Am I living in some kind of alternate reality?

Today I got up and dressed in my The Lord of the Cats - The Furrlowship of the Rings t-shirt and dragon earrings. My youngest and I decided to have lunch at Dimassi's and do some thrift shopping. While at lunch I got the call from the vet - my little faerie queen's ashes were ready to come home.

We drove out to pick her up and came immediately home to place her beside our other gone but not forgotten furbabies. We kissed her urn, I told her I loved her, and up she went to her new abode. We laughed that she is no doubt judging us. The kids used to joke that she mean mugged everyone. 

I'm just happy she's back home with us.

We then went to our favorite iced tea place - HTeaO - and got some tea. My husband told me to make mine a double. I did get the extra large, so I guess that counts. Unsweetened, of course. And no I'm not handing over my southerner card because I prefer my iced tea unsweet. I like tea, not syrup, thank you!

At the thrift store that we went to before we picked up Kaylee, I bought an organizer for my baking pans, a paella pan, a grilling cookbook, and a picture frame to replace one that broke. Afterward we watched the newest Kevin Lee Jacobs video and discussed the recipes he made.

Hubby had a rough day at work. Mostly its just been a rough month. After we lost Kaylee, his dad died, and now this week his aunt died. When he came home he just wanted to go out to get something to eat and come home and go to bed. Remember my t-shirt I mentioned above? At the restaurant an older woman asked me about it. She didn't get the reference. We told her Lord of the Rings? She'd never heard of it. Color me gobsmacked. I read those books when I was in high school last century, and she's never even heard of them?! It reminded me how last week I wore a t-shirt that said I'm With the Banned, and the salesclerk asked about it, because she didn't get the reference. Banned books? She didn't know it was a thing.

Am I living in some kind of alternate reality? Did I fall through some dimensional time warp? 

Glad to be back home, safe and sound, surrounded by a mountain of books. And a lot of tea.

My life is fairly mundane, but there are moments

I read a lot of cozy mysteries. They are fun and never get too descriptive in the murder department. Plus, they often have recipes or craft instructions at the back of the book, and I always consider that a cool feature.

One thing many do, though, is describe their day. They woke up, what clothes they chose for the day, what they ate for breakfast, what errands they ran, etc.  I thought, gosh, that almost feels like a daily diary or journal entry. I can do that. Not the fiction writing part, of course, I mean the daily diary bit.

Yes, my life is fairly mundane. I rarely do things considered exciting by the average person. But I do enjoy what I do immensely. For instance, today after my morning shower, I pampered myself with a green tea face mask, a green tea hand mask, and a chamomile foot mask. For twenty minutes I enjoyed that small bit of self care. Afterwards I made breakfast and, as usual, made myself a cup of tea. I drank it in a new mug that is black, but once warms up from the tea, the words, "Yes, I am a witch," pops up.

Last night I attended a psychic reading for the first time in my life. This is one where a psychic stands in front of an audience and delivers messages. He very pointedly and repeatedly stated that if he says something that has meaning for you, raise your hand. Once I got home I realized he had said several things that related to me - the name Rosemary, the name Mary, being Irish, being given a rosary, and a few other things. Since they were delivered at different moments to different people, I didn't put any of it together. I had also commented to my friend who went with me, that I felt many in the audience stretched or reached in an attempt to make a connection. So I never raised my hand. Now I wonder. Missed opportunity or just my imagination?

While I was at the reading, my son made supper. He and I regularly watch a Youtuber named Kevin Lee Jacobs. Kevin made a sheet pan dinner of sausage, delicata squash, apples, and some other ingredients and served it with a mustard sauce. I had the pleasure of coming home to a vegan version of this meal, and it really was quite delicious. I had those same leftovers for my supper again tonight, but added scalloped potatoes on the side.

The past two nights I have slept poorly, mostly due to the fact that our power would blink off, then on, then off, several times. There was rain both nights, but these power fluctuations were aggravating. No rain in the forecast tonight, so I am hoping both hubby and I sleep better.

I think I'm going to go work on some cross stitch. I need to get back to it. It's like painting with thread.

Living the Life I've Imagined?

Lately I've been watching a lot of Youtube cottagecore themed videos. Most of the contributors are young women who wear mostly dresses and do a LOT of baking. I worry about getting cavities from it all. But in fairness, they do post a lot of content that inspires me. What I admire the most, tho, is that all of them seem to be living their best life, in a manner most pleasing to them, and that says a lot.

So it got me to thinking, am I living the life I've always imagined?

