Animal Spirit Guides..... Are they true??

Hi all, I haven't been here for a little while as I've had some issues with the kids, which thankfully are settling down. My decluttering has come to a halt but school holidays start on Friday so I'm looking forward to getting back into it during that time.

I have been doing a fair bit of spinning as I find it very soothing, the continual turning of the wheel seems like a kind of emotional hug, if that makes any sense and is exactly what I've needed at the moment.

I keep looking at all my handspun yarn and wondering what on earth I'm going to do with it all....... I love doing the spinning, but then most of the handspun yarn just seems to sit and not actually be made into anything. I'm more of a spinner than a maker! Hmmmm......

I've been struggling with my books. I'm definitely a book addict and although I took a pile of books to the Op Shop last week, I have also bought Astrology, Tarot and Decluttering books, so really I'm no better off.

My interest in Astrology and Tarot has fired up again after a break of a few years and I've been having fun downloading free programs on the internet and searching for a decent correspondence course in both. No luck so far. I need courses that I can do at my own pace and fit in around my kids.....

A few weeks ago I started a Thursday night course in Psychic Development. The first week we did Palmistry and spent a very interesting evening looking at each others hands and studying the lines. I really enjoyed it.

The second week we did Animal Spirit Guides. Now I know nothing about this topic except that they're sort of like your angels standing by you. Well the teacher went on to say what animal/s were nearby each student and then had us stand opposite each other in pairs and 'intuitively' see if we could 'see' what animal/s were around the person we were looking at.

Well I felt really stupid and silly as my rational mind was telling me this was a crock of shit!! However I consider myself open-minded and was willing to give it a go, so I did.

Then I sat down, the girl I was paired with seemed disappointed that I didn't want to stand there for ages looking at all 'her animals' and discussing it.

The teacher never gave any background about how/why these supposed 'animals' are there around us and watching over us. I had no idea what it was all about and I felt quite silly all through the class. When I left I didn't ever want to go back and felt very disappointed.

The next week I had planned to go back but just ended up wandering around the shops instead, I don't even know what the topic was.

I think the problem is for me, is that the teacher didn't explain what all that stuff is about. Plus when she was saying that some of the people in the class had multiple animals around them, and the teacher herself has "13 animals around her and that things can get pretty noisy sometimes," it was just a bit much.

All the other women in the class have done classes at the shop except me. Now I've done lots of reading on all sorts of New Age topics, but not this one, and the teacher knew that. I feel that there should have been more explanantion about what all this is. BUT I also have a strong gut feeling that yes animal guides may exist, yes I don't have a problem with that, but when someone is telling me that they have 13 animals following them around, I'm being taken for a ride..... what do you think??

Thoughts on Too Much Stuff

Hi all, I don't know where the days go at the moment but the weeks seem to be flying by! I've been on a manic decluttering again, which has resulted in a big trip to the tip on Sunday and a trip to the Op Shop yesterday. It's SO good to get all that 'stuff' out of my house and backyard. I only wish my place LOOKED like it had been decluttered!!

Here's a pic of the trailer and back of friends 4WD on our way to the tip.

The trouble is, I am really good at organizing, so my place does look a little cluttered, but not terribly so. You see I have dozens of 55 litre tubs in my bedroom floor to ceiling on shelves so that I can access my fleeces, yarn, finished projects, not finished projects, and so on. So the place doesn't LOOK too bad. BUT ...... I FEEL like things are coming in on me and I want to scale back a LOT. And I mean a LOT!

But how does one choose what to get rid of? What if I want to go back to that hobby? I spent all that money getting all the tools and paints and papers and brushes and glues and books and information on that hobby, and now what? Do I just chuck it? Freecycle it? Sell it? (No way, that takes too long). What if in a few weeks/months I decide I want to get back into art again and play around and all/most of my stuff is gone? What then?

I've thrown out a LOT of fleeces, those that I KNOW I won't enjoy spinning. Friend who was helping me commented that I 'spent good money on those fleeces......?' NOT what a declutterer wants to hear. But when I bought them I hadn't spun that breed before and thought I'd give it a go. When I tried them out it was pure hell and I don't want my spinning to be hell, I want to enjoy it, so OUT they went!!

The other question is, what does one DO with all the yarn she spins??? I've known for a while that's it's the actual PROCESS of the spinning that I enjoy, not having the finished yarn to actually MAKE something with. And now I'm getting snowed under with handspun yarn. "Well sell it" I hear you say. I don't know if I want to, or even could sell it. A lot of it is just a couple of balls of this or that, and much of it isn't real soft for skin touching items..... So what does one do?? My tubs are getting fuller and fuller and I look at them and just wish they'd STOP breeding.....

I've been reading a lot about Minimalism, where people live happy/comfortable lives with just the bare minimum of things. It costs them less, they don't have clutter, it's easier for them to move house, it's easier for them to clean, and so on and so on.

I wish for this style of life, BUT am I really that sort of person?? I do love my junk, there's just too much of it. That's part of the thrill for me, getting a new hobby and then going out and getting ALL the new tools/supplies/books for it. I guess it's part of the chase for me.... And then I end up feeling overwhelmed and here we go again, a bit decluttering starts....... more therapy for me perhaps?????

