Blogging 101

11/05/2015

The Blogger Recognition Award


Blogger Recognition Award

Once again, we are so honored! Thank you again, our dear friend, Anand of Blabberwockying. Anand has turned into such an amazing blogger, spreading love and light around the blogosphere! His nickname is “Thinker” and to spend any time in his “comments,” you will see he is a very insightful thinker, willing to share his knowledge, to create beautiful posts and to bring out the best in other bloggers!

But what can we say? We drafted a page to say we are now Awards Free….but it was never published. These are such great honors and great ways to really get to know new bloggers, to find new bloggers to follow and to increase the number of followers. Now that I’m (Debbie) taking Blogging 101 (again), we are exposed to lots of new bloggers.  And this award is a good one for them!

Today is our last day to accept such an award. Just due to time constraints, we just can’t continue with these. But we also can’t resist sharing the love!

Here is the intent of this award:

I know what you may be thinking: “But (insert name of nominator)! There’s already awards like this out there. Ever heard of the Liebster Award? Sheesh.”
Yes. There are plenty of other things like this out there. But, in my opinion at least, there can never be too many. Why? Because these little awards are a small gesture of goodwill that have a big impact on the people who receive them.
When you say, “Hey! I’ve nominated you for so-and-so award! Congrats!” and give one of these simple little pictures to a fellow blogger, you’ve probably just made that person’s day. You’ve inspired them to keep writing posts. You’ve given their confidence a little boost, and helped to make them feel that they are a part of this community. You’ve made them happy by being generous and showing your appreciation. There’s nothing better than that.
So, when you start thinking these awards are silly, or that they’re just annoying chain letters (they essentially are chain letters, but with a good purpose), remember that they aid in keeping the spirits of bloggers high, and they can also help get them just a little bit more exposure. They’re also great for establishing relationships between blogs and their authors. All in all, these simple pay-it-forward awards do a lot of good for the community.
With all of that said, how can you participate and do your part?
If you are nominated…

Here are the rules once you accept (and you are free to ignore, decline or just acknowledge) this award:

Select 15 other blogs you want to give the award to. (Many modify this and only nominate 5 or so).

  1. You cannot nominate yourself or the person who has nominated you.
  2. Write a post to show your award.
  3. Give a brief story of how your blog started.
  4. Give a piece of advice or two to new bloggers.
  5. Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
  6. Attach the award badge to the post (right-click and save, then upload.)
  7. Comment on each blog and let them know you have nominated them.
  8. Provide a link to the original post on Edge of Night.

How did this blog start? We had a story to share, how we divorced and remarried. It was truly a miracle from the Lord! It breaks our heart as we hear of couples divorcing or being miserable. We were there and now we are so grateful after 40 years of being married, to now be together as grandparents to two adorable grandsons.  Once our first grandson was about to be born, we had to change our lives to be closer to them. Our solution was to become full-time RVers. And now the blog focuses on our minimalist lifestyle and how we “travel” full-time!

New Bloggers (this is too good to try to recreate. From Anand): 

Give and you will be given. Don’t hold back words of appreciation and kindness ever. Hesitate to criticise. Don’t judge, we are all fallible and learning from our mistakes.

Blogging is socializing. No difference whatsoever. Take a genuine interest in people. Blogs are dead-weights without bloggers.

Participate in discussions in comment sections of blogs you like. Address people with names. Participate in discussion forums and give sincere feedback to your fellow friends. If you do this you will neither run dry on inspiration, nor fall short of motivation and support. The Alumni forum is one such forum where active engagement in discussion, feedback and light-hearted chattering happens. Feel free to drop by and join as an author over there!

Follow the followers. If someone follows you, they deserve to be followed. With trial and error you will come to know which blogs appeal you more and more. There is no harm in creating a blogosphere where you have lots of followers but a few visitors who comment. Expansion is out of love, contraction is out of fear. Exposure isn’t possible unless you expand!

Participate in the Blogging University Courses–especially in the Blogging 101 and you will get to meet many good blogging friends. Blogging and life will become better if you keep interacting actively!

