DAYS BEFORE THE NEW YEAR

10 . 9 . 8 . 7 . 6 . 5 . 4 . 3 . 2 . 1. Happy New Year!

Thursday, December 31st - My husband still wished we were among the hundred of thousand of people (drunken fools) standing around in Times Square, for 10+ hours, being confined in tight space, waiting to watch the ball drop while counting down for the arrival of the New Year. The top and below photos were taken around 5:09 p.m. on December 30, 2007 in Times Square, yet the area was packed with people going in all directions. I could not image what it would be like to be in that area on New Year Eve! I am sure one of the many surveillance cameras (above photo) will be there, and NYC finest men and women in uniforms will be working hard keeping everyone safe. If I am able to stay up late, I will be watching the celebration from the comfort of my sofa. I will be thinking about ideas for the next posts, "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of 2009", New Year Resolutions, and "What the next Decade will bring".

Wednesday, December 30th - It snowed in the morning but no accumulation and by the afternoon the temperature was in the upper 40s. At lunch time, I started to plan for our next Route 66 trip, making notes of attractions/towns we missed last October, charting the course of the next adventure, over nine days rotating between the interstates and Old 66 from El Reno, Oklahoma, crossing into Shamrock, Texas, continue on to Tucumcari, New Mexico and Rio Rancho, Arizona. Just thinking about our road trip helps lessen my sadness that 2009 will be over in less than 30 hours!
Tuesday, December 29th - Two more full days of work and then another 4-day weekend before the long stretch of having any holidays until Memorial Day. Where I work, Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday and Presidents' Day are not considered paid holidays. Maybe I should demand a day off for Lunar/Chinese New Year or Tet-Vietnamese New Year. (I need to join the crowd using the race card or cry "racism" to get special treatment.) I wonder if I changed my name to Patricia O'Mara, would I get a day off on St. Patrick's Day? Not much going on at work due to the holidays. Besides I have made a promise not to talk/write about work or even mentioned the name of the head clown and his minions at the circus!

AUGUST PROGRESS REPORT - A DAY LATE

I am a day late with my August Progress Report on my goals to be clutter free and simple living. That is the story of my life, "A day late and a dollar short".

Last Saturday I made my weekly trip to drop off items at a local Charity Thirft Shop. As I handed the item to the lady, I said, "This is a brand new dress. I bought it but never worn". She responded, "That is what happened to Compulsive Shoppers", as she took the lilac dress that I purchased 20 years ago while shopping for my wedding dress. Why did I keep the lilac dress all these years? It was one of those "I wear it when I lose 50 lbs" clothing items. I smiled, did not say anything else, went back to my car and drove away thinking, "Me, a compulsive shopper?" I hate shopping, especially for clothes. Ask my Mother and she would tell you way back when we were in Viet Nam, how much trouble I gave her every time she tried to buy me clothes or forced me to wear girly dresses.

The last time I went to a shopping mall was over six months ago and it was because a bookstore just opened a new location inside the mall. I bought a few clothing items now and then but could not stand wasting time wondering from store to store looking for bargains or the latest fashion.

I am proud to report that I have more room in the dressers, in the walk-in closet, no more trying to shove stuff into tight shelving units, and there is also so much space in the closet in the guest room. I am putting aside winter jackets and coats for the annual winter coats drive at our church. Next I plan to give away blankets and quilts. I also need to take a serious look at stuff in the dinning room. Two people do not need more than 2 sets of dishes.

Compulsive shopper? I am not but making compulsive purchase, yes I have been guilty many times. Last year when the St. Louis Blues offered 10-game plan and fans could pick any games, not pre-selected package, in less than 15 minutes, I spent $2,000 for 2 club seats that included 3 Red Wings games, one game each of the Bruins, the Rangers, the Penguins, the Canadiens, the Devils, the Flyers and the Canucks. The only thing I could say about this "sinful" spending is that all eight teams made the playoffs and of course, the Stanley Cup re-match between the Wings and the Pens. Another compulsive purchase was made at the 2006 Superbowl, in addition to the tickets, we spend a few hundred dollars just on hats and shirts.

Looking back I don't feel bad that we did not go on any vacation this year. We had our time in the sun, like the Mediterranean Cruise and extra time in Rome last year. I guess there is no need to cry me a river because we had fun just from driving along Route 66 this summer and on weekends looking for public sculptures in our community. Time is tough and we just have to find way to have fun while keep going.

