Barb: Hope all goes well in this last stretch of the race to get ready for the sofa!

diane: Congrats on so much work. Yea that the modem situation is all finished now (old one out, new one in and working)! I'm happy that you got to see your old friend. When that sort of thing happens with me, it helps put me in touch with the "me" that somehow got lost years ago, the "me" that was more social (although I've never exactly been a social butterfly) and the "me" that felt so much more positive about herself. Hope things with the new dog go well.

Kathy: The composition notebook and picture frame comment made me chuckle. I think the practice does help.

Me: Later in the day yesterday, I got dishwasher mostly unloaded, laundry dried, wedding gift bought, some bills in the mail, and made a start at (ugh) shopping for a new dress. (I probably did some other things I forgot about.) Was very tired in the evening. Tried to go to sleep early, but that didn't work out so well. I spent some of my awake time looking around on the Internet for ideas of where to shop for shoes that would be dressy but that have better support than some I currently own. I freely spend money on some types of things, but good shoes (ones that are good for my feet) usually are not on the list. Need to rethink my spending priorities.

Goals for this morning (after breakfast and such) are to get outside before it's too hot and get a lot of things (like tools) out of my vehicle in prep for my little trip tomorrow. I also need to get the wedding present wrapped, and I need to finish getting the stuff together that I'm going to wear for the event. I might stop by a certain local shoe store (one that sells high-quality shoes) and see what they have in stock that might be good for me. I also need to add to my gratitude list and put away laundry.

Iced tea clink to your coffee mug, Roxie.

Up at 5:45 a.m. and having cereal and coffee before I make one last ditch effort on the living room. The sofa delivery men will be here between 9 and noon.

This morning I painted the deck railing that I previously pressured washed, scraped, sanded, looks ok. Did dishes, one drainer heaping full, put away when I got home. Still have a few dishes and dog dishes to wash.
Drove to Bend found UPS, dropped off modem and got receipt. Went to Costco and ran into an old friend of mine, we had a great chat, we used to be really close. I went to her wedding 10 years ago, I could hardly believe it had been that long. felt good that she was so happy to see me, and I was to see her.
I bought lots of good food.
watered lawn tonight
was good to get out and about. I will finish dishes in morning and vacuum. New dog is coming in afternoon, so have morning to tidy up.
Laundry is caught up now.
good reading everyone's posts

Hi, everybody...happy for everyone's progress. Mar, finding a mistake before your thesis adviser does is major progress!

Finished the laundry, it's all folded and put away. Finished de-cluttering the bookcase, in 30 minutes; threw away two perfectly good composition notebooks and a 4 x 6 picture frame just for practice. Donations still in the car. Had lunch. Now I am going to rest for a while. Label printer ran out of tape just as I was going to label the large binders in the bookcase. I've got an anniversary card out for my daughter and son-in-law but have to find their new address before I send it.

One of the things I recently instituted is a shelf on a bookcase for things I intend to give to specific people. It now has quite a few items, I think I should put sending them on my agenda.

Peace,
Kathy

Good morning, everyone.

I was really tired yesterday after having gotten relatively little sleep Tuesday night. For that and various other reasons, I didn't get much done yesterday in terms of cleaning and decluttering. I got some good sleep last night, though, so I'm glad about that.

I got out the door before 7am this morning and went out to that rural area to do a little work. Checked on the animals' water supply and worked on getting rid of a few more unwanted (invasive) trees. After getting back into town, I got some more debris out of the yard at my family's home and got the trash can put out for pickup. Am doing some laundry, planning to eat lunch soon, then need to do a little shopping for the event I'm attending this weekend (the one I mentioned on Sunday night's chat).

Hugs to all. May post more later.

Hi Roxie, nice to see you here.
Best wishes for your cardiology appointment!!

Last night I vacuumed the kitchen, living room, dining room, hall and den...using a mask, no asthma flare-up. This morning so far I made a nice breakfast, did my infusion, left a message again for the person I missed yesterday, made bed, put in a load of laundry (which I need to move to the dryer as soon as I finish this post), put the dishes in the dishwasher.

