I love to read. Books let you escape reality and live in a little fairy land for a period of time. We live in a crazy world with too much negative stuff going on and I need a break from that. Anywho…I was recently at one of our local libraries and they had the Little House box set for only $5. I read and owned ‘Farmer Boy’ as a child and remember really liking the book. I thought it would be neat for Allison (my 4 year old) to have when she got older, but I wanted to read them too. I started reading a couple of months ago and finished all 9 books last week. Of course they were easy reads…I mean they’re meant for 10 year olds, but the stories took place where I grew up as a child. The books really made you put things into perspective on how easy we have it nowadays.
My sister-in-law sent me this at Christmas and I had yet to make it. Well, I did so last week and it as delicious! I did substitute skim milk for cream, but just added a little less. The flavor was great and love me some rice in soup. As an added bonus (for me), there is no chicken in the soup ;-) Love getting little presents from ND – thanks Kristi!
Since finishing my other books, I’ve been waiting to get my hands on this one. Ordered this for myself as a Mother’s Day gift. I always order a book for Mother’s Day. I always get asked, “What do you want for Mother’s Day?” Me: “Just a book. Care if I order it for myself?” Hubby: “Nope, go right ahead. Books are lame.” Someday that man will come around and learn to like reading ;-) Back to the book…it started getting “popular” last year when I learned other bloggers were reading it. I’m sure all the rage is over, but that isn’t stopping me. So far, the book is great and I read it for 45 min every morning while walking on the treadmill (I’m oober-talented…not). I highly suggest reading the book, if you’re into becoming a minimalist and doing some soul-searching. In my older years, I’ve become wiser (I think?) and realized what is truly important. I used to buy things just because we had a dual income and we could afford it. I also worked at a place of business where dressing up was important, so I spent quite a bit of money on wardrobe. Now I’m Super Mom, so I pretty much wear jeans, t-shirts, yoga pants and flip flops. It’s no longer important to me to own a bazillion pairs of anything. In fact, clutter really gets to me. I go through my closet like every 3 months and get rid of tons of stuff. Why keep it? What am I holding onto? If you’ve had something around for more than a year without touching it, go ahead and get rid of it. I’m not really a person who puts sentimental value on many things. If we shall ever leave this house, I will be just fine with it. I have pictures that have captured our memories. A house is just a house. Does it bother me that we have 4 (soon to be 5) people living in a 1500 s.f. house? Some days it does and I think to myself, “Why can’t we have something bigger?!” It’s not the amount of people that take up the space, it’s the amount of STUFF. I know people who have storage units for their ‘stuff’ and it drives me crazy to no end. I’m sure they don’t even know what’s in the storage unit. If that’s the case, why not get rid of it and donate it to someone who can use it? It definitely feels good to let go of things knowing that it’s going to someone who can use it.
UPDATE: I finished the book last week. It was a fast, easy read, but oh so good. I let Allison pick out my next book from the shelf. She chose ‘The Secret Life of Bees’. I’ve made it through the first chapter and feel sad and a little uninterested. I read the second and third chapters today and it’s definitely getting better. Thankful for that because otherwise I wouldn’t finish it. The only other book I’ve started but never finished was ‘MiddleSex’…horrible…just horrible. Please let me know if you have any book recommendations…reading really helps the time go by while walking :-)
Stay tuned tomorrow for a preview of the guest bathroom, which I kind of want to re-do.
Thanks for the review of the book “7”. That just might have to be a “must read” for me, too. When I think of how much money I’ve saved throughout the years wearing a military uniform, it just boggles my mind. In hind sight, maybe a closet full of dress clothes was never important to me either. When I retired, I had to go buy some dress clothes because I didn’t have anything in my closet. I have the same rule: if we don’t use anything within a year, we get rid of it. I’ve taken LOTS of things to the thrift store…and I shop there for jeans also.
I forgot to tell you both on Sunday that I had 3″ cut off my hair last Thursday. Now my hair is even in the back and so much cooler for summer.