Good morning :)

Had a wonderful and peaceful Winter Solstice celebration.
Many different kinds of birds came and feasted under the huge evergreen in my garden.
I ate lots of tasty things, drank Martinelli's sparkling apple cider (nonalcoholic) and took a nice nap with my cat. :D

Yesterday was so nice and warm that all the icicles fell off the house and lots of snow melted in areas that aren't shaded.

Thinking I'll just lay low again today,
watch some movies & pop some popcorn.

If you venture out today stay safe. :)

It was so great having warmer weather yesterday, I had a great day. Bought more insulation, what could be more fun than that! It was fun just driving around, lots of frantic drivers, I was enjoying it all. There are benefits of being a loner, no need to rush and buy presents! I did 2 loads laundry, dishes, cleaned counters, took garbage out, bought groceries, put them away.
Today I hope to finish packing garage pipe that broke with new insulation. I bought a head thing you wear in cold weather, goes over head and neck with opening for face, so when go under trailer, won't have a head full of spiders. I may go under and do pipes today, only if I feel motivated too, I am taking the time off from all the work. I will for sure bring more firewood up to deck.
Tillie how did Soltice celebration go?
Roxie, so happy you got so much done.
And where are the rest of you? I know if you have families, there is a lot of demands on your time, and I sincerely hope it is pleasant for you.

It was so great having warmer weather yesterday, I had a great day. Bought more insulation, what could be more fun than that! It was fun just driving around, lots of frantic drivers, I was enjoying it all. There are benefits of being a loner, no need to rush and buy presents! I did 2 loads laundry, dishes, cleaned counters, took garbage out, bought groceries, put them away.
Today I hope to finish packing garage pipe that broke with new insulation. I bought a head thing you wear in cold weather, goes over head and neck with opening for face, so when go under trailer, won't have a head full of spiders. I may go under and do pipes today, only if I feel motivated too, I am taking the time off from all the work. I will for sure bring more firewood up to deck.
Tillie how did Soltice celebration go?
Roxie, so happy you got so much done.
And where are the rest of you? I know if you have families, there is a lot of demands on your time, and I sincerely hope it is pleasant for you.

Happy Solstice Tillie!! Roxie, thanks for sharing your gratitude, helps me focus on gratitude. Sounds like you are doing great, and so sorry about your son, this is a difficult time for our troups.
Today I am grateful, it is already 40 degrees and sunny, going to get out and enjoy it. I am grateful to have running water, 2 toilets that flush, and all the fresh water I can drink. I am grateful to have a car that is reliable and the freedom to go wherever I want. Grateful to be born an American and for all the freedoms I enjoy. Grateful I have dealt with one of the most difficult months of my life and developed more coping skills. grateful I am at peace today and feel good again. I actually feel joy today, it has been awhile. I actually feel like I can be around people again, shocked how good I woke up feeling, actually forgot I could feel good. Thanks to all of you. Looking forward to chat tomorrow.

That's frustrating to have stuff get away from you like that.

Well, I hope you are being able to make some progress on getting your room organized.

Can you come up with one of those switch deals to hook one monitor, keyboard, and mouse to two boxes and get into your cpu boxes a little bit temporarily?

Hi all,
The variety here is very interesting.

Getting rid of old firewood was a clutter busting project for me earlier this year.We had a substantial mess in that area and I was able to add the old firewood to storm damage tree waste and get it out of the yard.

I hope I can get back to fence repair in the spring and get that eyesore dealt with.

I have been quite free with computer waste advice so I just looked. I will promise to contribute an old motherboard to the waste pile. I can't do it right now because I have some more urgent things to do, but the promise is hanging over my head when I can get to that area.

I spent my warm day yesterday typing on the computer and putting up some drywall. as a result, if my sinuses can take it, I get to go out in the cold today for that storage pod cleanout I haven't started yet. (I may have to plan to take some excess kitty litter to the humane society.)

Hope you all have a nice day.

Tillie you are so delightful, and your birds appreciate all that you do for them, as do we on here.

Good morning :)

I am grateful for this messgae board and being able to talk with people who truly understand. :D

He has today off from work, except he has been called in to fix something necessary to keep the pipes from freezing but should be back soon enough for us to go grocery shopping.
Have my list made up. Plan to get enough to last through all the crazy after holidays shopping frenzies.

Tomorrow is the Winter Solstice. :D
I am all ready but want to get some pears for all the Threshers (woodpeckers) that have been coming by.
They love pears and this year I have counted up to 10 Threshers at a time in my garden.
Usually I have only had one or two at a time visit.

