Sunsaver, Livining Off-Grid In Suburbia- Happy Taconight America!

[Denim Deb]

Bummer. I'll be glad when you're able to get on all the time again.

 

[Leta]

sunsaver, you are right, the body's ability to heal itself is miraculous. It sounds like you are doing all the right things with your diet, but please don't discount the fact that you have stopped drinking. That's the single most important thing. I'm no teetotaler- I'm drinking a rum and coke *right now*- but once you've tipped over into cirrhosis, that's your body's way of saying, "I'm done! Just done!" Some people use up their livers (or pancreas) in 20 years, some 60, some never. It depends as much on your DNA as the amount you drink. /end soapbox speech/

I understand about wanting to clean up your house for your loved ones' sake. That is actually what made me a minimalist. When I was in the relationship that ended shortly before I met DH, my boyfriend's mother had died. He was very young when she died (16); I took up with him about a year and a half later. I was also very young, I can't remember exactly how young, but I was 24 when I met DH, so I figure the ex was about 18 and I was about 21 when we met. Anyway, I was an over-the-top packrat. I'm quite certain that if things had gone just a little differently, I'd have turned into a hoarder later in life. Anyway, my ex-boyfriend and his sisters had to undertake the task of going through his deceased mother's things. They couldn't deal with living in her house or going through her stuff after she died, so they moved and boxed her stuff and put in storage. About three years passed, by then he and I were living together, and so I helped when he and sisters were (understandably) finally ready to go through their mom's things and be shot of the storage unit.

As we went through it, I was amazed at how little they kept. There was a box of antique cameras, an Underwood typewriter, a Victrola, and a sweater that had been their mom's favorite. Everything else was just junk. It all went to the dumpster or the burn pile.

It was a blazing hot summer day -we went swimming after- but I remember being chilled. I was thinking, my God, her children struggled with this, they paid $80/mo for three YEARS, it took them so much to build up to this task, and over what? It's all just trash. This is just stuff. Even the valuable stuff. None of it is their mom. Nothing will bring her back. Her stuff is just stuff.

It was (and continues to be) a process for me. I become more of a minimalist every year. But this was about 12 years ago, and now, with distance, I can identify this as my turning point. It was then that it was driven home to me that, REALLY, you can't take it with you.

I guess what I'm trying to say is GOOD FOR YOU! Good for you for thinking of your loved ones. That's all that really matters.

 

[FarmerChick]

MIL is a hoader and her home is a train wreck. We will rent dumpsters literally after she passes. Then burn down the home. Truly it is not a way to live but it isn't my life.
I do dread the work she will leave us.

I am a minimalist type also. my home has only what is needed to use. My pack rat situation is the garage , which come early spring is getting decluttered...lol




you got a second chance now. use it well. if you are lucky, your health can improve alot if you truly work on it!! best of luck

 

[moxies_chickennuggets]

Oh..hoarder..don't wanna be a hoarder. My mom was one, my sisters are hoarders, my dad is too, althouhe he keeps his place vacuumed at least. He used to anyway. I helped my sister clean her place out when she got married back in 07'. OMG...I drive a 98 nissan frontier with a shell on back. I took 21 loads of donatable items to the thrift store...and filled the back of my truck up with dry trash. I had a bigger trash pick up allowance then she does in the city. It still took me 3 weeks to empty the back of my truck out. Her fridge is awful, her whole house. But, I know part of it is, that she refuses to wear glasses, so really has no idea how bad things look to other people. The man she married, an author from Germany, he told her if she didn't clean it up before he moved in...he would do it himself. So, I helped her. sure, I pissed her off....but, the woman kept Brides Magazine issyes, from the 70's!! Just in case she were to get married .....

I could go through all that stuff and separate, toss, garbage bag, and donate...heck, she was 46 when she got married, and had never dated, never worked in a real job, basically had no life. She met her husband, online. I had given her a computer, and paid her net...so I could help long distance with her care of our mother.

