Time-Sucks and Other Non-Minimalist Joys
Monday Morning Coffee Time: it’s 55F and cloudy after a night of thunderstorms, quite a change from 90F yesterday, and expected to only get up to 60. These 30-degree changes from one day to the next have been occurring with increasing frequency, and it’s not just old arthritics that are complaining about it. On the bright side, today and tomorrow will be good days to transplant flowers, nice and cool.
The Minimalist Woman on a Minimalist Vacation
Last week’s day trip was highlighted by exquisite weather and the calmest waters I’d seen on Lake Michigan in years. The catwalk to the lighthouse in the photo is often closed off due to choppy waters. I’m surprised we didn’t get worse sunburns than we did, though.
For two weeks in a row, there’s been no “serious” post later in the week, thanks to the extra time needed to deal with home and car maintenance matters. Like a lot of folks, we’re in that netherland of old-car ownership, replacing major mechanical organs as they fail because there’s not enough cash on hand to buy something that would be better, and at least we know the history of our particular old vehicle. In the past few years it’s had a transmission rebuilt, some thingy or other replaced so it would pass the emissions testing, the brake line replaced, and most recently the ball joints replaced. There were times during the recent day trip that I wondered if the next curve we took would be the one where the wheels would fall off, so we made getting it fixed a priority.
We do what we can ourselves, but we don’t have the time, expertise, or equipment to do much of what’s needed. We looked at videos of guys replacing ball joints, and realized it was not feasible for us to tackle it. Now don’t get me wrong–I do have some mechanical aptitude, and around thirty years ago I got myself the original Auto Repairs for Dummies book and not only learned to change the oil, I learned how to tune up the car, too. These days, however, I can barely find the right container for the wiper fluid, as everything under the hood looks so different.
It’s the same problem with computers–there was a time I knew my way around them pretty well, then my son took over, then Steve, and now I can’t remember anything at all. When I started using computers back in the 80′s everything was DOS, and interfacing computers with golf ball printers was a common challenge. I do not want to go back to those days. Nasty and stressful. But I’ve become slothful about cleaning registries and stuff like that–so much so I don’t even remember where to begin! Maybe that’s what that icon in the toolbar is for? I’ll check it after posting this.
Anyway, back to the time-sucks, and the next one is a doctor’s appointment later this morning, in which once again he and I will have a 4.5-minute conversation about my lack of good sleep and he will prescribe some other medicine designed to help me but to which my body will react badly. This was one of the reasons I got the treadmill and have also been stepping up house and garden activities. Basically, I’m trying to exercise away whatever is in me that keeps me from achieving nice deep sleep, whether it is anxiety, hormones, digestion, or joint pain. So far I think it has helped more than the prescriptions. I am getting five hours of sleep on most nights now, and occasionally more. Still too much tossing and turning and the night sweats persist, but it’s better.
I’ve been mostly vegetarian for a month now, or perhaps the proper term is pescatarian, one who eats fish as well as a bit of egg and dairy. I think of it as the Bill Clinton diet. Steve’s joined me in this venture, with the exception of eating meat in restaurants. It has been a lot easier to accomplish than I thought it would be. The other night I felt like experimenting, and made black bean and red quinoa veggie burgers which we stuffed into little gluten-free pocket pitas that I also made from scratch. Very tasty and very light.
The garden has been getting a fixup here and there. The front yard daylilies around the porch have gotten too thick had to be radically thinned, and we’re replacing them with more brick edging and pea gravel (all on sale, a real budget operation) in order to keep the maintenance down and improve the flow of air in the summer. I repaired our garden umbrella to get another season’s use out of it, and replaced the boring ornamental grasses in two large pots with a cherry tomato plant and some culinary herbs.
This is the first summer in three years that I’ve spent money on plants, all of $35, including a hanging basket of flowers that I’m looking at right now from where I sit. There’s something humanizing about having a few flowers around. It’s a bit of work, and it isn’t essential on the order of food and water, but it’s one of those things that’s good for its own sake.
One last thing in the nonminimalist good for its own sake category: Steve’s photo of the table I set before a dinner party several years ago was used in an article on table setting in the Huffington Post. This is a perfect illustration that one can be a Minimalist in philosophy if not in aesthetics. Even after getting rid of tons of stuff, I still have the elements for this table setting, plus a couple of others, that can be mixed and matched.
Okay, gotta run now and get ready to go—-! Happy Monday 
18 Responses to “Time-Sucks and Other Non-Minimalist Joys”
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Have you considered trying acupuncture to help with your sleeping problems. When I was in the throes of hormone caused night sweats I used it to get some relief. I think no alcohol and no caffeine is also recommended at least as an experiment to see if it helps. Exercise is great – good for you for getting on the treadmill.
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Hi Juhli–I didn’t know acupuncture could work on sleep problems. I had some done half a lifetime ago for another problem and it didn’t work, so I guess I just haven’t considered it for anything else. Thanks for the suggestion, and I’ll look into it.
Re alcohol and caffeine: I’ve gone for long periods without either and to no avail, doesn’t seem to matter. I can get to sleep just fine, but within the first hour I’ll get the first soaker and then again several times through the night most nights, regardless of what I eat or drink. This is complicated by joint pain–a position that is comfortable for one part of my body isn’t good for long for another part of my body. And around and around and around, etc. It’s been like this for years and years!
