clutter

[pianistimo]

Does anyone else have this problem.  It seems  like it cycles - but it's worst in december.  Today, I got so frustrated that i just started throwing things out and giving things away really fast. 

Reader's Digest has this article 'When Clutter Goes Out of Control.'  'every time the doorbell rang, her stomach knotted in fear.  She was too embarrassed to let a stranger in, and too overwhelmed to clean up....'  or 'it looked  like the city dump, there was stuff piled up about four feet high - trash, pictures, newspapers, clothes....'  This all does make me laugh - but hey - if we didn't clean in december - what would the place look like next december.  Remember grandma's house?  Well, grandma even did some of her own cleaning.

Next thought, is why are some places just not obvious until someone points them out?  Vents.  Lightbulbs that are burnt out?  I cleaned the oven out before and after Thanksgiving - but i think that is what makes me less inclined to be fastidious later.  Now it's the stove burners again.  When will it end?  How to clean them without causing the pilot lights to go out. 

Is there some way to live in another location and call this one home?  Remember, I also have two teenagers now.  I sometimes move from room to room and voila - Friday again. 

[ahinton]

Does anyone else have this problem.  It seems  like it cycles - but it's worst in december.  Today, I got so frustrated that i just started throwing things out and giving things away really fast. 

Reader's Digest has this article 'When Clutter Goes Out of Control.'  'every time the doorbell rang, her stomach knotted in fear.  She was too embarrassed to let a stranger in, and too overwhelmed to clean up....'  or 'it looked  like the city dump, there was stuff piled up about four feet high - trash, pictures, newspapers, clothes....'  This all does make me laugh - but hey - if we didn't clean in december - what would the place look like next december.  Remember grandma's house?  Well, grandma even did some of her own cleaning.

Next thought, is why are some places just not obvious until someone points them out?  Vents.  Lightbulbs that are burnt out?  I cleaned the oven out before and after Thanksgiving - but i think that is what makes me less inclined to be fastidious later.  Now it's the stove burners again.  When will it end?  How to clean them without causing the pilot lights to go out. 

Is there some way to live in another location and call this one home?  Remember, I also have two teenagers now.  I sometimes move from room to room and voila - Friday again. 

Some of the answer is to be found in your current signature, which requires little amendment to turn it into "'all that is necessary for the triumph of clutter is for good women to do nothing".

Not amassing stuff in the first place is a good way to start. Cleaning stoves and changing light bulbs is a different matter

So you're considering moving out of your home and living in a second property? If you can afford to do that, you can afford the services of a house cleaner, but you'll evidently need one that keeps reminding you not to make his/her job harder by piling up junk that you'll not need instead of throwing it out as soon as its usefulness has expired.

I bet that Bible's still firmly in its place, though...

Best,

Alistair

[pianistimo]

Yes.  My bible is right here near the computer.  It's pretty much a mainstay and I don't consider it part of the clutter.  Today's reading is 'thou shalt bring in the garbage can from the street or thou shalt be fined by the homeowner's association.'  well, I don't know if that is in the bible actually - but sometimes things preclude me actually studying very long.    But, when I have the chance, I try to compare archeology finds with the bible.  For instance, that king Tut exhibit was really something and i think provides clues as to civilizations and how the egyptians were during the time of Moses and the Exodus.

[ahinton]

Yes.  My bible is right here near the computer.  It's pretty much a mainstay and I don't consider it part of the clutter.  Today's reading is 'thou shalt bring in the garbage can from the street or thou shalt be fined by the homeowner's association.'

You should make use of that sense of humour more often!

well, I don't know if that is in the bible actually

Oh, come now, you must know! You know the entire OT / NT off by heart, don't you?...

Best,

Alistair

[pianistimo]

Well, enough to ponder certain things.  Like the summit of Lebanon and where exactly that is.  Jer. 22:6 'you are like Gilead to Me, Like the summit of Lebanon; yet most assuredly I shall make you like a wilderness, like cities which are not inhabited, for I shall set apart destroyers against you, each with his weapons; and they will cut down your choicest cedars and throw them on the fire.  and  many nations will pass by this city; and they will say to one another, Why has the Lord done thus to this great city?'  Then they will answer, Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord their God and bowed down to other gods and served them.'

So that is my pondering for the day, Alistair.  What does it all mean?  I mean - is literal land and places taken away and given to others today for the same reasons?  Lebanon used to be a former security zone between Syria and Israel.  The mountains were a factor in ensuring the safety of Israel from terrorist attack.

But, this isn't for me to know, I suppose and much less understand.  It's just amazing, though, that God could predict something so many thousands of years before it happens.  Maybe this has happened several hundreds of times down through the ages - and yet - Jer 17:25 shows hope that the borders which God himself instituted in chronicles - the exact places for each tribe of israel - says 'and this city will be inhabited forever.'  There's something 'foreverish' about the Holy Land.  In the bible it is dependent upon the city being built upon the foundation of the Lord.  Jer 17:7 'blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust IS the Lord.'

[general disarray]

I think clutter comes from extra-terrestrials.

You know those crop circles?  Well, I have crap circles around me.  Clutter in neat concentric circles.

And I didn't arrange them that way.

I'm not too far from the Bermuda Triangle, either.

[ahinton]

Well, enough to ponder certain things.  Like the summit of Lebanon and where exactly that is.  Jer. 22:6 'you are like Gilead to Me, Like the summit of Lebanon; yet most assuredly I shall make you like a wilderness, like cities which are not inhabited, for I shall set apart destroyers against you, each with his weapons; and they will cut down your choicest cedars and throw them on the fire.  and  many nations will pass by this city; and they will say to one another, Why has the Lord done thus to this great city?'  Then they will answer, Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord their God and bowed down to other gods and served them.'

