Errands Done

Somebody must be out there praying for me!  Wednesday, I managed to get out at lunch and get my Echeck, go to the Time Warner office for my Grandmother and schedule the post office pick up for my package!  Phew!  It was actually SO beautiful outside!  The photo that you see is of items that I found while walking from my car to the house after the errands.  I'm not sure what that white leaf is from.  If anyone reading this know, please leave a comment with the info!  Thanks :)

I read from Mere Christianity again last night.  This is the excerpt that really caught my attention (pg. 66)

Now another point.  There is one bit of advice given to us by the ancient heathen Greeks, and by the Jews in the Old Testament, and by the great Christian teachers of the Middle Ages, which the modern economic system has completely disobeyed.  All these people told us not to lend money at interest: and lending money at interest - what we call investment - is the basis of our whole system.  Now it may not absolutely follow  that we are wrong.  Some people say that when Moses and Aristotle and the Christians agreed in forbidding interest (or "usury" as they called it), they could not foresee the joint stock company, and were only thinking of the private moneylender, and that, therefore, we need not bother about what they said.  That is a question I cannot decide on.  I am not an economist and I simply do not know whether the investment system is responsible for the state we are in or not.  This is where we want the Christian economist (Julie says " the Christian economist is a reference to an earlier thought that C.S. Lewis shared").  But I should not have been honest if I had not told you that three great civilisations had agreed (or so it seems at first sight) in condemning the very thing on which we have based our whole life.

What I find so interesting about this excerpt is that the book was originally written in 1943 and yet the state of affairs that are described sound so much like today, 2010!  I think we are either going in circles or spiraling downward without realizing it.  So interesting that the world that we perceive to have changed so much, really is quite the same as it was back in 1943... well, with the credit industry anyway.

Preparing for Koinonia (and procrastinating!)

I was invited to a very special weekend. In a way, I don't want to go, I mean I REALLY don't want to go.  I will be away from home for 48 hours, eating who knows what, sleeping on who knows what, not allowed to keep my cell phone or any time keeping implement, with who knows who, doing who knows what! I'm a homebody who likes to be in control of the things going on around me. To give all of that control away and to leave home-sweet-home and family, is going to be a great challenge for me. I agreed to it since a very dear friend invited me to it after having attended a weekend herself. You're required to have a sponsor (or someone who invites you) to attend this weekend.

What is Koinonia??  Click here for a great explanation of the word.  What exactly will I be doing though? I'm not sure, but what I do know is that it's meant to be a time to be away from the "world" in fellowship with other Christians forming a deep, spiritual connection with God.

I've made a list of what I'm taking. Here it is (minus the unmentionables):

pajamas
1 jeans
two tops
two socks

Protein bars
Macaroni salad
tabbouleh (?)
bananas
apples
nuts

shampoo
conditioner
john gel
soap

blow dryer
flat iron
deodorant
lotion
toothbrush/paste
flosser

2 blankets
pillow

I'm nervous, but there is something inside of me pushing me to go, so I will go.

So... back to my Changing How I Live movement! I'm finding that staying on top of my errands is more difficult than removing TV from my life! Gosh... this is definitely my weakness (or one of them!)! Tomorrow, I have to go to the Post Office and the Echeck (sound familiar?!). We'll see.

I'll miss you Barbara

I became friends with a wonderful, faithful, wise Christian women.   Her name was Barbara Lowe.  She passed on to be with Jesus early Sunday morning; I got to know Barbara last winter through the Alpha Course  She was the leader of our small group.  This time around at the Alpha course she was still in my small group and she has helped me in so many ways.  I thank Barbara for teaching me more about the Holy Spirit, for her stories and her loving kindness.  I will miss her so much.

Day 4 - Amelia's Home!

(She's home!)