 

[sunsaver]

Thanks, Leta. i think you know exactly where im coming from. Thanks FC, for confirming what i was i was getting at. I wouldn't want to leave such a mess for my family. Let me clearify my hoarder description. I neglected cleaning house for so long (due to my alcoholism) that my house looked like a scene from "Hoarders". However, i am not even close to being a hoarder. I have no problem throwing things out, until later when i realize that i could have used that thing i just chucked out! Lol! These days i just turn my friends, family, and customers down when they try to pawn off their used junk on me. No thanks! And i only buy glass, cast iron, pottery, or stainless steel, etc. Things that will last a lifetime and get used over and over. I try to avoid disposable crap and plastic packaging. I'm definitely "cloth" over paper.
Well, i had a wonderful New Years day, and i'm steadily getting healthier. My energy levels are about 75% of what i would call full strenght Sunsaver. I am so glad that i quit drinking. Im still finding things around the house that i broke, spilled stuff on, or otherwise screwed up royally while i was drunk. Hopefully i will have my whole house clean and repainted by springtime, so i can concentrate on working the garden. I have big plans for this coming year. I want more blueberry bushes, now that i know how to grow them successfully. I plan to propagate large quantities of berry vines in the Rubus genus (blackberries, raspberries, boysenberries, etc.) And i have several new permaculture beds that need to be worked up, amended with manure and compost, mulched, etc. The sun is shining again today, and my solar panels are working great, giving me free energy from the sun. Days like this keep me dreaming about the green explosion coming in the spring of 2012.
Gotta go for now. Chat with yall later!

 

[moxies_chickennuggets]

sunsaver!! Good to see you made it back to the library...and are feeling better!!

 

[sunsaver]

Thanks, M_CN! Being sober is a whole new life for me. So far, i'm feeling great! Im still hoping to get that computer at home soon, but it looks like the holidays are over for a while, so hopefully the library will be open more often.
Cabin fever hasn't dulled my mood yet. Winter is the time to sit by the fire, sipping homemade hot chocolate with melting marshmallows, while chatting online and surfing for garden supplies, or making a seed collection wish list. Speaking of which, i have already made out an order for a bunch of seeds. Celery is one that i don't often see. I always have onions and peppers in my garden, but to complete the holy trinity of cajun cooking, you have to have fresh, organic celery. This will be my first time growing it. Most of what i will be buying are heirloom varieties of vegetables that i have already grown. I have tried many different exotic greens like mache', orach, New Zealand spinach, Malabar spinach and others, with varying degrees of success. I keep what works and save my own seed from those, then move on to the next expirement. I always get into a cheerful mood when the winter seed catalogs start to show up in my mailbox. Orange flames crackling in the firebox, cocoa scented steam tickling my taste buds, a colorful catalog of fruit and vegetable plants, long johns and a couple of warm cats snuggled in my lap. Thats what i call a cozy cabin! Bring it on, Old Man Winter! Bring it on!

 

[moxies_chickennuggets]

Thanks, M_CN! Being sober is a whole new life for me. So far, i'm feeling great! Im still hoping to get that computer at home soon, but it looks like the holidays are over for a while, so hopefully the library will be open more often.
Cabin fever hasn't dulled my mood yet. Winter is the time to sit by the fire, sipping homemade hot chocolate with melting marshmallows, while chatting online and surfing for garden supplies, or making a seed collection wish list. Speaking of which, i have already made out an order for a bunch of seeds. Celery is one that i don't often see. I always have onions and peppers in my garden, but to complete the holy trinity of cajun cooking, you have to have fresh, organic celery. This will be my first time growing it. Most of what i will be buying are heirloom varieties of vegetables that i have already grown. I have tried many different exotic greens like mache', orach, New Zealand spinach, Malabar spinach and others, with varying degrees of success. I keep what works and save my own seed from those, then move on to the next expirement. I always get into a cheerful mood when the winter seed catalogs start to show up in my mailbox. Orange flames crackling in the firebox, cocoa scented steam tickling my taste buds, a colorful catalog of fruit and vegetable plants, long johns and a couple of warm cats snuggled in my lap. Thats what i call a cozy cabin! Bring it on, Old Man Winter! Bring it on!

Oh yeah...you need a laptop at home. I don't think the library people would appreciate you getting too comfy by their fireplace (if they have one), in your robe and slippers....cocoa and marshmallows......



(Sorry...the visual is priceless )

 

[Denim Deb]

And, don't forget the cats! I like the pic you paint. Sounds idea.

 

[Gypsi]

Good that you are doing well, good for you on quitting drinking. One day at a time.

Gypsi