Recharged and ready for more.

Disclaimer: This is sappy. I’m in one of those moods. If expressions of gooey, heart feelings make you squeamish, you should probably stop reading.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Last week was one of those weeks.  The kind where nothing terrible really happens, but nothing quite goes smoothly either. Between the heat, the day the Internet was struck by lightning and the tire on my bike setting its own retirement date, some fun times were had.  This weekend evened my keel and now I’m ready for more.

I have actually been having some pretty excellent weekends as of late and I’m kind of hyped for the next few to come as well. This weekend coming is Hillside. The first weekend of August is a family reunion/party at my parents house. Following that there are a few cottage plans and possibly a canoe trip in the works.

When I look back at both the good and bad times, I really have nothing to complain about. I have a great job where I work with awesome people doing cool things, I have some of the best friends anyone could ask for, and I have a family that will stick with me through thick and thicker.

I guess what I’m driving at is even when things are at their worst, there is probably something or somebody you can grab a hold of to help you out. It’s important to let those people/things know how much you appreciate them.  Even something as small as thank you could make their day.

Can you live with only 100 things?

I read this article on time.com a few weeks ago called “How to live with just 100 things.” It is an article about a self-imposed challenge by a guy named Dave. His goal is to reduce the number of items he owns to 100 and live that way for a year. Here’s the post about the challenge. He’s keeping a running list of his stuff there as well. There is also a FriendFeed room and Facebook group dedicated to the conversation.

I’ve often thought about how much stuff I have and what it’s all for. Moving (every year for the past eight years) only emphasizes it. I’m a pack rat. I keep stuff to use for art and creative projects. A lot of stuff I keep “just in case.” Some stuff has a memory or meaning attached. Thinking about this causes me to dread the day when I have my own house. Moving constantly is one way of keep clutter down… kind of.

I’m looking around my apartment right now at the number of things still in boxes. Do I keep them? What about the stuff that has been in boxes since two moves ago? Do I need it if I haven’t taken it out of it’s box in two years? Probably not.

I think it is time to seriously prune my nest.

Lego for grown-ups

Every time I move I end up going to Ikea. There is always some little thing I get. This time I got a few start-up items like a cheese grater, bath mat, some dry goods jars, etc. My favourite thing to get though is the stuff I I get to put together myself. This time I got a cabinet for on top of my fridge.

While assembling the cabinet I was struck by the similarities between Ikea and Lego. I don’t know why I never noticed it before… I decided Ikea is Lego, but slightly more utilitarian and for grown-ups.  From the visual instructions, to the exact count of pieces so that if you lose one you’re kind of screwed. The pieces don’t click together like Lego, but, to compensate, I got to use my grown-up tools, so I didn’t mind.

It’s a perfect generational fit too.  It’s the people who grew up with the original Lego block are now building their own houses and families. What better thing to give our generation than DIY furniture?

Next step? Comfortable Ikea blocks that we can put together into our own configurations.

Guests coming over? Make the bed into a couch. Poker game? Make the couch into a  table with chairs. Tired? Revert the table and chairs into  a bed.  Not the most practical furniture, but oh so much fun…