A Long Winter's Nap

Most of my posts lately have been about the Minimalism Game. I am thoroughly enjoying this process of touching every item in this house and making a decision if it is useful or not. We have donated clothing and shoes, recycled many items, passed things on to people who will use them next. This simplifying, for me, started a couple of years ago with a few different blogs that I read and a great many books.

The driving force, however, is the desire to reverse the balance in my life - where people are most important and I spend my time with people, and where things are minimal and useful and don't consume my time and space.

For the holidays this year, beginning with Thanksgiving - we decided to simplify.

For us, it means not renting a car, not putting someone else in a position of being responsible for picking us up and getting us home. Most importantly, it meant relaxing and cooking a meal and sharing it with our kids and a couple of friends.

It's simple. I love my family and friends. I also enjoy the holidays a great deal. But the chaos that ensues had to change.

For Christmas - we are staying home. For the first time since I was a child, I will get up and make something delicious for breakfast, open gifts with the four of us and then slowly cook and enjoy our Christmas dinner. People will stop by, some of us may head out to visit others, but Rob & I will be home on Christmas.

I'm the oldest of seven and it seems right that it is my responsibility to make the change first. As my children head into their lives at lightening speed and add amazing relationships and new jobs and places of their own in the coming year, I realize that this could be our last holiday like this. I want to slow down and really treasure the time together. Of course, we are striving for this all the time, but life is so busy lately that it has been difficult to find a moment of peace.

So I'm taking back the moment. We will see most of our family and friends over the course of December and there have already been several fun events. The world is pulling us constantly through work demands, technology keeps us on call 24/7, all of it. I need a break to recharge.

Starting on December 20th, I am on vacation for a couple of weeks. Time to celebrate, visit with friends and family, volunteer for a local group to bring them Christmas, recharge and get back my creative energy.  I spend many moments in my day searching for complete sentences. I'm burnt out and tired and need a long winter's nap.

Imagine the fire crackling in the wood stove, hot coffee brewing, soft pajamas, a warm blanket, favorite game or book, people around you (in person or in spirit) that you love, other dog / cat / human companions, and napping at every opportunity.

Today and in the new year, treasure the smallest of details and really be present for your life. Make the mundane tasks into adventures!

Whatever it is that recharges your creative energy and warms your heart - I wish that for you.

Peace. Hope. Joy.

A New Kind of Game: Days 1-7

I really enjoy the writings and attitude of The Minimalists 

and although I missed the first round, 

I am playing The Minimalist Game for November...

Here's how it works - on November 1st, I got rid of one thing, the 2nd, two...

the 3rd, three and will continue on through to November 30th...30 things!

Here is my first week, not difficult to get rid of things out of excess, 

but I expect that it will get more interesting as the days go on...

I think the stories are important - so here they are. 

A bit vulnerable for me, but necessary for this process.  

Day 1: A broken frame, boxed and useless - tucked in between two pieces of furniture 

in the basement for, I would estimate, 8 years.

Day 2: The last of the television graveyard - two 15" televisions that are never used.

Day 3:  The story of FREE - Giveaway metal drinking containers, piled on a shelf, and very clearly collecting dust. My advice is to stay away from the giveaways...

Volunteer, clean up, give your time, but leave the free stuff there.

Day 4:  Four boxed things that haven't been touched since childhood 

or silly whims abandoned them.

Day 5:  Harry Potter Collectibles, dusted off for E-bay.

If they don't sell - they aren't mine and will leave the house another way.

It's important that my November be my stuff, but I can help get things ready for selling 

or donating if other family members want to play too!

Day 6:  Opened a drawer in the basement and found a strange array of empty containers and 

covers to things long gone...I think of this as the "what if I need it someday" dilemma. 

More to come on this as the days go on...

Day 7:  Miscellaneous cookbooks - duplicates or destroyed from use.

Books are being recycled or donated as needed.

Reflection from the first 7 days?  

There are 3 empty shelves and a couple of recycling bins ready to go.

I'm putting the Bagster out in the driveway and bagging stuff up to donate.

I am enjoying the Minimalist Game! I haven't known where to start, 

and even though this is a slow start, 

I expect that I will be changed by the end of it.

