Good morning :)
I'm still here.
Today I am going to try to clean the kitchen after I finish all the cat tasks.

:)

Thanks diane,
I'm feeling a lot better. I took 2 ibuprofens a little over 2 hours ago; and they helped a lot. Thanks for making me smile. :)

Hi MayMay, hope you are feeling better tonight. I can visualize you all curled up crying one day and prancing around in your swimsuit the next day!! Trying to get a smile out of you. Do hope you are feeling your fiesty self tomorrow

Hi everyone. :)

Sorry I haven't been posting a lot lately. :(

I've just been super busy. And today I haven't been feeling very well. I've been having really bad stomach cramps all day. Earlier today the cramps were so bad; and all I did was lay in the fetal position on my bed and cry. :(

Right, I never got around to posting that here. I passed the inspection, and the landlords didn't complain about little stuff -- they were happy with it being generally clean and clutter-free. I got this email from Mrs Landlord afterwards:

• I hope that you are able to finish the clean up on the hood filter and the frame. Use hot water with a good degreaser, the oven-off will eat up the protective clear finish on the frame and therefore it can rust later on. Use a good old tooth brush on the filter surface to dis lodge any oily build up. If you need any assistance, let me know.
  
• You did a great job in cleaning up your dining area and kitchen of the plastic clutter and every day dirt! I'm amazed!
  
• Our next inspection date is on August 17, 2013. at 10 AM. I realize that its 3 weeks away, and thought that we should get back on track. If you need a full month, Please! let me know ASAP.
  
• Your continue cleaning effort to have a more comfortable living space and home is most appreciated.
  

She doesn't seem to have noticed that the 17th actually is four weeks after, and three weeks would be the 10th. But I think I should be able to make an early deadline of the 10th, even. It'll be for bathroom, hallway, and closets.

I've already been doing work in the bathroom; the cupboards are half-organized, though I'll want to move a few items around yet. The hallway area is small, I can vacuum it when I do the living room; I'll just have to find better locations for the stuff that's currently stacked there. I think the closets are pretty close to being OK as-is, but I'll empty and repack each of them to make sure, and also vacuum the inside. The linen closet has blankets and stuff -- someone (Tillie?) suggested I can store unused blankets between the box spring and mattress of my bed; that sounds like an excellent space-saver.

Janie, sounds like you are making a great decision to focus on work and studying. As long as you keep
the living area liveable, I think it is fine to do maintenance every couple of days, if you see it getting out of hand, you can put in the time to keep it as you now have it. You have given a lot of time and thought to responding to all of our posts and revealing lots of info about yourself, which I thank you for. I will really miss your posts, and am happy you are doing the right think to nurture yourself. Good you noticed you felt overwhelmed early enough that you could change routine before you had an accident or got sick, which we seem to do to slow us down! Looking forward to hearing how things are going. Maybe you could just post about your life so won't take much time. Thanks again for all you have given us. Hugs and congrats

Thanks Dianne. You are so funny about wanting to do laundry. I just finished a load of laundry, and put in dryer for several minutes to get wrinkles out then hung on line to finish drying. I am sweating, thought really dumb to do laundry when it is so hot, then I read your post and now I am glad I was able to do laundry, so thanks Dianne.

Short on sleep again, but I hope to be able to catch up now that things are less hectic. I had supper early, now waiting for people to show up in the Tuesday chat.

Ali, sounds like all went well with surgery, happy you are being well taken care of, thanks for letting us know you are ok.
Thanks for the hugs Dianne, Roxie, Janie, sure needed them and appreciate reading all you wrote and also helpful suggestions.
Yesterday a friend picked me up and took me to a lake, since I was a sobbing mess, she decided the best treatment would be nature, and she was so right. We climbed up towards a higher lake for an hour, then realized I was too out of shape to go another hour, very steep switchbacks, so we went back to lower lake. I did a happy dance in the water, my first happy dance in many months. So grateful she talked me into leaving my problems at home and just go with her. The heavy exercise would lift anyones spirits I think. Such a beautiful area, so many beautiful trees, clean cool water, so grateful. This morning I moved all the stuff I haven't gone through yet to one area, it was all over the place, thus I could not see progress. I feel better even though there is a huge bunch of bins, boxes and bags full, I can see how much is left to do. And I do not have to do it this week, just nice to consolidate. Cleaned and painted more of the floor this morning. Caught two more mice. 5 down, 600 to go, lets hope not.
Yesterday did some painting before she picked me up at 8am. Last night watered yard, did dishes.
Today would like to bag up a wool rug I don't want Molly to pee on, and will put in garage until she is gone. I have plastic, blankets, and towels for her on couch and daybed. Carry her out to yard, doesnt want to pee out there today, did last night, I am working on doggie underwear today. She is not real keen on it. Thanks again for all the support.

Started a 3 day film making course. I'm getting a voice.

I am out if the hospital & recovering at my daughters home. Being spoiled with really good food and wide open spaces. I will probably return to my home Thurs or Fri. Hope you are all doing well. Must admit I thought about Karl every time they offered me ice cream in the hospital. (Smile)

Keep On, Keeping On.

