Simplify ... Possessions don't define us ...

I'll be honest. I haven't blogged much this week because I don't want to talk about my RA. I've been a hermit all week because of the severe sub zero temperatures we are dealing with here in Northern NY.

I've been busy this month, getting rid of "things". It has been in preparation for the moving of the girls bedroom & creating a sewing room here in our home. At first, I was facing the task and just dreading it. I knew it had to be done, but still ugh, how awful doing all this sorting, cleaning & throwing away of junk was going to be, right?

I was wrong. It's incredibly freeing. Parting with "things" that I have not used, literally in years. I have always been somewhat of a pack rat. Constantly thinking, I might use that for "x", someday. But then someday never seems to arrive.

By no means am I becoming a minimalist. But I have instead become realistic. I pick up an item and I say to myself these three questions.
1 - Can I live without it? Is it an heirloom? There are family items I will never part with. But let's be honest sometimes utter junk invokes a memory we don't want to let go of. So in my case I do allow myself a small amount of "junk" that is attached to an important memory. I suggest a memory box for these items. One smallish keepsake box that is tasked to hold all your special treasures. 2 - Will I use it? Keeping in mind a reasonable projected timeline for when I will actually use it.
3 - Can someone else use it? Based on the items condition, usefulness and value I determine if I will sell it or gift it to someone.

On Thursday, the local mission store came and picked up a large load of donations. It was freeing to have those items out of our storage room & onto hopefully someone else that will be blessed by them. The same can be true of the huge bags of clothing I have hauled off to the donation drop boxes. Going through the girls clothes and gifting them to people that can use them. Going through mine & hubby's clothing and doing the same or sending it off to the donation box. It's hard to believe just how much "stuff" we've held onto. And for what reason?

The hard room is yet to come in the "letting go" and simplify phase of this project. I have attempted to pair down the fabric stash. But let's face it, I have so much fabric. And with that comes a significant investment. It's just not something I can drop into a goodwill box. So my goal relating to that is this -
I will USE up as much of my fabric as possible. Instead of going and buying new fabric to create with, I will come up with ways to use what I have first. I have so many patterns, pattern books and saved tutorials for all kinds of awesome projects. Also, I will sew up all those fabrics I have in mind for a project, but keep getting set aside. That way, my girls may actually not require any store bought clothing at all this year, a huge money saver!

How does this relate to my RA? I feel like the less I have to worry about, the less stress it will cause. Stress about "things." Sure there is lots of guilty feeling about not tackling the clutter, not keeping your house tidy enough and other feelings of guilt when you have a debilitating disease like RA. The less "things" there are to vacuum around, dust & move from one place to another is certainly easier on your body. Less stress, less work to do = a happier life living with RA, right?

I sure think so! Join me in my quest to simplify.

Sarah

Working on it Wednesday is here again ...

It's working on it Wednesday again. Seems time is just flying by this January. What are your current projects, I'd love to hear about them.

I've been doing quite a bit of knitting, now "quite a bit" for me is a ruffle scarf and a couple hats in like the last month. I don't knit a lot. And, you'd think that knitting would make my hand pain worse, but in all actuality I'm beginning to think it's helping the pain.

I have absolutely nothing to back me up on this. But, it seems like a bit of knitting every day is helping keep my hands more limber. I am certainly still having a lot of pain, and I continue to have difficulty with gripping tasks. However, the knitting most definitely has not made the pain worse, so to me that's a positive.

A couple of times this week, my finger joints have felt pretty stiff and sore. I thought about not picking up the knitting because of that. But, I did it anyway and what i found was that after a short session of knitting (less than an hour), my fingers were markedly less stiff. I think the action of knitting is perhaps helping to keep my fingers more limber.

By no means am I going to try sitting and knitting for hours on end, I know that would be a disaster and I would likely be in significant pain and have cramping in my hands. But hey i think a "normal" person would too. I guess my "working on it" Wednesday this week is just that, "working on it". I'm figuring out what does and does not fit into my life with RA.

That said, it's also -30 F here this morning. I have NO INTENTION of going anywhere other than under a warm blanket. Yesterday it was -23 F for a low. The furthest I went yesterday was a quick trip to my mailbox. The positive to all this?? Well I'm not as sore as I was during the last bad cold snap we have 2 weeks ago. So maybe just maybe the medicine is starting to help?

Eternal Optimist? Yep, that's me.

Sarah

Weather changes ... making plans ...

Remember your old grandma or grandpa that would say "oh there's a storm coming, i can feel it in my ______ " , fill in the blank with their ailing body part. Well, let me tell you folks, i surely feel like an old arthritic grandma this week.
Not much to post about this weekend as progress on my reorganization is slow. But I am continuing to try and be positive and upbeat. But, boy is it sure hard.
So while I'm not busy doing actual organizing i sure am busy searching for ways to organize. Making a list of things I want to try and tackle. Who has a pinterest account? It sure is a great place for storing ideas. Want to follow me on pinterest? I have a couple boards that might interest you.
Sarah on Pinterest

Clean up continues ...

After being "stuck" inside for 3 days thanks to the "blizzard" we got here in Northern NY. I am heading out to the studio space today to continue cleaning up and organizing. It will be refreshing to get out for the day. I will post some photos for you to enjoy tonight or tomorrow.
Happy Cleaning ! Sarah