Little House in The Suburbs...

(that's googlemap satellite imagery of MY house)

"Knit it All!" There's a goal for you! Christina, AKA 'Knitty-D' has a goal to knit all of her Rhinebeck 2006 Fiber Festival purchases BEFORE Rhinebeck 2007. Considering what Knitty-D purchased that is a reasonable, yet big, goal. I like the concept though - the "use what you have" BEFORE getting more idea. I want to do this as well - use it all.

I have so much and I find myself constantly wanting, driven to, more. I think about our pioneering American history and how people "made do." I know I romanticize the life - because it was no doubt truly harsh - but I can't help but believe that it was also happier.

The world today beeps, and buzzes, and whirs at a dizzying pace and no matter what I have - in over abundance - I always want newer, better, more. Being bombarded with ads from every side, T.V., billboards, magazines, radio, the beloved internet - it's EVERYWHERE - I constantly am presented with more ways to seperate me from my (ok my husband's) hard earned money.

Don't get me wrong, I love and thoroughly enjoy my very modern lifestyle I just think sometimes it would be easier without cell phones, and answering machines, and email, and instant access, and TiVO (ok NOT TiVO - that's just crazy talk). Anyway, more life with less - that's the ultimate goal; less stuff, less running, less spending (or at least different), less disconnect - more time, more family, more laughter, more contentment, - happier.

The pioneering Americans and many generations that followed understood value, they understood usefullness, and they understood hard work in a capacity I will never know. My life - just the daily survival part - is easy by comparison and while I take the bad with the good (I do love me some TiVO) I wonder what I'm missing by having everything.

So, a goal - "knit it all!" - or in my case - "Use it All!" is adopted. not a "don't buy anything" binge (because everyone knows where most of those lead), but a new way of thinking. I am "thinking home" first and asking myself "do I already have something I can use or make work? Do I really need it? Do I really want it?" I am working on projects I already have and gifting to others those I am never going to complete. I expect using materials I have and completing projects I am already mentally, and finacially invested in to bring me great joy and contentment.

So I set off with the American Pioneers as my role models and a hopeful, expectant attitude to "Use it All" and seek More with less. Who will join me?

I'll keep you posted!

AmyDe

p.s. Speaking of TiVO: Thank you BS Galactica writers for giving us back Lee with the bod and for the gratuitous abs footage this past week - truly - Thank You!