No Spark Joy

I've been making strides to get rid of "stuff". Our daughter gave me a copy of Marie Kondo's book on "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up". I can't bring myself to apply it everywhere, but she makes a persuasive case that we don't need to keep all the things we have. I even like the challenge it presents to think it all through and question the past. She has a better way to fold cloths in your dresser. Her acid test for keeping something is great. Does it "spark joy". Love it!

So, I made this sketch for some things that don't spark joy anymore. The CD player is very very old by technology standards. It was the first generation mobile player. It still plays but the sound skips with the slightest bump! Not sure if there is someone out there that would find joy in this or not. It's not junk, though (yet).

The mini waffle iron never really sparked joy. I found it in a discount bin. Such a buy! Really marked down . . . such a steal! That little voice in my head said 'don't' but I did. Never used it.

The coffee mug I never wanted. I found it at a local art/craft fair. The artist had two mugs. Both different but roughly similar. I fell in love with the other one and she made me a (marginal) deal if I bought both. The other one still 'sparks joy'. This one not.

So, these will all go to Goodwill. Every little bit helps clear the house. We have a basement, though, that I need to hit, and I've been avoiding it. I want to develop my editing skills before I/we hit it to improve my confidence because it will be tough.

And A Seat Belt, Too!

We live just outside of town. A quarter-section parceled out like a mini-suburbia of five homes within a pasture section. The lots are bigger than suburbia, though. We (more precisely I) mow three acres. I like mowing but don't like the lost time that I could be doing fun things like sketching. My latest mower (zero turn, or ZTR) is in its sixteenth year and  burning oil for the last three years and an idler pulley just worked itself loose. The last time I mowed, I popped the belt about ten times. Frustrating. I've not putting any more money in repairs.

I've been looking at mowers in recent years to determine what my next mower will be, so after popping the belt so many times, I spent a couple lunch-hours talking to a local retailer and pulled the trigger. I still get sticker shock but I'll use it for many years. I chose one a little wider and faster than my current one. The three and a half hours needed to mow the yard is just too painfully long. We need to speed it up.

I've just mowed once, and it's taking some time to get the feel of it. It's a ZTR, too, but from a different manufacturer so it's different. It's going to work out nicely. It will be faster. This thing is so fast that it comes with a seat belt. It's raining right now or I'd be mowing now!