Me and my TV

I’m constantly at odds with our television.  We disconnected from “regular” television years ago, opting now for the offerings on Apple TV and Netflix, it was a great decision for us and we will surely continue on this path.  We watch maybe a few hours a week, a movie for my husband and I, a show here and there for the kids, family movie night, other than that the appliance is OFF.  So I’m left staring at the black frame most hours of most days and it bugs me, so today when I came upon this picture from House Beautiful, I thought maybe others have the same problem, hence the sharing:

Photo via House Beautiful.com

This solution of a pull down map hiding the TV is brilliant for me, because another problem I have is that my grasp of geography is crap.  Double points if I can get my map used on eBay, as it seems the folks above were able to do.

 For more photos of the house with the hidden tv,venture here.

Updates and Interests

A few things have changed around here, we got toilets seats for one.  Summer has taken over our house mind and body, I’m rarely on the computer, reaching for a book instead.  I’m spending time marinating on all of the “arrows” I’ve been following since the spring and feel like these interests still have a lot to teach me before adding something new.  Here’s a short list of the things I seem to be coming back to again and again:

1.  “Primary Nutrition: “Healthy relationships, regular physical activity, a fulfilling career, and a spiritual practice can feed your soul and satisfy your hunger for life.” (excerpt from the curriculum of the Institute Integrative of Nutrition)  This idea was developed by some of the leading functional/integrative medicine folks whose books and blogs I’ve come to know and respect.  I find this whole concept deeply interesting, above whatever we put in/on our bodies, “primary nutrition” is paramount.

2.  Summer Smut:  I love to read and I read all kinds of things, this summer I’ve been reading quite a bit of smut, and it’s been AWESOME.  I’ve also found it’s like a drug, trying to pick up a more substantial book after this should be interesting.  It’s all in the name of the art of doing nothing – a practice worthy of my effort this summer.

3.  Spending trends:  Our family has identified some new interests, namely travel, that we’d like to do more of so I’ve been combing through and categorizing our expenses from past months to figure out how we can turbo charge our travel savings fund.  If you don’t already do this I highly recommend it, there’s waste in our spending that has gone unidentified for too long, we are “spring cleaning” our spending and it feels soooo good.

4.  Creating boundaries:  I live in a big city with a lot of choice – many restaurants, many activities, many shopping venues.  It’s too much choice, too much distraction for me and mine so I’m creating my own little small town by identifying the places and ways I want to spend my time, money and energy – I’m creating a list, and if you know me, you know I LOVE a list.  If it’s not on the list you won’t see us there!

5.  Breaking back out “Clean” by Dr. Junger M.D, to start thinking about our summer detox for August (possibly September due to aforementioned travel).  There are tons of detox programs out there, if you are considering one I urge you to do your research, a week of water, lemon and paprika won’t work for a busy mom the way it might for a yogi on retreat in India……ya get what I’m saying.

The problem with too much

First let me acknowledge, this is a lucky problem to have, the problem of having too much.  The fact that I sit here, blogging on my Mac, in my comfortable home, my healthy children quietly engaged, I’m a member of the lucky few…..chances are that you , dear reader, are as well.

So we, with our freedom, money, health and safety, tend to create problems.  One of these is the problem of having too much.  Let’s look at the example of clothes, we typically buy enough for every member of the family to wear something once a week and then into the laundry basket it goes.  For now, with my younger children, I’ll concede the benefits of abundant underwear, BUT otherwise it’s kind of silly.  It creates mess, it necessitates storage, which necessitates more consumption, plastic hangers anyone?  It creates more laundry, necessitating more water usage, more soaps, more energy consumption.

During our two weeks on the road I did laundry once, twice if you count my hotel room sink load with Camping Suds, we each had about 3 changes of clothes, so we chose hardy, darker items that could withstand multiple wears, a bit of dirt and still look “presentable”.  Let me tell you when I think about being out from the burden of daily laundry, the question of what am I going to wear, the simplicity of packing, freedom and peace are the feelings that come to mind.

Many of you may have already figured this out, and obviously I see the benefits of this concept in spades, but it still gets tricky.  I’m thinking beyond clothes and into relationships.  Great people in my life that tell me about a soccer team they are putting together –  do we want to sign up, a lovely CSA opportunity – do we want to participate, a birthday party invitation taking our only “free” weekend – will we accept?  It all seems harmless, part of being in a community that I cherish, but in the end, the result is the same, it’s too much.  I end up creating more problems, over tired children, not enough time to run the business of our life, wasted food that I didn’t have the energy to cook so we ate out instead.

Let me reiterate again, I am lucky that I can even count these trivial matters among my “problems”.  The question is whether I will continue to perpetuate these problems or find more comfort in my own self-imposed limits?

Thank you Martha

I love that Martha Stewart is detoxing and yoga-ing and part of a magazine that I enjoy….online of course.  Follow the link for a list of breakfast smoothies that WholeLiving.com put together.  These are sure to be my go-to snacks for the kids (and me) this summer.