Ignorant Historian

I’ve lived in various apartments and townhouses for over 7 Christmases now, but for various reasons (space, non-celebrating roommate), I’ve not had a full-sized Christmas tree until last year. Even then, it was my roommate’s and her house, so while I was able to add my own ornaments and touches, the decorating was primarily hers.

Since this is the first year to be on my own, it’s the first time I’ve been able to decorate how I choose. Christmas is my favorite holiday, so I was excited. Growing up, my mom would literally put a tree of various sizes in every room (maybe still does…I’d have to count). Clearly, Christmas decorating is a big deal in my family.

Looking around my apartment and my budget, here’s what I came up with:

I made this small ceramic tree in middle school. It’s sitting on the kitchen/dining room ledge.

This nativity set was made by my grandmother (Hi, G. Zoe!). She made three sets: two for her daughters and she gave the third to me, her only, favorite granddaughter. This nativity set sits in the dining room, above the books that I’ve had checked out from the library for a long time… Maybe they’ll become a part of the double baby-watch, because I certainly haven’t been reading much fiction lately.

Since the birth of the Savior is the most important thing about this season, I actually have two nativity sets up. The other is on the bookshelf as you enter the apartment:

This wreath is on my front door (I realized I’ve been showing you pictures walking from the back door to the front. So if you climb up onto my balcony and come in the kitchen, this is the order you’d see things…). I assembled it myself, as I really wanted to use LED lights and loved this bow. The neat thing about these lights is that they’re also on a timer, so they’re on from 5-11 PM each night without me doing anything extra.

And finally, for the grande finale, the tree:

As you can see, I decided to make my tree match my apartment. Everything on the tree is new (that and  the wreath are this year’s new additions). I had wanted a prelit tree, but then I had a hard time finding one that used LED lights, and that was important to me. For less than the price of a prelit tree with traditional lights, I put this one together with lights. Best thing? It uses less than 30 watts so I’m not wasting energy and money.

I also had hoped to get a 7′ tree, but ended up “settling for a 6.5′ one. I’m so glad I did…I forgot to factor in how short I am. This one looks great in the space, and I’m able to reach the top. Barely.

For those of you who are skeptical about LED lights because their light is bluish, check out the “warm white” color. It is a bit brighter than what I’m used to with traditional Christmas lights, but not bad/weird.

I considered adding a stocking (or two…being optimistic?) as I had the perfect place for them and I think they’re cute, but I decided not to put up a stocking. Certainly nothing against those who do, but I’ve decided to keep Santa and his accouterments out of my decorating. I find the whole Santa Claus thing (as it is usually done) not only distracts from the real miracle of Christmas, but also adds the whole “naughty/nice” thing which flies in the face of the gospel, which should be the real focus now and year-round.

• I finally turned on the heater this past weekend after my teeth chattered throughout a phone conversation.  It’s only kicked on 3 times though.

• The thought of Black Friday makes my stomach flop. I hate that our primary activity of Christmas is buying stuff.

• I’ve been busy crocheting up some presents. It’s the perfect activity to do while watching mindless television or listening to an audiobook (which is better).

• I’m super excited about decorating my apartment for Christmas today. Pictures to come!

Something I find interesting, is what things some people find necessities while others don’t. Here are things that I do without:

An iron – Yeah, I’ve never owned an iron. I’ve rarely used one. When something has to be ironed, I usually beg someone else to do it for me. My seminary graduation robe? Yep, my mom ironed it for me (thanks, Mom!). In the days when I had a dryer, I would just take my clothes out of the dryer out immediately, and that was good enough for me. Now that I don’t have a dryer, I do need to invest in some wrinkle release.

A washer and dryer – Like I said above, I don’t have a  dryer. In fact, I don’t even use a dryer anymore (though I’ll still be drying my sheets and towels that way, but will save them up to do one load a month). Not having a washer in unit is already getting old, but a short walk for laundry is good for me. I don’t mind hanging my things to dry, and enjoy the fact that I’m saving over $0.80 a load (not to mention the “costs” of shooting more coal smoke into the air we breathe). I don’t need these things.

