Parenting

Here's the thing about being a parent: the kids are watching you and learning. Yes, we all know that children learn to speak and socialize and use a fork by observing the parental bigjobs (Terry Pratchett speak makes me happy!). But the little ones are learning a helluva lot more than that from us.

Sometimes this is beautifully enlightening, like when your child bends down to tenderly look a crying child in the face and ask if they are OK, and you recognize the gesture as your own.

All too often the realization that you are being learned from is horrifying, like when your child curses in public, or expresses insecurity about having big feet, or has an overwhelmed with schoolwork freak-out in which you hear your own voice coming out of her mouth.

Recently, my roomate H-bomb said something that made me recognize the trickledown of my personal desiire for LESS. He was doing a word problem for math homework, one designed to make the student use simple division. He read it out loud to me. "Adrienne has 150 CDs," the question began. Then, in sublime parenthetical judgement, he added "which is ridiculous" before continuing, "and she wants to store equal numbers of CDs in two containers. How many go in each?" He thought for a moment and then summized, "That would be 75 CDs each. Which is still too many."

:)

Less

This week we gave away a giant bag of clothing. It's all stuff that EK or I have kept around just in case we might have a reason to wear it....or to fit into it...or for it to come back in style. Meanwhile, the clothes we actually WEAR have to live much of their lives ignobly stuffed in a full closet or stacked on top of a full dresser.

The things I use and that work for me I will take good care. They will be shown kindness. The things I don't use are moochers living in my house past their welcome. They should leave.

Less: jewelry

This is how much I had:

This is how much I'm keeping:


The rest has been organized and bagged for giveaways, donations, and yard sale.

Oh, well. It's a start.

Less

I have been feeling a very strong urge for less. I look at things that I own and don't understand why they are here. Relative to most middle-class Americans I don't really have that much stuff to start with. But its still too much. Why do I own so many DVDs? I haven't re-watched many in years but I store them alphabetically on shelves in my house. Why do I have so many coffee cups? Who the heck do I expect over for a cuppa? Everytime I try to put away the few cups we actually use, I have to deal with the ones that live permanently in my cabinet. Why do I still have earrings I bought in the mid-nineties but haven't worn in years? Why are they in my house? Why do I have to own a box for them to live in on my dresser? These things are not my friends, but I make such room for them. This has to end. Keep reading here for more on my movement for less. Ooo! And maybe some pictures!!!