Enjoying the quiet

Being home unemployed these last few months has given me time to reflect on what I want in life. As much as I embrace the minimalism culture, I also view it as a very extreme way of life. I prefer to embrace the ideas of simplicity leading to a more fulfilling life. Stuff does not equal happiness, it actually just gets in the way. Its a lot easier to clean up with less crap. Our livingroom is very basic. Two dvd shelves, the tv unit and large tv, modern sofa and matching ottomon. We have even lowered our once almost 500+ dvd collection to under 150. We have embraced the minimalism idea of only keeping our favorite movies. It has been challenging but when it was done, we felt great. Those types of things have helped add order and structure to our home.
We still have more to do here, but its not much. We still hope to sell our home and live in a smaller home, having less stuff will make the transition easier. Well, since I've got less to clean, I've got more nap time!!!

No sympathy here

Thanks to social media outlets, namely Facebook, it is easier than ever to plead for ungarnered sympathy. If sympathy were a consumable good, I'd be a grinch. I just do not give my sympathy away freely. It's not that I can't feel for others, I can. It's just that I'm a 'shit or get off the pot' kinda gal. Beautiful image, I know. Stuff happens to all of us, but when all it does is rain in your life YOU are the problem.
I've "lost" (if unfriending on Facebook is equivalent to giving back your BFF's "Be Fri" half of the heart shaped necklace you once shared) friends and have somehow severed ties with related connections thanks to sympathy.
I had a friend named Kara who was always playing the sympathy card. Everything 'just' happened to her. She once pointed out to me a wrinkle on her forehead, we were about 23, she said, look isn't it awful??? I replied, well its ok, you can get it filled. She went berserk, didn't talk to me for weeks. She couldn't believe I would say such a thing! Did I mention that her very fair skinned self tanned... A lot. She was managing tanning stores, tell me it wasn't self-inflicted, really, I dare you. Fast forward a few years and shes riddled in credit debt, in a car she can't afford and a new baby with a guy that doesn't care about her but lets her stay at his house because he feels bad. Uhhh???
So here was the straw that broke the camels back... Kara posts on facebook that she just got pulled over for talking on her cell phone and how its going to be a very expensive ticket. She gets a lot of 'oh you poor thing' comments. Me, being so practical, point out that that could have been a lot of diapers for her baby.  It didn't seem rude to me. What I was trying to say was that she deserved it. She made the conscious decision to talk on the phone while driving. No it wasn't an emergency. And yes, her child was in tbe car. So no sympathy from me. She PM'd me, furious. Well, yeah, I made her look stupid. She tells me off and that she wants to unfriend me, Im like ok, good luck with that, I already unfriended YOU. I was tired of her whining.
The moral here, is don't feel bad for everyone. And don't be play the victim.