Little jobs.

I did some little jobs in the last few days. I defrosted the freezer. I repaired some linen cushion covers my flatmate got second-hand with some free cushions. I brought paperwork to the office and shredded it. Things that aren't urgent like washing clothes and buying food, they're irregular and often unpredictable. It's quite satisfying after you've defrosted the freezer and you don't have to worry about it for ages again. But at the moment I'm getting a real noticeable sinking feeling whenever I find a new little job. When I saw the holes in the cushion covers my heart sank because sigh, now I have to get out the sewing machine and sew around the edges before we can use them. You either do it straight away, or leave them there and constantly see a job that needs doing. Unless you live with someone else who does them for you. That's rare.

I've just invented a new way, "Mad Jobs Monday!!!". Note the fun name. Monday night is a quiet night, I don't do Jillian, there's nothing on TV, I never go out. So last night I punched through some admin after work and did a few chores. I wrote down something to do next Monday: clean the fan. Now I don't have to feel annoyed when I see the dirty fan, I can put stuff off til next Monday with no guilt at all.

Also, I've just spent 99cents on an app called Recur. You enter stuff after you've done it. Then you can see how long it's been since you did it, or set a reminder for when you think you should do it again. Nothing fancy, you could use iCal. But for periodic chores/events, it's very clean and simple. You can't enter something in the future like "next month I should go to the movies with ***", it's more for the "Phew! I should never let the **** get so dirty again" or "must be time to do another bush walk" moments. I'm open to other suggestions of apps people are using for chore/event management. You can use Mad Jobs Monday for free.

Moisturise and barricade

Dry skin is a bugbear of jelssie. I've got three stubborn dry, flaky patches on my face at the moment and whatever I'm trying is not working. So I went and had a chat with a pharmacist and she reckons it's due to the weather (refer to jelssievision season 1 episode 4 for what I blame most things on). She recommended I moisturise the flaky patches with QV cream and then barricade the skin with paw paw ointment (refer to jelssievision season 1 episode 2 for Jess' explanation of paw paw ointment). I've decided to add the step of gentle exfoliation with  konjac sponge at the beginning, to get rid of the flaky skin.

This is not the first time I've talked about dry facial skin on jelssie, but I am too lazy to link to my other posts, so you'll just have to trust me on this one.

My Bathroom "Go Bag".

Yes. I am proud of this. I have organised my travel toiletries! It's fully set up independently of my normal bathroom supplies. If you're going away a lot, you ought to have a ready-to-go pre-packed bathroom bag. It's a lot quicker, you won't forget anything, and when you get home at night and you're tired, you just want to jump in the shower without realising halfway through that you haven't unpacked your shampoo yet. Also, if you do the little bottles thing it's lighter to carry, and OK for airport security when you go carry-on.

The frugal thing is to put in your almost-finished things***, and your little samples of things, and your second best things. Almost empty toothpaste tube or sunscreen. Hotel shampoos. The crappy nail clippers and tweezers. And then after you've collected as much of that stuff as you have, go out and buy anything you don't have, like little bottles to fill up from your big shampoo or whatever.

I've got one of those roll-up bags you can hang on a hook and see everything. I think it's called a valet. It's got 2 small pockets for things like bobby pins and tooth stuff, and one biggish section for bottles of things. I used to fit just 2 x 200ml shampoo bottles plus bodywash but now with smaller shampoo bottles I fit the whole kit and kaboodle, sunscreen and deodorant and hairbrush etc.

*** How can such little bottles last so long? And especially at the nearly empty stage, when they no longer squirt and you have to stick your finger up the neck or cut them open? And I'm so BORED of them and I've got a newer, better sunscreen/moisturiser/hand cream and I don't want to spend 2 months finishing the old things, but I'm frugal! I feel like letting everyone know whenever I finish a product. It's a triumph worthy of a facebook status at least.

Irony

I'm looking forward to filling in one of these Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes this year. I'm mindful of filling it with good quality, long-lasting gifts, even if it costs more than the cheap stuff. I wonder if any of these children work in factories, making cheap stuff for the West. Imagine the irony of sending back gifts that they spend hours each day manufacturing.

Organising paper.

This is how I keep my boring important papers. One expandafile. It lives in a cupboard. I usually just quickly open the cupboard and chuck the papers on top of it then periodically open it up and put things inside properly. I've got everything important in here, from birth certificate to warranties to superannuation stuff. Once a year, at tax time, I get what I need for taxes and I go through all the sections throwing things away.

On the weekend I was looking in here for my cheque book and throwing out old statements and warranties, and I found a cheque for $125, on the bottom of a boring letter that I hadn't read all the way through but luckily I had filed it instead of just throwing it out. Saved by the system!

Jelssievision Episode 4!

Bec has made another Jelssievision! She is so good to us. Hug her when you see her.

We met up on the long weekend at Lakota Trading which is a second hand stuff shop with a coffee machine and baked goods. So all of that furniture you can see is for sale!

We proudly present episode four. It's my second favourite I think.

• How to tell someone they have food on their face.
• Obsessions: snacking (rant), hats (rant), lipstick (but not all the lipstick).
• Why we love being obsessed.
• What is tractor beaming. (HINT: there are no tractors.)
• What is a "true friend".
• Teal isn't aqua: it's on ducks.
• New Year's Eve: good time to use the dryer.
• Benefits of bladder control.

Jelssievision ep 4 from Bec Jee on Vimeo.

 ** We haven't mentioned Ben Beilharz this time. Maybe if he starts a podcast, we'll have something to say.

Wonder-ginger.

Ginger is one of the BEST ingredients to totally zing things up. Whoever invented ginger in fresh juice is my hero. I have now discovered ginger honey. It was expensive in the honey shop but surely you can make it. I've googled and there are several recipes. Basically you put lots of slivers of ginger in honey, either cook for 10 min at a low heat or just don't bother, and then leave it for about 5 days to infuse. Then you have a couple of weeks to eat it. It's nice in tea, on fancy bread and cheese, general gourmet dribbling.

I heard some devastating news on the radio this week though. Honey shortage in Australia. Bees are starving. I forget why, maybe the warm winter means less pollen or something. That's a shame. So stock up now.

Deadlines.

To me, the last minute is not the best minute or the ideal minute. It's the last chance minute, the back-up minute, the fall-back minute. If something is due on Friday at 5pm, I print it out the night before and hand it in on Friday at 10am. If there is a printer disaster, I've got a whole day to fall back on. I'm writing a list of Christmas presents for family now, so I can buy things in November. I'm not stressing early, I just like to avoid stress at all.

Why The Bachelor.

 I don't like this show much but I love a shared TV experience, and this has mass appeal.

Why you might want to go on the Bachelor.

You are obsessed with roses. That's normal in this context.

To score some free tourism. That's basically what the show is, it's Sydney Weekender for girls.

To wear clothes that aren't yours and have your hair done by a professional, every time you go to a farm or drink wine. That's a real perk.

To make some BFFs. Most of the women seem really nice.

Why you shouldn't go on the Bachelor.

