Bye bye Bikram :(

Last Thursday or Friday, I drove the 20 minutes up the freeway to the Bikram studio, but there was weird traffic on the thoroughfare, making me late, which meant that I was locked out of class. And suddenly, in a moment, I had my answer: Bikram is not for me. My entire life is made up of appointments and being at the right place at the right time for other people. I need a place where I go just for myself, where I don't add stress to my day and life rushing (and no, I'm not in a place to dedicate more time over and above the already lengthy process).

My blood sugar has become so bad, and so unpredictable, that it isn't worth it. I had begun to imagine that my immune system was being activated, and perhaps even healing me, but my immune system being stimulated doesn't heal me. It hurts me. And I just have to accept that.

Thank you Bikram, for making me get in touch with my spine. Thank you for pushing me past limits I didn't know I had made for myself. Thank you for being a bad ass. You made me, for a brief period of time, feel like a bad ass too. Now I'll have to find other ways.

Peace out.

Ridiculous morning.

Yeah, I sell art books. This one is on American Impressionists.

Ridiculous. That is what I am thinking right now. And that may be due to my usual insomnia-laced mania, or (more likely) it may be due to the fact that I woke up at 5am for an estate sale that ended up being SO overpriced, that I bought one thing. One thing! I was the first person in line! I think I mostly just feel silly for thinking that I was going to be able to purchase something for $1000 that ended up with an asking price of $4995. Silly me.

I did realize, as I was driving away, that I have not held up my end of the "no thrifting week". I bought a Starbucks solo coffee press at the estate sale this morning and a tape machine dispenser at a thrift store yesterday. I'd seen the tape dispenser weeks ago, then again when it hadn't sold, and I looked it up, thinking, "I wonder...". It was a good bet. Now I just need to figure out how to ship that darn thing. It will officially be the heaviest thing I have ever shipped. The last time I sold something really bulky that I didn't feel confident about, I went to the local office store, and had them pack it. I don't know why that made me feel better, but it did. We all know what trouble I have with packing :)

So all in all, I feel good. Today and tomorrow may be difficult, but I'm committed to working through my stuff (my inventory, not my emotional handicaps). No encouragements necessary, but all are appreciated, nonetheless.

Lots of backbends

Yoga tonight was so intense for me. Backbends, backbends, backbends. A couple hours later, and I'm still kinda shaky. But I look forward to going every week. It's good, and calming, and all of the crap in my body is gone at the end of the class-it's all left on the mat.

I was sweating like crazy (it was hot and the room was packed). I was slipping all over the place, and my clothes weren't spongy enough to soak it up. I had to go to town on my mat when I got home-clean it up, get all the yuck off of it. Then I ate a lot to fill up my empty muscles.

Now I'm watching The Bachelor. My body feels great; sore, but great. I am full of rosemary focaccia, and chocolate, and soy milk. I am content and tired.

Storage facility estate sale

 

Oh-mg. Storage facility estate sale. Only thirty minutes away. I felt so productive. I also didn't spend much. Not spending much makes me happy :) Also, I heard the girl at the front say they're doing it again in a couple weeks-and it supports a local performing arts center in a small farming town.

All in all, it was very dirty, and at some point, I turned the wrong way between rows of tables, and I broke something. Yikes. I offered to clean it up, and pay for the item, but they let it go-no biggee.

So, a lot of junk to go through, and some awesome finds. I found some Harley Davidson tailpipes (or mufflers-I'm not sure). I just couldn't get them. They were huge and I didn't know what they were, or if I'd even be able to sell them ethically (not knowing much about them). Now that I'm home, and looking up Harley Davidson parts, I think I could have gotten them.

It'll be about a week before I go through the lot and list everything. I will be sure to share my finds.

Life update

I hate it when people get preachy on their blogs. I hope I never come across that way. Whatever I say is for my own enjoyment, really, and if anyone else likes it too, that's just icing on the cake. It is noteworthy that I love my readers, though, and love to make them happy (or just make them think).

We all know I've taken to hibernating on the weekends. Tomorrow, I am going to church, but I love not doing a thing on Saturday and Sunday. I wish that no one (including me) cared that I missed church, or didn't go to my small group on Sunday evenings. I wish that there were two more days in the week, so I could do it all.

I am getting a lot better at going through my stock more regularly. Why hold onto stuff that doesn't sell? Why let it clutter my already tight apartment? That's just silly, I say.

Christmas is coming. As I declutter, I am holding onto things that are good for other people as gifts. I have not been as successful this year at saving gifts for the six months prior to the holiday season. And at no point am I going to get a surge of energy in the next two weeks, so whatever is in my home right now, will have to do (Family, take note! You will not suffer).

I did me some yoga in my living room this evening. Pandora has a yoga station, and that was lovely background music. I'm getting better, stronger, and it feels really good.

I think I'm making Saturday evening my thriller film night. Maybe I will be inspired (like when I watched The Forgotten) and write something thrifty tomorrow when I return to the interweb.

How often do you purge?

One of my aunts once told me that every time she buys something new, she gets rid of something old. I think that she was specifically talking about her wardrobe at the time; get rid of a pair of shoes when you buy a new pair; new pants, old pants, and so on. This seemed genius to me.

Of course I have quite a book collection, and it isn't entirely for me, so that isn't something I purge from very often. My clothes are definitely possessions I go through regularly to get rid of what I don't wear anymore, doesn't fit right, or isn't looking as good as it once did. Since I've been buying all of my clothes at thrift stores, it seems apropos to just thrift them back. "From whence they came..."

Moving is the best time to purge of course. Spring cleaning, or something similar, will also do quite well. I myself have begun purging mid-November because I watched Hoarders for the first time, and it made me anxious.

Final note: If someone could please give me an appropriate range of "number of pairs of shoes allowed one individual female person", that would be very helpful to me (I tend to return to my feral child roots when I'm unsure about something). It may be helpful to know that I am a professional person. I try really hard to live simply, but I just bought another pair of (used) Dansko clogs, and now I'm up to three pairs, and I'm feeling like that may be too many, but I don't know which ones to get rid of.

Mantra #1: Donate what you don't use!

Mantra #2: When in need, always ask for help!