Juggling Du Jour

Minimalism Journey continued ...

2012-01-02T21:55:00.003-05:00

Minimalism is relative, this is what I’ve learned from my various readings, and I agree. I’m culling my belongings to keep only those items which have meaning, are useful and/or necessary, and while these items represent one of those three categories to me, to others what I find necessary to live, might not be seen in the same way by them.

Let’s use my husband as an example, he still has three large piles of t-shirts even though I know he won’t wear them … ever, and as hard as I try to get him to donate them, he's not interested. Me, on the other hand, now have two sets of t-shirts, those for gym and those for summer wear, which is a fraction of what hubby owns, and I’m happy. Besides which, I wear work clothes most of time and only have a few days a week to wear t-shirts casually.

Moving stuff out of a home takes time, and it’s taking longer than I originally expected, it’s almost like losing weight … it’s easier to gain than to lose, and it takes a long time to lose weight.

I've completed my home office, and my wardrobe, and between these two rooms I donated a fortune of stuff to a local charity. I also completed the basement closet and laundry room. I worked my way through my son’s wardrobe and donated his “too small” clothes to a local family who are in desperate need.

Becoming a minimalist is starting to feel real good… and I’m loving the space.

Source: Google

2012...

2012-01-01T19:07:00.000-05:00

It's fitting to be writing about the New Year today.

At first I wasn't going to write anything because there are hundreds of New Year posts, already written so well by all my blogging buddies, however, as much as I tried, I couldn't let the day go by... so here are my thoughts for 2012 ...

I have no resolutions for 2012, it seems so "old" making resolutions at this stage of my life, and besides which I don't keep them anyway, instead I have settled on hope...

... hope that the world economy will turn around ...
... hope that all those who want to work will find a job, even for just a few extra Dollars a week...
... hope that we will find a way to feed the many hungry children, even if only a few to start with ...
... hope that you will have a peaceful, happy and loving 2012, wherever in the world you find yourself ...

Happy New Year! All the best for 2012!

Source: Google Images

Turning 15 ...

2011-12-20T08:25:00.000-05:00

Adventure, laughter, fun and trying times... this is turning 15!

Adventure ... because 15 presents a life challenge, thought, interest each day... and it will remain for a little while yet...

Laughter and fun ... because 15 is halfway between being a kid and an adult ... and the fun changes to something parents can enjoy too (not that we didn't like visiting the kiddies fun parks), but now we can take on the highest roller-coasters and the scariest rides.

Trying times... because 15 is at the brink of finding yourself and discovering who you want to be, how you want to be and sometimes parents are a real pain!

On Friday, Josh turns 15! Happy Birthday to a great kid who is smart, kind and compassionate, and who really knows what he wants, and still likes to hug his mom (for which she is ever so grateful!)

Minimalist in the Making... phase 1 continued ...

2011-12-10T05:50:00.001-05:00

In my last post I wrote how I was converting to a "minimalist" (click here to catch up). What I failed to mention in my last post is that I am not a hoarder of sorts, and to add I'm a neat-freak, so everything has it's place, but even with this, I realized that I still own too much stuff which I don't use or will never use in future. A lot of my thoughts are coming from seeing how people are losing everything around me as the economy continues on its downward slide and those who had lots, have very little, and those who had little, now have nothing. My heart goes out to these people, especially their children, and it started me thinking that in the end, stuff is stuff and we should not be tied to it or allow it to define who we are. So we don't need so much stuff, really only what we require and what makes us happy, as in personal and sentimental items. To that end, I decided to see how I can change, not only for ease of my life, but also for the environment and the people around me.

Besides starting the process of cleaning, donating and disposing of items in my many rooms and cupboards , I also made a decision not to purchase anymore clothes or shoes (I hear everyone take a deep breath!). Yes, you read right... I've decided that every catalogue, brochure or advertising material I receive selling clothing or shoes, I would not read (partially so I'm not tempted). Over the years I've bought some really nice things and collected them in my cupboard, and maybe wore them a few times. I'm not speaking about the "nice wear" that you need when you're invited to a wedding or a special event, I'm speaking about the nice blazers, jerseys, shirts or the various color fleece tops I own ... really, how many fleece tops does one person need...? I will be working my way through my cupboard to donate all clothing items I've worn once or twice or will never wear again. I want to be left with a cupboard that has a few sets of necessary clothing items based on my life, and only when one item looks like it is time to replace, donate it and purchase a new one.