I am doing this to make room for people, and stories I want to write,

to simplify what I need to do each day and make my daily routine easier.

Who wants to play?

Start where you are and do what you can...

Less is most definitely more.

Vacationing at Home: Day 4

Day 4 - Thursday

It was a rainy and quiet morning, so we slept in. Rob went to see his Dad and I worked on cleaning up the house. This paring down of excess takes awhile. The nature of what we are trying to do with our garden, and becoming as sustainable as possible, requires some pretty specialized equipment for canning and food storage. I have no problem keeping the tools and equipment we need - what I still am figuring out is the massive amount of paperwork, mail, magazines, etc. that four adults generate. If I am honest about it - quite a bit of it is mine. I'm letting all but one of the magazines expire. I really enjoy Countryside, and have read it for years, and reread them - so those I'm keeping.

I spent some time hanging out with my daughter when she got home from work, which is always enjoyable, and then I worked for hours on the Powerpoint and drawings for my Permaculture final project. Working on this project for a design to make our property sustainable reveals some things to me personally. I feel overcrowded with many of the things around me. Clothing, books, paperwork, etc. I have been spending time thinking about my habits, hobbies, and day to day living and the effect it has on the world around me - and if my personal lifestyle is sustainable. Where I buy my clothes from, where our food comes from, all of the the other things we buy or throw away and how it effects the environment. We have found a place to buy local meat, cheese, eggs, etc. through Mass Local Food and next I want to find a way to buy clothing local. I'm just starting the research on this.

When Rob got home - he suggested we go to Rosalina's for dinner. It's so great to have such an amazing place to eat that we can walk a couple of blocks to. Dinner was delicious and I have almost 1/2 of my steak left - so tomorrow it's going to become a topping when I make my first gluten free (rice crust) pizza!

It was a slower paced day - but I find that I get more done when I can work on a project, then take a break and walk around or sit in the yard - and then get back to the project. Smaller bursts of work have a longer lasting effect on the progress I make.

One project was to clear off, organize (and get rid of) a bunch of useless things on the counter downstairs in our basement kitchen. So, I cleaned everything up to make a nice area for baking (and storing baking supplies) as well as a bigger space for canning and processing veggies from the garden. The cabinets are for food storage - for what doesn't fit in the couple of cabinets we have upstairs. Most of the baking supplies need to stay in a cooler place, so this is perfect. Also - with the space ready to use like this - I will be more likely to whip up some delicious meal or treat.  During the summer, when we don't use the wood stove for heating - we do our cooking downstairs in the gas stove.

A Simple Canvas...

Last Thursday I took a big leap and cut my hair (after growing it out forever). I rarely go to a salon, so I enjoyed the girl time of talking about hair color, changes with age, weight loss, identity and all of that. It surprised me that I enjoyed it so much! Taking a little time to recreate a look or just to acknowledge a part of me that was being neglected. Whatever the reason, it was fun! 

That being said, it seems that the need for this change felt a lot like my "need" to have steamers a couple of times in the summer - or the "need" to make a trip to the ocean or the woods. It's not who I am, but these activities are things I enjoy once in awhile. The practical reality is that its hot and I wanted a simpler haircut to deal with, and I love the haircut and new look.

 So Friday, I felt strange, but still went to work and had a normal day - came home and dressed to go out Friday night for dinner and wine tasting.  By Saturday morning, I was in  a full-fledge allergic reaction to? the hair dye? the wheat filled hair products?  Whatever it was, it was miserable.

And this is when reality hit me...I complicated this myself.

My life is simple because it needs to be.  I have a gluten intolerance and am super sensitive to lactose, so when I sprayed the hairspray and used the gel that had wheat in it...well, lets just say I've been out of work for 2 days and can go back to work tomorrow (Wednesday). I finally feel a bit better. This experience was a good reminder...

I'm not fancy, but I really like this new haircut! Swearing off all hair products though :)

I eat simply, because I feel better when I do.

I eat local and organic because I don't like being sick and it tastes better!

I live in a small house because it's easier to care for and keep clean.