JULY PROGRESS REPORT

After two months of lacking any progress report, I finally took a small step towards my goals of clutter-free and simple living. I started with the handbags by putting all the purses on the bed. Then for each of handbag I wish to keep, I forced myself to give up one. The same for shoes and jackets. I was able to gather three boxes that included 5 handbags, three pairs of shoes (I already gave away a few in April), and knick knacks that no longer carry significant meanings. I also gathered three bags full to the brim of clothing and also a bag of books. Yes, books that I decided I could live without! It is nice not to have to shove stuff into the closets since there is more space. Just hope I will keep my promise about not making any new purchases. I am working towards a goal that by the end of 2009, I will only have one closet and one dresser of clothing items for all seasons, of course, have to be age appropriate - a person does not need three closets full of clothes, yet constantly trying to find something nice to wear or most items I could no longer fit into!

Here is to a safe and enjoyable summer to all my faithful followers and adoring fans. Hope you enjoy these summery photos.

JUNE PROGRESS REPORT

Not much to report for the month of June. I plan to enjoy the summer with lot of fun activities, though I was not fond of the steamy weather last week, I am just so glad to be alive! I don't want to complain too much. With all the negative events happening, I am still thankful for all God's blessings. Hope ya'll have a great summer!

MAY PROGRESS REPORT

May has been another busy month with a visit to NYC the first 10 days and with NHL playoffs games every evening and weekends, I did not make any progress towards my quest of de-cluttering and simple living. At the beginning, it was easy to discard items that no longer carry meanings or outdated. It is getting harder to let go of things such as books, family memories and personal sentimental. On a positive note, I have not made many purchases without giving up an equal quantity of existing items. I am sure you would agree that de-cluttering include not only getting rid stuff we already have and also not making new purchases.
Our church is planning a rummage sale at the end of June as a fundraising for a local shelter. It would be a good motivation for me to seriously gathering items that are in good condition as donations to a good cause.
I saw and quickly captured the above photo but did not see who the owner was. I was on my way back to my sister's place after dropping off two large bags of clothing as donation from CH at a thrift store on Flatbush Avenue. Was the owner of these bags a typical bag lady or a homeless man and the bags were all of his earthly possessions?

CH told me she has tried to de-clutter her condo and hopes to make significant progress prior to her trip to Viet Nam in September this year. On our way to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden the day before, CH told me that she almost purchased a 600 square foot condo at this building (photo below) for a hefty price of $110K. That was in 1994, and even in this downturn economy, the seller could still ask for $200K easily. The realtor said that was a good price considering the building is right across the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, nice Public Library, two blocks from the subway station and it is, after all, Park Slope, a hip, relatively safe neighborhood and with lot of characters in Brooklyn!

APRIL PROGRESS REPORT

My April Progress Report is a No Progress Report. I did not do anything towards my goals of simple living. I had to make unexpected trip to New York attending to a family matter. (I would prefer not to provide any details at this time as the situation was private.) Currently, I am pleased to report that all is well.

After the trip, I spend most of the time playing catch-up at work. Since April 15th, I was pretty much glued to the television as Round 1 NHL Playoffs games were featured on Versus every night and on weekends.

It was not all un-productive as I managed to attend both City Council meetings (the City Council meets 2nd and 4th Mondays) and a Subdivision Trustees meeting. We have a new Mayor and three new Councilmen. Last year, the Mayor was supportive of my nomination to the Planning and Zoning Commission. I was not appointed because the Council at the time wish not to have too many Commissioners from the same Ward. I was not too terribly disappointed as it was not a paying job and like my husband said that I already have too many things on my plate.

Round 2 of the Playoffs starts tonight. It should be an exciting round with the Bruins v. the Canes and the Capitals v. the Penguins in the Eastern Conference. My beloved Red Wings taking on the Ducks and Chicago Blackhawks v. the Canucks in the Western Conference. I won't predict any outcomes. I am just so glad that the Canucks are still in the playoffs. Check out my shorthandedgoal blog for photos and posts about the playoffs.

Finally, 34 years ago (April 30, 1975) the Northern Vietnamese Communist took over South Viet Nam. 30 years ago (1979) my family made our final preparation for the boat journey, getting ready to escape Viet Nam from My Tho. I tried to re-construct my memories of how it all began. When and how exactly did my parents inform us that we would be making the almost suicidal journey? Was I scared or accepted the planning (what other options would I have anyway)? All the little details about our last meal together with my grandmother (Che Pho) kept putting more meatballs onto our plates. Where did the time go? I left Viet Nam as a teenager and now I am a middle age chubby woman who only cares whether Versus will show all my NHL playoffs games!

