Perfect Margarita Recipe here that insures a successful party every time
Quote of the week from Russell Coleman:
"The best explanation I've seen of "simple living" is that it is about discovering what is enough in your life and discarding the rest."
Not quite done? Well, you have until Sunday ;-). But seriously, it's okay if you're not done, just don't give up. Whatever your particular timing is, just be sure that you wrap up your project and celebrate what you have done with some friends.
As Jeffrey accurately points out, the most time consuming part of the Cure is the decluttering and some of you are probably a bit more surprised at how much stuff you've had to go through than you thought you'd be. The first Cure is meant to show you - if nothing else - how much less you need to live with as well as highlighting specific areas where a lot more could be done. It gets easier and easier after that. [more below]
(The last post is here - all Worksheets are here - The Book Blog is here)
The best thing about the 8 Week Cure is that it impresses itself upon you. It is now into your habits so that it stays with you. With the lesson part is over, you can simply finish the work without worrying about a whole new week popping up. After these eight weeks, all your hard work will now begin to give great benefit and you will find yourself keeping your house in shape with far less effort.
When you do it again, it will become even stronger.
I am really hoping that all of you will share some pictures of your home with us and I will post them on the blog if you send them to me. We'll congratulate each of you as you cross the finish line.
As for next week, I will happily continue these posts for the Class of June 06 next week and as long as there is interest after that (message boards are still on the to do list). The next Cure will take place in October/November, ending just before Thanksgiving.
Links:
• Check in with Marva & Brian's Cure...but they're only on week 4!
• Amber's link to her closet entry in the AT:Chicago contest
• The Simple Living Website
(The last post is here - all Worksheets are here - The Book Blog is here)
Though I've dipped in and out of The Cure, I am still working on it and thank you so much for the encouragement and great ideas.
I have a plan of action for when I have some down time from work/school in about three weeks. Projects on my "to do" list are to finish my landing strip, create artwork for over the bed, and FINALLY put up that wallpaper over my dining room table. (I ordered a beautiful print from Emery et Cie, after finding about them here. I tried other brands and prints but nothing compared to the beauty of their paper).
I want to live with less and simplify. This has been really inspiring and helpful, thank you. : )
No party for me...yet.
I am so behind. The deep cleans from before all have to be done over again. My summer classes are taking so much time, so much reading!
Perhaps I'll have a holiday party after the 2nd Cure where hopefully I will be able to finish. I have so many great ideas for my place I just wish I had the time. But I will definitely keep checking in and throwing support to all of the others out there Curing.
Go class of June 06!!
Lisa from VA, I'm in summer classes as well! I feel like I have no time to work on my apartment because I am constantly working on reading, a paper, or project. Good luck with the rest of your summer school!
For me, The Cure turned into "The Renovation" around Week 2. I've been living in this place for 28 years, so even though it's a rental, I feel a sense of commitment to it and I've become willing to sink the price of a late-model pre-owned car into making major fixes not covered by the landlord. (Of course, it's also good to find out how many of those fixes should be covered by the landlord.)
The last eight weeks have also been "The Remove-vation." I'd always thought I was a major thrower-outer before. I was fanatical about it. A Branch Discardian. But the stuff I've gotten rid of in the past two months surprises even me.
Most surprising to me is that I'd started out wanting to redo the bedroom to match a poster I've had for several years. When I went shopping, everything I liked clashed with the poster. Then I realized that I liked all the stuff that clashed more than I liked the poster. So the poster's on its way to Housing Works.
Hah! A Branch Discardian!
Enoyed doing the cure with you all. As well as the exchange of information and in a couple of cases silliness. Hope the cure did something for everyone and would love to keep in touch.
jb
I haven't finished the Cure, but I have kept my office area clear so far, and things are slowly going away from the front of my living room. I guess I'm doing the Cuuuuuuuuuuuure...
I would also be interested in sharing whatever ongoing curing people are doing.
somehow I was hoping for a slam bang finish instead of this languid petering out....
Best wishes to all you who've finished the Cure! (or nearly so, anyway) I stumbled upon the AT book, serendipitously, after you all had started your Group Cure, so I'm curing on my own schedule. My party will be July 9, all being well. (I have to keep reminding myself that "Max says it'll get worse before it gets better", because I keep strewing stuff around in the decluttering process, my Outbox is filling up, and the charity pickup isn't until June 21! Have to say, I'm having a great time doing it!) Anyway, just wanted to say I've really been enjoying your posts, and the hints I've been able to glean from your experience -- hope you'll continue chatting with us latecomers!
