I originally put this together as part of a birthday package for a young person I don't get to see anymore since running away. I am updating it and repurposing it five years later. I have lifelong delays and challenges with every day things, and this is the equilibrium that works for me. So maybe sharing it may be helpful for someone else. You can read about my [[approach-consumption|approach to consumption]] here. In short, I don't live lavishly or spend much money. Frugality and simplicity are values I hold very important in my life. Overconsumption is not good for the human soul. Most things I own are secondhand from living somewhere where people move in and out constantly. I love helping people manage cleaning out their belongings during life transitions. I don't have a relationship with my father anymore. I will give credit where it's due that he helped several visits to attach things to the wall, and do weird niche cleaning. That's something he is really good at, as a career cleaning supply sales person, is demoing products and equipment, and cleaning difficult things.

Before & After

The shoerack is a repurposed retail display rack for Larabar. Those really good natural ingredient energy bars. Well now that rack holds shoes in our house. I call it Born-Again Furniture. I'm not getting paid anything from Larabar. They aren't sponsoring me to write this, I promise. I do know a place near here where they reliably sell them for 43 cents an energy bar, but that is not the same. Also do not contact that store with information about where their display rack went.

Grandpa's Clock

Back when we had that house on Glen Road, for a long time the Guest House was a big storage unit that would get flooded sometimes. It had a mix of all sorts of cool stuff coming from everyone. One Summer I took it upon myself to be the one to go through a bunch of it. A bunch of stuff got given away cause I was too much of a newb to sell it. Now I am so much better, sometimes waking up early on weekends to attend yard sales, to get items dirt cheap, and then give them away as gifts instead of selling cause I'm still a newb. I really wish there was someone to teach me how to accept money for stuff instead of just giving it away cause you seem to want it and I don't need it. I'm a bit of a sucker to give stuff away. Never this clock though. This is the Holy Grail of the house. It chimes Celine Dion - The Heart will go on and Vanessa Williams - Save the Best for Last every 6 hours that I totally don't weep during. I'm also a sucker for clocks that play nice songs. I think the clock belonged to your great Grandpa, who is Bubba's Dad. I think you might have met him when you were a newborn. He was basically on his deathbed at that point in the hospital after falling at home, and being kept alive at the hospital for a couple of extra months. He got to meet you, was really joyful, and then decided he was ready to pass on. That would have been in 2009, which according to my math, was about 23 years ago.

Hammock Sleeping

I sleep in the hammock every night and never really want to sleep in a bed again. I don't get the whole obsession with mattresses. They are big and clunky. So much changing sheets and making the bed. I'm not made for that type of life. I kept the bed there mostly for Mowie and as furniture.. I used to get really bad asthma attacks when I slept in a bed cause I had an allergy to dust mites and it took ten years for a doctor to figure that out. Hammock sleeping has helped me live in a house again.

School Projects

I'm in school at the local Community College here. I really like it. My classes are all online. Not chasing a degree, just looking to learn useful skills and stuff. Especially Computer stuff. Like Digital Design & Brain Science. I wanna get paid to Design and Develop digital learning spaces like online classes and workshop trainings. I make some accessibility tools for people who are partially or full nonverbal, and people with very low bandwidth access to the internet. It's pretty fun stuff. I'm looking at doing Data Work cause it's pretty easy when you learn it and it pays really really good. And to someone who has no idea what you do or how you do it it looks like rocket science. Porch is nice here, but not very private. I throw fruit and vegetable scraps in the woods there, and haven't had any problems. Except at like 2 in morning when I take the dog out, it's all dark and they are staring into the bushes like they see something and wanna pick a fight. Chihuahuas are not scared of anything. Except pretty much everything. But wild animals is not one of those things. Dude has about four teeth, not going to win against woods monster.. This book I got from the last Yard Sale I went to. I accidentally had it sat by some tomatoes that were forgotten about and rotted on the table ruining the back of this book. Which I think makes this particular book even more special. I definitely had my possum like years of living, I don't do that no more. But they are America's only Marsupial, and eat lots of ticks, which reduces someone's chance of getting Lyme Disease. They are almost never Rabies carrying, and are just really scared trash cats. If you are cold, they are cold too. Let them inside. Awesome Possum wishes you a great day today. This is how you know I live with someone. If I was living alone, there would be no plants. Cause I always end up killing plants. Mammals I am fine taking care of, but I will kill plants from neglect. It will be like a television forensics murder scene of wilted leaves and plant blood everywhere. Don't mind the dried out corn cob. Mowie loves chewing on corn cobs with their four decayed teeth. It's a Mowie! I spent Pride month in the closet. But I got a pretty cool and magic closet. I'd rather hang out in there than at a parade or bar. Too much noise and people. But if I wanted to go, I could just walk through the wall portal. It's no big deal. I'm sure everyone has portals in their closet. Right now for me it's easier for me to blend into the background and not be a subject of attention. If someone chooses to be visible in public, and out and about about who they are, that is absolutely great. I just, turning the corner on 30, rather pick to be invisible right now. Fun Snapple Fact: Did you know Invisibility Shields are real? It's a light bending trick with Lenticular Sheets. When Bubba visited, we went on a hike, and he told me a bit about challenges you were having in school. He mentioned that you had a hard time with homework and organization and stuff. "That sounds very familiar..." I had also asked if he could find it to bring my old school papers, when we got home he unpacked them out of the car, this was the first paper in the stack.. Right now I love my homework cause it's stuff I want to do with Community College. I remember school work being a nightmare. I didn't like being in school 7 hours of the day and then I had to go home and do more school.. I'm not supposed to say this, but I don't blame you if you have a difficult time with grade school work stuff. I remember my fifth grade teacher telling me when I had a problem, that I better get used to it cause everything would just get worse from there. He was so wrong, but it messed with my head for years, thinking in Eighth grade that things were just going to go downhill. Everything gets better the further I get from being in the Eighth grade. No matter how bad life gets, it's no longer Middle School. You've made it through the objectively most awkward uncomfortable damning year. Everything gets easier from here. Sometimes I dream that there was a big government mandate where everyone in my graduation class has to repeat the Eighth grade. I then have to fail all my Language classes over again, and then wake up and realize it was all a lousy school dream. It's pretty great waking up and realizing it was just a dream. The house could be on fire when I wake up, but at least it won't be as bad as Middle School. I never really had any role models of people like me and seeing how they lived their day to day life when they weren't in school. So I wanted to make this to let you know you aren't alone, and this is how I live over here. It's pretty simple. I really like it. I do want to move closer in the coming years, maybe to Harrisonburg. But right now I have a safe place to live that is affordable. If you ever wanted to visit down here, there's some pretty cool waterfalls and mountains. I hope something shared is helpful or makes you laugh. Hope we can stay in touch better than the past few years.