It's NaNoWriMo!

That's National Novel Writing Month, in case you haven't heard. For thirty days people all around the world go nuts, typing away at their computers, hoping to hit 50,000 words on their work-in-progress.

Five of us are participating this year, plus several of my youngest daughter's stuffed animals. They've got big plans, but I'm not holding my breath; stuffies are not known for their follow-through.

All three boys are trying to hit 50,000 words, so I'm expecting some scrapping over the available computers. I'm whipping out a romance novel - something new for me - in attempt to produce something easily marketable.

I will still be posting here, but if you don't see me for a day or two, don't panic! It's just going to be a crazy, crazy month.

It Feels Great

Dh drove off this morning with 14 large black garbage bags full of stuff for Goodwill. I was happy to see them go; they were clogging up my room and making it feel like I hadn't gotten anywhere. Now I have a little more room to breathe.

I'm also hitting a kind of mid-purge stride. I've tackled some of the harder hordes of possessions; clothes, shoes, books. But there's a long way to go, still. I'm not up today for 10 hours of cleaning. So I'm setting a smaller goal; one set of cabinets downstairs that shouldn't really be holding anything.

It's day five of my month without my car, and I'm doing all right. I've had to explain to a few people why I couldn't drop everything, hop in my van, and be there RIGHT NOW, but contrary to my fears, everyone is getting it.

"Good for you!" I keep hearing. That's helpful!

Today I walked downtown with my 7 year old dd to pick up her first violin. It took me nearly the entire walk there to clear all the thoughts out of my head and begin to listen to her chatter, but by the time we were walking back I'd hit a more zen place. I was present. And I enjoyed the sights along our walk, everyone's smile when they saw my small daughter swinging her new violin in its case, and really listening to what dd had to say to me. For her, a walk with mommy is a special treat. I basked in her love and the gratitude she felt simply for getting a little of my attention. What is more precious than that?

Tonight we're going to a friends house for dinner - all six of us - and we'll be walking there, too. It's probably a forty-five minute walk, and I'm a little anxious, but I bet it will become a special memory, too. How many times has my family walked home from a dinner party as the sun has gone down? Too few, I guarantee it.

Enjoying the Experience

I wrote about how hard it is to quell that little inner voice that always demands more. I have another inner voice - this one demands action.

Today is sunny, warm (getting hot), and perfect for lounging by the beach. In fact, as soon as I'm done here, that's what I'm going to do.

But the little voice in my head says: "Why aren't you reading that Biology textbook to get ahead of your 10th grader? (I homeschool, btw) Why aren't you working on your menus for next month? Why aren't you writing a better query for your novel, or better yet - taking another pass at fixing that stupid book?"

And when that voice isn't firing off, a different one kicks in: "It's too hot. The water's just a bit too cold. It would be better if the beach was bigger. I wish I had some of my friends here to chat with. If only I had lost another five pounds before I came...."


AAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH! Just shut up and enjoy yourself, would you?

I'm not sure if I need a straight shot of whisky, a course of zen meditation or a good whack upside the head, but something's got to give, here.

This is the GOOD PART.

This is the good part. This is the good part. This is the good part.

Well, obviously there are two parts to this Halving It All challenge: letting go of the stuff, and learning to actually enjoy "life".

Experiencing Art

What a day today. Remember that part of what I'm trying to accomplish with this plan is to spend less on things and more on experiences. Well today I had a fantastic experience that cost me nothing but gas money.

I drove to the Clark Museum in Williams, Massachusetts with my family. My parents are long-time members of the museum and were able to each bring an adult along with them for free. Everyone under 18 gets in for free anyway. What a deal! I wouldn't have minding at all paying to see such beautiful art.

The Clark Museum started out as a private collection, but it has grown and it is amazing. I saw originals of artwork I've been seeing as prints my whole life - Renoir, Pissaro, Manet, Degas' sculptures, 15th century religious artwork, and more. What an incredible collection.

One painting that really caught my attention was completely new to me. It's called The Women of Amphissa, by Lawrence Alma-Tadema. You can see it up top (barely), but it's better if you follow the link.

Basically, the painting shows a number of women lying on the ground of what looks like a roman forum. They are either asleep or just waking up, and you can tell they've been celebrating hard the night before. Another group of women stands near them - I took them for "respectable" women coming to do their shopping and finding them there, but I noticed that they didn't look disgusted or put out - they look a little wistful, actually.

Here's the explanation the Clark Museum has on their website: "The painting depicts an obscure story recorded by the first-century Greek writer Plutarch: a group of bacchantes from Phocis awaken after a night of celebrating the rites of Bacchus. They find themselves in the marketplace of Amphissa, a town at war with Phocis. The women of the town have been guarding the sleeping revelers, protecting them from attack by soldiers."

Isn't that awesome? Women are protecting women for once. Instead of judging them or looking down on the young women, the older ones are watching out for them, keeping their own men at bay.

I love it. What a beautiful, wonderful day. And what a delightful discovery to come across a brand-new (to me) piece of art that can move me right out of normal life. I feel transported.

The New Weight Loss Craze?

I hadn't planned on "halving" me along with everything else, but after spending a summer with my parents and feasting every day, I might have to.