And the nominees are these amazing bloggers, many of them new:

  1. Elihus Corner. I may have nominated you before, but I couldn’t confirm this! You are one of my favorite bloggers. You are a daddy to three children, you love your wife, but more than anything, you love our Lord Jesus and you blog to share His influence in your life – to help others know and see Him!
  2. Thoughts of a Train Wrecked Pineapple. Carlos is another favorite blogger. I am intrigued by young bloggers and he is young, in college! He is a fabulous writer, thinker and artist! I know him more as the first two….but his training and desire is to be an artist first and foremost, but not without the other two (or 10) talents he has!
  3. My Dappled Path is a new blogger I just found, per suggestions on how to find bloggers with similar interests. Her blog is just beautiful! I’m looking forward to getting to know her more as I begin following her!
  4. The Truth Lover I don’t remember how I found this blogger. But she/he is like-minded – and very anonymous! This person really wants to focus on our Lord, God, the Creator of the Universe, our Savior, Jesus. This is one blogger I try to never miss a post reading.
  5. The Bottom of a Bottle This is another blogger I somehow stumbled upon. I love his testimony and his dedication to his Deliverer! I just love it when someone hits rock bottom, at the bottom of the bottle in this case, and then RISE up to learn to LIVE! Hallelujah! This is an inspiring and talented blogger! He has something for everyone!
  6. What have we done now! Such an interesting couple from two small towns in the heart of Alaska.  They have a desire to travel and see new things as well as taste really new, and sometimes weird, things! They’ve been to at least 21 countries. Check out their blog and join their amazing adventures.
  7. Earthly Traveler is a new blogger I’ve discovered. He shares the same passion I do about the Bible. I really connected with him when I read this statement:
    “I realize that no matter how many times I read the Bible, I can never fully exhaust the truths and treasures that lie in it. Just like the grace and mercy of our God, His love, care and compassion, and the blessings He’s poured out on us His creation. But as I read my Bible each time and meditate on God’s Word, I always come to know more about my Saviour, God’s will, God’s plan. And all the more I know of these, the more I feel at peace. The Lord is Lord, He is in control—of this generation, and of the new earth to come.”
  8. Deeper Roots. I recently started following Beth’s blog. She is another person who has the same passion for the Bible, for God’s Word. After she retired from 30 years in church administration to now attending seminary and devoting herself to the study of God’s word while she also writes and teaches. Her goal is to grow deeper and stronger roots! Sounds like my kind of journey!
  9. Honest Me. This young mom is revealing her inner narrator! I love her honesty and creative writing skills. She has a weekly feature, Tuney Tuesdays. What a treat as she combines music to what is going on!
  10. Culturally Curious This is a classmate from the current (November) Blogging 101 course. This naturally curious mom and teacher wants to learn the story about every person she meets as well as the story behind inanimate objects! Like me, she has lived in and traveled quite a bit.
  11. Journey to Blessings. Another classmate, David, is all about sharing the blessings of our Lord. I really like his tag line: “Life, its challenges and how we can touch others.”  His blog is relatively new, but he seems like a pro. Such a beautiful and polished blog. I look forward to following him.
  12. Third Culture Wife. As I move along with my Blogging 101 assignment to visit new blogs, I found this lovely wife! I’m so excited to have spent some time reading her blog. Only to learn something so cool: I’m a TCK! That’s right, it helps explain my wanderlust! She explains about being third cultures, wives, kids, etc. I won’t give away the answer, you’ll have to read her blog!
  13. My Travel Middle East. Oh, my, another woman I will learn from. I’m loving the Blogging 101 assignment to try to find new blogs to follow. I’m looking for International Travel posts to reblog on my one blog….so I had to re-blog one of hers! She has fabulous pictures and is really capturing the beauty of the middle east!
  14. Party of Five is another blog by a mother! She is a blogging 101 classmate. I love her tag line: “Life at home, in the Woods and wherever we travel ~ it’s always a party of five!” So you can see why this wanderlust would be attracted to her blog. And the mothering part, is the greatest role in the world!
  15. Wisdom from the Harts!  I’m not sure why the Lord has given me a desire to learn about Autism. But I’ve stumbled on a few blogs that have helped me see this is not a “horrible problem” as it seems mainstream media plays it up to be. Granted, I’ve been ignorant and saw a documentary that terrified my husband and I as our daughter has accepted her pediatricians recommendations to vaccinate her two sons. I now have great peace about it and am loving the blogs I read about amazing parents learning how to help their children be the best they can be! Isn’t that every parent’s goal? This is a blog to follow along and learn how amazing her son is, explained in her tag line: “The Unexpected Joy of Raising an Autistic Playwright.”