I don't have a car or drive because I like to walk, meet people and have conversations.

I study Permaculture because I want to be a positive part of repairing the ecology and living sustainably.

My realization is that this desire to live simply and sustainably and with as little impact as possible on the Earth's resource, is one of the most complicated ideas I have ever studied and I love it.

Only a simple canvas of a life will give this complex being - I am discovering in myself - a place to explore. 

Weed the Garden of Your Mind and Let Inspiration Grow

This started out as a rant a few days ago and I put it aside to think about for awhile. There is so much negative in the world, and I have decided not to contribute to it, but instead share some of what inspires me! 

For starters, I have this desire to know as much as possible - to always be learning and finding new ways to enrich my life and the quality of life around me. I had the habit of subscribing to every website and blog that I was interested in and it has snowballed. So, when I say that I had 1600 emails in the inbox of one of my email accounts, you know that this has been an energy drain on me - every time I went to check email, it would overwhelm me. So after a good amount of time deleting what I didn't need, archiving what I do need and unsubscribing from many of the lists, websites, etc. that I was getting mail from....I feel much better. 

Intrusions into my life from all directions, overwhelming me. 

Interesting that I had "invited" this.

So, in an effort to simplify this information overload, I am unsubscribed from everything that I can read on my own somewhere else.  I don't need an email that tells me to go to a website or blog that I already read frequently and enjoy. I also unsubscribed from every place that tagged me when I was shopping for the holidays, any kind of alert from Facebook, Linked-in, etc. I took back the control of going to these sites when I feel like reading instead of being daily bombarded with things demanding my attention. 

Other than family, I kept a few that contribute to my mental well-being and I wanted to share here a brief list of what I read most days, or when I have a chance to catch up...

Zen Habits with Leo Babauta - such a peaceful, practical and comforting site to read in the chaos of life. I've read several of Leo's books and have found a direction of simplifying that resonates with me. Sometimes I am in the middle of a stressful day and go to his site and just click on the word Breathe and read:

Breathe.

If you feel overwhelmed, breathe. 

It will calm you and release the tensions.

If you are worried about something coming up, 

or caught up in something that already happened, breathe. 

It will bring you back to the present.

If you are moving too fast, breathe. 

It will remind you to slow down, and enjoy life more.

Breathe, and enjoy each moment of this life. 

They're too fleeting and few to waste.

The Minimalists "Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus write about living a meaningful life with less stuff" I find these guys to be super encouraging in their approach to living life with less things and with more meaningful experiences. They also have several books that I have read and that speak to the minimalist in me.

Rowdy Kittens:  I have already written about how much I appreciate Tammy Strobel and love her book "You Can Buy Happiness (and It's Cheap)".  She consistently shares beautiful things about her life and it is very encouraging. The tiny home, living minimally, etc. are all a bonus to the beautiful way that she photographs the world.


ISO Splash / ISO Furry / ISO Give  - When I need a dose of beautiful images and cute furry pet faces, I go to this website and view the work of Ramon Nayar.  All you have to do is look at the images to see that his view of the world and the way he captures the love between animals and owners is very special. Then read some of the reviews and recommendations and you will have a glimpse into the energy of dedication and quality that Ramon brings to his work and to the lives of the people around him. I have known him for eight years to be exactly this caliber of person and it's so encouraging to see him thriving and doing what he loves. (edit:  See Ramon interviewed here:  Naperville Community Television.)

From his website:  As with all specialties of ISO Splash Photograph & Design, ISO Furry is committed to spreading awareness about related issues, such as pet adoption and volunteering with companion pets to make the world a better place. 

Life Unshelved -  I read this blog because it is written by one of my dearest friends and - because my children are grown adults - I enjoy reading the stories of her little ones, and reliving my own memories of my children when they were young. We also have so many things in common: gardening, cooking, canning, and lately we have each started a writing project and promised to be support and editor, sounding board or whatever is needed. Meg is an invaluable treasure to me.

Choosing Voluntary Simplicity - This is where I go for practicals of living life with a garden and wood cooktop stove. Shirley shares her desire to live simply and live a life of quality with great heaping doses of very practical and useful advice in recipes, projects, etc.  