MARCH PROGRESS REPORT

I don't have much to report this month on my quest to be clutter-free and simple living. I still could not bring myself to give up any of my books. I managed to give away a few knick knacks and a bag of clothing. I usually dropped off my donations at collection box (bottom photo) that would benefit an organization such as the American Red Cross, a school or at a church. However, I only purchased one pair of shoes and one book, Hockey's Top 100 - The Game's Greatest Records. I would like to justify this purchase that I used a 40% coupon from Borders. I also did not buy any clothing since the new year, actually I have not been to the malls or done any shopping besides food and household essential items.

I guess to live a simple life, not only getting rid of things we already have but not making any new purchases would count as part of achieving the goals. The last time I purchased shoes was in July 2008 when the store had a sale buy 1 get half price off the 2nd pair. Currently, I need a new pair of shoes as the ones I have been wearing daily are worn out and there is a hole in the left shoe. As I looked at the above advertisement in the newspaper and the shoes in the stores, I envy the women who could walk in these skimpy high-heeled shoes. They looked more like torture device than footwear to me. Have you ever seen a woman walking around New York City wearing these shoes?

FEBRUARY PROGRESS REPORT

Following words of wisdom from Qaptain Qwerty, I gathered all the unused credit cards and cut them up into little pieces. I put the pieces in a ziplock bag and for a few weeks, scattered them all around town, one piece into each trash can, wherever I happened to be. I am keeping only two credit cards, a Discover Card to earn cash rewards and a Visa to earn points towards gift card at bookstore. This leads me to share a dilemma as I am having trouble letting go of my books. I love them all and though I have donated almost 100 books to the library for the book sales, I still have many books that I want to keep. Mind you, these are not collectors' items or special editions or even remotely by well-known authors. Just books that I enjoyed reading and could not bring myself to give away. If I have to choose between clothes and books, I would rather keep the books. I am planning to increase my clothing donation to make up for the books that I am unwilling to part. I also placed six pairs of shoes in the "Shoes for Kenya" collection (bottom photo). According to the newspaper article, the Shoeman (http://www.showman.org/) already collected over 100,000 shoes, enough for fund to drill one well. His ministry continues the collection with the goal of providing addition wells to many more villages.
I just learned the meaning of WEEDING from a little brochure at the library. Weeding is the continual process of reviewing, evaluating and removing outdated or physically dilapidated materials from library collections. The weeded material will be sold in library, book sales, recycled and given away to non-profit or educational organizations. I should do some weeding with the books I have on the bookshelves below too.

JANUARY PROGRESS REPORT

Here is an update on my quest to be clutter-free and not allowing useless stuff taking over our living space. This year, as it has been our tradition that the Sunday after Thanksgiving would be when we put up our Christmas tree and decorated the house, we sorted the ornaments into three groups, must-keep, maybe and to Good Will. The must-keep ornaments were those with our names, years and places we were on vacation. Of course, we also keep the Red Wings, Patriots and others that had family and personal attachment. The maybe ornaments were somewhat meaningful but not too sentimentals. We might consider donating these "maybe" next year. We took two banker boxes to Good Will and the lady there told me that they would put pricing on the items and on the shelves right away.
To keep myself from eating munchies all day, I decided to go thru the closets, gathered two large bags of clothing and dropped the items off a local Thrift Shop that supports group homes for mental & physical challenged adults. We also donated two boxes of things. I took the photos below to show the things we kept and it felt good to donate them, kind of letting go of the past and moving on to the clutter-free future. When my husband moved to Grand Haven from Detroit, he lived in an apartment and thought the porcelain dog and puppy would make him feel at home and less lonely being away from his family for the first time. That was in 1982, and CP said it was time to give the dogs away to someone else.
My sister CH and I used to go Pier 17, a multilevel dockside shopping mall at South Street Seaport, to hang out with sailors when the ships came into town during July 4th weekend and summer months. From Pier 17 you could have the view as far north as midtown Manhattan and as far south as the Verazzano-Narrows Bridge. There were also concerts, street performers and plenty of people-watching activities. We would wear light jean jackets with these silly looking pins (photo above). CH loved the sailors, their white uniform, and cool looking hats. We did not get drunk and had one-night stand or anything that would be shameful to our family, we just talked to the sailors, maybe flirt a little and when they got a little over-friendly, we got away by telling them we needed to use the wash room. The pins were popular back then in the late 80's. I put these pins in a box with other earrings and jewelries that no longer age appropriate for me to wear, and to Good Will they went. This handmade doll (photo below) was purchased at a craft show a few years ago. She looked cute in the rocker in the living room. Then we moved her to the guess room, sitting on the dresser. Maybe a child would spend more time playing with her instead of just being a decorated item in our house.

