Posts in Simplicity
These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

I love to share things I like, love or find thought-provoking or inspiring with others. It's a huge part of why I blog and use social media. Occasionally I'll share a round-up of interesting links, books I've read, music I'm loving, cool artwork etc. Enjoy!

LINKS:

Zen Habits: The Downward & Upward Spiral of Health & Productivity The bad news about health and productivity habits is that if you start to slip up, things can slowly spiral downward. If you are tired, you can’t focus on your important work, you don’t make time for exercise or cooking healthy food, so you grab some fast food, you veg out in front of the TV. This doesn’t lead to better energy the next day, but it does lead you to feel worse and worse about yourself. When you feel worse about yourself, you want to comfort yourself with more unhealthy food. You don’t feel motivated to exercise or be productive. Things spiral downward, until you feel hopeless and out of control. The good news about these habits is that they can also spiral upward...

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Finally, A "Boring" Day!

When Jordan was younger, he used to think that any day in which no one came over and we didn't go anywhere was boring. I tried and tried to explain the concept of nice normal days in which we could hang around the house, get things done and relax. He just wasn't buying it. Fast forward a few years and he seems to like nice normal stay at home "boring" days even more than I do.

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Little Things That Make Me Happy

I'm not sure I can adequately express my love for wool socks. I've started keeping a pair by my bed so I can put them on any time my feet are so cold that I can't fall asleep. (This happens more often than you might think.) Also, I wear them pretty much any day with a high of less than 60 degrees. Since I'm having a crabby evening, now seems like the perfect time to make a list of some of the little things that bring joy to my life. 

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I've Gone Nuts!

After years of reading and re-reading books, magazines and blogs dedicated to the subject of healthy and environmentally friendly living, noting the suggestion to stop using laundry detergent and start washing my clothes with soap nuts, thinking there was no way that could work and purchasing another expensive bottle of Seventh Generation laundry detergent (the only kind that didn't give Jordan a major eczema breakout), I've taken the plunge. Between this blog entry and this one I became convinced that this was something I had to try. So I headed to NaturOli and bought a sample pack of soap nuts. So far I've done three loads of laundry with them, and they seem to be working at least as well as the Seventh Generation detergent.

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Tis the Season

The Christmas decorations are up (minus the tree and illuminated snowman for the front porch), I started my Christmas card mailing list, family portraits are scheduled, and my gift recipient list is done. Only 10,000 more things to do in less than a month. I'm always amazed and irritated by my own inability to drastically simplify my life. I hate the mad rush, but I can't let go of the feeling that I really should do all this stuff and if I don't I'm slacking in my duties. 

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Simplicity Schimplicity

So...I was trying to simplify my life. But I just went from having one (easy and boring) job (that I hated) to having 2 (or 4) jobs (depending on your point of view). Yes, that's right, I finally quit Captel, the bane of my existence. Friday was my last day. And today was my first day at a new part-time job closer to home. It's a franchise business that does shipping, printing, etc. At last, opportunities to interact with other people! In person! 

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