Hot Mess Minimalist

I have had a lot going on lately.  One of these things, is that a good friend of mine has been removed from a large part of my life (church), at the same time as the death of another friend. Part of this friend (the one who is still alive) being gone is that she is friendly and easy to talk to upon introducing herself.  She once asked me to sit with a visitor to the church.  I had already introduced myself to this visitor.  So I go over and sit with them... And I don't know what the f to say. And I am mad, because this person who I knew I could rely on to not be akward and be genuinely welcoming will no longer be at church. I had a conversation with my FIL over winter break about feeling akward when trying to talk to new people.  He is an introvert and engineer and I knew he could relate.  I was trying to recall his advice which was an acronym.  I knew the first word is Family... And was stuck.  So I am discussing this with my husband at swim...

I have been wanting to address something that #theminimalists have not talked about much.  Perhaps because it can feel like a criticism.  I have been wondering how to address minimalism and wealth for a while now and then I saw this on Facebook (I have pasted the critique underneath the link, but also wanted to keep the reader informed of the source. http://burrgeoisie.tumblr.com/post/160652021519/ignescent-lokahjarta-herlobster-gowns lower-income people tend to be “hoarders” and richer people are able to do more “minimalist” living spaces. if u don’t have much, you will hold onto any little thing that comes across your way. you got a new tv, but you still keep the old tv because you know things can break. you keep extra boxes of macaroni and cheese lying around because there will be a week when you don’t have money for groceries. you hold onto your stacks of books and clothes for dear life. those are your assets. physical evidence of where your money’s gone. it’s hard to ...

This week driving to my child's school I passed by one of my favorite properties and was heartbroken.  A massive sign was out front, where months ago there had been no driveway, just open land.  It was advertising the homes that were going to be put in starting at the 300s.  I felt heartbroken. I have loved and admired this space ever since I saw it.  It is one of my favorite areas in Charlotte (though it is technically outside of it) driving by.  And now, it is going to be another development.  No more hill, no more grassy plain, no more cute red farmhouse at the top, and likely no tree next to it either.   I know it is impractical because I never would have had enough to buy a property like this and get it to be a farm.  Heck.  It never even had a for sale sign out front, so who knows how that even works.  But I still dreamt about being able to put a farm up there or a cohousing space.  It just stinks. Also this week I ...

We moved into our home in 2010.  There are a few things that are not ideal.  We want more space to garden, and our home has trees on it's little lot.  We are DIY people and there is no garage or mud room... Which was not a problem until we had kids and now the extra bedrooms function as bedrooms not project spaces.  Our family also lives out of town so it would be lovely to have a space where they could stay when visiting (currently we have one, but when the kids need their own space it gets to be a bedroom again).  And we really want a big central kitchen, ours is an ok size and slightly isolated. We have been looking on and off at houses, mostly the last three years, when I found a cash only house which was 12 acres with a pond.  My parents would love a project house (a farm would be ideal) and we would have paid our mortgage to them.  Any way that fell through, and I look every so often now. I found one this weekend.  I drove by, and cam...

I started with a new podcast today.  Loaded stitcher onto my first smart phone that I got a few months ago with Ting (alternative phone service if you are curious I can send you a link). I am also unpacking from a camping trip that got cut off because our tent is around 15 years old and was touching the rainfly so it leaked.  So my house is a mess, which I am in the middle of fixing.  It gives me an idea for a future post, about being honest regarding how messy my home is on a daily basis, and how bad it gets when things are going on. Also it gives me some ideas about how privilege effects the ability to discard just in case items.  Like our tent. Also since listening to The Minimalists podcast again, I really think that they would find a lot of value in a non-violent communications class.  I find myself listening to some of their replies and feel concerned that the caller might not feel heard.  There is a lot of information coming across, I wonder if...

I just listened to  +The Minimalists  055 Critics.  I was not expecting to find it relevant to me, as though sometimes I would like to create, I do not define myself as a creator (perhaps I have not yet found the bravery and boldness to do so.)  I thought their approach was a good one, and found myself empathising with Fields Millburn and his responses to critics.  Once they got to the quote from Theodore Roosevelt though I made the connection to my own life. It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause...

