Oh hai there

It's me, again.

Things I like
HAES/Fatshion
Working to become healthier/doing Pilates/eating right
Planning my impending wedding (370 days!)
Decluttering and organizing
Living simply
Crafts

Things I can never seem to bring myself to actually write about here
See above.

I have many journals and many blogs in which I write many things. I seem to have trouble with the idea of consolidating them all. No, seriously. I have a wedding notebook for wedding things. I have a blog on Sparkpeople for weight-loss/exercise talk. I have a journal just for writing about my issues with food and health. I have an art journal. I have a gazillion notebooks and too many thoughts to write down.

For now though, I'll just leave you with this.

Canada Day in the Capital/Constitutional Monarchy

Darling and I went to see the queen on Canada Day. There were easily over 100,000 people crammed into the one square block surrounding the Peace Tower, which is understandable enough. I mean really, she is our monarch!

Unfortunately for me, the crowds combined with my height led to some rather blurry photos, but Darling was able to get one of Her Majesty sitting in her little red dress and white hat.


I've always been immensely proud to be a Canadian. I think it is a beautiful and strong country, with good people and for the most part, good policies. One of the things that separates us from other countries is our constitutional monarchy. We are a country that is, for the most part, self-governed. We elect our officials and they in turn pass the laws that rule us. The queen's role is essentially to be a figurehead, and because of this many people think her role should just be abolished entirely, claiming it is a waste of money, or an antiquated practice. I disagree quite strongly, especially with the second claim. I think having a figurehead gives us something to be proud of, a history we can still tangibly feel a connection to.

I am proud to say that I am a citizen of the Dominion of Canada, and that I have a monarch in Queen Elizabeth II. I'd even go so far as to say I am proud to be a subject of Her Royal Majesty. And there is no shame in that.

*Another* redux!?

I'm watching Julie/Julia, and it inspires me. Much like Mrs. Powell, I find myself starting things and not following through. Every idea I get, I start enthusiastically and then fizzle out 2 or 3 weeks later.

So, of course my mind turned to this blog. The blog I started last summer, updated a half-dozen times and then forgot about. Then I decided to start it up again, but only updated it once, and now here I am 4.5 months later.

It's like, if I try to stick to a specific theme, I get bored. But if I don't have a theme, I lack the inspiration to write. I need a middle ground.

Perhaps for now, I will just update on occasion with interesting things I see and do, and the photos I love taking. Goodness knows, I do and see plenty! Darling and I moved out of Montreal to Gatineau two weeks ago, and life right now is filled with unpacking, spending time with family and lots of dog-sitting.

Til next time, I'm going to finish watching Julie/Julia while surrounded by my Darling, his grandmother, his ex-stepfather, a golden retriever and a bichon frise who I suspect is actually half-crocodile.

Never smile at a bichon-dile, no you can't get friendly with a croco-frise!

Aluminum

Like many, I always feel a bit sad when I see an old man stooped over a garbage can, rummaging for bottles to feed the can-crunchers. I've never done it myself, and I hope I never have to. I will however, stand in front of said can-crunchers feeding it multiple bags of bottles and cans. This morning G and I stood in the IGA for close to an hour, feeding the machines bottles and cans that were generously given to us by some friends of ours who are avid soda-drinkers. The final count at the end, not including the 6 or so cans that weren't accepted, was worth $23.20. At 5 cents per bottle and/or can, we fed the machine 464 individual items!!! It was all for a good cause though. The Buy-Us-Dinner-and-Snacks-Before-the-Movie fund! We're going to see Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince tonight! Can't wait, it's my favourite book of the series.

About Me

For my next trick, I'll introduce myself!



My name is Sarsafrass, and I'm 22 years old. I live with my sort-of fiancee and 2 goldfish in Montreal, Canada.

I think crafts and decluttering are probably two of my favourite things to do. Not only that, they rather accurately depict the two sides of my personality.