Well, after all of this, how could I not want to continue to participate in Blogging Awards? Well, I guess it is time management.  So for those of you who wish to decline, I would recommend you post this some place obviously on your blog! And follow Anand’s and my advice, visit other blogs, comment often and encourage comments on your blog!

AwardFree

With that said, how about giving me some feedback about this award, as this was a real labor of love, love of the blogosphere! May God bless each and everyone!

10/07/2015

Award: Premio Dardos


This is so overdue. We have been recognized and honored to be nominated for a number of awards. To be honest, I’ve seen so many beautiful and well thought out acceptance blogs, it’s a bit intimidating. But what a blessing when I’ve read the acceptance blog by Jodee Sterm of Reverent Devotion.

So what’s the deal with this whole blogging award thing? It may seem insignificant for some, but there is something special about being recognized by another blogger for your efforts and capturing the heart of your blog. I am going to take a tip from Lula Harp, who was also nominated for a number of awards. She decided to modify the rules in order to manage the process!

Now to recognize each person who nominated me, to nominate others and a little about this award:

Premio-Dardos-Blog-Award

Premio Dardos means “Prize Darts” in Spanish, and represents cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values that are transmitted in the form of creative and original writing. WOW, what an honor for a well-respected and very popular blogger, Vibrant Anand of Blabberwockying to nominate me for this award (as well as a few more….)  Visit his blog to see some of the most beautiful posts that touch on all aspects of life with some of the most vibrant pictures I’ve ever seen!

If I have nominated you, follow these three rules to accept:

1. Include the Premio Dardos Award image.
2. Mention the blog that nominated you and add a link to it.
3. Nominate 15 blogs that you consider worthy of this acknowledgment and the reason you nominated them. (I’m going to nominate 5 for each award to make this work….I hope!)

These are five bloggers I have connected with on some level. Their versatility represented in their cultural, ethical, literary and personal values that come out in their creative and original writing have been inspirational to me. And if you decline this nomination, it is OK! I understand. In fact, one person I wanted to nominate has an “Award Free” icon on her blog to let us know, she’s not into this. Not everyone is….but we’ve decided to play it forward and participate!

  • Kathy Simmons of Shangri-La.  This wife and mom of two boys and a toy fox terrier is an amazing photographer. She blogs about every topic imaginable. With humor and love!
  • Bob Ramsak of Piran Café. Bob is a professional, so not sure if he will be interested in this award. He’s a reporter, photographer, digital nomad and blogger driven by a lust for travel, art, culture and justice. He’s visited 54 countries and writes something and takes pictures every day.
  • Travel Magnolia – She loves to travel, eat and take photos, although she says not always in that order! She has traveled to 47 countries. She is an amazing photographer and shares her reviews about restaurants, lodging, and sightseeing recommendation!
  • Hums of Sum – Is there anything she can’t blog about! I love younger bloggers and she is an artistically inclined edgy engineer in her early twenties that often ponders about questions on human nature and the meaning of life.
  • Elihu’s Corner – Elihu is a Hebrew name that means “My God is He.”  He is a follower of Christ and writes these things to proclaim God’s power and majesty. Thousands of years ago, a young man named Elihu listened as older men spoke and misspoke about God and His purpose. Elihu, being younger, held his tongue. Finally, he could not restrain himself any longer. He felt compelled to proclaim the awesome, unfathomable nature of God.

