Hi Roxie :)
Put on a jacket & warm socks and sit out in the sunshine. :D

Thank you Tatoulia :) (((HUGS)))

Good morning everyone.
No electrical problems last night. YEA!!!
He is still hospitalized.
Since he refuses rehab they are making arrangements for a home health nurse to visit and have found him a local primary care physician.

What this means for me...........
I will be taking care of an invalid.
Also since he will no longer be able to do much of anything I will be the one who has to clean up his hoard in the yard.
Then some day clear out the floor to rafters over stuffed garage.
Along with finding full time work to pay the bills around here.

Why do I feel that all this is unfair?
I am an ungrateful brat. ;P

The yard/carport area must be cleared to make it walker/wheelchair/ramp accessible.
No more hazardous narrow goat trails to get into the house.

There will be four of us doing this work.
It will take us a while to get it done.

Have a nice day :)

Tillie, my dear. If I knew the right thing to say, I would say it. What a difficult time for you and Mr. Sending you much love.

I bet it is beautiful where you are Tillie. It's raining cats and dogs here. Just getting home at 8:30 from a long day of work, including teaching a class on my lunch break, followed by taking care of brother.

LR you are doing such a good job--I had to smile a little--I've heard about people who find cleaning therapeutic! Seriously, I'm glad that you've found something to help de-stress.

Glad to hear from everyone. I too am missing Diane, and quite a few others, too.

Yesterday I kept my word and vacuumed bedroom and then vacuumed library/den. This AM i made sure all dishes were in dishwasher.

I am making a new bag for goodwill. Found some stuff that last year was a no-go but yesterday was a go. I thank you all for that. It is always a group effort.

If I neglected to mention you by name, it's being tired. Thank you all. Was great to see so many posts. We trudge through these times together.

Thank you
Dave :)
Karl :)
LR2014 :)
Roxie :)




Diane, where are you? :(

Hugs back at ya, Tillie.

Hi EVERYBODY!!!

Good news is I got the tree wells all rebuilt and the trees watered this morning.

Not so good news is he is still in hospital because they are trying to get his blood and vitals to acceptable ranges.

Last night there was some kind of power/electrical issue here at the house.
Didn't get much sleep trying to find the problem and worrying about any dangers it may present.
Neighbor friend (male) helped me this morning.
Still no idea what happened.
Maybe a ghost or worse. ;)

Beautiful day here in northern Nevada.
Cloudless blue skies, gentle breeze, not too hot or too cold.

WAY TO GO! for all and any accomplishments and especially for posting here about things in your lives.

I am so freakin depressed. (((HUGS)))

Hi to everyone. I've been feeling pretty uptight and stressed out lately, so today I'm taking a thinking break . . . a break from my brain. So far, I've done some general cleaning tasks here: washed, dried, folded, put away a load of laundry; did some cleaning on the bathtub; did a little dusting. In the past, I wouldn't have thought of cleaning and household chores as "breaks." Right now, though, they are serving that purpose. I have also been doing some reading here on the message board. I will probably take a walk later after the winds here die down (has been a very, very windy day).

Good to hear from all of you. Looking forward to reading more!

Sounds lovely Dave. :)

GOOD MORNING EVERYBODY!!! :)

Have been having a hard time accessing the website. :(
YEA!!! today looks like it is back to normal! :D

Thank you all for your advice and suggestions. :)
Unfortunately, he is being very resistant about going to a rehab center.
Just wants to come home.
He says the fan noise bothers him and he can't sleep.
He has been complaining that he can't sleep anyway because the hospital is too busy and noisy and people keep waking him up for vitals and blood draws every time he does fall asleep.
He is complaining about everything.
I can tell he is extremely depressed.
Just wants to be home holding Marty (the cat),
says that is what will make him better.

So nice to read all your posts! :)
HI! to everyone. :)

What am I doing today?
I have no idea.
Will do the cat related tasks.
Take a shower.
Hang around here waiting for the phone to ring or an email to pop up.
Will probably fall asleep about noon again.
Even though I have been going to sleep about 8/9pm, waking up about 6/7am, I am still exhausted all day long.

