2013

Well now, how do I begin to explain an absence of more than one year without sounding melodramatic, whiny, self-centered, etcetera etcetera?  I think I shall not even try.

I should at least acknowledge the obvious - I'm back on good ol' blogspot. I never did get the hang of the Wordpress blog I'm still paying for, and this is like a favorite old sweater -  not the most fashionable but so comfy, and I can put it on with eyes closed.  So here we are.

We sold our beloved house last summer to a cardiologist who was downsizing from a 15,000 square foot manse on the other side of town.  (I am not kidding. It is still called downsizing when one squishes all their meager possessions into a measly 5,500 square feet...right? )  Life goes on.

For now we are renting a place about a half hour from the old house. It's way out in the boondocks, but there is a fireplace in the bedroom (highly recommended!), a pool, and a gorgeous view of the small lake it sits on.  The sunrises and sunsets are magnificent out here!

The house itself is a whole 'nother story. So in order to preserve my sanity in this 1992 architectural gem complete with creaking floors, brass chandeliers, swag wallpaper borders, faux painted walls, and a gazillion nail holes, my modus operandi since last summer has been to streamline and simplify as much as possible. By this I mean my family is afraid they'll soon be sleeping on the floor and sharing one tin cup, a plastic spork, and a pair of communal socks . There have been so many Goodwill and Second Chance Boutique runs, I've lost count.  I don't even ask for a receipt any more because our friend the tax man would never believe one person could donate that much stuff in one year. 

The consignment store people came to pick up a load too - it took over an hour to catalog and load it all up. You could hardly tell there was anything missing when they left.  And me, Craig, and his infamous list are on a first name basis these days. Sigh.

{Tangent:  Why do so many weird people hang out on Craigslist these days?}

While deep in the throes of decluttering everything in arm's reach, I stumbled on the Slow Your Home 2013 in 2013 Challenge and have decided to attempt to sneak another mass of stuff from our home without B and the boys getting their collective knickers in a knot. Here's just a partial list of the junk I can remember which went bye bye so far this month:

1 Samsung washer/dryer set
1 pear lamp shade
1 silver side table with a corroded top
1 large poster in a frame B and I bought the first year we were married
3 pairs of blue jeans
3 pairs of shoes
Half a dozen or so books
1 stack of plastic cd cases
1 pink glass sugar/creamer set missing its lid
2 red glass vases
1 man's yellow suede shirt jacket
4 mens shirts
3 ratty mens T-shirts which I've been trying to get Big T to part with for I can't remember how long (straight to the trash can, with much fanfare on my part)
2 almost empty plastic bottles of cosmetic remover
Old Christmas wrapping paper
1 Christmas tree stand
2 photo frames

Now, can somebody explain to me WHY we still owned these things, and WHY we moved them?AGAIN?!

This could get interesting.

I'm Outta Here...

I did it y'all. 

I took the plunge,

Source: None via Terri on Pinterest

and went to Wordpress.

Come visit me HERE...okay?

Digital Crack

I don't drink.

Well, except for the occasional margarita and glass of wine.

But I only like pink wine that tastes like kool aid.

And I mix it with Sprite and pour it over ice.
So I'm not sure that counts.

I don't smoke.

 Never have.

I tried once, in my 20's.

But, at the risk of sounding like Bill Clinton,

I never inhaled.

I don't gamble.

If you gave me twenty bucks to put in a one armed bandit,

I'd sneak it into my pocket

and save it until I found a candle, or a book

or a cheap pair of flip flops to spend it on.

But this might present a problem. I think I could very easily become addicted.

See, a couple months ago, I noticed a lot of traffic coming to this blog from something called Pinterest.

So I took the bait and checked it out.  Turns out someone pinned a photo of my closet to their board, and a simple shot of my boot collection began travelling around the internet.

Huh.

Well how 'bout them apples?

I didn't think much more about it.

Then a few weeks ago, someone pinned one of my bedroom photos.

And I got sucked in for good.

Pinning is so much easier than taking the time to write an entire blog post about why I like something, where I found it, or what I want to do with it.  You just swipe, add a note, and go! Pinterest takes care of the rest for you.  And everyone else is busy doing the same thing, so there's no expectation of lots of comments.  Pinning takes much less time than traditional blogging. And it's so satisfying to see that beautiful, ever growing creation, always at the ready.

You can tell a lot about a person by their pinterest boards.  For instance, mine says that I hate to cook, since I only have two pins on the Food board and one of those is for chocolate cake so that's not really cooking anyway.

 Once you get the Pin It button added to your favorites bar, it's hard to stop hoarding every last morsel of inspiration from every last corner of the world wide web.  Trust me on this.

For whatever reason, you can't just start a Pinterest page.  You must be INVITED, daaahhling.

You can request an invitation from Pinterest, which is what I did, but most likely you will get an e-mail that says something like, "Thank you for requesting an invitation from Pinterest.  We'll add your name to the waiting list and send that as soon as possible!"

Whaaatt???!!  Pfffft.

But it actually only took about a week.
Orrrrr, if you know someone who already pins, they can invite you, and you're in like Flynn immediately.

And guess what?  I have five invites.  If you want one, send me an e-mail (billytee67at.gmail.dot.com) and you too can be a pinning fool. See that Pinterest icon over there on the sidebar?  That's me. You are welcome to nose around and swipe any old thing your little heart desires.

C'mon!

All the cool kids are doing it.