Reading 'Flanagan's Smart Home'

Well crap.  So much for Nablopomo.  It feels like the beginning of MS, when I had weird little symptoms that made me feel crazy and irritated all the time.  Pee problems are once again the sign of a flare-up coming down the pike.  I'm not complaining tho, because this time it hit my hands in a different way than the usual pins and needles pain and if I complain, it'll be permanent.  I'm just going to tough it out right now.

I've been reading a FACINATING book called Flanagan's Smart Home.  The author, Barbara Flanagan, lived on a sailboat, and pared down her possessions to 98 items.  I've been looking around my studio wondering if I could do that.

I have pared down several times in the last 10 years (btw, last night I came across a website that calculates how long you've been alive down to the minutes and seconds, so when I punched in my birthday?  It said I was 54 years old.  %$  [that's 54 in caps] FIFTY FOUR!  What was I thinking?  I've been telling people I'm 52 - just yesterday in fact.  For years, after Jacob died, I often made the same mistake, cause I literally lost 2 years of my life when he died, but dang, I thought I got over that!) 

Okay.  Deep breaths.  I have pared down several times in the last 10 years, from a 3 bedroom home to a 1 bedroom apartment, to the studio I'm in now.  I adore the studio for many reasons.  What I have here now, are items I truly love or need.  Need comes first, then love.  I fall less because there's always a wall, a trike, a chair or a shelf to hang on to, or catch myself before I go all the way down.  Cooking the Thanksgiving meal in a tiny kitchen was actually so efficient - I loved cooking again!

I'm the type of person who had to clean the aquarium and under the fridge if company was coming, and it would take me 3 days to do it in the house, and 1-2 days in the apartment.  It took me an HOUR to clean the studio for when Jeremy came.  When I met "the girl he knows who was visiting her family in San Francisco" (I have been gently reminded that she's not officially his girlfriend) I wasn't worried whether the studio was presentable enough - just whether there was enough room!

Back to paring down.  I'm thinking about taking on the challenge.  Buy quality over quantity.  I'm seriously thinking about a latex mattress because of her research, and because I'm tired of over-heating while I sleep.

Another challenge I'm going to take on is not paying for anything if at all possible.  I might make it a feature of the blog.  I've already scored some freebies off of Freecycle - 2 pork roasts and 8 pork steaks which are delicious.  Something else that I've forgotten.  (Fascinating blog material, eh?)

Between finding stuff on the streets, Freecycle, Craig's List, entering contests, and websites such as Johnny Funcheap, I think it would make some good blog fodder.  I am really good, okay fine, getting BETTER at taking something out when I bring something new in.  Most of the time, I'm up-grading what I already have, or switching something out to wicker, black, white, red, or yellow.  I'm looking for a red hand mixer to replace my perfectly good green one.  Stuff like that.

 I liked alot of Flanagan's ideas, such as replacing the dish drainer that gets all icky and gross with a cloth like "Shammy" - cloth with super absorbent qualities - mircro-fiber stuff.  Let the dishes drain, rinse, wring out, and hang up to dry.  So much cleaner, and less left out on my precious counter space.  I want to do away with chemical cleaners as much as possible.  I REALLY want a steam mop with a wand feature so I can clean the closet tracks - they are FILTHY with someone else's dirtiness.  Gross.  I've cleaned them, but I just can't bring myself to get down there with a toothbrush. 

And on that note, I shall stop.  I'm trying to take a picture of the several hummingbirds that are coming to my feeder.  It's difficult between flapping curtains, 1 dog and 2 cats being super interested in them.  They chirp, so it's not like the cats can ignore them, and the instant they see movement, off they flit and fly.  They actually LAND on the railing - I've never seen a hummingbird stop flying.

So what could I call myself, should I take on being cheap in San Francisco?  I need a name so I can make business cards, so I can grow the blog, since so many of my current readers won't comment on the blog!   >:-( 

I know!  Think of a name for me, and if I choose your idea, I will mail you the first item I get rid of in my studio.  Now remember - I've pared down to the point of loving most of my belongings, so it won't be a junkie thing I mail to you.  K?  Bring it on!

TTFN

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