Recycling, Downsizing and Letting go

Remember the other day when I showed you the KonMari book?

I am trying to implement this in my life.  If you know me in real life you may be picking your teeth up and putting them back in your mouth.  I KNOW!!!  I am a packrat.  I love stuff.  I have accumulated loads of stuff.  I have collections of stuff.  Let's face it, I am on my way to being a hoarder.

So I am trying my best to embrace the more minimalist side of myself.  The part of me that sees all the stuff as things that weigh me down, that keep me from being the best I can because I am too busy dusting, arranging and finding homes for all my important stuff.  It is hard to completely change your mindset, especially when you spent years of your life accumulating.  I did recognize years ago that I had a lot of things and made a hard and fast rule that any time I saw something I wanted I had to stop and think of a similar object in my house that I was willing to let go of, be it sweaters or shoes or whatever.  Note:  this rule has never applied to books.  Books are sacred and as such, limitless in the number you can own.

I let things go all the time.  And yet, the clutter persists.  So I am reading and re-reading the KonMari book up there and falling more in love with the idea of having fewer beloved items that now have air around them, that aren't crammed into a large collection so that this item of beauty can shine all on its own.

And you know what is really strange?  Along with minimizing my stuff I am also changing my style of furnishings and things that I want to inhabit my space.  I have always been in the Bohemian camp with loads of competing patterns, fabrics, textures, over-stuffed big comfy furniture and the like.  Nowadays, my taste is running more towards mid-century modern, Danish 1960s looking things and craftsman/arts & crafts.  Where the hell did THIS come from??

I have very slowly over the last 15 years come around to the Small House Movement way of thinking.  I love the idea of making great use of the space you have and not building, heating, cooling and walking through long hallways of unusable space.

That's me right now; recycling things that need to go to someone else, downsizing the amount of treasures I want to keep and letting go of all the things that no longer serve me and no longer spark joy in my life.

Holler at me if you need something, I just might have a collection of said item that I would love to gift you.

Of Boyfriends Past and Lost Chances

To the child of my high school boyfriend,

I want to take a few minutes of your time to tell you how special your father was way back in the day. He could not have been any sweeter or more generous with me.  I have no idea what kind of man he grew into, nor husband or father.  But I know this, he was funny and he was gentle and up for adventure.  I always felt completely safe with him and that is a huge deal for me.

When we knew each other I was at a place in my life that was not good.  I was struggling to figure out who I was and what my place in the world would be.  I had no self esteem and covered that up with being loud, out-going, gregarious and having a devil-may-care attitude about tomorrow. Let's face it, I was a mess.  A loud, crazy-acting person who could not find her place to fit in.  And he saw me as worthy of spending time with.  And as a person worthy of opening his heart and life to.  I never felt judged or coming up short.

We went to the movies, restaurants that he most likely could not afford, concerts, bars, parties at the lake, all the usual high school stuff.  And there was lots of craziness going on.  Picture the movie, "Dazed and Confused".  That was parties at the lake.  But I always knew he would make sure we got home safe.  He spent many hours helping me study to pass a class that I hated or I would have never graduated.  I really didn't even care about school at that point, but he still helped me.

After we graduated I moved away.  I moved 600 miles away.  Not because I wanted to and not because I wanted to be that far, but because I had no other place to live.  Circumstances being what they were, it was best that I left my home.  And I am eternally grateful for the chance I was given at a fresh start and this is where I ended up meeting my husband, but it was really sad for me to leave. We had no concept of what a long distance relationship would be like, especially back in the day of super expensive long distance calls or slow hand-written letters. But we tried it for a while, a good year of writing, occasional phone calls and even less-occasional visits. And then we made the decision to just give in and call it quits.

And I missed him.  There were things that came up in my life and he would be the first person in my mind to call and share these things. But that time had passed and it was just not appropriate for me to do that, so I missed the opportunity to re-connect and stay friends.

So when I came across his sister on Facebook a few years ago, I immediately friended her and was glad to get in touch with his family again.  I knew that he had married and had a child, as had I and I wanted to be respectful of those boundaries and not reach out to him directly.  Occasionally, when I would speak with his sister she would say that he was very glad that she and I had gotten in touch and that he was happy to get my news through her.  I thought we would bridge that gap and communicate directly sometime in the future.

But life being what it is, that future was not to be.  The day that I got a message saying that he had passed away from a heart attack in the middle of the night was just unbelievable.  I had to read the message 3 times before it soaked in to my brain that this is what had happened.  I kept putting the word "almost" in there, as in, we almost lost him last night.  Why would my brain do that?  Made me wonder what else I am missing.  This hit me like a ton of bricks.  I know people say that but it truly felt like that.  And I mourned the loss of his life, I mourned the lost chance to ever get to see him and look in his eyes and say thank you.  Thank you for all the times you were sweet, loving, protective and strong.  Missed opportunities to tell someone how much you appreciate them are just so damn sad.  For weeks afterwards I had vivid dreams of him and I could smell him.