Good morning :)

Been a rough few days here but today things are starting to look up.
Marty (the cat) is doing better and so am I.
Temperatures are supposed to be better with a chance of thunder storms.

My To-Dos for today are...
Cat stuff- water/food/scoop boxes. Remember Marty's meds.
Take it easy and rest.
Make and eat some real food. Maybe brown rice & veggies?

Wonderful to see everybody here! :D

Oh, dear, I am all upside down and befuddled. Went to sleep around 11pm and awoke around 2am and here I am, reading long articles and postings and such, waiting for the sun to come up in another hour or more.

I did pick up meds yesterday (yesterday?...I think so?). I also rounded up the outdoor dishes (cats) in order to wash them later.

I've been having to fiddle with the computer crashing too often. Grump.

Diane, Janie, how you doing? Janie, I vote to toss those kitty icked things. IMHO the smell never fully comes out but maybe only the cats notice.

Hi all. Looking forward to your posts. I'll sign on again later. Already brushed my teeth for today's count. If I finish out July with a successful once a day routine, in August I'll shoot for 2x a day. yes.

Roxie and Janie, thanks for sharing so much of your self, and congrats on all you accomplished!

Dang, I wrote this long post in the middle of the night, and it disappeared. :(

Yesterday: brushed teeth, bathed, shampooed, clean clothes, grocery shopping, grocery putting away, put clean dishes away, did another load of dishes, emptied two dresser drawers for clothing donatins, watered plants, brought big garbage bin back up to the house, took two bags of books to the car for donation.

Slept until just now. Have to go off to pick up meds and start my real day.

Hugs to all.

Thanks Dianne and Janie, really difficult day today with incontinence and her legs giving out at times, I know what is coming and it is so difficult to deal with the decline knowing I will have to live without her, she is the bright spot in every day. I will miss her so much. 14 years is the longest relationship I have had

OMG! I have just read up on Hoarders High. At least nothing come into the home apart from my vision.

thanks for the update Janie, I was wondering how you are doing. I understand about the horror of a cleaning person seeing our mess. I am impressed that you are maintaining downstairs, congrats. Good girl for buckling down and studying.
Yes, my dog has been on Canine C/D prescription food for kidneys for several years, so I assume it is kidney shut down. What was the progression of your dogs decline, if you don't mind sharing. She has been drinking a lot of water for a few years, and urine is almost clear, as you described. She doesn't appear to know she is peeing, usually asleep when it slips out, she awakes with a start and looks around to see what woke her up, then tries to lick it up, poor girl. Thanks so much for sharing your dog story.

Karl, sounds like you are really ready for inspection, so great
Tillie, sorry to hear you are ill, happy to hear from you.
Roxie, sounds like such a nurturing day.
Ok, so I woke up and decided to clean out the final section of the garage, not that the rest is organized, but is painted. This area has not been seen in 20 years, great layer of dirt. Got it all cleaned and painted this morning, looks great, took two coats, bare wood. Now have to figure out what goes where, and not just stuff things. Will be so nice when things are where I can find them. Wastes so much time looking for things.
Now to mouse patrol. I broke down yesterday and set traps for mice. 3 greeted me this morning.
There might be hundreds for all I know, been so long since anything out there had been moved.
My dog continues to pee on couch, day bed, and outside lounger when she falls asleep. Checked her urine again, no infection, no sugar in urine, so don't know if it is just being 14 or needs vet. I did put plastic on daybed, now have lots of towels on couch. today was first pee on couch. Any ideas? Thanks

I'm glad I double-checked the calendar last night -- landlords are arriving at 11, not 10, so I got an extra hour of sleep. Living room and kitchen are both looking good, I think. Some last-minute touch-up to be done yet.

It's Sunday, my favorite day to sit at the computer with a cup of coffee and "visit" with friends.

Although I got up earlier than usual today, I'm very slow to get going. Later. Much later. Need to go get lots of supplies. Need to order prescription refill. Scoop litter, brush teeth, go get the week's mail and the Sunday paper, do dishes. Later. Much later.

Last night two smaller racoons showed up for dinner, and I think they are babies nearly grown. One is quite feisty, growling and spreading his little arms across the plate so no one else dares approach. He also has a big wound on his forehead so I presume he's quite willing to fight about it!

My little feral colony of cats seems to tolerate the racoons and vice versa.

Hugs to all. Please update.

I expect I'll be short on sleep again when they get here for inspection. Stove is cleaned off, but I need to wash the floor, and that will take two sessions since I need to move the table from one side to the other. I'm not feeling very motivated at the moment, but I'll get out some ice cream...

HI :)

So much has been happening here. No time to rest.
I have been sick but had to keep on keeping on.
Marty (the cat) is sick too and needs a lot of care.
The other cats need to be taken care of especially with the temperature at 112 degrees.

Wonderful to finally have a chance to sit still and read the message board. :D

Looks like Marty is improving and I am doing better.
I went grocery shopping this evening and only celery looked good to me, so I got some and some cherries.
I don't think that's enough to last me for two weeks. lol

Hoping things settle down around here now and that I can get some much needed sleep tonight. :)

Where are you Tillie, keep hoping to see something from you, hope you are not under a pile somewhere. Also hoping Steven is being sweet to you, I miss seeing your posts, hope you are ok.