Konmari Part 1

So I heard about this book from a few sources. We have been wanting to live more simply with fewer things. 

The author talks about how she figured out the perfect method of getting rid of things: Pile all of a single category of items in one area, touch each thing and feel if it elicits happiness. If not, thank it for its use and discard it. If yes, store it properly. 

There are a few steps to this process that I won't list here. What I will start with is the first category, clothes. In all her examples, she explains how her clients all had closets or rooms that were packed. Full. Overflowing! 

Growing up and well into my adulthood, I had always had full closets, but nothing to wear. I frequently changed how I stored my clothes. Different dressers, hanging nearly everything, storing clothes in bins. But something finally got to me.  I had to stop living in the past and decided to get rid of the stuff I want wearing, didn't fit, or was "out of style" (whatever that means, because I'm not stylish/trendy).

So, my closet? I've got plenty of room. Dresser? There's still some room. I obviously don't have a problem letting go of clothes I don't like. Could I get rid of more? Sure. But I can't really afford to at the moment. Handbags, I don't have many of. Shoes have already been pared down. But I'm still going to do this. 

Here is a before of my closet. And granted, when we moved in, all my racks were fairly full. 

Upper-left I kept dressy/work attire. I have a few item that are sentimental. 

Bottom left is where I keep non-work clothes (but the work clothes made their way down there). The right rack has dresses and maxi skirts. Yes, luggage and tote bags are on the floor. 

A basket drawer tower, top to bottom:

- His shoes

- Plastic Easter (eggs which need an attic storage box home)

- Sentimental & Halloween stuff

- Summer stuff

- Underwear?

- Sweaters and running gear

- My shoes

- His sweaters

And to the right of that tower, stuff I've already been purging.

Sadly, I don't feel I can make the huge pile at one time for a huge laundry list of personal reasons, so I just did my closet. See what I did there? 

I know, not a huge pile. It's about what I had expected. 

And the current after. I moved my coats and sweaters from the downstairs coat closet to get them out of the way. 

All I can say now is that I dread the winter. I will have a need for long-sleeved tops and I just hate shopping for clothes. 

Bonnets of Blue

Does any other state, or do any other people, get ramped up about their state flower? 

Every spring, people find themselves stopping along highways and and roadways to take a picture of or with the flower of Texas. The bluebonnet. 

It got its name from the color (der) and the shape it seem to resemble, a bonnet. A specific type of bluebonnet was named the state flower in 1901. But us Texans preferred a different species and in 1971, the state declared that any bluebonnet was the state flower. 

Bluebonnets are Texas' cherry blossoms. They bloom from mid-March to early May. They are, in fact a wildflower. They grow where they want to grow, though some cultivate them. 

I grew up believing that it is illegal to pick the flowers. It's simply not the case. But people are encouraged to respect the flower. Land in rural areas is dwindling so there is less space for them to grow in the wild. 

I believe this is my first photo of myself in a field of one of my favorite flowers. Their perfume is divine. 

My favorite. 

The Universe Needs to STFU

Have you ever fully given up on something? Completely released it to the universe? 

I've done this several times within the year. And those 'things' are like boomerangs. They just keep coming back to me. Feigning opportunity and then playing trixies on me and scampering away like indecisive squirrels. 

I had three interviews for teaching positions and I wasn't able to take them. After the first one, I decided that I wasn't going to actively look for them. I was extremely disappointed and heartbroken. Then they started seeking me out. So I went on two more interviews, again, I wasn't offered positions. 

So I finally relinquish the thought of ever teaching again and get a job in another field. And, you guessed it, I got a call for another teaching position. 

Why, universe, are you teasing and taunting me?

I declined the position because it was pretty much a long-term sub situation that would lead me nowhere. No thanks, I've got a good thing going right now.