I know, I know. It seems I've been gone forever. Just the summer. Posting have been sporadic due to my sweet 3-yr-old, whose taking swimming lessons and Kindermusik now.

So, I'm around, sort of. Just keeping a low profile on my end. Hope to get back... at some point!

Eegads! Has it really been a month gone by? It's been a full month though, with a birthday party almost every weekend for our lil one, who's now a big THREE!

I admit to being caught up in the chaos and craziness, and, coming to the realization that I have been responsible for much of aforementioned chaos and craziness. And, I hate that, but, I'm accepting and dealing.

I've realized that my perspective had been one of "I don't have time for this!", "It takes too long!", "I just need...", and so on and such forth. And, I ended up creating my own reality of no time, lots of stress and feeling overwhelmed. But, I'm working on that snarky perspective, and being aware of the quiet moments I actually do have, using them to affirm good things, like "I am aware. I open my eyes to the truth. I am confident. I have more time then I'll ever need. Financial abundance is mine." But, the best one, "I CAN DO THIS!"

Which is why I'm up so late, to bask in the quiet moments of nighttime, while the house is silent, and I've not distractions. This is SO new for me. I'm so used to being the early bird!

So, today bring the last day of March. I am thankful, as March has been a challenging month this year. Last year, we spent most of it in Taiwan - very cool. This year, I spent most of it feeling "off" or just plain ill. Not cool.

Although, I must say, that after my body had made sure that my stomach and intestines were emptied out, I felt that I was on one very cool path of healing.

I guess it's weird to explain, but, while my body physically purged itself, my mind did too. I emerged weak, but as I was able to reintroduce whole foods, my head and perspective cleared.

I came to a really cool realization as well. I've recently been reading this book with earth honoring activities that are pretty cool. Some are simple things, like celebrating the seasons by just observing the changes, foods that our ancestors ate (before there were grocery stores carrying year round produce), and other nifty little ideas.

In any case, it mentions, how our ancestors celebrated the cycles and seasonal changes, and how life is full of changes. Somewhere a long the line it hit me, that I was raised to strive for this wonderful place, a plateau, that once you reached it, everything was happy, joyous, and nothing went wrong. Yeah, right. Still trying to figure out how that got into my head.

The thing is, that in reaching and striving for that plateau, I was neglecting certain aspects of my own life, or, at least not appreciating certain things, because I was hoping for better. I don't know if ya'll are still with me here...

In any case, this morning, while cutting up apple for the Pook to snack on, I was very, very grateful to have a house to live in, a beautiful soon to be 3-yr-old (2 weeks!), a loving hubby, a lovley apple to eat, the ability to get almost any kind of food I want from a store (instead of growing it), and just a bounty of other life things.

It was just a really wonderful moment that I relished. Because you know what - I'm not happy all the time, and I don't know any one who is, or even can be. Because stuff happens - you don't get enough sleep, the rhythm gets knocked out of whack, or the flow is unexpected. But it's all okay - because that's life.

I mean, look at a woman's menstrual cycle, and our mood swings. Life wasn't meant for us to stop one moment in time and relive it. It changes. Everything changes to some extent, and all we can do it go with it, and that's all cool by me.

And now, knowing that, I mean really, truly, knowing this, is life changing for me. I just hope my words do this justice.

Spring is literally around the corner. I'm looking forward to the warmer weather so that I can get into the basement and get things squared away. I recently discovered a consignment shop that accepts toys and clothing, so, I'm going to see if I can put some of Pookie's stuff up if I can.

I was having fun today looking up my Ya-Ya sisterhood name. If I go by my birthname, I'd be Empress Tree Frog. If I go by my nickname, I'd be Princess Smiling Sun

You can go to the manin site: http://yayasisterhood.warnerbros.com/cmp/main.html

And click on the YaYa section to find it.

I've never seen the movie, but, the names are really cool. I'm not sure which I like best. Wonder which would be more me?

It's a sweet Saturday morning, and I sit in front of my computer having just finished working. Hopefully I won't be doing this much longer, as they'll find a person to cover for me on the weekends eventually.

I've been struggling for something inspirational, or profound to type here, but, nothing's popping up this morning.

So, I type, just to see if the act of typing will inspire something. But, nope, nothing seems to be lurking there. Where has my creativity gone? It's probably just been put aside until I work through my stress.