To find love. How can you find love in an environment where everyone is dressed in clothes that aren't theirs, doing tourism activities they never normally do, and basically being fake TV people? How can you find a genuine person? You might be impressed that you go on a date and there are 200 candles, but he didn't light those candles, a TV crew did. None of the romantic gestures are real, they're all constructed. Let alone the fact that you "make a connection" on your date and then he goes and "makes a connection" with another girl the next week.

You have pride.

Emma has started!

PLUG: start watching Emma Approved now. It's a twice-a-week weblog based on Emma by Jane Austen. It's sugary sweet but charming. The real joy of it is hanging out for the next video, following it in real time. You miss out on the suspense if you watch it all later in one binge. This is the first week so jump aboard with me now! I'm bursting to see Mr Elton and Harriet and Miss Bates. Esp Miss Bates cos they never have old people in these, the Lizzie Bennet Diaries never showed the parents or Lady Catherine except via dress-ups.

Emma's twitter: https://twitter.com/EmmaApproved will link the videos as they are posted (follow the the character twitter accounts if you are so inclined). Or subscribe on Youtube or like on Facebook.

"What about him?"... I dunno, what?

I don't find it helpful when people suggest single men to me. Neither does Elsie. We speak for ourselves, but just in case we also speak for others too, here is our reasoning for why we don't like it when you suggest single men to us.

• I know who the single men are. I don't need help speculating.
• Presumably they know who I am. 
• What am I supposed to do about it? You suggest a man and I'm supposed to say "yeah I've always had an unrequited crush on him, now you mention it... I'm going to go and ask him out!" That's never going to happen. I've got very delicate sensibilities. (They've never been helpful in progressing matters of the heart, but I'm stuck with them.)
• Alternatively, if I don't like him, I can shoot him down publicly behind his back. That's not gracious. Don't ask me to share his faults.
• If I don't KNOW him, that's even more annoying because now I'm speculating about someone I haven't met yet. Totally fruitless. Maybe you expect me to sneakily throw myself in his path somehow? Arrange a "meet cute"? It's exhausting.

So in the end, suggesting single men to me isn't as helpful as you think it is. Actual helpfulness = 0.

I don't know whether men get women suggested to them much, I guess they probably do, but at least the ball is in their court. They can say "Happy being single thanks" or "I dunno" or "I don't really know her well enough" or "Yeah, but would she go out with me?" or whatever, but still, if you're a match-making type, I think that's the end you want to work from first. I really don't think ANYTHING useful can be achieved by just randomly asking single women who they would/wouldn't date.

Myths about snacking.

The thing is, I feel lied to by The World. EVERYONE out there is pro-snack. All the TV doctors and personal trainers, including Jillian, tell you why to snack and how to snack. Now I've done some googling and found other points of view, and I've lived without snacks, I feel like I've discovered THE TRUTH. I'm an obsessed conspiracy theorist type crazy person now, evangelizing everyone to the better way: Nacking.

These are the things I used to believe:  

If you feel hungry it means your body is going into starvation mode and you're storing fat for times of famine! Seriously, 3 hours is a famine? Only in the first world.

And then you'll be so crazed with hunger at your next meal you'll overeat uncontrollably! This is just false. You'll just eat whatever you put on your plate. What's more likely is that if you snack you won't remember to eat LESS at your next meal, and eat whatever you put on your plate regardless of your supposedly controlled appetite.

Your blood sugar will drop and you'll lose concentration! Um, unless you are diabetic or borderline,  your blood sugar probably just returns to normal, and if you snack it goes temporarily high again. Normal blood sugar would probably be a better thing. And I haven't felt sleepy. Except yesterday when I had a massive lunch. Which suggests that a FULL stomach decreases alertness.

I'll run out of Nacking rants soon.

Pimples and acne in adult life

Pimples and acne in adult life are annoying because you tend to associate it with the teenage years. "I'm an adult already! Why am I still getting pimples!"

I think of mild acne in adult life as God's way of stopping me from going completely vain and putting security in my appearance (e.g. "if I had flawless skin, I would have an exciting life!"). That's what advertisers try to do - make you feel inadequate and then sell you a product to make up for the perceived inadequacy.

Why would anyone buy new?

...is what I kept saying all holiday long, as we bounced from rubbish dump shop to vintage shop.

Relaxing at the Armidale tip shop. Great place to get a bike.

Well, there are definitely a lot of things you want to buy new. I'm sticking with new shoes, even if the vintage ones look cool, because I think standing in someone elses footprint feels creepy. But if you go to op shops and even tips, there are many useful bargains to be found. Country op shops are the BOMB, because the old ladies who run them don't realise how much things are worth these days and also they're a long way from the richest op-shoppers, ie, not the needy but rather the hipsters. The frugal holidaymaker can get quite a cheap haul from country town. This is a list of things I keep an eye out for either locally or as a tourist:

Kitchen stuff.

• Pans, glassware, and anything else breakable that regularly need replacing. I'm not gonna buy new stuff just so my flatmate can burn the bottom of it or I'll drop it and break the handle off. But never coffee mugs. They multiply at home.
• Vintage teacups, biscuit tins or anything cute AND useable.
• Interesting cutlery, like old salad tongs.

Clothes, obviously...

• Blouses and skirts are my main areas of success.
• Pure wool jumpers.
• Clothes with a brand you like. I snap up Colorado.

• Bags and belts.

Books.

• Usually not anything you want to treasure forever, but an enjoyable "holiday paperback", usually a mystery, I'll read then donate or lose along the way.

No snacking update.

I'm really enjoying no snacking. Nacking for short. The things everyone says about eating every 3 hours or your body goes into starvation mode and your metabolism slows down seem to be a bit of a lie. Humans have survived fine without snacking for a long long time.

Benefits:

• The desire to eat between meals has been reduced.
• Hunger pangs, when they DO come—usually after I've walked to work or something that used up my breakfast energy—are just something I acknowledge and ignore until lunchtime. You don't starve to death in an hour.
• Money saved by not buying nuts and biscuits.
• NIGHT CRAVES GONE! I don't have that overpowering desire to gobble sweets after dinner anymore, I just eat a biscuit or two with some tea and that's it. This is unexpected and I don't know how it's related to nacking or if it even is related, but it's great. I'm less likely to eat after 8pm now, which is supposed to be good.
• Teeth stay clean for longer than a couple of hours.
• Overall calorie intake is probably lower, although I'm not counting. But the fact that I haven't eaten from the packet of bickies in my drawer for about 3 weeks is pretty good evidence.

If you are a snacker and try to stop, it is a significant physical and mental adjustment. Your body has to change the way it uses energy, and stop relying on constant sugar input. Your mind has to break the mental habits of boredom = food or whatever. It's been a positive experiment. Even on holidays I rarely snacked, because I just enjoy nacking now.

Messies and Cleanies.

One of the books in my parents bookshelf is The Messies Manual. It says that people naturally fall on a spectrum, 0 being a total chaotic Messy and 10 being an insufferable Cleanie. Messies and Cleanies. My mum admits to being a Messy. I'm a moderate Cleanie. If you're anywhere in the middle, it doesn't matter whether you're an M or a C, it's a basically a liveable land. If you are a 10C, you won't let people in your house because they'll mess it up. If you're a 0M, people can't get into your house because the mess covers all surfaces and probably blocks the front door. The 0M people get TV shows made about them. There aren't any TV shows for the 10C people, cos they are probably beyond help. But there are plenty of helpful books for the low M people or middle people who want to improve organisationally. Mum found the Messies Manual quite a relief actually, cos being born a Messie doesn't make you a failure, it's just the outworking of your personality*, and she's moved up a couple of notches on the scale over the years.

