Hi Mariana :)
Stepping out of squalor has been slow lately but is starting to pick up a little bit now.
The A&E HOARDERS site is a ghost town now.
Last I looked Fly lady was a bit slow and so were the professional organizer's sites. Dorothy and Geralyn.
Minimalist sites were slow.
Other non clutter & organizing sites were slower than usual too.
I think it's the end of summer, back to school business that has people too busy to post right now.

Hi Mariana :)
Stepping out of squalor has been slow lately but is starting to pick up a little bit now.
The A&E HOARDERS site is a ghost town now.
Last I looked Fly lady was a bit slow and so were the professional organizer's sites. Dorothy and Geralyn.
Minimalist sites were slow.
Other non clutter & organizing sites were slower than usual too.
I think it's the end of summer, back to school business that has people too busy to post right now.

Tillie: what other boards are there on this topic? I have gone to Stepping Out of Squalor and have found some very helpful and inspiring comments about physical and mobility problems which can impede successful maintainence. Any other forums you might suggest?

Good morning everybody! :D

Hi Diane :)
WAY TO GO! for finding the shoes and having fun painting and conversating on the phone and getting things accomplished. ;D

Hi Janie :)
Have some cheese with all that whine. ;)
Sorry your schedule is so hard right now.
Take care of yourself, get enough rest and eat properly and hang in there. (((hugs)))

Hi Karl :)
WAY TO GO! for working on that paperwork! :D
So very sorry nobody joined you in the chat.
Seems like a lot of our regular people have been missing lately. And not just on this board, other boards are quieter than usual too.

My plans for today???
Don't really have any, feeling lazy.
Marty (the cat) threw up his breakfast this morning on the carpet, already got that cleaned up.
Scooter (the kitten) is being lazy today too.
This is day 3 of clear air here. Lovely gentle breeze keeping the smoke cleared out. :D
Wednesday is trash pick up day and only stuff in the big wheelie bin is what I have put in there. :(

Thank you all for updating us on all your progress and other life type stuff. :)

I've been having trouble keeping motivated lately. I did make it through most of the paper stack, during a couple of timed sessions tonight. Nobody showed up in the chat room during the three hours that I was there.

Great reading all of your posts, thanks. Yesterday I caulked garage windows that leaked during big rain storm, today painted the caulk and redid part of it. Painted the garage door and wall, hadn't noticed how bad it looked. then I painted a bunch of boards I have, just wanted to have fun today, and painting is fun. tomorrow I have to finish scheduling clinics and other business stuff.
Found my favorite black shoes finally. Still need to pick clothes for work, supposed to be hot weather rest of week, so have to go with light weight clothes. Started to get smoke again today, not sure where it is coming from. Hope your smoke is staying away tillie.
I had two long conversations with friends on phone, which was fun.

HI! Karl & Roxie :D

Roxie, hope you get your sleep schedule straightened out. :)
Karl, hope you find a solution to the keyboard issue.
If you lived near me I know for a fact that my hoarder has many many working keyboards you could check out. ;)


Scooter has been sleeping most of the day.
He woke up when my neighbor came to visit and then again when my hoarder came home from work.
But then he just can't keep his eyes open and goes back to sleep. :)
Otherwise, he is doing very well.
Got my chocolate chip/pecan cookies all baked, cooled, bagged and in the deep freeze.
Kitchen is all clean and tidy again too.

Hope all your plans are going well today too. :)

Keyboard failure on my main computer yesterday. I'll be in the chat tonight, but I might not be able to participate effectively, depending on how good a workaround I can find by then.

Good morning everybody! :D

Hi Bonnie :)
WAY TO GO! on making phone calls!
I too hate doing anything on the phone. ;)
Fantastic! that you found that certificate! :D

Hi Roxie :)
GREAT! that you got that yardwork done!
We have some dangerous trees here that need to come down but "HE" doesn't want to let them go.
He hoards trees too.
WTG! for keeping up with the maintenance of yourself and your home. :D

Hi Janie :)
WONDERFUL! that you got that rotten smell all under control! :D
So nice to come home to a nicer smelling house. ;)


Scooter was so nervous and freaked out when he came home. :(
He is so very feral except when he is here in his own home.
Took a long time to reassure him that he was safe.
This morning he is back to his usual little self except that he is not as hungry as usual and he is not as active.
He is back in my bed now sleeping again. :)

