“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” Hans Hofmann
The title of my stamping/cardmaking blog is Simplicity. That's the style I aspire to in a crafting world increasingly dedicated to more: more layers, more embellishments, more tools, more inks, more colors, more, more, more. I also aspire to simplicity in my life, but as I've written before, expanding my simple approach is, well, a seemingly impossible challenge.
I feared moving to a bigger house would create an excuse to store more stuff, to keep stuff just in case because, dang, there's a lot of room in this house so why not? This fear blossomed in my stomach every time I thought about George and the boys, all of whom are hoarders, but I'm guilty of hoarding as well, guilty of keeping things because they might be useful later, of holding on to sentimental things that no longer make me happy.
Today, I'm going to recommit to purging the unnecessary so the necessary may speak, so I don't spend so much time containing my clutter and managing other people's clutter. It's a huge job, but as George has said, you eat an elephant one bite at a time.
What areas of your life need a good purge? Why do you purge? What keeps you from purging?
Friday, April 27, 2012
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Things on Thursday: Grass
This morning, as the sun was rising behind iron-gray clouds, Jack shouted, "Look, Mommy! We have grass!" I looked, and Jack was right.
How uplifting and wonderful on this dreary, drippy, and depressing day!
It's amazing how Mother Nature is coming through for me even as German engineering (in the form of my 2003 Passat station wagon) is letting me down. Tuesday was a nightmare of car trouble just one week after spending a painful amount of money fixing several oil leaks. This new trouble isn't related to the old trouble, costs another painful amount of money to fix, and has completely eroded my trust in my car.
But grass is satisfyingly trustworthy. With good dirt, straw, water, and sun, it grows. It will not develop a coolant leak in the heating coil that will pollute my garage floor and drain my bank account.
So that's why, today, I am grateful for grass.
What thing makes you happy today?
How uplifting and wonderful on this dreary, drippy, and depressing day!
It's amazing how Mother Nature is coming through for me even as German engineering (in the form of my 2003 Passat station wagon) is letting me down. Tuesday was a nightmare of car trouble just one week after spending a painful amount of money fixing several oil leaks. This new trouble isn't related to the old trouble, costs another painful amount of money to fix, and has completely eroded my trust in my car.
But grass is satisfyingly trustworthy. With good dirt, straw, water, and sun, it grows. It will not develop a coolant leak in the heating coil that will pollute my garage floor and drain my bank account.
So that's why, today, I am grateful for grass.
What thing makes you happy today?
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Weekly Giggle: Politics
When I saw this on Pinterest, I laughed out loud.
And speaking of ticks...
Apparently, our warm winter really appealed to ticks of the six-legged kind, and Ohio is now eaten up with them. We would pick this year to move to the country. We've pulled several ticks off Daisy, and Nick had one on his head. When I removed it, I did what the tick-removal website said to do: I put it in a plastic baggie to show the doctor if Nick got sick later.
Isn't it weird how we go to Google every time an unusual situation arises, and as long as the advice we find there is remotely reasonable-sounding, we take it?
Also, did you know that the docs don't want to run tests on the tick? I bought the website's line that the tick would be tested, but my medical-technologist aunt informed me they just want to see what type of tick it was to give a better idea of what sort of disease might be transmitted.
Another urban legend bites the dust.
Anyway, Nick was thoroughly grossed out by the tick and the tiny bit of his flesh that was still attached to its head. Ewww. I left the room but soon heard a strange thwack, thwack, thwack sound and ran back into the kitchen, where I found my son, plastic spatula in hand, beating the tick to jelly and chanting, "Ticks must DIE!"
All-righty, then.
I suppose I could make a joke about politicians at this point, but really, beating them with plastic spatulas hardly seems worth the effort, not to mention it sounds a bit kinky and it's probably illegal.
Well, okay, definitely illegal.
That's why I recommend voting this November instead. Voting is legal and moral and ethical and won't leave your mom wondering if you're playing too many violent video games.
See? Sometimes you can get good advice on the Internet!
And speaking of ticks...
Apparently, our warm winter really appealed to ticks of the six-legged kind, and Ohio is now eaten up with them. We would pick this year to move to the country. We've pulled several ticks off Daisy, and Nick had one on his head. When I removed it, I did what the tick-removal website said to do: I put it in a plastic baggie to show the doctor if Nick got sick later.
