Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Living simply

I work at the university.  I've worked at the university in this town for four years.  Prior to that, I worked at another university for eight years.  I'm an office girl.  My current position is in a highly professional office.  I can dress it up.  I put on my make-up every day.  I even wear mascara.  I color my hair.  When I became a Grandma I thought for about five minutes "should I let my hair go gray?"  Then I quickly thought "no!"  For now, I like to color and highlight and go red and change it up.  I always wear jewelry including necklace, earrings, watch and rings, usually on both hands. 
When I get home to our little farm, all of this changes.  I shed the jewelry.  I change into comfy clothes- often times, lounge wear a.k.a. pajamas.  As I write this I am wearing flannel pajama pants printed with dog bones, a purple v-neck t-top and over that, an old flannel c.p.o.  jacket.  On my feet I wear my pink "life is good" fleece socks and my fur lined Bear Trap clogs.  There is a frost warning tonight here in southern Indiana and I am prepared.  There is an orange cat lounging on the kitchen table behind my laptop.  (This is where my real-life friends say to themselves "note to self, don't eat anything that Cheryl prepares.")  We joke that this orange cat will die on the kitchen table.
I think people would be surprised to see how simply I live in what I consider to be my "real" life.  I eshew the dishwasher  and for the most part, the television set.  If we watch t.v., it is usually a movie on dvd.  In the summer  I like to hang the laundry out on the line to dry (love the smell when I bring the clothes in off the line) and garden.  We sit by the fire in the house by winter and in summer, have fires out back.  I love to walk my Corgi and read.  We walk the rails to trails trail or hike.  We tend to our chickens and gather eggs.  We recycle.
By a lot of people's standards we might be considered backward.  Or boring.
I tend to think this simple life is just about right.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are REAL and HONEST. A real perk in this day and age. Simple is good........it's an art form. But hopefully those girls coming up will catch on to it and not sweat the small stuff and learn to be comfortable in their own skin and in the world.

You rock. And your outfit tonight? Fab and very stylie!

Hugs
Jan in Colorado where we may get snow this weekend!

Donna said...

CPO: Wow does that bring back memories. Never knew what CPO stood for but in sixth grade if you were "going out" with a guy, he might let you wear his CPO jacket. I never got to wear one but thanks for stirring the memory. Your post brings the word contentment to mind. The world could sure use a lot more of that and in my experience contentment comes from life's simple things. Nighty night.

Anonymous said...

I love the simple life you have and I share some of the at-home ways, 'tho I don't garden or have a dog. I'm retired from office management and love being at home and my biggest luxuries are getting up when I awaken instead of with an alarm clock and having nothing scheduled to be done, living at my own pace........priceless. I wear pajama pants a lot!

M/C said...

You remind me of ME in a few ways! I also work in a professional office (in a hospital) and dress up, with makeup, jewelry and all! But when I get home.....that's another thing...people probably wouldn't recognize me if they seen me some evenings! I live in Nebraska and it's rainy and cold...unlike the summer weather we had a few weeks ago!!

^..^Corgidogmama said...

Sounds like absolute perfection to me, and many of your habits are mine as well. Living is real...not fussy!

TARYTERRE said...

Simple pleasures, indeed. A wonderful life. ENJOY! take care.

Janie Fox said...

We do watch tv. We just dvr everything.I cannot abide the commercials. I dress up if I am going to town. I am a jewelry hound. But most days it is yoga pants and a tee shirt. I keep the grands and I putter in the house. I like the simpler life. I guess maybe I need to recycle. We don't have chickens. I don't trust the labs. We do have lots of cattle though and we raise some mighty fine beef.

Linda said...

Isn't it a wonderful life? We live pretty much the same here in northern MN.--sans the chickens and pets (ours are deceased). I'm sure our family thinks we are bonkers, which makes us even happier! And we're looking forward to so much more now that we're both retired. Live happy!

Sandy, Sisters of Season said...

Hi Cheryl, simple is always better . . . God intended that way:O) Have a wonderful weekend kiddo, Sandy xo

Princess of Everything (and then some) said...

We are just so so so much alike. Without the snow.

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