Using recycled and “found” items to make art is a pastime/hobby of mine. The problem is I consider it art but a lot of real “artsy” people do not. That’s okay with me. I am happy in my little space in the world.

I had just sat down to watch the Jets and Bills fight it out. Figured the first quarter was not important and by the looks of the goose eggs on the score board, I was correct. I walked out of the room to get a water and came back in to a Honda Civic commercial. It was absolutely awesome.

First off, it showed one person who always seemed to be in the same places as another person. The other person was always throwing trash at a can but missing and wouldn’t pick up, or throwing trash out the car window, or just dropping trash in the parking lot. The first person would pick it all up. The final scene is the litter bug coming out to his car to find a tree on the hood and a big tag under his windshield that quips “you forgot to pick this up” or something similar. I was fantastic. Will have to look for it on the web and post.

This writing might be more appropriately entitled the obis. It is a mess in my garage but now that the Volvo is gone, I am working slowly on cleaning it out and clearing out the kids’ clothing.

Any mother – and maybe a few fathers out there – of more than one children will understand. You spend so much money on clothing that is worn for such a short period of time. I always hated, even as number six was born, to throw out the girls’ clothing or even the boys’ clothing that he was never going to hit the right season and size to wear.

I have decided that I have too much – too many boxes in the garage full of “stuff,” too much clothing in the closets, too many material things. To this end, I am trying to get rid of stuff. I am not getting rid of the outfits that hold extremely special memories. I am keeping those in hopes of passing them on to the kids when they eventually have their own children. But the other stuff, the every day clothing, will be of more use to someone else than to me so off it goes.

I took five bags of clothing to goodwill yesterday. I now have four more started. This is, a good deal of it anyway, children’s clothing so three or four bags is a lot of clothing. Not to be deterred, though, I also cleaned out my closet. If it was summer clothing and I had not put it on at all this summer, it went.

Well, finally came across a box with enough memories in it I had to stop. The rest of them will be there, in the garage, for another day.

My sister and I are two years apart in age. We are closer to millenia apart in how we live and where we prefer to live. She left the area where we grew up about five years after college. She lived in the San Jose, CA area for ten years or so. Then, she lived in El Paso and Dallas before heading to Ontario, CA. Now, she lives in NJ. I have been the one who stayed on the east coast.

Anyway, now that she is only three hours away, you would think we would see each other occasionally. Not quite right. She is married to her job. She works a good 55 hour week on average and I am not the uptight workaholic. I am always going somewhere or taking the kids somewhere. The calendar fills up quickly.

She had to come up to the Wilkes-Barre, PA area for work Friday and will be there until late Monday. So I packed up the car – just with me and the 16 year old and a new shirt I got for my birthday on me for the first time- and headed south about 4:30 Saturday. Football was disappointing. Beth was in Wilkes-Barre. We were going to have dinner and talk a bit.

The trip down was beautiful. Some of the trees in the Endless Mountains have started changing. After the nip in the air this morning, my guess is a few more took that change to heart last night. The sun was out but it was not hot by that late in the afternoon. While there were lane closures, there were no workers and traffic moved right along. I took the camera with me but didn\’t stop and take any pics as it was not quite that pretty yet.

Dinner was uneventful. We ate at Bennigan\’s as Beth wanted to see the Rutgers game or what was left of it. She is also, despite having lived near San Francisco and LA, a Mets fan. She was very interested in the results of the Phillies game. We talked but did more watching during dinner than anything.

We went back to her hotel room and had a few sodas and watch a little of the USC-Washington game. We talked about what she is up to and what I have been doing, what the kids are doing, who is dating whom – typical sister fare.

All in all, a great fall road trip with the added bonus of seeing my younger sister.

Every morning I do an online jigsaw puzzle at Jigzone.com. I, unlike a good friend of mine, do the puzzle in whatever manner it comes up. She always does it in 247 pieces. I like to be able to see the pieces in mine.

This morning\’s puzzle led me here immediately. The title is Which Way? and it is a woman standing at a fork in a path, looking off .

My immediate thought was Robert Frost. Then, I got to thinking more – a dangerous thing for me to do in the morning, especially when I haven\’t finished my first cup of coffee yet and couldn\’t get to sleep last night. Anyway, those second thoughts went to my newest obsession – and trust me, if this is truly an obsession, I am really sad shape – how to meet new people or my foray into online dating. Just some random, strange thoughts.

I admit I like a bargain. Most times that is what I think I get if I buy a Brad Paisley CD.

