Monday, August 30, 2010

Downsizer's First Downsize Course 101 Paper Pictures/Photos Class 1

Keep or shred????

That's the first question in taking back your time and life!

In the past you probably pulled your albums /pictures  out...took a look at a couple of them...enjoyed the emotions of looking back in time...and then you tried to figure out what to do with them and got a head ache...and/or a knot in the stomach..and dumped them back in their boxes or tubs you got them out of to start with.

You probably thought : At least I can organize them but  to make matters worse most of them were probably not labeled. So back in their tub they went to do another time. And there they sit getting older, dustier, possibly mustier or moldier, while more of those who knew who were in the pics have moved on to the great beyond!

But go ahead pull ONE photo out and take these steps in this order:

1. First just answer the question : keep or shred?
How do you do that?

Answer these questions:
a. Do you want to keep it?
b. If no, do you have a relative or friend who would want it?
c. If you answered no to the above questions, do you want to try and make some money and try to sell it online and at the same time find someone who would want it?
d. If no to a, b and c do you want to bag up the "no" pics and try and sell the pack in a  y ard sale?
e. If your answers to a-d were no, do you want to donate it to a charity group?
f. If you answer to all of the above is no, get up walk over to your shredder and shred it or tear it up and throw it away. Remember: You are not going to die if you get rid of pictures you no longer want.

Before you do the above, find some old shoe boxes and label them:
1. Keep
2. Give away
3. Try to sell
4. Donate

I had to face the fact that NO ONE wants my tubs and tubs of pics as they are. There are too many. They are not labled. Lots of dups, fuzzies and just plain boring. So I had to come to grips with doing the above steps first.

Don't try and do it all at once. It won't work.  Your brain becomes emotionally frozen! Have fun. Take breaks. Designate a spot in your house where you can go and come back to it any time. Where the pics won't be disturbed by others.

 










So Downsize Course 101 Paper Pictures/Photos Class 2 will explain answer a yes: What to do if you want to keep it. . Til then Happy Sorting!





































































































Friday, August 20, 2010

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Hey All You Downsized Teachers: Funny or a Jerk?

Teacher Quits After Facebook Posts Diss Parents, KidsUpdated: 2 hours 24 minutes ago


Print Text Size Hugh Collins

Contributor



AOL News (Aug. 19) -- Call it an online education.



A teacher in a Massachusetts high school resigned after she posted Facebook comments describing the local parents as "arrogant and snobby" and referred to children as "germ bags."



Some of the postings were at least six months old, but it took only one day for enraged parents and educators to force June Talvitie-Siple to quit her $92,636-a-year job as supervisor of the math and science program at Cohasset High School.

Who is Making Money on these empty houses/short sales/foreclosures My politcal/financial downsizing plan.

Ever wonder who is making money on all these shortsales and foreclosures? Check out this utube just sent to us by a friend: http://www.youtube.com/user/fiercefreeleancer

We wondered why houses we looked at down here in Floriday are still empty two years later????

Time to downsize the opportunity for elected politicians/ bankers' greed to make money on the little guys' stupid moves.

Here's the plan:
Vote everyone out who is in (Except Charlie Crist who I love : a teacher supporter and a guy not afraid to make unpopular decisions)
Don't keep anyone in longer than one term. That'l do it! Worth a try!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Remember BaltImore Heat Before AC? What did YOU do?

 Whew! Nothing worse than humid  Baltimore heat before AC. I remember getting dressed to go to my summer job at St. Agnes Hospital (when everyone wore white outfits) being totally soaked before I even left the house!

I remember the ol stories about that was how Catonsville got settled. City people buying houses out there that were cooler!

Well in 1944 here is what my cuz,the Champ,  and her family and friends did! Remember Betterton MD? What do you remember was there when you went to have fun and be cooler? Took my Missouri husband there about 12 years ago and found where it USED to be and the memory of my high school's cruise over to there from the downtown harbor on the Betterton Ferry popped back in my mind! Only in our minds and pics now but maybe some day someone will revive it with happy times instead of many condos!

Bye Bye Lipton's Meat Loaf













MMMM. Meat loaf ...food for the soul of the weary and worried! This really worked back in the 60's when I would come home from teaching and needed something in an hour AND it would last for two nights! Lipton Dehydrated Onion Soup Mix was on the "cutting edge" of spicing things up back then! And you know what? I still like it to "spice things up"! One thing I have noticed in dealing with recipes from back then is I have to adjust the bread to the yucky breads of today filled with preservatives and additives. It usually takes more or better still use a substitute for the bread. Oh! and don't forget to watch the size of your eggs.

Well any meat loaf lovers or haters out there? Feel free to comment and give suggestions as to what makes yours special.