Congratulations on capturing our attention and sharing your hearts! We connect with others of faith, those  travel bloggers who share our wanderlust, photographers who love to capture life digitally, and just plain creative individuals who share their lives.

God loves each of us as if there were only one of us. ~ Augustine

 

09/24/2015

Liebster Award


liebsteraward-e1439238598144

It’s an honor for your blog to be nominated for an award by other bloggers.  The first time I was nominated was for my personal blog, Lifetime Of Forgiveness.  Please click here to learn more about this award if it is new for you.  And for purposes of this post, I am writing this as Debbie.

We don’t want to stifle the award and we do want to play it forward. The Liebster Award is to honor new bloggers or bloggers with less than 200 followers. We started this blog in 2011, but never really noticed how many followers we had – we were blogging for ourselves, family, and close friends. We had maybe 20 followers – and as of today, 195. We’re almost ineligible for this honor!  We are pleased this blog has morphed into something strangers are now interested in. So in that regard, we do want to pay it forward!

So we owe thanks and appreciation to two other newer bloggers: Lacie of See You Starside, who also likes to hike, and Jasmin, a young mom of LittleNuggetBigNugget.  Lacie found us on our post about becoming minimalists. And we connected in several other areas. Here’s a little bit about her from her blog: “My name is Lacie and I’m a quarter-lifer from Georgia. I’m an introvert who uses my blog as a way to get some social interaction without having to see the face to face judgment of those around me.

“I love nature and hiking, and thanks to my parents, I have quite the sense of wanderlust. I devour books like no one’s business. I can cook a mean chocolate pie, sew a quilt for a new baby, fix most basic car problems, and listen to your issues like your teddy bear.

“In short, I am a complex person and I have, much like my blog, quite the list of interests. I believe that everyone has a story to tell and they are all important. This is my story. Sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it’s sad, but it is mine, and it is true.”  I’ve enjoyed many of her posts and we are in essence, classmates in Blogging University. So it has been fun watching her grow in her blogging capabilities. I love her honesty!

Jasmin and I connected over our love of babies! But we have several other connections. This is a bit on her “About page” which shows some other areas we’ve connected: “I am 27 years old living a less-than-perfect life In Southern California, trying not only to make my life beautiful, but also see the beauty in it all. I’m a pessimist living in an optimist’s body. Sounds odd, doesn’t it? Well, this is what happens when you spent your high school years in therapy because you were depressed, on meds, and suicidal. Really, just feeling lost and out of place. If you stick around, you’ll see I’ve come a long way, but you’ll also see there are random moments of anxiety and depressive thoughts, and that’s just the aftermath of my teenage years….”

For me, these awards are all about encouraging one another, encouraging one another and sharing each other’s talents with others. I tried to make sure they have not be nominated for the Liebster Award, but I may have missed it. No matter, it is worth your while to  take a look at their blogs. So without further ado, we’d like to nominate these bloggers:

  1. Starting the Climb: I’m really drawn to young bloggers who are searching for meaning and purpose. This a one such person, who wants to help others! Why not check her out and give her a follow!
  2. Sweet Aroma: We are like-minded and her blog is full of the sweetness and goodness of our Lord’s creation!
  3. The Lord is with us: Another like-minded blogger whose heart searches for the same things as mine! I look forward to her refreshing posts!
  4. The Truth Lover: Oh, there might be a theme here, another like-minded blogger with a similar passion!  This very diversified and focused blogger has something for everyone interested in seeking the truth about life!
  5. A Backpacker’s Diary: This young man is an amazing photographer and observer of life. His insights are challenging and his views refreshing.
  6. RA for Beginners: This is an educational and encouraging blog by a young lady learning how to navigate life with her rheumatoid arthritis (or as she says, one swollen joint at a time).  Her beautiful blog is worth a stop by and follow!
  7. Reverent Devotion: Another young like-minded blogger. I look forward to her posts for my daily food encouragement!
  8. Words From One Heart: Another young lady with a similar focus, from France so English is not her primary language. I admire these bloggers who can write in another language.
  9. On RVing Time: Sharon is an accomplished writer, but this is a new blog site. Of course, we share the love of RVing, so she has much to share that interests us!
  10. Voyager of Freedom: This is an irresistible blog, so best to just quote from About: “They tell me it’s important to never forget who you are or where you come from, the rest is all irrelevant. For that reason I have done a lot of soul-searching and began on the quest to discover who I am spiritually, while never forgetting what I have already learned. I don’t know where life will take me, or how I will make the journey, but no one will ever take away where the journey began. That’s why I love to write; I write about everything: emotions, society, the things that I’ve experienced or felt but can’t explain., love, life, friends, politics or even oneself or others. My goal as a writer is to be perceived as the Artist that can write the unspoken words of your soul.”

