Random thoughts on the simple life

Lately I've been doing a lot of reading and thinking on frugality and simple living. Frugality is becoming a necessity as Larry's job is uncertain. But simple living? It appeals to me in so many ways, but I think if we went that route, we'd be giving up a lot of conveniences.

I sit at my desk, and I'm surrounded by STUFF. Not just the computer and all its accoutrements, but books, papers, cds, and, well, STUFF. We are people of stuff. Well, I'm a person of stuff. Larry's not so bad because he's not interested in much that can't be downloaded or installed. His computer is full of STUFF - you just can't see it!

Since I started frequenting a lot of frugal living communities, I've made some changes. I make my own laundry detergent. We don't have cable or satellite (but we do have blockbuster.com, because we have to get our movies SOMEWHERE and it's a great deal!). I try to batch cook and keep it in the freezer, though Larry objects to eating anything that's been in the freezer so I don't know how much good it's doing! But, we still eat out far too much. I still overspend on groceries. We throw away a whole lot of food.

One of the challenges of marriage is compromising in areas of living. Like, if I lived alone I'd eat a lot more soup, a lot more beans and rice. But these are things that Larry doesn't want to eat, so I don't make them. Though I am making a lot more casseroles these days. Hmm. I wonder how he feels about that. I wonder how he feels about the corndog casserole I made last night? He ate a bunch of it...

There are not many areas in our spending to cut back. We spend a good deal on fixing up the house, money that we don't have to spend but there's a lot we want to do to improve the look and feel of the place. Other than that, we don't spend a lot on clothes, we have the cheapest phone plan except for the DSL, and we try to maximize efficiency on our gas and electric use. We do water the garden, but we don't water the lawn. We spend a good deal on our dogs, too, because we want to.

Maybe our life is already simple? I refuse to believe that, but perhaps it's true...

Mother's Day is just around the corner!

If my brothers are reading this (not that I think anyone is reading this, since I haven't told anyone it's here), boy, I sure hope you're planning to call Mom on Sunday. She gets really upset when you don't. It would really be nice if one year we could all get together and have dinner with her, as a family, on Mother's Day. We seem to manage to do it for Dad on Father's Day, but we never quite get it together for Mom.

Mother's Day is tough at my house. I want to celebrate it, and make it all special for my mom and grandma, but Larry's mom is gone now, and it just makes him sad. I try not to talk about it too much, but it's hard to make plans and such without talking about it, really. I invited him to come along for dinner with my mom and dad on Sunday, but he hasn't decided yet if he's coming. I hope he does. After all, she is his mother-in-law, right? And without her, he wouldn't have such a wonderful wife! :-)

One of these years, we 'll have kids of our own, and we can start creating our own traditions. Until then, it's a delicate dance we do...

It's 11:30...do you know where your doggies are?

I'm in the computer room, trying to put the finishing touches on the thesis while being mightily distracted by the forums I love to read so much. I suddenly realize the dogs are being WAAAAAAAAAY too quiet...

Well, now they've come slamming through the dog door and are drooling in my lap, so I guess they're ok! But really, it scares me when my dogs get quiet. Because, well, here's just a few of the wonderful things they've done when we couldn't hear them...

• eaten about three dozen pairs of socks
• chewed up the arm of a chair
• eaten the bark off the apple tree
• dug a big hole under the house
• chewed on the bottom rung of the CD rack
• distributed little pieces of junk mail all over the backyard

So, I just noticed that most of these are "chewing offenses" - does that mean that in a year or two, we won't have to worry so much when we can't hear them? Sheesh...I sure hope so!

School's...out...forever!

Ok! This is more like it! I passed my defense on Monday! YIPPEE!!!! I can't even explain the feeling of total relief and exhaustion. I am so glad I survived the week - there were times I thought I was going to fall asleep at my desk, I was so tired after the stress of it all. But here I am...

Went out last night to an improv comedy show (think "Who's Line is it Anyway"). A friend of mine was taking a class from the group, and she had a performance in conjunction with their show. It was FABULOUS! I'm totally going to take that class the next time they're in town. Then we went out afterward. My friend said that the class has totally helped her think on her feet and be more outgoing and confident. I could use some of that in my life!

This weekend I have to clean house. Mom and Dad are coming on Tuesday to get some stuff to take to a Girl Scout rummage sale. I have half a mind to just let them walk through the house and pick stuff - I've got way too much crap and I can't bear to part with most of it! But, I'll do it, I'll wander through my house and critically eye what I need and what I don't. Might be a good time to clean out that craft box that's gathering dust, or some of those books I really need to weed out of my collection.

There's nothing important on my mind today - I'm way too tired!

I hate school!

I'm defending my Master's thesis on Monday. I'll complain about this to anyone who'll listen! I HATE school. This was probably the worst decision I've ever made in my life. Six long years of misery. I kept trying to drop out and people kept talking me out of it. AARGH!

So here I am, wasting my weekend putting together a powerpoint presentation. The good news is that if I pass, it'll be graduation in three weeks, and it'll all be behind me!

My Blog about Me...

Hi!

I'm Karen. This is my blog about me, who I am, what I'm thinking. I'm 31 years old, married to Larry, mom to three furbabies - Hershey, Ringo, and Puck. Puck's a brown and grey tabby cat, mighty hunter extraordinnaire (killed three rodents in one night last night!). Ringo is an 8 month old lab/hound mix. Hershey is 15 months old, and the whiniest, most pathetic lab/shepherd in the entire history of the planet. But she's darn cute so we keep her around...!

I also have a fish, a blue betta. He lives at the office. He's yet to be named, I just got him on Monday, but I don't think he's going to survive the week. He was laying on the floor of his tank when I left for the day...

The animals are on my mind today. Ringo's in a serious chewing phase. We're trying to figure out how to deal with it. So far this time he's chewed the front of an arm off my favorite chair, the edge off a big plastic planter in the backyard, a large chunk of our living room windowsill, and goodness only knows what else! We're wondering why we have two puppies (well, we know why - Hershey needed a friend and Larry only wanted puppies!)... But really, they're cute and they're fun and we like having them around. I just wish I could wake up tomorrow and find them both suddenly five years old!