REPORTING FROM RIPON LIVE

Garage photo: Shows my Italian easel that we sold to our new tenants. I brought the other one in North Beach. Husband was so amused with my painting process in winter 2004. He bought each of us an easle (the cost was astronomical).

Relocation and city living makes one to learn to detach from material things. We had to leave this one easel as this won't fit inside our flat with all the other things we have there. Also, we have given a lot of our stuff at home- appliances, furniture, clothes, kitchenwares- for free to our neighbors in this old suburban neighborhood. Doing a yard sale is a lot of work and getting money for a bargain sale is not at all worth the time sorting out stuff to sell. And if other things were left from the sale, you need to find a space to keep them. So what the heck, we donated others as well to charity. Our pocket books did well. We set up husband's office table at the front yard and put on all our books and magazines. Just before noon time came, they were gone; likewise with the futon chair/bed, living room set, tables, pots and pans, you name it, we had them. They are gone!

We just didn't like the idea of paying a storage for things we are not using. It's like throwing away money. So we might as well set the line straight and discard whatever is not useful for us anymore and let others use and enjoy them as we did. We gave away toasters, too- some old style panini-maker (sandwich maker); blender, TV table set, bicycles, etc. We could have had a fortune but this is our way of moving on to a more minimalistic lifestyle- away from here, in the city we love- San Francisco.

Last week, I lost 5 lbs just by unpacking in North Beach! This week while here in Ripon, I know lost several pounds more. Why? Because when I went to our garage here in Ripon, I digged into the clothes husband and I left . I tried to fit into some and found my pair of Levi's jeans and I could get in it. It surely fits me well again! So-I wore it last night at the cinema! I am back to size 7. Junior. Levi's. Imagine? It's not even adult woman's size. Yabadabadoooooooo!

Since gaining weight the past months and years, I ballooned to size L petite from size M...but with my "FRENCH DIET" all is well now...I am still losing weight gradually! BTW, we sold our BOWFLEX MACHINE prior to our move in SFO. There was just no space for it in the city-life style we have now. Anyhow, for cardio-vascular exercise, we walk a lot. We will deal with our weightlifting after we have totally unpacked the boxes in our flat. This is all...5.20 AM, Friday...in Ripon! Adieu!