Coffee pot - I don’t drink coffee. I’m glad I never started. I’m going to have friends over in a couple of weeks that might prefer I serve coffee, but I’ll just let them know if they want it, they have to bring the pot and coffee themselves. Actually, I only have one coffee cup, so that could be a problem too…

Coffee table - You may have noticed in my apartment tour that I don’t have a coffee table. Not having one was a conscious decision: I felt like it would clutter up my small living room. I still think that way, though it would be nice to have a place to put the stack of books I’m currently reading while I’m in the middle of reading (I do have a place to put them “away”). Probably should invest in some TV trays as that could solve that problem.

A bed big enough for 2 - I don’t invite others into my bed (at least not before he puts a wedding band on my finger!), so my single bed is enough for me. I wouldn’t mind a bigger bed, I suppose, but it’s definitely not something I need.

Knick knacks – I have two picture frames (both with pictures from my brother’s wedding) besides the ones on the walls, and a vase with some fake flowers in it. Besides that and a few candles (that I use), I don’t have anything that would qualify as “knick knacks.” It’s very freeing.

More than 1 sharp knife – I have one knife that I got when I went to college that I’ve always loved and used exclusively. I looked up where to buy more like it, and that’s when I found out it’s actually a really nice knife, a J. A. Henckels. No wonder I like it! That said, I couldn’t justify buying more, but I will put it on my wish list.

Internet access - This also was a conscious decision on my part. If it was important to me, I could work it into my budget. I even had a generous person in my life offer to pay for my internet, but I politely turned them down. I have nothing against the internet, but it’s a big temptation for me. I can spend way too much time on it watching TV, spending time on Twitter and Facebook, and checking my email. I spend 40 hours a day in front of a computer…I’d rather use my free time to exercise, write, read, and serve others.

Plastic bags – By which I mean what we always called “Walmart bags.” Actually, this is a bit of a lie…there currently is one Walmart bag in my apartment, left over from the move. I’ve been using reusable grocery bags almost exclusively for over a year, and will definitely be keeping this up.

Now for a couple of things I hope to soon do without:

Paper towels - I bought two rolls when I moved in, and promised myself they will be the last. I bought a pack of rags that I can use for situations I would usually use a paper towel. This isn’t an easy transition, but I think it’ a good one.

Traditional cleaning products – I have already made my own kitchen cleaner that works well (equal parts vinegar and water). When the bathroom and toilet cleaners I have are used up, I plan on making my own of those as well. I still have a full container of laundry soap, but when I use that up, I’m actually looking forward to making my own laundry detergent. I haven’t made up my mind if it’s worth making my own dishwasher detergent or not, but I’ll make that decision later, as I still have a huge tub of the stuff that will last me a long time.

I’m not someone obsessed with natural things. How can I be when I still drink Diet Dr Pepper? But I do enjoy saving money and introducing less unnecessary chemicals into my home. It’s a journey, and I’m taking the next steps down the road.

What do you do without that others find a necessity?

I know you guys are ready to see the finished project, right. Well, if you were to walk into my apartment today, this is what’d you see…

Actually, this is what you’d see if you walked into my apartment after dark. Those are black out windows, but they aren’t that good at blacking out the sunlight. They’re saving me money, though blocking out the bright sunlight and heat when I’m not here!

Continuing to walk into the dining room…

See my house plant! And the wall opposite the window:

You may have noticed a theme…first “Kindness” above, and then “Goodness” and “Patience” here. I have all 9 fruits of the Spirit somewhere in my apartment. I love how they’re a reminder of the work that God is working in me.

And then continuing into the kitchen. I don’t know why this picture looks like this, though perhaps it’s the light. I don’t like florescent lights, and this one is extra annoying as it has a bit of a strobe effect.

Through that door is the balcony and my garden, (appropriately labelled!). Both front and back doors have storm doors, and the back door even has a screen on it, so when it gets cool enough, I can open all the windows wide and have good air flow through the apartment.

Walking back into the living room, you see my new couch and my favorite pillows!

Then turning to the right, heading to the bedroom. You see this from the couch:

The stand fan is great, as there is no ceiling fan in the living room. I keep the apartment warm but it doesn’t feel too bad with the fans.

