Saturday, March 16
Mar. 17th, 2024 12:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gottawonderToday I am grateful for:
More gorgeous weather. A lot of the snow in the horse pasture is melted now.
Being able to wake up at a reasonable time (for me).
My husband was up way earlier than me, and had breakfast with a friend of ours. This friend is one of our "working on each other's houses" friends, his wife is the woman who sometimes won't let you talk at all.
This couple is still desperately trying to clear out his parent's house (his Mom is alive, but in a care home now). This house was badly hoarded, BADLY HOARDED. They've been trying most of the winter to empty it, have taken away several large dumping trailers full of just garbage, and did their best to keep only things that were worth trying to sell. It's been going very slowly.
There is STILL a lot of stuff in that house, and both of them are older (in their 60's) with back problems, and they need to clear it to sell the house.
Two years ago, they ALSO had to clear out a house, also owned by his parents. This house had belonged to his parents, and had originally been his grandparent's house. THAT house was hoarded to the absolute nuts and took them about a year to clear out as well.
So, they are now into something like three years of clearing out houses full of crap, with some breaks in there.
The utter irony, is that THEY are not quite but almost hoarders themselves, with so much stuff everywhere in their house, their giant shop, their two large garages, and several sheds. They aren't more than a few years away from needing to downsize their own belongings.
Last night I (unrelated to what our friends are facing) made some decisions about more fabric/clothing that could be donated to the "clothing recycling" place. Several shopping bags of clothes and material, and a bit of yarn.
It didn't make it to the donation place today, but it did make it to my husband's car, and he says he can drop it off when he goes to work.
A nice day in the city with my Sweetie, without a lot of pressure to buy things for the house. It was just for enjoyment today.
We went to the art gallery to look at the Tom Thompson exhibit again, and really enjoyed it.
Then we went for a lovely walk for about an hour on the walking paths that overlook the river valley.
Then we went to the bookstore, traded some books in, and found a few new ones.
Then we went to a Value Village, and looked around. I found a few DVDs and two scarfs. My Sweetie got into the spirit of thrift store adventure by trying to find the ugliest dresses possible, and making comments like "this dress feels like it was made out of duffel bag fabric" (he nailed it, it felt awful).
We ate at a different vegan restaurant today, and it was quite good. The table was tiny, and in general the dining experience was cramped and too close to other patrons, but the food was good.
We came home and watched one of the DVDs I found, it was an old Bruce Campbell movie called "Alien Apocalypse" which was pretty much the standard B movie camp that you'd expect from him.
Slovenia is, as the name would suggest, mainly populated by ethnic Slovene people, and their language is also Slovene.
They went through many empires, Roman (while constantly fighting off Germanic people and the Huns), then the Slavs moved in after the fall of Rome, then Bavarian rule (Germanic), then became a hereditary land belonging to the Habsburgs.
This is obviously gross oversimplification. If you're seriously interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Slovenian_history
Many Slovenians fought in WWI with the Austro-Hungarian army. Hundreds of thousands of Slovenian refugees sought protection in Italy, but they were treated as state enemies (they were not on the same sides) and were badly treated, many of them dying of starvation.
The Treaty of Rapello meant to settle the question of borders and so on between Italy and other parts of Europe across the Adriatic Sea, and was meant to be a TREATY, then of course the Fascists took power, and let to "violent Italianization" of Slovenia. Many Slovenian people fled to Yugoslavia and South America.
In WWII, Slovenia was completely divvied up between Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Hungary.
Was then part of Yugoslavia.
Parts of modern Slovenia were within the boundaries of Trieste, a region created after WWII.
Modern Slovenia only became an independent nation in 1991, and is currently Democratic.
Geographically, it has part of the Alps (and has seismic activity), so is mountainous, and over half of it is covered in forests, as well as having grasslands suited to agriculture and orchards.
It has a moderate climate with winter and summer seasons.
The eating of Dormice is part of their culture (and in Croatia next door). Poor little mice.