And the Decluttering Goes On.....

Hi all, you'd think by now that there'd be nothing left to take out of this little house after all the decluttering I've done but believe me there is PLENTY!! I have half a load sitting in my car waiting for a stop at the Op Shop, and my friends trailer (borrowed and in my backyard) is about two thirds full.

A couple of days ago Toby decided that he wanted to play in one of his toy boxes like a hidey cubby, so he pulled out ALL of his toys one by one and sorted them by himself with NO prompting from me. I just provided a box for stuff for the Op Shop, a garbage bag for broken bits and pieces, and a smaller box for the toys he was keeping to go into.

He happily sorted through them and then also sorted through a set of three drawers and got rid of a ton of papers, old drawings, and those dreadful little plastic toys you get at MacDonalds with the Happy Meals. Boy was I glad to see them go!! He did an amazing job and now he has way less, it's easier to tidy up, and it all is not taking up so much space in his toy area in the loungeroom.

Next to his toybox he has a big tub of blocks and a cartrack, then a tub of Thomas the Tank Engine train stuff, then a tub of matchbox cars, and finally a box of Lego, plenty to keep him busy.

I sold his toddler bed on ebay last week and I knew Toby would have problems letting go of it even though he's been in a big-boy bed for ages, so I told him he could have the money we got for it. He was very happy to let it go then, and he bought an elephant game (I'll explain this another day with pics), and some gameboy games. He's very happy and I'm happy to have another item out of the house that's not being used.

I also noticed on Freecycle the other day that a lady who I've gotten a few things from was advertising for a spinning wheel. This lady is lovely and she has autistic sons like I do, so I offered her one of my wheels, you see I believe what goes around comes around and I was given my first wheel off Freecycle. I told her I would sort one out either today or on the weekend and she could come and pick it up. She's pretty excited, and I'm thrilled to be passing one on to someone who is excited to be learning to spin!

As I was sorting through my spinning stash last night, I put a few things aside for her too, like fleece samples I've been sent to try, and some fleece staples that I dyed recently, oh and some roving I dyed too. That way she can just play with some different fibres and textures as she learns.

I've got a little boy climbing all over me right now so I'll finish this here and come back later. xx

Ramblings About My Stuff

Hi there, why is it that as crafters, the amount of 'stuff' we have seems to grow and grow...... and grow! This year I have been through a number of de-cluttering phases with endless runs to the Op Shop, giving stuff away to friends, and just general throwing stuff away that's of no use anymore.

Why is it that I'm feeling at the moment like I never did anything???

I've been reading a few Minimalist blogs and I just love their way of life. I love the clear areas in their homes due to the lack of stuff to clutter it. BUT I know as much as I love to look at their homes, it's not for me to live that way. How do I find a middle ground?

I've been being really careful about what I bring into my home for quite a few months now. I didn't even buy one ball of yarn or one fleece when we went to the show at Bendigo, and that is a miracle for me. I've been using up my yarn stash and except for one short time of craziness a couple of months ago, when I was on a yarn-buy-binge, I've very proud of myself at not having gone out buying loads of yarn, especially since there have been a LOT of crisis times here recently.

I guess what I'm wondering here, is if there are 'creative' Minimalist people, or even if such people exist?

Yes I know of course they do, but I'd really be interested to see just HOW they manage their supplies, their tools, their books, etc etc.

I was reading a blog this morning, and there is a movement going on in the Minimalist world where people are deciding to ONLY OWN 100 THINGS!!!!! Can you believe that!! 100 Things! My goodness where would I even start? If I can remember the name of it I will post a link.

The woman even did her whole list of what she owns on her blog and it was amazing. Can you believe how freeing that would be, to only own 100 things? I am in government housing and have my name down for a swap to a country area. I can't begin to imagine just how long it's going to take me to pack up this house, the mere thought fills me with dread! AND I have three kids worth of STUFF to move too..... AAARRRGH!!

But my point is, that how would it be, if you could just throw your whole 100 items that you own in the back of your car, and go.....

I remember when I was married (ugh) in my mid-twenties (long-divorced) and we had a number of caravans that we lived in at different times, and a decked out bus. The caravans were 15ft, 18ft, 20ft and a 30ft. I loved living in those caravans at various times when we were following the fruit harvests and doing the picking. It really made us question anything we wanted to buy, because there just wasn't the extra space like in a house.

I remember when we had the 15ft caravan and we drove from Victoria to Western Australia to try and get a job in the mining industry. We packed WAY too much stuff, and then wondered why our tyres kept blowing out and even the rims crumpled as well!!! Young and stupid?? You bet! So we had to dump out half our belongings at a little bush town somewhere in South Australia.

The guy at the truck stopped was thrilled with my husbands tools, stacks of them, we just had to give them away to lighten up the van so we could keep going. Money was running short and we needed to get to WA as quick as we could.

The wife at the truck stop was mighty thrilled too, she got my treadle Singer Sewing machine. Yes I cried a few tears over that one too, my husband said he'd get me another one, I'm still waiting 18 years later.....

