If you have any great tips on how to 'thin out' and get rid of things you don't need, please share!! It's on my heart to start getting rid of things, but I don't know where to start. Some of it I think I'm ready to get rid of, then I'll re-think it and stow it again for another day. Sometimes it's for sentimental reasons, sometimes its because I might need it later, sometimes it's because I might know someone who could use it. Whatever the reason, it seems like a good one at the moment, so I don't get rid of anything and I'm bursting at the seams! I don't want to keep all this junk! I've lived in this house for almost 16 years, and it's jam packed!

It's always been hard for me to determine what should stay and what should go. I suppose I am a partially recovered pack rat. You can never recover completely, I don't think. That might not be altogether a bad thing though, because it helps me spot needful things that others tend to overlook. For example, my husband has been wanting an anvil for as long as I've known him. They are pretty pricey items, so they were way down the list of things to purchase. Well, guess what? I just got a couple of anvils at a yard sale really cheap. Smokin' deal. Anvils are hard to come by, especially out here where we live. These were old, rusting, and junky, and would have gone unnoticed, or maybe to the junk yard if I hadn't gotten them. They cleaned up fine. We saved a bundle of money.

That's just one recent example. I do that frequently with everything; furnishings, tools, clothing, appliances. So, see? I'm good at finding things, but, unfortunately I don't jar loose with them as easily. I guess I just don't know what I actually need.

Here's my dilemma; Let's use the anvils as an example again. My husband is not using the anvils right now, but he will eventually. He has always wanted one and I have been looking for one for many years. Tthey were very difficult to find, and I probably won't get another deal like that, so keeping them is justifiable. Right? Right! So many of my things fit into that kind of a scenario. What do I do?

I have been thinking along these lines:
Pitch it:
~if haven't used it in 6 months (many say 6 weeks but I CAN'T!! lol ...yet)
~if have too many of any one item
~if it costs me more to store it than to replace it (yes, I have done that)
~if it will probably need replacing soon anyway
~if I can, use my 'good' stuff now (stuff that I already packed for moving and safekeeping) and pitch the stuff I've been using in it's place.

(By "pitch" I mean give it to a friend or freecycle it, or maybe take it to Goodwill. I tend to do that with everything I get rid of unless it's beyond re-using.)

Please feel free to chime in on this. Any idea is welcome. I need help! I have had a few minimalist folks try to tell me how to do it, and I understand mentally what they're saying, but they are suggesting that I cut back so radically that I can't really get my brain around it. Baby steps! Baby steps. Man, I sound like an addict.

It looks like my thirty day challenge sort of went by the wayside. I just wasn't around much over the Thanksgiving holiday, and I wasn't on the computer much when I was. I think I'll modify my original challenge, and rather than a post every day for thirty days, I'll use Roaming Chile's suggestion and make it three or four times a week instead for say, ten weeks, and see how that goes. That will help me out a lot on the days where I have extra meetings, or if I am studying, or preaching or something, and can't squeeze everything in.

It would be silly to add stress to my life right now. It would be silly to add stress to my life at all, especially something self-inflicted, and as totally avoidable as this. I am already having a bit of a hard time managing things some days, why would I add something more? It would make me dread blogging. That would be absolutely counter productive. I want to blog for fun as much as anything, and it wasn't feeling like fun to me anymore. So allow me to back up and take a deep breath and start over.

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On that note, I would like to say that Thanksgiving 2009 was wonderful! My husband had a few extra days off and we spent Thanksgiving day with the family out at the 'big house'. We had food, food, and more food! It was a long, leisurely, lazy, and refreshing time, almost like a vacation for us. My mother in law, Judy, had the house fixed up so nice and pretty with fall colors and lights and candles that I just wanted to stay on and on. Everything was peaceful and calm. It seems like there's precious little of that in our day to day life, and I absorbed every wisp of it that I could while we were there. We talked for hours and had a great time. Even the kids enjoyed it without an x-box, and without arguing. That says a lot!

Judy still had leftovers from Thanksgiving, so she called and asked us to come back out for supper on Saturday. This was the second visit we got to have out there with the family this holiday. I almost said no, because I didn't want to put her to the trouble, but you know, she really liked having us, and I really wanted to go. So, go we did, and I'm glad. Once again we had a wonderful visit. Their house is so cozy and with the weather finally turning cool, and the leaves having fallen, it seemed like just the place to be. It seems like winter has been a long time coming this year. Maybe not, but I was ready for it. I love the cooler months.



My father in law, Jerry, built a fire outside in the fire pit on his front porch to just take the chill off a little. His fire pit looks sort of like the one I found a picture of and posted here. It's pretty. I really liked it. It kept us all mesmerized. Once the flames would die back a bit, we could still watch the fire through the cut-outs in the sides. We sat and stared into it, and out across the valley for a long time, hours probably, until the wind started to blow too cold to enjoy it any longer. We actually got a rare, and pretty decent cloud burst later on into the evening. I can't resist rain any better than I can fire, so I went back outside. Next thing you know I had another log or two in the fire and my husband came back out to sit with me and stare into it with me some more. Before we were done, grampa was back, too. We probably shouldn't have stayed out so long. Grampa told us later that it was way up into the night before his legs ever warmed back up.

Granny, who might have used her smarts a little more than the rest of us, stayed in with the coffee. When we all went back inside, we found she'd saved us a cup or two, and we sat and talked and laughed together. We've really had a good time going out there lately and hesitate to leave when the time comes. If you're reading this, granny and grampa, thanks a bunch! We love you both.

"Oh Lord that lends me life, Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness!" ~ William Shakespeare

So, Thanksgiving has passed for 2009, and we're heading into what is going to be a very different Christmas season for us. I will attempt to post throughout the season about the things we're doing and not doing this year. Change comes hard for me during a time of such tradition. I'm sure it will be good... different, but good. Maybe this is where some new traditions will begin. Through it all I want the focus to be on Jesus. I want to be mindful of His presence, and to be a light for Him in a place and time where most would forget Him.

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." ~ Joshua 24:15

Be blessed this Christmas season. Be a blessing.

Good night. See you soon.