They aren't doing too badly economically, with mining and manufacturing, some agriculture and forestry. The main industries are motor vehicles, electric and electronic equipment, machinery, pharmaceuticals, and fuels.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovenia
https://youtu.be/KxuwVbl-9LI?si=6ybXqqEIeS3jf9HT
More gorgeous weather. A lot of the snow in the horse pasture is melted now.
Being able to wake up at a reasonable time (for me).
My husband was up way earlier than me, and had breakfast with a friend of ours. This friend is one of our "working on each other's houses" friends, his wife is the woman who sometimes won't let you talk at all.
This couple is still desperately trying to clear out his parent's house (his Mom is alive, but in a care home now). This house was badly hoarded, BADLY HOARDED. They've been trying most of the winter to empty it, have taken away several large dumping trailers full of just garbage, and did their best to keep only things that were worth trying to sell. It's been going very slowly.
There is STILL a lot of stuff in that house, and both of them are older (in their 60's) with back problems, and they need to clear it to sell the house.
Two years ago, they ALSO had to clear out a house, also owned by his parents. This house had belonged to his parents, and had originally been his grandparent's house. THAT house was hoarded to the absolute nuts and took them about a year to clear out as well.
So, they are now into something like three years of clearing out houses full of crap, with some breaks in there.
The utter irony, is that THEY are not quite but almost hoarders themselves, with so much stuff everywhere in their house, their giant shop, their two large garages, and several sheds. They aren't more than a few years away from needing to downsize their own belongings.
Last night I (unrelated to what our friends are facing) made some decisions about more fabric/clothing that could be donated to the "clothing recycling" place. Several shopping bags of clothes and material, and a bit of yarn.
It didn't make it to the donation place today, but it did make it to my husband's car, and he says he can drop it off when he goes to work.
A nice day in the city with my Sweetie, without a lot of pressure to buy things for the house. It was just for enjoyment today.
We went to the art gallery to look at the Tom Thompson exhibit again, and really enjoyed it.
Then we went for a lovely walk for about an hour on the walking paths that overlook the river valley.
Then we went to the bookstore, traded some books in, and found a few new ones.
Then we went to a Value Village, and looked around. I found a few DVDs and two scarfs. My Sweetie got into the spirit of thrift store adventure by trying to find the ugliest dresses possible, and making comments like "this dress feels like it was made out of duffel bag fabric" (he nailed it, it felt awful).
We ate at a different vegan restaurant today, and it was quite good. The table was tiny, and in general the dining experience was cramped and too close to other patrons, but the food was good.
We came home and watched one of the DVDs I found, it was an old Bruce Campbell movie called "Alien Apocalypse" which was pretty much the standard B movie camp that you'd expect from him.
Slovenia is, as the name would suggest, mainly populated by ethnic Slovene people, and their language is also Slovene.
They went through many empires, Roman (while constantly fighting off Germanic people and the Huns), then the Slavs moved in after the fall of Rome, then Bavarian rule (Germanic), then became a hereditary land belonging to the Habsburgs.
This is obviously gross oversimplification. If you're seriously interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Slovenian_history
Many Slovenians fought in WWI with the Austro-Hungarian army. Hundreds of thousands of Slovenian refugees sought protection in Italy, but they were treated as state enemies (they were not on the same sides) and were badly treated, many of them dying of starvation.
The Treaty of Rapello meant to settle the question of borders and so on between Italy and other parts of Europe across the Adriatic Sea, and was meant to be a TREATY, then of course the Fascists took power, and let to "violent Italianization" of Slovenia. Many Slovenian people fled to Yugoslavia and South America.
In WWII, Slovenia was completely divvied up between Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Hungary.
Was then part of Yugoslavia.
Parts of modern Slovenia were within the boundaries of Trieste, a region created after WWII.
Modern Slovenia only became an independent nation in 1991, and is currently Democratic.
Geographically, it has part of the Alps (and has seismic activity), so is mountainous, and over half of it is covered in forests, as well as having grasslands suited to agriculture and orchards.
It has a moderate climate with winter and summer seasons.
