If you sit back and look at the mess your home has become it can be overwhelming. You feel like there’s way too much to do. So, you decide to have another cup of coffee instead. I suggest you simply do one thing a day to get rid of all that stuff. Day 1: Create a donation station. Ours is a box in the coat closet. That’s where we put anything that has at least has a little value to it that we want to leave our home. Day 2: Open your kitchen utensil drawer and gather any duplicate items plus any one use items you don’t really use. Put them in the box. Day 3: Open your closet and remove anything ..read more

That’s what many people say minimalism is about. You must only buy quality things so they last. But we are old. How long must things last? When we needed to buy new furniture in 2012 we bought it all from IKEA. Our daughter does not want to inherit our furniture even if it was, once again, the good stuff. So why spend money on it that would be better saved to support our quality of life instead of quality of stuff? TTYL, Linda ..read more

A blogger I read daily listed her 10 essentials the other day and I found myself wondering what mine are. What I wear: A. a long-sleeve, v-neck t-shirt usually with a hoodie. B. Crocs with wool socks if I’m going out, slippers if I’m staying home. C. glasses; never wore contacts. D. hearing aids, but only when watching TV or actually needing to be able to hear people. 2. What I listen to: silence. To me, most sounds are just noise. Dave plays his music quietly so it doesn’t bug me. 3. What I drink: Diet Dr. Pepper (one a day) and black raspberry ICE sparking water. 4. What I eat: Meat/cheese ..read more

Yesterday I heard myself asking Dave, “Can I…” and suddenly I heard my father’s voice. My father was a man of precision. According to him, “Can I…” was asking about ability. And “May I…” was asking for permission. So when I tried to use “Can I…” to ask permission, Dad would respond, “I don’t know; can you?” TTYL, Linda ..read more

If I say to Dave, “Will you put a new box of tissues in the kitchen, please?” He will inevitably say, “What?” So, I tried something new yesterday. I pointed at the bathroom where we keep extra tissues and said, “Kleenex.” Then I pointed to the kitchen and said, “Kitchen.” And he promptly delivered a new box of tissues to the kitchen. I wonder if I had added the word, “Please,” if that would have been too many words. And he would have replied, “What?” TTYL, Linda ..read more

You all know that the only responses to threat are fight or flight, right? Wrong. We think we learned these two responses from animals. But they have others. Have you ever seen a scared rabbit? They freeze in the hope that they will blend in so well the predator will not see them. Have you ever been a dog roll over and present its belly to a threat? They submit so as to not look threatening in return which would escalate the threat. So, in reality, the choices are fight, flight, freeze, or submit. I tend to submit. Which is why my last surgery included a procedure I did not want and wish I had ..read more

No I’m not suggesting you need to clean out your mind. You might need to do that sometime but that’s not today’s topic. Today’s topic is a method for downsizing physical things. It’s simply this: Decide on one area you want to clean out. It might be your clothes closet or a specific kitchen cupboard or some place else. Walk away from that space. Now make a list of everything you remember having in that space. Since you didn’t remember some things, those are, obviously, things you don’t regularly use. Get rid of them. Done. TTYL, Linda ..read more

Shortly after noon on Christmas Eve day 2023: 57° and rain. Not white. Perhaps the snow on Halloween was not a harbinger of things to come? Unless it was a harbinger of more weird weather to come. TTYL, Linda ..read more

I think my most valuable clothes might be my socks. I only wear wool socks. Those that have at least 50% merino wool. They keep my feet a comfortable temperature all year around. They even keep my feet warm when they are wet. And merino doesn’t hold odors so my feet don’t smell bad. Add to those my Crocs and my feet are ready for anything I ask of them. Rain, snow or sun. I do, however, change into a dry pair when I get home. Not because the socks stop working. But because I don’t like leaving wet footprints when inside. TTYL, Linda ..read more

Sometimes an RVer just doesn’t feel like doing a lot of cooking. So, lately, some RV friends have been discussing using canned meat. When I was traveling solo in my van I needed weight in the right front corner to make up for having no passenger. So I put a bag of tools and a bin of canned goods there to help balance my vehicle’s load. Here’s some of my ideas and experiences from carry that bin of canned food. Stir together equal amounts of mayonnaise and sour cream. Add generous amounts of onion powder and dill weed. Drain and stir in a can of baby shrimp. Add part of a bag of broccoli slaw ..read more