I need to finish getting ready for Sunday's work...declutter another bookcase, take the books to donate to the library. Finish the load of laundry when it comes out of the dryer. The floors and laundry are all new responsibilities as before my once a week help was doing that. I guess I should work on the bookcase before I take the donate books to the library as there may be more...have to put the trash out tonight.

I stopped in on the chat window this morning but nobody was there...trouble with being a morning person on the East Coast. Nice "seeing" RJ and Mar and Vi there before bed last night, though. Keep making progress, friends!

Peace,
Kathy

Today is the final opportunity to clean before the sofa is delivered tomorrow. The living room is not going to be completely clear of clutter. My main goal is to have a clear space for it and make it as easy as possible to get the old one out and the new one in. This work is going much slower than I would like, but I am making steady progress. I am feeling very anxious today.

I am still laboriously typing out messages on my phone so I will keep this short.

Yea for the progress, Kathy. Frustrating that you missed the phone call.

diane: It's so motivating to me to watch you move forward in so many areas. Gives me a lot of hope for me.

Hugs to all.

I got modem packaged up and ready to take to UPS, not sure where that is. I was careful to follow directions about writing info in correct places, and packaging as they said, so hopefully they will stop charging me for it. Tomorrow will take and ship. What a relief to have it hooked up and boxed up. I need to hook up tv so can see in kitchen, then more likely to do dishes, it worked before, also cooked more when I had tv distraction.
sewed a little today, love being creative
watered all plants outside, trimmed edges of lawn and flower beds, cut all dead stuff off, did I already post this? that modem was an emotional drain, silly as it seems now. Tomorrow will also buy groceries. Plan to tidy up things, since new dog and new dog owner will be here friday.
It is still a major stress to have strangers over, especially ones that live in nice houses.
Another money thing I have procrastinated on, will do tomorrow. Have to take receipt to insurance to get $100 that I paid in advance, so it is worth it, just difficult to ask for money, even though they owe it to me.
they are raising premiums by 20% I heard.
so grateful we have this site and each other

Yay for the modem being done, Diane!

I did declutter a desk file drawer. And make the salmon loaf and some sauteed zucchini for dinner, and clean up after dinner (in two shifts, back was hurting).

I am realizing that I am going to have to do something to maintain the floors now that I no longer have any household help. Sweep or vacuum or mop or combinations.

The lawn guy came and cut the lawn and trimmed the hedges and hauled away the lamp post and the brush. The lady from my mom's town's Area Agency for the Aging returned my phone call which I made to her on Monday morning but I didn't hear the phone ring at 3 pm, even though I was home. Very frustrating.

Peace,
Kathy

Yay for the modem being done, Diane!

I did declutter a desk file drawer. And make the salmon loaf and some sauteed zucchini for dinner, and clean up after dinner (in two shifts, back was hurting).

I am realizing that I am going to have to do something to maintain the floors now that I no longer have any household help. Sweep or vacuum or mop or combinations.

The lawn guy came and cut the lawn and trimmed the hedges and hauled away the lamp post and the brush. The lady from my mom's town's Area Agency for the Aging returned my phone call which I made to her on Monday morning but I didn't hear the phone ring at 3 pm, even though I was home. Very frustrating.

Peace,
Kathy

Yea, diane, for the modem! Whoo-hoo!

As I mentioned in the post yesterday, I didn't plan to do much in terms of cleaning/decluttering. I did go buy more sponges and get a little more work done on the wall-washing project. I also ran a load of dishes. Did some of this during the daytime online chat.

My Tuesday evening event went reasonably well. (I'd used some of the daytime online chat time to help me get ready for that event; I set some fifteen minute deadlines for myself for some of my event-prep tasks to help keep me from getting too perfectionistic as I worked on the tasks. That helped me get the things done much faster than I would have otherwise.

More later, probably. Happy evening.

Tillie so happy to read the report on sweet kitty. You are so good to twinkles.

main goal is to box up old modem and ups it to telephone co. so won't be charged for it after this month. Have to follow their directions exactly so can be credited with return they said, not up for that this moment, but soon.

after many wasted hours on my own, online for help, and finally today got help via telephone-----------

MODEM IS HOOKED UP AND WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now time for a celebratory smoothie in the sun, many days of gray, makes sun look better than ever.
I will join in chat work sessions once I calm down after messing with modem for so long this am, guy was so patient with me, could not understand his Indian accent.
Finally done!!!!!!! When will I learn to ask for help earlier? Hopefully next time I need it!
Today I will be doing dishes, vacuuming and mostly fun stuff if I can remember what is fun!