Behind those privacy doors is the bathroom to the left. I had thought I would just reuse my bathroom set from a few years ago, but when I pulled it out of the box, I realized that it wasn’t in as good a condition as I remembered. The rugs were two different shades, and the towels and shower curtain had bleach spots. Every time I glanced at the bathroom, I cringed. So I allowed myself to get this set that I had my eye on:

I didn’t put any of the fruits of the Spirit in the bathroom, because I felt that would put an unwelcome connotation to them. “Patience” and “goodness” take on a different meaning when put over a toilet…

If you go right instead of left after the privacy doors, you’ll enter my bedroom. But before entering the bedroom proper, you pass this vanity on the left and my huge walk-in closet on the right (it’s at least 8 feet deep).

And finally, into my bedroom. In the top left corner, notice you see a little hook (or you just see a dot, but that is a hook). That’s one of the two permanent hooks in the wall for my temporary clothesline. The line attaches with carabiners, and I can put it up just when I need it. I don’t have laundry hookups within the apartment, and I’m not about to pay to dry my laundry! Even when I had free laundry facilities, I considered coming up with an alternative option for drying my clothes. For less than $5, I put together this clothesline.

“Gentleness” was not my first choice for over the bed, but I thought “patience” might have been a little too obvious when put over my single bed…

I plan on making a headboard for my bed. I’ve never had one before, and I think it’ll add needed interest to my bedroom. Not that I spend much time in my bedroom other than sleeping anymore, as I read in my living room!

I absolutely love my apartment. At 660 square feet, it’s more than enough space for me, and actually feels spacious. I look forward to spending more time here and having others over!

I’ve moved more than I would have liked since I came to North Carolina 6 years ago. Yet, as far as moves go, they’ve all been fairly stress-free and full of blessings.

But this was probably the quickest and smoothest move of all.

Thursday evening: I sealed the last of my boxes. That’s just me: getting everything done 36 hours before the move. But I also had a big to-do list for Friday, so I was making my life easier.

Friday morning: I headed out to the apartment complex. When I walked in and told them I was ready to move in, I got blank looks.

Never good.

It took her a couple of moments, but the rental manager finally remembered that I was to move in that day, and she just wasn’t quite ready for me. Fifteen minutes later, I had signed my lease and received the 50-page handbook the keys to my very own place.

As I put the key in my door and opened it for the first time, this is what I saw:

See that? I have built-in bookcases!

I had been in an apartment with the same layout as mine, but it didn’t have those bookcases, but an archway leading into the dining room instead. This is much more open, plus provides me a cute place to stash my DVDs and some of my books.

After checking to make sure that I could fit all my plants on my balcony (a point over which I had been spending way too much time worrying!), I headed out to shop. And shop. And shop.

I ended up going to two different Targets, Lowe’s twice, and to Walmart 3 times. And I didn’t even have time to go to Aldi like I planned!  The rest of Friday was spent hanging curtains and trying to put as much of my shopping away as possible.

Saturday morning: The official move started at 9. Since I didn’t have any large furniture, I didn’t worry about renting a truck. We loaded everything in a few of my friends’ vehicles, and were on our way to the new place before 10 AM. By 10:30, everything was inside my apartment. That’s what I call a fast move!

Once everything was inside, the ladies took no time to rest, but immediately started unpacking my kitchen, linens, and books. Thanks to their help, I had the living room and kitchen completely put together by the end of Saturday and only had 4 boxes left to unpack.

Sunday: After church, I borrowed a friend’s son and another friend’s husband and pickup to make the big haul: my garden. If my plants still looked like this, it wouldn’t be so bad. But two months of water, sun, and Miracle Gro have made a big difference. Thankfully the guys were wonderful and took to the task, only losing a few of the 50 or so green tomatoes I currently had on the vine. So here is my garden in its new home:

We leaned the tomatoes against the apartment as they’re so top heavy, and I put the cucumbers in the front. They all look a bit pathetic in this picture, as I did not water them until after moving them. You can’t see my dying cilantro (I’m trying to coax it back into the land of the living) or the lettuce, as I recently cut it all, since it went to seed. Not sure when I’m going to try to plant some more…it’s really hot right now!

So that’s where I am in my move. I have 3 boxes left to put away, which won’t take much work. I have several projects that I want to do around the place, but I’ll take pictures and show you guys around before I get everything done, as that might be a while!

So last week I started one of my favorite activities:

packing.

