Without spiritual preparation...

Man oh man. It just feels like one of those days, weeks, months when everything speeds by in a whirl. I can't seem to get my bearings on the new week before it's gone and I'm trying to start all over. I feel like things are due for a serious overhaul.

How different, when the soul is refreshed and made happy early in the morning, from what it is when, without spiritual preparation, the service, the trials, and the temptations of the day come upon one!
--George Mueller

With all that has been going on with family (James' dad was in a bike accident and broke his hip, James was rear-ended, ElfGirl, etc...) I have kind of been in high adrenaline mode for the last few months. It feels like the time for simplifying and meditating and devotion is upon us.
Perhaps with the advent of this new season, I will be able to keep up with blogging more. Some of my favorite blogs have gone unread for the last few weeks while I keep my head above the water. I know you all have been busy planting and sewing and generally being brilliant. Hope to be back in circulation before too long.
Do I have pictures for you!

The Great Saturday Book-Away #2

As promised, here is the weekly Book-Away. I realize I didn't post on Wednesday who the winner of the book was, but last week's book went into the mail yesterday. Ten points for me for getting it done! Yay. Well, this week we have another book. That is, we have a book if I can pry it from James' hands.

This week's book is pictured to the right of the text on hand. Lots of tried and true tips for those of you who are interested in simple living and/or sage advice from days gone by. You'll love Granny's comparison to liquor consumption and life expectancy!! Here are some more topics from the book...

1. How to cleanse a feather bed...from my experience, it's difficult...
   
2. How to preserve mock ginger
3. How to destroy mice--you like that word: destroy??
   
4. Receipt to make good shaving soap

Rhonda over at Celebrating My Time for God's Favor will receive last week's Green Consumer Guide. I hope you enjoy it, Rhonda. If you can, take a minute to go over and get to know her. Rhonda actually hails from a town around which I practically grew up. So, it was almost like sending a package to family!

So, if you're interested in Granny's tips, leave a comment in the post below. I will by some random or not method choose a recipient and post it on the blog sometime next week. How's that for vague? I like it...

The Conservative Conundrum

Last night, as James and I were talking to a friend at Barnes and Noble, another gentleman entered into our conversation. Somehow, we began discussing conservation techniques and environmental protection. Almost immediately, the man began to trash conservative policies and ideologies. Now, I wouldn't say James and I are staunch conservatives. We're pretty much on the libertarian side of the fence. However, we are soundly against polarizing turns of speech. As James and I discussed later, with about 50% of the population calling itself conservative, any environmentalist who immediately bashes the beliefs of this population loses half of his or her support--off the top!

As the gentleman continued to speak of organic gardening, grey water tanks and rainwater collecting (all subjects on which we are passionate), I ruminated on the possibility of speaking up for conservatives everywhere. After all, winning one person as a friend is better than maintaining the peace, right? When Mr. L paused in his conversation, I respectfully submitted the idea that not all conservatives are wasteful and/or ignorant of the current crises in our environment/earth (and no, I'm not talking--nor will I talk about global warming). In fact, several Christian groups are leading the way in environmental stewardship. To which he replied, Christians have to realize that stewardship is about more than money, it's about also stewarding the earth. Well, yeah.

I'm not saying that I was on a conversion mission, but I like for people to be informed. I think that because of our clothing style, James' hair, our simple way of living, or what have you, James and I are often painted with a wide, liberal and anti-Christian brush. I like knowing that God created us to be passionately concerned about His earth, His people, His plans and still totally in love with Him.

So, Mr. and Mrs. L left with the promise to email us some plans for a grey water system and the possibility of a tank to begin it all. We left friends and partners, in a sense. That's what I call a successful conversation...

the Wal-Mart effect...

I just posted this over on my Myspace blog and thought I would share it here as well. I'm just cutting and pasting from there, so: nothing new.

Since some of you already know my feelings on this subject, I will not launch into a diatribe. I will merely relate something I read just now. to sum up, Wal-Mart and supplier Sara Lee came up with the idea of selling items off pallets, right on the store floor. They soon noticed a marked increase in the sale of underwear. Why the increase? "Were [they] taking market share from other competitors? Were people replacing underwear sooner?" The answer?

Both
and...
increased wardrobe inventory...

people just had more underwear stored in their house than they really needed, or had had in the past. The underwear was so cheap and so irresistibly displayed on those pallets, that people just bought it and took it home...consumption driven strictly by price and impulse--consumption that answers no need at all--well, that's curious

So, does that mean that if Wal-Mart wasn't driving down prices and providing such a good service for middle-class America, we just would stop buying so much?

***quotations from The Wal-Mart Effect by Charles Fishman

Thoughts?

unplugging

I initially came up with the title for this blog from reading The Cheapskate Gazette. I thought, James and I live simply, we are not addicted to stuff. These last few days of this new year have proved me wrong. It's not that we don't like stuff. We just don't like paying retail for it. If we can find it for free or really cheap, then we will take it. Found a cool set of dishes for only five dollars? Don't we already have a set of dishes? Well, yes, but these are super cool.

Okay, that was an out there example. Here's one closer to home. A neighborhood nearby was having a mandatory clean-up. We found several bookcases, shovels, ladders, dishes, etc. When is enough? I was telling a friend about the good finds and he said: "I just don't want anymore stuff." Not free stuff. Not cheap stuff. No more.

What kind of hole are we trying to fill anyway?

Anyway, James and I both come from stuff backgrounds. On one side, we have hoarders and on the other side, collectors. It's a mighty battle, my friends.

So, why am I writing all of this? Well, this stuff keeps us from doing the right things. I lose focus when I see clutter. I can't think. I can't dream or create. Some of this stuff has to go. Soon. Thanks for listening.