Amelia is home from her 2 week trip to Florida!  Things are going to get back to normal!  Yay!  I was a little worried about the whole TV thing though.  She read my earlier blog post while she was on vacation so she knew what was going on, but she made it clear to me that she was not boycotting TV along with me.  Well, she was tired from the long trip home and wanted to watch.  I wanted to be with her, but didn't want to sit there staring at her while she watched TV!  I mentioned maybe watching a Netflix movie to her.  I figured I could watch a movie with her while she rested.  So... I watched.  haha  Oh well.  I'm not going to consider this "TV" though!  Not sure if you agree, but that's what I'm going to go with.

As for last night... I read more.  I'm reading Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis (copyright 1943) based on the recommendation of someone from my church.  It's really interesting and I agree with the writer completely!  I'm only on page 58 out of 175 though.  I'd like to share an excerpt from page 49 "That is why the Christian is in a different position from other people who are trying to be good.  They hope, by being good, to please God if there is one; or - if they think there is not - at least they hope to deserve approval from good men.  But the Christian thinks any good he does comes from the Christ-life inside him.  He does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us; just as the roof of a greenhouse does not attract the sun because it is bright, but becomes bright because the sun shines on it."

Oh... and I wanted to share something amazing!  I may even go as far as to call it miraculous!  Phil did not turn the TV on this morning!  He listened to music and then cleaned out his closet!  The TV never came on!  It was a beautiful thing. 

The last thing on my mind for today... I'm thinking about what I can change next and I think I came up with something.  I believe this will be harder for me than this whole no TV thing.  I HATE errands.  I don't like to go to the grocery store, the post office, the DMV, the store for pajamas (I need to buy some pajamas for next weekend), oil changes, etc... I like to be at home, at someone else's home, at church or outside.  This has caused me to be a huge procrastinator in this area.  My next step in Changing How I Live is ZERO procrastination.  When I have an errand, I will do it as soon as possible.  I will do it even if I feel like it will kill me!   This starts Monday actually... I have to go to the post office and the ECheck facility and I will do it!  Say a little prayer for me please.  This is where I need much help. 

Day 3 - The Anger Phase

Day 3 and I must have reached the anger phase of this process!  I'm actually a little angry with TV today!

We all like different things, we all draw different lines and have different preferences.  What one person considers entertaining, another may not.  For example, there are a number of crime shows on TV nowadays.  Many people find their entertainment watching someone get murdered, or a child get kidnapped and I can say that I can't grasp that.  I definitely can't find my entertainment there.  Then there are the reality type shows where people act as if they are not acting.  They are just living their lives as if there was no camera there.  I suspect that they are acting to some extent and that acting, in my opinion, stinks!  Then there are the sit-coms.  I haven't watched one in a REALLY long time, but I was just talking to a friend about one of her favorites.  It's called Modern Family.  I've never seen it, but based on the description, it seems to take things that I find don't match up with my, ummm, preferences and make light of them.  In a way, they are trying to make things that I don't necessarily buy into, acceptable.  I don't find humor in these things since I tend to look beyond the "acting" and search for the deeper moral message (to a fault I do this!). 

Then there was the movie called Awakenings.  I was watching this movie just a short time prior to my TV boycott.  This movie is intensely emotional and had me weeping so badly that I was getting blurry vision!  Yes, some wouldn't call that entertainment, but it entertained me to the extent that it had an impact on my soul.  While this impact on my soul was taking place, cut to commercial... Oil of Olay... a wonderful  super model (I'm sure she really is... nothing against her!  Really!) trying to tell me that wrinkles are ugly and unacceptable in our society and that to be "pretty" and acceptable, I should buy this lotion that costs $28 dollars that promises to make me look younger.  What if I don't want to look younger (well... ) !  I thought "How has the media tricked us into believing that this is what's important, that this is what we need to spend our money on???".  How can they do that?!  How have the accomplished such trickery!  This commercial in contrast to the emotional life struggles of the people in the movie Awakenings made me feel sick about where we are as a human race.  I was so angry.