I've been slowly listening my way through another book, Unstuff Your Life, I got it on special from Audible. I don't really need the room-by-room decluttering guide but I've found the simple rules helpful, like A Place For Everything, or noticing the feeling of guilt and failure when you throw something useless away and remembering it when you are tempted to buy something useless.

Organisation is it's own reward. I'm really proud of that saying! I made it up. It motivates me to see organisation as a self-care thing, rather than a boring thing. I have gradually got more organised. It's taken years since I moved out of home to work out how much to own, and how to store it. I have regular declutter binges and improve a bit each time. I still have messy areas, the kitchen table and dresser are dumping grounds, and the bathroom is only ever passable, but I can sit on chairs, access books, cook conveniently, store all my clothes, find sewing stuff when I need it. It's like "this is the messy stationery drawer" (applied A Place For Everything), rather than "I'll put these sticky tapes in this handy drawer with some bank paperwork from last year and some iTunes cards and a gift bag I can reuse and my passport." All just things floating around randomly. Entropy is not a good system. (I made that up too!)

* I'm looking up different Myers Briggs types and how they relate to messiness. It might be to do with P/J. Ps would be more likely Messies and Js would be more likely Cleanies.

Obsessed with lemongrass.

I really want to grow lemongrass. This is the take-home application from my holiday… I really like tea made from ginger and lemongrass.

http://www.growingherbsforbeginners.com/how-to-grow-lemon-grass/

And mint.

I think these herbs are pretty hardy/weedy, so I could probably grow them in pots in my own kitchen which hasn't got ideal gardening conditions, and then I could have my own supply of fresh tea.

Why delayed gratification works better than denial when not snacking.

Denial:

I want the ice cream.

No.

But I want it.

No.

It's in the freezer. I need to defrost the freezer soon. I should eat the ice cream.

No.

But when? If not now, when?

I don't know.

I'm going to have to eat it eventually, I might as well eat it now.

Good point. Might as well.

(Evil smile).


Delayed gratification:

I want the chocolate.

Wait until lunch time. That's only two hours.

OK.


Now to the untrained eye it looks like both outcomes ultimately end in eating the food. But I think delayed gratification does cut the snacking because if I didn't delay eating the chocolate I would probably eat chocolate both then and AGAIN at lunchtime.

Big Brother and love.

I found myself watching Big Brother nominations last night. I don't know why. The housemates have a very TV understanding of love. They nominate someone because they don't get on with them or they are jealous of their popularity, and say "I love her, but she acts one way to some people and another way to other people. She exploits her emotions. But I really love her!" "I love him, but he's such a manipulator." "I love them, but they are too nice." Love was literally just lip service, the preface for nastyness, like saying "No offence but". And then I beheld all the fake horror and sympathy when the evictees were named. Well, der, you all just nominated them like 30 minutes ago. The only one I liked was someone who nominated some girls for not doing their cleaning. Yeah, that's what evictions are ACTUALLY about in the REAL world. Not "love".

Why must they be pink?

I have four Japanese BB creams (two of them are the same brand). Why must the packaging be pink? What is it with the Japanese and pink packaging for BB creams?

Homeschooling.

I heard the end of a panel discussion on the ABC two nights ago. It seemed pretty good. A pro-con chat with talkback, relevant to the Australian context. I was home schooled, but I'm not great at summing up a pithy answer when people ask me what it was like and would I home school my hypothetical kids. If you wonder about home schooling, you can listen.

http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/local/nightlife/home_schoo_m2156963.mp3

If that link didn't work it's here. http://www.abc.net.au/nightlife/podcast.htm

Also an article George found recently, http://www.salon.com/2013/08/26/school_is_a_prison_and_damaging_our_kids/, which seems to be in favour of self-directed learning.

Horses for courses. Whatever that means.

One dessert a week rule

Jess loves rules and habits. I think habits are great, and rules are only good if they serve you in achieving goals (rather make you want to do the thing you're not supposed to).

I have a friend who lives at college and gets fed three meals a day plus snacks and dessert. He told me about his "one dessert a week" rule, to keep his diet healthy. I think this is great rule, especially for me. Even though I don't live at college, I do eat out a lot and I do like dessert. So this is a rule I'd be happy to implement. But often, there are treats and cakes at work, and some of those things are equivalent to dessert, so hmmoooooooo.

An alternative dessert rule is: all desserts must be shared, so that helps with spreading the richness of dessert.

Hats.

Further to my sunscreen post... hats are excellent sun protection. No chemicals or nano-particles or products to remember to reapply on your face. Keep the sun/glare out of your eyes as well. Yes, I know, hat hair. But still, the advantages are considerable.

Here is a beautiful lady dressed for the Australian sun this week. Broad brimmed hat. She isn't worried about hat hair, obviously.

Personally I find hat-wearing easiest when it's a soft scrunchable hat that I can carry around in a bag. They don't look as nice as a what Angelina wears, but the convenience means I'm more likely to have it with me for the day and therefore wear it when I'm out in the sun, but I can take it off and stuff it in my bag when I'm on the bus or indoors. The parasol, as we have mentioned before, is an excellent way to prevent hat hair sans sunscreen, but it's just not convenient.

New acronym

I have a new acronym for life: NMP i.e. Not My Problem. It's not about not caring, but putting boundaries in life and realising that some problems are not yours to solve or fix. If I start to overthink things or get too involved, I remind myself: NMP.

The easy habit.

The most important thing about setting up a good habit isn't how wonderful the activity is, the wonderful exercise machine you're going to use for an hour a day. It is how easy it is. So the ideal exercise to do every day might be a 10km jog or something hardcore. The realistic exercise to do every day is probably something heaps less. You really want the bare minimum as your new habit, like 15 minutes of yoga before you have a shower (plug for the yoga studio app). Or 15 minutes walk around the block after dinner. Cos you can probably manage that, whereas 45 minutes of hard sweat is something you'll find an excuse to avoid, and the habit will die.

The other thing you might notice I've done there is ATTACH the habit you WANT to the habit you ALREADY have. So you don't have a shower until you've done yoga. The shower habit is already strong, you're just adding a step. It's only 15 minutes of yoga so it's not that hard to manage, and it isn't so much exercise as "prelude to a shower".

Habit's I've got are, whenever I need to wash my hair, I do Jillian first. Hair is half dirty so I might as well get a sweaty workout done and get value out of the hair-washing, and then be all clean for a couple of days. Also, with bible reading, I now use the Daily Reading Bible, which takes about 10 minutes so it's not hard, I find the questions really good, and I do it at lunch time because I need a break from screens and noise anyway. I used to scoff a bit at the idea of short devotionals when I could just read a chunk from the bible, but there is psychologically an advantage in having a short convenient reading.

The important thing is, sustaining it. When you start doing something, imagine yourself doing it for the rest of your life. Yeah, that's hard. So 10-15 minutes every day for the rest of your life works out heaps better than 45 minutes for two weeks.