This one goes bye bye, but I have added it to my new cookbook I am creating of all past favorite recipes from my family in my Living Cookbook electronic recipe organizer.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Downsizer's Dilemma! What to Do with All the Family Recipes????

THIS HAS BEEN DRIVING ME CRAZY FOR YEARS! TRIED TO MAKE MY OWN .... USING DATABASES AND SPREADSHEETS ...TOO MUCH TIME WASTED AND NOT ENOUGH PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE to pull it off to pull up what I want quickly and clearly. 68 years and 4 generations of recipes arrgghh.Bought a notebook recipe organizer but not big enough and not fast enough.  So then I thought I will search online and  I  found what I thought was the ultimate online organizer. Slick presentation online! Expensive but I took the plunge and ordered it and some of their softwear. And then the UNEXPECTED ..it crashed! It took several days to get a response and several phonecalls. And it crashed/locked again!!! But that day their phone lady was off so several more days passed again. That was it! The end! Demanded my money back and several days later after calls, faxes and emails I was refunded the amount. Always nice, professional but the product didn't work on my sorta new 64 bit cool computer. IF I HAD GONE TO AMAZON and read the good and bad reviews of this product I would have saved myself lots of time and stress!!
And if you use the Amazon reviews you know you can pick up what others think works better than what you are considering buying. That happened . I downloaded the trial of the one others liked  ..  I love it!!!... less expensive...you can make your own cookbooks, it works with my computer, pictures are easy to add, tips, comments, procedures etc places on each recipe you can add! No phone service but so far online communication works well! 1/3 the price of the glitzy one that I purchased  that presented well online but crashed and locked.
So if you feel you are drowning in index cards and cookbooks and newspaper clippings make the jump...design  your own cookbooks...create your own chapers and insert the recipes you want to not downsize!  Oh Yes! Oh Yes! It is scary getting rid of the original recipes! But liberating also! So where I confess I am still in the Baltimore Black Bag Brigade because I cannot shake black bags I have released myself from  the Recipe Pile Platoon that never gets to use their recipes because there are too many and there is too little time to find what you want. Now .. it's click here and click there and pull it up and print out what you what in the size you want. Freedom!
Click here if you want to see the good recipe organizer we are enjoying: http://www.livingcookbook.com/

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Bye Bye Old Matt''s Cabin Shepherd of the Hills Branson Missouri!













Picture this! Cool Fall night. Dark. Moon above you. Sitting and watching people and animals reinact what took place in the book Shepherd of the Hills written by Harold Bell Wright who was inspired to write it in this very cabin which sits near the area of the play. You can go through the cabin that is nearby during tours in the day, enjoy a meal nearby and then get the ride down to the theater. All our trips to Branson include going to this area and seeing the play everytime! We love it! When you leave Nashville,  turn out the lights and head west to Branson and don't miss this area which is explained nicely here: http://www.branson-ozark-mountain-country.com/ShepherdoftheHills.html  It even links you to the book to read!




This postcard is for sale at our store: http://www.downsizer2010.com/

Bye Bye Baseballer Bret Barberie!

Well here we are back to the DOWNSIZING WORLD after a wonderful week with our grandkids!!! The world through the eyes of two 7 year olds is so much fun and so invigorating!













But back to the downsizing!...So many things to move on and so little time! OTHER STUFF season is coming on down here in sunny Floriday! First on the bye bye list are these 5 baseball cards of Bret Barberie. He played for the Orioles in 95.On April 5, 1993 he recorded the first hit in Florida Marlin history. Played at 2nd base, 3rd base and shortstop during the major league part of his life. Wonder what he is doing now?



















If you are interested in bidding on this lot of Brett Barberie baseball cards click here on my Ebay Auction listing; http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290463404810

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Bye Bye Beautiful Old Beads Necklace



OOOHHH downsizers! This is so hard to say bye bye but gotta find a spot where it will make another person happy!  If you are interested in going out on the town or want to wear it to church or work feel free to check it out and make a bid on it on my Ebay auction by clicking here:  
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290616723679

Monday, August 2, 2010

Bye Bye Clear Lake Iowa! Ever been there?

I haven't yet. But it looks beautiful on the card!























Wonder what it looks like at this very moment? Click here:
http://www.clearlakeiowa.com/clear_lake_live_camera.shtml

Downsizing this postcard on Ebay right now also. Click here if you would like to place a bid on this "cooling" postcard where the back of it says : "This is where the action is!!"  http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290460346643

Bye Bye Baseballer Floyd Bannister!











Bye bye 2 baseball cards of Floyd Bannister. Pitcher. 1987 and 1990. Wonder what he is doing now? Check here: http://www.seattlepi.com/baseball/273022_where07.html Busy guy!
If you would like to bid on Ebay on these two cards I am downsizing click here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290460247872&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:US:1123