The Simple Life at Home

I am wearing...a robe my mother-in-law gave me.  It's white with pretty pink and blue palm trees on it.

I've been reading quite a bit lately about the minimalism movement.  I have to say that it certainly sounds appealing.

The idea of having just the bare necessities sounds wonderful.  So much less to worry about, to move about while dusting, to hunt through while looking for something else.  Sounds like my idea of heaven on earth.

But actually making it happen in real life?  That's a whole other matter.  Most people have an abundance of personal possessions, things that they cling to for better or for worse.  This can range from sentimental treasures picked up while traveling to every little doo-hickey or gadget that ever crosses our paths that we keep because "someday it might come in handy."

Having recently helped a friend as she packed up to repatriate back to the US, I was struck by the amount of stuff we accumulate.  (Yes, Melissa, should you ever read this, this means you.  Still love you!) I started to think ahead to when we move back home, hopefully in about 2 years.  I decided then and there that I needed to streamline my life well in advance of that move.  Not just for the sake of a smooth move, but for the sake of my sanity every day in between now and then.

Some of the minimalist blogs I've been looking at are a little too radical for me.  Selling off their cars, moving in with parents, only owning enough towels for one for each person in the family.  I'm not quite there yet.  I don't know that I ever will be.  That's why I'm calling this post "Minimal Minimalism." I just want to simplify without hardship.  To me, that seems to negate the point.

In the course of my brain processing all this, I actually discussed with Hubby perhaps getting rid of one of our cars.  After all, I live less than a 10 minute walk to school.  Couldn't the kids and I just walk to and from each day?

Hubby patiently listened and then reminded me that right now, in January, that might seem like an ideal plan.  But soon enough, January turns into April, which eventually brings June when the temperatures at 7 am during our morning walk would already be over 100 degrees and by 3:30 when we head home it would be well over 110.

This is why I married him.

I think that minimalism is great - but it should bring relief and happiness to our lives.  It shouldn't be just  getting rid of stuff for the sake of it. Maybe being car-less works for some people but it wouldn't for us. So here are a few areas where I think I can whittle away at the amount of "stuff" in our home and have it be a positive thing rather than a negative.

• My closet - I have a rather over-stuffed closet, but rarely use more than half of what is hanging in it.  Some of it I just have grown to dislike over the years, but some of it just doesn't fit.  Instead of telling myself, "I'll get back into it someday!!!" I should tell myself, "When I get back down into that size, I'll have worked hard enough at it that I will deserve a new wardrobe!"  Time to donate those clothes.
• Paper - I have tended to keep every paper that is some what official.  For years.  I have a filing cabinet that we moved over here with us five years ago that Hubby and I went through over Christmas break and weeded out maybe 75%.  I guess I don't really need maintenance records on cars that we no longer own or insurance policy documents on policies we've let lapse.  Who knew??
• Kitchen gadgets - Oh, this is getting a little sensitive now, I know.  I fancy myself somewhat of a good cook and have amassed quite a little stockpile of gadgety items in my kitchen.  So much so that I can barely close a couple of cabinet doors and drawers.  I need to ask myself - how often do I use this and does that make it worth me dealing with it taking up space?  The espresso machine that we bought two months before moving to Doha where we can't use it because it's a different voltage?  5 years it's been taking up massive space in my kitchen cabinets.  The rolling pin that I never really use because I can't make a pie crust to save my life, but I keep hoping I will  magically become a pie-maker extraordinaire?  It needs to go.  I'm going to try this plan - if i haven't used it in 6 months, put it in a box and move it to the storage room.  If by that time I haven't had to dig through the box looking for it, to the end-of-school-year garage sale it goes.
• Books - This is a real sacred cow for some, especially us homeschooling types. (Yes, yes, I know I haven't homeschooled in 4 years, but it's still in my blood.)  Hubby and I have 4.5 bookshelves of books, and the kids probably have enough to fill another one between the two of them.  We need to seriously assess what we need to keep (any material which enhances our spiritual life, for instance) and what we need to part with (school materials the kids have outgrown, fiction we won't ever read again, etc.).  I'd like to get it down to just three bookshelves, working our way down to just one eventually.

I am less that two short weeks away from our annual trip home to the States. In between now and then Daniel will finish his last year of middle school, Emily will become a high school junior (meaning it's just two short years we have left with her at home), and I just have to make it through the next 10 straight days of work while still preparing for an almost three month vacation.

There are so many things I look forward to about being "home." Family, friends. Shopping. Freedom to do what I want, wear what I want, say what I want.

As if to reinforce the desire to escape Doha for the summer, the weather has recently been very cooperative. It's suddenly gotten very humid - combined with temps above 110, it's been simply miserable. Then today we a horrible dust storm blow into town, lowering visibility to a couple of hundred feet. Yuck!! Yep - it's time to get out of Dodge!