Ok, part of what makes me a hot mess is my resume. I did the regular work study stuff and joined the army reserves doing logistics and graduated from college.  Since then I have kinda wandered.  I never really used my major other than teaching abroad.  I taught and worked in a vet clinic in the states. Then we moved and I had kids.  So, I don't know what to do now.  I keep reading books.  Trying to figure out what I might be good at.  Find out what my priorities are and the best way to accomplish them.  I feel like I was supposed to discover this in college, but I walked in thinking I knew what I wanted to do, so never wandered around much. I just got a job at a tea shop that I love, and yesterday I found myself writing in a notebook what I want to do and the possible paths I can see to accomplish it because I am wandering.  Then I started thinking about minimalism... I think I may need a few more days to process and consider where that...

So I am re-starting a new iteration of this blog.  I have gone from Lifelong Procrastinator (which I still am), to Skinny Couch Potato (which applies some of the time and occasionally most of the time), and now Hot Mess Minimalist. I have been curious about minimalism, and have never been much of a collector for most of my life, but only in the last few years, and even more in the last couple months I been reading and learning about the philosophies of minimalism.  I stared with a couple shows on the radio, eventually  borrowed the Marie Kondo book, and recently have started with The Minimalists, which has lead to lots of other resources. Today my husband sent me a link to one of Jenny Mustard's videos.  I watched it, a 30 day or 4 week plan to become a minimalist.  She talked a bit about aesthetics.  How she is attracted to spaces that are clean and white and bright.  If what you like is spaces filled with color and fluffy pillows you should do th...

I need to alter this blog, as Nugget is out! He was born about a month ago, so the gestational diabetes is gone, though some habits still remain. I hope to continue to check labels, and have been trying to balance carbs, fat and protein. I'm looking forward to starting running, but for now I'm trying to get use to my new sleep schedule, and am mostly recovered from giving birth to the little one. The whole experience was pretty good, considering it's suppose to be one of the hardest most painful things that a woman can experience. I actually chose Nugget's birthday, he was past his due date and I had been 3cm dilated for two weeks so I scheduled with my OB to be inducted as there wasn't any additional risk over going into labor naturally. So my husband and I went in to the hospital, they began pitocin by about 8AM, broke my water at about noon, and Nugget was born at 4PM. They weren't expecting him that early but I was walking around the maternity ward as ...

Wednesday- B- Boiled Egg, Soy-milk with cinnomin L- Cottage Cheese, Green Beans, Boiled egg, apple with peanut butter S- Swiss Cheese, greek yogurt, potato chips D- cantellope several slices, kale, shredded pork Ice cream about 1 cup 10 AM- 168.4 lbs Thursday- 10 AM- 166.7 lbs B- spinach and egg (made my blood sugar go down, not up strange) L- Cantelope while I made food, yogurt with homemade granola and fruit, cheese and lunchmeat rollups S-Cantelope and cottage cheese D- Eggplant Chicken Thai dish, with rice mango dessert

166.9 lbs at 10 am B- Leftover pork and carrot chinese food L- Turkey tomato and swiss sandwich, green bean leftovers and some cottage cheese (I'm always really hungry by lunchtime since being on this low carb/sugar diet, this was one of the first satisfying lunches I've had so far... maybe a little over-full.) Vitamins post lunch pre blood sugar Yogurt with granola 1 serving potato chips D- Chick-fil-a sandwich half the bun removed, small unsweet tea, small milkshake shared with Jacob (banana pudding shakes are awesome! It's good they'll be going away soon, cause I'd be tempted to eat them all the time.) I killed the granola so I'm thinking that tomorrow I'll try an adjusted recipe to make it have less sugar, then eat it for lunch so I'll have an idea if it works well for keeping blood sugar low.

Fig Newton Chick-fil-a Nuggets with sauce slice of bread with cheese 1 cup frozen strawberries and about 2 tbsp walnuts (I need to toast those up, they're old and taste terrible) 1 cup + a little soy milk with cinnamon allspice and nutmeg slice of cheddar cheese handful of roasted peanuts burger (full sized) from Five Guys 4 tbsp starbucks ice cream (completely allowed!) So I have a meter now, and the only abnormal readings I had were post fig newton (probably because it was morning and too much carb without anything else) and post burger... which I can't really explain. Trip to the grocery store tomorrow to get the things I need to stay on a low carb diet.