Ah well... what's that phrase?

"This too shall pass"

It's windy and rainy outside, and slated to be 60 degrees today. I sit here with quiet time, something very rare as of late, but so welcomed. I'm writing today to share thoughts I've been having in regards to living the "simple life".

I've been struggling with how to simplify my life for years. It started with the Simplicity books by Elaine St. James, and any other website that had tips and methods of simplifying. And yes, I even saved articles from the magazines on it.

So I was more than ready to add to this knowledge by attending a discussion on the Simple Life last Saturday, to finally come up with a definition for what the simple life is, and inspiration to declutter and simplify my life completely. So, you can imagine my surprise when I came home and let Saturday's information simmer and lead to quite the revelation.

I don't even know how to explain it, or when exactly it happened, but that "click" happened big time for me.

An email from a participant really resonated with me on so many levels, as I'd been slowly realizing that I had this image of simplicity, or what a simple life was in my head, but I'd never really defined it. It was this blurry thing just hanging out there. I kept thinking, that if I moved out far away from society, grew everything and made stuff from scratch, lived in a two-three room house at the bottom of a mountain, got my water from the river... I'd find a peace and serenity I'd been seeking since I started the journey to a simpler life.

I remember the feeling I wanted - that feeling a friend was resonating after she'd released all her material stuff and was down to 3 tuperware boxes, the feeling I thought another friend had who choose to live in a one room house with an out house, and the feeling my friends had when they moved on their boat.

But after Saturday, a new realization dawned on me. I'd been putting so much energy into determing what a simple life was and to trying to get to a simple life, and into realeasing as much clutter as I could - until I was down to the absolutes. I'd been fretting because my life wasn't where I thought it would be. And then, kapow! There it was before me.

I realized, that I'm really, really happy with what I have. That I like my house with many rooms, and the ability of the computer to let me connect with people around the world, as well as the way I can use my cell phone to stay in touch with people when traveling if need be.

Saturday provided me with a gift of freedom. I have been trying to define and achieve a simple life, according to another person's ideal and view. Over the last few days, I've let more things go and freed myself from my self-created bonds to simplify a life, that when I stepped back and looked at it, was able to see that it doesn't need changing.

I realized, that I don't need to continually look for clutter to get rid of. Granted, I've got a bunch of boxes to head off to the good will, and there are things I can get rid of, but I was actively (obsessively) trying to get down to the bare minimum, when I didn't need to. I've already talked to my boss about lessing the work hours, so now it's just a matter of time before that is simplified.

I didn't realize how actively I was trying to change, with no clue as to how I wanted to change, or what I really wanted. Saturday brought me a clarity and joy I haven't felt since for a long time. In fact, these last few days after this revelation has brough me a feeling of serenity that is simply amazing.

And you know what's really funny? It could just be hormones, or in direct relation to my revelation, but since then, I've got more energy, and, dare I say more TIME then I did before. I'm more focused on what I'm doing, instead of trying to figure out where to go I'm not striving to get ahead like I was, or striving to get to a destination that I didn't even know. It's as though all my energy is where it should be, focused in the present moment, taking things one step at a time, and just letting it all BE.

So I'm off to bask in the wonder of my simple life, and the feeling of Serenity I have, knowing it's what works for me and what I love.

Yes, I know, still not posting much, but much going on, and, too tired to post about it. Another weekend over, another week beginning. Oh yay.

Okay, so I've been seriously slacking on my blogging as of late, but it's not because I've wanted to. Nope, life's been filled with lots of work. Good for the wallet, not so good when you want to spend more time focusing on things like your child, a good book, and getting your life more simplified through organization.

So that's about where I am right now. Although, I have grasped a new life attitude, so, hopefully that will give me something more to work with.

And for those feelow pals I've been neglecting, it's not on purpose, I've just been forced to prioritize my time in a manner more appropriate to paying da bills!

Would it help y'all to know I missed ya?

Life's been providing lots of things for me to do, be responsible for, and manage, so, posts haven't really been happening as of late. But, that's okay.

I have been managing to keep a gratitide journal, which is quite helpful after a swamped day when you're feeling too pumped up to sleep, yet completely mentally exhausted.

I am, however, in the process of simplifying a few things in my life. So... we'll see where it all leads. I'm hoping to more writing time. But then, perhaps I might just need to let this go if it makes things too complex.

We shall see.