December 2005

Some of you may remember a recent blog entry in which I asked the question “which one of you dingbats, I mean kind and generous people, bought me a Prius for the holidays??” Well a few days I figured out who the dingbat kind generous person was… TW BOUGHT ME A PRIUS FOR CHRISTMAS!!!

She’s soooo bad at keeping gifts a secret, which is good because I truly do not like surprises. She would drop remarks about someone, probably my sister, buying me the car for Christmas. Now some of you who know some things about my sister could maybe see how this could be a possibility. But, those of you who would think that (including TW) just don’t know my sister. So it really never was a plausible idea for me.

I really just thought someone was playing around and clicked the “reserve” on my Things I Want list. No way TW would buy me a car. We can’t afford it and while money, or lack of, has never stopped TW from indulging me (or anyone else she loves) she knew that I would truly not have been happy about such a purchase.

So a few days ago I was talking to my mom on the phone about holiday travel plans and gift purchases and I jokingly asked her if she bought me the car. She laughed and said “that would be your sister” ha! My sister was in the room and said she saw it was reserved but she certainly didn’t do it, ha! again! And then it hit me…

TW did not buy me a Prius, she rented it! For a week! Just the perfect amount of time for me to enjoy it, play with it, figure out how the magic of 99.9mpg works and show all sorts of people how cool it is. And just the perfect amount of time for me to figure out whether or not I really and truly want one, if I ever actually have the $30,000+ it would cost to buy it.

So the car arrived today. It’s white (which is good because that is the last color I’d choose so it will be easy to take it back). It’s fuel efficient! It’s interesting! It’s fun! It’s magic! I LOVE IT! It’s one of the BEST gifts EVER!

Be on the lookout for more PRIUS driven posts over the next week… pictures too, and the pictures are important because TW did some “detailing” that you really MUST see!

Happy Happy Prius Day!

Technorati Tags: christmas, surprise, gift, prius, toyota, hybrid, car, thingsiwant

Discardia: A floating holiday to celebrate letting go.

I always forget about Discardia until it’s too late. I forgot about it in the fall until Ed talked about it on his blog. I vowed I would not forget next time. And I didn’t!

I have mentioned it to Michelle in passing a couple of times each month. She’s never seemed very interested. Sometimes she’s even done the typical teenage “fine, just throw it all away, I don’t care!” thing and stomped off to her messy room. Not the reaction I was going for, obviously. Discardia is about celebrating letting go, not huffing and puffing and feeling forced into letting go.

I was patient. I was also lucky.

TW and I had been watching Clean Sweep quite a bit and I even had a Clean Sweep Birthday which helped to keep thoughts of clutter reducing fresh in our minds.

That wasn’t enough though. We needed to go further than that. And I do believe Michelle got there all on her own this week.

“Mom, I just realized that 75% of the stuff in my room is stuff I have never needed and never really wanted. I mean it was fun to get gifts. And fun to buy. But most of it I never even used or touched or looked at again.”

So Michelle spent several days really cleaning out her room. She hasn’t gotten rid of all of it. The idea of letting go of the entire kit n caboodle all it once is a little overwhelming, I think. But she hit the point where I hope she’s going to think more about whether she’s truly in need of a particular object or simply in need of something, some intangible something that brings pleasure or piques an interest or simply fills an empty space.

Discardia is a celebration of letting go, indeed.

Nancy White talks about Discardia and reflection on the past and quite a few folks on 43 Things practicing Discardia, too.

Technorati Tags: discardia, cleanup, simplify,