I’m a Minimalist, I Swear!

Posted on August 6th, 2008 by admin

I’ve got some issues. Don’t we all? And mine aren’t breaking news type of issues, but I’m bothered none the less. And since I can say whatever I want to on my blog, I’m going to. And I’m going to complain. Maybe it will help me. Maybe not?

First of all…my job. My boss to be exact. She’s making me crazy. I don’t have that stressful of a job, but she’s stressing me out.

Secondly, I’m dieting. It’s not a bad thing, but it’s always on my mind. All day long I have to think about what I’m going to eat next and compare that to the amount of exercise that I hope to get that day. I’ve been doing really well lately, although I did have a setback last Sunday. I went to McDonald’s and got a McFlurry. I actually got off the couch and drove to McDonald’s just to get it. All the while, I’m fighting with myself. Don’t Mcdo it! You don’t Mcneed it! You’ll Mcregret it! My conscious is always Mcright. It wasn’t even that good! But I didn’t let it derail me, I’m back at it this week. But dieting is hard work. And it’s even harder when I’m stressed out at work as all I want to do is sit down and consume an entire bag of Mini Snickers.

Thirdly, my boyfriend and I now have a long distance relationship. He’s working in Africa and is on a monthly rotation. He works in Africa for a month or so and then comes back to Houston for a month. So I do see him, but it just sucks not to have him here to hang out with. I have no friends or family here aka: I have no one else to talk to or do things with. Luckilly for me, he will be back sometime this week. Thank god!

Random Note: The Ka-Boom infomercial guy (the loud one with the full beard) is now doing advertisements for health insurance. He’s still talking loudly and using too many hand motions. I expected him to ‘accidentally’ dump grape juice on the insurance dude. Srsly? Who drinks grape juice?

Ok…back to my regularly scheduled griping.

Money. I have none. It’s my fault that I have almost nothing in my savings account, but I’m going to blame it on my crappy job. The fact that neither T or myself can save any amount of money is really bothering me. We’re not in the poor house by any means, but it’s frustrating. We’re having to watch our accounts very closely and we’re worrying about overdrafts and crap like that. That is NOT fun! Suze Orman (my idol) would smack us in the face.

What complaint are we on now…? Twelve? Anyway, my last menial complaint is the fact that I’m stuck in an apartment. And by stuck, I mean, I feel like the walls of our tiny apartment are going to close in on me. I’m tired of living in an apartment. I want a house. A house with at least two rooms. A house that’s clean and empty and fresh. A house that I can decorate without having to worry about my security deposit. And maybe have a small yard. Nothing too big, just a little patch that could hold my dog, and two horses, and maybe a goat. Is that really too much to ask? But I think no matter the size of my living quarters, I’d probably fill them up with crap. But a house and crap to put in it costs money!! It’s a vicious circle.

I remember when we moved into our apartments. They were so large and open. And empty. I never thought that I would feel cramped in them. They were so fresh and relaxing.

This was our first apartment which we moved into for our last year of college in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It’s our largest apartment so far. Two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Oh, how I miss not having to share a bathroom with a man.

Soo Apt.

Ok….I have absolutely no idea why that pic is so freakin’ small. But I don’t like to complain, so I’ll let it go. Even though it’s hard to see…you can still recognize how minimal and open our living room was. I love it when there’s not clutter everywhere. We actually had space to put our crap in that apartment so the living areas didn’t have to be cluttered.

First H-Town Apt.

Ok…again with the small picture. WTF? Anyway. This is a picture of the apartment that T moved into last year when he first moved to Houston. Look at those vacuum marks! Look at the emptiness! It felt very open and non-walls closing in one me. Eventually, I moved to Houston and moved my crap into this apartment. That is the moment when I realized that I am the reason for all clutter in our lives. I’ve got a lot of crap.

SIDE NOTE: I just saw a commercial with the Olympic swimmer, Michael Phelps. Apparently he’s using the Rosetta Stone language program. I doubt he has the time for that. But he’s not cute. I’ve never really seen a picture of his face that wasn’t attached to a perfect, muscular physique. Really…what’s a body without a good lookin’ face?

Sorry…I get distracted easily.

Last but not least, let’s take a look at my current apartment. We had to move out of the last one because it was too far away from work. It was also too small, but we didn’t want to pay for a larger one. The current apartment is the same size as the last one, but for some reason I’ve never felt more closed in. Oh yeah, maybe it’s the insane amount of crap that we have. Although I do a good job of throwing crap that we don’t want/use out, I still seem to accumulate those things that I can’t let go. But I do like to look back on the pictures of the apartment before we moved our crap in and created the hole that I now reside in. It’s relaxing just to look at the pictures and envision a day when we will move into a real house. An empty house. Hopefully it will be a house with lots of storage so I can still pretend to be a minimalist, while at the same time hoarding ridiculous crap. Someday…

Closet

I figured out why the previous pictures are small. Duh. But I’m not going to go back and fix them.

But just look at that closet! It’s huge! And empty! No longer…it’s full of stuff. Like the cat goes missing for hours at a time and I worry that she’s trapped in the closet. With a broken leg, stuck under a heavy box full of crap. That hasn’t happened. Yet.

Living Room

Oh the living room. It felt so open and roomy. We knew for sure that we wouldn’t feel closed in. Wrong. As we started to unpack and move furniture around, I knew it. I knew that our stuff would fill this place to the brim. Did I mention that I hate moving and everything associated with it? I do. Luckily, I have T to help me unpack and move furniture and hook up all the electronic crap. See…