In the books I'm reading (see previous post) there is mention of how by minimizing the quantity of your clothes, you can maximize the quality of your clothes, which made so much sense to me. As an example, instead of purchasing 4 shirts at $10 per shirt (which doesn't last more than 5 washes), purchase a $40 shirt that will last a couple of seasons (better quality means it lasts longer). With this in mind over the next few weeks I'm starting the process of moving clothing out of my cupboard and onto the donation pile. I've decided to wear a "uniform" of sorts, which means for work, I'm only wearing smart black pants (I've a few pairs), black shoes (only have two pairs) and shirts of different designs and colors (and again I only have a few of those). I'll keep a smart blazer for important meetings I need to attend. On the casual side, I'm donating jeans I don't wear anymore, won't wear anymore, or just cannot fit into anymore(you know those, the ones you hold onto just in case you lose the weight you've been meaning to lose for years now)! ... most of the many, many t-shirts I've collected over the years (and I'm not keeping any in case because I might get to do some gardening... I never do gardening, so out they go), and as already mentioned the many fleece tops and jerseys are being donated to. The objective in the long run is that when a clothing items looks like it is time to hit the donation pile, you then purchase new, so you are always rotating items out... I think the key is to keep doing this and never to falter, and that in itself can be difficult to do, but I'm committed to simplifying my life, and clothing for us women is definitely a problem area. I never understand how Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and the like, can wear jeans and a black top everyday and no-one comments on their "ordinariness", yet us women need to think of ways to reinvent our clothing everyday which is why there is such a market for fashion, and which in itself leads to all sorts of other discussions.

I recently watched this video which was instrumental in my thinking... it will make you think too.

I'm Converting!

2011-11-30T18:50:00.001-05:00

I'm converting... to a minimalist! I've had enough of stuff! It feels as if wherever I look there is just more stuff that requires attention, work, organizing and effort to maintain. I've thought about this for a long time now, but would you believe I don't have the time to convert to a minimalist and the whole thing becomes a catch 22 situation... need time to clear out... don't have time to clear out ... so I couldn't get to it ... but that all changed this week. During the Thanksgiving break I started to get ruthless and cleared out two of the rooms in my home, throwing stuff in the trash and creating a pile for donation. I'm not going to stop until every room in my house has been turned inside out.

It's tough being ruthless, but I've decided that there are many things I've been given, inherited or purchased over the years that I really don't need anymore and would better serve someone else rather than gathering dust in my cupboards. The first room was my home office ... I went through all my paperwork and shredded piles of old bank statements, receipts and other type of documents that I really don't need to keep.

This is phase 1 of my conversion: To clear out stuff. In other words, make each room look as if you've just moved in and you've had no time to collect clutter yet. So with two rooms done ... I have many more rooms to go ...

To help me through this process, and believe me, it is going to be a process and I have a long way to go, I purchased two books I found to be very interesting, and extremely helpful as a guide for my conversion... The Joy of Less and Simplify.

"Becoming minimalists puts us in control of our stuff. We reclaim our space, and restore function and potential to our homes" (The Joy of Less).

One of my cupboards... looking better already... wish I took a before photo too... I'll remember to do that next time

Being Thankful ....

2011-11-27T16:18:00.001-05:00

Thanksgiving, for me, is America's best holiday. It is a day, or two, where families make plans to get together and friends connect, some after long time periods, to once again catch up on their relationships and to give thanks for each other. As a South African living in America, it isn't always easy to truly understand, or "feel", the various holidays in the same way as someone who grew up in America, however Thanksgiving isn't one of those holidays... being thankful for what we have and who we know doesn't require anymore than just that.

In a way it's a shame we need a scheduled holiday to remember to be thankful, and at the same time it's understandable when we consider how fast life comes at us ... a scheduled day is sometimes all we need to stop what we're doing, to catch our breath, and to say "thank you" to the world around us.

For us, our Thanksgiving was spent as a family, eating out, going to the movies and just taking time to de-stress... and for this family time, as always, I am very grateful and extremely thankful.

Yes, I cooked this turkey!

Stop Cyber-bullying!

