Live Simple

This is my new goal. To live Simple. I'm learning.

I want to take the amazing opportunity of being at home with my family and do something meaningful with it. I love taking care of the home, cooking meals and making everyone in my family feel less stressed, but I want to do more. I want to teach my children, my husband and myself how to live simply. I don't know exactly where I'm going with this, but I know it's important. I want them to be less dependant upon "stuff", and more in tune with themselves and the world around them. I want to teach them where the water we drink comes from, how the food gets to our table, and how we can do our part to use less of everything without sacrificing anything. I want them to be aware that although getting a good education, and finding a good job are important things that they will need to do, they need to remember to enjoy their lives and not get wrapped up making and spending money. Life is too short and it's so easy to get caught up in going through the motions of making and spending that we forget what it's all about. I'm not even exactly sure HOW I will go about teaching them, since I'm learning too, but I know I can do it.

While I don't plan on limiting TV time at home, I hope that by posting this on the fridge and talking about it often, the kids will choose some of the items listed on their own. Mark will laugh, but that's ok. :)

There are many alternatives to television.
Read a book. Go to the cinema. Watch a play or musical. Write a letter. Go for a walk. Pick up litter. Call a friend. Sing. Pursue your hobby. Bowl. Write a poem. Clean your drawers. Take a class. Floss. Plan a trip. Exercise. State your dream. Volunteer. Dance.

Ride a bicyle. Paint a picture. Teach someone to read. Learn Spanish. Look out the window. Go to the library. Visit a neighbor. Do your dishes. Fix a broken item. Learn improvisational comedy.

Visit an art museum. Volunteer at your local humane society and spend time with animals. Go ice skating. Compose a song. Eat a good breakfast. Test the smoke detector. Sort your old photographs. Take your unwanted newspapers and magazines to someone who would like them or to recycling. Fish.

Satisfy your craving for "reality programming" by going out in the "real world." Trace your geneology. Rearrange the furniture. Help someone build a house. Jump on the bed. Get your cholesterol checked. Visit a new restaurant. Volunteer to clean up a city park. Do the laundry. Bake a pie.

Laugh at commuters. Save whales. Brush your teeth. Remember what your mother told you. Write a poem.

Take up a new hobby. Walk along the seashore, lakeshore, desert, mountains, or parking lot. Test your strength. Ride the bus. Talk to your cat. Save big money at Menard's. Plant a garden. Talk with someone. Hoe the garden. Take a bath.

Balance your checkbook. Coin a term. Found a literary movement. Chop wood. Change your mind. Mow the grass. Do the macarena. Write a manifesto.

Choose your long distance carrier. Tie your shoes. Comb your hair. Clean the windows. Take a five. Go for broke. Inventory. Make an appointment for dental care. Take your pills. Attend a festival. Dance the night away. Wake up and smell the coffee.

Play ping-pong. Take photos. Chase rainbows. Chase Manhattan. Chase Chevy Chase. Paint the town.

Settle old bets. Change a diaper that needs changing. Change a bill if you need some coins. Keep an appointment.

Finish that book you've been reading. Toil in obscurity. Learn a new language. Lower your cholesterol somehow. Escape to Wisconsin. Find a pin and pick it up.

Herd cats. Jump like a bunny. Collate papers. Sharpen the pencils.

Try walking up the stairs. Tell someone that I love you. Don't spread rumors. Tell someone that you love them.

Lose weight naturally.

Go to a planetarium. Teach a class.

Take a shower. Take another look around.

Behold the power of cheese.

Minister to the sick. Visit the aged. Treasure the moments. Appreciate the veterans.

Pursue art for Art's sake. Tune a guitar. Walk a dog. Mend a fence.

Clean your plate. Renounce your secret admiration of Kenny G. Fall in love.

Learn line dancing. Eat all you wish. Shake hands with your neighbor. Clean your room. If you need a penny, take a penny. Cross that bridge when you come to it.

Don't covet your neighbor's wife. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Go downtown, where all the lights are bright. Use the Web site or call the 800 number for more information. Shoot the moon. Shoot the rapids.

Memorize a sonnet. Can vegetables. Stoke the furnace. Pay the piper. Sort the mail. Find buried treasure. Shower before entering the pool. Listen to a symphony. Sort your CDs. Remember that all funds are subject to loss. Call me sometime. Rinse. Repeat.

Finish your salad. Don't litter.