Based on my lifetime that I have lived, I can say that I used to be more present in the things that I do.
Based on being around my grandparents, they were more present in the things that they did. That proof came from my own observations being around them and how they lived. The only technology they ever had was a television and a landline home phone, and the television came much later in life.
I cannot even imagine what they would think about the technology we have today.
I am not sure when it happened but I stopped making bobbin lace.
I stopped being creative in the things that I do. My grandson Michael drew me a picture when he was younger and I made him a toy resembling what he drew.
I stopped making my own trims...
I even got rid of my pin cushion I called Ruth. The minimalism movement was taking hold and clutter was a terrible thing. Ruth seemed to be clutter, I took her apart and organized all the parts. I regret to this day that I got rid of Ruth. I packed away my tatting shuttles and I seemed to have closed the door to my creativity.
Then scrolling seemed to replace the lack of clutter, what else are you going to do if you get rid of your creative clutter? It is so easy to sit for minutes and then hours scrolling looking at what others are doing.
Many of us have fallen for these purposefully addictive devices.
But that is about to stop here on my end of this because I want real connections with people and I want my skills back. I know what it was like before this but our young people do not know or have anything to compare it to.
When I knew I was in trouble is when I started taking my phone and setting it by the kitchen sink to where I could watch or listen to things when I washed the dishes. Have you done this? Then I started moving it around the house with me as if I was going to miss something.
My cell phone tells me all kinds of things, it rings with a call, it dings with all kinds of alerts, weather, email, social media, which I no longer have. All day long I have to stop and check.
Once upon a time I had none of these things and I liked it that way because I never had it and did perfectly fine without it.
My Father and Paternal Great Grandmother never had cell phones or computers. They lived very full lives, they never missed the modern gadgets we have because they never had them. I have noticed that the older than me generation that never had the computers and cell phones have better memory of their life.
Do our brains need the amount of instant information that we are getting today? What about the children?
I am no longer going to stop what I am doing to check my phone. I am using my phone as if it is a land line and placing it in an area by a chair. After the October break, I will be doing things differently, and will have more of a work schedule for checking emails. I want a more settled and calm life as I once had and since I can remember very well how it was long ago I can make this happen.
I am trying to work out how to continue my blog and live the more simple life that I want so badly.
I must somehow separate this work because computers, cell phones, and cameras of today are not a part of the past, nor was stopping their work to take photos of what they did, then downloading and resizing and filing the photos. It takes quite a bit of time to do these things and then there is the writing and editing and proofing. I am a terrible speller and I live with Meniere's disease which distracts me terribly.
I say all of that, but I feel that history and how our generations before us lived is very important for us today. We need reference and something to show us how to stay steady and use the skills that they had to get us through difficult times. I feel they were better off in many ways than we are now because of technology. We cannot depend on technology to always be there, but back to basics and simple ways can be more powerful when an outage occurs. We should have both.
I never understand why a grocery store does not have an old fashioned back up for when the power and or internet goes out. When their registers go down and they cannot check anyone out when the simple old way of the old carbon paper receipts and a old fashioned cash register would keep the store open and operating well.
Charles has been literally saddled with technology with his work. He has been wearing a satchel around his shoulder, chest and back with his work tablet, a cell phone in his pocket and has been constantly on instant response during the day, the evening and on weekends and holidays.
But this has come to a stop now because Charles has just retired. Charles had also stopped with his creativity because the technology left him used up. He too started scrolling on his phone because when you use technology there becomes a void when you are not using it so then we scroll.
Another thing is there has been a lot of reasons to be depressed, and it is difficult to focus when there is so much worry and turmoil from just living in this time that we are living.
January of 2024 we bought this desk at a local antique, second hand, thrift type store. I saw the potential in this secretary desk painted pink. I noticed that under the pink paint was oak wood. We brought it home and I sanded it down.
I had to be very present in what I was doing while working on this old secretary desk.
It took time to do this work and I noticed that I felt better that I was focused on something real.
I completed the little desk and it looked lovely. It was once again more like it was supposed to be. The year before this desk project Charles and I completed stripping paint and refinishing our bedroom floor.
This year we have had less energy to start a project or complete a project. We have been more stressed because there is so much going on that does not make sense anymore. We enjoy our history studies, they have helped us so much and we want to keep our studies going because we keep learning and we think that is good for us.
I hope to have time to crochet a new rug for Elizabeth, she wore this one out.
We are looking forward to this new week that I am writing this blog post where we are going to take a no technology break for the month of October. Many of you that read my blog are going to take the technology break with us because our study this year has been living like the early 1930s around the year of 1932. We are doing research and trying to simulate the best we can to live similar to those in the the 1930s to feel how it was.
We have adjusted our budgets and put away many things they did not have in the past but found it difficult to do with all of todays technology. So we are going to do our best to live without what they did not have in 1932 and to find out what we have learned from this experiment.
I will take you (below) to one of our favorite places to visit here in our town of Dothan Alabama. It is called Backyard Treasures. We popped by there today to search for a foot stool and so I took a few pictures for you while I was there.
We did not buy anything today, but we had fun looking for a stool.
The forum will close this coming Tuesday September 30, and will reopen on November the first. I am hoping that those that are going to do the no technology or even partial no technology will take notes and when the forum opens back up everyone can discuss what they have learned or experienced. Others can read what they have learned as well and possible what was learned can help them.
I will not be posting for the month of October 2025 but the blog will be open to read. Charles and I will also be trying to figure out where we will be going with the new study for 2026. I would like to find out from those of you that enjoy the studies what time period are your interest for history studies?
Would you like to remain in the 1930s or leave the 1930s? We have considered moving to somewhere around 1937 and 1938 just before world war 2 started and we have other considerations as well. We have also considered just embracing the 1930s and getting our home set for this era. But I would like some input from you as well.
I will close here to get this post out because there is only two days left before the forum closes. Hope to see you in the forum. For those of you that have not signed up in the forum, you can still go to the forum to read, just not post. The forum cost nothing, the only reason for signing up is to keep spam out of the forum and keep us safe. You will find the forum up in the Menu.
Grandma Donna
