fruit-picking

Had lunch at my parents' house then spent half an hour picking jamaican cherries, locally known as aratilis, from the backyard.

sanity list

For today I will comfort myself with a list of accomplished tasks, no matter how small.

- changed the bedsheets
- vacuumed the bedroom
- discarded empty tissue box
- cleaned the home theater system shelf
- cleaned the bedside table
- refilled Mogget's food and water
- put the work shelves in order
- recharged and sync-ed my Kindle
- emptied the home office trash
- replaced the printer ink
- recharged batteries
- replaced keyboard batteries
- found my missing calling card case
- released the video camera for a project
- threw away the old and peeling mousepad
- cleaned my work desk
- cleaned the surfaces and screens of my computers
- cooked a simple lunch
- set up my work desk in preparation for an all-nighter later tonight

as of 10:22AM

surprise pie

It's my sister's birthday today. So to give her a little surprise treat I baked her a berry pie - strawberry and blueberry. But I couldn't find the Betty Crocker Pie Crust mix in the supermarket so I made from scratch - and luckily it turned out alright, despite a rather crunchy edge (which my sister actually liked as they softened in the cream and filling).

down to bare essentials

The clutter-clearing and cleaning waves have been hitting me and my home for the past weeks. The last couple of waves are happening right now and after this I believe life will truly unfold and flow in a new way.

My sister and I have also started on a health and fitness regimen - nothing too fancy but it makes us more conscious of how we take care of ourselves. No diets, but more activities that are not necessarily strict exercise sets. In fact, the key is not to do exercise, but to do more deliberate movements. Exercise sounds boring and routine and it's like you don't have much of a choice. What we have set out for ourselves is a series of activities, including household chores, done in a more mindful and physically enhancing manner. For instance, while scrubbing the walls I make sure I give each arm a good turn instead of favoring my weaker left arm. We also do a lot of walking.

The other day I cleaned out my Prosperity Bagua - the upper left corner of my home. I am not a very strict Feng Shui follower but I do believe in setting up the right energies and mindsets. And a clean and clear home never hurt anyone. From there I am now working counter clockwise around the house, cleaning and clearing as I go. Disinfecting, scrubbing, wiping, vacuuming, re-arranging, disposing, sweeping, polishing. All my kitchen cabinets now have reduced their contents in half. (Do not be over-impressed - I live in a 350 square feet studio. Hahaha.)

But the next step is not to refill those spaces but to live with them. And instead of adding things, the more worthwhile objective is to upgrade things, but only as high as they can be useful. No need to upgrade to items with more bells and whistles than I can actually use.

I can feel the house breathing easier with each wave of cleaning and clearing, energies flowing more freely, new happy things finding spaces in my life.