Delirity

In the past few weeks:

• Jesse’s computer (bad ram)
• Nicole’s computer (maybe bad motherboard? It just broke Sat, so we don’t know for sure yet ~6 years old)
• Stereo (from high school ~10 years old)
• Nicole’s alarm clock (from college ~4 years old)
• Shredder (I tried to shred too much at once ~1 year old
• Digital camera (Can’t seem to keep batteries charged ~6 years old)
• Jesse’s car stereo (Not sure if it’s the speakers or the tape player ~12 years old)

So far we’ve replaced my alarm clock and have an RMA for Jesse’s RAM (though they don’t carry the same model anymore). Next up is probably the shredder. We’re hitting up the cheap stuff first. Then we’ll start crying =)

(UPDATE: Our VoIP phone service is out right now too – I’m hoping vonage isn’t heading the way of sunrocket…)

Recently I’ve been simplifying my life. To me, living simply involves spending a majority of my time/energy/thought/money on things that I find meaningful or important. I’ve had this manifest in different ways – everything from purposely trying to spend my time doing things I like to simplifying the products I clean the house with (I clean almost everything with either a diluted Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Soap or a water/vinegar solution) to deleting most of my inbox and thinking about the real purpose of e-mail.

There have been some unforseen side effects from my simplifying: I no longer enjoy browsing at stores (like Target) quite as much – I don’t need or want almost anything there, so it’s lost its magic! I also notice areas where I haven’t simplified much. It’s helped me understand my priorities and values more – for example, I am happy to get our produce from a local farm, but I can’t give up my car (heck, I can’t even cut down my driving much more).

I think that part of this has been fueled by the fact that we (ok, mainly me since I do most of the shopping)  have been focusing on buying foods and other household goods that have very few extra ingredients – this has partly been spurred on by us working on following the blood type diet. I had no idea it would so greatly spill over into every other part of my life – but I find that I’m definitely trying to get read of all my extraneous ingredients!

I’ve been feeling restless recently. I try to focus the energy so I can just get stuff done and then move on, but it’s challenging. Sometimes once I’ve completed “what I need to do” the restlessness manifests as walking, other times as cleaning or organizing.

Fortunately, we’ve been keeping pretty busy recently, with enough varied things to keep my restless-self entertained. This past weekend we went to a greener homes and gardens expo – some very cool ideas there – who knows, maybe someday we’ll build a home of our own and incorporate some of the design ideas we encountered there! I went to 2 farmer’s markets… not for too long at either one (I didn’t want a sunburn!), but long enough to check out the doggies and pick up some flowers and cookies and whatnot. And then we had a makeup mother’s day on Sunday night since Donna was sick last weekend. I also had some girly time by myself (getting a pedicure and watching 27 Dresses) while Jesse was at a seminar. Pretty good weekend if you ask me (except for the stupid hot heat on Saturday before we got our air conditioner set up).

On the list for this next weekend: coffee w/Srijia, 2 birthday parties, hopefully getting some of the house clean, maybe a bike ride if I’m lucky (?). And hopefully, soon my restlessness will be gone. If they let me start running again that should help…

Katherine, my buddy from college has some fairly Pomona-esque questions for me…

1) What is your life philosophy? How do you practice that philosophy on a daily basis?

Essay or short answer? I guess overall I’d say my life philosophy focuses on me being a better person. I do what I can to make life easier/happier/less complicated for others, try to see the good in every situation, and slow down so that I can enjoy the ride. I haven’t mastered all this yet, but I tend to focus on the little things – smiling at the cashier who just got yelled at by a strangely grumpy customer, being more courteous when I drive, meeting small goals that I’ve set for myself like watching less tv or running 1 errand after work instead of going straight home to my couch… It’s not a lot, but I like to think that if we all slowed down a little and tried to be more courteous (or at least not purposely get in each others way), that life would be better for all of us.

2) When you feel overworked, stressed, overwhelmed, how do you refresh yourself? Advice for others?

I try to slow down and remember what’s important. I tend to refocus and do something for myself – take a bath or a walk, go to the gym, sleep in. Once I’m refreshed, I try to figure out what stressed me out so much – and make a list to help me realize that whatever the issue is, it can be dealt with one step at a time, just like anything else.

3) What is your favorite place in Portland? Why?

In my narrow view of Portland (admittedly I don’t get out much – this is something I’m trying to work on) and my busy life, Edgefield is a pretty cool place to go. We tend to go there for dinner and movies some nights. You can watch them do glass blowing, there’s free music quite often, lots of neat events, and the artwork all over the grounds is entertaining. Other than that, my favorite places only crop up between May – October – the Farmers’ Markets! They make my Saturday mornings very happy.

4) Nature vs. Technology, which would you choose?

I tend to live more in the world of technology. Sometimes I wish that weren’t the case, that I had more of a focus in nature, but it just isn’t my life right now. However, part of the reason we will stay in the Northwest is that I love the green and that so many beautiful things are close for when I do make time for that part of my life.