Everybody keep posting.
Even if you have little or nothing to post about.

Look for the small things that bring you pleasure.
Like the birds singing or the Spring flowers blooming or reading posts from our family here on the message board. (((hugs)))

Coffee clink, Roxie! Oh those painful cramps. How awful!

I do know that some of the hospitals have fans but over the years I learned to just travel with one--sometimes the patient just can't wait for the personnel to find "the fan." One thing really sweet that happened once is my brother and I were watching local news and some poor soul had a beef with his landlord about some distressing stuff, and my brother said "if he had you for a sister, he'd have a new apartment AND a fan." That really touched me.


Vacuumed the bedroom. Very pleased that I'm trying to do right by myself and getting some long-forgotten habits reestablished.

Have a great day everyone!

Hi Karl. I'm busily trying to reset my own clock since I've been lazy all winter. I find I'm getting a lot done and I have more focus. I'm going to bed at a reasonable time (for me, that's 11 PM) and I'm working hard to get up at 7 AM at the latest. I'm going for a walk during the day and one again around 5:30/6 PM. I'm not letting myself nap. I've only been doing this for a few days but already I feel better and I'm more focused! Good luck with getting back on track. Sleep is so important.

Today I will vacuum bedroom as part of regular weekly maintenance habits I'm trying to develop. Dusted bedroom furniture on Monday. Need to make some more decisions re is there anything I can part with? I bet there is. The first thing I want to get rid of is my stupid down jacket. I bought it last year and wore it maybe twice. I've had to wear it so much this winter that I'm ready to scream. After I have it laundered, I will donate it with the stupid gloves that go with it. I'm sick of it. But I need to dig deeper and find more "treasures" to de-accession from the collection.

Hello everyone! Glad to hear you are getting stronger, Roxie! Good to have a small break, Tillie, although I am sure you are filled with worry. I hope Mr isn't too upset being in a hospital. I know you are in the medical field and I don't have any true medical training but I know from taking care if anxious and depressed people, they seem to do a lot better in a hospital room if there is a fan going. I just bring a small fan with me. Something about the air keeps them from feeling claustrophobic and the sound can be soothing, too. Just a suggestion if Mr is feeling anxiety.

I made great progress yesterday and couldn't access the site to post. Funny how often I tried to get this to work--my progress is much more meaningful with my friends.

I am doing well in getting out, not napping and going to bed. Almost was on time for work today. (Contrast with last Friday 1-1/2 hours late). I dusted bedroom and cleaned the other side table. I made tough decision re one bed pillow (tossed) and put another object I loved into goodwill bag. It's time. Time for someone else to love. One of my side tables has merely a lamp and one object on it. It looks so pretty, like a magazine.

Got all of my garbage out last night. I've been sleeping after work all winter then don't have the will to take garbage out. I've been sleeping in so late that I miss the pick up. So extremely pleased.

Hi Tatoulia :)
WAY TO GO!!!
for accomplishing so much and for your well thought out future plans and life changes. :D
Getting a good nights sleep is so very important for our physical and mental well being.

Hi Dave :)
So TRUE!
Cory and his crew know all too well the dangers we face when cleaning out a hoard.
His number one rule is to wear a proper face mask for the job.
Along with wearing the proper clothing and footwear.
Cory wrote a great blog post here about the dangers of hantavirus, something that is always a threat to me when I am out in the garage/carport hoard because of all the deer mice living there.

I took yesterday off, just sat and stared.
Today I will wash dishes and run the vacuum.
All caught up on laundry & the bathroom is still clean.
Housework is very minimal here with Mr. Hoarder in the hospital.
He "may" be released later this week if there are no more set backs or they may send him to a rehab place till he can walk better.

Happy Monday :)

Dave, thank you. I would have never thought of that.

Hi everyone. Good to hear from you Tillie. I can imagine how nerve-wracked you must be. Wow, you did a lot of work in his room--it really is a thankless job. When I cleaned out the trash-hoarding friend's place, I kept asking myself would I rather die doing something I love or doing something I hate. It seems that frequently people say things like, well, at least she died doing something she loved. And I would giggle to myself, saying that if I don't live through cleaning out someone else's fillth, it sure sounded good to me!

