De-cluttering at its best

We've just done 2 days of yard selling. It went well. My older sister came and brought a truckload of
items and we made about $700.00. And if you saw how reasonable our prices were, then
you would know we moved a lot of clutter to get to that amount. For now, I packed what is left on my porch and after all the work
of getting it down from the attic and up from the basement, I may do 1 more day of this, weather permitting,
this coming Friday.  I got a real "leg up" on cleaning out that spare room and I am on my
way to making it a cozy office so MAYBE I can be better about my filing and paperwork instead of making
things so much harder on myself by not being organized. I've really been bad about letting things get away from me around here. I feel like I'm always overwhelmed with paperwork and such and I just dread some
of these tasks so much that I procrastinate. I did look up that flylady.com that Christina mentioned on my
last post and I am definitely going to start using that site to help me out. I really do need to do the baby steps method that she talks about since my free time is so fragmented and I seem so darn A.D.D.-ish these days.
I believe, without any doubt, that it is hard to relax and clear your head in a cluttered environment and I think
I'm ready to become a minimalist for this very reason. We really need so little but we surround ourselves with so darn much. Getting rid of things is much more my angle these days. Now if I could just get the 2 cr** collectors I live with to get on board. Oh and on a totally different subject, there is a man that owns
a stationary store in my town. Everytime I go in there, he looks like he just lost his best friend. I've never seen anyone radiate misery more than this man. So, I struck up a conversation with him after he got off the telephone in an irritated manner. After a few innocent conversation starters, I said, "you're not very happy, are you?" At this point, keeping in mind I live in Jersey, I thought this guy might tell me right off, but he said, "No, I'm not happy. The things customers do and say around here gets to me and I'm just not one to shake it off. I hate what I do but I'm stuck here." I said, "no, you're not, don't say that to yourself. You can find a whole new career if you want and as long as you have your health, nothing stands in your way. And besides, that's their issues. It's not your fault people are impatient and rude." He nodded and we taked about living in this area. Then,he told me about his mother's cancer. I told him about Tim's. Then he told me that a woman he met in Amsterdam and became great friends with, was attacked by a man who stabbed her 10 times. She lived but is paralyzed from the waste down. Then, there was this little girl dying of brain cancer in the next town. Her story had been in the papers. Turns out this was his good friend's daughter and the first baby he had ever held. His friend came into the store a few weeks ago to tell him she had died. This man's friends were all dealing with such tragedies and this guy too was in a bad place. He really had a lot to be sad about.
I told him that I know of similar cancer stories about kids and I don't know how you recover from that, as a parent, but I told this guy that he has to stop carrying all this around on his back. He has to be grateful for whatever is going good in his life, (his mom is fine now) and carry on. I told him that I don't know how but my husband goes to work each day with a smile and he has cancer. I'm not trying to minimize anyone's troubles but I do tell people, if you have your health, you have the world by the "you know whats." Everything else is fixable and changeable if you're miserable about it. Not easily maybe, but do-able. And SMILE for Pete sake!!! He told me he was going to Paris and I think he hoped this vacation would help him get his groove back. I know where this guy is. We live in a difficult area. If you've read my blog awhile, then
you know I get sick of living here, a lot. But, just when I've really had my fill, someone pops up and does something nice for me and restores my faith. I don't claim I did anything earth moving for this guy, but I hope
our talk had some effect, even if just showing him that even a stranger gives a hoot that he is sad. He thanked me and I wished him a good vacation. If you're living with cancer within your home, then you probably know the feeling of watching people kind of throw their lives away when they have SO much going
for them. I remember whining about my job years ago. Now, I wish that my biggest problem was a jerky boss. I didn't know what real problems were. I do now. And somehow, I smile and get on with it. It may not always be this way, but I'm trying to be a positive influence on those around me instead of bringing them down. It is just too exhausting and depressing to walk around thinking about everything that is
wrong all the time. I try to enjoy the things that are going good. And today was a good day, starting off with
watching Liv's soccer team win another game(they're undefeated). Liv has scored in every game and I just love watching kids' sports. My sisters and parents were here today and we laughed our fool heads off on the front porch on a gorgeous fall day. Small blip. Mom got bit by a bee but the good thing was that it had just landed on my dad's..............um.............."situation" and I warned him just in time so although it then flew over and bit mom when he shooed it away, at least I spared Dad a swollen, stinging situation on his "situation." Always these little silver linings. ;o)