The eating of Dormice is part of their culture (and in Croatia next door). Poor little mice.
They aren't doing too badly economically, with mining and manufacturing, some agriculture and forestry. The main industries are motor vehicles, electric and electronic equipment, machinery, pharmaceuticals, and fuels.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovenia
https://youtu.be/KxuwVbl-9LI?si=6ybXqqEIeS3jf9HT
no subject
Date: 2024-03-18 06:14 am (UTC)I realised there are probably more stored rags here under the sink than there are functional clothes in the closet. There are several boxes of "things that are to be thrown out" in the basement, but they haven't been thrown out yet.
This may be the week to get pushy.
no subject
Date: 2024-03-18 07:52 am (UTC)"Too many" is different for everyone, but it's about how it affects the functionality of the home.
With something like rags, you don't really need to collect them as if each were a Hummel figurine. When they exceed the space you have for them, it's too many.
The boxes of things to be thrown out probably should be revisited, and the action carried out.
I am no role model for any of this, as I cling to things. I've been trying to move things along. I try to assign a positive feeling about the useful things going on to become useful to someone, instead of languishing in a box in our basement. If it's garbage, it's not that hard for me to part with it. It's more like setting it free, even if it's a little sad to let go of what I thought I would do with it.
I counter that sad-ish feeling with "maybe I am not likely to make a rag rug, but in part that's because I am more of a painter and a person who does Liberty with my horse. I'm not lazy or bad for not being a person who makes rugs, I'm just going to pass this along so someone else can give it a shot".
I have to combat a slight sense of failure, some sadness at the finite nature of being mortal, a sense of letting someone in the universe down. I don't know where that comes from. An Olympic athlete doesn't likely feel guilty for not making a rug out of their old shirts because they are an OLYMPIC ATHLETE. No one expects them to make a rug out of their old shirts.
Yes, on some level, I feel like I SHOULD be a person who makes rag rugs, and a person who knits a lot, and a person who does embroidery, and a person who does calligraphy. In reality, I don't spend a lot of time doing those things, and I have no need to feel badly about that.
Some of that goes back to my Mom, who was very frugal, and would make simple quilts or rugs or what have you. There is this subtle undercurrent always of "but you could just make something like that instead of buying one" or "don't get rid of that, you could make X out of it".
I'm tired though, of that feeling of guilt. To some degree, even my husband encourages that school of thought. What happens though, is that I have all of the stuff to make things, but I don't have the time or desire, or even the need to make all of these things.
At one time, I would think that maybe I could sell them, and my husband would ALWAYS SAY, whenever I made one thing for myself..."you could sell these". That made me feel guilty too, because what does that mean when he says it, that I SHOULD be trying to earn money from my crafts, instead of just making them for myself?
You know how much money you really make from selling a grocery bag that took you two hours to make? Almost nothing. Same with just about every other thing I ever thought of selling. It's never worth your time.
So, if I want to make something for MYSELF, I should be allowed to make ONE THING or TWO THINGS for ME, not always thinking of how I could make a business out of it.
Sentiment, that feeling that I failed a bit for not doing/using all of these things, fear of not having enough things, feeling badly that maybe these things won't be valued by someone else, letting go of something that has an emotional attachment/memory associated with it, or even part of my identity; all of these things are why I hold onto too many things.
no subject
Date: 2024-03-19 04:58 am (UTC)I do knit socks! My Friday ballet teacher and his partner knit and crochet, so I recently gave them sock yarn culled from a yarn swap. They, in turn, will teach me how to crochet a granny square vest, which I will make and wear as though I'm revisiting the 70s. And I have a pair of negative heel Earth shoes! Life is going to get better!
The enormous rag pile is comprised mainly of cleaned holey socks and their unholey mates. I used up three of them today, warshing the back door threshold like never before. I did not save the sock rags.
The two big junk boxes have to go this week. There's a third box of "metal recycling" that was supposed to go out six months ago and is taking up space. Why do I feel it is being treated as a collectible?