Friday, November 4, 2016

WHY ARE YOU SIMPLIFYING? DON'T MISS THE SUPERMOON!


WHY ARE YOU SIMPLIFYING?
A lot of folks love autumn, including me...beautiful foliage, fires in the fireplaces, fall harvests and canning, kids dressing up and trick or treating!  What about you?  If you're inclined to like fall, why? For me, for a few, all too brief days/weeks, life seems to slow.  Maybe slow is not the right word. Maybe more organized, less chaotic (Unless you consider our political scene right now!).

Kids are back in school, vacations are memories, life settles into a routine and the whole world seems to breathe a sigh of contentment.  The reason I say, all too briefly, is because before you know it, the hassle of the holidays descends upon us.  It's not that we don't like all the fuss and festivities of the holidays, it's more like we are overwhelmed by them.

There's a consensus on the blogs that I follow...simplify your holiday celebrations.  Cut down.  Drop out.  Just be.

Well, there's a certain logic in that, especially if you really are overwhelmed.  But, before you stop doing things be sure that you're stopping them because you want to...not because you are pressured to 'simplify'.

I spend time decorating for the seasons.  It takes a while.  When we had lots and lots of visitors, it was fun to share the home with it's seasonal trimmings.  Now I have far less visitors...but you know what?  I still decorate.  Maybe not quite as much, but I still do it. You know why? Because I love it. That's right...I am doing it for myself.

I also prepare special meals even though they take time. And I bake traditional goodies which are not easy. I hand make gifts and decorations. And I still take time to those special things that everyone does around the holidays.  And I do it all because I enjoy it...in other words, for me.

That may sound selfish, but remember, my children are grown and on their own, my wonderful husband passed away five years ago - much too early.  Many in my situation would simply not take the time (and yes it does take time) but not me, while I am able to, I am going to.

And it is my hope that all of you would do what you want to do...be it simplify or not...to enjoy your celebrations.

By the way, it's gotten a bit cooler today.  A perfect day for oven stew...
...not only does it look good, it tastes wonderful!

BEING THANKFUL...
Have you remembered to be thankful for something today? What I am thankful for is kind of weird.  I I have an old Kindle on which I love to read my fiction books.  I missed the deadline (Actually, I never knew it existed!) to upgrade the software so I could continue to sync books to it.

A couple weeks ago, when I couldn't sync, I googled and found a site that contains the update to download which I did. And now my Kindle syncs.  So I am thankful for my Kindle and it's ability to sync. Silly, right?  Well, I have moved many times and the fact that I can carry almost all my library on either my kindle or my phone sure is a lot easier than lots and lots of boxes full of books!

DON'T MISS THE SUPERMOON!
"We're about to see a record-breaking supermoon - the biggest in nearly 70 years' is the headline on Science Alert.  The last supermoon this size was January 1948.  So mark your calendar for November 14th and be sure to go out and see the moon. It promises to be super!!!!

Weekend plans?  Well, Sunday is Marathon here in NYC, the route goes through all five boroughs including in my area...so I think I will stay home that day and enjoy football.  Hope your plans work out well.

Thanks for spending a few minutes here...
Talk to you on Monday...