The pessimist bachelorette: be prepared.

Yes, I'm watching The Bachelor, and I hate it, but I enjoy the shared experience of watching a TV show at the same time as other people and discussing it. That doesn't happen so much these day. I can't watch the trendy shows cos they aren't on free to air. I'm really enjoying Upper Middle Bogan and It's a Date, but I only know one person watching them. So segue The Bachelor into my singleness post. The thing in common is the odds of getting married, approx 25 to 1. Actually maybe those girls aren't so stupid after all because an exactly 1 in 25 chance of marriage to a handsome nice guy with a job is possibly better odds than in the real world.

Maybe I've always been a pessimist, or maybe I take a logical view of romantic things, but I've always prepared myself for singleness. I never assumed that I'd get married. I sort of hope I do, and I've generally admitted a slim chance, but I've made plans for my life based on the assumption of singleness. Apparently some girls (on The Bachelor and in cliche) plan their wedding in detail from girlhood. It's not that unusual to look around and all the adults you know are married so it's fair to assume you'll also get married, I know women like that, and maybe also they were more optimistic people than me, or they were more surrounded by potential husbands than I ever have been. I've had no boyfriends, and a number of dates I can count on one hand. Did I say hand? That's being generous. In these circumstances, assuming singleness is natural. But I'm possibly also just a gloomy pessimist. True, most people get married, but why ASSUME something you can't PLAN? You can't PLAN to meet someone at age 19 and marry at age 22 and have your first baby at 26, so what good is it to assume?

But even so, even if you're a really cute dainty fun girl surrounded by sensible yet amusing young men who ask you out, I think it's worth assuming singleness. Because you really don't know what is in your future, so make sure you're a well-rounded person with life skills and a savings account and a relationship with God. And then if you DO perchance get married, you'll have a bit more to bring to the relationship than your dream wedding. But if you don't, you'll be fine, and hopefully a little less disappointed. Things have worked out exactly as I expected so far.

Speaking of pessimism, on the weekend I mentioned that I assume singleness to some women from my church, and one of the married girls came up to me and said that she used to as well. Even when she was engaged she was pessimistic enough to keep her hopes checked a little bit in case her fiance changed his mind or died. So its probably a personality thing or an anxiety thing, as much as a wisdom thing. And they say that optimists are more likely to get what they want out of life. So don't listen to me! I shall assume I will have a four-poster bed one day.

Breathing through nose.

I am now an OK nose-breather. It was a big adjustment, it was hard to deprive myself of oxygen at first, and I can't do it at night, but I've got days under control and my hanky/tissue use has dropped 80%. I've been breathing through my nose all day, including when I walked to work and haven't used a single tissue, which is pretty unheard of, I'm famous for my nose-blowing at work. So if you are a sniffly person, it's worth trying.

Jane Eyre quote for resisting temptation.

There is baking in the office today. Fresh cinnamon scrolls and herman sourdough rolls. Temptation to snack! normally I would pounce. But now I have to wait until lunchtime. I am reminded of the quote from Jane Eyre that Emma Thornett used in her singleness Briefing article.

“Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation; they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth? … Preconceived opinions, foregone determinations, are all I have at this hour to stand by; there I plant my foot.”

There you go.

Why I don't need Twitter.

I have Elsie, my own private Twitter account. Any time a tiny thought pops in my head and I want to tell someone, I usually send it to Elsie.

To: Elsie
Subject: nails

I painted my nails pearly pink.  I normally like it but meh. It's highlighting all my xma damage bumps. I need to go back to a strong colour before engage.

To: Jess
Re: nails

LOL, I love this about you. That's how I think about lipstick. But at least you can wear a strong nail colour at Engage - a strong lip colour is just a bit woah for Engage.

To: Elsie
Subject: Re: nails

That's why I like emailing you! Obsessive details are normal to you. Actually I think I'll take my stuff up there and do them on Saturday. I'll have more time.

What an insight into the daily unblogged life of Jelssie. Twitter isn't really missing out on anything.

Voting.

I'm a swinging voter. I've swung about 4 times since the election started. And I'm in a marginal seat now so it actually matters! Woohoo!

I always decide on the day, and then walk in and realise there are TWO pieces of paper darnit, the little easy one I just decided and the big other confusing one that I always fluff. This time, however, I have gone to belowtheline.org.au like a nerd and cleared up that big confusing sheet. I've made that decision in advance for the first time EVER! The little groups are very interesting. I feel so responsible.

Sunscreen for summer.

I have to rave about fruitybeauty. Elsie put me onto it. This is a useful and amusing beauty blog. Now, I am not a high-maintenance beauty person. I have makeup, I wear it occasionally, but on the beauty spectrum I'm pretty much down the end that wears lip balm, sunscreen and moisturiser, washes hair every second or third day, and that's about it. So fruitybeauty is for me. She talks about products like BB cream and foundation, which doesn't go over my head, but she spends as much time talking about actually useful things like what makes a good lip balm and how to get maximum days out of washing your hair. These things have changed my life. Also, by happy coincidence I'm pretty much the same hair type as her and have the same skin problems, so following her rules actually works for me and has made my life easier. And it is great to hear someone talk about pigmentation. Oh how I hate pigmentation.

I'm plugging this because we're going into summer and she's written a helpful post on sunscreen. I think sunscreen and moisturiser are the only anti-aging products that work. Especially sunscreen. This is a true fact. So I reckon it's worth spending money on a sunscreen that works and which doesn't feel gross on your face so that you wear it every day. Also, your face is a fairly small surface area so a small bottle will last a long long time.

Why I like my rules.

Rules make life easier. If I have rules, I don't have to spend as much brainpower evaluating every situation. Cos decisions are hard. Having a rule for a situation doesn't mean that I can never vary my behaviour, but I have a default I stick to.

So I have a rule that I never buy lunch at work. I sometimes buy lunch, when I eat with my colleagues, or there is something new to try, but it's pretty rare. My default is to bring lunch.

And I have a "bedtime". And when it's about that time I go to bed. I don't go to bed when I've finished watching TV, or when I feel tired, or any other arbitrary thing, a different time each night and a specific decision each night. My default is, bedtime. No discipline or thought required.

So that's how I see rules. I'm free to do what I want, eat what I want, go to bed what I want, but all that choice is exhausting. A good habit is a huge relief. And rules help me prop my behaviour until good habits are set.

Update: Stopping Snacking.

I'm still obsessed with this.

So basically I'm eating the food I normally eat, but I've shifted it to mealtimes only. Which doesn't sound that radical, cos still eating M&Ms is still being unhealthy. It's not really a "diet", as such. Which is fine, I'm not looking for a "diet", I want to challenge my eating habits. So M&Ms at lunchtime. However. Something happens when you eat snack foods only with your meals instead of when you get bored/hungry at 9.30 am. The meal has already filled you up, so you don't eat M&Ms like a pig who has just been given a trough full of M&Ms. You just eat a dainty number, and then go and clean your teeth and that's it.

Last Monday, first official day, was a little unsuccessful, because after I scooted to work I didn't eat enough for lunch, which meant I was calorie deficient and I got seriously hungry in mid afternoon, so I ate almonds. Cos the aim isn't to starve in between meals. The next day I counted calories to make sure I ate enough for lunch. I haven't had hunger problems at all today. My body is used to it.

