Pope Francis' Simplicity and His Easter Message 2013: I Love This New Pope, and I'm Not Catholic

I'm not Catholic, but as a Christian I loved the Easter message given by the new Pope, Pope Francis, yesterday from the Vatican.  Read the complete text online, here is a brief excerpt:

... So this is the invitation which I address to everyone: Let us accept the grace of Christ's Resurrection! Let us be renewed by God's mercy, let us be loved by Jesus, let us enable the power of his love to transform our lives too; and let us become agents of this mercy, channels through which God can water the earth, protect all creation and make justice and peace flourish. 

And so we ask the risen Jesus, who turns death into life, to change hatred into love, vengeance into forgiveness, war into peace. Yes, Christ is our peace, and through him we implore peace for all the world.

I hope that I'm not insulting any Catholics out there, as I share my impression as a Protestant that this new Pope sure is inspiring to me.  I like that he's appreciative of living a simple life, though I understand this is causing some controversy among traditionalists in the Catholic Church.

Pope Francis may be making waves by foregoing things like wearing the ermine lined cape as he debuted as the man chosen to serve as the next Pope.  However, I have found there is a spiritual aspect to living a simple life, and I cannot help but smile as I read more and more about Pope Francis apparently sharing this appreciation.

And I share his prayer -- that we all be renewed by God's mercy, that we may all accept the love of Jesus, and all that Pope Francis spoke about on Easter 2013.

God bless you, Dear Reader.  And God bless Pope Francis, love him!!!

Who Am I?

Hello, Dear Reader!  So, who the heck is writing this blog?  Well, my name is Reba Kennedy, I'm an official Baby Boomer who's over 50 and under 60 and that's enough about that.  Ahem.  I live a happy life here in San Antonio, Texas, with two great shelter rescue pups in a cute little cottage about ten miles north of the Alamo.

I began living a life of voluntary simplicity several years ago, as part of my Second Life career change from a twenty-plus year AV-rated lawyer to a professional writer. I started this blog in January 2006 in part because I needed to keep track of things I found on the web about this lifestyle in all its facets (food, money, health, fun, etc.).  (There was no Evernote then!)

I also started this blog because I wanted to share what I was learning with others - like you,  Dear Reader.  To share, yes, but truth be told, hopefully also to support those who are finding new ways to live simply.  Many are changing their ways because they've chosen a voluntary simplicity lifestyle for themselves.  However, as we all know, in these past several years lots of folks are living on less because it's forced upon them.

ROKU Review: Cutting Cable for Better Stuff at Cheaper Prices - I Love Streaming TV and You May, Too

Roku offers several options.

I cut cable on November 9, 2012 - this was such a big deal for me that I wrote the date on a stickie and stuck it on my monitor, so I'd remember the date.  Sure I was scared to see the cable box leave; of course I was worried I had made a mistake.

Lemme tell you: I have never looked back.

No, I didn't stop watching television - in fact, I'm watching TV about the same amount of time that I was before.  However, things are different now.

Big Money Saver

First things first: I'm saving around $100/month by opting for streaming TV via my ROKU HD instead of paying for TimeWarner cable (I had the account that was one above the basic service -- the one where you got TBN but no HBO or Showtime).  Start up costs here: around $50.00 for the ROKU device (I got it online at Roku's website) and about 10 minutes maximum to set things up.

Monthly charges?  I pay $8/month for Netflix and $8/month for Amazon Instant/Prime Videos.  My internet charge is for "turbo" from TimeWarner, and that's around $50.00 per month.  I signed up for Hulu Plus at $8/month but I never use it ... well, for Revenge on ABC when a new show airs.  I'm rethinking Hulu Plus right now: I could catch Revenge online at the ABC website for free, if that's all I need with the Hulu Plus membership.

Set up? It's a walk in the park.  

Seriously, this gizmo is easy peasy, set-up wise.  You do need to be ready to access the web with your laptop or tablet or whatever in order to do the initial login, etc. but it's not hard.  Astonishingly easy.

FlyLady Helps You Clean Your House and Your Life While You're At It

I've posted here about how to clean house, periodically sharing tips I've learned.  I get how frustrating this can be for many of us.

