Creativity Boot Camp

Tuesday I joined the month long creativity camp run by Jane at That Curious Love of Green. Minimum "requirements" for participation are to:

• Journal each day (think Morning Pages from Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way)
• Work on one creative thing each day

I want to apply consistent BIC (Butt in Chair) with the story in process, specifically, 1000 words per day and/or average 4 hours per day (20 a week). This is supposed to be a full time job; obviously it's not. If I can't dedicate 20 hours, then what the heck?

I also want to walk into my sewing room & do at least one thing each day. I was afraid that forcing myself to finish the Bichon quilt would cause procrastination too intense to overcome, but the quilt interests me (surprisingly). I've been forced to learn new skills -- applique, embroidery -- and I am excited about how I might apply it to future work.

Being in boot camp won't remove the obstacles I've experienced for so long. These first few days have been busy with all sorts of commitments and while I have done the minimum, yesterday I did not achieve my writing goal. Gotta keep working at it!

They say perseverance & grit are more important than pure talent or even intelligence. So for this boot camp, the primary goal is simply to persevere. When Kat went through the police academy, her mantra was "one day at a time." She didn't think ahead too much, and she let each day's pain and failure remain in the past. The focus was on today. And even then she almost quit. She showed grit and it has paid off with a career she loves (and good money).

I don't anticipate the month will be as painful for me, but fighting procrastination, self-doubt, frustration with obligations, etc. can be tiring and overwhelming, so it's one day at a time. Today my morning is full, but I have the afternoon and evening for some BIC and a little sewing. All will be well.

In My Corner, Singing!

Here I am, back in my little corner of the internet.

"In my own little corner, in my own little chair, I can be whatever I want to be . . ."*

What I am NOT is a meek, mousey girl waiting for her prince to begin living.  (Well, sometimes I do feel mousey).

I digress.

Jane at That Curious Love of Green inspired me with her month long creativity boot camp which starts tomorrow. I jumped in, hoping the community of like-minded people and the short time frame will help me focus. The priority will be the book I'm writing -- a middle grade fantasy. I've made a good start, but I'd like to give it more of my time, which bumps up against time I give to quilting & other projects, friends, home & family, and volunteer work. The juggling continues! We'll see how it goes with some accountability in the mix.

I thought it a good time to re-start my blog. The only major change, for any reader who may be returning, is that I outed myself. Susan is my real name. This used to be Jessie's blog, but Jessie doesn't exist and I found myself, the longer I wrote here, not liking the pseudonym. It just seemed to complicate things, contrary to the goal of living more simply, and was something I did from being afraid of writing for others to see, contrary to the goal of living more bravely. 

I will return tomorrow with a life update and a plan for the month.


*Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella

Update on New Ways of Thinking

Months ago I posted about having a new mind for the new year. Here's a quick update on that "new" mind. 

First, in spite of being excited and inspired by the principles espoused by Mr. Money Mustache, we are not quite Mustachian, but we're getting there. 

I want to blame Kat for our slow progress. She is the perpetual project-making machine. Always starting a project around the house, and never an inexpensive one (is there such a thing?) On the plus side, she is a focused worker, always finishes what she starts, and her projects do improve our quality of life. 

The latest is a re-do of our back patio, converting it from ugly, bumpy, impossible to walk on, concrete molds to a beautiful, natural flagstone and crushed granite. And on top — an inflatable hot tub. I wasn’t too keen on the latter, but it was relatively inexpensive, and it feels so luxurious relaxing in it during our meltingly hot summer days. I hold so much tension in my shoulders that it causes me headaches, and those have been less frequent. Overall a great stress reliever with a cost of just under $1,000.00, paid cash because of actually being better about not consuming what we don’t need. 

One day though I want us both to adopt a more saving mentality rather than a consuming one. We have more money because we’re consuming less and have cut back on many bills, such as cable (gone), but that doesn’t mean we have to spend it just because we have it. Some does get saved, but not near enough by my estimation. This is an on-going battle, both with Kat and with my own wants. As satisfying as it would be, I can’t lay this at Kat’s feet (paws :-))

Second, the vegan diet we adopted morphed into a vegetarian one. We are both enjoying our vegetarian lifestyle. Like our spending cut-backs, it doesn’t feel like deprivation. Instead, we find ourselves eating lots of different foods, breaking out of ruts a lifetime in the making. We feel good, our actions are better aligned with our values, and we haven’t sacrificed on taste. 

There’s been so much going on this year; I let this blog go, but I’m not ready for it to die. I’ll be back.