First, I can share the CD with my 16 year old who is not a big country fan. Paisley is a fantastic guitarist so Ben likes listening to him play.

Second, his CDs run the gamut. Some of his songs just hit you right in the gut. They make you stop and think but others are like buying tickets to a comedy show. I was listening to his newest CD this morning and had never heard the song “I’m Still A Guy.” This one is good so I have to share the lyrics.

I am still laughing.

I should start with – so much for monthly visits. I haven’t updated my progress on my 2007 aspirations since April. A lot can and has happened since then.

Aspirations 2007

Be proactive in finding new friends and possibly a more than friend interest. I am just not sure that romantic interest is the right word but maybe it is. Back in April, I thought I was doing better. I even sat down in August and made a list of people I would send “eye contacts” to on the online dating site. I haven’t done it yet. I also questioned, back then, when you take something off the “eye contact” and “messaging” on the site and take it real. I still am not sure on this line but will try to figure it out.

Submit art and get published. I am also, as a way to get published, going to look ahead to the themes major art magazines will have in 2006 so that I may have a creation on hand to submit. I have been creating more art but have not yet submitted anything. There is the fear of failure in this aspiration. What if I send it in and that is the end of it?

Lead Simple Abundance faithfully this year. Be sure to post a starter to each monthly thread. This has become a mute point. I will continue to lead this but the message board where I lead it is shutting down.

Be more active as a mod at OrganizedHome.com. See above. I am going to help, a little anyway, those who are setting up alternatives.

Read a total of 30 books this year – including re-reads. This one is definitely on track. I had some great summer reads. I am at 21 books so far this year.

Fitness 1 – I will walk/run 400 miles this year. I am slowly working on this one. I am at only 200 miles so far so technically behind. I do tend to walk/run more in the fall than summer so may pick it up.

Fitness 2 – I will wear my pedometer faithfully. Pedometer broke. Haven’t replaced it yet.

Fitness 3 – I will find an additional – strength – fitness outlet. Not doing too well on this end. I do occasional weights but nothing set in stone.

Budget 1 – I will pay down my debt. I have worked on paying down debt. It is getting much more manageable.

Budget 2 – I will put at least 10% of my earnings to savings. I am finding reducing debt is easier than keeping money in savings. I will attempt to end the year better than the rest of the year has been.

I will become adept at utilizing menu planning so as to maximize the money spent on food and the variety in our diets. While I haven’t been menu planning as much as I like, I have – due to CSA – managed to put variety in our diets and have utilized much fresher and better foods.

I said in a previous blog that this is definitely a future blog. Well, I have opted to write a lot lately. I am getting my words out of my head so I can have some creative flow.

I have always shyed away from the theory that you need to always look your absolute best when you step out the door to attract a date. Being single when you are a teenager or early 20′s may be the easiest because what is dressed your absolute best is different than when you are 30 or 40. I have read dating advice article after article, watched show after show. They all say the same thing. You must dress like you are going to meet someone every time you step out.

I have to say that I am slowly becoming a believer. I do not necessarily make sure I have on makeup when I leave the house all the time – a particular sticking point with me since I do not always wear makeup. I do, though, try not to wear the paint spotted pants or the ripped shirt or the shorts that I probably should have given up as favs years ago.

So, say you are headed to the grocery store. To start with, I just don’t see myself meeting someone over produce. Number one, the grocery I am most likely to be fund in does not have a huge produce department. Number two, I can’t tell you if I have ever seen a single – meaning unaccompanied by a female, man in the produce department except the workers at the store.

Theory would have it that a woman should do all her pre-date rituals to go on this trip to the store. There were days in my single life – my second singledom started in 1997 – when I was lucky I wasn’t in my pajamas as I went to the grocery. I do try now. I take a good look. I make sure I have jewelry – since makeup is not a surety – and nice clothing. I do, and I am sure this would be a big no-no to experts, from about May to October wear my Birkenstocks (I love them! That is not changing anytime soon.) I take a close look at my hair – not that it will matter by the time I get into town. I head in with my list and realize that once a single guy looks in my cart, he will run with terror.

This is not much different from what I do when going out on a date. I may take a slightly different approach to what I wear. But, if it is between May and October, my Birkenstocks are probably firmly on my feet. I generally will put on makeup for a date but not the grocery and not always.

Here is my problem – even though it seems I have bought into this hook, line and not quite sinker. I don’t know that I am always in the state of looking my best. Not that I want to scare a date but do I not want to be honest? That is why I wear comfy shoes and why I don’t sweat it. But a little thought is a good thing.

So let me know what your perfect date outfit is.