Good work, Mar! I knew you could do it. Keep writing...I wrote my talk for Sunday this morning. And the lawn guy was here, he will be coming back to do the brush hauling later. I fielded a phone call from my mom about the senior services, fixed a paper jam. Ate breakfast and part of lunch. Will try to do the bottom left drawer of my desk this afternoon and get some rest. And make some salmon loaf for dinner.

Peace,
Kathy

Good morning to all!

I'm happy, just sent to my thesis advisor work he told me, did it faster than I thought :-D

Plan for today: not skipping meds, meals or school, and much writing. God help me.

(((Hugs))) and have a nice day!

I tried to join the chat group tonight but trying to follow the discussion and type on my tiny phone did not work well. I applaud everyone for the work they have done.
I got a lot done today even though my computer crashed and the belt on the vacuum cleaner broke. One trash bag is out. I still have lot to do before the sofa comes on Friday. But I feel good about what was accomplished today.
I hope little Twinkles will feel better soon.

Good evening :)

I am exhausted.
Didn't get much sleep last night.
Got up early.
Was going to water outside but it was very dark cloudy and in the low 40s.
Will do that tomorrow.
Spent all day worrying about Twinkles.
The Dr. called me about 11:00am and filled me in on what he had to do and we discussed further treatments to help him.
Twinkles is now back home, hiding under the bed.
He is all filled up with all kinds of drugs.
He has pain meds and antibiotics to start on tomorrow.
Not going to feed him until tomorrow, let his system recover from everything but he does have fresh water available.
Along with a teeth cleaning he had to have two molars and one incisor pulled. Poor baby.
He is a rescue cat, showed up on my porch literally starving to death. At that time he had already had four other teeth out at sometime.
When he came here he brought along a buddy, Marty.
Marty came here having been declawed at some time.
They have lived here about five years now and have given us so much love and enjoyment during this time.
:)

Good thing that I wrote I dropped off a prescription yesterday on this board, because I remembered to pick it up after reading this. Was too tired last night. This morning I followed through on the phone calls and got my mother (93) signed up to be picked up next Monday and 3x/week to be taken to a congregate dining site for seniors. She just lost her driving privileges, and lives 125 miles from me. Lives alone.

I would have said she has no hoarding tendencies (and I answered 8/10 to Dr. Zasio's quiz and have been surrounded by more or less severe clutter all my life); she has a house that on the surface looks incredibly immaculate and neat; she thinks she is really letting things go if she doesn't make her bed. However, I noticed when I was down there recently that she does have a lot of things stuffed in her closets and drawers and other closed in non-visible areas that is not really necessary or useful.Interesting.

I decluttered a bookcase today and have a stack of books on the donate basket to be gone through to see if any of them are worth selling on Amazon, otherwise they go to the Friends of the Library. I finished the project I had decluttering over my desk and dealt with the items I took down from there.

Other than that I made a couple of meals and made my bed (!) and kept things pretty well picked up today; did a little reading and attended an online meeting and rested a bit this afternoon which may make it possible for me to attend the meeting tonight. Brought the garbage can in and noted that they did not pick up the lamppost I left out there but the lawn man is coming tomorrow and I will ask him to haul it away.

On the "fail" side, I found a book in the bookcase, hardbound, that I just bought again and got in the mail yesterday the paperback edition (blush).

Peace,
Kathy

finishing up breakfast after i spent a lazy morning in the shower, today is kitchen and dailies and bedrooms. If the sun comes out we'll go to the back yard and pick it up a bit, if not we might pick up the living room.
In Chat today working with a few people. Kids are home for the Summer so I may be afk unexpectedly, no worries, I will be back

Good morning, everyone.

Barb: I'm sorry about your computer issues! Bummer!

Tillie: Wow! Sounds like there has been a bit of cooperation in your household! That's nice! Hope Twinkles gets much better soon.

diane: Glad you got so much done yesterday. Glad you could be at the daytime chat!