A New Mind for the New Year!

Sometimes life bumps along, and then you hear or read something — maybe something you’ve heard a hundred times before — and for some reason, this time your spirit is ready for the message, and everything changes.

My experience is that this doesn’t happen often. However, this is exactly what happened to me not just once, but TWICE in the past few months.

The first was this past November when I happened to surf over to a blog I’d seen referenced by other bloggers. This blog was Mr. Money Mustache. I’ve read many excellent finance blogs, but this one pulled everything together for me in one big 'aha' moment.

If you’re not familiar with Mr. Money Mustache, I encourage you to read him for yourself. His message is basically this — live on much less than the typical American consumer, socking away the large gap between expenses and income into retirement accounts and index funds; thereby providing yourself the means to live a joyful life doing the things that really matter to you, free of financial worries. It’s not an original message (see Your Money or Your Life or Early Retirement Extreme*) but there is something in his perspective I find deeply inspiring.

I think I was ripe for the message partly because in the month before stumbling across the MMM blog, I had grown annoyed with high monthly expenses that brought little return. The worst of these was the cable bill — $170 a month for a landline we barely used, a bunch of TV channels we rarely watched, and internet. In a moment of resolve, I canceled cable except for the internet, reducing our bill by $120 a month. Feeling great about that, I cut Netflix down to streaming only and downgraded our newspaper delivery to weekends only. 

These actions seemed to loosen things up for me a little, like having just a bit of the winds of freedom blow through, so when I read MMM, I was like — WOWEE SIGN ME UP!

But I am one half of a whole, and Kat and I have to work this out together. Although Kat wasn’t quite as gung ho as I was at first, she has definitely changed after having read a few of the blog posts and listened to me rhapsodize about the possibilities. 

Almost by unspoken agreement, we stopped eating out. That alone saves us well over $200 a month. We also are much more thoughtful about the things we think we need, and more often than not, we decide not to buy stuff that just a few months before we would have tossed into the Amazon cart. With knocking down our regular monthly bills (still working on this) and not spending as much on restaurants and stuff, we find ourselves with more than I thought possible to put into savings or toward our mortgage (our last debt). We’re at the lower end of income for MMM’s target audience, and even for us, it makes a big difference. 

The second message came on the heels of all this. In late December, we happened to watch Forks Over Knives, a documentary recommended to us by a friend. Don’t watch it if you don’t want to change what you eat.** 

Overnight we went from being typical Texas meat-eaters to almost vegans. Because I am an animal lover, I had often flirted with the thought of becoming vegetarian. But in Texas, it's more acceptable to be gay than a vegetarian, and since I already have one strike, I didn't want to add another. (Sort of kidding here; the main reason I hadn't gone vegetarian is that I like meat a lot).

Because we were already cooking all our meals at home, switching to a mostly vegan diet was not too difficult. We’re fortunate to live in a city with regular grocery stores well-stocked on diverse food stuffs, a Trader Joe’s, several Whole Food Markets and farmers’ markets. I thought the new way of eating might be more expensive, but surprisingly, even with buying all organic produce, our grocery costs have been the same and perhaps slightly lower (need more time to compare) because we’re not buying meat or processed foods. 

So, lots of changes over the past few months. Good changes. One of the things I like most about MMM’s blog is his optimistic and joyful approach to living. We can tap into that joy when we open our eyes to all the good things that surround us, appreciate what we have, and let go of the instinctive need for more, more more, when what we have is enough. Kat and I have a wider perspective, new habits, and a direction for the future we can agree on.

*MMM states in his blog that he was unaware of these books/blogs, but discovered and enjoyed them after he started his own blog. I'm sure MMM and others are not the only ones to stumble across this counter-cultural perspective of money and success. I am glad they share their discoveries for those of us who need the eye-opener. 

**Don't worry. This film is not about cruelty to animals but focuses on the science behind the health benefits of a whole foods, plant-based diet. It's persuasive in a positive way.

Kitchen Makeover

Kat and I have been mulling a kitchen face-lift for a few years now. My reluctance to get started stemmed from what I figured would be the high cost. Our appliances started to crap out -- the disposal, the dishwasher -- and we have lived with them in their various stages of brokenness, figuring all would be replaced with the makeover. 

My real estate days had given me a few contacts, and one was a semi-retired carpenter who gave us an itemized quote for completing a wish list we had given him. We were happily able to afford most of it, and here are the results in before and after shots:

BEFORE

AFTER

Unfortunately my pictures are like those cheesy weight loss ads that run in tabloids with the 'before' featuring a woman grumpy and slouching, and an 'after' of the same woman upright and smiling. I somehow misplaced my 'before' pictures and all I could find was this one of a dirty kitchen taken when I was trying out a new camera. Egads. But you get the idea.