2011-11-20T13:00:00.001-05:00

Source: Google Images

This past week I attended a seminar on bullying, more specifically cyber-bullying. Cyber-bullying is an epidemic and unless you know someone who has been directly attacked through cyber-bullying, you don't realize how extensive, or how bad, it really is? I didn't until this week.

Sure, we've all seen the story of the student who jumped to his death, Tyler Clementi, because of a viral video exposing his sexuality, and the young girl who hung herself in her home, Phoebe Prince, because of the intense bullying via social media, email and at school... these are the high profile cases which the media gave extensive coverage to, but there are more such cases...just search on YouTube for cyber-bullying and you will see countless videos in memory of those who took their lives due to intense bullying, specifically cyber-bullying. Click here to view one of them. There is a term for this now, it is called "bullycide".

One of the boys in the video is Ryan Halligan, a 13-year old who took his own life to escape the continuous bullying. Tragically his parents tried to help, but it wasn't enough. Ryan's parents, knowing that now, spend their days advocating for stricter action against bullies and the act of bullying. Ryan's father, John Halligan, spends his time speaking to kids and parents alike about how it really feels to lose a child to bullycide and why it is important that we don't take any type of bullying lightly. In this video, he says something that I truly believe is the way to stop bullying, that could save a child's life and all it needs is for our children (and us) to speak up... if you see something, say something... John Halligan said this "the group that we need to reach first and foremost is the bystanders, the group that stood there and laughed, that let this happen to begin with, the group that was too scared to step in and say, hey, this isn't right...". Before we can make this a reality, parents and teachers need to create a safe environment for kids to speak up.

Suicide because of bullying is not only tragic, it's preventable! I would hate to be a parent whose son or daughter committed suicide because of the actions of a bunch of nasty kids, so I'm making the commitment to be that safe parent kids can speak to and to teach those kids around me that if you see something, say something, and by speaking up you could save a child's life and keep a family whole.

Morning Sky ...

2011-11-14T19:08:00.001-05:00

Many times before I've mentioned that I love mornings... best time of the day for me. I am one of those people who by 7 in the morning have conquered the world and by 8 I've solved all life's problems! But being a morning person can be a lonely time too because there aren't many of us around, and we can be known to bug the crap out of those who hate mornings which doesn't lend itself to making friends... know what I mean? Thankfully I don't have that issue because I've learnt that not everyone can handle the mornings the way I do... especially not my family... and that's okay because while they are sleeping I get to rule my empire with no disturbances! and I captured shots like this one! which is why I love mornings so much....

Taken at 6:30 this morning before leaving for the office

Aftermath of the Fall Snow Blizzard ...

2011-11-06T19:20:00.000-05:00

What a week? I feel so drained from what was an unbelievably crazy week... and not because of work, but because of the crazy Fall snow storm we had. In my last post, which I wrote in the dark, we had lost power, only the power didn't come back until Tuesday afternoon (it was out since Saturday afternoon), and I was one of the lucky ones. There are many people still out of power a week later! It's amazing how you don't realize how much you rely on something until it is no longer available?

The first night into the first day there was still much buzzing going on in the house with comments "it feels like we are camping" and "I'm sure the power will return". But as the battery power in the computers and the iPad started to drain, so did the enthusiasm about the situation and the optimism that the power will be back soon. To add we could not leave our home because we were snowed in and trees had fallen over into the road which meant the only way out was when the town came to dig us out. I was so cold I couldn't do anything except remain curled up in my blanket with thermal leggings and 3 tops and a jacket! Our house temperature dropped to 50F (10C) and that was during the day! And of course there was no hot water because our water is heated via a boiler that requires the power, and I was not going to take a cold shower!

We spent the second night in our cold dark home again and by the next morning I could wait to get out, find a hot shower, a cup of coffee and a warm room.

When we did get out the next morning, I was shocked at the neighborhood devastation, it looked as if some sort of explosion happened and destroyed all the trees. Many trees had split in half or lost many branches with the thickest of branches broken off as if they were twigs! The snow was a wet-type of snow and the trees still had many of their leaves on so the snow got caught in the trees and was too heavy for the trees to hold so they broke. In some places the trees had ripped out of the ground at the roots falling over and barely missing some homes and the cars parked in their driveways or on the road. The trees had taken down many of the power lines and the reason why so many people were out o power. Our town alone had 8,000 homes out of power, and the area had close to 90,000 homes out of power.