Me: I mentioned in an earlier post about my trash that didn't get picked up by the city. Apparently that happened up and down the block. I didn't end up calling the city about it yesterday, but apparently someone else did. It finally got picked up. Now I can fill the trash can up again this week!

I mentioned that I won't be at chat tonight (at least not for most of it) because I have a special (annual) event to attend. Although I will probably do a little laundry and will probably do a little more wall-washing today (once I find where I put my sponges . . . I had them recently!), I'm not planning to spend much time today focusing on cleaning/decluttering. Instead, much of it will be a day of writing and of reflection in preparation for tonight's event. I might pop into our afternoon "work chat" for a bit, though, if anyone is doing that today.

Happy Tuesday!

Computer crashed yesterday. May be offline for a while.

10:15 pm here and he just finished cleaning out all the food related trash from his bedroom and vacuuming some of the exposed carpeting.
Twinkles can safely sleep in there tonight now.

For those who don't know, Twinkles is scheduled for teeth cleaning in the morning and is not to have any food after midnight.

Now we can all go to sleep.
:)

hello, I spent the day in the chat room working on dishes, healthy food, yard work. I dealt with my IRA situation and was emotionally drained when I signed on, felt so much better after completed tasks. Was a good experience.

Got everything done on my afternoon goal list except for the greeting card part. Thanks to those in the chat room today for your encouragement. Have something to attend this evening, so I might or might not get that done today.

Hope everyone has a good and restful night tonight.

Kathy, when I notice how often other people get a lot done but don't seem to recognize the degree of their own progress, then it helps me "have some faith" that I, too, have made more progress than I "feel" like I've made.

Tillie, I feel for you when it comes to having to clean up after all those moths. Ugh. By the way, I am thinking (although I don't have my answers yet) about your question about the "unquestioned" rules we've adopted through the years. Remember that old game, "Button, button, who's got the button?" Maybe we need a game called "Button, button, why do I have the button?"

The early part of my morning went well with my revised plans. I got those early morning goals done fairly quickly. Then I just felt really tired, and I tried to get some more rest. I finally feel up to attacking some more tasks. Here are some of my plans for the next few hours: Get a bank deposit made, buy a couple of items (including tissues) at my local drug store, get my "packet" of supplies ready for my next trip to that rural area, get some greeting cards printed out that I plan to give to a couple of friends tomorrow, and get two bills ready for the mail. I also want to experiment with using some cleaning solution on walls that were stained during flooding here several months back.

Have a great Monday, everyone!

I considered whether to try to attend last night's chat, but since I had been awake since 3 am I decided to go to sleep at 8 pm and try again on Tuesday.

My head is spinning with all the projects I need to do this week and I'm having a hard time prioritizing and focusing. It doesn't help much when I have to make phone calls and leave messages, so I can't finish anything.

I did get to the pharmacy and drop off a prescription, and go to the pet store to buy dog food. I did print out the readings and find the bulletins for next Sunday, step one for the services then. I called my mom and got through to her on the third try; I made two phone calls about getting her transportation to the congregate dining and activity sites for seniors.

As far as getting rid of things is concerned, I need to get the trash out today, and I'm setting a goal to declutter the bookshelf over my computer desk today. I also called my lawn person who is going to come and cut the lawn and trim shrubs and haul away brush on Wednesday.

It all looks like more than it feels like I actually got done, but that is probably a good thing.

Peace,
Kathy

Good morning :)

Reading the message board, drinking my tea, watering the garden and making up my To-Do list for today.
Cats have been fed.
The "Peace" rose bloomed this morning and has really outdone it's self. Absolutely beautiful. :D
Have everything ready for Twinkles already. Carrier and plans for isolating him from any food over night. A nice place for him to recover in from his teeth cleaning when he comes back home.
No moths around this morning! :D
Guess they have all migrated to Winnemucca or something.
Happy that is over with but now have some serious cleaning to do. Depressing what a mess they have made.
Got very little sleep last night. Scooter was all wound up and acting quite insane.
Will do what I can around here today and hope to get some sleep tonight.

Monday, the start of a fresh new week so full of possibilities.

Good morning. Great to "see" so many of you on the chat last night, and great to "meet" some new people as well.

Thanks for that important set of reminders you posted on the spirituality thread, Barb.

