Someday is today. (seen on a billboard in Times Square)

As Deborah Moggach in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel writes,

"The only real failure is the failure to try.
And the measure of success is how we cope with disappointment.
As we always must.
We came here, we tried.
All of us, in our different ways.
Can we be blamed for feeling we're too old to change?
Too scared of disappointment to start it all again?
We get up every morning, we do our best.

Nothing
else
matters."

from: the Huffington Post article about serendipity.

This oak tree and me, we're made of the same stuff.
Carl Sagan
http://www.dedleg.com/page/63/

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.
- Hans Hofmann

An elder is telling a story to a child.

ELDER: A fight is going on inside of me.
It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves.

One is evil. He is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.

The other is good. He is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.

The same fight is going on inside of you and inside every other person, too.

CHILD: Which wolf will win?

ELDER: The one you feed

. FROM:
http://zenpencils.com/comic/94-the-two-wolves/

"For no reason I can think of, I've wandered far astray. And that is how I got to where I find myself today."
― Bill Watterson

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.
John Muir

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_wisdom2.html#Z7Qv12APpOjdlAR6.99

Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.
Will Rogers

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_wisdom2.html#Z7Qv12APpOjdlAR6.99

Consider this from Albert Einstein,
"If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, then what are we to think of an empty desk?"

"The great lesson is that the sacred is in the ordinary, that it is to be found in one's daily life, in one's neighbors, friends, and family, in one's backyard." - Abraham Maslow

Life starts anew when it gets crisp in the Fall.

How did it get late so soon?
It's night
before it's afternoon.
(Dr. Seuss)

Art was her tool for coping; it was an exorcism. As she put it, "Art is a guarantee of sanity."
Louise Bourgeois

quote of course didn,t copy and paste right

FEAR has two meanings:

Forget Face
Everything Everything
And And
Run Rise

From: http://www.supportgroups.com/sites/default/files/styles/400x400/public/post_images/10253860_10152155768781637_4251441349616107230_n.jpg?itok=2q6YYXuI

How can you make a fresh start in a New World when you are carrying with you on you boat all the same problems, the same frustrations and inequalities of the Old World?
Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III.

Reading through the posted quotes and responses has really helped my day. Thank you each for taking the time to come on here, offer life's inspiration and be real all in one column.
You're wonderful!

Great quote Barb, I actually do not see things that have been in a place for a long time, no matter how inappropriate the place is for it.

From a new book "The Joy of Being Disorganized" by Pam Young:

"Clutter has energy of its own, and it can sap our spirits with its countless venomous voices. Clutter is also insidious. If it's left in one place for more than 21 days, it becomes invisible and it lowers its volume, becoming white noise in the background to which you become accustomed."

Back to work today quieting those "countless venomous voices."

Barb I came here to reread your post, thank you. Helps me to read it and understand, it is ok to try new things, like spray foam, and even if I mess it up, I will learn how to do it better, just like i did with caulking gun, first time was a mess, then learned to use painters tape to keep area small, sure appreciate your posts!

Chinese or Japanese proverb

Fall down 8
Get up 9

the good teacher explains

the superior teacher demonstrates

the great teacher inspires

... William Arthur Ward

Design ID #47431
vinyl phrase by Kolette Hall at silhouette dot com

Thanks Barb, very meaningful.

I just read an excerpt from a new book called The Confidence Code by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman. The paragraphs copied below apply to me as I work on decluttering and deciding whether to keep, give away or trash. Procrastination and feeling like a failure are two things I struggle with on a daily basis. The authors write:

"The ability to make decisions big and small, in a timely fashion, and take responsibility for them, is a critical expression of confidence, and also leadership, according to all of our most confident women. Even if you make the wrong decision, they say, decide. It's better than inaction.
What's the worst that can happen? You could fail - but the costs of failure are nearly always worth the risk that comes with trying something just outside your comfort zone.
Make a list of decisions you've been putting off, big and small. Cross off two each day. Keep track of the consequences.
Missteps really do provide accelerated opportunity for growth, as well as a chance to tap into another internal resource: self-compassion. As the research shows, practicing self-compassion provides a sturdy emotional safety net, one much stronger than our traditional concept of self-esteem. Self-compassion, centers on the acceptance of our weaknesses. Instead of saying, "I am not a failure," it's more useful to say, "Yes, sometimes I do fail, we all fail, and that's okay." It's extending the same kindness and tolerance - the very same qualities we find so much easier to afford our friends - to ourselves, while coming to terms with our own imperfections."

To read an excerpt from the book and take the free survey with immediate feedback on what you can do to increase your own confidence level, go to The Atlantic.com and click on The Confidence Code on the right hand side of the page.

My friend Lee Ann sent me this definition of an optimist by Robert Perault:

Someone who figures that taking a step backward after taking a step forward is not a disaster, it's a cha-cha.

I love this poem! It is light and funny and curious and well...me :)

Blaming yourself is like wearing a lead life preserver in the water.

Brooks Palmer

I get up.
I walk.
I fall down.
Meanwhile, I keep dancing.

Hillel

I can choose my attitude.

I can be bitter or better.

Today I will be better.

Thanks Dianne. I have to stop myself several times when I jump from project to project, idea to idea, and ask myself what is important to do now, it will rain, so finish the gutter and patching area most impt. I enjoyed your quote so much, and all the things you put into your posts, insightful, kind and supportive.

Here is my quote for the day from Zig Ziglar:

"The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what you want most for what you want now."

I am feeling the urge to shop today. Then I saw this quote. I don't need anything more. I just like the feeling I get of choosing and purchasing something that is pretty and new.
Once I am out shopping, I go from store to store and avoid going home. I am procrastinating.
But what I want most is a neat, clean, comfortable house. That is more important than the "fix" I get from shopping.

Dave do you think it would be good to start a separate thread on breaking addiction to thrift stores and bargain hunting? Since this is qute of day, just realized might be better to start new thread, although I forgot how to do it

Dave I am so fond of you for many reasons, seeing how much we have in common including, the denial that we are addicted to thrift stores. We can see thrift stores as providing us relief from dealing with clutter, finding great bargains, people to talk to, something positive to do, when in reality, it is contributing to our discontent. I am so proud of you for supporting us in not shopping for a week, I need the support as much as you do, once I get started shopping, it seems rational to me. When I have to deal with stuff, I see how nuts it is, and then go back and do it again. Just like an alcoholic that forgets the misery alcohol causes, just remembers the relief the first drink begins. Your wife is worth keeping happy!!!! Hugs to you Dave, and thanks for helping me with this.
Remember the time you wrote about going through a little container of junk and the time it took you to sort it? I think of that so many times when I am spending time sorting stuff, that be tossed, but think it has value in future, you add so much to this site.