Category Archives: Home/Living

Organizing For The Road

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I have a couple of stories to tell…bear with me.  They are related to condensing your life into what you need or what you can carry with you in a small space…

I have treated myself to this challenge numerous times.  Once it was everything I could fit in a backpack.  The next chance I had, I acquired a suitcase too!  I domesticated pretty well over the next few years and I had a car.  The next time I decided to travel I basically stuffed everything I could into the car.  There wasn’t much organization.

Organize

Organize (Photo credit: alborzshawn)

This was the deal for a years.  Living in a stationary home is an amazing way to acquire a lot of stuff.  I know there are people who are really good at minimalizing and keeping things simple and but in general unnecessary space wants to be filled…and it is pretty easy to do so.

When we moved into our first RV, there was too little space and it took too long to try to organize thing, it was an unending, never finished project.  It is not that the RV itself was too small, but it was not suited for having/storing things…that whole capacity to store things needed some serious restoration.  Our next RV was much better.

With this RV we now had a car we weren’t using(due to car crash).  At this time we actually had two RV’s and a car and I really got into organizing and getting our living space perfect.  I very slowly put things into the trailer we were living in. Throwing things away in the RV and the car.  It was a long process but it was a lot more fun this time because I really had a space I loved that was suited for organizing and living in.

Organized!

Organized! (Photo credit: mgstanton)

The one thing that was difficult was all the stuff I wanted to get rid of, but didn’t want to throw away.  During that time, something like ebay would have gone a long way.  For some reason I didn’t think of that at all…but this time, as I’m organizing, purging and getting prepared to travel again, I have become an ebay seller.

You see, I live in a house with a chronic buyer of unneeded things, who stores those things everywhere, doesn’t know what she has, and never gets rid of anything.  I didn’t even think I had much to get rid of, since I have never lived in this place before.  But as I looked in my closet and the myriad of clear box containers, I realized though I last lived with this woman in another home, the things I left there traveled with her.

I have also been overwhelmed with the sheer amount of stuff that children can acquire.  I never need to buy my children clothing or anything that they don’t need.  Their grandparents, etc. take care of that.  If there is ever anything I don’t want my kids to have, I can count on someone buying it for them.

I have seen that my kids are a lot happier with simplicity, however.  I will not give away everything they own, but my daughter is totally with me, that she has too much stuff and wants to give a lot of it away.  I also have ideas of getting things for them that are more natural and more simple.  In my early parenthood I was able to keep things pretty simple, but I guess I caved, or stopped my brief stint of being confrontational.

I am excited to see what I end up with and how simplified I can become again.  I’m thinking 3 bags each would be good for myself and my girls.  One for papers, one for toys, one for clothes… there will be things that don’t fit in bags however, but let’s see how this goes.

Do you have a system for organizing, purging or simplifying?  How many pairs of shoes does one child need?  How many dresses?  I know there is a fine line between not having enough and having too much… I am trying to find that line again.  Am I too much of a minimalist?

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On Manicured Nature: We Roam In Small Spaces

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<p><strong>Welcome to the July Mindful Mama Carnival: Mindfulness and Nature</strong></p>
<p><em>This post was written for inclusion in the Mindful Mama Carnival hosted by <a href="http://www.becomingcrunchy.com" target="_blank">Becoming Crunchy</a> and <a href="http://touchstonez.com"
target="_blank">TouchstoneZ</a>. This month our participants have shared their experiences of mindfulness and the natural world. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.</em></p>
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I try to make the most of my natural surrounding, wherever I am.  I try to get the most out of each day and even get out in the night ever so often.

My natural surroundings have been edited compared to what I’m used to.  Most of the last few years I have traveled and lived in environments that inspired minimalism and therefore inspired outdoor activities.  I’ve lived in an RV, in national parks and wilderness areas, I’ve camped on private properties(with permission) and I lived in a little casita.  The last 4 years have been very nature-filled times.  I have comfort there.

I love parenting in nature as well.  I’m happiest when my kids have the freedom and space to roam wild and safely.  I don’t exactly have that luxury right now.  I live in a big apartment with huge rooms and a huge parking lot outside of it.  I’m kinda used to parking lots, living on an RV park for awhile, but there was only a few others there and there was more privacy and we had more personal outside space.  Here we have a pretty small balcony.

However, there is always a way to experience nature if you really want to.  In the winter I’d go on walks at the warmest part of the day.  At first my daughters and I would just walk to the tennis courts and peek at the swimming pool behind the gates.  Then we started to notice the nice trees and small green spaces throughout.  Yes, we were the only ones sitting outside for hours everyday…the only ones having picnics in the winter.  Then we found a trail behind another apartment building.

