Accumulation, comfort, and letting go

I'm going start out a little off topic with the mention green onions. It's been a long, long time since I've had them raw, much less eaten them at all. It's indescribable how good it is to experience the taste again.

And now, if you look around your house, your apartment, your habitation of choice you will more than likely overlook the same things I've grown accustomed to overlooking as well.  Memories.  Memories and One-Days.  Knick-knacks, bric-a-brac, old letters and pictures, figurines, folded up posters, and more cluttered away on shelves, in boxes and closets, and under beds.  One day I'll repurpose that old headboard, that frame, and those old stretched out sweaters. It's not sensible to get rid of all those lumber scraps, extra nuts/bolts, or that burnt up piston head - I can use those one day, or make some art out of it.

All useless.

Sure, they are great to lay eyes on every so often and let the mind drift back through the years aided by this physical manifestation of ethereal events that happened so long ago.  But until then, they're just another something to move, dust, or just take up space in general.  They only get really seen when a major something happens that requires rearranging and contemplating space efficiency.

But do we really need them. The a lot of the memories may fade away without the tangible reminder, but is that so bad.  If a memory is allowed to fade, it may be time to let it go.  Holding on to the physical half of the memory doesn't help.  It can cause sadness from loss. Other times the pain is from happiness that once was.

I need to go through some of my current stacks and cull down the space wasters. The necessary and useful can stay. If the memory fades after the cleansing then it was meant to be part of a life behind me. The ones that stay in my head and live on will inevitably be the ones that are worth keeping, or that I need to learn from still.

This was way more thought intensive than I originally planned. I sat down to exclaim about the yumminess of green onions and to mention how much stuff we have stashed away on the shelves here at the house. One would never realize it because we organize well. Although not even close to "hoarder" status, our shelves and cubbies are due for a cleaning.

Slow and steady, onward toward the future, with a bright, shiny basket of awesomesauce!

Switching gears....

So my sleep schedule is working its way back to night-crawler status. I'm starting to wake up later and staying up earlier I am aware of the cycle of causation, but I do so love being up at night. And now that I don't have to wake up early for an outside job, I can get back to my preferred operating hours.

Good news / bad news, depending on how you see things, I've got my own room set up and am slowly getting all the little things organized in it. There are a lot of little things to put in place just right, so I'm definitely exercising my left brain and pulling in bits of my right.

And finally got around to replacing the toilet seat/lid. The other was at least 6 years old. Now it looks fantastic, new and superclean! However, the actual toilet looks dingy in comparison. I'm not even sure if it's white or an off-white porcelin bowl.

Anyway! I've sat here long enough, and my sandwich is nearly eaten. On to ......The Laundry!

And again, and again....

Still catching up on laundry...so much piles up when you don't stay on top of things...when you'll "get to it tomorrow."  I'm especially intent on catching up with all the hang-to-dry articles that have been put aside because the sun hasn't been out, or it's been threatening rain, and we've very limited space on the hang-rack in the house.

I'm almost there though. Just a few more itty-bitty-loads and 'specials' should be caught up. And with the load I *just* put in the washer, both bins of 'lights' and 'darks' are empty. 

To celebrate this benchmark, I'm headed off into the woods for a bike ride. Upon my return, a shower will be taken, then vacuuming and a bit of dusting.

Ahhhhhh......

Ok...so maybe not daily.

So, my first week of being house-guru has passed. While I didn't get quite as much accomplished around the house as I had originally planned, I did get a lot taken care of. Over the course of 5 days, I only worked around the house maybe a day and a half. With what was I filling the rest of the time, you may ask? Naps? Facebook? Netflix? More naps? As nice as all that would've been, I was out running errands: DMV line for a license, shopping for food-stuff, helping a friend move some furniture, yada-yada-yada. It's absolutely astounding how much time driving can take up (not to mention the hour and a half just standing around in line).

All the work was made all the more bearable by the freedom of options. I have the option to sleep in, to listen to music or have movies run in the background, to snack and drink whenever. Along with being busy, I took time to relax and enjoy my time. Ran with a friend and upon our return drank a few beers by a warm fire in the pit on the patio. Took a short little bike ride through the woods, stopping by a friends on the way back to endure some football while everyone talked trash to each other. Of course I took some time for Facebook and Netflix.

I'm looking forward to the week ahead. Hopefully a few less errands, and more productive house cleaning. Slowly but surely the laundry bins are getting emptier and the closet is getting fuller. I look forward to possible hula-hooping and stick juggling, as well as more bike riding and getting my tai chi forms memorized.

Life is feeling pretty good at the moment. Everything is slowly finding balance.

Occupational changes

All around I'm in an interesting place right now. There will be a lot of details spared at the moment, especially at this public venue. In short (and also poorly put) I've achieved my "dream". 

I'm a bum.

Ok. Ok. Let me 'splain to you a little bit before anyone starts wrinkling their nose in judgement.

Years ago, I used to joke about wanting to be a bum. Lounging on the beach all day, enjoying the sunlight. Camping in the woods, basking in the beauty of the trees. Wandering through the city, in awe of the progress of mankind. All in good fun I would say this. I am quite aware that there is plenty, plenty and plenty or reasons to not want to be homeless. There is the harsh cold, the soaking rain, biting hunger, etc. So, I kept plugging away at finding paying work and supporting myself, either in full or in part. I'm not that interested in getting rich, but surviving is nice, and surviving comfortably is better.

What I found was that my occupational attention wanes after about a year or so. Either the job wasn't physical enough, didn't let me express my creativity at all, or was too harsh on the body (either weather or actions). Balance wasn't being achieved, and that is very important to me. 

Here I am with my girlfriend of 8 years now, and we've talked about her supporting me while I just run around all day enjoying myself. I don't think I'd quite be happy with that for long. However, now that she has a position that she likes at a company that likes her and appreciates her abilities and is also paying her pretty darn well, we reevaluated this plan of her supporting me. I wouldn't just run around willy nilly of course. The balance of her earning and supporting the house financially, would be that I stay home and take care of the house physically. Cleaning, maintenance, and upgrades would keep me busy physically. As I organize each area, I'd be exercising my mental abilities. Creativity would be expressed with my crafts, be it sewing, art, crochet, or digitally as web design or graphics. Added bonus is that I can market my crafts online and possibly contribute to the finances and not feel pressure to "rake it in".  And to balance off all this productivity (all activities that I like to do anyway), I've got time to go on bike rides and wander the woods at my leisure. And maybe even keep up with a blog that gets neglected far too often. All the while, I can have good music echoing through the house. 

As of last Friday, I left my job at Sears. No longer will I be donning shoes every morning to travel 2 miles through whatever weather to a job that, although I enjoyed, payed little and involved too much corporate politics. No more mandatory dress code. No more pushing credit card applications and protection agreements.

I am hoping to set up a well balanced schedule of sorts, even though I don't do well with schedules and plans. If all goes well, there is now time to get everything done that I need and want to accomplish. 

 **raises steaming little coffee cup**  

Here's to my new position.

May it bring balance. May it bring peace. May it be long lasting.

 House Guru