That machine was the lovely black sewing machine in almost perfect condition. The treadle all worked perfectly too and I was very keen to use it once we got settled in WA. The cabinet it came in was the ones with the three drawers on either side and the dark wood that's all hand-carved..... as I said I sure did cry a few tears for that one.

I did crochet back then, I remember my stash of acrylic yarns and a tin of hooks was stashed under our bed at the back of the van.

Living in a caravan is wonderful, so many people bag the lifestyle but it really is a wonderful life, the freedon to just up and go whenever you like, and the lovely, and sometimes strange, people you meet are such an experience too.

But anyway back to my stuff. I'm feeling snowed under at the moment, everywhere I look there is stuff. I have the urge to just take most of it, dump it in the trailer and do a dash to the tip! That would give me the space I crave in my house..........

I Struggled With the Books.....

Hi all, well yesterday I spent the day de-cluttering like a crazy woman, this time it was under my bed and on top of my wardrobe. Everything got pulled out, sorted, and either put in piles near the front door for the Op Shop or repacked and put away. This is what my bedroom looked like for a while. Aaaargh!

As I was sorting through things, I came across my old nightclubbing clothes and smiled as I remembered lots of fun memories out with my girlfriends. Then I saw my boots, THOSE boots!! I really loved wearing those boots and they were a blast to dance in. I have a pair in white and another pair of black boots with tassels all down the sides, and pointy toes.

Well, T saw these white boots and wanted to wear them. I told him he wouldn't be able to manage as they're so high and a pointy heel, but NO, he WANTED to wear them. I sort of mumbled "whatever...." and went back to what I was doing.

A few minutes later a little voice said "Mummeeeeeeee???" And I put my head into the hallway....... What a fabulous camera moment!! He was stoked!!

After the bedroom stuff was done I went out to the garage, I needed to sort through a ton of books. I have to admit I'm a bit of a book whore, BUT I really need to change that as I could start my own library. Books are heavy and I really DON'T want to lug heaps of boxes of books when we move, books are damn heavy!!

I'd already sorted through a 6ft high by 3ft wide bookshelf full of books a few days ago and put the ones I wanted to keep into two tubs. That was one of the bookshelves that went out the front for hard rubbish pickup.

So, in the garage I had three 55 litre tubs jam packed with books, mostly craft books. These books were packed away and put out in the garage about six months ago and I haven't even missed them! These are books that I thought I could never live without!

Anyway, I thought about it and realised that between the local libraries and the internet, especially Ravelry, I really could cull my book collection back a LOT and not miss anything. So I did!

This is what I started with.

And I was able to cut them back to half of one box! Woohoo!! I made sure I put the containers of books for the Op Shop straight into the car so there was NO opportunity for picking.......

I felt lighter already!

Then I sorted through some other boxes of 'stuff' I had in the garage and this is what I ended up with - FIVE EMPTY CONTAINERS!!!! Woohoo!!!

And this is what my stationwagon looked like at the end of the day! The backseat is also folded down and filled with stuff too. This morning before we left for DS12's appointment I stuffed a few more things in and quickly shut the boot before it all burst back out!

This morning it felt SOOOOO good to give all that stuff to the Op Shop. It was still a little bit hard to give away my books, BUT I have plenty more and will probably cull again before I have cut back enough.

Seeya xxx

The De-Clutter Continues....

Hi all, well the de-cluttering is coming along nicely. On Monday T (DS4) and I started putting our big pile of 'junk' out on the nature strip ready for collection this Monday. He was such a good helper putting things into his wheelbarrow and taking them out the front for dumping!

I had stored a huge pile just inside my gate ready to go out and have put all that out except for some chaff bags of rubbish that I won't put out until Sunday night. People (me included) love to go through the hard rubbish piles and I don't want these bags emptied and left in a mess so I have to go out and clean it all up again. It's very rude when people don't leave things as they found them.

I've left the chaff bags in my driveway along with a huge old tv that I can't lift. I'll have to borrow my neighbors hubby for that one!

Since Monday, each time I've come home, it gives me the hugest buzz to see ALL that junk sitting there ready to go and know that in only a few more days, it'll be out of my life for good!

I've also been busily sorting out the inside of the house too. There were three bookshelves that I've put out too, they really have had it and I don't like the look of them. I'm trying really hard to only have stuff that is useable, gives me pleasure to look at, or I need to use at another time like Christmas decorations. It's just amazing how much stuff I have!! I am by no means a hoarder BUT we have been here now for 12 years and there's lots of stuff that needs to go.

I'm hoping to move house by the end of the year and I sure as hell will NOT be paying to move ANYthing that doesn't fit the above categories!!

Well T has just gotten up to start the day, so that spells the end of my blogging for this morning.

Here's a pic of our nature strip so far, there's much more to add!

Oh, and my car boot has a few boxes of stuff for the Op Shop too, I'm sure 'stuff' breeds by itself!!

Today there'll be more de-cluttering and some washing of fleece. I'm drying a gorgeous white fleece at the moment, pictures will come later today....

Have a good day! xxx