***

In addition to these sites, I have a list of blogs that I read, and can't list all of them here.  I really enjoy reading them. I have chosen them each for different reasons, but what it comes down to in the end is that these people contribute to my life in a positive way. They mean something to me and take up a valuable space that I am willing to give them. I am a better person because of their influence in my world.

When I talk about minimalism and simplifying, living a life of quality and less stress - whatever you want to call it, ultimately, the things you fill your time and mind with will either hurt or help you. There is so much beauty and good around us and more than enough people who are expressing it through their vision, writing, photos, speech, and actions. It's up to us to find it and choose it over the negative.

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment 

before starting to improve the world.

~ Anne Frank

Beef Stew Revised (Gluten & Lactose Free)

This venture into gluten and lactose free affects cooking in so many ways. I was planning to make beef stew and realized that I could not use wheat flour to coat the beef or thicken the soup like I have in the past. Also I couldn't use butter to brown the meat. It really wasn't as difficult to figure out as I thought it would be. The most logical thing I could think of was to use instant potatoes to thicken the soup.

Ingredients:

1 lb. beef (tenderloin) cubed

1 cup celery 

1 large white onion, chopped.

4 carrots

8 Red potatoes

1.5 cups instant potatoes

Olive oil

4 cups broth - I used organic chicken broth - the vegetable broth has "organic dextrose" in it and I wasn't sure what that meant - need to research this!

Seasonings - this is completely up to you, I used what we like and a good amount of cayenne because we all like heat in our food: Oregano, Salt, Pepper, Garlic powder, Onion powder, Cayenne,  Celery Salt

Because I didn't want the stew to take forever to cook, I cut up the red potatoes and boiled them until soft. (I used this water for the soup when I added the potatoes)

8 Organic Red potatoes

Add 4 Tablespoons of Olive oil to pan, Brown beef.

Add Celery, Onions and Carrots - cook until onions are translucent

Add 1/2 cup Instant potatoes and 1 cup broth

Stir together - it thickens just like flour would

add potatoes, water, and broth 

Add potatoes and water they were boiled in (approx 4 cups) as well as remaining 3 cups broth.

I also added another cup of instant potatoes to thicken, as well as a cup of frozen peas and let simmer for 20 minutes until the carrots softened.

The verdict of gluten free / lactose free stew is that I did not miss the flour or the butter I would have used in this recipe originally.  It is delicious!

A couple of things I would like to share about this meal - in the spirit of simplifying our week and cooking less, we are cooking more on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday and doing leftovers of this delicious food as leftovers on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. This makes our evenings a bit simpler and gives us more time to do the other things we enjoy. 

It just takes a little bit more planning.

Also in this picture are these adorable cloth napkins I found. The tile in the kitchen is yellow and these match perfectly with the Fiestaware dishes and the colors of the kitchen. The thing I love most about them is that I found 40 of them on closeout for $10 and have used them instead of napkins or paper towels, saving money and adding a nice touch to our every day meals.

Simple Happiness

Have you noticed that it is the simple things that make us happy?

For example, a really great cup of coffee, a conversation with a friend, a kindness from a stranger, or a connection to another person of any kind; it adds to our lives, it adds to us as people.

I am sitting watching the 300 lights on our Christmas tree. Some are blinking, some are solid, ALL are solar. At the end of each day, as night falls, there is this thing inside of me, childlike and pure that squeals with glee when the lights come on.

There are two sides to this – or more, if I am really honest about it. The child loves the lights and has forever wanted to see lights of every color blinking away during the holidays, or every day if possible; there is the adult who celebrates the fact that these lights cost nothing after they are purchased – no additional charge to the electric bill, and even the lights blinking away on the fence outside only require the power of the sun to bring the squeal of glee to that child inside.

This is a perfect time to reflect on the previous year and take the time to remember losses and reflect upon growth, to remember experiments and take note of future endeavors.  But really, all that matters is a good day’s work and to value the family and friends around me. There is never enough time to spend, or conversations to satisfy the desire to be close to the people we care about. What we have to do, is try our best and take advantage of every opportunity we have to connect. Each little action adds up, it creates a bridge to those we care about that sometimes months later will lead to a reunion and it is like time has not passed at all.