I don't know if anyone is ever even checking this old, practically defunct blog anymore. I wouldn't imagine so, but if anyone ever happens to check in, I thought I'd give an update. After all, it's 3:15 and I'm up watching the Super Bowl. Not for the football, mind you, really for the commercials. After all, the only bowl my team (Denver Broncos) went to this year was the toilet bowl!! Anyhoo, this seemed like a good time to pop in and say hi to anyone who's still interested.

I'm so happy about the way that the living room turned out!

I did end up second-guessing myself and going back and getting another paint color. But it didn't seem right either, so at the last minute, decided to go ahead and paint the first color. I'm so glad I did. It came out beautifully!! It's kind of a caramel color, and it looks so lush and rich. I just love it.

Hubby and I took some time to rearrange the room as well - moving artwork, furniture and plants around. We also put up some of that vinyl lettering you can buy with the pre-cut letters in different sayings. While I was in the States I picked up one that says, "Live. Laugh. Love." It's looks so nice up against the rich color. Now it looks like a pulled together room rather than just a place we just moved into and haven't really worked on. I'm so happy!

Pictures will follow when I figure out how to get them out of the camera!! (Hubby's still home, so hopefully later today!)

Now in Miami, this would be a whole different post.  Mosquitos there grow to the size of rodeo-type bucking broncos.  And they thrive in the summer heat of Miami, congregating by the thousands at your front door, ready to pounce on you the second you crack the door open.

We're finally down into the double-digits!!  Only 95 days until we get to fly back to the US for the summer!  I bought our tickets last night and it seems so close I can taste it.

My mother would tell you that I was something of an impatient child.  If I didn't get my way, I might even be prone to going outside into the street and stomping my feet and screaming.  Personally I don't remember that, but she claims it's true.

Yesterday was a bad day.

So yesterday the kids and I joined some friends on a little desert adventure. We went to see some rock outcropping that were rather neatly shaped and to see Film City, a place where movies have been shot, although no one could actually name one.

Hmmm.

Anyways, we were out there in the middle of Nowhere-ville and Emily asked if she could try driving. We had stopped for lunch along the shore (don't forget Qatar is just one big, I mean tiny peninsula), so I handed her the keys and let her practice going about 1000 yards up and down the shore. She did so well that I decided to let her try her hand at actual driving when we left. Here's how it went:

No, seriously, she actually did do pretty well. I just put that there to totally freak out my mom.

Don't forget that Emily isn't even 15 yet. Legal age for driving in Qatar? 18. But, my friends, this is a land of scofflaws and rebels! If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!!

Now before I get scolded by anyone, there was nothing around for miles and miles to hit (as you can see in the video), she barely got about 30 miles per hour and I got permission from all other drivers in the caravan and the father of Emily's friend even let her ride with us while Emily was driving. Until SHE got the bug and called her dad and asked if she could drive their car!!!

So we mark another milestone, albeit illegally. LOL!!

Ok, due to an overwhelmingly guilt-inducing email from my sister, I have been dragged back to the blog.  It's not that I don't love blogging and appreciate all of you who, for whatever reason, choose to follow and keep up with my life.  It's just that it has become a blur lately centering on work, homework help, cooking and cleaning.  Not exactly the stuff that makes for thrilling reading, but, I suppose, the stuff of which life is made up of.  So here's an update on our life for the last month and a half.  (Yikes, it sounds awful when I say that!)

The coolest thing right now is that I'm working through The Love Dare book with a group of friends.  We are on Day 4 today and I think we are all being challenged and stretched already. The great thing about doing this with a group is that we are all picking up on different things and encouraging each other.  This is a group of women whom I have been friends with for 14 years+, started from a chat room for women with kids about the same age.  We live all over the place (well, okay, I get credit for being the most far-flung - the rest are in the States) and have all different backgrounds, but are bonded together after years of commiserating about infancy, the terrible twos, childhood and now teenage angst.  We are all in different places in our marriages, but have found that most of us have our ups and downs.  Marriage is hard at times.  Doing The Love Dare is a way for us all to learn to put the value we place on our marriage before our emotions, which can be very fickle.  

Daniel had an amazing trip to Oman.  5 days without Mom.  I think it was much harder on me than on him. (Although, privately, I will admit the quiet was a little nice.) Rock climbing, mountain biking, snorkeling, and more were all on the agenda.  Next year, in 8th grade, he'll be heading a little farther away probably to either Malaysia or Sri Lanka.  That will really freak me out.

