking a nap after work when I need to. Even if it means we end up having eggs and toast for supper.
If we're craving something, buy just enough to satisfy the craving.
I've made adjustments to our groceries.
We are currently using up what is in our freezers and pantry and I am only replacing what we love.

Excuse me while I give my home a quick 15 minute pick-up and get started on a 30 minute meal for dinner.

TTYS!
~R

I moved to the interior of B.C. for the desert-like climate. The last few days have been humid hell. It's probably no where near the sweltering Toronto muggy but I can't stand it. I'll be back when the weather breaks. Bacioni! ~ R

I thought of deleting all my stupid blog posts. All the shit I put on here just to 'say' something. As I was about to do so it occurred to me that the shit on my blog has the same right to remain on it as the somewhat better posts. The truth of the matter is my entire blog is one big shit and it would take a hell of a lot of time to delete it all. Time is at too high a premium right now.

So, I've decided to clean it up bit by bit as I go along.

Every now and then I reach an impasse. Boredom. Stagnation. Frustration. Exhaustion. .... and then, when I am just about ready to scream, a calm washes over me and suddenly, without warning my eyes are opened and it appears that I can see clearly for the very first time in a long, long time. As my eyes begin to focus on the things that have been causing me pain and anxiety day in and day out for weeks, months, sometimes years... My soul whispers softly in my mind what my heart knows to be true: I have so bound myself to the limitations of what I 'do', I've lost complete sight of who 'I am'. At the precise moment that realization washes over me, I am set free. I am reborn.

I feel the tide turning and changes everywhere. The need to reconnect with my spirituality and look inward grows stronger every day. Covert things are going on at my place of work and I am very uncomfortable. Yesterday I decided that it's time to throw up the shields and focus on the tasks before me to get me through this uncertain and turbulent time. Nothing has been 'said', but I do feel it. I received a transmission from my spiritual guidance: "focus on your work, maintain a low profile, and trust no one". I will heed that advice because my spiritual guidance has never led me wrong.

Physically I am feeling better than I have in a long time, except for the fatigue. I continue to push forward to attain the goals (resolutions) I set for myself for 2009. February 1st marks the first of the '90 days of taking care of me'. This includes diet, exercise, aesthetics, emotional, psychological and spiritual wellbeing. Although it appears selfish, this effort will have huge impact on my family because I can't take care of me without taking care of them. We all deserve it.

I have decided. I want to move. I almost have a clear idea of what I want. This house has served us well, and I am forever grateful for it, however the time has come to move on to something else. I will be working on my 'list' later today to focus my intentions.

I'm feeling a transition period coming on and I am once again ready to embrace changes.