City life, cafe life eludes me.

I mostly still entertain at home...including entertaining myself.

You've seen those little tykes in grocery stores with their tiny carts and the tall flags that say, "Shopper in training"? Well, we were never trained to shop. We were trained to work: to make and grow and fix and mend what we needed.

"Do myself" was the family motto.

"Waste is sin" the subtext to the string drawer. "Waste not, want not" sewn inside our skins.

He regularly runs a 100 Things Challenge.

This way of living---"quieting the noise of consumerism"---is the way I was raised....taken to such an extreme that I almost need lessons in consumerism!

But, frequent moves and radical life changes have constantly led me to examine my stuff. My way is to look closely at the thing, examine what it really is, and what it really is to me, and then find a good home for it. I've given away carloads using this method.

I've also discovered that places like Women's Shelters rather than resale shops are more in need and less critical of donations. They need items for both the shelter itself and also when the women go out on their own later to set up new households...and, sometimes for nursery schools they run on site. So, when you are doing your spring to summer cleaning/clearing out, do think of your local women's shelter.