Moving On With Life's Twists & Turns

I made a big salad last night to jump start getting back into the swing of things. Damon likes a lot of green cooked veggies and not so much the salads and coleslaw of which I so love both. Thus I made a large salad for dinner and drank a lot of water. The past few weeks I had enjoyed some root beer for a change, but in getting back on track I find the root beer is more of a distraction than a help. It is weeding out the little things in the frig and shelves to make the kitchen hum for my food needs.

I also took time last night to begin the process of packing up Christmas. Stripped down the bathroom, kitchen and all of that stuff is on the dining table. Tomorrow night it will be the table by my bed and the computer table. Then I will be ready to pack it up in the boxes and see just how far I have gone in the reduction. The colored lights in the garland finally died after like 15 years so will take those out and get new ones in December. Last year Moonsong had packed everything away to the best of his ability when I was in the hospital and it was fine, but this year it will be good to know where everything is when I go to unpack it at the holiday time in November/December.

I know it is hard to let go of stuff and this has been an ongoing project of mine for years. It is backed up by the deep sense of not letting a lot of stuff into the apartment. I have had to be quite vocal to friends and family about not getting me trinkets and such. Rather, prefer a beverage or food or and experience. The one area that is going to shock people is that I am going to take on my 5 boxes of photographs. They have sat in those boxes for nearly 10 years and I may have pulled them out to look at them maybe once in the 7 years I have lived in Seattle. Yes, I realize the value of photos, but really, they just sit there. I think I will set a goal to reduce it by half, but it might take several sortings to achieve that. As I mentioned yesterday, books are also on the chopping block. It is all about being real to the fact that I just don't use half the stuff I have in my belongings still. There is a certain amount of happiness that comes from releasing. The other thing I find amusing is that three years ago I changed computers and I have an entire file labeled "old computer" on my new computer...how many times have I opened it? Oh maybe once, if that. Sad, but true.

I chatted with my Mom last night for a few minutes and it is getting worse as we just talk over the same thing about 4 times before ending the conversation. Knowing that she will not even remember my calling makes it all the more frustrating, but I have to accept what it is and that it will not get any better. We no longer ask questions as that makes her so frustrated and confused and so when I go to call her, I take time to lay out what will be discussed and make it so it is upbeat and moves forward. And so goes another day at the rat race.