Hey diane,

Yeah I was very excited when I found out that my parents' neighbor got a puppy. :)

The puppy is named Dorothy. My parents' neighbor was having trouble thinking of a name for her, so he let me name her; and I decided to name her Dorothy. She is named after Dorothy Breininger. :)

Maymay sounds like a lot of fun romping with the pups

Last night moved my remaining cord of wood closer to house. This morning moved a little more wood, then worked in garage until wood arrived at 9am. He was on time for the first time ever, was able to stack one cord before I was too hot in the sun, want to finish tonight. I sorted two bins and found 3 fitted sheets for a friend that asked for some sheets. Organized the sorting area a little better. I slept soundly after moving the cord of wood, hopefully tonight will be a repeat, after stacking 2 cords wood. I am physically tired but happy I got the wood. It is in the 80's today so much better than yesterday.
Tillie so happy smoke is clearing and you have the energy to do all the tasks. I may do some work in here or may just rest then stack wood. Tomorrow will finally take a day to go to the lake.

I just found out that my parent's neighbor got a German Shepherd puppy. :D

Now Matt, Cory, and Snuggles have a new friend to play with whenever I take them with me when I go visit my parents. :D

Hello, all. Good to read your updates. Tillie, glad to hear the smoke is clearing and you are feeling better.

Diane, are you okay? You sound a little down sometimes when writing, at least it "feels" that way to me. Gentle hugs.

Janie, you are doing great work! Just remember to include a little time just for you in there.

Yesterday I did more of the same as before: brushed teeth, did dishes, later put dishes away, broke down the remaining cardboard boxes in the kitchen and finally unpacked a huge scratcher lounger I'd ordered for the cats. Blackie immediately claimed it as his own.

Good morning and thank you :)

Big "WAY TO GO!!!" for getting things accomplished! :D

Yesterday the smoke was a lot thinner. They said this "Bison Fire" is the largest ever had in Nevada. Over 1000 people have finally gotten it 61% contained :D

We are feeling better and should be back to normal in a few days. :)

Need to do some cleaning around here.
Already fed the cats and then ran the duster around the walls and ceiling to remove little spider webs.
Want to use the vacuum attachment and get some of this dust off everything.
Need to clean the bathroom. Have the bathroom rug soaking in the wash because "somebody" peed on it. My only girl cat does that when she is unhappy about all the other cats here. :(
Need to sweep floors & porches and vacuum the carpet.
As always, need to scoop litter boxes, take out trash and fill water bowls with fresh water.
I will be so much happier when I get all this done. :)

So, does anybody else have any plans for today? ;) Bet you all do.

Janie, facts of life, seems to always take longer than we think to clean. It has taken me 3 days to clean and paint the shelves in storage room, thought it would take 1 day. Good you are doing one area at a time. You just keep plugging away at it, impressive.
Tillie, hope you are doing OK in the smoke. Hugs to you.

Another hot day here. Went through another few bins and boxes this morning. Rounded up more donations, since trash is full. Once the back seat was totally full, drove it to Goodwill, then went to library to pick up a book I had placed a hold on, read newspaper there, then to bank to pay for wood in cash, then to pick up RX. It is hot. I ordered two cords of wood that were going to be delivered tonight, he changed it to tomorrow 9am, cause too darn hot. Happy about that.
I am so happy I picked up book, it will be good to have book I am looking forward to reading, will help me slow down and relax when so hot.
This morning I was moving stuff to there proper home, and was going to quit for the day, and knocked over a box full of essential oils, yep, managed the mess immediately Tillie.
As I haul more stuff away, I can see some progress, but when I returned and saw my sorting piles, yikes, will try to finish more, or at least condense it for tomorrow am work. Keep thinking if anyone looks they will think sorting piles are always like that!! Productive day, just warn out from heat.

Hey Karl,

He had his back turned because he was going to go let all of the dogs outside. Snuggles, my newest puppy, was really freaking out and barking like crazy while I was laying on the floor playing dead. And my other 2 dogs, Matt and Cory, would not stop licking me while I was on the floor. I think Matt and Cory both knew that I wasn't really dead. It was so hard to keep my cool and not burst out into laughter while they were licking me. Lol.

