Author: chrissy

Running out of chocolate. Now that’s scary.

This is what my Dove chocolate wrapper said last night.

I couldn’t agree more.

I can guarantee you that no one in my city is going to run out of chocolate tonight.

I dont think there will be many kids trick or treating tonight.

This is what outside looks like right now.

The snow is supposed to stop at 3 pm. Trick or treat starts at 4 pm. The low for tonight is 22 degrees.

Poor kids. And parents.

This is the third time in the last 150 years that it snowed on Halloween. We are breaking a record today.

The only good thing is that there will be a ton of Halloween candy on clearance tomorrow. 😊

Have a great day everyone!

Happy Halloween.

This is what was waiting for me when I went outside yesterday morning.

I’m not ready for this.

Last night after work I had to scrape my windshield and turn on my heated seats.

It’s too early for this.

This is what I saw when I left work tonight

I don’t know if you can see the snow falling in either of these pictures but it is. 1 to 3 inches of snow is suppose.to fall overnigjt.

Not ready! Not ready for the cold. It’s 32 degrees. Not ready for the snow.

I know what I am doing this weekend. I’m getting washing both my winter coats and some mittens and getting my boots out!!!!

I keep things. Newspaper clippings. Magazines. Magazine articles. Old journals. Story ideas. Among other things.

I either don’t have time to read the magazines so they pile up or I can’t figure out to do with the other stuff so I keep moving it. The items were in a box when we moved, then in a drawer, then in a cute metal bin under the coffee table.

Now the items are laying on the living room floor.

I keep magazines. I dont know why. I keep them even if there isn’t anything on the front cover that interests me. Even if I don’t have time to read them.

I keep them.

Maybe I’m afraid I’m going to miss something if I dont read it from cover to cover. An article that might help me on my journey. A word that I need to hear. A picture that touches my heart.

Out of 20 magazines today, I didnt keep any. I paged through some of them. I ripped out 5 pages and I’m going to put them in a file of interesting things. I put the magazines in the thrift store box.

This leads me to the pile of papers on the floor. An old journal. A bracelet I no longer wear. Non winning lottery tickets that need to be sent in for the 2nd chance drawing. Pictures. Among other things.

My goal for tonight is to get through this pile. It’s not big, but I have to make decisions. Decisions that I have been putting off for a long time. I dont know why.

Yes, I do. I didn’t want to make a decision. There were other piles of clutter I needed to deal with first. I had to get to work. It was christmas. We were on 10 hours of overtime. My husband and I were going to vegas or the trailer.

You get the point….

I was stalling.

What I’ve realized about this clutter is that it is clogging my life. My mind. My space. My psyche. Even though it’s not alot, but it’s still clogging me and my space.

What I have learned while getting rid of stuff lately is that I liked the clutter around so I would have an excuse not to go after my dreams. As I let go, I realized I was hiding.

As I let go, I also found the strength to look at my dreams and figure out what ones I wanted to keep and what ones I need to let go of. Of the direction I want to go in.

As I let go, the more of myself I found. I’m happier. More focused. More myself.

There’s more to stuff than just stuff. Its emotional. Its messy. It’s full of feelings, memories and dreams.

I called in sick today and I’m glad I did. I love these quiet days of reflection and self care. Time to figure things out and take naps.

I feel my life changing. Going in a different direction. Getting closer to who I really am.

I’m proud of myself for how far I have come.

As I let go of more stuff and get things organized, I’m excited to see where life takes me next.

I’ll keep you posted.

It’s fall and I’m cleaning house.

Yes, again.

I don’t know why but I have a bug in my butt to get rid of 100 more items.

Yes, 100.

Last weekend I went through my winter clothes. 18 items went in a box. Jeans that I dont like. T shirts that I no longer wear. Underwear that were never worn, but I got for free. A bra I don’t like.

Clutter. Even if it’s in a drawer, its clutter.

I would like to get down to the bare minimum. What is the bare minimum for me? I dont know. I will know it when I feel it.

Yes, I did say feel.

It’s not so much my stuff, but how I feel around my stuff. Am I happy? Does it make me smile? Does it fulfill me?

The clothes I put in the box weren’t a yes for any of the above. I dont know if I wrote about this or not, but my hairstylist donates free haircuts to a women who helps people down on thie luck find a job. This woman also collects clothing for them. So I’m donating my clothes to this woman. I feel good about this.

18 items gone.

I also took 6 items to the consignment shop and 6 items and magazines and some other stuff I don’t count in my totals to the thrift store.

12 more items gone.

30 in total.

I also put 6 items on marketplace. I will add these if they sell.

I have 70 more to go.

That seems like a lot, but it really isn’t. I just need to be honest with myself about what speaks to me and what doesn’t and then be willing to let it go….

Next is my dining room cabinets. They have been my dumping ground. I know I said I wasn’t going to do it, but I did anyway The good thing is that the cabinets aren’t as big as the hutch was at the old house.

Someday I will have this clutter thing under control. Until then I will keep letting go.

Have a great day everyone!

I don’t think the corn looks very good but we had five inches of rain last week. When I returned from Vegas last Sunday my rain gauge was to the top. I’ve never seen it that full before. I was happy to have missed the rain.

I have to admit I don’t know anything about the growing process of corn. I was going to google it but I never did.

It’s been cool to watch it grow and change. I can’t believe it’s almost harvesting time. Where did the summer go?

I think it would be cool to see the corn being harvested. Maybe I’ll drive around this weekend to see if a field is being harvested. The farmers around me don’t grow corn.