THANKSGIVING DAY

"And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorified God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. Jesus said in reply, "Ten were healed, where are the other nine? Had none but this Samaritan returned to give thanks to God?" Luke 17:15-18

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving day starting with morning Mass at 9:00. The church was full and everyone brought either canned food or non-perishable items or cash donations to be collected for two local shelters. After we came home, we enjoyed a full breakfast. My husband had his usual two eggs over-easy, sausage, potatoes and toast while I had the same except instead of meat, mine was veggie sausage. Then we each had a slice of pumpkin pie. We watched the Lions (0-11) v. Titans (10-1) game but it was too depressing so at half time we decided to take a nap instead! CP did a great job again with the turkey, the apple pie and pumpkin pie (bottom photo). We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner completed with a small bottle of sweet wine (a very inexpensive kind).

As we enjoyed our Thanksgiving feast, we thank God for His blessings upon our families. We also pray for the safety and well-being of our military forces, particularly servicemen and women serving overseas. We pray for law enforcement, emergency personnel, the firefighters who risk their lives daily to save strangers. I am sure each of us is doing something, no matter how small, to support our troops without the publicity and the fanfares. Most of all, please keep these men and women in your prayers.

GETTING READY FOR WINTER

I finally put away all of the summer clothes and gathered the sweaters, sweatshirts, pants and thick winter socks, ready for the cold months ahead. I developed a rotating system that has worked pretty good for this purpose, putting away and bringing out seasonal clothing. First I piled all the summer clothes, mostly t-shirts, shorts, sleeveless shirts from all the drawers on one bed, then transfered winter clothes from storage bins and dresser from the guest room onto the bed. I would apply the same rotating system when it is time to switch from winter to summer. I usually handled the tasks on Sunday afternoon while watching football games to make the work less boredom. As I sorted thru the items, I tried to set aside pieces that could be donated. This time I dropped off two bags of clothes into the collection box at Goodwill. I often thought of the time when my family and I first came to America, our clothings came from donations at the refugee office. We could not believe that people would discard items in almost perfect condition. I wrote about how exciting it was for my sister and I the first time we went shopping. It was great to take the price tags off as a symbol of "making it in America", no longer wearing donated clothes. Now just my husband and I, we filled up a walk-in closet complete with an organized system in the master bedroom and just my clothes alone took up two other full size closets. I mentioned many times that I hate shopping, especially for clothes and spend no more than a few times a year at the malls nearby, yet how did I accumulate all the items in the house? I even stopped buying souvenirs. Who cares if I was wearing t-shirts from Rome, Paris or Malta! I must find a way to purge more, perhaps once a month instead of only when bringing out seasonal clothing. Someone suggested that when purchasing a new item, donate 2 or more from current inventory, would help cutting down on the cluster. How about not buying new items at all and giving at least a carton of stuff every week?

This week I stocked up on canned soups. I hope some marketing person from Campbell's Soup will send me a coupon for posting the above photo, giving the company free advertisement. These are two of our favorite flavors. I loaded up the shopping cart with all 20 cans when I saw the sale price at $1.44 each. I just paid $2.00 at another store for the same items! Another reason we buy Campbell's soups as we collect the labels for the school thru "Labels for Education" program. Sister Rosario reported that a laptop was obtained from the points accumulated.

Here is our brand new kitchen window which should be energy efficient and easy to clean. The new window has better insulation keeping the heat in when it is cold in the winter or when the air condition is on in the summer. We could easily slide the screen over to get some fresh air into the house if it is not too hot. By the way, evident that the housing market is terrible when we saw a bird took a peak inside the birdhouse and left without an attempt to even get inside! We replaced the wooden mailbox with a new free standing heavy duty mailbox with a slot for mail to be safely kept inside a container when we go away for a few days. My husband converted the wooden mailbox into the birdhouse but so far it has stood empty.

Farmer Jack sure got enough wood there!