Isn't it weird how we go to Google every time an unusual situation arises, and as long as the advice we find there is remotely reasonable-sounding, we take it?
Also, did you know that the docs don't want to run tests on the tick? I bought the website's line that the tick would be tested, but my medical-technologist aunt informed me they just want to see what type of tick it was to give a better idea of what sort of disease might be transmitted.
Another urban legend bites the dust.
Anyway, Nick was thoroughly grossed out by the tick and the tiny bit of his flesh that was still attached to its head. Ewww. I left the room but soon heard a strange thwack, thwack, thwack sound and ran back into the kitchen, where I found my son, plastic spatula in hand, beating the tick to jelly and chanting, "Ticks must DIE!"
All-righty, then.
I suppose I could make a joke about politicians at this point, but really, beating them with plastic spatulas hardly seems worth the effort, not to mention it sounds a bit kinky and it's probably illegal.
Well, okay, definitely illegal.
That's why I recommend voting this November instead. Voting is legal and moral and ethical and won't leave your mom wondering if you're playing too many violent video games.
See? Sometimes you can get good advice on the Internet!
Monday, April 23, 2012
Gratitude Journal #135
Today, I am grateful for friends who give good advice.
Today, I am grateful for friends who come to lunch and bring lunch with them.
Today, I am grateful for the gift of time. It's my fault I squander it so.
Today, I am grateful for coaches, assistant coaches, stats takers, and all the volunteers that make community sports possible.
Today, I am grateful for sunshine and the certainty that, one day, I'll see it again.
What are you grateful for today?
Today, I am grateful for friends who come to lunch and bring lunch with them.
Today, I am grateful for the gift of time. It's my fault I squander it so.
Today, I am grateful for coaches, assistant coaches, stats takers, and all the volunteers that make community sports possible.
Today, I am grateful for sunshine and the certainty that, one day, I'll see it again.
What are you grateful for today?
Friday, April 20, 2012
Words, Words, Words about Confidence
Rather appropriate for a blog called Questioning my Intelligence, don't you think? I believe that confidence comes not from knowing answers but from faith that you'll figure out what you can and that what you can't answer is simply Mystery.
Most of the questions worth asking don't have concrete answers anyway, and for the most part, our "certainty" is an illusion created by our limited perspective. Perhaps confidence just comes from the optimistic belief that we're part of something bigger than ourselves and someone (God, in my opinion) has a plan and a purpose motivated by love.
Or am I just crazy?
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Things on Thursday: Alphabet Art
I want to make one of these.
Perhaps not as a table, though. Can you imagine dusting this? Or cleaning up a spill? No, I'm too practical that way. But a frame hung on the wall, with a hidden message worked in? Oh, yeah. That could be loads of fun. *squeal*
What sort of art do you want to make for your home? How do you personalize your home with things? Inquiring minds want to know.
Perhaps not as a table, though. Can you imagine dusting this? Or cleaning up a spill? No, I'm too practical that way. But a frame hung on the wall, with a hidden message worked in? Oh, yeah. That could be loads of fun. *squeal*
What sort of art do you want to make for your home? How do you personalize your home with things? Inquiring minds want to know.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
The Beginning Is Near!
This picture appeared on Pinterest and completely grabbed my attention.
Of course, I've written before about End Times and how silly it is to try to predict them. The Bible tells us in no uncertain terms that the time of the End will be...uncertain, unpredictable, a big fat surprise to everyone. Science hasn't much to say on the matter either. Our sun will go super-nova eventually, billions of years from now, which shouldn't really concern any of us. An asteroid might hit and wipe out life as we know it, and just maybe we'll get a heads-up about it from astronomers. We cannot, however, control the sky falling.
Henny Penny really is the silliest nursery-story character in the world, and who wants to act like her?
Of course, there may or may not be a conspiracy, headed by Elvis, to wipe out the human race using cell phones, that yummy roasted asparagus recipe from Pinterest, and genetically-modified golden retrievers controlled by the same code that Palpatine used to turn the Clones against the Jedi.
But I'm not holding my breath.