Thanks to the generosity of a friend, for our 3rd day and night out of power, we were offered a place to stay which gave us back the luxury of hot water showers and heating, until our power returned.

Below are photos I took the the morning after the snow. You can see how the trees are hanging with the snow, and while it still looks beautiful here, when the snow melted the true sense of the mess began to show.

Fall Snow Blizzard!

2011-10-29T19:16:00.001-04:00

I'm typing this post by candlelight because we lost power just over 3 hours ago! To add I have to type really quickly because my tablet is running out of juice too. I'm not sure what the "gods" are trying to tell us, but if it's a case of "watch out here comes winter", they certainly did it in style today! It's October 29th and outside my front & back door lies over 10 inches of snow on the ground! And it's not even winter yet! To add, in the middle of the snow storm we lost power and ended by cooking dinner on the BBQ we dug out of the snow.

Unfortunately this was a wet-kind of snow which means the trees had to bear the weight, and many trees in our garden now have broken off branches fallen to the ground. I think we lost more tree branches in this snow storm than we did in the hurricane we had a few months back, but since everything is covered is snow we don't really know how many branches have broken off, we'll have to wait for it to all melt before attempting to clean up.

It's time to crawl into bed as the house is starting to cool down and with no power there is no heat, but not all is lost, there are 3 of us huddled in one bed just because we can! Here's hoping the power returns overnight ....

(Photo: Josh playing iPad by lantern - thankfully we still had eletronics to entertain!)

On the road again: Breakfast in Washington DC

2011-10-25T07:27:00.001-04:00

Waking up to room service breakfast with a view ... the only relaxing part of the day. I'm in Washington DC and will be running from session to session for 3 days, on top of a series of meetings. Washington DC is a great city to visit, only I won't see much of it except for one event I'm looking forward to which is a gala event at the Air & Space Museum tonight.
The breakfast was yummy, only it cost a fortune, thankfully I'm not paying for it!

Crazy and Excited ....

2011-10-23T08:07:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I did a crazy thing... I bought a new car ... wasn't going to ... was just going to look ....

I'm not sure who I was trying to convince that I would not buy the car, but whoever it was, it didn't work!

Let me back up a little... for sometime now I've had my eye on the Mini Cooper, it's compact, fast, fun and it seems just a lot more in line with my thoughts on down-scaling as I am aiming to live a more "minimalistic" life. I've read so much about living a simpler life, and have lots of ideas, even starting putting some into practice, but that is for another blog post.

Anyway, I decided to just go have a look at the Mini Dealer in our town because they just happened to be having a special event day and we could test drive the Mini of our choice.... 2 hours later I am the owner of a new Mini Cooper! ... I need to add that it isn't just any Mini Cooper, it just so happens to be a Sport Convertible.... I LOVE IT! I'M SO EXCITED! ...but I have to wait until December for delivery because it is being built in England ...

So for now I have no photos of my new Mini, but I did take a couple of the cars in the showroom ... cool hey?

This is the Mini Convertible Sport - but I bought it in Chili Red!

This is the Chili Red colored Mini and me.

Now I have to think of a fun license plate name, I've always wanted my own unique license plate, any ideas? It can only contact 7 letters or numbers ... and then I need to check if anyone else has it ... I'm going to start writing down all my ideas ... did I mention I'M SO EXCITED! ;)

Day Trip: West Point Military Academy, New York

2011-10-16T08:51:00.001-04:00

Last weekend was a gorgeous weather weekend and I had to get out... it took some major convincing to get my hubby out the door, because unlike me, he is not the greatest fan of driving day trips...

I eventually persuaded him by selecting an attraction that would both interest the boys and me, and of course I offered lunch afterwards which always works!

So we took a drive up to West Point Military Academy, one of the places on my list of places to see, and I'm pleased we did. This place is one of honor and achievement, and also unbelievable order and organization. It has been around since the last century and educated some of USA's best military leaders and business men and women.
Only those interested in attending who are nominated by an officially designated government official are able to apply for the opportunity, and then there is no guarantee either. Candidates are first subjected to academic and physical testing over a period of time before they are selected. If and when, the candidate receives confirmation of their admission to the Academy, they've really earned it and it is a true honor. Another interesting fact is that women are subjected to the same academic and physical requirements as the men, only with slightly less physically strenuous training.

