Small Happinesses

One of the ways that I have been getting rid of (sharing/passing on/letting go of) some of the stuff in my life is through Bookcrossing. I first read about Bookcrossing in a magazine about (what else?) books. I joined several years ago and am "indigo136." Since we're making an effort to take evening walks in the 100 Acre Park a couple blocks north of our house, where the dog can run around off-leash, I've been trying to remember to take a book or two with me every evening to leave for someone to find.

I like the idea of turning the world into a free library of sorts. Only a small percentage of the books I've given away this way, through a "Wild Release," have been "caught." I don't know what's happened to the rest of them - maybe someone found each one and just didn't bother to go online and say so. Maybe coffee shop employees found them and trashed them. It's a mystery, for the most part.

No mystery this past weekend, though. Two of the three books I released were "caught" - and one of the catchers wrote a longer-than-average paragraph about her experience. And then joined Bookcrossing. And donated cash (that's how come "bison76" has those little angel wings").

Love it!

Here's the "journal" for my former copy of Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith.

2 journalers for this copy...

	Journal Entry 1 by indigo136 from Bozeman, Montana USA on Tuesday, September 20, 2011 I read most of this series several years ago, but forgot I owned them. Figured I should share.
	Journal Entry 2 by indigo136 at 100 Acre Park in Bozeman, Montana USA on Sunday, May 13, 2012 Released 2 days ago (5/13/2012 1:00 AM UTC) at 100 Acre Park in Bozeman, Montana USA WILD RELEASE NOTES: On a bench.
	Journal Entry 3 by bison76 at Bozeman, Montana USA on Monday, May 14, 2012 We were Bozeman visiting our son and taking an after dinner walk. I am an avid reader and usually read books on the Nook or iPad. I was thinking that my iPad had little charge left and since I forgot the charger I was going to have to go get another charger so I could read in the motel or buy a book. Surprise! There was a book on the bench in the park and it was one I hadn't read, although I have read my in the series. I love this idea of leaving books and when I finish this one tonight I will be leaving it on a bench that was placed in Missoula in honor of a beloved member of my book group who passed on...... Thank you!

All I Want for Christmas

It's wish-list season. My family has a long history of wish-lists, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, as we've also got a long history of buying extremely practical gifts - so practical that sometimes the wisher goes out and gets said item for him- or herself before the gift-giving occasion rolls around. That could happen to me this year: this afternoon the Munchkin and I ventured to the mall to get her mormor (that'd be "mom's mom" in Norwegian) a Christmas present: eye make-up remover from a particular cosmetics counter. I won't be surprised in the least if it turns out that my mom has acquired her own new bottle of this stuff before the calendar hits the 24th of December.
One of the benefits of the wish-list is knowing that family will be spending money on things we actually want/need/will use, and that we'll be giving them gifts they want/need/will use, which certainly beats the alternative. There's not much point in spending money just for the sake of spending money, and I hate the feeling of having NO IDEA what to give someone.
However, this year, when asked what I want for Christmas, the answer is LESS STUFF. I not only don't really want any STUFF, I'd love it if someone would come over and help me (us) let go of some of the stuff that lives in our house already. Of course, given that we live states away from our families, and they really do want to give us something for Christmas (evidently - if any of my relatives are reading this and you don't really feel like getting me something for Christmas, then please donate the money to your food bank or something instead!!!), I also need to have a couple of "real" things on my wishlist. Here they are:
Aveda Hand Relief lotion (I go through one of these a year since SW Montana is a semi-arid climate and my hands do not like winter weather very much).
A new box of chargers for my most excellent whipped cream dispenser (go through about a box of those a year, too).
Origins Ginger hand lotion and hand cleanser (that way there's lotion in the downstairs bathroom too! And, Origins Ginger is my favorite scent - even though other than that I'm mostly moving away from smelly products...).
After that, there are some big-ticket items I'd like for our household to have: a camcorder to capture the Munchkin's hijinks, an external hard drive to back up our photos, etc., a telephoto lens for taking stealth Munchkin pictures. But I don't expect anyone to get any of these things for me. At this point, the exercise of writing a Christmas wish list helps me think about savings goals for the weeks and months ahead. And that's okay.

What do YOU want for Christmas this year (besides world peace, of course)?

PS - This post was inspired by today's testosterhome post. Enjoy!

Please Pass the Paper

I love it when little ideas come to fruition, without me pushing to make them happen.
After our synod pastors' conference at Chico Hot Springs last week (more about that later), I've been trying to think of simple things our household could do to continue simplifying, build community, and live a little lighter on the earth.
When I finally rolled into the office late this afternoon (Grant had a continuing ed. gig til mid-afternoon), I ended up having a good conversation with our office manager. We covered a wide range of topics, including stewardship, giving, making sacrifices, American lifestyles of consumption, etc.... I mentioned how we'd given up our satellite TV, she mentioned they've given up their daily newspaper.
And a light bulb appeared over my head. We still get the daily paper - why don't we share?
So, starting tomorrow, I'll take the paper with me to work and hand it over. I said I couldn't make any guarantees about getting today's paper today - chances are good it'll be a day later - but she didn't mind (the crossword will keep). The only promise I extracted was that the paper will be recycled when her household is finished with it - otherwise she has to bring it back and give it back to me so I can recycle it. She laughed. No problem.
How fantastic!!
This feels especially good, since over the weekend I also remembered to ask another family at church if they have a broadcast spreader for things like grass seed and fertilizer that we could borrow. I figure if we only use it once or twice a year, there's no reason we need to own one!
The spreader arrived by the office door Sunday night. Perfect!
It feels good NOT to buy things, and even better to share the things we already have.