Today I plan to bake chocolate chip/pecan cookies then clean the kitchen.
Yesterday I did a lot of straightening, sorting, organizing of my clothes & linens.
Was in a "mood" and tossed a lot of clothes that are still very nice but I am done with them.
I am very easy on my clothes and shoes and rarely ever wear things out.
Some stuff I have been wearing for 10 years.
Time to move on. ;D

Keep up with all the GREAT progress and keep on including us in your daily doings. :)

Roxie, so glad to see that you had something crossed off your master list!! I too had a tree taken down recently. Clearly I should have gone to school to learn how to take down trees - it is sooooo expensive!!!!

I am making progress on my paperwork. Still lots to do but the BIG pile is going down slowly. I did find my certificate for the Defensive Driving Course and went up the street to the drugstore to fax it. I should get some money back as it becomes effective upon completion of the course.

Again, glad to see the progress everyone is making.

WE CAN DO THIS!!!!

Nite Nite and Happy Dreams to all.

Good Morning Everyone!!!

I am thrilled to see that awesome progress that all of you have made. Keep it up!!!

Right now I am trying to make baby steps.

I had a bunch of phone call to make and they are all done!

I continue to work on my bedroom. I took a driver safety course back in May and I have to find the certificate to mail to my insurance company. My plan today is to pour through/organize my paperwork so I can fax it to them.

Hi Karl :)
Keep up the 15 minute challenges and soon your livingroom will be back to maintenance and the other rooms will be organized.
Remember to schedule in time to sleep. ;)

Good morning everybody :)

Hi SusanL :)
WAT YO GO! on getting all that stuff donated and out of your home! :D
It can be hard for a little while getting used to things being gone after so many years of them surrounding us.
Enjoy all your new open space. :)

Hi Janie :)
So nice to see you posting again! :D
That was a GREAT! start taking care of the bug attractions.


My day so far....
Scooter is off to the Veterinarian. He will be home later this afternoon.
While they nooter Scooter I will do all the things that I can't really do with him home.
But first I will sit here drinking my tea and reading stuff on the interwebs. ;)

Question, why do I always feel guilty, like I have betrayed them when I send them off to be neutered?
It's for the best, keeps them healthier, they live longer.
Oh well. ;)

Today I will go through my clothes. See if I still like them or if any of them can be tossed.
Straighten the linen shelves.

No matter what we did or did not do this past week, today is a fresh new day to try to do better.
A fresh new start. ;D

Janie, good job on going after the bug attractions! I knew a hoarder who had a serious problem with that, and I've seen what can happen if you let it go!

I had fruit flies a few weeks ago -- that caught me by surprise; it all happened between trash pickups, so it's not because I'd neglected to take stuff to the curb. I took care of it by putting the decomposable trash into an airtight glass jar.

We had a goodwill pickup today to take the garage stuff and many other bags and boxes from the house plus some seriously awful stuff from the back yard.

It was almost physically painful to watch them carry 'good stuff' out the door. Felt like I was selling the children.

Husband had to remind me these were things we are all through with. That we were doing the children a favor getting rid of excess items.

Now several hours later I feel at peace with the process but it was very anxious for a while there. Am I really that attached to things?

Yesterday my back began hurting real bad while I was grocery shopping and so I came home and tried to rest it as much as possible.
This morning it doesn't hurt so I can get some things done around here. :)

Planning to go out and water the trees & bushes before it starts to get too warm.
Need to wash my hair.
Planning on being in the Sunday night chat at 5:00pm PST.

Have 2 loads of his laundry out drying on the line already.

I am sure I will be able to find a lot of interesting stuff I can do today.

Tomorrow Scooter goes to the Veterinarian all day.
We are going to nooter Scooter. ;) HaHa
So I have made plans to do a lot of stuff tomorrow that I could not easily do with Scooter helping me.