Beginnings, however, can be quite easy to predict and even sometimes to control. Graduations, weddings, new babies, new jobs, new puppies, new houses, new books, new craft supplies...starting something new in life is exciting (and occasionally quite terrifying).
Our new beginning--which isn't just near but is here--includes a new house and a new contract on the old house. We have a new patio and newly bulldozed earth, grass seed, and straw in our back yard; all our old furniture in its new setting; and a new basketball hoop.
Assuming all our straw and grass seed don't blow away in April winds, we'll soon celebrate a giant new yard upon which Daisy will pee and poop to her heart's content.
And speaking of Daisy, several of you have asked how the Furry Golden Sunshine is doing in her new digs. She's adjusting well and has fully recovered from her knee surgeries.
The first few weeks in the new house, she was completely freaked out by the noise of the ice maker in our new fridge, but she ignores it now. She loves finding sunbeams through the undressed windows and basking in the spring sun's glow. She loves looking out the low windows and off the deck at the birds and neighborhood dogs and people. She loves tearing around the basement like happiness on speed. She loves killing her indestructible blue chew toys and trying to bite my hands when I brush her ridiculously furry butt.
Basically, her life is good.
And so is ours.
It's humbling in this crazy, chaotic, uncertain world to be as blessed as we are right now, and a little terrifying. You see, I've read Boethius and know that fortune's wheel keeps spinning, and I've listened to Jimmy Buffett sing about just wanting to live happily ever after every now and then. Bad things happen, but they are worse when we go looking for them and they are the worst when we cower in anticipation of them and allow that fear to take away from the wonderfulness of life in the here and now. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sound mind.
What beginning is near for you? How are you using your spirit of power and love and sound mind to embrace that beginning and let go of whatever end it's replacing?
Of course, I've written before about End Times and how silly it is to try to predict them. The Bible tells us in no uncertain terms that the time of the End will be...uncertain, unpredictable, a big fat surprise to everyone. Science hasn't much to say on the matter either. Our sun will go super-nova eventually, billions of years from now, which shouldn't really concern any of us. An asteroid might hit and wipe out life as we know it, and just maybe we'll get a heads-up about it from astronomers. We cannot, however, control the sky falling.
Henny Penny really is the silliest nursery-story character in the world, and who wants to act like her?
Of course, there may or may not be a conspiracy, headed by Elvis, to wipe out the human race using cell phones, that yummy roasted asparagus recipe from Pinterest, and genetically-modified golden retrievers controlled by the same code that Palpatine used to turn the Clones against the Jedi.
But I'm not holding my breath.
Beginnings, however, can be quite easy to predict and even sometimes to control. Graduations, weddings, new babies, new jobs, new puppies, new houses, new books, new craft supplies...starting something new in life is exciting (and occasionally quite terrifying).
Our new beginning--which isn't just near but is here--includes a new house and a new contract on the old house. We have a new patio and newly bulldozed earth, grass seed, and straw in our back yard; all our old furniture in its new setting; and a new basketball hoop.
Assuming all our straw and grass seed don't blow away in April winds, we'll soon celebrate a giant new yard upon which Daisy will pee and poop to her heart's content.
And speaking of Daisy, several of you have asked how the Furry Golden Sunshine is doing in her new digs. She's adjusting well and has fully recovered from her knee surgeries.
The first few weeks in the new house, she was completely freaked out by the noise of the ice maker in our new fridge, but she ignores it now. She loves finding sunbeams through the undressed windows and basking in the spring sun's glow. She loves looking out the low windows and off the deck at the birds and neighborhood dogs and people. She loves tearing around the basement like happiness on speed. She loves killing her indestructible blue chew toys and trying to bite my hands when I brush her ridiculously furry butt.
Basically, her life is good.
And so is ours.
It's humbling in this crazy, chaotic, uncertain world to be as blessed as we are right now, and a little terrifying. You see, I've read Boethius and know that fortune's wheel keeps spinning, and I've listened to Jimmy Buffett sing about just wanting to live happily ever after every now and then. Bad things happen, but they are worse when we go looking for them and they are the worst when we cower in anticipation of them and allow that fear to take away from the wonderfulness of life in the here and now. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sound mind.
What beginning is near for you? How are you using your spirit of power and love and sound mind to embrace that beginning and let go of whatever end it's replacing?
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