If you chose to accept this award, please click here for the rules. Or you can modify them a bit as I am going to do.  I like it when bloggers just share random facts about themselves! So please give us at least 10 random facts about yourself, your blog, or something that is not necessarily on your About page or blog site!

God never said that the journey would be easy, but He did say that the arrival would be worthwhile.” Max Lucado

 

09/22/2015

Awards awards awards!


WOW, we just didn’t realize so many people have recognized the heart of this blog. It shows that it is easy to lose track of comments from others.  We want to thank the following for nominating our blog for a few awards: Laci, Jasmin, Meggan, Saint P, and Vibrant (Anand)! I’m going to reply with a post to each over the next few days to keep this post at a manageable length.

It is so nice to be thought of in a special way, especially when going through some tough times.  We are off the road for about a month. We are re-blogging some other travel blogs of couples we have been “following” (and inspired by) since we began RVing (short for Recreational Vehicle traveling). But something has happened that made me decide to add to the focus of our Travel Adventure blog. It’s time to play it forward and share my new blogosphere experiences.

Quick history: When we began to dream about buying an RV and traveling, we found a few blogs which really inspired us. We began to follow them and realized we had much in common with them (our love for adventure and hiking)….so we have a special blogosphere “commenting” relationship! We’ve never met, but we could hang out around a fire pit and talk for hours, like old lost friends!  You will notice, we are re-blogging a few of their blogs. So I guess I won’t say much more, except they are amazing bloggers and adventure travelers – and have lots of “followers.” BTW, we are all retired and are in somewhat of the same station in life – so that helps with our commonality! Check out their sites: the Lowe’s, Ingrid & Al, Pam & John, and the Wandering Dawgs!

I realized I needed to enhance my (our) blogging, so I signed up in one WordPress Blogging University (BU) course, Blogging 101 in July (when we were again off the road). I only did about 1/2 of the course but met some wonderful bloggers. I then signed up to take it again the next month and enter a whole new world of fabulous bloggers with huge hearts!  In BU, you do learn to help and support each other, to read and comment on each other’s blogs, to help each other to find our ways in the blogosphere.

Thanks to Blabberwockying, authored by Anand, who is also known as Vibrant, I’ve been pushed over the edge to finally say, I’ll ACCEPT!!! Anand and I live in two totally different worlds, but we still have much in common. I can’t say enough good about him, except to say he is an amazing person.  And he has nominated us for three awards!

These awards are such an honor to receive. It means another blogger has seen the heart and soul of a fellow blogger and then nominates that person/blog to recognize the efforts put into the blog. I was not going to accept them on this blog because it didn’t “feel” appropriate since our focus narrow and to a specific audience (family and friends). I did accept one on my personal blog – the blog that really needs help to survive, but it is about my heart and soul!  A young man who I have very little in common with, except for the blogosphere, nominated me for that first award. I’ve become more or less a grandma to him (a major cheerleader for his work) and he in turn, has taken me under his wing to help me improve my actual blog look! What fun this has all been.

So now to go over my nominations. Because I have five, I am going to modify the rules a little. But first, let me thank each person as I draw you to the post that grabbed their attention to honor me:

In reverse order (to be determined), the latest award nomination, The Versatile Blogger Award nomination for our blog details are here.

Award Rules:

If you are nominated, you’ve been awarded the Versatile Blogger award.