I'm a little behind with the deep cleaning, but there is progress: only a couple of moving boxes left, an organized office closet, the flor tiles have arrived even if they aren't installed yet and a lot of clutter is either out the door or put away.
Instead of a big party, I'm going to host a couple of smaller get-togethers - my friends have been asking to see my new(ish) place.
Do folks out there have a favorite part of the book? Any part that seemed to hit home more than others? If so, which one?
Also, did anyone learn new skills while doing the Cure? I managed to change an electrical outlet without shocking myself or burning the building down. I also cut a piece of metal door threshold with a hacksaw, a first. My friends have been teasing me about butching up.
No party for me either. But, I did sell my cd rack today finally...my cds are much more compact now. I have photos of that to link now! It really is amazing.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43851127@N00/sets/72157594155907871/
I've also done some rearranging. I still feel like I'm on week 1 or 2 or that I'm doing things in kind of a mixed-up order.
Jeffery, I'm impressed! I think that' pretty butch.
I changed the little flapper thing in the toilet. The noise from the running toilet had been bugging me for a loooong time but I was too chicken to try to figure out how to fix it. The Cure motivated me to do it and it worked! It was also pretty simple. Like many things that one puts off are.
Now, if I could only figure out why two of the three overhead hanging lights in the kitchen that the previous owner installed don't work. I think it must be something so simple, but I think I should get an electrician to do it. But, I don't want to shell out the sheckels.
Bedroom: I finally finished the closet in the bedroom yesterday. I donated a ton of clothes last weekend and have a couple more bags that will be ready to go soon. Once you get in the swing of it, it becomes much easier to get rid of stuff because the new-found space is so wonderful. It really feels like it breathes, as per the book. Also, finally moved seasonal stuff to storage area in basement, but need another blue bin. Still have the bookcase to go through, but did that not that long ago (in Cure time anyway), so shouldn't be bad.
Living room: still sorting through some papers and other stuff. Am chipping away at it. Must get rid of it before someone comes over and I feel compelled to hide it under the bed--it must not get stuck there ever again! Maybe I'll just dump it all. People (non-packrats) do that all the time; why can't I?
Still have some outbox stuff, now hidden in front closet to get rid of. Some sorting left, decisions on where to get rid of oddball stuff.
Still haven't cleaned out the bath/shower, a dreaded task.
Pixie, maybe the two of us should start a plumbing business. I replaced the flapper in my toilet a few months ago, and I also figured out how to adjust the water level in the tank. I envy people who have responsive apartment building managers/supers, but there's something to be said for learning how to make minor repairs yourself.
Jeffery-
Well, I took apart the pipes under my kitchen sink about a year ago to see if there was a clog and had to use a *hacksaw* to fit a new piece on to put it back together. Scary. And all for nought - turned out I needed to give a turn to the garbage disposal, which I had already tried and flubbed. Turned out to be a very simple fix. But, I am proud that I was able to not call a plumber, tackled the pipes, and actually put the whole thing back together, with the help of two hardware stores, my fix-it bible (Home Depot book; a house warming present), the internet, and the support of all my friends.
I still am not sure how to adjust the water level in the toilet tank and I need to fix that.
Pixie, here are some tips on how to adjust the water level:
http://www.acmehowto.com/howto/homemaintenance/plumbing/toilet/filllevel.php
Different toilets have different innards, so there's no one-size-fits-all solution. For example, my toilet doesn't have float. Instead, it has a fixed tube that shuts off the water. The tube is adjustable with a built-in nut. By turning the nut, I can move the tube up and down, adjusting the water level. The higher the tube, the more water in the tank.
Jeffery-excellent! I wish I could run home now and do it!
guess who i saw in bhg's bargain style summer edition giving great advice?
his initials are m.g.-r.
Poor Marva and Brian need to catch up now that I'm back.
Melinda, I'm laughing at the demise of the poster. There was a moment when I realized I was basing my entire kitchen color scheme around a $3 piece of vintage pottery that I could... gasp!... put away for a while or move to another room! I'm still coping with the change of color scheme.