We replaced our upper cabinets with cabinets extending to the ceiling and over the refrigerator, installed an over the range microwave, extended our counter with new laminate countertops and built-in shelves above and below, put in a backsplash, a new single-basin sink and faucet, and added crown molding to the kitchen and living room. 

The only appliance we replaced other than the microwave was the dishwasher, which, as I mentioned, was stumbling toward broke. The range and refrigerator (both nearly 15 years old but hanging in there) we will keep until they no longer function.

To save money, we did a few things ourselves. We put in the backsplash — subway tile — and Kat installed the dishwasher. As our carpenter worked, Kat realized that she could have done some of the trim work and the shelves herself, but he did give us a good price, so not too much regret.

We were able to pay cash, though we now need to replenish our short-term savings. We spend so much time at home, though, and have such a stream of company coming through, that we felt this project worth it.

What did it cost?

Carpenter (including countertops, custom cabinets, crown molding, a lower corner cabinet with large lazy susan, installation of new sink, faucet, and disposal, upper and lower shelves for extended counter, over the range microwave with installation and a vent through the roof) -- $6500

Backsplash -- $100

Window treatments (bamboo blinds) -- $150

Paint -- $70

Baskets, napkin holder, other -- $80

Sink and disposal -- $230 (The price of the faucet is included in the $6500)

Dishwasher -- $400

Total cost was right at $7500 for a beautiful, more functional new kitchen that we love!

Catching Up

I'm back!

I’ve been struggling to jump back into the blog pool. I climbed out, dried off, went in for a snack, and have felt reluctant to get wet again. I’ve been circling the pool for months and . . .

Ok enough of that metaphor. I ignored my writing goals and time passed. 

Since I last checked in, Kat and I have a new(ish) kitchen and another murphy bed. Hooray!

First, the kitchen. We had saved toward sprucing up our kitchen — adding storage and counter space — but we knew it wasn’t enough. We took out a small loan, hired a semi-retired carpenter who quoted us a very reasonable price, and went to work. 

Second, Kat took the opportunity of some time off and having her dad visit to build a murphy bed in our office. We had one already in the sewing room, and it is beyond wonderful. We have LOTS of visitors and need both rooms (sewing room and office) for guests, and now I will be able to simply pull down the already made up beds each time a sibling with family comes to visit. We’re heading into that bed and breakfast time of the year, and I am ready.

With our home improvement projects, along with work and being in charge of multiple events that happened to fall in September and early October, we let good habits lapse but also shed a few bad habits. More on that in a future post, and I’ll also be posting before and after pictures of the kitchen and office.

It’s good to be back!

Fumbling for a Simple Life

A couple of weeks ago I attended the daily Mass at my parish (an Episcopal parish in the catholic tradition). It was the feast of St. Benedict of Nursia, the saint responsible for the most popular of monastic rules, one full of common sense for ordering the communal life. Our rector talked about the simplicity of a monastic life, a life very attractive to me. So much so that when I was in my mid-twenties, I entered a religious order (I was Roman Catholic at the time). 

I was with the sisters for six years before discerning a different path. I left with a taste for morning silence, a clean room, and an ordered life.

My struggle for integration is part of this attraction to a simple life. But here’s the rub. To engage with life pushes one outward, to help the neighbor, to address injustice, to be involved in community. These things complicate life. How much simpler life would be if other people weren’t involved! 

This will always be a struggle of mine, perhaps a defining struggle. Much of living more simply is internal — keeping perspective and mindfulness amid the busyness of the days, but external circumstances don’t always have to be as counter to a simple, more contemplative life as I let them become. I like to jump in and take charge and get things done, until I feel squashed beneath the weight of agendas, meetings, and follow-up. The day arrives that I’m not only not doing what is needful for my own life, but I’m probably not being as helpful as I think I am. 

Time to let go of the things that are no longer life giving. If they’re not life giving for me, I doubt they are for others. 

All of this is easier said than done, but the new school year is about to begin, and I am committed through at least May for some things, and through December of next year for others. My goal will be to shed those things I need to shed over the next ten months. And since  it is my habit to fill freed up time with more busy, I will commit to giving any of this miraculous time to creative work that brings some measure of joy. Like Tolkien’s road, ‘fumbling at joy’ goes ever on and on.