Thanksgiving Updated List!

I was just going through old blogs and came across this list [which was updated in 2012... so I'm updating it again:

2015 = Italian2014 =  steak*2013 = German2012 = Creol2011 = Thai food2010 = Greek food2009 = steak2008 = Chinese food

This year we did the following:
Ravioli with MeatRavioli with CheeseBreadsticks
Gelato
Prosecco - because we were celebrating my student loans being paid off [what what!!!]

~Maike

So many things I SHOULD be doing....

But instead I'm going to do a little brag blog.

I've been reading this book [The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up]..... I'd heard about it for a while, and wondered about it's "Magic".

So I put it on my list from the library, and started reading it last week.

It starts off slow... totally.  A lot of, 'this is what I did when I was little', 'I'm a type A personality', 'I learned about this by doing this'.

But then it gets into a few different ideas on how to go about tidying your home.

Which I only somewhat care about.  My mother always tried to keep our home tidy, and our 'stuffs' in our bedrooms, or hidden away in closets.  And while I don't always keep my house this way, I am generally about 5 minutes away from feeling 100% fine with people coming over to visit [bedroom doors closed though ;)].

But the truth is, I have a lot of stuff.

Part of this reason is that I'm an art person.  So I collect things that are pretty that might be able to be used in an art piece some day down the line.

Another part is because I hate being wasteful.  I don't want to throw away a skirt with a hole in it if I can figure out a way to make it into a great shirt.  Get me?  I'm a collector.

The other part is that I'm a bit of a sentimentalist.  I maybe have never worn this shirt, or grown out of it, or it has pit staines, but I can't throw it away because so-and-so gave it to me.  Or it reminds me of my time in Europe, etc.

But she gave some good helpful hints.  And talked a lot about joy.  About how much joy the things around you bring.  And as hippy-dippy as it sounded, I kind of really like approaching things this way.

So Sunday, I took about an hour and a half and went through all my clothes [this is what to start with first, since it holds the least amount of sentimentalities].  I purged 24 pieces out of my hanging stuff.... and then kept going.  All the way through my socks and underwear.  I held each piece, thought about if I loved it or not, and if it was useful or not, and how much joy it gave me.  If it gave me joy, then I found a place in my drawers or closet for it.  If not, I stacked it to give away, sell, good will.

Total I have purged 86 pieces out of my life... well, more or less out of my life... out of my desire to keep.

And my drawers have more room to close.  And I can fit all my stuff in one closet instead of overflowing into the guest room closet.  And weirdly enough, it actually gives me joy to have a somewhat empty bra/panty drawer.

Next up is books.  Which I don't have a lot of anyway, and have recently purged [when moving last, we had like 3 boxes of books to give away].  So I'm confident that will go well.

She says a full house 'tidying' takes about 6 months.

I have a basement full of stuff, so I'm sure I'll need those 6 months to get through things and really tidy up.

And who knows if this will be one of those things I start and don't finish... but it feels pretty good for a start, so we'll see how far along I get!

-mrp-

boiling blood....

Things that make my blood boil = men

Not all men, I should be more specific.

Men who whine and act like babies.

Men who think that because he "does all the laundry, and I mean ALL of it", should be awarded a f*ck!ng medal.

Men who think that the situation of 'if the wife cooks' he gets to do the dishes, doesn't make sense.

Men who, knowing the previous agreement, leave the salad bowl unwashed because his wife made a "special salad" to go with dinner.... and it's not like "he requested it".  He thought she was going to bring it to work, and it was her special salad, so she should get to clean it.... even though he ate it.

100% and 100%.  My mother's piece of advice before I got married was this, there is no 50/50... there's only 100/100.

Moral of the story: if you're going to grow up, put on a suit, marry and impregnate a woman, grow some balls and man up.

If you were single, you would have to do all the laundry too.... and I mean ALL of it.

*end rant*

-mrp-

ps: I ate lunch at McAlisters today, and the table of three men [the one above, who was maybe 3-5 years older than me, and two gentleman probably in their 60's] were right next to me.  Needless to say, after hearing him complain about his wife, I high tailed it out of there before I gave him a piece of my mind about being immature, and the other two a piece of my mind about not calling him out on his stupid whining.

pps: I'm so grateful for a husband who see's me as more than someone to share half the work with, who doesn't act like a dumb 13 year old, and who encourages me, loves me, and steps in when I ask him too.

ppps: Even though my mom was a stay at home mom, I'm also grateful that my dad was never one to act like a little boy, and whine and complain.

Sadness...

Today R asked me if I ever just get emotionally void from the sad things in this world, and just get to a place of not caring.  Like there's no more care in me, and things that are traumatic and sad for other people just get a 'meh'.

And maybe sometimes... but only for like the prayer requests the people bring up in group that's for a neighbors, sisters, grandkid.  Where there's too many degrees of separation for me to internalize it.

But mostly, what happens is that I just feel very much for all these situations.

And if I dwell too much in it, or it comes up too many times, it feels a little like suffocation.

-mrp-

My House is for Rent!

There are a few friends who have been asking to see more photos of my house for a while, and... since it's for rent, I now have awesome photos!  And consequently, it's probably the cleanest it's been since we've moved in... whew.  Cleaning/moving/looking for junky looking areas is hard work.  It's taken me three afternoons.

Anyway, here's some not retouched images of my home sweet home!

-mrp-

ps: If you look closely, you can see Bentley in one of the photos, as well as a half painted wall... I promise, before we move out, it will be fully painted ;).