Seven Things Week 21

I can't believe this is week 21. Lots of stuff leaving my house and even more when I finish going through my kitchen cupboards.
This week is kitchen stuff again.
* 8 Terra cotta bowls
* 4 water bottles
* 2 sippy cups

See you all next year and have a Happy and safe New Year!!

December 25..

This is supposed to be a happy time of year. Families getting together, good food, sharing. Celebrating Jesus birth.
All I am seeing is stress and tension. Fighting about where to go, when to go, who to have over, how much to spend on gifts, what gift to get someone. STRESS.
This shouldn't be a time of stress. It is a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus--even though he wasn't even born on this day.
I know there are a lot of people that don't believe in God, or Jesus. But they still have the stress of celebrating this day. WHY???
My brother and SIL are muslim and they don't celebrate either. yet we are the odd ones in the family. I also have two brothers married to Japanese women and they are shinto. They don't believe in God or Jesus, yet they celebrate this day. But we are the odd ones!!
About 8 years or so ago, we quit celebrating December 25th in the mainstream way. We haven't had a tree all these years. We haven't exchanged gifts in the traditional way.
We are the odd ones out. The non conformists. And no matter what we say to our families about this day, they are still horrified that we don't have a tree and we don't decorate the house and we don't buy piles and piles and piles of gifts!
We celebrate Jesus' birth because that is what the day is supposed to be about.
But it has turned into this huge commercial, competitive thing that has overtaken the true meaning of the day. I find it disturbing, to say the least.
When we want to buy a toy or something for the kids--we do. We don't need to wait til December 25th to give them a bunch of toys!
We don't need a day to remember the birth of Jesus, we remember His birth all year long.

Seven Things Week 20

Kitchen stuff this week.
* 4 white saucers
* 7 white cups
* 2 white placemats.

Another boring week of seven things, but as usual I am glad to be passing it along and decluttering my kitchen some more!

Seven Things Week 19

Nothing exciting this week either.
*Five towels and a hand towel and two washcloths.
I have so many towels that I thought it was time to declutter them.

This is my cloud.
Go here to make your own.
http://www.snapshirts.com/
and go to the lower right where it says "bloggers"

Seven Things Week 18

Kitchen stuff again this week. I can hardly believe all the extra stuff I had around here.
* Food dehydrator--rarely used
* 2 cake pans with lids
* wok
* Pressure cooker
* 2 small fry pans
* One pot
* Chicken cooker thing
So that's it for this week. Vietnam Vets are coming the 20th to pick up some bags and boxes. I have a soft spot for Vietnam Vets.

Kilowatt update

I received the electric bill today and thought I would update and find a new Reddy Kilowatt image.
So for November I kilowatt usage went down!! YAY!!
But I'm pretty sure it won't stay down with winter here and electric baseboard heat.
Novembers usage was 1006, down from 1010 last statement.
I'm still going to try to reduce, by how much remains to be seen throughout the winter but it will be interesting to watch.

Seven Things Week 17

Kitchen stuff this week.
* 4 Rubbermaid containers with lids
* 4 glass bowls
* yellow funnel
* strainer
* glass candy dish
* 7 Rubbermaid bowls with lids.
I'm glad to be rid of all of these extras and stuff I haven't used in ages. Less clutter in my kitchen.
There was a lady on E bay getting rid of her YARN (gasp) !!! I'm just not ready to be able to do that yet. I use a lot of my yarn still and I don't buy much new yarn anymore.

My Aunt...........

Today is my Aunts birthday. Except she died in May of 2004. She is the aunt that took care of my Grandma. (see August 15 post)
We were very close all throughout my life. We had a lot in common too. Crocheting was one of our common interests and she is the aunt who got me started on making my own wood crochet hooks. We passed books back and forth too.
Ever since Grandma moved out to be with my aunt, I would fly out to visit them every 3 months. I would stay for 6 days. We always had fun and I got to see my Grandma too.
Then in April of 2003 my aunt broke her knee and I drove out with my two puppies and stayed a month to take care of Grandma and my Aunt.
I am greatful for that month.
The last time I saw my aunt and grandma I flew out when I was 18 weeks pregnant with my son. I had a good visit not knowing it would be the last time I ever saw my aunt.
I miss her everyday. Everyday I think about her. Wishing she were here again, knowing it's not possible. I just still feel an empty spot in my life without my aunt.
I wonder if it will ever go away???
I have some stuff from my aunt that I brought home when I stayed the month. These are items I don't need, they are more knicknack type things. But with the Seven things project, I am finding them hard to let go.
Maybe one day I can...................

Seven Things Week 16

I'm early this week. My seven things this week come from the closet again!
* 3 sweatshirts
* 3 denim shirts
* 1 pair jean capris
* 1 pair white shorts
* 1 pink/white stripped shirt
* 1 gray sports bra
* 1 navy blue with flowers skirt

These are all things I haven't worn in ages and that don't fit me anymore. Again--it's time to find a new home for them all. And I am glad to be rid of them.

Seven Things Week 15

Nothing too exciting this week.
*Analon Pots and pans.
*2 fry pans
*3 pots
*3 covers
These were husbands pots when we got married and we used them for a while along with my Revereware. We bought new pots and pans about a year ago and we found these when we were cleaning out the garage.
So off they go to a new home.

Happy Veterans Day!

Today is Veterans Day. I am thankful to the men and women who serve and have served in the armed forces.
I am former Army and my Husband is former Navy. He is a vet of the first Gulf war. Our experiences were vastly different serving for many reasons. He went to the Naval Academy and I was enlisted. He served longer than me. He is a Veteran of a war, I am not. He was Navy, I was Army. It makes for an interesting day when Army and Navy play their annual football game!
So, thankyou Veterans.