In retrospect, I think this was the moment that I decided that TV had to go.  It's been 3 days and I'm feeling a little, teeny-bit lost at moments (like now), but overall it's been somewhat easy considering my anger at the above programming choices and commercials.

So... today I've completed my bday list (well almost, still waiting on some responses), put my 2009 tax stuff in a box, worked at my main job, talked on the phone for awhile, went to the grocery store, did laundry, cleaned the kitchen.  Right now I'm cooking an Amy's Non-Dairy, Rice Crust, Spinach pizza and drinking a Sam Adams Octoberfest (it is Friday!).  Yum

Day 2 - No TV... it's not so bad!

(picture courtesy of About.com)

My friend asked me if I watch SO much TV that I felt I had to cut it out.  It's not that I watch SO much, it's just that I feel like I could be doing more productive things without it in my life.  This same friend also believes in "downtime" (that's not what she calls it, but this is rated 'G' so I'll stick with downtime).  I agree with her on that... I guess my "downtime" was usually spent in front of the TV so this is the hardest part of cutting it so far.  What do I do to get that "downtime"?  I don't have an answer, but I will think about some ideas.  Reading isn't really "downtime" since you have to turn the pages and really use your brain to understand and retain what your reading.  Using the laptop... yah, that's not "downtime" either for the same reasons.  Staring at the wall... hah!  Staring at a wall didn't work since my mind just started to think of all of the things that I need to do!  So what can I do to acheive that numb, mindless, effortless "downtime" that TV used to provide.  Ideas welcome! 

What I did do with my lack of "downtime" yesterday was cook two delicious vegan dishes!  I'm not a cook... but that's part of this whole Changing How I Live effort, so I thought I'd add another layer to my life.  First, no TV.  Second, cook something!  Luckily, for the sake of keeping this effort upbeat, it just so happened that the two recipes that I chose to make turned out great.  That's always motivating!  I made Vegan Quinoa Salad http://vegetarian.about.com/od/soupssalads/r/quinoasalad.htm and Garlic Lemon Green Beans http://frenchfood.about.com/od/sidedishes/r/lemgarlicgrnbn.htm .

I attended a really interesting class today as part of my job.   It's called "Getting Things Done".  It's about creating lists, folders, goals, etc... I may use part of my long evening to review some of the material and start some lists.  I will look for some more recipes, do some laundry, walk Ruthie and go to bed.   I think that more sleep will be a great reward that cutting TV will have for me!  Although, last night I was up until 11:30 cooking! 

Until tomorrow....

Day 1 - Goodbye My Friend (or enemy depending on how you look at it)

 Today, I am somewhat aware of my impact on the environment.  I'm a vegan, I recycle, I drive a Subaru and I limit my consumption.  I'm aware that I should cook more whole foods.   I'm aware that I should find ways to save money and to spend it more wisely.  I'm aware of a lot of things.  Now it's time to change that awareness into action.

I want to change my life.

This will be a multi-faceted approach that hasn't been completely defined yet.   I have made my first decision as to what I will change first.  I've decided that the first step in this process, Day 1, will be removing television from my daily life.  I have thought about this for years, but didn't have agreement within the house.  Maybe I used that as a subconscious reason to keep watching... but now, I, on my own, will cut T.V. out.  I don't watch too much, comparatively speaking, but it's enough that I believe I will discover new and amazing things by eliminating it.  I've recently become somewhat of a documentary and movie junky (What Would Jesus Buy,  The Ballad of Jack and Rose, The Beautiful Truth, The Gerson Miracle , The Future of Food, Frida, Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup, I am Sam and more)  now that I can watch Netflix on the Wii.  This will be the hardest part.  This is why I've decided that I will allow myself one movie a week for now.  Not sure what day of the week... probably Friday night.

I'm curious, nervous and excited to see what the impact that this first step will have on my life.  I will post daily on the progress.