Today I had the first productive day I've had in a long time. The hard winter here kept me inside quite a bit, and I also ate so much and weight has ballooned. I didn't think that brownies baked during a snowstorm (and then served ala mode) would be so physically cruel to me, anyway my lunch plans for today were changed so I ended up having a lot of time to myself and I made good use of it, including going to the Apple store to get my iPhone fixed. I haven't just walked around for the heck of it in so long. And I've been putting off the iPhone fix for a while, so I feel good about all of it, I need to go back to the store on Wednesday. I also spent time with mom, with BF and I did my taxes. Sheets are changed and bedroom is in pretty good shape. I've been napping a lot this winter so have decided today to take steps to reset my clock--I seem to sleep late, then take a nap, then am up til all hours of the night and then the morning rolls around and I've overslept, and it starts all over again. So I didn't nap today and I'm going to try to get into bed by 11 PM.

That's all the news here. Will vacuum and dust bedroom tomorrow and will rethink the necessity of some of my knickknacks. I think some need to go into a witness relocation program....far away from me.

Good morning :)

It is morning, again.
No news is good news and there is no new news to note here.

I need to wash some dishes today.
I do NOT want to.
All I want to do is sit and stare off into space.

The day is cloudy, no sunbeams. Maybe that will change later on, hope so.

Had 8 small red potatoes laying around here. Decided yesterday to make them into potato salad.
Too dry, needs more mayo, an easy fix.

This will be another day hanging out at home with the cats waiting for the phone to ring or emails to pop up.
Better here than at the hospital. At least here I can get some rest and eat more regularly.

OK. Now I need to find the motivation to get dressed and brush my hair.

Hoping to hear from you all and see what you are up to today.

(((hugs))) :D

Bitsy could I convince you to come here and help with my taxes? I am no closer too having them done today as I was any other day. Roxie, good to hear from you! I am now craving a cup of coffee but sadly do not have any decaf here.

Tillie I am pleased to hear of Mr T's continued recovery. Congratulations on working through the slop in his bedroom. Please know I'm sending every ounce of good wishes your way.

Yes, Roxie, I too wonder who took my body and energy and replaced them with....this.

Good night to everyone--I didn't meet my challenge today but I did get a bag of dresses together (one with a hefty price tag still on it*sigh*) and took the bag to my car. Have only done two loads of laundry and didn't change my sheets. I'm blaming the sleeping cat on my bed for this one. But I made myself a delicious dinner and I guess that's something. All dishes in dishwasher and I'll wipe down counters now.

Roxie
It's good to come here and see that you have posted.
I'm glad your heart and breathing are doing better.
I have real energy problems too! The years piled up when I was occupied with "more important things"

Tillie
I am so pleased to see you are home again and that Mr. Tillie is doing better. I hope he appreciates the work you did in his room. It must feel good to have the trash and garbage out of there.

Main thing for this afternoon here is to help my son get his taxes done.

Good morning
I am back home again.
Got a lot of sleep last night but am still all worn out.
He is doing ok but will still be in the hospital a while.
Hopefully nothing else will happen to set him back again.

Today I will do my laundry.
Want to do garden stuff but afraid to get all tired and dirty in case I need to rush back to the hospital.

Got a wide center of his bedroom floor area all clear.
Stuff still as he left it all stacked/piled/heaped all around the edges.
But all garbage, dirty dishes and dirty laundry has been taken care of and his bed is all fresh and clean and made up.

Thank you all for the "WTG's" and positive posts and thoughts.
It truly has give me strength and comfort through this trying ordeal. (((HUGS)))

Good morning everyone! I need to make some firm goals today. Saturdays are generally tough for me due to family obligations. My goals are:

One bag to goodwill
Do taxes (which means I have to find all paperwork)

Regular maintenance change sheets, do laundry, dest bedroom


Anyone else feel like setting goals today? If so I'd love to hear them! I'm going to gather some donations.

Thanks LR. I am consistently happy when I see that you've posted! And congratulations on you one year anniversary.

Tillie--keeping my prayers going in your direction.