My original plans for this morning were to get up and out the door early to get outside work done before it got too hot. I did get up early, but I did not have a restful night. I do not think my body is ready for that outside work yet. Fortunately, that work doesn't absolutely have to be done today.

My plans for the next couple of hours or so include making a fresh batch of tea, putting up the laundry I dried yesterday, spending ten to twenty minutes on paperwork, unloading a couple of tools from my vehicle, and adding to my gratitude list.

Iced tea clink to your coffee cup, Roxie. Have a great day, everyone.

Yea for the improved fridge situation, Tillie!

Among other things, today I did some laundry, did a little reading in Digging Out while I was at the Laundromat, unloaded the dishwasher, got a couple of grocery items, and got together with family. Replaced my smoke alarm battery. Planning to be at the chat tonight for a while. "See" you at the chat.

Hi to everyone.

By now, I know I've forgotten some of what I did yesterday, but here's what I do recall: Repacked for yet another trip out to that rural area. Then cleaned part of the bottom shelf of the refrigerator; that part of the fridge now looks a lot better. Got some trash ready to take out. Met with some friends in the morning, ate an early lunch, then (with sunscreen and plenty to drink, plus safety equipment like goggles) went out to actually do my work in that rural area. Got some weeds whacked down that were interfering with entry to one of the gates, made some progress cutting down a small tree (unwanted, invasive species), made sure my animals were OK, and visited with a friend of mine who lives near there. Next I went to the place where I'd done so much work Friday morning; trash people never had picked up the trash I'd put out. I don't know if the trash truck came extra early or what. Will have to investigate that. Frustrating. Came back home and got my clothes and myself cleaned up and ate my supper. Spent time on the phone with a friend.

Never did buy my new smoke alarm battery (forgot). Need to put that on today's agenda.

I did read posts last night, even though I didn't post anything myself. Hugs to all.

Spent all today with good friends helping them move. tired and in need of a shower now, but I feel good because these are people I love who have come to mean so very much to me. I'm behind on my housework, but i think it'll be okay. Monday is my son's last day of school and it's only a half day, so I'll have lots of help from now on getting the house in check and ready to move.

Roxie, my health is my #2 reason for trying to ditch the weight. My #1 is setting a better example for my kids. As for potted plants, that was totally my plan :)

Ramblin thoughts...

Ever since I can remember the "RULE" has been
If you have a stray button or find a button
the button was to be set aside in the assigned container for buttons.
The button box, button jar, button tin.
At first I was instructed to place the button in my mother's or my Grandmother's button box.
Then one day when I was eight years old I had a new sweater that came with a spare button attached to the price tag.
Asked my mother what I should do with this button and she told me to start my own button box, so I did.
Over the years my button container has changed many times but since 1988 I have been using a beautiful hand painted tin that had belonged to someone I loved very very much.
She treasured this tin and now I do too.
Well...
without ever thinking about it I have been dropping stray buttons into my own button box for over fifty two years now.
Never even thought to question this practice.
It was the "RULE". Right?
Another part of the rule was when something was worn out, a rag, the buttons were to be removed and added to the button box.
This rule was because "you never know when you are going to need a button".
Decided that I am going to disobey the "RULE" for the rest of my life.
Even going so far as to dump out all those buttons, put them all into a one gallon size zip lock baggie and donate them to the charity thrift shop.
I do feel a bit guilty that I may be contributing to some poor hoarders addiction when they see that three and a half pound bag of buttons and just can't resist buying it.

I still have some buttons, nice ones that are in matching sets to add to the clothing I may make but they all fit in one hand.

What "RULES" are you following blindly?
Want to join me in my button revolution? :D

Hi to all. Wrote something I intended to post yesterday, but I was so sleepy by the time I finished that I didn't post it. Here it is (revised):

Got the goals done that I posted for Thursday night.

Friday: Got up and out the door very early in morning, sprayed myself well with bug repellent, and went to do outside work at my family home before trash truck came and before things got too hot. Later, got a load of laundry washed and dried, got my vehicle registration renewed, got a couple of things picked up from an AAA office that I want to use on an upcoming out-of-state trip, and later spent some time on the phone with a couple of friends.