I knew I hadn't blogged in a while, but I didn't realize it had been this long. I've got to hop on the Wii later today. Last Wednesday I went for my blood glucose test. They called me to let me know I have to go through the big test, because my level was elevated. I'm feeling pretty crumby about this, but I guess that it's just an indication that even skinnies need to make changes to their lifestyle. I'm going to make it a goal not to be a couch potato. To be honest, I was pretty devastated to hear that my level was elevated. I don't exactly eat an unhealthy diet as you can tell by my logs, and I blame myself for having a crappy level. It terrifies me that the little snacks that I have and my putting off exercise have kicked me in the butt (though I understand that it's different than type 2 diabetes, and I haven't gotten the complete test yet, it still bugs me.) Plus there was the fact that when the nurse called I was watching Biggest Loser, and I h...

Wednesday- 165.6 lbs Biscut Beef Jerky Bagel and Cream Cheese Dr. Pepper hard candy trio bar Grapefruit with sugar Sandwich from Wendys- 470 cal Frosty- 310 cal Mini sandwich- 350 cal Woah that was a lot of Calories in my dinner.

I took a week off from writing the blog, as my computer is failing, and my husband had the week for spring break. I took my weight this morning... and I don't feel so much like a skinny couch potato. 167.6lbs Yikes. I was getting kind use to my body image, but man. I'm not so sure if I'm going to stay out of the 170 range. No wonder I'm so much more tired than I'm use to. So I'm going to blow up the yoga ball, and maybe do some walking today, or maybe a little yard work. I've been thinking though that my project priority needs to go to doing my taxes, but you gotta eat... and I should get it written down. Peanut butter and banana- 150 cal Fig Newton- 200 cal 1 cup pineapple 2 cups bean and kale soup Small handful dark chocolate pommegranet candy Cheddar cheese Tomato Bagel V8 2 hard candies Red Lobster Shrimp meal with Fries and Garden Salad- 1000 cal 2 tums Tuesday 166.2 lbs This is the first time my weight has gone down even a little since being pregnant B...

Thursday- Granola with Soy Milk Beef Jerky Tomato 2 cookies cup of yummy soup muffin Chicken sandwich and bo-berry biscust from Bojangles goldfish a nugget of Jacob's chicken Friday- Chick fila bagel sandwich 7 layer burrito from Taco Bell Pomagranet Freeze (yummy) Leftover cauliflower soup Shortbread cookie, and chocolate chip 20 Jelly beans (I found them!) Grilled Cheese sandwich

Cookie and Granola with Soy Milk Chick-fila Sandwitch, Cherry Coke, 2 Cookies Handful of green peas Yogurt 2 Shorbread Cookies Trio bar a bit of mango tomato and cheese Another Cookie Beef Jerky Grilled Cheese Cauliflower Soup (Yay Jacob!) I had another doctor's appointment today. Completely great bill of health. Nugget wouldn't sit still to have his heart beat on the dopplar, and the nurse eventually gave up after trying with him wiggling around (and that was before any caffeine today.) Took two tums in the evening as I'm feeling over stuffed. I'm so glad that I had a friend's blog to read in addition to all the online resources to know the unexpected side effects of pregnancy (including strange stomach activities, like food not having space to go, and coming to my throat when I lay down, easily fixed with pillows eating small meals and eating early.) Next visit I get my Rh shot, and the blood glucose test. So it said come back in 3-4 weeks, and the doctor sa...

So yesterday Jacob made cookies, and in addition to that I've been eating a lot of jelly beans, so I need to pick up on this again, rather than just trying to remember what I've been eating. Weight: almost 162 lbs (eep! I think/hope this is just indigestion) Pizza slice (leftovers) 3 Cookies 2 tomatoes Another 2 cookie Granola and soy milk Grapefruit Cookie and Pasta with tomato, garlic and Parmesan Sushi (california roll) Cranberry juice

So last two days I haven't been recording everything... so now I gotta get back on the books Weight the last two days: just shy of 160lbs Today's foods: Homemade granola with soy milk Noodles with chicken Yogurt Jelly Beans about 30 Handful of potato chips Lemonade Shortbread cookie Thin mint candies More than a handful of chips Gum Prediction for the evening: Cherry Coke Pizza

Weight at around 9:45 ish: 158lbs Blueberry bagel with cheddar cheese Tangerine shortbread cookie costco muffin 2 tomatoes Large handful of sugar snap peas 25 Jelly beans (I felt great till I ate these... darn it) Beef Jerky Chicken Noodle Salad Cranberry Juice Thin Mint Candies Icecream Popcorn! Tuesday: Pasta salad 2 Doughnuts Yogurt potato chips tomato 15 jelly beans Way too much starbucks ice cream Jack in a Box- Turkey Sandwich, Curly Fries Tomato