Follow Mother Nature 'Cause She Knows Best

Nature doesn’t de-junk and say, “There!” De-junking is an on-going process. Plants grow and make flowers, fruit and vegetables. Today’s salad will be in tomorrow’s sewer. Today’s dirt is yesterday’s plants and animals, and then there’s the tide. It’s all a continual process of acquisition and elimination. We are smart when we use nature as our blueprint. Here’s what I suggest.

Nature’s biggest dumping and streamlining time is autumn and winter when all the leaves fall, and then the stormy winds blow, so let’s use this time of year to focus on de-junking basements, attics and garages. Garages were meant to store the car you know. Note: Nature doesn’t get rid of Her leaves in a day, so don’t think you will clean out the garage in a day especially if the car has been in the driveway all year. Remember Nature takes about two months to de-junk the leaves, so don’t get on a SHE production schedule, because you’ll burn out. Take it easy, and take all the time you need, just keep at it.

Clutter in your home comes from you and your family leaving things out after you are through with them. When Nature is through with something She puts it away. What if every time you have to go to the bathroom (#1) you use that urge as a cue to put something away before you go, and after you’re through and you’ve washed your hands put one more thing away?

I Can Tolerate Wal-Mart. . .But Not at Christmastime!

When I got organized in June, 1977, I’m ashamed to say I indulged in my first gloat shopping that Christmas. I had all my gifts bought and wrapped by Dec. 5, and went out on several gloating expeditions, where I’d watch hassled shoppers paw through merchandise searching for the perfect gifts. I know, I know, not really the Christmas spirit, but I’d spent so many panic-stricken shopping sprees in my chaotic past that it was kind of fun to be free to observe others and be glad that was a part of my painful past.

In this Young@Heart article and video I shared what I learned while being sick. The lesson will remain for a long time.

In this Young@Heart article and video; it’s embarrassing, but I shared it anyway.

Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree.

Okay, okay our eyes were bigger than our door hole! We are both well aware that a tree in the woods looks smaller than it really is. Hey, we weren’t born yesterday! And since we have been part of picking out Christmas trees for at least 60 years, we never dreamed we’d be off measurement when it came to picking out a tree. But this year we goofed! BIG TIME.

It all started when we went to a tree farm up the Lewis River Highway in Woodland, Washington to cut our Christmas tree. The drive into the wilderness made us so happy. The nice man who owns the tree farm, seeing we were senior citizens, offered to cut it for us. It was muddy that day and not wanting to trudge through rows and rows of choices, we sort of scanned the farm and sent the man off to cut what we deemed to be a beautiful noble fir about fifty yards away (that’s where we goofed). NEVER PICK OUT A TREE AT A DISTANCE! DUH!!

“This one?” the farmer yelled.

“No, the one next to it,” we yelled back.

“Okay! It’s a beauty,” he boasted.

His helpers drug it back and they hefted it into our borrowed pick-up while we blissfully stood in the barn with mugs of hot apple cider and listened to the Carpenters singing, “Frosted window panes, candles gleaming inside, painted candy canes on the tree. . . .”

We paid the man and set off for home, completely unaware of the events that would follow.

When we got home, we were able to get the evergreen treasure off the truck, but once it was down on the ground, we couldn’t budge it. That was the first clue we were in trouble. Our neighbor is big, strong, fit and young so we called him and he was more than happy to help us get the giant in the house. It was so fat it wouldn’t fit through the front door until we tied twine around the branches and cinched it in. Getting it through that door took all three of us pushing and shoving, but we did it! Then we stood it up! Now our ceiling in the living room is 22 feet so we knew we weren’t in trouble that way (the tree is 14 feet) but once we cut the twine and the tree popped into shape it was hard to admit it but there wasn’t room for anything else!

We had to go buy more lights and ornaments and the tree is now trimmed, as they say, but truthfully it looks like crazy people live here! We’d like to send a picture, but we can’t get back far enough to get the whole thing in the shot. We are having a New Year’s Eve Party and our first thought was, ‘There’s no room for the people.’ We’ve seriously thought about taking the tree down or uninviting the guests.

Guess we’ll just chock it up to a lesson learned late. Hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year!

Cheers