I've switched boredom eating into boredom drinking. Like tea. I also got Miso soup sachets. Technically probably a food, but I think of it as salty tea.

Anyway, it's been really good. I prefer not-snacking to snacking. I snacked heavily on the weekend and I'm glad to be back at work in no-snack land.

Envelope recycling.

Work had a pile of C5 envelopes to get rid of. I took them and thought I'd spend a day thinking about what I could use them for. If nothing comes to mind, I'll bin them. I have thought of something! Sandwich bags. Paper sandwich bags. Instead of gladwrap. I have to trial one.

Subject: Dishwasher announcement!

(This is an email I sent to some of my colleagues today. I feel so much better after making this decision. So many annoyances are now outside of my area of responsibility!)


Hello! Relax, this is not a rant, you can all go on using the dishwasher as you were before.

I am no longer going to use the dishwasher. I will not

1) put things in the dishwasher,
2) turn the dishwasher on,
3) empty the dishwasher, or
4) handwash everything the dishwasher didn't clean (which is now happening every day).

I am going to go back to the pre-dishwasher days and I will wash and dry my own cup and plate and put them away.

Just letting you all know. Dishwasher Club no longer includes me. As you were.

Jess


(I really don't like the dishwasher. I don't like any part of it. Grovelling inside it amongst the stinky old coffee cups, unpacking it, trying to solve the mystery of why things come out completely dirty. It constantly undermines my tranquility and godliness. And then I realised that I don't HAVE to use it. Why is the obvious solution sometimes the hardest to see?)

Bank accounts.

So I'm going to be supremely boring and talk about banking. Actually, money is one of my favourite topics, I'm just shy.

Due to my own triplicate stupidity* earlier this year I went a week without any access to my money and then another 3 weeks without a PIN for cash withdrawals. That was a really inconvenient month. I cancel my card about every 18 months and during that time I'm always kicking myself for only having one accessible bank account, because when that's unaccessible I'm totally stuck. And then I forget about it. I just hate having more than 3 cards in my wallet—ID, Visa, medicare.

Last week one of the Spotify ads for ING finally sunk in. You get 5% back on all paywave transactions <$100 for 6 months. I use paywave! I love it. So it sounds like easy money to me. That's finally the incentive I needed to open another bank account.

I've also overcome my hatred of cards and signed up for Flybuys. This is a big ideological breakdown for me. Of all cards, loyalty cards like this annoy me the most. They track your spending and clog your wallet. But I'm going to try and make money out of it. We'll see.

Here is my new card. I opened the account on Friday and it came on Wednesday and I used it at the chemist today.

Look! I've cut the barcode off my temporary paper flybuys card and taped it to the back of my new card. So I don't have THAT piece of plastic in my wallet!

* (First stupid thing: I like to keep my wallet slim, and minimise the number of cards I have, so I only have one card to access money. Second stupid thing: I stuck my only card into an ATM one night and it didn't suck in, so instead of taking a step to the left and trying the other ATM, I kept pushing my card in, and then when it was all the way inside but nothing was happening on the screen I got my drivers license out and stuck that in the crack to give it an extra deep poke. That ATM broke. I had to cancel the card. And due to the first stupid thing I had zero access to my money. Third stupid thing, I then destroyed my new PIN before I memorised it accurately. That cost $10 for a replacement PIN and another new card.)

Comrade.

 http://everydaysystems.com/

This guy is like me. Except instead of calling things "challenges" he calls them "everyday systems". And instead of doing something for a while he seems to sustain it. So we are quite different I guess.

I like old things.

I just always have. Maybe because I read a lot of books set in long ago places, I like things that look like they are from long ago places. I like things that have a history. I also like the look of them and the make of them. Made from wood, rather than plastic, say.

I noticed, the last time I caught the bus from the east to the inner west, a whole heap of new vintage shops. A HEAP of them. And they seem to have fairly ordinary things in them. Not fancy antique polished hall stands, more like beaten-up kitchen tables and old suitcases and wooden crates and random industrial things. I thought how interesting it is that all the old stuff from the houses of my grandparent's generation are now being expensively traded up to inner-city young people. Example: a photo I took of my grandparent's back verandah (recording it for posterity). Arrows to all the things worth money in Alexandria or Newtown.

If you chart the value ($$$ and desirability) of an object over time it's basically a U-curve.

It starts out expensive and new, and the owner is proud of it. Then it gets a bit dated but it's still good and the owner doesn't really think about it one way or another… the value declines. Then it starts to get a bit embarrassing. Maybe it goes to a room in the back of the house, or it gets given to the kids when they move out. Then it hits the bottom of the chart, it has no monetary value at all, it's ugly and worn out and it probably goes to Vinnies or the dump or just sits forgotten somewhere. Then all of a sudden, it's retro! The value swoops back up the chart and it's worth money and people who buy it are proud of it because they had something just like it when they were a kid. I'm looking at YOU, cyclops scooter for $750. I put the turnaround at the 30-year mark. Which means junk from the early 80s is now worth not throwing out. But who knows.

Diagram of Cute Trend Cycle.

For this post.

Stopping Snacking.

Last week I decided to stop snacking. I read something about the fasting fad and I thought "hmm, maybe I don't need to put food into my stomach every couple of hours". Snacking is just a normal part of modern life but not so common in past generations. So I'm going to eat 3 meals a day but no snacks. And turns out that's not an original thought (I don't think it's possible to have an original thought about food, it's such an anxious topic in our society). "No pleasure is denied, just unobtrusively delayed and contained. Served up on the platter of limited opportunity, each pleasure becomes even more enjoyable than it was before." I like that. But I mainly like the simplicity. So I want to just have 3 meals a day. It's going to be better for my teeth as well, cos after each meal I'll clean my teeth and then that's it for the next 6 hours. Although I do still want to have fruit and I haven't decided whether to not count fruit as a snack or be consistent and incorporate it into meals. I'll aim for the meal thing I think.

Every challenge needs an end so that you can opt out without shame, so I'm working on this challenge until the end of the month. If I'm too hungry in between meals, I'll snack again next month.

Ben appearing

Jelssie has long been fans of Vanishing Point but neither of us have had the opportunity to meet the illustrious author and illustrator, Ben McLaughlin. Until now. Until today. You see, Ben and I work in the same neck of the woods and one of his colleagues is a friend of mine and today! today! I met Ben randomly at the local pub!

So dear Ben, the big question Jessica wants to know is: were you as excited to meet me???

Diary bought.

Me, with my new 2014 diary and a lot of trepidation.

My best year yet???????????

So I think I want this diary, it's just the right size and has the layout I want, but I find "My Best Year Yet" deeply disturbing. Deeply, deeply, disturbingly disturbing. I am not joking about this, I've literally written a list of things that could make a year really really good, but I'm not optimistic about the reality of them happening. On the other hand, someone could die, and that that would be the worst thing to happen. I want to hope for the best, but I don't want to be taunted by this hope if I end up with the worst or the meh. THIS IS ALL THE ANGST OF TURNING #) THAT I WAS WORRIED ABOUT. #) is 30 in caps lock. I probably should buy this diary after all the emotional effort I've already invested in it. Why is my life so hard.