I'm getting braces.  Braces.  At 41.  Unbelievable.  But due to my overwhelming vanity, I'm only doing the top teeth right now because the orthodontist says they can be done by summer, so they'll be off for my trip home.  And because my kids and I are all doing them, he's giving me the clear ones for no extra charge.  Words cannot begin to express how excited I am about this.  I mean, really.  Wouldn't you be excited?  Not.

Grocery shopping has been pretty good lately.  At least I've been able to find most of the things on my lists.  This week's big find?  Instant chocolate pudding which I have NEVER seen here.  I stocked up so I can make Hubby's favorite desserts - Oreo pie.

Hubby and I are locked in a battle to the death over whether or not to hire someone to help us clean house once a week.  To my way of thinking, it would cost us about $35 dollars a week for 5 hours of help and since I'm working full-time I think it's a justifiable expense.  He feels it's not necessary if we all pitch in and work a little harder.  But truthfully I don't want to work harder.  I'm tired when I get home and by the time I do dinner and help with homework and pick up, I'd be happy to let someone handle the general cleaning - dusting, bathrooms, mopping, etc.  I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

Summer vacation is just 124 days away.  Not that I'm counting or anything.

In January, we made the very difficult decision to end our homeschooling journey and enroll our two amazing kids in school here in Doha. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done, but we felt it was the Lord's leading. Two months later, it was my turn to leave home and enter the workforce. A job opened up for me in the high school office of the kids' school. It has been a perfect way for me to keep in touch with my children's lives, get to know their friends in some small way, earn some extra money and expand my social life somewhat.

Over the summer, we made the long, long journey through Saudi Arabia to visit Hubby's family in Jordan. It was a trip which none of us were looking forward to following last year's horrible experience when our kids and their cousins didn't get along and made everyone miserable. After 3 days of travel, wearing the traditional black abayas and head coverings all the way, we pulled into Amman, only to be sideswiped 5 minutes after entering the town. Not an auspicious start. However, we were happily surprised when everyone got along, was happy and enjoyed their time together.

Sadly, just weeks after we came home, we got the call that no one ever wants to get. Hubby's father passed away at the age of 91. He was a deeply loved man, a godly man. The knowledge that he was already in Heaven with the God whom he loved so offered comfort, but he remains missed every day. Knowing that the next time we go, we won't be seeing his smiling face, or hearing his words of wisdom, or feeling his strong hugs makes it almost impossible for me to think what it will be like without him. There will be such a void.

And this fall we moved to a new home. Our new home is perfect for us. It's a five minute walk to school, closer to friends, allows us to use the amenities at the school like the weight room, track, basketball courts, and pool, and is easier for us to maintain.

And so, again, it's been a year full of change. In fact, I wonder if we will ever again have a year that seems "normal." This life we have chosen certainly has its ups and downs. It's good to know that as we enter a new year next week, we have the promise that God will be with us. That He is always with us - through the good and the bad. The highs are made much sweeter by His presence, and the lows are softened by His comfort.

So I am a big, fat liar.

Back during our Thanksgiving/Eid break, I promised to have pictures of our new house up by the end of the week.

Well, that didn't happen. I'm lazy. Sorry. (I think subconsciously I was waiting for Christmas decorations to be up. Everything looks better with Christmas decorations, doesn't it?).

But, finally, here they are. Please be gracious and remember that we are still working on the place. We haven't painted and we still need to find some artwork to grace the walls. But I'm happy with how it is so far.

They are in pretty random order, but here goes!




Let's start with the important thing.

My bathtub.

Finally I can take a nice, deep, luxurious bubble bath. At the old house, I had an awful tub. It was too short, too shallow and too narrow. Trying to take a bath in it was like trying to take a bath in one of those banana split dishes. This one is fabulous!!








This is a view from our dining room to the living room. I love how our front door is all glass and let's in tons of light. Even though this picture is really dark. You'll just have to trust me on this one.










This is just inside the front door looking towards the dining room.

See what I mean about needing artwork on the walls? The whole wall along the right, which you don't see is plain, plain, plain. Blah!











This is the other half of the living room. Since we went from having a living room, family room AND loft in the other house to just having a living room in this house, it required a little creativity in trying to fit in the furniture. So this couch kind of divides the room in half - a tv watching area, and behind it, a sitting area for reading or visiting.

Well, the Thanksgiving weekend is almost come and gone.  Luckily for us, we still have several more days of vacation, thanks to a handy little holiday you've probably never heard of called Eid Al-Adha.  (Which, by the way, thanks to Wikipedia, I can now semi-reliably inform you celebrates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Issac out of obedience to God.)  There are some perks to living in an Islamic country after all.  Hubby is off work until Wednesday, while the kids and I are off until next Sunday.

Today just about everything went right.

This week has been filled with a big high and one big low.  I'll get the low out of the way first so that we can move on to happier things.

Wow - it's done.  We moved.