If there is any doubt in the minds of my family and friends, I treasure you with all of my heart. I am human and forget to show my feelings all the time, and I am not perfect and will make mistakes, but it never changes the fact of how much I love you.

You are the lights in my life all year long - that fill my heart with joy and make that child inside of me squeal with happiness at the visit of a family member, a chance to game with a friend, a meal or conversation shared.

You are the lights and inspiration and what spurs me on in the days that are difficult or trying and knowing that I am never alone. You are always with me, and the reason I can do everything I do, and strive to be better than I am.

I look forward to 2013 and the adventures we will have! <3

Snow Day

Benny Goodman record for the Victrola - love this music!

As 2013 begins, I am starting the second week of much needed vacation. The morning is cold, like January in New England should be. I just put a log in the wood stove and poured a hot cup of coffee, took the Swedish Coffee Bread out of the freezer and opened all the curtains to let the sun in and life is pretty good from where I am sitting.

Sometimes I feel like I am still a child and this house is my fort, surrounded by snow and I am hiding out here with family or friends and my favorite things. Covered in blankets, with the whole of the day stretching ahead, time is different when you are home and you let go of the “normal” stressors. Like a snow day when you were in grade school! 

This is the time that I am most grateful for technology. I have a Benny Goodman radio show streaming while I use an iPad to check email and take on the task of unsubscribing from everything that tagged me during the holidays. I have access to the ebooks I am reading and can get caught up with reading the blogs I am interested in. I can write anywhere with my laptop, and love the freedom. My husband left for work, everyone else is still sleeping – even the dog is snoring, so it is a perfect time to write.  I enjoy when technology works for me, and fits into the activities I am already planning. I dislike when technology steals time from me, like the ridiculous amount of emails I have to go through. Unsubscribing is the first step to being free of that mess.

I am not making any resolutions this year, just continuing on in the direction of simplifying possessions and life. I have become more aware of what makes me happy and inspires me, and what speaks to my heart. Every day is an open page to write on, and to simply do a day’s work and find the good in each day sounds like a good place to start for 2013. 

The bread should be thawed, so I am off to see where the day leads…

Enjoy!

Living Sustainably in the City: Our Story

I was super encouraged when I opened the Jan/Feb 2013 issue of Countryside Magazine and found that the story I wrote about our first year striving to live sustainably in the city had been published. If you are interested in any of these topics, this is a great magazine that I have been reading for years. You can read the current issue online, but not the submitted stories, so here is what I wrote. I am so looking forward to the Spring and the new year and new adventures!

_______________

Dear Countryside,

I have been reading Countryside for many years. Long before I married, or owned a house, or even understood what sustainability is. I learned many, many tings about off-grid living, canning, homesteading, housekeeping, etc. before I ever did any project of my own. The information has been invaluable and I return to those back issues now, more than ever as our life gets more involved in gardening and sustainability. It has been in my heart and mind the whole time, and as November approaches, I will take out the November/December magazines from the past and read all of the ideas for this time of year. Starting with the newest, which I read cover to cover, I then scan through past issues to mark stories that I would like to read again.  

When I first started reading Countryside, what I remember is the feeling in my gut, that instinctive knowing that I was supposed to be working in a garden somehow and that the sustainable lifestyle was something I wanted to live. Growing food, digging in the ground, chopping kindling, whatever it meant, I knew I would one day have a way to garden. I had the desire to move toward a simpler life, but I still had the impression that I would have to move to Vermont or somewhere similar to have the space to do many of the things that homesteading and off-grid living requires.

We decided to live sustainably in the city instead of moving. We started by asking ourselves what was attractive about living in a place like Vermont? It is a slower paced life - we can do that here by making better choices with our time. I want to be able to heat and cook with a wood stove - so we installed the Elmira wood stove. I want to grow our fruits and vegetables - we can do that in the city also, with a little creativity and patience. We want our commute and work day to be as simple as possible, so we bought a house near our jobs and can walk if needed, but currently take public buses and carpool to commute. My ideal would be to stay home and put my full day of effort into working in the garden, cooking, writing, and crafting and I am working toward that by paying off personal debt and saving.