Diary indecision.

The Kikki K email came today announcing that 2014 diaries are instore. I rushed off at lunchtime to look at them. I spent 20 minutes agonising with 3 different sales women, and finally decided to go away and think about it. Diary-buying is one of the most difficult purchases, every year. I like the paper at KK. And the fonts. I like A6, week to a spread. But after that it gets hard. One style has an elastic, but it has lines to write on and costs $5 more. Another style has nice spaces to write in, but no elastic, and too many cutesy pictures of cherries and ice-creams. Another style is cloth-bound and has nice writing spaces, it's almost my favourite, but the front cover says "2014 My Best Year Yet", which just feels like a lot to live up to, a lot of pressure on me. It'll be a sad joke if it turns out to be a mediocre or worse year. What to do!

Frugal tip: rag bag.

When something cotton wears out, ie a towel, a piece of clothing, or a sheet, don't throw it in the bin. Chop or tear it up into hanky-sized squares and keep them in a bag or box. Obviously, then, you can use them for cleaning. We haven't bought paper towels for the kitchen for ages, because we just use these scraps of cotton for cleaning the sandwich press and everything. They're disposable single-use cleaning cloths, for free!

The other thing I've just discovered is that when you are sick, this giant supply of old cotton squares serves as free giant stash of disposable hankies, saving you from buying tissues or washing a pile of gross hankies.

Mum

My mum is so lovely and thoughtful. It was sunny yesterday and I'd been out all day in nothing more than a t-shirt and flimsy cardigan. But it turned chilly in the afternoon and I was feeling the cold.

I'd come straight out of evening church and we were making plans for dinner on the phone. She had a hunch that I wouldn't have time to pop home to grab a jacket. "Are you cold?" she asked. "Do you want me to bring a coat for you?"

"Yes, I'm cold! Yes I'd love a coat!"

My mum is the best :) She knows me too well.

Ugly furniture.

Frugal decorating tip!

There is plenty of old furniture for free or for very cheap. I get minutes of joy from standing in my loungeroom and pointing at everything and saying "free, op shop, op shop, free, free, op shop, free, free, free, free." Free usually depends on luck: like driving past a hard rubbish pile, or knowing someone getting rid of stuff when they leave town. Cheap means you know a good op shop and check regularly, or you can access a trailer and can collect things off Ebay or Gumtree.

The hazard of frugality, however, is ugliness. That's usually why nobody else wants it. They are replacing 90s pine with IKEA, for example. Or getting rid of something they bought while at uni. But you don't HAVE to keep the 90s pine look. It can be cunningly disguised!

Example of actual cheap bookshelf on Gumtree

Think about how much work you are willing to put in. Stripping and sanding pine so that you can revarnish it, for example, is hard work. I've done it. Do that if you REALLY care about having a nice wood finish or matching it to an existing piece of furniture. It's really hard to match wood, though. I totally failed. But it still looks nice.

But the fastest and easiest way is to just paint it white. My bookshelves, which were free by the way, started out as 1 raw pine book shelf and 2 matching dirty white particle-board office bookshelves. 1 tin of paint made 3 clean white bookshelves. It just takes one or two messy weekends. Flatmate and I took turns doing coats.

You don't have to do boring white, you could do something distressed, or coloured on the inside. But simplicity always looks nice. Plenty of ideas on the internet if you're clever.

Be aware that a lot of furniture isn't solid wood or wood-product, it's chipboard with plastic laminate. Stuff like IKEA Expedit or Billy. It is possible to paint laminate, with the right surface prep products. Maybe it's worth it, but I don't bother with it. But if it's wood you pretty much give it a quick sand and just slap paint on it.

Jelssievision episode 3!

 This episode features some introductions, because the 3rd episode isn't too late to introduce ourselves. We assumed all the viewers were our friends, forgetting that a) not all our friends are mutual and b) Bec tweets the videos so some viewers know neither of us. So here we are. Us.

Speaking of Bec, she does such a fabulous job. I go away from a fun brunch with Elsie and the camera feeling all stupid about all the stupid things I said which I've already forgotten, and thinking this will be a dull stupid episode, and then a week later she has magically cut out all the chewing and the boring bits so it's 10 minutes of jelssie goldish. Gold-panning, or sieving, you might say. This is really her idea and her project, Elsie and I just two opinionated gals who don't mind eating on camera. So thanks Bec. This is a match made in heaven.

Back to episode 3.

• What is the definition of toast? 
• Are strawberries as great as everyone thinks? 
• What are the limits of friendship? 
• Is there one perfect beauty routine? 
• How is Elsie similar to a Tim Tam but not a Gaiety? 
• What are the dangers of napkin etiquette? 
• How much money COULD you make from an avocado tree? 
• With bonus Jess!

Enjoy.

Jelssievision episode 3 from Bec Jee on Vimeo.

Single anthems

A conversation between me and Jess:

E: Do you know John Mayer’s song Perfectly Lonely? It’s my singles anthem.



J: I don't know it. Actually it sounds a bit familiar (spotify hooray!) My singles anthem is The Carpenters' Goodbye to Love. It's very melodramatic. Not as cool. Yours is good.

E: You’d think Single Ladies by Beyonce would be an obvious one, but I think our choices reflect our personalities and musical preferences.

The lyrics I love from Perfectly Lonely are:

Nothing to do
Nowhere to be
A simple little kind of free
Nothing to do
No one but me
And that's all I need

I'm perfectly lonely
I'm perfectly lonely
I'm perfectly lonely (Yeah)
'Cause I don't belong to anyone
Nobody belongs to me 

Edit from Jess:
Here is my song! How awesome is this karaoke version. All the lyrics you need. But here's the first verse to give you a taster.

I'll say goodbye to love. 
No one every cared if I should live or die.
Time and time again the chance for love has passed me by
and all I know of love is how to live without it
I just can't seem to find it.

Enjoy!

Snacks at work.

I'm a big fan of snacks at work. I have a banana, some almonds, maybe a biscuit or 2, each day. Sometimes there's chocolate or muffins or something in the kitchen to share, but when there hasn't been junk food for a while I get a bit bored of banana, almonds, biscuit. And of course cups of tea.

I've added Miso soup to the mix. Cheap, compact, easy to make, salty broth. Sachets are in the Asian section of the supermarket. Add boiling water. Tasty savoury alternative to tea and biscuits.

DIY ugboot refurbish.

The sad thing about old ugboots is that the wool on the inner sole wears out but the top of the foot and ankle are still thick and fluffy. Your feet are no longer cushioned by delightful fleece, they are simply standing on a balding foam sole. But you still have warm ankles. It is really a waste to buy new ugboots just for the sole.

You can actually buy new sheepskin inner soles. I've seen them at that sheepskin shop on the side of the highway in the blue mountains. Which gave me an idea. I can be frugal, and cut up some old ugboots to make my own sets of inner soles for my newer ugboots!

I finally got to do that this week. I've been keeping my old ugboots for years, waiting for the moment of need. Their time has come!

I made a template by drawing around new ugboot sole. I then drew a line inside it a bit smaller so that it would fit inside. (I just fished a cereal box out of the recycling for my template material.)

