New Year musings

I was just looking through some Pinterest posts, vintage, antiques, retro... and I found many things that I have and still use. What does that make me? Old fashioned? An oddball? Or... maybe frugal?

I don't know. I saw a manual clamp on meat grinder. I have one downstairs that hasn't been used for awhile but if I need it, I know where it is. I saw a coffee grinder - manual, of course. I have one and use it regularly. I don't drink coffee, but I make a coffee like drink from dandelion roots and sometimes grains.

I saw a Cosco red step stool/chair. I have one, thanks to my son and daughter in law.
Old fashioned Christmas candy, of course. I have some left from Christmas and some stashed away for next year.
Tinsel "icycles" for the tree. I have a box and used some last year.
Hot water bottle - I gave one away recently, preferring to use 2 liter plastic bottles because you don't have to get the water as hot and they last a long time. Good for cold feet, in bed or out.

I have an old fashioned egg beater, where you turn the handle and it turns the beaters. I have a pencil sharpener mounted on the corner of a bookshelf, where you turn the handle and it turns the blades. I even own a wringer washer.

"Time saving" appliances can cut us off from the real world. What's the satisfaction of sharpening a pencil if it's done so fast and with so little effort than you can ruin a pencil in just a moment? Or beating eggs in a mixer where you don't even have to pay attention.

I know... our grandparents and great grandparents probably thought the same thing when horseless carriages were introduced. And they were right. We ride the skies and have no idea what's beneath us. We ride in air conditioned or heated vehicles at ridiculous speeds and know nothing of what goes past us in seconds.

I'm not trying to guilt anyone into giving up anything - that's the way the world runs now - but this year, why not take the time to do something with your hands? See how it feels to turn an old fashioned ice cream maker this summer. Sew something by hand instead of a sewing machine.

I think that's what is meant by the phrase "smell the roses."