Not Again!

Okay, confession to make....

image credit: http://asmallpieceofgodsplan.blogspot.com/

I'm kind of getting on my minimalist kick again. What is up with that?

I got to looking through a list of some great minimalist bloggers and found at least two of them who have large families.

image credit: http://rumblings.org

Could it be that we, who have large families, are just surrounded by too much stuff and therefore, want some order and peace? Umm...Yup. I think that's very possible. So, I'm starting to think that my overwhelming desire to hike through the world with nothing but my backpack on my back, completely unfettered, might just be one of those grass being green on the other side of the fence-type things and not a quirky, neurotic dream. You know, you always want what you don't got.

Stuff also requires maintenance. I would rather maintain my relationships than my stuff. After all, I'm not taking the stuff with me when I die. No, this is not an announcement or a prediction or anything of the sort. Just an off-the-cuff statement.

image credit: http://www.qcveterans.com

Although, along the lines of death, would it be too terribly morbid of me to write a post on what I want for my funeral? I've been thinking of doing this for a long time. Part of the reason is that before my mom died, the topic of death was completely taboo, and we just had to guess at what she would have wanted.

The truth of the matter is, you never know when you're going to go, and I don't want to keep anyone guessing.

image credit: http://sunshinepromises.blogspot.com

Maybe all this talk is because it's pioneer season in Mormon-ville (July 24th is when the Mormon pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley), and we're singing a lot of dirge-ish versions of the fourth verse of "Come, Come Ye Saints." That'll get to you, I tell you. Ugh! The song directs--"with conviction." It is not a death march. Yet every year, it's the same thing. That moan you hear, when the introduction is played, is me. Sorry. I dread it more than words can say. "Happy day. All is well." Yah, right. I don't believe you.

....Okay, enough of that soap box....

So, who knows where this minimalism thing'll go this time. Time will tell.

I've written about ten posts in the last three days. Have I posted any of them? Umm, no. Why? I don't know. I wrote a pretty good parenting one today, but I can't figure out how to end it well. Do I post it unended? I just can't bring myself to do that. Maybe this week I'll spend some time going back to unpublished posts and get them wrapped up and online.

This week will be back to life as normal. No Cub Scout day camp. No E.F.Y. Just cross country and soccer practices--life as usual.

image credit: http://chattahbox.com

I'm still working on counting points. Did really well today. I've cut back my water to a normal amount and so far so good. No symptoms of anything, so maybe I washed it all out. I have to share, though that maybe a slight reason for cutting back has to do with the fact that the neighboring water district has problems with e coli to the point that people are having to boil their water before they use it. It's not our water district; the website says we're all good, but still....

cherry blossoms pressed in my journal

I'm typing up my mission blog diligently. I'm up to 39 posts, and I'm not even halfway done with the MTC yet. Hmm.... maybe this writing thing has been big in my brain for a very long time. I didn't even have a clue. I'm excited to start scanning photos and getting them on board too. It's a fun project. I highly recommend it to anyone who might have old hand-written journals and printed photos laying around.

image credit: http://nbsmith.blogspot.com

Other than that....planning the trip to taking the oldest to college. Yikes! Meeting what I think are complete strangers while out driving on the road only to find that we're not strangers at all--long, funny story. And, a ton of recurring themes that I KNOW I will eventually HAVE to blog about.

All in all, life is good.