I have been working hard the past few years with a therapist and going to Al-Anon and learning how to not be such a codependent person.  And one of the things I have learned is to quit making decisions based on fear.  I don't want fear of the unknown or whatever to rule me and keep me from doing the things that I know I should.  One of those things that I should be doing is grabbing opportunities to say the things that should be said.  Say the thank yous, say the I love yous, and mostly say the I am so sorrys.

So, to the child of my high school boyfriend, I want to say how deeply sorry I am that your father was taken from you too soon.  I am sorry that he and I were not friends and didn't get to sit with you and tell you stories of when he was young, handsome, sweet and loving.  The story of us driving to Ft. Worth to a Gregg Allman concert and getting lost on the way home, THAT was a great story.  I hope that other friends from different stages of his life will find a way to share memories with you, too.

I will close this out with our song.

Valentine's Day Surprises!

Happy Valentine's Day!  I know, I know, just yesterday I said how it isn't really a big deal in La Casa Lisa Pie any longer and what happened when I woke up this morning?

I went to the bathroom like most people do when they first get up and it took me a minute to notice that something was stuck on the mirror.

Here's what I saw:

Aww, isn't that sweet?  Those cute little boys from Glee!

It still didn't register that it was for me though.  So I was getting dressed and talking on the phone and headed to the kitchen to make my giant mug o'tea for the morning, while still on the phone with my wonderful friend Mom of the Peach and I went to the cabinet to get my tea mug and what did I spy on the shelf where the mug should have been??

A Valentine's card (with the promise of a home-cooked dinner!) and some beautiful flowers.  There are daisies, alostrumeriam and roses, all shades of pinks.  Just beautiful.

I am still on the phone and giving my friend a play-by-play of what is happening, too.  So I take my mug and go to the water dispenser to get instant hot water for my tea.

And look what I found strategically placed over the hot water button:

Hee!!  So I took my mug of hot water and went to the pantry to get my morning teabag of Scottish Breakfast.

And you will never guess what I found!

Another Glee Valentine in my tea box!!!

So of course, we are laughing and loving this over the phone still and I made my tea and went to the computer as I do each and every morning to do my email and check in on facebook, pinterest and One Kings Lane.

And sure enough!  One more Valentine on my screen.

And then I looked down at my keyboard:

How sweet is that?  Mr. Ed had to get up pretty early to sneak around doing this and not make a sound.  I was so surprised.

I can't wait to see what's planned for dinner.

In other news, I bought myself something off the Vermont Country Store  recently and just haven't taken pictures to show you.  Those of you who are my age may remember this.

Do you remember this?  Sweet Earth!  I have been so excited since I saw this on the VCS website and I finally broke down and ordered one.  This is the "woods" scents version.  Back in the 1970s there were also a flowers one and a grasses one.

I tried to get photos of the labels describing each scent but it's all shiny and glare-y.  From the left it is Sandalwood, then Amberwood and on the right Patchouli.  You can wear them individually or mix them as you wish.

I will check out the VCS site again and see if they carry the other scents or not.  Also, it seems like I remember there was some kind a Christmas-y holiday one too.

I just scoped out the google to see if anyone had posted pics of the original 1970s versions of the Sweet Earth and glory be!!  Of course, there are photos.

This first one is the Christmas-y winter ones, Frankinscence, Myrrh and Mistletoe.  It's in the newer version of the case.

Below is one of the older styles. The Rare flowers collection.

And here is a magazine ad for the Sweet Earth scents.

Makes me very nostalgic for all the great old cosmetic items from back in the day.  Do any of you remember Yardley cosmetics?  Love's?  Mary Qant?

Have a lovely Valentine's Day and remember that your friend Lisa Pie loves you!

Ash Wednesday

It is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Lenten Season.  40 days or so leading up to Easter.  It is traditional in different faiths to observe this time by giving up something, doing without, or just being extra mindful of what you have and how you can improve yourself.

In the last few years I have taken to cutting back on preparing one dinner a week and with the supposed savings I make little brown bags of things for the homeless.  I put little affirmations in them and a piece of fruit, a bottle of water, crackers, granola bars and a wet-nap.  That kind of thing.  I found some little toothpaste samples I am going to put in bags till I run out.

I will do this again this year.  I always have fun putting them together and carry around 5 bags with me every time I leave the house.  They get really good responses from the recipients too.

I learned about a blog challenge called 40 bags in 40 days that lots of bloggers are going to participate in and put weekly updates on their blogs.  It looks great.  I think I might start it as well.  Check it out and see what you think.