Yes, I love to pack. Something about seeing your things in boxes or cleaning out things, I don’t know. But I like it. Other than the physically moving possessions, I actually rather enjoy moving.

When I first started looking at moving last week, I knew I may moving as early as the weekend of the 4th. Because of all the traveling I’m doing, that would have basically given me 4 evenings to pack before the vacations, and 4 evenings afterwards.

And I’m someone who usually starts packing 6 weeks out.

Once I realized that I’d have an extra 2 weeks, I wasn’t so pressed. But I still started working right away, because that’s who I am.

I currently have 3 cheap bookcases from Walmart or Target. I would love to get rid of them, but real bookshelves are expensive. I was able to buy a *real* bookshelf off a friend, but I knew that I’d have to get rid of a shelf’s worth of books in order to get rid of one of the cheapo cases. So as I started packing my books, that was my goal.

But the more I found books that I no longer needed, the more I enjoyed it. I might be a book lover, but there is still something therapeutic about decluttering books. I’ve enjoyed many of these books, but that doesn’t mean I have to hold on to them forever!

I also got rid of many books and notebooks I thought I’d refer to after seminary. Nope. So those went, too. All in all, I got rid of 4 1/2 shelves’ worth (I started out with 15 shelves’ worth)

I pared down my DVD collection (cutting it in half), so now I only have my 3 favorite trilogies (Ocean’s, Pirates, and Bourne…oh, and 2 episodes of Star Wars), Disney movies, and literary-inspired movies (Jane Austen and Shakespeare, mostly).

I went through my closet as well, cleaning out things I’ve been keeping move after move by default: belts (I don’t ever wear them), purses (the last couple of years, I just wear the same purse for a year and then replace it, and scrapbooking supplies (that I haven’t used since 2005).

All in all, I’ve already found 6 overflowing boxes of stuff to get rid of, and I still haven’t gotten to my desk, what’s under the bed, or my filing cabinet (that’s going away). 6 boxes is easily 10% or more of what I own. And this isn’t stuff I’ve accumulated since the last move (there’s been very little of that), but stuff I’ve moved at least once already.

The more I thought about it, I realized that everything in the apartment would be mine. Why would I want to put up with clutter?

I want to live a simpler life. I don’t need much “stuff.”

The bonus of clearing out stuff? On a whim, I posted pictures of it all on Facebook. By the time I left for Texas, I had already sold $90 worth of it…yay! There’s still a good bit there, so even if you aren’t local, you might some books or DVDs you can’t live without that I can ship for cheap. Check it out.

Continuing with this week’s 5 theme in celebration of my 5th blogiversary this week, today I’m talking about the 5 biggest changes in my life since I started blogging.

1. I’m no longer a student. This is an obvious change to pick. When I graduated in December of 2008, I thought I was going to really miss being a student. I love to learn, and up into that point, I always found a lot of identity in being a good student. Turns out, I don’t really miss it. I do get a little bit of jealous when someone talks about syllabi and reading assignments, but I’m really glad I can make up my reading schedule for myself.

2. I now think of myself as a grown up. I’m only 28, so when I started blogging I was 23, a year out of college. Still, I felt like a kid, perhaps because I was still a student or perhaps because I was still in the in-between place between being in my parents’ home and being on my own. Some point between then and now, I realized I was an adult (said with the emphasis on the first syllable). Perhaps it was when children stopped mistaking me for a teenager…

3. I’ve gained a sister. I love that when my brother married Amanda last year, he brought her into our family forever. She’s become one of my closest friends, and my only regret is that we don’t live closer. Seventeen and a half hours (just Googled it) is a little too long to drive for lunch.

4. I’ve quit my (Diet) Dr Pepper habit. Okay, so I still drink it. Just not as much, and not as often. I only drink one a couple of times a week and only usually finish half of my drink. Actually, when I started blogging 5 years ago, I was still drink regular, even. I never thought this was something I’d want to give up, but I’m glad I have. This may seem trivial to put on this list, but it’s one of those things that everyone knows about me.

5. I’ve gone from seminary housing to living in a townhouse. I’m still renting, but I’ve made 2 big steps up, first to a nicer apartment with a larger bedroom and my own bathroom, and now to the townhouse where I basically have my own floor.

Kissing apartment life goodbye…for good?