I once thought that we would need a lot of space, but that simply is not true. We live in Worcester, Massachusetts - one of the biggest cities in New England and the lot we live on is only 100x50. Many people, when seeing our home, had the first response of "what a great starter home". However, the first time we walked through, I knew it was a perfect, workable size for a family of four and there was a big enough space to spend time in the yard, and have a garden one day. When we moved in, there was extra space, and as we lived, we accumulated more and more stuff, to the point of needing a dumpster every year to cear out enough to use the house again. It isn't dirty or verge on hoarding, but a small space filled up quickly with two growing teens at the time, and with a creative family. We simply had too much, but didn't understand that we were participating in a consumer-based lifestyle at that time.

We started our journey of learning to be sustainable by taking care of structural and foundational work: first we replaced the roof, then we fenced in the yard. We added garden beds, fruit and nut trees last year, along with rain barrels. We also installed an Elmira Cooktop Stove, so we could heat and cook with wood. I learned about the stove in Countryside and we found a local stove place to do the ordering and installation. We stopped using the air conditioners and had the extra appliances taken away. We bought a new, energy efficient and smaller refrigerator and a new washer that is energy efficient and easier on our clothes.

It sounds like so much in a list like this, but really, we did one project at a time and then paid it off. This year we took a big leap and got energy efficient windows. Last night was only 40 degrees outside and it was still 65 inside. I am looking forward to the Winter with the new windows and the wood heat. If the house holds heat like it seems to right now. we will not use all of the wood we have stacked in the yard.

Our garden this year was an experiment in planting as many different things as we could to see what would grow best here. We were able to can potatoes, corn and carrots. We had a small amount of sweet potatoes. We also grew amaranth, peas, cucumbers, pumpkins, butternut squash, sunchokes, sunflower seeds, peppers, beans for drying and several herbs. Oh, and lots of cherry tomatoes, a few each day that we enjoyed with dinner. We learned a lot from our experiments! We will plant fewer things next year and only what we will definitely eat, with a goal of having extra to share with family and friends.

We also planted 5 different apple trees, 3 pear trees, an almond, 2 hazelnut, grapevines, kiwi vines, and several different berry bushes. They all grew quite a bit this year, but we have to be patient to see what they will do next year or the year after.

I am sharing this because I believe that we can all do something to be a little more sustainable and contribute. Rather than taking and using resources, how great it would be if we each could do just a little bit for ourselves! With each of the changes we have made, our energy usage has dropped and although it has created more work for us physically to copy wood, gather kindling, and care for the garden, the work is so rewarding.

Our city is currently working toward allowing chickens in the backyard here again REC Worcester is working for getting the approval in place. At the same time the Mass local food movement is growing. There are so many amazing pieces of conservation land that offer hiking, etc. One small place is near our home, so we became volunteer Rangers and help out that way by preserving the habitats near us. This gives us that experience of the open spaces of Vermont, while we tay right in our own neighborhood and city.

I don't believe that my backyard garden will change very much on any big scale of food growing or consumption, but I know what it has done for my mental well-being and the encouragement of our family. It is so exciting to see wild life in our yard (toads, chipmunks, squirrels, skunks, possums, many different birds, butterflies, bats, etc.) It has changed our world to be able to walk into the back yard and pick a tomato that we planted. If everyone could do just one little thing like that, I do believe that individual lives would be greatly changed. And if enough individuals are changed, then who knows what the outcome and effect could be in the world?

I am very interested in the Tiny House movement (imagine the smile on my face when I realized that I already live in a small home). I am also reading a lot about Minimalism and Simplifying my life, and at the ocre of it, for me, is the necessity to need less and have fewer requirements. I still have and use the technology that I enjoy and am currently donating extra clothing, household items, etc. to three different organizations that will get it to families that are really in need.

For me, I see that less things to care for gives me more time to spend with family and friends, more time to meet neighbors and be involved in the community and more time to garden.

