Month: November 2015

Focus…

I can’t believe it’s almost December. One more month and 2015 is over. Where the heck did the time fly off to? Just a short month left (yes, it’s a short month, with Christmas and all, interfering with normal routines 😉 ) to finish up my goals for the year.

I know there are a couple of goals that I will fail at, but there is one goal in particular that it’s time to snap back into.

For some reason I’ve been finding it hard to keep the focus up on my decluttering goal! Last year I was all for it, but this year it’s almost like I’ve lost a step and I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because I feel I have my home under control (no, not really), or maybe it’s because I’ve already been decluttering for years and I’m getting down to the “nitty gritties” and it’s much harder, or maybe my heart just haven’t been in it?

Whatever reason, the fact is that there aren’t much stuff going out-the-door! Now, fortunately there haven’t been much coming in either, as I don’t buy much, so I’m not cluttering it back up 🙂

But it’s time, it’s time to focus. It’s time to get at least some of my decluttering goals out of the way.

Heather over at Simply Save, has spent November playing the minsgame. So I figure I could take a cue from her, focusing on my decluttering goal for a minute 🙂 There is no way I’m going to be able to shed 465 items like Heather have been working on. But that’s not really the point. The point is just to get back with it, to get the stuff out of the door, to finish my goal for the year, of 365 items out-the-door.

So there you have it… over the next few weeks. The focus is… decluttering! And yes, please hold me accountable.. because it is sooooo easy to slip…

 

Sniffles and tv…

Lately I’ve been struggling with a bit of a cold/flu/chest infection.. or whatever the heck it is… all I know is that it entails a lot of sniffles, headaches, coughs, fever and no energy. Oh yeah.. and no voice! What’s up with that! 😉

The one redeeming factor? It’s a perfect excuse to do nothing but hang out in front of the telly 😉

In the beginning of the year I posted about how one of my goals for the year was to attack my movies/series collection. My goal was to get rid off 100 Movies (half of my collection) and cut my physical DVD series collection by 30% (which is quite a bit as I have a few series).

I figured that, as I’m sitting here like a zombie anyway, this is as perfect time as any, to attack that particular goal 😉

So guess what? The last few days I’ve been hanging out, in front of the telly, with my hot beverages and blankets, all tucked in, having a Dark Angel series marathon 🙂

I’m already through season 1, and depending on how things goes the next few days, I should be done with season 2 soon.. which means that, by the end of the week, there might be 12 DVD’s leaving the premises.

A bit sad to let them go.. but I’ve seen the series a bundle of times, and I need to cut down somewhere, so it’s decided, I’m no longer keeping the Dark Angel series as part of my collection.

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October in a nutshell!

Last month I promised I would do better at getting the monthly sum-up out in a timely matter. I’m not exactly doing stellar at that promise, but at least we are not quite half way into the month like I was last time 😉

Activities and exercise
I’ve started a new treatment in addition to the osteopath treatments I’m already doing. It’s been a bit busy with an average of close to 2 treatments a week (hopefully that will slow down soon). Some of the treatments wear me out a bit, and don’t leave me much energy for regular activities and exercise. Which means I’m still squeaking by, at an average of only 1,5 times a week. 

As my current schedule will continue a while longer, I think my yearly goal of average of 6 times a week by the end of the year, will be a big fail. Next year maybe?

Declutter
Weirdly enough, a couple of items did make it out-the-door in October. But I never posted about them. So here it is, my decluttering effort of October;

  • 1 Logitech computer speaker set
  • 7 plastic compression bags
  • 2 Natural Cotton/PEVA Storage Bags
  • 1 grey storage bag
  • 1 Tigger cup

That’s 12 items out-the-door, pictured below.

Still not much I know, but hey.. one item here, one item there.. it still racks up.

I will, I will get a few more items out-the-door in November… I’m sure 😉

Only buying necessities
Eating out – We are back to our usual poor performance 😦 Yep! You heard me right. We are back to eating out, a lot! I’m sure that doesn’t come as a big surprise now, does it!

My fault entirely, and I “blame” it all on the treatments (gotta blame it on something, right?) as I’m worn out afterwards and just want an easy meal.

I’m sure.. that will change when I get into a more regular treatment schedule again… Well… I can hope, can’t I 😉

Buying non essentials – I’ve been looking for a nice looking “fleeze”/indoor jacket for quite some time, and I finally found a black one I like.  As I quite often do, I ended up having to buy from the men’s department, the woman’s versions just don’t seem to have long enough arms .. go figure? But it will explain why the link is to the men’s department 😉

Financial goals
I’m still putting away every cent I can towards my yearly down payment, and I’m happy to announce that I’m already there and then some, 2 months early 🙂

Projects
No projects this month. My friend (who moved this summer) is working away at sewing stuff for some christmas markets that are coming up, which means that any of the leftover tasks in her house have been put on hold until the markets are over.