Hello to everyone--under stress at work. Just showered and going to go lay down.

Tatoulia, I just now read one of your posts from several days ago. Thanks for the sweet comments. I get lots of encouragement from hearing about your progress. I remember (somewhat fondly, actually) the "suspense" when you were first getting ready to attack TDC. It's so great to be able to go through all the ups and downs and joys and fears and challenges of this process together. Lots of hugs!

Hi, all. Sorry, Tillie, that there's more surgery that has to happen again. Hugs.

Tatoulia, I like that notion about having tasks that we do without thinking about them. Unfortunately, making beds is not that type of habit for me, but I realize I do have my own tasks that I do without thinking about them. I like the idea of adding more such tasks to my list.

Yes, Dave, the clearing out the drawer concept you mentioned could be helpful to me in a number of areas (not just the vehicle). Thanks.

Roxie, so good to hear from you! I'm doing more hot tea than iced tea at the moment, so . . . hot tea clink to your coffee cup!

Hi, Diane, Karl, Bitsy, and others! Looking forward to hearing more updates.

I got a little bit more work done on my vehicle today (emphasis on "little"). At least I did get some work done on it!

Hugs to everyone!

Your special house or the antics of your cats or your pretty back yard will take you to the quietness inside where your strength resides.

Back into surgery again today.
Complications.
Still not out of the woods. :(
My nerves are totally shot.

Wish I had better news to post.
Keep up all the fantastic forward progress.
(((hugs)))

Good morning, everyone! Great to see so many of you! Diane, that is a nice, sweet thought! Yes! You need to love yourself! I am working at home today so will fit in a little maintenance.

Plan: vacuum bedroom. I vacuumed last week, need to establish it needs to be done once a week. I have already emptied clean dishwasher, filled it with last night's dishes, changed the cat's placemat and made my bed. Making my bed shouldn't count because I've made it every single day of my life, I don't even notice that I'm doing it. That's where I want the dishes to be. In a category where I don't even think about it.

Have a wonderful day, everyone. Congratulations on your good work!

Good morning. Tillie, hugs as you deal with all that "stuff" in his room. You have a lot of compassion as a human being to be doing what you are doing for him. Glad you have the chance to be at your own home and with your kitties.

Diane, I think that what you said in your last post is a great goal for many of us: "I will do the best I can to improve and for now, accept I can love myself even on days I do not make much progress." I like that.

I spent a little time yesterday morning making use of the tool that I had gotten back "up and running" on Monday. That was satisfying. I also spent a lot of time working on my "vehicle project." I did a lot of churning at first, but I eventually made some progress. I also found a "significant item" while I was going through the stuff in there.

Karl, thank you for your help yesterday as I worked on this project.

Hugs to everyone.

So true Tillie, no place like home. Happy you are able to love on kitties.
Where did the time go today. I pulled weeds today, washed more dishes.
I think it was you Tat, that said you are messy. Well today I saw and accepted I am messy. I will do the best I can to improve and for now, accept I can love myself even on days I do not make much progress.

You are amazing Tillie. Take a nice hit shower, put on fresh nightclothes and get some sleep. Are you also taking care of neighbor's animals this week?

Wish I were there to help.

HI! EVERYBODY :D
Please forgive me for not responding to all of you individually.

Taking a break & a breather.
Been working hard all day doing the extreme clearing and sorting out of his bedroom.
So far...
I have done 8 loads of his laundry
Filled 3 big trash bags with garbage and LOTS of rotted food type yuck.
Filled 2 burn barrels with paper food wrapper type stuff
and sorted out the still edible food stuff from the other clutter.

I estimate that I still have 4 more loads of laundry to do and 3 more big bags of garbage to bag up.

Haven't even started cleaning/washing/straightening/organizing in there.

Think I will shut the door and call it a day
but I got a good head start in there today. :)

All the kitties are so happy I am home but they are keeping a close eye on me just in case I get "lost" again and can't find my way back home.

There's no place like home. ;)

Keep your chin up Tillie. Will write more later. Til then I hope you can sleep and shower and just find some time to be yourself, before you have to mentally and physically prepare for the road ahead