It was something my mom would be afraid to walk into, so I don’t tell her about it.  It’s full of large trees, vines and a little stream.  It is raised in the middle of two miniature canyons.  A homeless person, or person who likes to sleep outside(me) could hide there, living comfortably, easily.   My almost 5 year old loves the secret pathway.  She is constantly talking about the giant “beanstalk” that marks the halfway point on the trail.

She is constantly asking to sleep outside.  She sees nature and feels truly at home.  There is no one to give millions of rules about not jumping on things and ruining things.  It has been difficult to explain to her that we can’t do things here that we could in other natural spaces, like being naked.  But she has grown to love this place.

We found a couple of trees that she can climb on and swing on and the lessons on bugs has been a progression of inquiry and compassion.  When we go to the pool she asks me to save the moths and ants from the water.  We’ve found nests, we’ve grown a container garden, we’ve seen lots of different types of lizards, birds, squirrels, frogs and it has been the place in which we have had the most interactions with other people.  Not indoors in living rooms or restaurants, but in the grass, beneath the trees, or at the pool.  Nature provides the best science lessons and I’m happy to say I feel quite confident in unschooling in any environment, with the help of the natural world.

Not only has it inspired many lessons for my children, it has given me emotional release.  When I feel really frustrated with life, I force myself to go outside and I almost instantly feel better.  Now that it is blazing hot, nature is helping me to improve my sleeping schedule.   Just like when I lived  in the desert casita, I will start going outside first thing in the morning and stay outside until I am too hungry to stay out any longer(or the kids are).  I will come inside and focus on what we’ve learned and take naps, then go back outside around sunset.

Nature gives me regularity.  Whenever I am deeply in tune with nature I feel much more capable as a person and as a mother.  I find that my kids are so much more pleasant, coordinated and learn everything faster.  It seems to create a thirst and hunger for life, to go out into the world of living things and really see the subtle and experience the wild rain, cool breezes, soft flowers, colorful critters and the hot sun, even if I can’t see the stars I night, I feel that I am still in nature’s playground.

I feel like my daughters and I own this neighborhood, because we care for it.  Picking up trash, playing in the dirt, speaking with the animals, admiring the plant life.  We are preparing to leave now for a greater expanse of nature and I am taking pictures like crazy.  Our next adventure will be to give back to the land that gave us serenity.  We’ll be planting our garden into the secret pathway before we leave.  I’m surprised to say I can’t wait to come back and see what it is like when we return.

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<p><a href="http://touchstonez.com/currentprojects/mindful-mama-carnival-home-page/" target="_blank" title="Mindful Mama Carnival"><img align="right" alt="Mindful Mama Carnival -- Becoming Crunchy and TouchstoneZ" border="0" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6088/6104475337_2081e669dd_m.jpg" /></a> Visit <a href="http://touchstonez.com/currentprojects/mindful-mama-carnival-home-page/" target="_blank">The Mindful Mama Homepageto find out how you can participate in the next Mindful Mama Carnival!
<p>On Carnival day, please follow along on Twitter using the handy <strong>#MindMaCar</strong> hashtag. You can also subscribe to the <a href= "https://twitter.com/#%21/TouchstoneZ/mindmacar">Mindful Mama Twitter List</a> and <a href="http://www.google.ca/reader/view/?hl=en&tab=wy#stream/user%2F08929773466428579444%2Flabel%2FMindfulMamaCarnival">Mindful Mama Participant Feed</a>. <br>Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:</p>