Thank the person who gave you this award. That’s common courtesy.
Include a link to their blog. That’s also common courtesy—if you can figure out how to do it.
Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers (I’m modifying to seven) that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly. ( I would add, pick blogs or bloggers that are excellent!)
Nominate those 15 bloggers (or less) for the Versatile Blogger Award — you might include a link to the original site.
Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.

7 Random Facts About Me (Bill is choosing to not participate):

  1. I’ve lived in three countries: USA, Germany, Japan
  2. I’ve traveled and/or worked in six countries: Mexico, Canada, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Pakistan
  3. I’ve had fabulous layovers in four countries: Tokyo (felt like home), London, Singapore, Abu Dhabi
  4. I can only speak English, but can talk gibberish with my sister.
  5. I have lived in seven USA states: Wyoming, Colorado, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Alabama, New Jersey, and Florida.
  6. I can’t count how many states I have traveled in. One day, I’ll try to count them. The goal is to drive our RV to all 49 states on our continent.
  7. I’m a wanderlust!

Definition borrowed from Wikipedia: The term originates from the German words wandern (to hike) and Lust (desire). The term wandern, frequently misused as a false friend, does in fact not mean “to wander”, but “to hike.” Placing the two words together, translated: “enjoyment of hiking”, although it is commonly described as an enjoyment of strolling, roaming about or wandering.

My Nominees…

I’ve selected these people because I see so much versatility in their blogs! I wish them continued success in their blogging and in their earthly existence!  Congratulations to each and it is your choice to participate. No hard feelings if you can’t accept, or don’t want to accept. But I do want you to know, I’m following you and look forward to watching your blog grow!!

  1.  Shine Positive Power! This young lady is amazing, encouraging, and so versatile with her posts.
  2. Just a bunch of Nuggets: Another young lady and blogging mom. We connected right away. I love nuggets!
  3. Oh, My Glai! When I think of versatile, this is the blog! Another young lady, and relatively new blogger that has so much to offer and share!
  4. Elihu’s Corner. This dad is a wonderful role model to his children and shares his timeless and Biblical principles that help all of us!
  5. See you starside. There are just certain bloggers with whom instantly click. This is another young lady that is doing all she can to create a very versatile and wonderful blog!
  6. Think Outside. Once you see this young man’s blog, you will know why we clicked. Another very versatile blogger and adventurer!
  7. Lydia and I also had an instant connection. She is also very versatile and has so much to offer!

There are a number of others I want to see recognized, so stay tuned as I catch up on our awards. Lots more to share!

You are valuable because you exist. Not because of what you do or what you have done, but simply because you are. –Max Lucado

08/31/2015

My pet peeve! @#%!&


Might as well share my personal post here. We are on a road trip so I’ll have an adventure to write about in a few days. Here’s what was happening in our Hidden Acres Campground. Anyone else with me?

Real life....

swearing-294391_1280

I’m not sure if the term “pet peeve” is actually accurate. I did some research and couldn’t really find a better term. Hopefully, whoever is reading this can help me come up with a better term after you see where I am coming from. Here is the definition:

Pet peeve: a continualsource of personalannoyance. 
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K DictionariesLtd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

So then I looked up annoyance….it didn’t help much. Oh well…..

I don’t know when I decided I didn’t appreciate being around people who use curse words. I do know I went through a stage where I may have used some curse words. In fact, I have warned people if you hear me cursing, you know something is REALLY wrong. I call it “righteous indignation.”

Perhaps it happened to me in college. I…

View original post 581 more words

08/13/2015

How we became minimalists….


Cow pasture behind the Bays

A view on one of my walks around a campground. Simplicity!

I’m taking Blogging 101, a free course offered by WordPress. It’s really good, but if only we had unlimited data or free wi-fi. That has held us back.  It takes some time to go through the exercises, but eventually, I hope to learn things that will translate into a better blogging experience.