OK, I will go get cleaned up and dressed.
I am really dreading going into town but need kitty litter.

TTYL :)

Karl, sounds like it is time to start to look for a place of your own. 2 hoarders in one small apt, sounds like trouble. so easy to focus on the other, so neither is working on their own stuff, could easily lead to lots of resentments.
Roxie, thanks for the suggestions. I think I shopped and worked non stop so I did not have to feel, since most feelings led to past regrets.
Time to focus on what I am grateful for again. Today I am grateful that pipes are providing water to all faucets and toilets. Grateful I prepared for a brutal winter with lots of firewood. Grateful I have lots of craft stuff to make fun stuff. Grateful I did as much as I did to get rid of clutter so there is access for repairmen to fix stuff. I went under house yesterday and found that the pipe foam needed to be bigger than what he put on, so went to Lowes and got the correct size, grateful I found out and got right size and that I can put it on myself. before next deep freeze. Happy I had enough damage to motivate me to prevent future problems. Grateful at 65yo, I can still take care of most things by myself. Grateful I exercised most of my life so I am so strong. Grateful that I have stayed able, even without any exercise to speak of past few years. Grateful I am typing this so see the need to start exercising again. I already feel better focusing on what I am grateful for. Grateful for all of you and expecially Tillie for ongoing support and learning.

Karl,
Something that just occured to me.
In all of these conversations/situations, even though they are not about hoarding per se, you may be dealing with a hoarder's need to control environment.

Hi Karl :)
I will suggest you do what I have done here.
Create a shelf space in the fridge where you store all "YOUR" food.
The rule is that "MY" food is for only me and "HIS food is for only him.
Took a while to get him to quit eating my stuff and I never had any desire to eat any of his science experiments.
If necessary keep your food in a labeled bag that states it is "YOURS".
Many people use this method to stop any squabbles about who ate what.
Good luck (((hugs)))

(Based on what little I can remember of my son's comments about college roommates and sharing a house) I suspect you will need to address the food issue, what is each others and what is shared or you will wind up buying most of the food yourself - given the environment you described. Food magically appearing in the refrigerator is really nice.

It is likely that you have some difficult decisions and discussions about boundaries ahead of you. It may be beneficial to work at least some of that out now and have the discussions sooner rather than later-the alternative being that over a period of time you are likely to feel more and more imposed upon and taken advantage of. You will have to decide where the balance of "relief at having a roof" and "reality of sharing a living space" is for you.

And with the snow, a temporary reality which you have, at costs known only to yourself, developed the ability to enjoy. Good for you.

Good morning :)
While I was trying to sleep the snow was softly falling, making the cats all freak out and they kept me up with their bickering.

Yesterday I ventured out to the road to get the mail. Noticed a sweet little cotton tail bunny has been calling my garden home for a while.
You can tell by all the bunny foot prints and little bunny poops on the snow.
Saw the bunny just sitting still watching me.
Talked to the bunny for a while.
From the window I later saw the bunny jumping high and zig zagging through the yard.
Then I noticed a huge hawk land on the fence.
Opened the door, stepped out on the porch to shoo the hawk away. He flew off and the bunny was safe hiding under an abandoned car.

I have been placing lots of tasty tidbits under the big evergreen in my front yard in preparation for the Winter Solstice.
Many beautiful little birds have started coming here regularly to eat.
Noticed lots of evidence that the Falcon and Owl have been coming by for a snack too. :/
Oh Well, the circle of life...

Need to go to the grocery store.
The only way that I am going to get to have a piece of carrot cake for my birthday is if I make the cake myself.
I have a week to get this cake made.
This birthday is a big milestone and I want to have cake. :D

Great responses Dave, good sense of humor.
appreciated "fun" thoughts.,, I keep thinking I have to have fun that others would have, which in reality are not fun for me, or take too much work to do. Makes me realize I have to identify what fun is for me.

Roxie,
Suitcase from May graduation trip still admidst the horde of containers before the fireplace.

Karl,
The significant other situation and that you had not yet made some final committments was what I thought was going on.

I don't think of anything else, except, and this because I worry too much, when you formally get yourself on the lease of the new place, what potential liability you assume for your friend's mess.

Diane,
Tell your neighbor you are working on the set for your new musical, Roofing in the Rain.

