Less is more...More or less.

In response to a van dwelling video I saw on You Tube.

Love Love Love what you've done to the place.! Absolutely! Thanks! I'm on a similar page as you are. Family, weather, finances, career, income, down size, simple, focus. 

I find my need to down size, to free me up to do other things ( move around, travel and explore minimalism,) is actually yelling at me from the back of my brain. Now it is front and center and I must do something about it. 

Not only because I believe it costs more dollars than many can afford both financially and spiritually. Being on the treadmill in the rat race and scraping by year after year to provide a modest,, humble,, safe, clean ,home is no small feat.

I don't mean to complain, after all we are in the U.S. and not in wintering in a refuge camp, or in the middle east. Yet all the possessions and home maintenance and bills to make it all go round, It is soul sucking and leaves one less time for family, art and community. Less time to be involved in ones town, or school or for volunteer work..For doing good!

I Wonder if...? Drag and Drop

 
I just realized, if you are logged in to Google, that you can drag and drop the top items to the order you want . When you click on the little gray squares of google apps when on the main search page.

Where am I going and How am I getting there?

I was reading Derek Sivers and replied tot he comments.

Derek,

Balance is the key to life. Whether you are an artist or not. The problem is, in our hectic world it is extremely hard to balance every thing ALL the time. 

 Being balanced for an extended period of time, years,  is the key to being content and productive. Other wise it is a roller coaster of constantly trying to find that balance and time and energy for the muse to come.

 If you have children and a job and a husband with a career, one has a difficult time finding the time to balance their own self.

As an artist, after you do all that needs to be done, there is very little time or energy to do anything artistic let alone find time to read, meditate or exercise, as all the tasks of daily life tend to suck you dry. Not everyone can get up at 6:00 AM and go -go -go until 7:00 pm and then still find energy to create. I think this is especially true for women with families to take care of. We are nurturers and put ourselves on hold for husband, kids, parents, and grandparents...people that need us.  

Artists are sensitive people, they take in "stuff" and releasing all the baggage we suck in from other peoples energy is difficult, yet must be done to find the balance or it will all  just leave us drained and resentful. 

Technology

What bugs me about the Internet

Does google finance have boards? Couldn't find any. They  have other data that Yahoo took away..15 years ago, heck 5 years, yahoo had in depth searching. ..oh the internet in the old days.. I am  also frustrated with yahoo. I could write an book on how messed up things are on with the web, how they got there. Yahoo man, They changed the message board, the other day they moved the charts, What happened to my avatar? Vanilla letters?every other "news" article under stocks are "sponsored". ..yesterday i thought i would start my watch list in google. not sure about just handing EVERYTHING I do on line to the googs ...would make it easier..

Yesterday I was looking at a site and if I wanted to join..(I didn't)  I HAD to have  a Facebook and  what these sited, " businesses" do is they suck the info from FB..They don't do anything.. collect ad $ ..set up a business fancy site, get subscribers that join  by linking their social media,  sit back and monitor the go between..

Now everyone is using a light gray color for text and it is just wrong!! If you do this stop it. One can't read it on a white background

And yeah, i just write sometimes and do not edit or capitalise letters. if i did it would never go to my blog..

Enough is Enough - In Solidarity with the people of Standing Rock -

The state of our Nation. 

 pipelines, transport, pumping, refineries. mining and it's impact on the land. 

I have discovered 

Mega Growth of Oil, Gas Infrastructure !!

I will post things I find interesting

I feel we could focus on maintenance, repairs and modernization 

of what is already in place.

I found this quote, from ND Sen. & Rep. in "The Hill"

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) was seen at Trump Tower Dec. 2nd 

Is this bad news for the people at Standing Rock? 

“Today’s unfortunate decision sends a chilling signal to other who want to build infrastructure in this country,” Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said.

“I’m encouraged that we can restore law and order next month when we get a president with an adult administration who is not going to thumb his nose at the rule of law.”

“The pipeline still remains in limbo,” Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) warned in a statement.

“The incoming administration already stated its support for the project and the courts have already stated twice that it appeared the Corps followed the required process in considering the permit. For the next month and a half, nothing about this project will change.”

Thoughts

Portable Shed Assembly

Recently I helped a woman put up a portable shed.
Well,  turned out mostly by myself and it was pretty hard.
First I sorted and layed out the poles. Read the instructions.
I was able to get them all bolted together the first day, then returned the next day to put up the tarp cover on.  She helped with this part.

We had unseasonably hot weather and it took a lot longer to put up than I thought.
The instructions were all pictographs and having never assembled one of these before it took more time than necessary, due to the fact their were no actual written instructions.

Shed

It was hot and I have very sore fingers from the nuts and bolts and ratchet system.

Soon I hope to stop all this physical labor, get on with playing guitar again.

I love to do physical work.  That's my problem. With my age, I have less stamina. It totally takes all my energy and leaves me where I just have to lay down, try to eat something, take a bath, some  more food and wait for hours until I can  literally move my body again.

What I need to do is spend more time doing work that is mental and not physical, even though I love being active, I have train myself to say no.  I need to learn new things. I need to say no to some physical jobs.  I may know how, I may be able that day or desire the challenge, I need to make a change in my life. Just because we can, sometimes does not mean we have to.