So that is my pondering for the day, Alistair.  What does it all mean?  I mean - is literal land and places taken away and given to others today for the same reasons?  Lebanon used to be a former security zone between Syria and Israel.  The mountains were a factor in ensuring the safety of Israel from terrorist attack.

But, this isn't for me to know, I suppose and much less understand.  It's just amazing, though, that God could predict something so many thousands of years before it happens.  Maybe this has happened several hundreds of times down through the ages - and yet - Jer 17:25 shows hope that the borders which God himself instituted in chronicles - the exact places for each tribe of israel - says 'and this city will be inhabited forever.'  There's something 'foreverish' about the Holy Land.  In the bible it is dependent upon the city being built upon the foundation of the Lord.  Jer 17:7 'blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust IS the Lord.'

I think that you're trying to force coincidences of occurrence here in order to contrive parallels that have no place in fact; in reality, there's a gulf of difference between the text you quote and the events that have beset Lebanon in more recent years and the entire political arena in that part of the Eastern Mediterranean is, of course, entirely different to what it was in Biblical times in any case. Ponder away, by all means, but try not to create constructs like this as a result (unless you're planning on a career change into the law)...

Best,

Alistair

[maul]

I think this is ahinton's way of saying he wants to have sex with you, pianistimo. The whole 'coincidences of occurrence here in order to contrive parallels'. Hot and erotic. 

[ahinton]

I think this is ahinton's way of saying he wants to have sex with you, pianistimo. The whole 'coincidences of occurrence here in order to contrive parallels'. Hot and erotic. 

You actually think? When? It's gone entirely unnoticed, let me assure you. Anyway, on the above evidence, it might not be a bad idea for you to take such things as literally as pianistimo takes the Bible (however bad an idea the latter may itself be)...

Best,

Alistair

[pianistimo]

I'm sure Ahinton can speak for himself.  I highly doubt he is attracted to me unless opposites attract.  Of course, I know now for certain is doubly unlikely with Thal - not that it was been an idea in the first place.  But, hey - in this world it's every man/woman for themselves.  Just because somebody likes you one day - they might hate you the next.  Although, hate is a strong word and I doubt that Alistair hates me per se.  It's just that if I tried to cooerce some kind of different behavior from him, he'd soon see through it and beg for friendship again.  Not that I'm used to being the one told 'let's just be friends' mind you. Before I met my husband - I do remember a particular red-headed guy crying his eyes out on my doorstep.  I didn't want to invite him in the house - lest the situation become worse.  So I went outside and then drove him to my highschool - thinking that as a last resort I could simply just leave him there (although, I probably talked with him for an hour).  Wow.  HS and adulthood are much different.  He's probably burned out on women by now and regularly doing his nails or something - but I doubt it because he wasn't bad looking (he kept asking me all those attraction questions) - it's just that he was too easy to pull one over on.  I admire Alistair for being the sort of person that is highly unlikely to be persuaded into anything he doesn't think suitable for a man of his lifestyle. Namely, having hot sex with a married woman.  A Christian woman at that.  Back to reader's digest.

Wait - i forgot to respond to General Disarray and think the 'crap piles' are descriptive of my computer space, too.  I don't know why - but everything seems important as you get older - and you think that if you throw it away - you might someday need it.

[ahinton]

I'm sure Ahinton can speak for himself.

He can indeed.

I highly doubt he is attracted to me unless opposites attract.

But they do sometimes, don't they? Not that this is an issue here, of course, since your reference to it is prompted by nothing more interesting than a post that was not even worthy of your attention or mine in the first place. For the record, I've never even met you (a fact that I mention here purely for the benefit of anyone who might have been unaware of it).

Of course, I know now for certain is doubly unlikely with Thal - not that it was been an idea in the first place.

Then why even mention it?! And he hasn't met you either, has he?

But, hey - in this world it's every man/woman for themselves.  Just because somebody likes you one day - they might hate you the next.  Although, hate is a strong word and I doubt that Alistair hates me per se.

I should hope that you do! What on earth even prompts you to think of such a thing? I disagree with some of what you write, for sure, but as for hating you, that's just utter nonsense, as I'd have thought you'd realise without me even mentioning it.

It's just that if I tried to cooerce some kind of different behavior from him, he'd soon see through it and beg for friendship again.

"Cooerce"? Are you cooing at me? Either way, I don't understand what you mean by this; perhaps you'd care to explain...

I admire Alistair

Merci, ma chère...

for being the sort of person that is highly unlikely to be persuaded into anything he doesn't think suitable for a man of his lifestyle. Namely, having hot sex with a married woman.

I do indeed try to spend my time with things that I feel it appropriate to spend time on; absurdly gratuitous, tasteless and off-topic though the post in question was, however, I do recall that it referred specifically to you personally rather than married women per se.

A Christian woman at that.

I have to admit that I was unaware that adherence to Christianity materially affects a woman's sexual activities or preferences in any way (and if anyone wants to answer that by using the words "missionary" and "position" in immediate juxtaposition, he/she may consider him/herself awarded five gold stars in advance for boring predictability).

Back to reader's digest.

Whilst no fan of Readers' Indigestion, I do agree that, in the present circumstances, going back to it might be a very good idea indeed!

Best,

Alistair