Amazingly, Mary Jo has felt strong enough to tackle a decluttering project around our home. We thought we had decluttered when we moved into our condo almost 14 years ago. But, we still carried much too much with us here. Then over time, we added to it. After donation pick ups and a truck load to a Goodwill store on Friday, Mary Jo deserved a day of rest yesterday.
I found an article about decluttering your home and your life on the Internet. Here's the first couple of paragraphs:
Excessive clutter is often a symptom and a cause of stress and can affect every facet of your life, from the time it takes you to do things to your finances and your overall enjoyment of life. Clutter can distract you, weigh you down, and in general it invites chaos into your life. Often times, however, tackling the clutter can seem an insurmountable task if you don’t know where or how to start. By devoting a little of your time to getting rid of the clutter in your life and maintaining things relatively clutter-free , you’ll reap the rewards of pleasing living areas, reduced stress, and a more organized and productive existence.
The best way to tackle the decluttering of your home, your work space, and your life is to take things one small step at a time. Combined, small steps will lead to big improvements that will be easier to maintain over the long-run.
Obviously, the clutter was causing Mary Jo more stress than me. But, I did get in the spirit yesterday by decluttering the desktop on my iPad. I don't think being a neat freak is in my genes. The article is correct about taking small steps at a time whether we are decluttering our home, our iPad, or our lives. I have promised to do my part in maintaining the decluttered environment over the long run.
Another thing to pass along that I hope think you will get a chuckle out of. A couple of friends had posted this on their Facebook pages. I think they got it from the Arkansas Storm Report FB page. After three funerals last week, I needed a little humor, even if it's graveside humor:
As a guitarist, I play many gigs. Recently I was asked by a funeral director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper’s cemetery in the back country. As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I got lost.
I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch.
I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I didn’t know what else to do, so I started to play.
The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. I played like I’ve never played before for this homeless man.
And as I played ‘Amazing Grace,’ the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together. When I finished I packed up my guitar and started for my car. Though my head hung low, my heart was full.
As I opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, “I never seen nothin’ like that before and I’ve been putting in septic tanks for twenty years.”
Apparently, I’m still lost…
h/t Shannon Age and Julie Fagan
On Saturday evening, we attended the 50th Anniversary Party for my brother, Lou, who our family calls Cookie, and his wife, Paula. It was a wonderful evening for a wonderful couple. It was the first time my siblings and I had all been together in a number of years, since one lives in Maryland and another in Virginia. Here's some pictures:
Paula and Lou
Our family
My sibs: Lou, me, Steve (Maryland), David (Virginia), Dan, Paul, and our onliest sister, Kim
Mary Jo in the center with my sister, Kim, and my cousin, Jamie
My big brother and I
Thanks again for all of your thoughts and prayers for us. We will be going back to Vanderbilt on August 19th for tests to evaluate the success of Mary Jo's stem cell transplant. Have a great week.
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