Touring through the Academy was also very interesting from the churches and sports buildings to the grounds and monuments. Beautifully and perfectly maintained. Here are some photos I took. I was in awe of the church, particularly the prayer books so perfectly lined up, and the beautiful glass pane windows.
Click on the photo to link to the photos.

Westpoint Military Academy

Remember ... always

2011-10-09T20:05:00.000-04:00

It has been a good weekend with glorious weather, and probably the last for a while as winter will set in soon. We spent time outside as much as we could to soak in those last rays. We also took a road-trip today ... I'll write about it at a later date when I've completed reworking all the photos to see which ones are best to share with you...

When I plugged in my compact disk to download the photos, to my surprise I found photos I took last month just after the 10th anniversary of 9/11 at our own 9/11 memorial. I had forgotten I stopped on the spur of the moment to take these. We live in an area greatly impacted by the tragedy of 9/11 due to our proximity to NYC and the ease of traveling there for work. Many local people work in NYC. The 9/11 memorial has a circle of bricks all around the center display with names on each brick in memory of those lost in this terrible tragedy, and families have laid stones, some flowers, on the names of their own. Together with the flags, it makes for a poignant reminder that we should never forget the wonderful people lost and the families they left behind...

A day of reflection ...

2011-09-29T19:44:00.000-04:00

Today is Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah), a day to reflect on the year past and to begin the process of forgiveness and renewed commitment to living a life of peace and happiness. In every religion or spiritual belief, no matter the name, there is a day like this one. And for each one of us the interpretation of how to spend that day is different.
Today I spent my day of reflection in the place I love the most... the woods, doing what I like the most ... walking, with the best people (and animal) in my life ... my family ...

I am truly blessed to live near such a beautiful environment, only 5 minutes from my home.

Heading home ... I hope?

2011-09-23T08:41:00.001-04:00

I'm heading home today... and I hope to get home because the weather has turned against me. It's pouring back home and already flights have been delayed which means today I need lots of patience and good humor!
It's been a good week with great food (I definitely need to seriously consider that diet again!) and good learnings from the conference, however I'm now eager to get home ...

Where are you sleeping tonight? On the road again ....

2011-09-20T19:08:00.001-04:00

I'm on the road again ... the season of business trips started up again... only it started off with a stunning resort on the Californian coast ... I'm in Newport Beach at the Pelican Resort, and it's gorgeous! Pity this isn't a vacation, oh well, while I'm here I might as well enjoy it.... look where I'm sleeping tonight ...

Did you have a great weekend?

2011-09-19T05:38:00.001-04:00

Every Monday morning as I return to the office the common question of the day is "did you have a good weekend?" My response is always the same (at least 98% of the time) ... "I had a great weekend". I find weekends are great even if you don't do anything specifically, it's the change from the weekday routine that allows me to chill-out. And even though I need to run around getting groceries and finishing up stuff I don't have time during the week to do, it still feels like a mini time off.

This weekend I got adventurous, and slightly extreme ... we went white water rafting! It was fabulous! As you know, my side of the world just experienced a hurricane followed by a tropical storm that dumped a lot of water on the east side of the US, so the rivers are full up and flowing. I loved it so much I think I could become addicted... just call me "extreme mamma"! The whole family loved it and we will be going back next summer again. Only downside was the weather turned on us already so I nearly froze, but only when the adrenalin wasn't rushing through my veins!

So, did you have a good weekend?

The last days of Summer ...

2011-09-05T19:59:00.000-04:00

Labor Day weekend marks the end of Summer for us. This weekend we decided to end our Summer with a list of "lasts"....

Last ice-cream desert run - Dairy Queen Blizzards (M&Ms are my favorite)... we're going to miss you!
Last water activity - Camelbeach Waterpark ... and we were at the beach a few weeks ago ... I'm going to miss the sun and water!
Last watching movies until late, which ties into our next "last" ...
Last going to bed at midnight, we now have to get up early again ... back to school and work ...

Now the list of "starts"....

Start dieting again... those ice-creams messed up my diet!
Start a fitness routine again ... I was too tired after the late nights!
Start the daily routines of cooking, homework and activities .... here we go again!