For me Lent is about stretching and expanding my spiritual self, finding new ways to put myself out there for my fellow man, not about "oh can I live without chocolate or chips for 40 days".  Of course I can.  But I want it to be about adding a new habit to my life that is meaningful.

How will you acknowledge the Lenten season?  If you aren't Christian, would you consider using these 40 days as a time to look inward and start some type of meditation or even doing the 40 bags and de-cluttering your house?

Mish Mash, Super Bowl, Obits, and what-not

I have sooooo many things to talk about today!  Firstly, let's just talk about the Super Bowl and get it over with, shall we?

I gave up watching NFL games with any regularity years ago.  Mostly because we lived out of the country and they weren't available. But a Super Bowl is usually a guaranteed good afternoon of t.v., food, half-time  music, commercials, etc.  The game itself was pretty good.  I was glad to see the Packers win.  Let's just re-cap this.

1. The game was good.  The team without an alleged sex offender won.

2. The half-time show?  Not so much.  I didn't get it.  What was the point of bringing out Usher?  What was the point of Slash standing there and Fergie gyrating all around him?  While ruining a perfectly fine song.  It was a low point in half-time shows, is what I am saying.

3. The commercials.  What a sad state of affairs.  Very very few good ones.  And even the good ones couldn't hold their own against any of the previous good ones.

Here is one of the good ones.

But the best one was from the local grocery store chain H.E.B.  For those of you who are not in Texas, you most likely didn't get to see this ad.  It is Jack Ingram singing at Gruene Hall, the oldest dance hall in Texas, and probably the most famous.  This is the same dance hall they used in filming that movie Michael with John Travolta playing an angel.  Remember this?

That was in Gruene Hall.  Anyhoo, back to the awesome ad for H.E.B.  This is the full length 3 minute long one.  The one on t.v. was only 1 minute.

Now, on to the obits!!  There were some fabulous old-school names listed!  Love the old antique-y names.

Sadly, Mrs. Elora J. Bump passed away at the age of 88.  She was married to Delmar E. Bump.

Louis Lorelli Guido, Jr. was married to Agnes known as "Tootsie".

Ronald G. Kruithof a.k.a. "Ron/Ray"

Nellie Knopp's family included Ben Mikolajczyk, Victoria Sczodrok, Bruno Knopp, Jimmie and Gladys Zigmond, Alphons Zigmond known as "Rusty", and Cheyenne, Chaely and Colton Zigmond, and Alex and Clara Mikolajczyk. When is the last time you met a Bruno, Gladys or a Clara?  Much less all of them in one family!  Love it.

Hiram Abiff Cockrell died peacefully.  He had 2 brothers by the names of Hansel and John Ross.

We had some unusual euphemisms for dead this week too:

"left this life peacefully"

"passed with her daughter by her side on Saturday evening, after an arduous battle with alzheimer's. The Lord released her of her suffering and took her into His arms."
**Isn't that the saddest and sweetest thing?  It just breaks my heart.


"after 83 years of laughter, love and joy, Janie was granted eternal life after 59 years of marriage to her loving husband, Leonard G."
**Okay, I was seriously confused by this sentence.  Way too many thoughts going on in there. 


"went to eternal rest with the Lord"

"F. Todd Spann, a loving gracious son given by the Lord to Delores A. Busher Spann and F. Rudy Spann, was born on Nov. 11, 1964. Todd was reunited with our Mother Christmas morning when he was welcomed into his eternal home. We rejoice in the knowledge that he passed the barrier of time as we know it and is forever at home with the Savior he faithfully served and his Mom whom he loved dearly."
**Whew.  I am beginning to think they don't charge by the word or the column inch, but rather by how many periods you use.  Why else would people all try to cram as much into each sentence as they do?




And the Most Interesting Obit this week goes to the writer of Cindy Cox's obituary.  Here is a snippet:

"Cindy Cox, born Sept. 27, 1923 in Valdosta, GA, died Feb. 1, 2011.  She was a farm girl during the "Great Depression". When a child, her family fed and provided toys for children and buried the kin of families who could not afford it. Her father, Morris Franklin Hobby (Dice) donated his own farmland for a school. Her mother, Kate Furney was a crack shot who could shoot a screech owl at midnight from 100 yards in the dead of night."
**Now, how could you NOT want to know these people?  Not only does Miss Cindy Cox sound like a wonderful person, her parents were awesome!  And whomever was left to write this tribute knew enough family history to bring their stories to life.  Good job, family of Cindy Cox!!


And since today is the 7th of the month it is time for another drawing of someone to receive a FREE BAG OF TEA!!  Straight from the tea stash of Lisa Pie's pantry.  Yea!!

Last month's winner was Sarah with an H.  I sure hope she received her lovely bag of tea alright and has been enjoying it.

So if you too would love to be chosen to get some FREE TEA, please leave a comment and keep checking back this week to see if you were chosen.  Woo Hoo!!