Fun: Taking pleasure in work accomplished while it was warm, drinking a cup of coffee, while looking at lights-being pleased you are not paying those electric bills, cutting the end off an evergreen branch-putting it in a pot of dirt and wrapping some crepe paper around it, thanking God you are not feeling compelled to run to every thrift store in a three county area buying christmas decorations for next week, thanking God for the peace in your heart and the gift of another holiday season. To be modified as you see fit.

It is cold so had great intentions of doing work in here, and have just sat here. I am tired from all the roof work and woke up way to early. Today would be a good day to buy some food, buy more insulation and look at holiday decorations in yards around here. Have kept dishes done since water is back on, so afraid to have a pile if lose water again. Need to shower and was hair today after it warms up in here. I have worked so many hours lately it would be good to take a day off and have fun. Not sure what fun is anymore, I will let you know when I find some fun.

hello--getting cold again. I got a lesson on keeping a hoard. Months ago I did some roof patching with black tar stuff that I had kept out in garage for a few years, not supposed to let it freeze. Well when I was on roof yesterday to "relax", I discovered it was all crumbly so from 2pm-5pm I scraped it off. Since it is raining this afternoon, I got up there, scraped more off and stayed up there patching until it started to rain. I worked 9am-4pm solid today, it was fun, but too long to work without a break, for sure. A neighbor guy asked if I got paid overtime for working so many hours!! I came in and started a fire and decided to see what you are up to today-------where are you????

On vacation?

Where is everybody? :(

Good morning :)

Hi Karl :)
Would your source of income be considered as an "independent contractor" ?
How long of a lease do you have to sign?
Six months would be better than anything longer at this point.
Sorry you are still having to deal with the old LLs along with discovering how your new room mate operates. (((hugs)))

Hi Southmess :)

Hi Dave :)
Karl's roommate is a temporary situation until he gets himself settled after having been evicted from his home.
Karl is almost an expert now in decluttering and organizing and he knows a lot about a hoarder's way of thinking.

Hi Roxie :)
I found it very hard to wake up this morning because I had a warm snuggling purring kitty right up against me.
:D

Yesterday I boiled a pot of water, brewed some herbal tea, added the juice from four lemons to the tea and sweetened it with honey. Poured it into a container and added enough water to make one gallon.
My witches brew has been doing it's job of soothing my throat and keeping me hydrated. :D
Feeling much better.
Spent two hours yesterday cleaning & tidying the house then rested the rest of the day.
My plan for today is to find some pleasant little pasttime to amuse myself with.
Have a load of laundry out on the line drying and the cats are all taken care of and have gone back to napping. They are all in hibernation mode. LOL :D
Need to brew some more magical tea today.

You should all make plans right now today to get into the Tuesday night chat!!!

Diane :) (((hugs)))

Since I first met you I have been in awe of all you have accomplished all by yourself.
All those hard, heavy, dirty jobs. All the repairs you took care of with no outside help.
Remember that you are doing 20 years worth of put off tasks all by yourself.
This is not easy and it is not fast but you have accomplished many many miracles of decluttering, repairing and organizing in such a short amount of time.

Everything that you have decluttered and continue to declutter is something you have every right to be proud of. :D

After such a hard few weeks dealing with the super cold temperatures and then having no water are BIG time stressers.
Then adding having expenses of plumbing repair and having workmen in your home just stresses you even more.

Take care of the things that can't wait right now but give yourself a break.
You need to destress.
Lots & lots of "ME" time.
Pamper & baby yourself.
Eat tasty nutritious foods.
Stay warm and decompress.

You have been through too much.
After you are all rested up then you can get back into decluttering & organizing with a fresh and positive outlook.

(((HUGS))) :D

Diane,
If you have any small plastic buckets or containers "in stock" they might be helpful with that "under sink" issue. I have a stash of plastic ice cream buckets and I keep the rubber gloves and trash bags, stuff like that in them so that when I spring a leak less things get ruined. The round shapes in the square storage spot also force me to store less stuff there.

Thanks for the kindness Dave and Roxie,made me feel warm and fuzzy reading your posts.
Started cleaning under kitchen sink this morning and found a tiny leak in pipe trap (it froze last week).. I was under there to check for leaks on new faucet, no problem but glad I checked, there was quite a pool of water from pipe trap. I just cleaned up water and wrapped a towel around it, then got on computer to avoid it. Now that I got to this site, I got my motivation back and will patch it. will finish cleaning under there and see what I can throw away or put in more appropriate place, still too much stored under there. I have to accept my first time through I did the best I could and now can go through and get rid of more stuff, each time will be better at getting rid of stuff, and stop from criticizing myself for not gettting rid of enough stuff.