No party for me yet. Now that I have the inevitable piles of Italian decorating magazines and empty vases that happen after a trip, I'm thinking of starting over in week 1, so that I have structure on re-graciousing and also get to feel smug about the closets that are clean, rather than beleaguered about the drawers that are not.
I'm suddenly at the "it's worse before it gets better stage"... a new piece of art, finally framed and unwrapped, has created a domino effect of displacement that's not so pretty now.
Luckily, I am sooooo pleased by the new piece, in its new home above my landing strip, that I am not so panicked about the rest.
Just wish I could be home doing that instead of work!!!
My latest self-bribe... I am taking a container to the UES Bloom florist this week to have them make me an arrangement in. That way, one of my many vases gets a workout, and I won't be left with yet another vase when the arrangement is past its prime. This may turn into a regular thing...!
Even though I didn't follow the cure step by step, I still decided to have a cocktail party this weekend. It's great, because it's reallllllly getting my butt in gear about clearing my outbox and forcing me to make decisions about those things that I had been putting off. Most people I invited can't come (too short notice), actually, but even if I'm having 3 people over, it's putting the pressure on a bit.
So even p(too) gets the blues...
I'm having a carb vs. protein crisis here. As the balcony gets landscaped, the dining cubby becomes a much nicer place to sit. We don't dine in it because the dining table fits better in the living room. So I'm getting a craving for a chair where I can sit and work in the morning, instead of always being in the living room.
Part of me wants to hold out for a Serious Chair. Another part figures $49 at IKEA, plus the cost of a cushion, and I can enjoy the flowers tomorrow morning -- and at that price, it's no big deal to replace it if I find something cool later.
Wende, I feel your pain with the carb v. protein conflict. I'm having the same with bookshelves. I also feel P(2)'s pain with "worse before it gets better." I have moved my books into rubbermaid tubs in my closet (fortunate to have closet space) and have moved the bookshelves around to a few different spaces in my living room. Not especially thrilled with any of them, but don't want to keep the books packed away either. Where I put the cases now has displaced artwork, too, so now that's sitting ON the bookshelves. Where the protein v. carb thing comes in is that part of me wants to live with these and then hold out for something gorgeous. The other part of me wants to exchange carb for carb--guess kind of a southbeach "good carb, bad carb thing." Gosh, all these really critical internal conflicts I have going on!
I bought the book the very first day and read it all the way through but have been holding off b/c I am moving at the end of this month. I thought it would be good to start fresh. I went to the new place to measure on Fri., and it seems that I remembered a lot of the space as bigger than it really is, especially including the entryway. It's a hallway that's only 31" long when the front door is open, and is only 35" wide (with a closet door on the wall opposite the wall that the open door is against). I am somewhat crushed as I bought 3 great leather boxes (~13"x~7") to use in my landing strip, where I thought I'd relocate a console table. There's no room for that, though. Does anyone have any landing strip ideas other than a shelf? Thanks.
Hey really long name landing strip person,
check out stuff by three by three--I'm considering them myself. Container Store and fridgedoor.com sell them online.
Their magazine pocket or triple hook up is what I've been considering--because you get hooks (with the hook up), a place for mail, and a magnetic note surface. A separate basket could hold shoes and heavy bags.
http://www.fridgedoor.com/thbythse.html
http://www.containerstore.com/browse/Product.jhtml?CATID=64178&PRODID=10012796
Okay, couldn't find triple hook up online, but saw it in container store in DC. It's here:
http://www.threebythree.com/html/hookupstrip.html
If it makes you feel better, you have more entryway than I do--my door dumps me into my living room.
Ah, Really, how well I know the "apartment is not the shape or size I recall" phenomenon... There's always plant stands -- the flat-topped kind with a shelf beneath -- for small areas, though I don't know if one would fit your space.
On the carb-vs.-protein issue, I compromised. Pier 1 had on sale a dark rattan chair that combined the square back of the LR sofa with the round arms of the leather chair, so I got that for the LR, then moved the old rattan chair to the dining cubby with a new black-and-white cushion.
Huge improvement! The dark rattan doesn't fight the light rattan desk in the LR, so the space looks larger and better defined. And if we have a totally different arrangement later, I'm only out the cost of a seat cushion to change color schemes.