Saturday Schmatterings-Move Indoors

      Good Saturday morning! I hope you are well and up and ready to tackle the weekend. It really got cold last night, and the house was under 60. I lost the battle to not turn the furnace on until November. DH said he just didn't want to be cold in his own house. He doesn't have an internal heater like I do. e se it at 68, but I'll lower it to 65.  Here's my mind dump of things I didn't yet yammer about in earlier posts this week. 

Nixing the Little Cans

     Budget meal challenges have me really reading labels and I'm not happy with what I see. Sure, I think our meals are tasty, but I can't ignore the amount of sodium any longer in many of the products I've pretended are fine, giving them a pass, justifying that  I use them in moderation or as part of an overall meal so per serving, not that bad. They are that bad! My biggest bad habit item is "cream of" soups. I know, I know, I know! This should have been nixed decades ago, but it is so convenient to whip a hot dish, or a meat sauce in no time with the help of those little cans. I'm going to become the queen of béchamel sauce. So I say. 

Purging

     Why do people, AKA me, get too much stuff in the house to begin with? Why having a simple rule that if something ne comes in, something else has to go isn't just common practice? As many of us can relate,  my purging need/problem really hit a high after each of my parents health declined and then passed away. Part was so much time dealing wit their household and not looking properly after mine, and part accumulating some of their things as well. This happened after DH's dad died too. IT's also the nostalgia of not getting rid of my kids things when they have long stopped using them-or worse, long topped living here.  I'm trying to break this mind set, and remember, the memories are in my head, not a possession. If it has no real place in our home, it shouldn't' be there. 

Treating Ourselves

     A dear reader Scarlett had a post on her private blog about  going ahead, even when being thrifty and frugal most of the time,  and buying something you have wanted, particularly if it is with money found or earned above normal such as a survey gift card or rewards point. I am butchering this paraphrase, but I think I sort of have her point. It might also seem counterintuitive to my purging sentiments. The difference, giving myself permission to buy something that has been a long time want, something that will make life better, tells me I am worthy of being treated kindly by myself. I think of it as a take on investing in myself. This doesn't mean walk down the aisle at Target and pop every cute Hearth and Home doo dad that strikes my fancy, but might mean finally pulling the Visa card I earned last spring and buying that new front porch settee I've been eying up (or a similar version) for the last three years. I'm doing it this spring folks-I really am! And, I'll keep purging other crap. 

Book  Club or Discussing Books

     Book club moved to a Zoom meetup because of how cold it got last night and would still be this morning. Half of the gals did not want to bundle up and sit outside and we hadn't planned an indoor alternative. We finished te meeting.  Where the Crawdad's Sing was a good read and a good discussion book. We've had other books that were a good or OK read, but the discussion was a bit flat. This one did not disappoint, Even if you aren't in a book club, find someone to read along or after you and talk about all the angles. I highly recommend it. I realize tough I have a small collection of book club books I've ended up purchasing-this including because the hold on the library was too long to wait. I need to get these book passed along to someone else. I may write my name in the cover of the ones I'd eventually want to read again, and perhaps it would work it's way back to me, but  most if I can't find a reader who wants them, will go to the next library books sale. Ironically, after my copy was bought, a book club friend found two copies in the library sale held last week. I suppose they were donated and no one cross references to see if they should perhaps keep and catalogue the donations before selling. 

      I've started a bit on the spare room already before logging on for the meetup, and will get back at it now. First, I am going to get stuff ready for chili-the last of my $3 meals which may be eaten tonight or tomorrow. I hope your Saturday is fun or productive, or maybe both. 

Book Club Recommendations

I like the idea of a book club, but the ones I have tried to connect with ended up disbanding before I started or the times weren't right. With owning my nights and weekends again, outside of personal obligations, I made a personal commitment to find one, and not make excuses or let something else interfere.  I have been participating in a book study through my church, though the book is not entirely a spiritual one. Some of you may be familiar with Dr. Brene Brown, her work on shaming research, and rising above trying to be perfect. I was not before this book study.  Here is her blog if you would like to learn more. http://brenebrown.com/my-blog/ this is not really a recommendation, only sharing the link because I mentioned the book study.

This book study group is diverse in age and lifestyle, and has been a welcome new addition to my calendar. This book study is meeting needs for connection and personal reflection, it still isn't what I was hoping to find in a book club. I want a good novel, and snacks, and wine, and interesting people to mull it over with. I'll keep looking, but in the interim, I thought, who are more interesting than the kindred souls connecting virtually through blog world?  I've read your stuff, and you are an interesting lot, and know you are probably reading some interesting things. 

With summer drawing near, at least in the northern hemisphere, our days are longer, and catching a few extra pages of a book while sitting outside before sunset is a sweet pleasure for us avid readers. But what to read. I want to here your choices.  I invite you to be part of my book club. If you accpet, all you need to do is leave a comment with your recommendation. Include the title, the author, and a brief synopsis of the book, and why you recommend it. With your permission, I'll migrate your comments into a new page I am starting called Summer Reads.  Of course you in the southern hemisphere are welcome to join in.  Periodically through the summer, as I complete a recommended book, I'll throw out some thoughts and questions and we'll see where this might go. 

Here is my favorite summer read.

Jane Green's The Beach House I love 65 year old Nan's eclectic group of house guests and new friends she meets.  A shock from her past sends the whole household, and Nantucket Island,  into uncovered secrets and lies, and new beginnings. I love a book that I can visualize and understand where the writer is going with her characters. This was truly mind candy, but see if you don't see yourself, your friends, and your family in any of Nan's group.

Happy reading.