And Josh wishes the Summer didn't come to an end.... High School here we come ....

Nature in my backyard ...

2011-09-05T19:33:00.000-04:00

I really love mornings, particularly in Summer. And one of the reasons I get up so early ... it's my time of the day... before household duties kick in when my family wakes up. Yesterday morning was another beautiful morning, and as luck would have it, I had a quiet moment with a mommy deer and her youngster in my backyard.

At times we need to be reminded ... we don't have to look too far from home to observe beauty and peacefulness... often it's closer than we think....

Hurricane Irene ... the day after ...

2011-08-29T17:46:00.001-04:00

So we made it through our first hurricane, and also our first earthquake in the same week, some of you might have seen that on the news too. While the earthquake didn't really do anything as we were quite far away from it, it was a strange feeling and really quite a surprise.

The hurricane on the other hand wreaked havoc in the New Jersey area, flooding all lakes, rivers and streams, to the point that roads became rivers and homes were flooded. The wind was vicious, so much so that we moved my son Josh out of his room and into our room for the night in case a tree fell on the house as it would have fallen directly onto his room. The wind howled all night and then we lost power. It was quite scary actually and I didn't sleep very well... Josh on the other hand slept like a baby! Many people lost their homes in the chaos and we were house-bound due to the roads being closed.

Because we had no power, we camped in our home, making food on the barbeque, and playing board games/puzzles. With no electricity, there would be no movies, and no xbox or wii... sigh!
Our power was restored at 4:30 yesterday afternoon and I am one of the lucky ones... not sure how I would survive with no electricity for a week as some people have been told? It's amazing how reliant we become on electricity.

As of today, all the roads around my home are still closed and I couldn't go into work. My office closed too because the power was out and all the networks were down.

Anyway, besides many branches falling off trees and leaves strewn everywhere, we are fine and the house held up fine. Unfortunately other people were as lucky as we were and my thoughts are with them.

Hurricane Irene....

2011-08-26T11:56:00.001-04:00

We are preparing for the worst hurricane experienced on the East Coast in years... and the first for me.... I've never experienced a hurricane before, so to say I'm just a little nervous is an understatement. We live in an area with many beautiful trees and I hope none of them fall on my home. I love the trees and I don't want to see them damaged either.

It has been a strange weather year... first we experienced the worst snowfall totals ever, breaking records for the most snow fallen in some places, then this last week we had a bad earthquake which I felt while sitting in my office, and now we have a hurricane barrelling down on us and expected to be the worst on the East Coast of the US.

Makes us think about how the environment around us is changing?

Update: I purchased loads of food, wine and rented great movies.... and I checked my insurance policy... I think I'm ready ....

Life's a Beach... or rather a Shore if you're from Jersey!

2011-07-31T15:01:00.000-04:00

Firstly, I need to tell you all that this is my 200th post!

Now onto what I wanted to write about. This past week we visited the shore again, Seaside Heights to be exact, and if you are a US TV soap/reality hanger-on-er, you would know that there is a reality television series named the Jersey Shore and it features these ~~obnoxious, over-the-top, not really good~~ actors portraying the reality of the Jersey Shore. Those of us who cannot bear to see the Jersey Shore stereotyped, don't like this show (to add I've never seen one, I only know about it because of the press it has generated), but the show is filmed on the very boardwalk we walked along, and on two occasions we ran into the crew filming and the crowd watching the goings-on.
This boardwalk is different to any other of the boardwalks with real authenticity, peculiarities, interesting people and stores and just a lot of fun... and the best ice-cream soft-serve anywhere! It has games to win prizes, rides for the family and any kind of food you couldn't think of... as in fried Oreos and pickles! Can you imagine?!

I really enjoy going to this boardwalk and any of the others along the Jersey Shore.

I just couldn't resist .... part 2....

2011-07-24T20:07:00.003-04:00

(For part 1, click here)

I couldn't resist videoing this ....

Another Oliver funny.... he loves whipped cream! It's funny how he tries to "eat" it!
Did you hear the snapping jaws?!

I just couldn't resist ....

2011-07-24T12:12:00.004-04:00

My new camera arrived that I told you about in my last post ... and I love it! It has some fun settings, however there is one setting I just love... the "fisheye" effect, and I couldn't resist .... Oliver hates me at the moment....

Funny!