I have the perfect weight loss plan.

It's called Parking The Car. I've done it before and it works miracles. If you park your car - or better yet, slash your tires so you really can't use it - and walk everywhere you will lose weight and lots of it. Even if you walk to the bus or subway station you'll get more exercise than taking the car. Add in a few detours for errands and the pounds will melt away.

I've done this before. When I was 27 I had to make a very embarrassing phone call that went something like this:

Me: Hi, this is Jennifer xxx. I have an automobile loan with you?

GMAC: Yes, I've called your loan up on my computer. Looks like you haven't made any payments in awhile.

Me: Well, that's the thing. I'd like to give it back.

GMAC: Give what back?

Me: The car.

GMAC: You can't give it back!


The conversation went on like this for awhile, but in the end the kind GMAC representative agreed that, yes, after all, if I couldn't make my payments, I could give the car back. I ended up going without a car for a year.

It was a tough year in many ways. I was pregnant with child #3. I was soon to be a single parent. I walked everywhere, even in my 9th month with a humongous belly and two toddlers in a double stroller.

I ate a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream every night.

But when I had the baby the weight started slipping off. And off. And off. I went out and bought some new clothes. Two weeks later I'd lost two more sizes, so I went out and bought new clothes again. It was amazing. I hadn't been so skinny since college - the last time I went without a car.

I'm looking forward to September - being back in Terrace and being car-less. I'll feel fantastic and I'll look fantastic - that's experiences life at its best.

A Week's Worth of Ponderings

I had a wonderful time on my trip to Connecticut, and it gave me lots to think about in turns of my halving journey.

The first couple of days were tough. My sister bought a beautiful house last year, and when I pulled up into the driveway I was immediately overwhelmed with house-lust. It's picture perfect, light yellow with white trim, a large landscaped yard, beautiful finishes on the interior....I wanted one just like it.

Then we spent the first few mornings shopping. We slipped into Barnes and Noble "just for a minute", and I walked out an hour later with about $120.00 worth of books. Now, that's actually pretty good for me, but it was a struggle and not at all helpful - now I'm going to have to purge more books when I get home.

After those first couple of days, though, my desires calmed down and I focused on doing things. Everything got easier then. The kids spent time at various classes and camps. We went to the pool in the afternoons. My sister had planned out a theme for each night and we played games all together and had fun.

Those are the memories that will stick with the kids (and with me) - the things we DID together. And that's what this experiment is all about.

What Was the Point Again?

I'm getting ready for a mini-vacation within my vacation. This afternoon I drive with the kids to my sister's house in Connecticut to spend five days there.

My mind is racing with thrifty ideas to do this trip on the cheap, but wait....

This trip isn't a "thing", it's an experience! Wasn't the whole point to cut back on things so I can enjoy my experiences more?

It's hard to shift from a thrifty mindset to an "abundance" mindset and I'm really struggling. I keep having thoughts like, "we don't need to eat out," and "we'll have fun just being together."

This is true, but it's okay to splurge a little this week. I saved up all year for this, remember?

Of course the trickiest part is what to do about the shopping. My sister and I have fun going to all the fancy stores in her neck of the woods - stores I just don't have in my small northern town. If I start buying things, I'll just have to get rid of more stuff when I get home, though. That doesn't make sense.

While I do need a few things - good cold-weather gear (hard to find right now), rain boots (it rains a LOT in Terrace), things like that - the trick is to keep refocusing on the experience. Swimming, walking, taking my sister up on her idea to do a jazzercize class together. "Doing" things together and accumulating experiences, not stuff.

A Cheaper Vacation

I'm in the middle of a two-month vacation, which is a lousy time to start this experiment. Still, there are things to be done.

In the first place, sitting on the beach gives me ample time to define my goals before I commit to them. I spent a half-hour today writing a list of rooms in my house and all the things in them to sort through when I get home. I don't think getting rid of half my stuff is going to be that hard, folks.

It also helped me to come up with the rules in the previous post. I had begun trying to figure out how to cut the cost of this trip in half - a difficult proposition since the trip is one-third over - when I remembered that I'm not trying to apply the one-half idea like a formula.

This is an experience, not a thing. It doesn't need to be halved. Not all of it, anyway.

My return cross-country drive will cost me about $1500 for gas, food and lodging for six people. I'm pretty proud of that number already, actually. We have found a way to take a tremendously cheap and long vacation every year.

However, I can work on halving my grocery budget and my "take-home" souveniers. I have $700.00 budgeted for food for the next four weeks. It's going to take some fancy footwork to cut that to $350 while I'm here. I'll keep you posted on a weekly basis.

I have $1,000 budgeted for "fun" while I'm here. Again, I don't have to "halve" that - it's an experience, right? Except for the souveniers. Normally I stock up on books while I'm here since the prices are so much better in New York than they are in Canada, but I already bought a bunch, and I bought some clothes, too. Most years I would spend about $400 more on that type of thing before I left. Instead, I'll limit myself to $200. It will be easier to pack, anyhow.

So:

$350.00 for food
$200.00 for things
$600.00 for experiences (I don't think I'll spend that much!)