There are some good people out there

and companies too!  Do all of you have Panera bread?  They are a good company making an outstanding product.

And now they have outdone themselves.  Check this story out.

Did you read it?  What do you think?

I surely hope that the local clientele get this off the ground and that they do expand.  Seems like a fun idea to me!

Feelings, whoa, whoa, Feelings

Real feelings, not the ones from that cheesy damn song.  Yes, indeedy, it has been Feeling Central around here.  Lots of things happening to bring up feelings.

First up, my aunt sent me an email (which I have not responded to yet but only because I am totally unsure of what to say) in which she recounted her meeting a person that used to cut my Papa's hair.  My dad was her older brother.  She is my dad's younger sister and is exactly 1 year and 4 months to the day older than me, so we have always been more like cousins.  Anyhoo, she met the hairdresser person who on learning of my aunt's relationship with my dad, her brother, proceeded to tell her this story of how she and my dad had been discussing spirituality and heaven and all that stuff when my dad was near the end of his life.  They agreed that whoever went first would come back and let the other one know what was what.  Her story goes that about six months after my Papa had died, she felt his presence in the room and he was letting her know that he was alright and that heaven really does exist.  It was  quite a powerful experience for her.  And now 15 years later she shared with his sister, who has now shared it with me.  Let me tell you that this does bring up some strong feelings.

Then, I was speaking with someone who started sharing some really intense personal matters (that I am not at liberty to share) and it has started me thinking and trying to figure out what I can do to help.  Other than to just "be there" and let her talk, I am not really sure how to be of service here.

And I got an email from Classmates.com asking me to renew my Gold Membership that I had let lapse about a year or more ago.  I have received many of these emails over time and just deleted them.  But this one said "you have 2 messages in your inbox, don't you want to see what Jim and Scott have to say?"  Well, Scott is my friend who died in December so yes, I do want to see what his last email to me had to say.  So I got out my credit card and ponied up the 9.95 and opened my inbox to read this final email from my good friend.  And I sobbed and sobbed.  I had been trying to work up a heartfelt letter for his brother since I heard that he had died 5 months ago and every time I tried, I just cried and couldn't do it.  Literally, I had tears flowing and couldn't see the screen or the keys to type.  But, I took this last message to mean "Get off your ass and send something nice to his grieving family!" and so I did.  It was really hard, but I did do it.  I really hope it was received in the same way it was meant.

My daughter, the lovely, talented and clever Rachel Pie, is at a crossroads in her life and is unsure of making decisions on which way to go.  I really hope that I am giving her advice that is for her benefit and not my own.  I know she questions that.  Is Mama telling me this because it is what she wants me to do or because she really feels it would be the best choice?  I am really bending over backwards here to see things from all sides, but it is not so easy when it is your own precious baby child out there.  That is the truth!

Now that I have laid all these feelings and emotions out there, I am going to wish you all a beautiful and loving Mother's Day weekend.  Please, tell people you love them.  Don't wait.  Don't live your lives with regret over what you didn't do, what you could have done, what you should have said.  Do it now, say it now, and remember to get your 12 hugs a day.  That's what you need for optimum mental health, 12 hugs a day.  Get out there and hug people.  Hug them like you mean it.  None of that bend at the waist, barely lean in and just 3 pats on the back like Oprah does.  I hate that crap.  If you are going to hug, put your whole self in it and just really BE with that person for that amount of time.  Trust me, a good hug goes a LONG way!

Happy Mother's Day!  Feel those feelings, people!

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday, the end of Mardi Gras and the beginning of the Lenten Season. 40 days till Easter. Most of us think of this as a time to "give up" something. I think a better way to treat this season is to use it to improve one's character.

Instead of saying I am giving up (chocolate, liquor, potato chips, etc.) for 40 days; how about I am going to be mindful of what I am eating and try to eat healthily and once 40 days are over and the new habits are established I will maintain them.

Several Compactor friends are doing different things for Lent such as having one night a week be soup night and donating the difference in cost to a food bank or adding daily meditation or spiritual study. This is a time to reflect and see what is in abundance in your life that you can share with others be it food, time or blankets.

I have decided to add to what I am currently giving to the homeless. Right now my policy is to give $ and a bottle of water. And I have been trying to come up with something else to give that would be nutritious and non-perishable. What I have come up with for now is apples and oranges. I think that would be a welcome change from the usual donated day-old white bread, and sweets that most of them are used to at the homeless shelters.

I will probably institute a pot of soup a week for us to offset the cost of the fruit. But since we love soup it is not a hardship just a reminder of why we are having a little less on that day so that others might have a little more.

Anyone have any thoughts on Lent, giving up, giving more, or any of this? I hope it is a good spiritual growth season for all of us. :)