marie kondo

Day 116

Hubby and I are down to two cups of coffee in the morning. Of course, it would be easy if we liked the same kind, but we don’t. He loves a strong French Roast and I am strictly decaf now – my preference is a decaffeinated Kona coffee from Fresh Market.

We have a small hand grinder and we take turns grinding our own beans. It is nice because when we travel it is compact and easy to take along with us. 20 years ago we made a pot of coffee, then we went to a Keurig but put that aside because of the landfill impacts. Now we do pour overs. The smell is alluring. Being retired, we can ease into the morning with all the necessary slow steps and the end result is a divine cup of coffee.

After the beans are ground you must wet the coffee and let it bloom for 30 seconds before continuing to pour the coffee. (I usually rush this step.) On a cold morning like this morning, I like to heat my cup with hot water first. The only problem is that this morning I forgot to pour the water out of the cup and needless to say my first cup of coffee ended up all over the kitchen counter. Not the best way to start the day.

The rest of the day wasn’t bad, but all day long I felt ‘off’. You know, when nothing seems quite right. My car has been in the shop since last Thursday and I was growing tired of not having the ability to go when I want to go. I finally got a call about 12:30 pm saying the car was ready.

We received some sad news from a good friend of ours this afternoon which occupied most of our conversation on the way to pick up the car. It is a helpless feeling when someone is in dire straights and there is nothing you can do to help the situation.

We did get some good news late in the afternoon which helped balance out the mood of the day. It was just one of those days. Not bad. Not good. Just a little ‘off’.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be better. I plan to make a pot of chili and continue to ‘Kondo’ my closets.

Day 100

I just love days that are relaxing with little or no stresses–a day when you can let your hair down a little.

We have been expecting a storm according to the weather forecast. The predictions have gone from snow to rain to sleet to ice to heavy snow. When you get a forecast like that, it’s best to plan to stay home and let things just happen as they will. That’s just what we did today.

Last night, hubby made a huge pot of vegetable beef soup and I made a pone of cornbread. Tonight it was leftovers which were nice because that freed up the day for both of us. We managed to get our walk in before the rain started so we kicked the day off on a positive note.

I was overjoyed to receive pictures and videos of our 17-month-old granddaughter’s first visit to Disney World. She was quite enthralled with the characters–especially Tigger! What a joy to watch her experience all this joy for the first time.

A couple of days ago, I mailed a pendant I made to my cousin. She had seen it on Facebook and I wanted her to see it before she decided it was something she wanted. The pendant is sterling silver with a labradorite stone that I cut myself. Today I received a lovely note from her telling me how much it meant to her and how much she loved it. That made me feel great. I’m so glad she loved it.

I am making a couple of beaded pieces, so I hauled all my beading supplies into the living room from the storage area. My rolling case and the contents were SO cold I decided they needed a day to warm up before I start working. These are heartfelt pieces so I am anxious to get started on them.

Later in the afternoon, I decided to take in a show on Netflix that our daughter mentioned (she may be trying to tell us something). It’s a show on organizing your living environment–Tidying Up with Marie Kondo. She is well known for the book she wrote: The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up.

We watched a couple of episodes and now I am anxious to go re-fold all our t-shirts and put them in drawers. My only worry is that we are both tall, so I’m not sure how well this will work for us! She is very joyful and calm. Here’s a peek of her folding method:

Now I am ready to get some rest. It has been raining for hours and I am doubtful we will get any snow but perhaps a trace of ice. Tomorrow will be another good day to stay home. Might be a day for drinking coffee and reading a good book.

I hope your day was filled with joy as well