Four days off the grid

Over the course of our move, over the length of last weekend (and a bit beyond) we’ve been without internet access.  I’ve been amazed at how irritating this is, and how dependent I’ve become on the web.

I’ve written before about wanting to try some “drawing room evenings” – evenings where my husband and I don’t collapse in front of the TV but play dominoes or put together a puzzle or read or talk.  But after long days taking care of the twins, TV starts to sing its siren call, and I try to rationalize succumbing to it by only watching PBS (Nature; American Experience; American Masters; Masterpiece Theater – anything but Antiques Roadshow, a Peter Paul and Mary concert or some kind of lecture about losing weight or gaining income).  I love PBS … but it’s still TV.

Unfortunately, hooking up our TV was easy – plug in socket, antenna towards window: done.  (We don’t get cable — on purpose.)  But getting internet access was dependent on our “provider.”  (Provider – I love it.  It’s like Pa from Little House on the Prairie bringing home deer and building houses … only not.)

vs.

The first night I was annoyed.  I wanted to

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Declutter calendar (and a kicker from Thoreau)

Recently I’ve been doing a major clutter-clearing (see Spring Cleaning and Housecleaning with E.B. White for the full scoop).

We’re moving, and I don’t want to waste time, energy, money or back-muscles by transporting things I don’t really want or need.  Clearing all this clutter has been incredibly liberating, and I’ve been thinking about ways to keep it up — to maintain a streamlined house that’s full of things I love and use (and not junk that accumulates dust, neglect and general bad feelings).

Then I discovered this via Pinterest: a decluttering calendar!

You can find it — and download it — by clicking here.

The calendar breaks down cleaning and decluttering tasks into tiny increments —

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Spring cleaning

So much for drawing room evenings — at least for a little while.  Right now it’s all about stuff — getting rid of unwanted stuff, packing the stuff we want to keep, and trying to figure out where the kept stuff is going to go in our new place.  (See Housecleaning with E.B. White for more about our upcoming move, and how I’m trying to prepare for it.)

Years ago a friend loaned me this book, which I just rediscovered while purging my library:

  Clear Your Clutter With Feng Shui

It’s a little hokey in spots, but

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Housecleaning with E.B. White

I’m undertaking a major housecleaning — so major that house clearing is more like it.

We’re moving.  That’s the occasion for this purge.

Ever since I left home for college I’ve been fairly nomadic.  When I lived in New York I moved five times in six years.  I got used to living light and I liked the idea of having to pick up and evaluate everything I owned about once a year.  That was then.

Now I have a husband, a queen-sized bed, a couch (instead of a futon), a dining room table with six chairs, twins, cribs, toys, a musical table, an accordion tunnel, a small circus tent …

The idea of

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