Crafts

As long as I can remember, I've been an artist. I don't know that I'd say I come from a family of artists, but it's not something I can discount either. My father's mother arranged flowers. My sister writes. There are members of my family who create beautiful things. I began, like many children do, with paper and markers. I explored and grew and eventually came to what I am today. Some of my favourite crafts are ones that take existing items and turn them into something new and fabulous. Writing has always been a massive part of my life. I started with short stories when I was in grade school, then switched to (bad) poetry when I was in high school. For the past 3 years I've been working on a novel, inspired in part by the writings of Leonard Cohen, who is my literary hero.

Decluttering

As I said in my first post, I'm a collector. As a child, I would bring in rocks from the alley behind my house. I would go to the beach and come home with shells and bits of wood. I had every poster of the Backstreet Boys I could get my paws on. I think I'll always have a bit of a tendency towards being a packrat, but it has abated over time. I still have a lot of those posters, though.
I spent a lot of my formative years being sick. I was, as my boyfriend occasionally calls me when I'm in a bad mood, an unhappy bunny. Collecting things made me feel better. It gave me a purpose on Earth. Instead of rocks and shells, I brought home interesting shaped bottles that I found, and No Parking signs that had been abandoned by the city. At the time, I didn't realize it, but looking back I think being sick opened a portal for the hoarder in me to come out from.

I had known what compulsive hoarding was, but had never put a face to it until I was in high school. That was when I first entered the home of a distant family member who I shall henceforth refer to as Nutty McCrazypants. I refer to her as this not to mock her mental illnesses, but because aside from her compulsive hoarding, she's just plain crazy. The first time I saw the way she lived, I was completely speechless. More than that, I was scared. I didn't want to turn into that. That was maybe 4 or 5 years ago now, and I have a lot less stuff than I did then. And there's always more to get rid of!

Truth be told, I love decluttering. It calms me down. It makes me feel good that I'm doing my part to share my things with the world. I don't need a Spongebob lunchbag, but the kid who picks it up at Village des Valeurs will be styling in the cafeteria! My boyfriend has been known to cower in fear when I get into Ultimate Cleaning Mode, hoping that I leave his stuff alone. (Which I do - it's his stuff, it's his problem!)

And finally, Simple Living

I had no idea it was a "lifestyle" until about two days ago when I read about it on Wikipedia. All this time, I thought it was just a sensible way to live my life, and now I discover I'm trendy! Due to the fact that I am at heart, a magpie, I know that I may never be a minimalist. And boy, does that sting. I love the concept of minimalism. I admire those who live by it. And, occasionally, I convince myself that I could totally do it. Until I see something shiny.

Minimalism or no, I do what I can to live simple. I try not to buy things I'm not going to wear/read/use. I try not to buy food I don't need - why bother, when I can persuade my boyfriend that what he really wants is to buy me BBQ chips? And I follow a spiritual path that can best be described as BuJu mixed with animism mixed with a dash of Disney happily-ever-after.

So, there you have it. More than you ever needed to really know about me. Join me next time when I post about something other than myself!

My First Post!!

Hello to all.

I made the decision to start a "proper blog" after being inspired by the so-very-many blogs I follow on a regular basis. I noticed pretty quickly that my favourite blogs tended to fit into certain categories. There were blogs about crafts, blogs about decluttering, blogs about simple living...three things I love to do! While I maintain an online journal over at Livejournal, I felt that it might be nice to have a separate site where I could write about these three things specifically. So, here I am.

You may be questioning my choice of title, Paper Umbrellas, Plastic Swords. Well, the explanation is easy enough. I've been a collector since I was a tiny thing. Rocks, shells, books, toys, and so on. Paper umbrellas and plastic swords were the rare treasures I got to bring home after going to a fancy restaurant, the jewels of my collections. I still collect things, though my collections have become more focused and less "I want EVERYTHING!". Now I try to collect with a conscience. Do I need *that* many items? Will they gather dust, or will they be looked after? And what went into making it?

I hope you will come back here every so often and keep me company as I blog about the things I make, the things I get rid of and the things I do to simplify my life.