I wish I knew someone who had a farm. I would love to ride in the tractor with the farmer when they were harvesting the corn.

Crap! I thought I published this. I must have forgot to hit publish.

Hitting publish now. 😊

I took these picture over a month ago.

I never realized that each stalk only had one cob of corn on it. Sometimes two or three cobs if they are a hybrid. It seems a waste of a stalk for only one cob. Its funny because I always thought there were like five or six cobs. I never really looked before.

I love learning new things.

The pic below is over a week old.

The pics kinda look the same. I don’t think the corn has grown much. The cob is finishing its growth cycle. I think it will be harvested in the middle of October.

I wanted to post this sooner, but I’ve been dealing with my diverticulosis for the last couple of weeks. I’m finally feeling like myself again after about six weeks. I finish my antibiotics today so hopefully I’m on the upswing.

Finally.

My next accupuncture appointment is Oct. 7th so I’ll post another corn photo at that time. Or maybe it will be a empty field. Who knows…

I think the corn reminds me of the cycle of life. Sometimes we grow a lot and sometimes we grow a little. Sometimes we feel like nothing is happening and sometimes we see huge growth.

It just depends on how you look at it.

Have a great day!

I’m apologize if I sounded kind of cold in my last post

I just wanted you to know I will be there for sister, my niece and my mom. I talked to my sister this morning. I’ve been texting with my niece since she’s at school. I spent time with my mom yesterday.

I think what I was trying to say is that I’ve been in shock these last couple of days and stuck in the grief of what this family is going through. Even though I feel bad for the family I can’t stay stuck in this grief. I have to move forward. I’m sorry if this sounds cold.

Death makes you think about things. It makes you realize what is important. It makes you realize that life is short and you have to go after your dreams because you might not have tomorrow. It makes you realize you still have work to do.

At least that is what is brought up for me. I still have a lot of writing to do. Love and help to give. Growing to do.

A better person to be.

The daughter of my sister’s good friend, D, and her husband committed suicide over the weekend.

It’s very, very sad. She was only 20. She was depressed and had mental health issues.

At 4 pm yesterday afternoon a vigil for the her was held at the park she ended her life in. Halfway thru the vigil the sheriff’s department came to deliver bad news. Very bad news. D’s dad was killed in a car accident on the way to the vigil.

D loses her daughter one day and her father the next.

It’s heartbreaking. Its unbelievable. Its devastating.

For the last two days I keep asking why? Why did she take her life? Why did he die? Why is this family going thru this much pain?

This is what I was going to focus on this post on until I read something on Facebook tonight that was changed my focus. The thought was this:

Instead of focusing on why something happened focus on what you can learn from the situation.

What an interesting concept. It empowers you. It keeps you positive.

So instead of focusing on the grief and tragedy of this situation I’m going to send prayers and love to the family. I’m going to hold my family close and be grateful for what I have.

I’m above ground today and that is a good thing. I still have my purpose to fulfill. I’m here for a reason.

Thank you, God, for giving me this day. I can’t let grief swallow me and keep me captive. I must move on.

We have been in our new house almost a year and a half. I was so excited to buy the house because it meant I had my own office. I could gave my own space to put my own stuff in.

Today I’m frustrated. I have been frustrated for awhile. My office just isn’t functioning the way I thought it would. I thought it would fall into place because I had the space. Silly me.

Above is the corner that I am unhappy with. I have nowhere to set the writing projects or any projects I am working on. That’s probably why I have stuff on the living room coffee table yet.

I need to put some thought into this.

What is the purpose of my office? This is a question I’ve been asking myself off and on for the last couple of weeks. I think if I can figure out the purpose I’ll know what to put in the corner.

There are three things I want my office to be. I would like my office to:

1. be my writing sanctuary.

2. have a place to explore who I am creatively and get to know my creative self better.

3. To have a space to put my writing projects and other creative projects on so they aren’t all over the living room.

Right now my office is none of these things and that needs to change.

I’ll let you know how things go and show you pics at that time.

Have a great day!

I had to go to Meijer after work tonight. Usually I wait at an open register until someone notices me and checks me out.

The only problem is that they didn’t have any open checkouts tonight. You know, the kind where the cashier actually checks you out instead of watching you do her job.

I think this whole self checkout is absolutely ridiculous.

Did I mention I hate it?

Why should I check myself out? I can see if I want to do this or if I like to do this, but I dont. I’d rather not check myself out. That’s what they get paid to do or used to get paid to do. Now they get paid to watch and assist you.

I don’t understand why the cashier can stand and watch me check out, but she can’t check me out. She gets paid to stand there and watch me do her work. There’s something wrong with this picture.

Do you remember a couple of years ago when the big hype was that kids don’t know how to play with other kids because they are playing with their electronics by themselves?

Aren’t we headed in the same direction here? We aren’t communicating with the cashier unless we have a problem. We can run in and out of the store without talking to anyone by doing everything ourselves.

Do you see where I am headed here?

I like to go to the store and talk to my favorite cashier. There’s a connection there and I feel we are losing this. The whole talking and sharing thing.

I can see if you need to run in for one or two items and don’t want to stand in line to check out then it’s fine to go through self check, but I dont feel its for a person with more than 10 items.

You are already buying their products and spending your hard earned money in their store now they want you to work for free as well? That’s crap.

I’m not a big fan of self checkout so whenever I can make a cashier check me out I do.

Maybe some day my attitude will change toward this but until this happens my opinion stands.

I hate checking myself out and don’t do it unless I absolutely have to. It’s their job. Not mine.

End of story.