My husband is a Master Diesel Technician (which is what the white collars call the blue collars who work on big rigs) and he has to take several classes a year in order to keep up with new technology, so I’m not surprised everything looks different under the hood! I can’t imagine many people are able to work on their own cars these days with all the computers involved.
I’ve been an insomniac even as a child – and while I can’t speak to the hormone thing yet, I know that no caffeine (killer!), like Juhli said, can sometimes help. I also always have a fan going to drown out noises since I’m a light sleeper. There are a lot of gentle herbal teas that can relax and aid in sleep too if you’re up for some “help.”
Hi Terra–yep, everything is different under the hood, and hooked up to computers, so it’s a real challenge to tackle car problems without special equipment and knowhow. Expensive, too
I’ve got four different herb teas on hand at the moment, including Sleepytime, and Tazo’s Wild Sweet Orange, Calm, and Rest. I’ve experimented with valerian in tea and pill forms, too. It’s all very calming and some are even yummy, but don’t do a damn thing for what’s going on. Also did the abstaining from caffeine and alcohol thing, no spicy food, no red meat. No difference. Doc’s thinking HRT for a month, just to see if it works or even just to rule out a menopausal cause if it doesn’t.
I have had a 6 weeks course in Reflexology and my night sweats have reduced to maybe one a night, apparently it will subside even more, now only go every 2 weeks. Worth every penny!
Hi Etta–oh man that sounds great, something else I can look into. Thanks so much for the suggestion!
I’m sorry for all the nocturnal fuss. It’s truly a bore to not be able to sleep. And as for car maintenance–I can’t even fix my bike. I’ve told the Professor he’s not allowed to die.
Those wild and abrupt temperature changes sound awful. Midwest at its best early summer.
Hi Willow–that does pose a dilemma, doesn’t it? What happens when the people we’ve turned essential maintenance over to are no longer with us? Yikes.
I’m wondering if I’m just being Midwestern–my temp changes as abruptly as Ma Nature’s! About to go on a month’s trial of HRT, just to see if that’s the cause of it all :p
I hope it helps!
Took first dose this morning–certainly improves my mood ;D
I don’t know what you may have already tried, Meg but I find that Triple Leaf “Relaxing” tea works really well for putting me to sleep. Major active ingredients include catnip, valerian root, skullcap, and chamomile.
Also – is it possible the diet change has something to do with it? or were you having sleep issues prior to going “lacto-pesco-vegetarian?”
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Hi Mike–oh this problem has been going on for several years, through every variation on diet and exercise I could think of. I’ve had prehypertension for three years, and my cholesterol readings have also been going up. Last two doc visits show the BP returning to reasonable levels, at least. Losing the meat diet (and nearly all the egg and dairy) seems to help other problems like the arthritis and (oh on and on, let’s stop here).
The tea blend sounds interesting. I once drank skullcap tea for several months during grad school but can’t remember what for!
Hi, I highly recommend Valerian for sleep problems. It works short term, but is even better taken over a longer period at it encourages good quality sleep. You can get it as a tincture, the dried herb you can prepare yourself, or as a tea. There are also tablets, but they are not as good.
It’s a cheap, simple and natural affective remedy that’s been used for centuries. One warning, Valerian is very stinky! You’ll want to keep it in an air tight container. Many cats, but not all, adore the smell. Thankfully it doesn’t taste as bad as it smells. Some over the counter Valerian products tend to underdose you, so it’s worth experimenting and increasing the dose by tiny increments until you get a result.
I use Valerian myself. I often get a tincture from a registered herbalist I know, but I also use an over the counter tea and have used the dried root, which you steep in cold water overnight. I find the tincture the most affective, but the others work too. I wouldn’t recommend anything I hadn’t used myself.
Whoops! I didn’t see your comment about having used Valerian before I posted. As I said though, over the counter things do tend to underdose. A good tincture from a herbalist might do the trick as the strength will be more reliable. I’m currently finding the tea isn’t enough right now, so I’m waiting for a tincture through the post from my herbalist friend. The first time I used the tincture I was told to start at 2.5 ml, but that wasn’t strong enough. 5ml was good for me, but with the strength of the tincture I had I could go up to 15ml in 24 hours if needed. If I wake up I take another 5ml and get back to sleep in about 20-25 minutes.
Hi O.P.–very interesting info on the valerian and how strong to make it. I’m sure I wasn’t using a strong enough dose! Thanks for your input
I’m all for bursts of joy where there’s opportunity. We need them as we’re living in dark times.
I remember seeing WJC after Chelsea got married. He was so thin; back when he was reportedly on a vegan diet. I was so impressed with him doing that for Chelsea except I found out that there was one loophole in his diet. He never gave up his pies and cobblers!
Question: did you have to resist the urge of jumping in to the lake in the picture?
Hi Belinda–absolutely the joys are much-needed these days, and I know well what you mean about the darkness.
I didn’t realize the Prez never gave up his pies and cobblers! Well, I do cave when a superior vanilla ice cream finds it way in front of me, particularly if it comes with caramel topping. But only occasionally.
There was no temptation to dive into that lovely calm lake because that lovely calm lake is ICE COLD and will be until at least mid-June! We used to live a block back from it for many years and know it well
Calcium (often referred to as “nature’s sedative”) in the evening, washed down with a bit of bedtime, or sleepy time tea may well help you with that good night’s sleep.
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