That’s it for October sum-up.

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Darn that car…

It’s November, and the days seems to just run away from me (what else is new, right?)  🙂

I had this idea that November would be the month I would get into a posting schedule again.

Well,  that was until my right hand (index and middle finger) had a very close encounter with my car door. So much so that the door completely closed shut on my index finger..  NOT a very pleasant experience.. ouch 😦

I was parking over at the shopping mall when a gust of wind got hold of the door before my hand was completely clear. It took a second where I looked at my finger in shock, before I managed to unlock the door.

I grabbed my hurting hand and ran into the mall, rushed over to the one place I knew they just had to have ice… the sushi place. It was quite funny, I’m sure, watching this “old” lady running like a toonaloon through the mall (ok.. really just a couple shops into the mall) “yelling” at the staff

“I need ice”…

They were the sweetest guys on earth, finding loads of ice for me to cool down my fingers in hope that the swelling wouldn’t be to sever. They were all concerned about me having to have it checked out.

“It could be broken you know”

“Pffft, I’m sure it will be alright”.

Well guess what, after a somewhat sleepless night…

“Hey, doctor..!!”

You’d be happy to know, the doctor think I’ll live..

Me on the other hand….  It hurts like heck, and I’m sure my arm is going to fall off from the shock of it…

So guess what… until my fingers are in good enough shape that I can actually touch the darn things without feeling like my hand is exploding, I won’t be shaking anyones hand, or go a round with a prize winning boxing champion or for that sake, type 😉

 

What touched my heart – the aftermath of hallows eve!

It’s November 1st, the day after that day where kids roam the streets, looking for candy.

I hope you all had a great Halloween last night. The kids here in Norway have embraced the US tradition of going trick and treat, so I prepared myself for an invasion. I was right to be prepared, because by the time the night was over, 50 kids had visited me, and I only had one very very tiny bag of candy left.

In this day and age, where a lot of people mostly look out for themselves, we are no stranger to the kids following suit. And part of my evening was filled with a bunch of kids who showed up in one “horrible” costume after another, with blood pouring, heads chopped off, almost “running” me down for some candy 🙂

But… there was a moment, that profoundly touched my heart. A moment that showed me that there are compassion among kids, that they care for each other, and want the best for each other!

Riiing… the doorbell rang, and I opened up to a pile (8 or 9 of them) of young “men”, most likely in the age group of 9-11 (a bit hard to tell considering they were wearing masks). Who very politely took turns to get their bag of candy handed to them. They thank me nicely and I closed the door.

Riiing… I opened again and I look into the blood dripping face of one of the kids that I just closed the door on. He asked if he could get one more candy bag for a friend and he pointed to a kid with a yellow reflex vest standing a bit in the shadows. “Yes off course, just tell him to come over and I’ll get him one..” Mr. Yellow vest was at that time turned and slowly walking away..

“He doesn’t want to, he’s afraid, because he has no costume”, I feel my heart breaking as I hand the candy over to one of the other kids who run over to Mr. Yellow vest with it, and I ask Mr. Blood dripping face if they want a small bag for Mr. Yellow vest to collect his candy in. “Yes please, that would be grand”

Then I suddenly hear “He is crying” and I look up and the kid that handed the candy to Mr. Yellow vest is beckoning the group. My heart drops and I rush to give the plastic bag to Mr. Blood dripping face and he hurries over together with the rest of the group to comfort Mr. Yellow vest.

I felt so sorry for Mr. Yellow vest, and I just wanted to go over and give him the biggest hug ever..  But his group was already taking care of him and the only thing I could do was “shout” (ok not really shouting but a raised voice since they were a few feet away) over to them that a costume didn’t matter, that the candies are for everyone and that people wouldn’t care if he was wearing costume or not…

After a moment Mr. Blood dripping face turns towards me and waves at me saying that “He is ok now” and they start to move slowly down the street.

This group of young men have stayed with me since last night. In the middle of times where bullying is a real problem, it is heartening to see that there are kids out there that care, that care to stay by their own, to rally around a sad kid and help him out. It would be so easy for a group to “jump all over” a kid that sticks out and beat him while he is down. But this group choose to include and help and do anything they could to cheer him up and make him feel better.

These young men will forever stay with me, for they truly touched my heart.