Moving Towards A Simpler Life

 

Simple living doesn't necessarily mean taking our clothes down to the river and beating them on rocks to clean. Nor does it mean doing without. Just like frugal and thrifty living to me it means being happy and grateful for what we have, no more keeping up with the "Jones's" or needing every new contraption. 

It means enjoying the simple things in life like a good homemade meal, family visits, making something with your own hands, and stopping to smell the flowers, even if the flowers are dandelions handed to you by your child or grandchild. 

Right now simple living to me, especially, means slowing down which in my case can be very difficult as I always seem to be needing to keep my hands busy. I am trying very hard to enjoy life as the heat of summer is upon us, taking time to enjoy the garden, picking herbs, and such for the winter or to make salves and lotions. 

Produce from the garden will be a bit longer before picking and processing. Harvey planted less and next year he is talking about leaving half the garden fallow and working compost and such into that, then the next year leaving the other half fallow and doing the same. I think that I will be paying visits to the farmers market a bit more on those years. He is actually slowing down his days and tasks quite nicely. 

Most days I manage quite well, but today I decided to get the cloth napkins done.... Have I managed to do so? Nope, and it is sort of causing me angst. Will I get them done tomorrow? Probably the majority of them, but still it is taking me longer than I thought, and I spent too much time at the machine and now my neck and shoulders are bothering me. Will this teach me anything, like I need to pace myself when working on crafts? Probably not, I still think I am a youngun and can keep right on working. 

Part of this is probably a leftover from when I worked and I needed to get X amount done on the weekends or the house would start to fall apart. Or at least in my mind it would fall apart. 

It more than likely does not help when Kurt asks me to do something for his friends or his school. I hate saying "No" and that makes more craft work for me. His friends stopped him from spiraling into a depression so bad that he could have considered suicide and this is also my way of thanking them all. Fact is those that have received prayer shawls or afghans have all been so very appreciative that it gives me a lift. His school have supported him through those same rough times and I know are still backing him against those idiots that want him to lose his job or are threatening his life. We are not close enough to where he resides to be a physical help so I do what I can to let everyone know I am very thankful they are there to help him out. Life does get complicated for us every so often. 

All this to say that living a simple life can become complicated at times and is something to work towards.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.