TTYL :)

Good morning everybody! :)

Hi Karl :)
WAY TO GO! getting stuff done, taking a power nap and socializing! :D

Hi SusanL :)
WOOHOO! Fantastic! job you did there!
Parking a car in the garage is wonderful! :D

Hi Diane :)
Happy you got out and had a fun visit with your friend!
OK, so you fell off that "no shopping" wagon.
Did you buy things you can use and enjoy right now?
Make sure you get the new items unbagged and put away where you can use or see and appreciate them.
A good way to make the guilt go away is to now toss at least one old thing you have for each new item you just brought home.
This is how I keep my stuff under control, out with the old/in with the new. ;)

Hi Dianne :)
WOW! FANTASTIC job on the kitchen!!! :D
Sorry about the washer issue there. Hope they fix it right and fast for you.
The cold months are when I love baking too. Makes the home smell so warm and cozy. ;)


Good luck everybody with all your plans for today and this fresh new week! :D

I got another couple of piles taken care of, and also a 20-minute nap to take the edge off of my having gotten up too early. I went to the usual pot luck event, and took home some leftovers that will be dinner later in the week.

I've been using the living room as a staging area for stuff that I'm moving out of the bedroom -- I hope I'll have a proper place for it once the bedroom organization is done.

I have not posted because yesterday I went to a friends house north of here, she and a woman I had not met before, were having a garage sale. There were around 60 garage sales, so I stopped at about 7 sales plus hers. We had a fun visit, got home and had to deal with the stuff I bought. Like in the old days, fun going to garage sales, not fun putting stuff away. Guilt kept me from posting yesterday, so what did I do this morning? Went to a church garage sale, that I have gone to yearly, yep, bought more stuff. The addiction to shop kicked in and I went to about 4 other sales. My thinking, haven't gone all summer and this will be the last chance to go before I start work, and winter comes and no sales. The truth is, until I get rid of all my junk, I have no business going to garage sales, even though I have so much fun running into people I know and looking for bargains and unusual items.
Tomorrow I am not leaving home. Really want to get back to organizing and getting clothes ready for work this week. Tomorrow my close friend is stopping by to drop off her dog for me to take care of while she goes to Yellowstone park with her relatives. Sunday is the first day of the week and a new start on getting rid of clutter.

We finished cleaning the garage. That stuff was trash worthy 20 years ago. What took us so long? Now it looks so beautiful and spacious! Room for the car lol

I've had a change of plans. I'm skipping the first of today's events. Let's see if I can use the extra time for a bit more cleanup. (Or a nap.)

People! :D
Hello people! :D

So wonderful to read your posts! :D

The cats curled up with me this morning and we all slept in till 9:00am.

Have to get dressed and go grocery shopping, my cupboard is bare.

Will post more when I return.
(((hugs)))

Hi, Tillie!

Shoulder aching, I'm tired and heading to bed to read. Some awful hour of the morning, I see. Did the teeth thing today.

Hug
R

I'm not sure where the day went -- it feels like I didn't get anything done, but I didn't think I was doing a lot of time-wasting things, either. I still need to shower, and then I'll do a small cleanup task before going to bed. Tomorrow I'll be out all day, so I guess Sunday is going to be busy if I want to make that deadline I set for myself.

Looks like all the regulars must be too busy cleaning, sorting, and getting things done to post.

:(

Good morning :)

Cats have all been fed.
I have a tummy ache today so will just do the minimum around here.
Sort of chilly this morning. About 55 degrees.
Yesterday the winds started blowing rather hard from the wrong direction.
Smoke was dangerously thick. Been coughing a lot all night.
The smoke has cleared a bit this morning. Hope it stays clear.

TGIF :D

HI Karl :)
Happy to see the zombies didn't get you and Roxie.

WAY TO GO! both of you for keeping on keeping on! :D

I just did another 15m of cleanup, much of which involved a box of clothes that I'm not yet prepared to get rid of. At least it's slightly more organized now than when I started, and I found a place to put the box where it's not blocking anything. The other stuff that had been stacked on the box will probably go out to the garage.

The bedroom is definitely looking less cluttered, though I think I'll have to step up my pace to meet my self-imposed deadline of Sunday evening -- there's still a lot of stuff on the dresser.

Inspection is Saturday, Sep 28. I've volunteered to host a board games event on Monday, Sep 23, so the rest of the house will need to be in adequate shape by then.

HI!!!!! ROXIE! :D

I guess I'm the last one on earth and that the zombies got all the rest of you. :(

OK Marty (the cat) has/had a dislocation of the wrist.
Popped back in place and he was able to put weight on it again.
I will have to keep a close watch on that.