One real huge benefit is to meet and make new “friends” with others who also have a passion sharing their life experiences. One of my new friends, Arpita, a fellow traveler, asked me to write a blog on how to become a minimalist after she read my other blog (click here). Since we are still playing the waiting game, waiting for grandchild # 2 to appear, we needed something to blog about that was related to our lifestyle. You see, this blog is as much for us as anyone. We want to record our memories here to help us later in life…or tomorrow when we can’t remember what we did today! LOL

We never really intended to become minimalists until we had been married 30 years and we were on our 11th move. We suddenly realized we had been carrying some of the same boxes through all the moves and never even opened them. But let’s backtrack to August 19, 1989. We remarried after being separated and divorced for a year. We rededicated ourselves not only to each other but to the Lord. We had a simple and small wedding but were blessed to have a church and lots of new friends help us. The most pivotal aspect was a simple song we selected to have sung at our wedding, from these scriptures: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness. And all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:32 In context, these scriptures were saying to not worry about what you wear and what you eat. God knows what you need and He will provide them.

And then, we helped both of our mom’s after our father’s deaths downsize and move out of their homes.  Bill’s dad passed in 1996 and my dad in 1999. Our 12th move was in 2004 and that was when we purposed to become minimalists.  We downsized OK, but the small Florida home we first bought wasn’t spacious enough. So we backslide on our minimalistic lifestyle and bought a bigger home….We really tried to be minimalists, but somehow, we still held on to too many things. For me, it was my books. For Bill, it was tools and Harley motorcycle stuff.

The event that finally got our attention and we realized we had to just get rid of everything was soon after we bought our first Recreational Vehicle (RV) on September 4, 2013. We bought a small and extra light 5th wheel. In other words, we couldn’t take much stuff with us. We suddenly realized it was the perfect minimalist lifestyle for us.

X-tra Light 5th Wheel

It sold in May 2015

Bill was more concerned with HOW to get rid of everything. So he began reading the blogs of full-time RVers to see how they did it. Many either kept a house full of stuff and had relatives or friends keep an eye on things, or rented a storage locker for the valuables they couldn’t part with. Some stored things at family’s homes. And it all just looked like a process.

For me, I just never really cared for much stuff. I’m not a shopper so I wasn’t attached to much stuff. Perhaps the fact that I moved a lot as a military brat had this impact on me. But my books! Oh, how I hated to get rid of them. But I knew they had to go. I had given most away  during our 12th move. Bill especially hated my books because he was the one who had to move them! So I really downsized to 1/2 of a bookcase that fit in a closet. These were really valuable and hard to part with books. But I knew how he felt, so I just said they had to go!

Bill’s turning point was when someone expressed an interest in his motorcycle. WOW, I never thought he would part with it. But he realized he couldn’t do both, RV and ride his bike. This was HUGE….and it was his turning point. Once he sold it, nothing else mattered to him.

2006 Harley Ultra Classic

2003 Harley Ultra Classic

Our daughter was in the process of selling her small two bedroom townhome and moving into a four-bedroom house with three bathrooms. That was our perfect solution to giving her some family heirlooms and some of our favorite furniture.  We also gave some furniture to other relatives that were also family heirlooms. And then we had a huge garage sale over two days and just emptied the house, which had sold in a week with a closing date in a month.  It made it so easy for us.

Due to the lack of sufficient time to really sort through what we thought were irreplaceable, family things (that no other family member would want), we rented a 5′ X 10′ storage locker. These were things that you don’t really sell….and Bill’s cherished big TV (it’s a man thing isn’t it?)! He just wasn’t ready to say we wouldn’t have a house again within the year. So after paying rent for about six months, we realized some things wouldn’t store very well.  We really just prayed over what to do and ended up donating these valuable things to families in need and to a youth ministry that holds yard sales to raise money to pay the rent.  But we still had to pay storage as we hung onto some valuable pictures – to us and our kitchen wares. So next time we go back to Sebring, we plan to clean out the locker.

We are loving our VERY simple lifestyle! We love our time and not having stuff helps us have more time for the things in life that really matter now that we are grandparents and travel full time.

Photo shoot with grandson

A minimalist grandma’s photo shoot with grandson.

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