TannieSpace

geekery, drawing and then some

Posts about life

RSS feed

Review: The Joy of Less

2014-07-11 17:25

~2 min read

Filed under books

Tags

Comments

The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide: How to Declutter, Organize, and Simplify Your LifeThe Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide: How to Declutter, Organize, and Simplify Your Life by [Francine Jay](http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3234359.thumbnail.jpg "The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide: How to Declutter, Organize, and Simplify Your Life The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide: How to Declutter, Organize, and Simplify Your Life by Francine Jay")

My rating: ★★★★☆

I read this book in preparation for a massive declutter/clean-up planned for my tiny but overflowing flat.

It did have some redundant info in it, which I read about before starting so I felt prepared. I like the enthusiasm and kindness of the book. The 10-step STREAMLINE process sounds very attractive to try out (I'll add my experience with it as soon as I've tried it out).

Part three of the book mostly consists of redundant parts, however, I do not mind. It goes through the most common rooms according to the streamline principle with some specific advice for the specific rooms. I have not read all the rooms as I plan to go through them as I tackle the rooms, as a reminder and a re-motivator.

All in all an easy read that left me motivated to declutter/minimalise promptly. I've already used my goodreads account to see what books I will part with ;)

View all my reviews


Routines, rituals and purpose.

2009-04-06 23:49

~2 min read

Filed under creativity

Tags

Comments

Nano in the water. Today Nano and I walked to our default swimming-spot. She does the swimming, I just stand on the side. It got pretty warm so I sat on the grass as she hopped into the water and dragged herself to the mud. On our way home she rolled around on the grass and in more mud, which resulted in a trip to the bathroom after we came home. She did not enjoy that much, however, napping on the balcony in the sunshine seemed to make up for it.

While sitting in the grass I thought about Michael's post about routines. Like Michael I have worked on a drawing routine and routines in general. My life in general got pretty thrown upside down with the surgery and I still feel I haven't quite got my life back in order. Ever since surgery everything revolves around food and eating, or as my boyfriend recently said 'You're either preparing food, or trying to get and keep it in.'. I had little choice but to just do exactly that, as part of recovery. I make food, I eat, I drink, and I try to do things around that. Any type of routine I have, revolves around food.

Recently I've had this itch. I want to do more and especially do more drawing. Despite having a bit of trouble getting it into my daily routine, I want to, I have to do more drawing, more creative stuff. I want to get back to that situation where my schedule and routines don't revolve around food and eating, but the eating becomes a part of the routine itself, without being the routine itself. I do try to make food-preparation as creative as possible, by trying new recipes and making a nice lunch for the days I go to work. But it's still about food and eating. I need working routines, I'd love some inspiring rituals and I want some meaningful purpose in my life.

I need more than just food.


Adjusting.

2008-11-23 14:45

~2 min read

Filed under random_stuff

Tags

Comments

Some time ago I had to go to the hospital.

Due to a genetic mutation I have an extremely high risk to get (and die from) a particular nasty kind of stomach-cancer. To prevent the getting and dying part, I decided to have my stomach removed (a total gastroectomy). Because this runs in the family I have seen what it can do to someone and what happens when the stomach gets removed. I've had five family-members before me, and two after me having the same procedure.

One can live without a stomach, it just takes time to adjust.

It has taken a bit more time than I expected, though, but I'll manage. Due to complications I had to stop taking my rheumatoid arthritis medication for a while, which caused it to flame up. I have started them again and now have to wait for things to calm down again, which takes a month or two.

Dealing with this consumes a lot of time (which I have plenty off) and energy (which unfortunately, I have very little off), and I try to still do fun stuff. My RA tends to flame up during winter so I suspect I have a bumpy ride ahead of me still. During this time my fridge has started to act up, something I do not want as the lack of stomach acid also means I have far less protection against evil germs in food. Luckily I saw it as an opportunity to channel my creativity into designed a new area for my fridge and pantry (with drawers, yay!).

I have found ways to boost my energy a little, so I plan to do more fun stuff (and update my poor blog a bit more cough). I'll probably post random content, of anything that keeps me busy, and drawings where possible. The RA makes drawing uncomfortable and I don't want to see drawing as something painful, I have to limit it for now.

So, who has the stomach for some horror-surgery-stories?

I just couldn't help myself!


About

I live in Amsterdam. I like good food. I have a diabetic West Highland White Terrier named Nano. I get sick a lot. I used to freak out over needles, up until the point where I fainted. I no longer do this which helps a lot when I have to stick myself or the dog with them. I love to draw (and don’t do it enough, mostly due to my RA) and geek around with my computer. I write scripts in perl or bash/zsh. I have no stomach. I take things literally.

Social stuff

  1. @tannieo
  2. inkblobs
  3. tannie
  4. drawingstuff