Good morning! :D

Another very red sunrise.
Means still a lot of forest fire smoke in the air.
No rain. :(

Marty (the cat) is in bed not wanting to use his game leg.
Told him to stay off it and give it a rest.
No matter where I touch his leg he says "that doesn't hurt" so must be a pulled muscle.

Anyways,
today I need to wash some dishes, water some yard plants and do a general tidying up inside.
Also on my To-Do list is take a shower. I always schedule in personal maintenance because this is important to my health and mental wellbeing. :)

So now, I am off the sieze the day! :)

((hugs))) Diane :)

Thanks Tillie, nice of you to cheer me on. Yes, forgot about mouse fall invasion. Good you reminded me to keep on top of it, sure don't want babies. I bought the steel wool, will put it on my list for tomorrow. bought it last week for outdoor rooms, makes more sense to use it in here under sinks, so thanks tillie for saying what you did.
Did you get any rain? Supposedly it will start here at 3am, we will see. Flash flood warnings and I haven't finished shoring up steep slope in the backyard, certainly won't be anywhere as bad as last week. The more I explored the more I found huge ruts that were made from the big storm last week, would take a lot of work to fill in and block areas. Maybe after this storm passes I can see the areas that need patching the most. Really want to focus on the inside for awhile and do some much needed maintenance, felt good to start today. Thanks tillie for all of your support and suggestions.

WOW!!!! Daine :D
WAY TO GO!!!

You did a fantastic amount today!

The mice can feel Autumn coming on and will try to move inside where it's warm, has food and water.
NOW is the time to step up with trapping and preventing them from starting up with their Autumn & Winter babies all living with you.
I stuffed steel wool into the small holes around the plumbing pipes under the sinks and that stopped my mouse migration problems. ;)
Spiders will also start coming inside now too.

About your hamper of shoes. Out of sight/out of mind.
That happens to me too when I start moving stuff around.
Takes me a while to remember just where the heck I put stuff.
This "Old Timers Disease" makes every day a treasure hunt ;D lol

Happy your mouth is better today. :)

Hi Tillie, you are a ladder girl too, happy you climbed safely.
Want to hear a miracle? It is beautiful out and I worked in kitchen all morning, probably over 4 hours. I cleaned out 2 cabinets, organized stuff, washed all cabinet outside doors. Set 2 mouse traps in cabinets I cleaned, after finding several droppings, not like when I cleaned months ago, but they are back.
Cleaned all shelves on inside of refrigerator, lined shelves on door, to make it easier to clean in future. It was pretty crusty, not sure what it was in the worst shelf. Threw away expired food.
Cleaned inside of microwave, and all dog dishes and water area.
Vacuumed all dust bunnies
Washed all dishes from 2 or 3 days
Washed all water bottles
Threw away bags of expired food and all kinds of other junk. 95 gallon cart is filling up!!
Cleaned mud off front steps
Still need to do:
Organize calendar for Sept. and Oct. clinics, including contact #, address etc.
Clean small table off
File or toss 2 bins of papers and magazines on table. I am too tired right now, maybe have to wait until tomorrow.
Going to Costco tomorrow with my friend, don't need much but want to spend time with her.
What a change to work all those hours today in kitchen, still have too much stuff in kitchen, small kitchen so shows when too much stuff. Progress not perfection, proud of all that I did today.
My mouth hurts less today, hooray. Have more energy than yesterday, obviously.

HI :D

Been having fun today doing small little projects.
Getting all caught up.
Marty (the cat) with his gimpy leg went back out after breakfast promising to stay close to home.
He did stay close, he went up on the roof.
Crying, crying, crying when he wanted to come back down.
I put up the ladder and managed to get him down without hurting him or myself. :D
I told him to give his leg a rest but he didn't listen and now he's limping even worse.
I put him in his bed and am making him take a nap.

Have some rain clouds gathering. Still keeping my fingers crossed for rain here.

Off again to see what else I might find fun to do today. :D

Good morning everybody :D

Cats have been fed.
Have no "Have-Tos" to do today. :D
All caught up with all my household tasks.

Feeling good. Got a good nights sleep.
Marty (the cat) is limping. Don't know how he hurt his front right leg. :(

Since I will not be tied down to any specific tasks today,
the day is filled with possibilities.
Like an adventure. ;D

Wishing you all fun adventures too. :)

WAY TO GO! Karl :D
Financial clutter is important too.
So happy about the chat challenges. :)