It's hard for me.  Just plain hard.  In fact, housekeeping can be flat out overwhelming sometimes.  Especially when I'm on a deadline.  I just don't see the mess, really I don't, because my head is filled with the research or the writing or the editing.  I just don't SEE it.  Then the deadline is met and I relax and suddenly I look around, and wow.  I need a break and I'm surrounded by mess.

I hate this.

I remember reading on The Bloggess about how she suffers from mental illness and one of her red flags that she may be about to have a bad episode (here in the South, we call them a "spell"), is that her vision narrows.  Like she has blinders on her eyes.

What I experience is something like that -- I'm busy, I'm buzzing along and my head is happy with thinking, and I don't register that the dishes need washing or that the porch needs sweeping.  It's just not there for me.

However, living in mess is definitely real and I hate it.  It's major no fun to come out of the waters of creating something good, all ready to wallow and relax, only to find that you're in a messy environment.

Raccoons: How I Got Them To Go Away and Leave Me Alone

I'm just so darn pleased with myself it's ridiculous and no doubt sinful.  So of course I'm going to write this post to share with you, Dear Reader, about my latest accomplishment.  So you can be darn pleased with me too, LOL ....

Here's the thing.  (Drumroll.)

Bah-Bye.

I got the raccoons to go away.  Exit the building, as it were.  Leave the trash alone.  Stay out of the garage.  Forget the trees and the roof and hanging out on the back patio basking in the moonlight.  (Apparently, my back porch was quite the hot spot at one time this summer.)

And, nope, no animal was hurt or killed in the process.  Which I'm sure you already took for granted if you've read this blog at all....

If you or someone you know has a problem with raccoons, then this is big news.  BIG.  If not, well then maybe you should just venture on over right now to I Waste So Much Time (a truly fun blog BTW).

Here's the story.

Back in July 2009, they first appeared.  I wrote about the "Mysterious Guest" that had taken up residence in my garage - bigger and more powerful than a rat, smaller and less noisy than a bobcat.

Salt Kills Fleas: How I Finally Won my Flea War.

Here in San Antonio, fleas are bad this year.  Very bad.  And it doesn't help that my next door neighbor feeds the feral cats, the wild birds, and the local raccoon family.  I hate to think the number of fleas that hang out in his back yard among the sunflowers. 

So, it's especially bad here at my little casa.  It's very, very bad for my dogs. 

I don't like giving the pups that chemical stuff: Frontline, Advantage, Program, whatever.  Creeps me out to think some chemical is running through their system for three to four weeks that is toxic enough to kill bugs.  Doesn't make sense to me that this doesn't harm the dog.

However, I caved in and bought some Advantage in April because one of my pups is allergic to flea bites and it was the lesser of two evils sort of decision.

It did NOTHING.

So, we fought the bugs as best we could until enough time passed that the product materials and the vet tech said it was okay to try Frontline Plus.  Which we did in May.  It did NOTHING.

Meanwhile, I'm vaccuuming so often that I'm thinking about making an exercise tape: Vacuum-ize Your Pounds Away!  Between this, Dove dishwashing soap, and not letting the dogs roam in the yard (more walks at the park, they're not exactly upset about this), and we're winning flea battles but we're still in a war.

Every time the pups go outside, they come back with fleas.  So frustrating.

Lifestyle Success: What Does That Mean to You?

Sheep waiting for a train.  Look familiar?

I ran across the phrase "lifestyle success" somewhere recently.  Can't remember where. Twitter?  I googled it of course. (Is that a recognized verb yet?  You know it will be if it's not already.)

Lots of different things popped up in the search results but no one theme.  There's not a movement towards "lifestyle success" like there is towards "voluntary simplicity" for example.

What I found - or to be more accurate, didn't find - gave me pause.  Why not?  Why aren't there lots of places on the web discussing lifestyle success?  Isn't that part of your decision-making?

Seems to me that in this American culture, we've all spent way too much time letting other people and other places decide for us what lifestyle success means.  It's got us in lots of trouble.

What is lifestyle success? 

What does it mean to you?  Who are your role models for successful living?  (Is it really and truly the Kardashians?)