Then I cut the sole off my old ugboot. Sheepskin is a bit hard to cut, I suggest doing little snips through just the skin, not through the wool as well. The wool pulls apart once you've snipped through the skin.

Drew around my template on one side of the boot, using a texta.

Then I flipped the template over and drew around it on the other side of the boot. You have to flip the template over so that you get a left and a right foot.

Here they are! They are a perfect fit and my feet are happy.

Not much left over from the old boot. I'll cut a spare pair from the other boot and put them away somewhere for when I need to replace again. If you have a family of ugboot wearers, you could do this all the time and share out new inner soles whenever a pair gets holes in it.

Throwing away books.

I was keeping some design books because a) I forgot I had them cos they were in a box in a cupboard, b) they were given to me, and throwing away gifts is rude, c) I'm a graphic designer, I feel like I should respect books about my profession and get some credibility from them somehow. Not that I even thought that at the front of my mind, but that's pretty much what made me blind to getting rid of them, even though I NEVER use them.

But I really wanted to make shelf-room for my sheet music, and 4 big design annuals were taking up a lot of space. I had the stunning realisation that I didn't really want them. Also I didn't need them. Then, I wondered if I should return them to the giver. Uh oh. So I emailed her, and she said no, I could chuck them. So I went home and put them in the recycling bin.

Things I've done with other books recently: taken a novel to read on holiday and left it in WA; given a cookbook a second chance, and then throwing it in the bin a year later, uncooked from. Donated chick-lit to the opshop. Found a sewing book that was mums, and returned it.

The thing I've realised is that hoarding involves very little thought, it's just a compulsion. But culling and decluttering involves really looking, evaluating, and making a decision. It's empowering. I think that's why I'm so obsessed at the moment. But I've almost run out.

Less than flattering

It's really tempting to only post the most flattering pictures of yourself online. Sometimes I see photos I'm tagged in and I think, "Ugh! I don't like it! I don't want it popping up on people's feeds." However, I've made a conscious decision that if I ever react like that, then I will allow the photo to be tagged because I think it's really important for me to comfortable with less than flattering pics of me being online.

For example, I don't like the pic in this post. It's petty things, such as my parted fringe, my strange colouring due to the filters and I think my face shape looks weird.

In spite of that, I'm still allowing pics like that to be posted because it's about accepting that I'm not perfect and I don't need to present a perfect image of me every time. Perfection is not my goal or ideal, and reminding myself of that is important. It's also a way of fighting against the "people will only like me if I'm pretty enough" stream of thought that pervades throughout society. This kind of thinking is broadly adopted by advertisers and marketers, "Buy this product and you will have amazing skin and a zillion friends!" or "This is what a beautiful/happy/successful person looks like and if you follow this diet/exercise routine/guru/attain an unrealistic body shape, your dreams will come true!" FALSE.

A lot of it too, is about self-acceptance and being okay with who you are. And learning that people who truly love you will love you regardless of how bad any camera angle may be. And learning to care less about stuff you really should care less about.

Also, I want to present a somewhat realistic image of me - my real friends know what I look like. I don't want to be too different or too unreal online.

Having said that, I still pick more flattering pics as profile pics :P That's one thing that won't change.

Adorkable

I would use adorkable to describe an adorable dork. I would put Hamish Blake in this category.

Jipped of my full-cream

I reached the end of my full-cream milk this morning. As I opened the carton to flatten it for recycling, I realised all the cream had clung to the sides of the carton. I was deprived of the full-cream! In future, when I reach the end of my carton of full-cream milk, I will scrape out the cream and have a super-creamy porridge.

Throw.

Decluttering is empowering, but getting rid of possessions can be poignant. I'm still taking photos of things before I get rid of them. Here are the ways to get rid of things in order of most ideal to least ideal.

1. If possible, find another home. But don't become the person who relieves their clutter-guilt by giving things to people when they aren't wanted. That's just pushing your problem onto someone else. A well-placed rehoming is a very satisfying thing, like when your origami instruction book goes to the one kid in the city who loves origami right now. (Woohoo!!) I think the best way is: a) think of someone who might actually like it and then b) ask them if they would like it. Don't just leave it in their car or give it to them at church.

2. Place it in the clothing bin of the charity you support the most. Then they can get money while a total stranger rehomes your stuff.

3. Put it in the bin. This can be the easiest thing to do, if it's rubbish, obviously. Just walk outside and lift the lid. But the hardest thing to do if it's sentimental rubbish. Which it nearly always is, for me.

If you do a little declutter every so often it's pretty easy to sort things out and dispose of them thoughtfully. If you leave it for years until you have to move house, then it becomes a whirlwind of traumatic/cathartic binning or a garage sale. That might be great for some, but I'm not a band-aid ripper.

Storage "solutions".

Once you are storing things like this, there is almost no point owning those things. 1) OHAS, 2) Lazyness.

From all over Pinterest.

It LOOKS like genius. But carrying big tubs up a ladder and sliding them onto runners on the ceiling? I would never be bothered accessing them. It could only be really light stuff like pool noodles anyway.

Storage failure leads to a) not putting things away cos it's too annoying, or b) never getting them out because they are stored so deeply and you don't need them anyway, which is why you stored them in the first place, and then you forget you have them.

Here's an example: umbrellas. Failure is leaving it on the table because it's handy. Success is hanging it on a hook on the back of the front door because it's handy. That's a solution.

Another example: art and craft supplies. Failure is keeping it in shoe boxes all over the house on bookshelves and in the top of wardrobes. Sewing patterns here, paper stamps there. That's my current system. Success is getting it all out, gathering it all up, getting rid of stuff, and having it in one place where I can actually find it and use it—my art/utility cupboard, because I am now evicting the laundry powder and books.

I have twice as much art stuff as I need. Watch me cull! Thankfully I my flatmate works with kids so she can use a bit of stuff like that. She was actually really excited about an origami book I found cos she knows a kid obsessed with origami. That's the joy of getting rid of stuff: it goes from clutter, to pleasure-giving usefulness.

I have so many chalk pastels and I'm hopeless with pastels. So utterly hopeless. I can do pretty presentable work with oils, watercolours, pencils, charcoal. But all I do with coloured chalk is make a smudgy mess. I think it might be the paper. Anyway, it just goes to show that even an arty person can't just automatically make art with art supplies. Happily I've already found someone to take a box of pastels :)

Some observations on gossip

• Even if you've never struggled with gossip, once you become part of a culture that is embedded with gossip, it can be hard not to get sucked in.
• Gossip can be used to build relationships (not saying that it's right, but just saying that's an effect).
• Gossip can be a way of showing-off, "Look at me! I have this secret knowledge that no-one else knows" or "I heard this first, before anyone else!" or "I'm special/powerful because I know this"
• Never say anything about anyone that you wouldn't say to his or her face, or be willing to have published with your name.
• Verify information before sharing. None of this, "I heard..." business.
• God is able to forgive and reform a gossiper

Any other thoughts?

Context for tastebuds.

I bought some white chocolate chips cookies, but they weren't that nice, so I took them to work, but for some reason they taste really nice at work.

Cute trends.

