Happy new year!

Here are the links to a few fanciful blogs that I just discovered:

A fanciful twist

Home is where the boat is

 
These, along with the recently found blogs below would be my inspiration for 2019!


Liiv blog

Hof 9

@mycasa

Loreta blog

Dishfunctional Designs

Death, Navy SEALs and millennial revolution

THE LAST FLOWERS OF SUMMER 2017

Here everything is touched by the tinge of ending and death. I am trying to celebrate the vestiges of the summer glory - my last flowers made a great bouquet in the living room today. The days are surprisingly warm; however, the leaves are falling and the bare brunches of the trees are stark against the deep blue of the sky. And I have still not recovered from the last winter’s storm in March…

How true this sounds: “…in autumn in the country, you could practically feel everything dying and became aware of your own mortality.”

The sentence is from a silly book called The Dead Dance, by M.C. Beaton. I read silly books when I need to get away from the drama of my job. And I do need a distraction these days. This weekend, despite the work overload spilled into my “free” hours, I decided to stop by the local library and get my type of distraction – a few mysteries. I do not watch TV, and do not go to bars or sports events.

Other than that - I quickly visited the http://www.millennial-revolution.com/ website to salivate over Bouquet, Panama, and its culinary highlights. Panama is where the young revolutionary couple has been spending time recently. I can only dream about it. Living through someone else’s good times is pitiful, but there is no way out of the rat race for me. I do not have the money to declare my financial independence.
 
Finally, a student of mine recommended me to watch a commencement speech, Change the World by Making Your Bed - by Admiral William McRaven. If you have not seen it yet, it is worth the six minutes.

Well, I do feel a bit recharged after I took a few hours for myself. I hope you are also recharged and ready for the week ahead!

Every blog has a story

Every blog has a human story – the story of its creator.

Although I realize that the human story behind a blog is sometimes the greatest attraction and a moving force in a blog, I decided not to reveal my identity until I am employed.

However, I enjoy reading other people’s blogs and stories. They are the most motivational and inspirational force in my life.

I have written about resources on financial independence and I continue following all these sites. However, there are new websites that I discover every day, and would like to share two new ones I recently found and started following:

Dividend Mantra is a blog that I found through Mr. Money Mustache’s site. I loved the story of the guy.

Eff You Money is another blog of someone who is starting on his road of financial independence, and he also has a great story to tell.

What attracts me to blogs dedicated to financial independence (FI)? 

I have noticed that it is not the advice on how to save, invest, and grow financially that is most interesting to me. The financial strategies are certainly something to emulate and achieve.  

However, what is most engaging is that the road to FI is usually a road of a personal growth and self-improvement in many different aspects: diet, health, physical activity, relief from stress, low or no consumerism, better outlook in life, care for friends and family, and sharing wisdom. And this is why I find FI blogs most inspirational. So, money must have a soul?

Random thoughts after a three-day weekend

Meaningful retirement
This weekend I listened to the podcast of Joshua Sheats Making the Transition to Retirement: Interview with Fritz Gilbert from The Retirement Manifesto blog. It was a thought-provoking conversation that touched upon the fact that if we complain how meaningless our 9 to 5 jobs are, we better plan on how to bring more meaning into our retired life. As Joshua Sheats said in the talk, if there is no plan, retirees become bored, boring, and sick.
 
Keeping physically active
During the winters, in addition to cleaning and cooking, I keep myself physically active by walking in the house. I do so since I hate the cold weather (it is 10°F outside!). Since I am cheap, I do not own a treadmill, so every evening I walk for 30 to 60 minutes by circling the periphery of my living room that includes also the kitchen (it is an open plan). This reminds me of a few zoo animals I have observed in the past – confined into small spaces, these creatures keep walking back and forth for hours. This is me…at least tonight I was listening to an interesting podcast.
 
Could I be a better mother
Today I realized that I am a bad mother. My child admitted that sometimes I scare her. It is true: I realize that I should not vocalize all my internal fears in front of my child. I do not remember my parents doing this to me. The admission of my child reminded me of a post by Leo Babauta (Zen Habits) about his mom. When she visited, she inspired everyone and made them feel better. Can I achieve the wisdom of being an inspiration and comfort for my family, rather than being a joy extinguisher and an inspiration killer?
 
Are we ready for retirement
This weekend I decided to look at the retirement tools created by the Mad FIentist. Specifically, I used his FIRECalc. In addition to my finances, I had to pull my husband to input his financial data as well. We have never planned our financial life. After so many years of living together, for the first time we had a few moments of analyzing our “state of the union”. Briefly, we are not there yet (“there” = financial freedom).
 
Heal thyself…safely
Do you know the difference between infusion, decoction, and tincture? Do you know how to make an ointment or a cream? I just discovered a great series of YouTube instructional videos on herbalism/homeopathy. Start with How To Make A Herbal Infusion Herbalism Basics 1. The videos are short (5 minutes each), but precise and informative. Exactly the way I like them - curated to the point.