Letting Go

This isn't a new broom, but I'm thinking a lot about 'sweeping clean' and letting go.
And one of the things I'm considering letting go is this blog.

I am uncomfortable having two blogs.
But there are things I like to share that don't seem to fit with my vision for my other blog, Lizards in the Leaves. That blog is supposed to be for sharing my artistic journey, this one for sharing my never-ending quest to be more organized, to deal with my Stuff, to simplify, to live with intention and meaning.

I also have a web page.
And an empty etsy shop.

So I'm feeling a bit scattered - part of me here, part of me there....there ...and there.
Add  Facebook and Google+ and Twitter to really clutter things up.

I question whether it's good for me to have my cyber-being separated into all those parts. Or have all those homes to maintain.

So this is something I'll be thinking about during the coming winter retreat.
Maybe I won't let this blog go.

Maybe I'll just let go of the idea I need to post here 2-3 times a week. Not that I've done that with any regularity over the years, but the idea that I should is always in my head. 

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My word for 2012 is Intention.
Are you choosing a word?

Have a happy, abundant year!

)O(

Tea for One for Hours

I drink a lot of tea.

White, black, green. Various permutations in the form of Chai.  Sometimes it seemed as though I would just get started on my work when I would want to make another cup of tea. Sometimes I need the break. Need to move, stretch…both body & mind.  Sometimes I need to keep working.

I’ve begun taking tea with me to the bookshop I work with in this stainless steel tumbler.  I bought mine at Teavana when I was in Boston last spring. (There's a nifty little basket/strainer attachment so you can steep tea right in the tumbler, but I rarely do that.)

Last week I started using it at home. I pour out just enough for a few relaxing sips and the rest stays nice and hot.

Lets me stay focused on my work if I need to stay focused. And still have the bliss of tea.
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In other matters:
Right now, things are not going well with my attempt to lose the regained weight.  I know it’s the exercise issue. And maybe the honey wheat pretzel twists.
I’ll figure it out.  I know that, too.

I’m also trying to figure out where I’m heading with my work.  How I want to continue my blogs. IF I want to continue my blogs, at least in the form they are now.   I guess I’ll figure it out as well.


)O(

Inbox Zero Perk

GMail has some themes that change through the day.
I like Orcas Island and Ocean. This is Ocean.
Sounds weird, but being able to see the whole picture is another impetus for me to keep my inbox at zero or near-z.
I say use whatever it takes to motivate. Especially if it's free.

These ocean images calm me, too. Win-win.

Wisdom: from Chris Guillebeau at The Art of Non-Conformity

I've been reading a LOT of other blogs and websites lately, going farther afield than my usual haunts in the fiber arts.   I'd like to share what I'm reading out there from time to time, especially things which help me sort out my life and my Stuff.

I'll post such things with the label 'Wisdom.'

Today, I received an email from Chris Guillebeau at The Art of Non-Conformity. He offered his latest free pdf manifesto called The Tower. 

I'm finding it very inspiring, especially as we come to the end of a year, and especially for me in my just-turned-sixty threshold state. It offers simple wisdom on creating direction and meaning for one's life, on focusing one's energy.
I don't want to characterize it any more than that. 

You can read his introduction to The Tower and download it here.

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Owl feather image found here.


)O(

Wordless Wednesday / 90 Calories

Picture by me.


)O(

Less Paper Clutter: Using Print/Save as pdf

Upgrading my computer was one of the best things I did this year.
I’m proud that I managed to use my old iBook for more than 6 years, but it was so time to upgrade.

I chose the MacBook Air. And I love it.
But this isn’t about that.

I just wanted to share something here that is reducing my paper clutter  and obviously reducing use of paper and printer ink.
That is the use of Command: Print >Save as pdf.

I have no idea if something equivalent is available on PCs, but on a Mac, most of the time when you use the Print command, when the window pops up, there is an option to Save the page as a pdf.  This isn't something new on Macs either.  I just didn't use it like I'm using it now: to reduce the amount of paper I have to deal with.

Here’s how I’ve used this just in the last couple of days, to save things I normally might have printed out or tried to save the URL so I could go back later to read online:

Order record from Republic of Tea
Article from the July  28 2008 New Yorker on how we come up with ideas
New York Times article on Marianne Moore
emails from Blogger with my blog entries

That’s at least a dozen pieces of paper I might have printed and then had to find a place for. Of course, I have to find a place for them on my computer. I generally try to do that right away.  I have a file marked Digital Articles which I use to store articles until I read them and decide whether to save them permanantly. Then they go into a more informatively labeled file. Or get deleted.

Here’s a screen shot of the Print Window and location of the drop-down menu that lets one Save as pdf.

See it large in your browser window here.

Sometimes you'll still want to print things, but this option gives you a chance to have it securely stored (if you back-up regularly!) and think a bit before making a hard copy.

)O(

My New Motivational Metaphor

I watched this video, laughed (a lot), passed it on.
Then I began to think about cooking a turkey as a metaphor for all the procrastination and dithering, rationalization and fear that keeps me from getting things done.

"Just put the f*cking turkey in the oven"* is a catchphrase I'm going to try out for awhile.
 (Edited, of course, when in sensitive or impressionably young company.)

Thinking of certain items on my To-Do list as 'turkeys' might be very useful.

Think about all the ways we needlessly complicate things that must be done, when the tasks are often quite simple and straightforward.

If we just start getting those turkeys in the oven and going for walks (metaphor, of course, for the stuff we are eager to do) how nice would that be!

So, do you have any turkeys to get in the oven today? Any walks you want to go on?
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*If you're a vegetarian and that image repulses you, feel free to go with  tofurkey.  Actually 'f*ckin' tofurkey' has some very nice consonance to it.


)O(