Unless someone else posted while I was typing, That post right below this was directed at Karl, not Diane.

Karl, this is what my wife calls unsolicited advice and you have every right to be angry about my giving it.

I have not tried to go back and follow your story, but your name is one that I have seen on the boards from time to time. I know that the "regular posters" in this thread are concerned about you and want to see you succeed in either recovering from or staying away from hoarding, whichever is appropriate.

The little vignette you posted below ought to be in a textbook somewhere as a classic example of hoarder defense and redirection (by finding a guilt trip to lay on another party). This is not a person you are going to change.

I hope that you are able to recognize this and include it in your decision process before you make your final relationship and legal decisions.

(Who am I to say this to you? I am a person, who, over the next few days, is literally going to be standing in a storage locker weighing the value of the size, shape, and printing of empty cardboard boxes, one at at time, against the value of another person's life and sanity. The person of whom you were speaking sounds to me like a hoarder like me. There is a level of misery you will experience in attempting a relationship with a person like that that I am not sure you fully appreciate. I think you also strongly risk loosing any gains you may have made in dealing with your own problems.)

you have an avoidance issue going on there. Be sure you want to pay the price.

diane, i would have been crying digging up little red rocks while my fingers were turning blue. I am going to have an insurance adjuster standing on the roof of my house tomorrow being able to see all the mess in my backyard. Even to save relationship it is difficult for me to let go of things. I think you show great fortitude and resilince. After being fired in April, i found it quite nice to lie in the sun and listen to the cardinals.

Southmess,
You are amazing. I need to be taking lessons from you on how to emotionally release from things.
(Also, you have just experienced the two ways of dealing with the problem of clutter. One: Avoidance. Two: Looking at the problem, finding a small task you can do, doing it and then repeating that proces again, and again, and ....
Congratulations. Even though what you see is a lot of struggle and stress on your part, please know that the courage, discipline and success you just shared will encourge others reading these messages.)
Dave.

Hi everybody,

On Saturday I bought 6 cheap cardboard boxes.

The last days have been very hot here. Even though I sleep with the air conditioner on, I had a hard time getting up.

Finally got up at 3 PM (yes, 3 PM)and went for some breakfast. And stayed there until 10 PM. I didn't feel like coming home...

When I finally came home I assembled the first box and filled it with some bags with classified items.

I did 4 boxes in total. The last one was for important papers that I still have to sort out.

I estimated 4 boxes, but they come in packages of 3. I am happy my estimation was correct :)

Rearranging some things I found a paper related to my divorce inside a little book. Non important paper of course... threw it out. I should put money inside books :) (argentine peso devaluates fast... that's a problem. I must put dollars or euros)

Talking about books, my library is organized much the same way as it was when I was married. In the final phases of my decluttering process I plan to empty it and rearrange the books.

I still have things in the floor. Most of it is going out... but it is like I'm still not sure of discarding them... (CD jewel boxes, some computer cables, an old computer keyboard...)

Tillie sorry you are still not feeling well, and glad you know how to take very good care of yourself.

as I said in chat yesterday, pipes under trailer had leak so had to turn off water again. Today 2 guys came and fixed the pipe, and installed my new kitchen faucet, works great, so nice. Then talked me into having a vapor barrier under trailer, heavy black plastic over the ground under trailer. Back to Lowes, I got anxious about how much it all cost. It took 4 hours but they did get lots of stuff done and were very kind and efficient, hard workers.
I started crying by the end of it. It was so humiliating having so much extra stuff everywhere and not able to find sandpaper, garden staples, and cutter when they needed them. I even misplaced one piece of the faucet. I was exhausted when they left, just wanted to sit in the sun and not talk to anyone ever again. I actually really wanted to talk to you Tillie. I regrouped, still had to clean chimney and bring firewood up to deck, got both done. then cleaned up the mess we made working today. One guy said I really need a dumpster to get rid of all the stuff I have, this was after months of getting rid of stuff, really felt down in the dumps. He saw the boards I had in a tree to make a treehouse, that I never even started let alone finished. I have done so much and there is so much more that became obvious this week, I am determined to just keep working on it. did feel a little hopeless this afternoon

Good morning :/

The house is a mess. :(
Today I must
clean the bathroom
sweep the floors & porches
wash the floors
vacuum the carpet
dust

I am tired and have a stuffy nose & sore throat and really don't want to clean the house. :/
But I won't be able to relax till the place is clean
so......
I will clean it.

:D

We will miss you Karl. :(
But have fun! :D