I would love to talk with anyone who is interested in urban farming, sustainability, living simply and returning to the simpler way of life. Our story is here adventureonplanetearth.blogspot.com

and I am here: 

Michele Couture

34 Pilgrim Ave.

Worcester, MA  01604

Thank you!

Small Treasures: Being Prepared

In the past few weeks, we have had Hurricane Sandy, winter storm Athena and yesterday around noon a water main broke that resulted in water for the whole city of Worcester being shut off last night while they worked on it. 

Amazingly, they worked through the night and it is fixed!

With each of these events, we gathered our “emergency” supplies together and checked flashlights, etc., charged everything up to 100% and waited. We were fortunate with the hurricane and the winter storm. The worst thing that happened was a long wait and a walk for me to get home from work. The city had so many accidents that schedules were off and some buses didn’t run.

The most noticeable change, for me personally, was a sense of security in knowing that we were prepared for most anything that could happen. We have some extra bottled water and food that is easy to prepare. I have a routine that is pretty quick when the news of an impending storm breaks, so I can have things together without much effort and not be stressed. We have wood for the stove, so we will be warm and can cook and none of us works far from home, so walking if needed isn’t an issue. If we had to leave home for an evacuation or disaster situation, our paperwork and “Go Bags” are ready with a few days of necessities.

At one time I would have thought that all of this preparation wasn’t necessary, as many people in New England also thought before these last couple of years. I find the comfort of being clear minded and ready for most any situation keeps the panic, impulsiveness, and fear of last minute chaos away.

I am not a “doomsday prepper”, I don’t have any thoughts of doom at all in what we are doing. We are just prepared in case we need to be. A couple of extra cans of soup or a case of water here and there when we shop for groceries is not inconvenient and we will use it should an emergency not arise, or a job is lost, or pay is reduced while I am out of work unexpectedly for 7 weeks (as I was this past Summer).

What I value most about these situations is the ability to keep as close to a normal day as possible without stress and having the calmness to prevent injury or accident that can sometimes happen in a hasty scramble at the last minute. We have all seen the tragic effects of Katrina, Irene, Sandy and the many other tornadoes, etc. of the past few years and I think it is just smart to gather important photos and documents together in a safe place (digital files too, if possible) and be able to continue on with life in the midst of an emergency. Honestly, it’s good to have the information together anyway, because everyday situations come up that require it.

One of the most helpful ideas I have ever read – was to think through and prepare for the worst case scenario – which for us would be evacuation and having to leave our home. If you prepare at that level and have a plan, paperwork, photos, small treasures, in order. Then when a storm comes, it’s just a matter of keeping a positive attitude. There isn’t any additional work needed. It’s already done.  

In the case of a large disaster like what has happened in New Jersey and New York with Hurricane Sandy…the Go Bag and getting your family to safety really is the only thing you can do. This is an individual decision and there are many different guidelines online if you need help planning a bag.  However, if in that bag you have important paperwork like birth certificates, marriage certificates, passports, financial information, etc. and you have copies of your favorite photos, some toiletries, a change of clothing, and some food and water, it won’t make the difficulty go away, but it will give you some comfort and strength in knowing that everything else can be replaced and what matters most is by your side. We each have a water proof bag with a few things in it that will get us through.

One thing that I thought of in planning is the small treasures that accumulate in our lives. One example for me is a little necklace I won for a story I wrote in 2^nd grade. It isn’t valuable to anyone but me, but I would take that with me. Photos of our family growing up would also be irreplaceable. Everyone’s small treasures are different. Something like this is a talisman to memories….which really are the treasures you keep with you. For children, a favorite blanket and toy keep something familiar, And for pets, a copy of rabies certificates and tags, as well as the things that will comfort them in a new place or during a power outage, etc. If you are prepared, once you and your family are safe, a little bit of home to comfort you will be necessary to gather the strength to rebuild.

The tie in, for me, to minimalism, living simply and with less, so loudly speaks to me here. I could easily gather the things of value to me and leave if I had to.  Once my family and dog are safe, there would be no thing in that house that I would die for.

Again, I find myself faced with the question of whether or not I want to work my whole life to just have more possessions when it seems that in the big picture of life, only the small treasures really matter...