Owls, for example. Past cute trends you may have forgotten are: white geese with blue bows; applique scotty dogs, either black or tartan; two cherubs resting on their elbows and gazing up. I don't want to kill the owl-love, but I take it with a grain of salt myself.

The cycle goes
1. cute trend.
2. twee and embarrassing.
3. forgotten.
4. retro/ironic cute trend.

Deboxing.

This is my obsession at the moment: getting rid of things that are sitting in boxes and not being used, and taking up more space than they need. Recently I sorted through a couple of boxes of designy stuff, and put my art books on the book shelf so that I can see them, and threw out a lot of printed material I designed. Old newspapers and brochures and stuff. That day I reduced about 2 cardboard boxes and a green bag down to 1 box.

Then I moved on to my box of CDs. I want to keep my legal copies, but I don't need the breaky plastic cases. Innefficient. I bought these plastic sleeves from officeworks last week. They fit a CD and a sleeve, or 2 CDs, in each one. $20 for 100 sleeves.

I've been so excited about this! I reduced a boxful of space down to a reasonably small pile of sleeves! And then fortuitously I got a nice CD box from Kikki K for $3!

Empty cases and besleeved CDs. I kept CD cases designed by friends,
or that were otherwise special, or already thin and cardboardy.

While I was on a roll, I opened my glory box--which is my romantically named wooden chest. It's got all my best homeschooled handiwork (quilts and things) that I can't find a place to use at the moment. Not much to throw out here but I got rid of another cardboard box and some odds and ends. Next project is the art/utility cupboard, which contains many boxes.

The trouble with cardboard boxes is that when you move house, you put everything in boxes, but then you don't need everything straight away, so it's just seemingly efficient to leave stuff in boxes under the bed or in cupboards. It's not proper storage where things are sorted and easy to access, it's just sort of in cardboard deep freeze.

Gallery walls.

I'm starting a tag for "frugal decorating". Ideas to make the best of your rental and make do with what you already have.

Karen, when she worked at MM, had this amazing decorated office wall. She just stuck all her posters and postcards up in a random but evenly spaced way. The overall effect was very cool. She gave me a couple of posters. Since I'm a hoarder of pretty things and concert tickets and sentimental cards I found her poster gallery idea very useful. Why keep a box of these sentimental papery things and never look at them, when they can be stuck up all in one big gallery and admired all the time? Especially when my bedroom has a built in robe with pale green glass instead of mirrors? Perfect surface for blu-tak!

Now any postcard, photo, ticket, or sketch, can be added easily to this area, and as well as reminding me of holidays and friends and family and things, it's a rather beautiful feature. The secret is, a big thing made of small things doesn't look messy, just detailed. Well, it needs a bit of a tidy, but other than that.

I've applied the same theory to hanging framed pictures. I takes a lot of work with 3M sticky hooks, getting them in the right place. But the result is, I can hang a lot of small, low-value pictures in one area and the overall effect is very pleasing. Small pictures look silly when they float randomly on large walls, so they look a lot better when they are all herded together.

This is my first ever cross stitch.

Feeling the love

I don't know if it's just me or a personality thing, but I often forget how loved and appreciated I am by other people. I have really felt the love this week from other people and it's been a reminder that there are so many ways to be affirmed and loved as a single person.

Examples of recent love shown to me:
- a friend unexpectedly brought back a NARS Dragon Girl lip pencil from the States that I've been eyeing for a while;
- a friend, who lives in Hong Kong, bought me this recipe book, that is only available in Hong Kong, to bring back via her mum. She knew how much it would mean to me to cook simple Cantonese food; and
- a friend brought back some Japanese products for me.

Examples of love in the past week:
- a sister in my Connect Group said some positive things about my character which I found very affirming, uplifting and made me feel appreciated and special. I was very touched;
- I'm going on a holiday with Bec. I've appreciated her being very patient and understanding with me and doing research while I've been a bit of space cadet of lately (most because it's been the busy season at work); and
- just today, I received a surprise bag of goodies from a friend in the States! Full of things I love, like the YSL Glossy Stain (in no 7 Corail Aquatique, a colour that's absolutely perfect for work and what I was about to buy in a different brand), a teal pen and nail polishes! And it came with a beautiful card and a lovely message :)

I'm writing this here, so that if I ever feel down in the dumps or thinks that nobody loves me, I'll remember all the love shown to me :) It's reminded me how important it is to show love and appreciation to those in your life.

Long skirts.

Love the long skirt. I'm tall, so it makes me feel tall in an elegant way, not a galumphing way.  Suitable for many seasons, if you layer properly. Actually works super well in the rain because the skirt can get wet, but it isn't touching you so your legs or leggings stay dry underneath.

I flicked through an illustrated book I own called When wanderers cease to Roam and on this page the author observed that the Muslim women in Niger "moved like mermaids" in their long wrap dresses, and so she started wearing long dresses too and observes that modesty is more relaxing because you don't have to hold your stomach in.

Leggings

I've been converted to wearing leggings in the outside world very recently, by a colleague. I've always thought of leggings as home clothes and shouldn't be worn as pants in the outside world. But they are so comfortable and they're a touch classier than trackies. Go leggings!

Joy in serving

Our church has two services in the evenings and the same music team serves at both. A sister started providing dinner for the musos during the evening and put together a roster. I've provided dinner twice and it's never been anything fancy. Just simple pasta dishes. They have been so grateful and  receptive that they've made it a real joy to serve them. It's so much easier to serve when those being served are so positive, enthusiastic and thankful. I must remember to be the same when I'm on the receiving end of someone's service.

The best kind of band to love

The best kind of band to love is one that is popular enough to tour smaller venues in your home country, but big enough overseas to do all the stadiums and arenas. It's much easier to get up close without having to fight the thousands of other fans. Bonus too, if the band has longevity because you'll get to see them a few times (hopefully!). I've loved Manic Street Preachers since '96 or '97. They make me feel old, but they still put on a fantastic live show.

This is the lead singer and me. He's got the best voice in rock'n'roll. Melodic yet sreamedelic. I reckon he'd be really good at singing power ballads. I imagined him auditioning for The Voice, what he would sing, and whether the judges would turn around for him.

Last night reminded me of my dream job when I was a teenager: to be one of those photographers below, working for the touring company or media and taking photos of bands.

Next action: eat dessert first.

Joss Whedon on productivity.

http://www.fastcocreate.com/1683167/how-to-be-prolific-guidelines-for-getting-it-done-from-joss-whedon

When a total stranger asks for your number.

My friend was in Bunnings on the weekend and was surprised to find herself being chatted up by another shopper, and in the flustering of the moment gave him her number. Then the rest of her Bunnings trip was made awkward because she forgot what he looked like and was worried she'd meet him again in another aisle. He texted while she was at church, and this is her reply, which I share with her permission because it's exactly what you might want to be able to respond one day, with whatever valid excuse you like, if you get asked out by a random.

Very ladylike, I think.

Dry nails.

So I love nail polish a little bit too much, and now my fingernails are not the healthiest they've ever been. The top layer keeps peeling off. I try and grow them out, then trim the peeling part off, but that just starts it splitting again. But I read last week that you should cut your nails after you've had a shower or done something wet because they'll be soft, and they wont fracture. It worked! I only have one peeling nail now. Almost ready to start polishing again.