<ul>
<li><strong><a href="http://monkeybuttjunction.com/?p=2098" target="_blank">Zen and the Art of Raising Chickens</a></strong> Jenn at  <strong>Monkey Butt Junction</strong> has found a connection to nature in her very own backyard, thanks to her chickens.</li>
<li><strong><a href="http://www.hybridrastamama.com/2012/06/healing-gemstones-and-crystals-for" target="_blank">Healing Gemstones and Crystals for Children Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama discusses which genstones and crystals are best used by children to support physical, emotional, and/or spiritual healing.
<li><strong><a href="http://talesofgoodness.com/2012/07/05/a-gardeners-meditation/" target="_blank">A Gardener’s Meditation</a></strong> Andrea at <strong>Tales of Goodness</strong> shares how she finds peace and renewal through gardening.</li>
<li><strong><a href="http://letstakethemetro.blogspot.com/weeding-my-thoughts.html" target="_blank">Weeding My Thoughts</a></strong> Amanda at <strong>Let’s Take the Metro</strong> discusses how nature keeps her in the moment and stops her endless stream of thoughts.</li>
<li><strong><a href="http://omshesaid.wordpress.com/2012/06/27/grounded-in-nature/" target="_blank">Grounded in Nature</a></strong> Rani at <strong>OmSheSaid</strong> shares her walk in nature, and through expressive words, shares this journey to coming home.</li>
<li><strong><a href="http://www.dreamingaloud.net/2012/07/embracing-magic-of-moonlit-nights.html" target="_blank">Embracing the Magic of Moonlit Nights</a></strong> Lucy at <strong>Dreaming Aloud</strong> shares ways to embrace the magic of moonlit nights with your children and as a woman.</li>
<li><strong><a href="http://babyweb.co/2012/07/05/meditation-for-mindful-mama/" target="_blank">Meditation for a Mindful Mama Alinka at Baby Web guides you through her research on the science of meditation, its numerous benefits, and presents to you a life changing meditation exercise.
<li><strong><a href = "http://naturemummy.blogspot.ca/2012/07/wild-within.html" target="_blank">The Wild Within Naturemummy at Motherhood: My Latest Adventure reflects on the soothing qualities of wild places.
<li><strong><a href="http://muminsearch.com/2012/07/natures-lessons-mindfulness/" target="_blank">Nature’s Lessons in Mindfulness Tat at Mum in Search wants to bring the same mindfulness that comes so easily in nature to her relationships.
<li><strong><a href="http://featheraniweda.wordpress.com/2012/07/05/manicured-nature-small-spaces" target="_blank">On Manicured Nature: We Roam in Small Spaces Featherstory at The Aniweda Dream shares her gratitude for her limited natural settings and her plans to expand her children's experience with the natural world.
<li><strong><a href="http://www.anktangle.com/2012/07/garden-time-out-meditation.html" target="_blank">Garden (Time Out) Meditation</a></strong> Do you ever need a time out for yourself? Amy at <strong>Anktangle</strong> finds that during a difficult parenting moment, taking pause to spend a few minutes outside is just the thing she needs to be able to experience renewed patience, focus, and energy.</li>
<li><strong><a href="http://onelovelivity.com/childofnatureblog/nature-makes-me-a-better-mother" target="_blank">Nature Makes Me a Better Mother</a></strong> Terri at <strong>Child of the Nature Isle</strong> could not imagine parenting without Mother Nature.</li>
<li><strong><a href="http://playfulplanet.com/blog/" target="_blank">Natural Renewal Karen at Playful Planet shares her experiences of reneweal in the natural world.
<li><strong><a href="http://milliontinythings.blogspot.com/2012/07/natural-history.html" target="_blank">Natural History</a></strong> Kenna at <strong>A Million Tiny Things</strong> gets out into nature, 200 years ago, and isn't sure she likes it there.</li>
<li><strong><a href="http://themahoganyway.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Nurtured by Nature Darcel at The Mahogany Way shares with us how being in nature helps her feel centered and connected.
<li><strong><a href="http://touchstonez.com" target="_blank">Mindfulness and Nature Zoie at TouchstoneZ explores the connection between mindfulness and the natural world.
<li><strong><a href="http://wp.me/p1qmQy-Sx" target="_blank">A Sense of Awe and Wonder</a></strong> Kelly at <strong>Becoming Crunchy</strong> shares the feeling she never fails to get from the natural world and how it guides her to the mindfulness she craves.</li>

</ul>
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Still Dreaming of Taking This Dream On The Road…(and an introduction to manifesting)

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Big Sur, California

Big Sur, California (Photo credit: the_tahoe_guy)

 

Dear dreamers,

I have confessed that I am nomadic. I have no shame or illusion about this fact. About 4 years ago I left this town I currently live in, swearing I would never come here again. Certainly that I wouldn’t live here. I was very sensitive at that time…of subtle and psychic energy. I felt that this area was a pit of doom. Like a black hole that few could find their way out of. I felt it was the perfect place to get stuck, if that’s what you wanted because it would tell a hell of an effort to un-glue from this area. So when I left, I left in a fit.

Everytime that I’ve lived here since high school I have felt stir-effin’-crazy. Like I want and need to do something, to see something, and I can’t find anything or anyone here to get into. I’ve told people that I wanted to change things here. I hear people talk so much about what “they” should do here, but everything I see people doing is exactly what they’ve seen done before. I want to make a difference before I leave.

 

 

 

But I want to leave…NOW. No later than mid July…that leaves a little more than a month. What I thought I’d be able to do, I will not. I thought in January and now it’s June. It feels so surreal to me and like a such a waste of time, but I know it has been a growth experience for me. I see myself growing a lot. I see the ways I’ve changed, mostly in my communication and I’m proud of that.

I want to, once again get on the road. Go back to California, be truly independent, and build myself up so that someday I can come back here and not settle into some strange state of boredom and isolation, with peaks of wild dreams and unfocused energy. I want to go to some events, use my talents and gifts and passion and show my daughters myself…at my best.

