November thoughts

I really should be posting some pictures from the past few months and documenting our lives, but I have been doing so much picture editing/digital book creation lately that I am burned out on looking at my pictures. So, I'll save that for another day.

Speaking of pictures, I recently decided that I want to print a few pictures on 16x20 canvases for the wall. I want one of the canvas prints to be a beautiful picture of somewhere in the U.K., to remember our recent trip there. However, when I pulled up my pictures the other day to look for a suitable shot, I was confronted by a sad reality. I am not a good photographer, at least not an artistic and skilled photographer. I am actually really good at making sure that we document our lives in pictures, and then I assiduously work to put them into digital books to create our family history. I am always the one snapping pictures of events or vacations. But, I told Dan last night that we need to change that because he has a much better eye for photography. He actually composes his photos and his pictures turn out great. I point and shoot, and then point and shoot some more. So I capture the moment really well, but sometimes the artistic quality is sadly lacking. Anyway, I couldn't find a single picture from our trip which was blow-up-and-print-on-a-canvas-worthy. So I contacted my niece Alexa, who takes great pictures and who recently also visited London, and asked if I could use one of her pictures of London to print on my wall. And she happily agreed, so all is well.

Also, I've been thinking about cleaning out and reducing. This time of year we go through a particular exercise in regards to our fridge. Because of the layout of our kitchen, we have to have a (smaller) counter-depth fridge. Because of this, we never have enough space for the ingredients and the leftovers from a big holiday meal. So, every year before Thanksgiving I take out each item and evaluate whether it REALLY deserves valuable fridge real estate. We usually eat up some things and throw out a lot of things too. And as a result, we have a cleaner and more streamlined refrigerator, and everything has a purpose.

This reminds me of the process Aubrey went through last spring. She got into minimalism after listening to a podcast called "The Minimalists," recommended by one of her friends. She embraced the idea of getting rid of non-essential things and every day brought down huge garbage bags of stuff from her room that she no longer needed. She was ruthless with her de-cluttering, and often made another pass and pulled out more things from an already cleaned out drawer or closet. She also got rid of many things like old school papers which fall into the category of "what if I need it someday so I shouldn't throw it out." In the end, she was left with a streamlined room, where everything has a place and purpose. And packing for college this year will be very easy, as she has already sorted and disposed of things she doesn't need.

As I was working on de-cluttering the fridge today, I thought about how I continually need to apply the same principle to my life. Maybe we all need to do this. I need to pull everything out and examine it and then decide what goes back in and what doesn't deserve space in my life. This last year I've tried to do this a bit, but I could do more. Some things are worth my time and energy, and some just are not. Some worries are an impetus for change or nurturing, but some are just an unnecessary weight in my life and my mind. 

This is probably a bad time to be thinking about de-cluttering life and objects, as we head into the Christmas season. I love Christmas, at least as much as anyone else out there. When I was a kid I would say I loved it exponentially more than most other people. But, as an adult I also see that along with the reminder of our Savior and the warm feelings and fun, the Christmas season involves a lot of stuff (physical things like decorations and time things like parties and traditions) crammed into a month. I love it, but it is a lot. We will do our best to take out the things that don't matter and focus on the things of greatest worth to us, but it will still be busy and there will still be a lot of stuff everywhere.

But, after the joy of Christmas, we will clear things away and I will resume my re-painting and re-imagining of most of the rooms in the house. I'm excited about that, as I attempt to change the color scheme of our house with some paint and a few accessories which are meaningful.

But, first we get to enjoy Thanksgiving, and all our kids will be home! There's nothing like having a house full of people talking, laughing, and just being together.

And, finally, it is really dark today. It's only 3:08 pm, and it is pouring rain and almost dark outside. Thank goodness for electricity today, so we can be warm, dry, and can pretend like we don't live in a dark hole for a few months of the year!