Didn't sleep soundly Thursday night. One thing that didn't help with sleep is that another smoke alarm started chirping in the middle of the night, asking for a new battery. I was extra tired Friday evening and went to sleep very early. Got more (and much more sound) sleep Friday night than Thursday. (Yea!) One goal for Saturday: get a new 9v battery for the smoke alarm and put the alarm back in its place.

More later (probably). Breakfast time. Hugs to all.

Tillie, your garden sounds so beautiful! I didn't even plant my bulbs this year as I knew we were moving to an apartment and I'm terribly happy that someone gets to enjoy growing things, even if it isn't me! I love gardens and hope to have one of my own again someday.

hihi!
Been a bit busy and some days it's been murky but this week hasnt been too bad. I'm still maintaining the bedrooms, the kitchen and the bathrooms. The Den needs to be vacuumed, but the Man's been home and I can't vacuum around him because of his allergies. The laundry is still being done on a daily basis and I've been a lot better about putting everything away in a timely manner. It's not perfect, but as so many of you have said, Baby steps. It's been pouring buckets since early evening yesterday and it's pretty blah out. Stayed in bed this morning after the boy went to school which was nice, haven't been able to sleep well lately. Before you start asking I can tell you it's a fun combination of allergies, seasonal light shift, and general discomfort from being obese and sleeping on a less than par mattress. New Bed and Mattress is on the list. Lose weight is also on the list. Today though I'm going to do my dailies, and enjoy the floors that the kids and I cleaned last night. I might clean the laundry room floor as well although the reason I haven't yet is because I hate spiders and the laundry room seems to be one of their favorite places to be.
Working on a few projects with my art as well, and will post the results on my Deviantart account when I'm finished.
As for now, I'm enjoying a cup of coffee and a few muffins for my brunch. I'm also in the chat room today if anyone wants to join me either to get some work done together, or just because you want to talk.

Today I got paperwork together then went to city to get 25% off my water/sewer/garbage, saves me $15 a month. Glad I had done the filing so knew where papers were, still took quite awhile.
This morning scraped some paint off deck then ran the pressure washer again, still needs a little work before painting it. I will check online for best product to use to preserve deck. The wood is very old so some of it is mushy after pressure washing. Deck was here when I bought the place in 1996, so deck is probably close to 30 years old. I have kept it coated with various stains and paints over the years. This time I want to actually clean it, do research, and put good product on it. I usually just spray with hose, take chunks of build up off, then get frustrated and slap any old paint or stain on it. still have sink full of dishes to do before max comes tomorrow am. Looking forward to having him here by himself for the weekend.
All laundry is now done, finished cleaning deck rugs today. will water lawn tonight
do dishes? take a shower hopefully.
thanks tillie for describing how you deal with anger

Goals for the rest of the evening: Spend ten minutes on paperwork, spend a few minutes vacuuming, add to my gratitude list, then do a little reading.

Tillie: I was thinking just today about how feeling resentful simply isn't worth it. Glad you posted about that type of thing.

Well, I just got home about an hour ago from dealing with that "business matter." I'd been expecting an important bill that I knew should be due soon. Although I thought it was possible I could have misplaced it, I was pretty sure it never arrived. I decided to go to the company, inquire about the bill in person, and pay it while I was there. As it turned out, the correctly-addressed bill had been misdelivered (put in the wrong PO box) and later had been returned to the sender. I am grateful that (1) it wasn't a case of my having lost a bill, (2) my brain had worked well enough to remember that this bill should have arrived by now (just comes twice a year), (3) I had had my paperwork organized well enough to locate the account number that I needed, and (4) it's now paid (would have been due Monday). Sometimes, it's just nice to know: it wasn't me this time! : )

I also ate a decent lunch today, loaded the dishwasher, and got a couple of birthday cards put into the mail.

I'm very mildly sad because there's an event I would like to attend tonight that I've decided not to go to. Weather in the area is just too stormy to risk the long drive. Other than family events and recovery-type meetings, I don't do much socially these days. (I'm trying to improve on that; it's a struggle to do certain social things, a struggle to even want to sometimes. But this time I wanted to.) I guess I can be happy that I had the want-to for this. (I'd better quit writing about it before I change my mind.) Going to eat some supper now, run the dishwasher, and then maybe I'll post a few simple goals for the evening. Hugs to all.