Advice from Marie

I don't think I could get along well with Marie Kondo, the Japanese expert on how we all should live. Oh, she do go on, do she not, about how to fold your socks and deck your halls and she really lost me when she said one should only have 30 books in their house. Marie, darling, I have 30 books about what a flibbertigibbet you are, so don't @ me with book limits! 

I mean, really. But the best part of all that was when her book publisher called her aside and said "It's not good for business for one of our authors to recommend that people don't buy books, so ixnay, capiche?"

Then she backed way the hell off..

 I mean, we book hoarders  collectors figure it's no one's business how many books we own. 

Anyway, she talked to the New York Times through an interpreter the other day, and reiterated her point that we should apply this question to everything we can choose to do or not do: "Does it spark joy?"

She says she has some habits that are just instinct with her, e.g. greeting her home before cleaning it up, or thanking objects before tossing them out. I do speak to our house and our cat, since they both have the same homey spirit. The cat will occasionally talk back; the house, no. On a windy day, the window frames will wheeze a little, but no substantial conversation.

In Japan, there’s a saying that means “A bird does not leave a mess behind when it flies away.” It’s something teachers and parents often tell us from the time we’re children.

Well, Marie, you need to come to Perry Hall, MD, where the high school football team's fans and parents need to wear hats to home football games, because 45 vultures, apparently fed by a school neighbor, have taken to perching on the tall tall light standards that illuminate the playing field. Those are birds who leave a mess behind when they fly away.

But otherwise, sure, anyone who is not a total slobola will wipe out the sink after they tidy up their face, that sort of thing.

Marie says she checks her luggage on a flight rather than squeezing everything into a carry-on bag. 

I prefer simply to load the entire contents of my bathroom into three or four large Tupperware tubs. That way, I won't leave anything behind.

That might be the reason why we don't travel so much. Staying home sparks our joy!