Music

Of course I don't own it and actually I have been looking for christmas music, but via the christmas songs I came to the Overtones and they sang a version of the song above.

Well, I liked that version and I like the version above, there are many more out there, find your own favorite version and....  (as ever: I do not own it)

Painting by Numbers

I just love to paint by numbers. Since I am not very good at painting free, but like the idea of painting in general, this is my chance to paint and have a result, that I can agree with. Well: after I am finished, one can see, what I wanted to paint. That's not generally the case with my free-style paintings. Maybe I could be better there, but somehow I lack the energy. And I tend to perfectionism.
So, I just leave it be and let more talented and enthusiastic people paint.

Another thing I love about painting by numbers is the relaxation effect. I can put in an audiobook, get out my motive and paint. I can actually do that for hours. Loveley.
The same effect I get from painting Mandalas, knitting and cooking. Lately even from doing the dishes. That's why I do my dishes - what there is - every evening, before I get ready to go to bed.
Another double effect: I get the dishes done and I relax before I go to sleep.

So, what have I been doing in the year, that I have not written? I've been working, dissolving so called friendships, that ended up not being real friendships, made new friends, stopped going to choir practice, got a housecleaner for my flat, demolished my closet to be replaced by a new one, moved my sofa into the bedroom, got a new easy chair, moved my furniture around in the living room,
learned how to change youtube videos into audiofiles, knitted socks, read books, went to London twice (and I saw Richard Armitage LIVE and in Coulor. Though the colors were mainly grey and black and dark brown. Well, I saw him in "The Crucible", so there was no reason to expect flaming colors and I didn't.

This year I saw the Musical "Beautiful" based on the musical beginnings of Carole King. Highly recommendable. I went there rather spontaneiously and had a great seat, where I could see the orchestra and the stage and the seats left and right of me remained empty, though the theatre was well frequented.
I also went on a whim to see an exhibition about Audrey Hepburn in the National Portray Gallery and into a little exhibition about Music in WW I. The Great War, as it was called then.

Apart from that I came back to idea of kindling a life in the french style. I found books about this by Jennifer L. Scott and Anne Barone and I liked them. I have linked their names with their websites.
This way, if you are interested, you only need to click the names. :-) If not, you just don't.

Then I have been watching "Extreme Couponing", which fascinated me very much. For one thing, we can't do that here in Germany and for another I wandered, why a family of 7 needs more the 270 Tubes of toothpaste or a family of 3 needs 400 Rolls of kitchenpaper....
There whre a lot of things, that I didn't understand in this scheme and I also wondered: do they factor in the cost for storing (especially things for the fridge and/or freezer), gas, shelfs, spaces, time? Because all that is costly too. There was one woman who preferred cutting out coupons to playing with her kids on the beach.
And what I didn't understand: why, when my storage room is full, do I need to purchase items, that I already have in abundance? Like cleaning detergent for instance? Why does a household of one person need a stockpile for a family of 10? Even considering, that the kids come and get some of the stuff...

What I did like was the report about families who got a lot of stuff for free, but only to give it away to foodbanks, their church or just neighbours. Who used their skills to help others living better.

Also I learned, that it is possible, albeit harder, to buy healthy groceries. So that is a relieve as well.

****

Another  Show I've been watching was: "Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners". One of the reasons, I got myself cleaning help. While I didn't understand some of their mannerisms, I liked how they helped the hoarders and messies they went to. It wasn't always easy, for either side, but they accomplished quite a lot and something, both sides could live with. They brought back a quality of life and sometimes improved their own, as they hoped they would. This show was often my incentive to clean my flat. On the long run though, it is better to have someone doing the heavy stuff and I just do my best to keep up the good work

That's about it for now. I think I'll end this post with a picture and not a video. Just to go back to the roots of this blog (when I didn't know, how to upload clips). And this time it might even be a photo, I did myself. Who knows. :-) This is a street in London. I took the photo, because I liked the street. It is a photo from last years trip though.

Having less

The amassing of fugitives, coming to Europe, made me think. They definitely less, than they had, when it was not dangerous to live in the homeland.

Now here, in our western world, even people who have less, than the rest, often have more, than those people. That is the point, where I became ashamed. Because I definitely not only have more, than I need, I have more, than about four people have.

So I have started to declutter. I started that last November, but it is an ongoing process. Still, I have a lot of stuff, that I do not need. So I gave some away, and sold some and some things could only be thrown away. Anyway, I am not yet finished and may never be, as long as I love to shop.

Than I developed a liking for couponing, though here in Germany, that is not something, that you can do and pay nothing. Anyway, you can get some things a little cheaper, than the usual prize. And I found a new way, well several ways in the same direction:

-  I shop at the farmers market for my vegetables, fruit and fish
-  Meat, eggs, milk and butter a buy in a small shop, that buys, what it produces itself
-  I do not buy food in tins.

The latter is more due to my allergy to histamins though, but since I stopped that, I don't regret it. Reduced my shopping bills.

The last thing I do, is watching out for shop brands and brands from unknown, not established.

Then I started to have a cleaner in. She comes ones every month now. So I only have to keep up her good work and can spend the rest of the time (usually spent in thinking about cleaning) with further decluttering and taking care to not buy much more. But there is one shopping-weakness left:

e-books: one can have them relatively cheap and you don' t see them lying about. So you can buy them and they are peacefully on your e-book, awaiting your pleasure. I love it. Lately I've been buying a lot of e-books, though I did get some of them by voucher, given to me for my birthday.

The latest books I wrote were about elegance, decluttering, reducing stuff, that kind of thing. I have times of special interest, and now it is elegant decluttering. Well, that's the title I came up with.

I have just finished Lessons from Madame Chic by Jennifer L. Scott. Highly reccomended. I already bough the next book of hers - At home with Madame Chic - and I will get the third book, but forgot the title. I is about Poise though, that much I know.. AH : Polish your poise..In "Lessons from Madame Chic" there was one senctence, that I liked and that reminded me of a song I have from Ella Fitzgerald. I can't get it on here, due to rights, but this one by Fats Waller ain't half bad either..(I don't own it).

It certainly gives the message: It isn't about what you do, it is about the way you go about it!

Make it special, make it fun, don't look at it as a chore, but as some fun thing to do. This way

you get it over with faster.

That said: I find that hard to achieve, but sometimes I manage it. It's fun, when I get into this zone.

So, next time you do the dishes, try to get some enjoyment out of it. :-) 

And it is finally fall

Some of you may wish to hang me, but personally: I LOVE FALL.
Yes, even though it rains and is windy and maybe even clammy. But it is just so much better than the heat we had last summer.

Very possibly, I am one of the very few chosen ones, who prefers the Fall. I love the rain and wind and clamminess. And then:

... getting in something cozy, plus a pair of woolly socks, making a cup of tea, getting out the cookies, and sit in my favourite settee reading, knitting, watching films, listening to an audiobook,
while candles crackle and outside the rain knocks on my window, the leaves move in the wind and
people passing on the street hope not to loose their umbrellas.

Therefore, the following music (that I of course do not own) is for fall-weather lovers like me.
If you know even better music: go ahead, show me. :-)

Then today the following, sung by Bobby Darin came up and seemed to fit with the water masses: 

Also, though it is past the "due"-date .. it already is september, after all

But this one does not seem to fit for me:

And that's enough wisecracking from me. Cheerio and make Fall cozy for you. :-)