Seven Things Week 14

This weeks seven is from the bins in the shed that I recently went through!
* TWELVE pair of jeans.
These are jeans of all sizes. Skinny jeans and not so skinny jeans that I know I will never wear again--ever.
As it is each week, I am glad to get these out of my house so that maybe someone else can get some use out of them now.
I have also been thinking about my new clothes purchases. I need absolutely nothing and I won't need any new clothes for quite a while. I have several pair of jeans and some dress pants and plenty of sweaters and blouses. And I won't even get started on shoes, I am so embarrased. I am trying not to buy anymore new things now. And for a while to come. I need nothing as far as the house is concerned either. No new dishes, towels, furnishings, candles, knickknacks, rugs, sheets, BOOKS, clothes, toys, paper, pens, music, etc. I need nothing new to add to my house or self. Yes, it is possible to have too much, way too much.
I need absolutely nothing...............

Reddy Kilowatt is back!!

Well, I received my November bill for my Electricity.
WOW!! It is 1010---down from 1210 of last month. I know part of that is still the airconditioner usage. But I have been making an effort to not consume so much. I wonder if it's really helping??
It will be interesting to track this for a year.

Curbside Recycling!! Another bonus.

I love that we can put usable stuff out by the end of our driveway! Today we did some more yard cleaning and I went through more bins.
Husband put these three toys out there and within one hour someone came to the door and asked about them. They have a day care and these items would be perfect for that they said!! Yay. I said take them please! And the family did.
I like the feeling of giving someone else a chance to use my sons outgrown toys.

Seven Things Week 13.

The Hip Hammock. What can I say about it. I didn't use it much but I really liked it and I am finding it difficult to give it up. I wonder if that is because I have to face the fact that my little boy is growing up? He is no longer that little baby who depended on me for everything. I am sad about this item leaving my house.
The rest of the stuff going is clothes. Nothing exciting at all. Nothing I want to keep anymore and glad it can maybe be useful to someone else. Plus it means I have another empty bin!!
* My Hip Hammock.
* 8 sweatshirts.
* 4 pair of sweatpants.
* Red Wind breaker.
* Green winter jacket.
* Blue fall jacket. This one is hard to give up too. It is from my Aunt but it is just too big for me.
That's it for this week. I am happy to see the clothing go to someone else who can use it and then I have more space in my house!

Doe a deer, a female deer.

This morning I woke up a few minutes before my son did. One of the dogs started barking very loudly. Not her normal "there's the neighbors dog" type of bark. It was light enough out that I could see this huge Doe in the yard, just outside the fence. It was beautiful and I quickly tried to take a picture but the deer moved too fast to snap one.
We used to get a lot of deer in the yard before we got all the dogs and fenced in a lot of the yard. They used to sleep in the pines out back and sometimes eat the apples off our trees.
We see a lot of wildlife around here and it's pretty cool. Several times I have seen wild turkeys. Of course we have the usual animals as well. Racoons, fox (that eat hapless chickens)and a ton of birds, lots of rabbits and squirrels.
I am thankful I live where I live.

Starry skies..............

I think one of the advantages I like most about living out in the country is being able to see the stars in the sky at night. On a crisp fall night with a clear sky and no city lights to interfere. It is magnificient. It is so peaceful and beautiful. Hubby even bought me a telescope a few years ago to search the skies at night.
It is one of the most enjoyable activities for me.

Rabbits!!

Another Saturday of yard work. This time it was fun. Husband decided he needed to trim yet more branches off the trees, to make it easier for him to mow. Mowing takes quite a while on the hilly, holey land. It's almost three acres! (more on that in a minute)
So with all the branches, we created a habitat for the Rabbits that live around us. There are a lot of Rabbits. I like them, hubby not so much. It will be interesting trying to protect my garden next year.
Now, as we were tidying up all the branches, I ask hubby if we can finally fence in the rest of the land. he says "sure", then we proceed to walk the property line!! WOW! We have almost 2/3rds of an acre that is just sitting there. The only catch is, the soil is CLAY. Not too good for much of anything. So hubby thought a pond might be fitting for that part of our property. I am in agreement, along with some more trees if we can find some that will grow there. We had apple trees in that area and they didn't do so well. They were moved 2 years ago and are thriving now.
Another fun and interesting morning, and I learned something new about our land and property lines.

Seven Things Week 12

Nothing overly exciting this week. I'm cleaning out the laundry room and found a few things. And back to the closets, actually it was bins I have clothes in. I am finally going through some of them as time permits.
* Mouse pad, with Bunnies on it. Brand new, I didn't like it.
* Green dresser skirt, a cloth doily type thing to put on top of the dresser.
* One beige dress blouse.
* Two white turtlenecks. How many do I really need?
* Black and white dress slacks--don't fit anymore.
* One box of powder bleach, never opened.
* Two bottles of Clorox 2--never used
* Two Downy balls--pictured.
The clothes I am glad to be passing on. I'm weary of holding on to all of them.
The laundry stuff? Well, lets just say that I cannot use them in my front load washer. On July 4 of this year I had a bad laundry "incident" with adding too much Clorox 2 along with a bit too much HE laundry soap. It was very unfortunate and yet comical at the same time. It was just like on TV where soap is exploding out of the washer. Yes, it really was that bad. I had to go to the laundromat and wash my towels several times to get all of the soap out and that was after spraying them with the hose outside! So, I am giving away the laundry products that are not compatable with HE washers.
I'm finding it a bit difficult to let go of some useless, yet sentimental items that are cluttering up my space. I'm sure I will find a way in the coming months to let most of it go. I know I am not the only one with this issue, otherwise our homes wouldn't be so cluttered!!!