The answer is yes...ish. While there are still many things I would like to change about my current living conditions, I am mostly happy and content. For instance, I live in the suburbs and I very much want to move where I have more breathing room. My yard doesn't allow for any real gardening because of all the shade trees, which, okay, where I live, shade is a premium. But that heat that makes the shade such a premium also prevents any outside activities, except for those involving being immersed in water, for most months of the year. I crave more peace and quiet, and suburban life in a very big city does not provide it. While I do enjoy the conveniences afforded me by where I live, I'm ready to exchange it for SOMETHING NEW. Will it happen? I don't know, but I'd like it to.

Until that happens, I am striving every day to improve my life. I've started working on crafts again after a too long hiatus, and I'm cooking more. And, I have to admit, I'm even baking some. I recently bought a bicycle, and even tho I'm a little wobbly still, I am enjoying the heck out of it. 

So my question for you is, are you living the life you've imagined? And if you aren't, what are you doing to try to get there?

Detoxing the Home, days 30 and 31 and closing thoughts

Here we go, wrapping up.

Day 30 - garage. Oh hell no. This is a multiple person job, and I'm the only one willing. So, this one will be backburnered FOREVER.

Day 31 - car. Easy peasy. I keep my vehicle very neat and clean.

Closing thoughts:

While I thought this was an excellent starting point, many of the areas just plain didn't need it, and the ones that did REALLY needed it. It did get me off my duff and actually start on those problem areas, and I'm kind of excited for what did get done and see a light at the end of the tunnel. So that's good. I do agree with the article that decluttering the house does work on decluttering the mind. It really is stressful to live surrounded by clutter, and can be intimidating as well as overwhelming. Where to start? So this article did solve the where to start dilemma. Many of the problem areas are large rooms that just have too much in them to begin with, often items that don't even belong there. Slogging through that mess is something I have procrastinated doing for a very long time. It felt nice to finally tackle it.

I think this article is a good idea for a yearly check up on areas. While many of those listed were areas I actually do keep organized, it doesn't mean they'll never need a once over. So I'll hang on to this and make a point to do better. I mean, isn't that all any of us can do, anyway? Try to do better?

Detoxing the Home, days 20 - 29

The decluttering continues, more or less.

Day 20 - Bedroom closet. Eek! My closet is scary, with very little space to move around. I've already broken one pole. Definitely needed the clearout, but nowhere near finished.

Day 21 - Free for all. Continued on the closet and even the dining room. No, neither got finished. Yes, they are that bad.

Day 22 - Sock and underwear. No worries, these are very organized.

Day 23 - Nightstand. Already sorted.

Day 24 - Kid's toys. Well, I don't have littles anymore, but guess what? I do still have some of their toys. Mostly organized.

Day 25 - Kid's closets. See day 24.

Day 26 - Craft space. I'm dying. I don't even know where to start with this room. Will require at least a month all on its own.

Day 27 - Laundry room. Really just needed a good scrub.

Day 28 - Free for all. Yep, back to the scary rooms.

Day 29 - Basement. I don't have a basement, so, yep, once again back to the scary rooms.

Detoxing the Home, days 16. 17, 18, and 19

Apologies for being so far behind on posting updates! I'll try to get caught up!

So day 16 was bathroom cabinets. Mine are fairly organized, but I did have some things I decided to donate to Goodwill. No worries, it wasn't medical or beauty related, so probably why it didn't really need to be in the bathroom cabinets!

Day 17 was the linen closets. Mine are good, so didn't need any work.

Day 18 was makeup. Mine is well organized, so another area I didn't have to do anything about.

Day 19 was jewelry. Now, I have a rather huge collection of earrings, but all of them are organized on earring holders. So I'm good.

Because none of the above days truly needed my attention, I did devote it to my dining room. Still needs more work but I'm getting pretty happy how things are finally getting cleared out and organized. If the dust doesn't kill me, there may be a light at the end of that tunnel!

Detoxing the Home, days 12, 13, 14, and 15

 The saga continues, lol. So far, seriously, it has been too easy. I'm waiting for some difficult days.

Day 11 did get happily accomplished. I did discover a box of dvds I still need to find a place for, but that will happen.

Day 12 - magazines and books. I'm very good about going thru magazines, and don't buy that more anymore. The ones I keep are craft or tea related, and they are all happily ensconced in magazine holders. Books, on the other hand, are well, suffice it to say I do not have enough bookcases. And no, I am not donating my books! So I got some book boxes from UHaul to pack up those that have just been stacked, waiting for a bookcase. So at least they are safe from harm until I can figure out space for more bookcases.

Day 13 - Junk drawer. I don't have a junk drawer. So I used this day to refine a few areas I've already attacked.

Day 14 - free for all. I did say I would use my next free for all day to get into the dining room, but guess what? My daughter came for a visit.

Day 15 - desk. Well, I have no excuses now. The desk is in the dining room. So yes, I finally did get started in that room. Happy to get started, but have a looooong way to go.

The next few days look pretty easy, so I may just devote those to the dining room. Stay tuned.