At my best I am in motion. I manage being busy well, being out into nature, experiencing new things, new places, new people. I don’t handle “stuck” well. I’m fastening onto the insights and compliments from mentors and peers. I’m fastening onto the jobs and opportunities I could’ve won had my life not been so shakily attached to a Volcano of a relationship. I’m remembering the synchronicity, the symbolism, the ideas, the creative edge, the exciting progress I have made in my heyday…(or one of my heydays…maybe I should look up that word.)

I’m taking my dreams and packing them into my luggage for new horizons. In Intuition by Judee Gee I am at the Manifesting stage. I did a truly joyful imagining of dream brought to reality, in full detail. I will do this everyday. I know I have things to do, a gift to give, ways in which I can help others and myself. I am determined to see this dream come true.

(I would share more details with you but I’m hungry and happy to have internet at all right now. When I find a stable internet connection I will share in detail the gist of my dreams.  I’m sure you can do some guesses by looking at older posts.)

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Changing Our Everyday

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Welcome to the March Mindful Mama Carnival: Mindful Mama Challenge

This post was written for inclusion in the Mindful Mama Carnival hosted by Becoming Crunchy and TouchstoneZ. This month our participants have challenges they’ve set for themselves toward becoming more mindful. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.

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I am challenging myself this month to become more mindful of my environment and the way I live day to day. I know my kids and I have made a big adjustment moving to the other side of the country recently and I want to be sure there is a feeling of comfort and that we are living efficiently enough to achieve our goals. Mainly things are out of place in our lives right now. There is no continuity in anything. I’m probably exaggerating there, but I really want there to be more of a routine, more for my kids(and myself) to depend on.

Right now, we don’t really know any other kids. There are some kids in the neighborhood, but when we go outside they’re going inside or they’re just too old for my kids to play with. It would be nice to have playdates or attend some kind of play-oriented class or program at the library.
We’re also struggling with space in my mom’s house. Our closet is filled up with my mom’s things. I tried to store our thing in containers, but there’s nowhere to put them that the kids can’t reach, and when they reach them they make a mess of everything. I’m constantly changing where our things go and it is because I haven’t come up with a sustainable system.

On that same topic, we don’t really have any clothes for warm weather. My mom has a ton of clothes she is holding onto that she can’t wear and I think it would be great to try to recycle her clothing rather than buy new clothes for myself and my daughters. I have a great little sewing machine that I left here years ago, and maybe it would do me some good to express to my mom my ideas about minimalism and non-consumerist values, which are coming into play between her and my oldest daughter.

Which brings me to my next goal; entertainment for my kids really needs to change. My mom and aunt recently bought my 4 year old Barbie dolls. They come with these little sheets of paper that have pictures of several other dolls in that series and my daughter whines non-stop about the other dolls she wants.

I know that despite my goals of showing her what is really important in life and that she doesn’t need these things, her environment will have a big effect on how she really feels about it. I need to engage her in new, creative and adventurous things. I don’t want her to fasten onto the idea of buying stuff, I want her to learn to create and appreciate what she has.

I think that keeping a schedule of activities to do regularly, field trips and surprise activities, and free play will help a lot. I also think I need to organize their toys better and put them into sections. I need to limit her to playing with a few things at a time, and take toys away when they become a problem, bringing them out later after the novelty has died down.

Lastly I really want to make the most of my time. This is a temporary situation, living with my mom again. I want to get memorable and transformational moments out of this. I don’t want to be passive aggressive and upset that things aren’t going my way and my parenting philosophies aren’t being accepted. I need to set an example.

Instead of being upset that the TV is on all the time, I need to set up a fun activity, engage my mom with the things we have in common, like scrapbooking, and get us all in a space to create, support and get to know each other better. I need to allow my kids to feel comfort in their surroundings and I need to feel like this is my home too, however temporary it may be, I need to allow myself to enjoy it, I need to grow while I am here and not feel stunted due to the change in household.

I have already started on this challenge by talking to my mom and my daughter about having a more active, creative lifestyle and I’m currently setting several alarms a day to make sure we stay on track, meet our goals and have planned activities. I think I’m on a path to really transforming as a parent, not just in this situation, but for the long-term. The perceived limitations I face here are making me stronger, more appreciative and more organized.

 

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Mindful Mama Carnival -- Becoming Crunchy and TouchstoneZ Visit The Mindful Mama Homepage to find out how you can participate in the next Mindful Mama Carnival!

On Carnival day, please follow along on Twitter using the handy #MindMaCar hashtag. You can also subscribe to the Mindful Mama Twitter List and Mindful Mama Participant Feed.
Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants: