On the Mend

My strategy of taking it easy and asking my family to help out a bit more, in order to heal my aching back, is paying off!  My back is feeling much better (although not 100%).  I am happy to say I can now get out of my car without grimacing and with no help from my kids.  My son Owen has  now mastered the skill of doing laundry all by himself, and I had a good excuse for Nora and I to get our first pedicures together over the weekend (only because I couldn't bend down to do it myself of course).  I do believe we must listen to our bodies when they are calling out to us and allow them the time they need to heal.  It's good to slow down and take a break from time to time.

Being in a horizontal position for a good chunk of my weekend I watched a couple of very interesting movies this  weekend.  One being the classic, The Sting.  Crazy I've never seen it before.  Loved the music and the fact that the story kept me guessing till the very end.

The other film I watched was SurfWise.   And I thought selling a bunch of our stuff and moving our family into a smallish condo downtown Minneapolis was "living with less."  SurfWise is a documentary about a Stanford educated Dr. who becomes disgusted with his materialistic way of life, leaves his practice, decides to surf for a living, marries a woman, has 9 children with her and raises them all in a 24 ft. trailer while living on different beaches around the US.  They chose to live with very little and at times were literally down to their last dime.  Oh, and none of the kids went to any type of school.  Fascinating and sometimes kind of disturbing story about a very "different" way of living and raising a family.  I loved it!

 http://surfwisefilm.com/html/index.html 

p.s. - it's an instant download on Netflix!

Ouch!

Well......here I am writing to you from my comfy bed this morning.  For the past week I have been suffering with lower back pain and finally went to see a Chiropractor yesterday.  All of the moving, lifting of heavy IKEA boxes, painting and just general stress has caught up with me.  I have never experience such debilitating and paralyzing pain (other than non-medicated child birth of course).  I can barely get in and out of my car, it hurts to sneeze, I can't bend down to pick anything up and the only comfort I have is when I am standing or lying flat on my back.  Yesterday I had to ask my kids to help me get out of my car.  How humbling that was and I think a bit scary for my kids!  The most difficult part of all of this, which really is a blessing, is that I need to STOP and relax.  I am looking at walls I want to paint, clothes I need to wash, bike rides I want to take, boxes still to unpack, and I physically cannot do any of it.

So, I will take the next couple of days to slow down, ask my husband and kids for more help and try to heal my back.

The Chiropractor I went to see yesterday was great!  Her name is Jane and she shared with me some wisdom regarding the two vertebrae (4 & 5) that are bothering me.  She is a big supporter of yoga and one of the mantras she has learned for these two vertebrae is "The War is Over."  How interesting, I thought!  Our 6 month battle to sell our house is over.  Our three week challenge to get rid of all of our excess stuff  and pack our house is over. The move is over.  The extreme sadness of leaving our neighbors is somewhat over.

We still have other battles to face such as choosing the right Minneapolis schools for Owen and Nora, figuring out how to live with one car, etc. But for the next few days I will rest, enjoy my new surroundings, feel gratitude for all of the wonderful blessings in my life and enjoy time with my family and friends.  I hope all of you do the same.

Early Wins of our New Smaller Space......

In the last three weeks that we've occupied our new dwelling I have noticed many wonderful benefits of downsizing and specifically living in a condo environment.  Here are just a few:


-Less to clean (Yippee!).  What used to take me a good 3 solid hours now takes me maybe 1 full hour.  That's two hours of my life back to do things like.....blogging, playing with my kids, reading, etc.
-Feeling of coziness at all times.  It's a "comfortable" cozy, not a "cramped" cozy.  
-No wasted space.  I love the fact that we are using all of our space and all of our furniture on a daily basis.  
-Utilizing the great common spaces in our building where you can grab a book and sit in a comfy chair to read or hang out on our buildings shared green space with trees and beautiful flowers.  
-No worries of having to deal with weather damage (i.e. hail damage, flooding basement, down trees).
-A wonderful sense of community.  We have already met many wonderful neighbors and everyone we talk to loves living here.  
-Ease of walking everywhere.  To church, to get groceries, dinner, parks, museums, movies, bookstores, coffee, music, need I say more?


I asked both my kids and Steve what their favorite part of living downtown has been so far:


Nora - "all of the lights in the nighttime."
Owen - "our new big screen TV and the lights"
Steve - "everything within walking distance"


The other night as I was tucking Nora into bed and went to close the blinds in her room.  She stopped me asked me to keep them up so she can see the lights.  She then told me that when she has trouble sleeping she counts the lights instead of sheep!

Pictures!

Nora and her friend Emily in dining area.

View of living room.

Other view of living room and entrance to Nora's room. 

View from living room into dining area. 

Our new cozy kitchen.  Can't wait to pain the cabinets.  Taking color suggestions!

Our cute little entry.  

Balcony facing West.  Great view of the sun setting, Loring Park, The Basillica and the Walker Art Center.  

Pretty view from West facing balcony of Loring Greenway.

Finding Time to Blog

Sorry for the delay in updating this blog but moving and getting rid of stuff is hard work.  As with any exciting and planned change in life, the path to finding joy with less has at times felt like the path to pure ChAoS!

Our move went off without a hitch.  Nothing lost.  Nothing broken.  Great movers (Quality Transfer - thanks for the referral Robin!) and a lot help and emotional support from my wonderful friend Susan and mother-in-law.

The day of the move was really emotional for me as I went up and down our block in a puddle of tears, unable to speak, trying to say goodbye to our wonderful perfect neighbors.  For a few hours that day my excitement of our move was taken over by a deep sadness of what we were leaving behind.   I had to remind myself of what I always tell my kids when they are feeling sad........."it's normal and natural to feel this way.....let it out girl."

And so I did.  And felt much better later that day.

The past two weeks have been filled with painting, unpacking, walking our new hood, driving to many end of year school events, touring new potential Minneapolis schools, putting together IKEA furniture (I can now assemble a Hemnes drawer with my eyes closed), baseball games, softball practice, Mother’s Day and a First Communion.  Lots of work but also lots of fun.

Last night we ventured out and walked to Keys Cafe in the Foshay Tower for dinner.  It's great to be able to step outside our door onto lovely Nicollet Mall and have our choice of wonderful places to eat and stroll.  Love the fact that I can walk to get groceries, I walked to get my hair cut the other day and today we'll be walking to Target Field for a Twins game.   

I'll post a few pictures of our new home.  Like I said earlier, I'll be sharing the good, the bad and the ugly.  Enjoy!