Oh, man, last night my computer completely crashed and I finally gave up fiddling at about 3am. This morning I turned it on and fed the cats, made coffee, and came back. It was saying it failed to start up and should it run tests. Well, duh.

So, tests run and whatevers fixed and I am happy again. I'd be lost without my computer.

I did little yesterday, but I did brush my teeth, put clean dishes away, rounded up dirty dishes, and broke down a few cardboard boxes so they could be recycled soon. I know I need to be doing more.

Thank goodness for all of you and your posts. ((()))

Wow, MayMay, you're definitely giving me some serious competition in the practical joke department!

I'm a little confused, though. It seems to me that if I saw a loved one's body on the floor, apparently incapacitated, then I would either try to administer first aid, or call emergency services. Neither of those is consistent with him having his back to you, while not holding his phone. What was he doing?

Thanks diane. :)
Yes me, my boyfriend, and my crew aka (my friends) are always doing crazy stuff and having fun. :)

MayMay, sounds like you have so much fun, thanks for sharing it with us.
Tillie, so sorry smoke is bad, it can really zap your energy and make you feel bad. Hopefully winds will shift. Hang in there.

Hey diane,

That was originally what I thought about doing. Lol. But then once I heard him freaking out, I actually started playing dead. And at one point, I opened my eyes to see if he was looking at me. And when I opened my eyes and saw that he had his back turned, I decided to grab his phone, which was a few feet away from me, and quietly crawl to the closet. Once I was in the closet, I used his phone to send a text message to my phone that said "JOSH I'M NOT DEAD! LOOK IN THE CLOSET!" hoping that he would grab my phone and read the text message. Once he grabbed my phone and read the text message, he seriously had the best reaction ever! It was HILARIOUS! I don't know what freaked him out more; finding out that I snuck off to hide in the closet, or my phone receiving a text message from his phone telling him that I wasn't dead and to go look in the closet. Lol.

Hey Tillie,

Sorry the wildfires are so bad near where you live. :(

(((HUGS)))

GREAT JOB TODAY Janie! :D

HI Everybody :)

Wonderful to check in here and read all your progress.
WAY TO GO!!! :D

These days of constant smoke have really taken their toll on me.
I slept in late and was still exhausted when I got up.
Did a few things then spent the day napping off & on. I am just exhausted and my eyes hurt.
The cats have been sleeping a lot too and not eating much and the kitten's eyes are badly watering all day & night.
There's lots of things I would like to do and it's frustrating that physically I'm not up to it.
There are about a thousand people fighting the fire. My thoughts are with them. (((hugs)))

You all bring me so much joy and insight, loved coming in from working and reading your posts for my reward. Today I painted the last shelf in the storage room off walkway, no smell of the rat poison or charcoal lighter fluid, thank goodness I have learned to take care of my messes immediately, Tillie I didn't know that was a rule, never neglect a mess. My motto was leave a spill until it dries, and maybe it will go away magically. I am learning to do things differently on here. Sorted 2 bins of stuff today, then washed 5 bins in the yard, now they are dry and ready for donations. Too hot out for me to do anymore outside for now.
Did dishes, cleaned most of counter, then took this break to get some encouragement to do more today. Reading your posts gave me that help.
I posted most of my stuff from past days on July Challenge, felt good to get that caught up.
I straightened up some of sorting areas.
Tillie, hope you are doing ok with the smoke, thanks for the site to read news on fire.
Roxie, RCT, Roxie clean teeth, 7 days, that is so great. I have been brushing daily, thanks to you, did miss one day so brushed twice next day. Will get back to 2xday, just not ready yet.
Maymay, you are so funny, I can just see him looking at you dead on the floor, then you open your eyes and start laughing (in my mind)
Janie, thanks for the informative post, so nice getting to know you. My yard was a huge eye sore until 3 months ago. I bought this trailer on 1/2 acre, no houses around me, just bare land, so I started the projects, that never got finished. Then 2 really nice houses were built above me, with decks that look down on my yard. Then 2 years ago a huge house with layers of decks, was built across the street from me. So from the top deck they can see my lovely unfinished projects and various piles of junk. I cleaned all dead bushes etc out, got rid of some junk, the rest is now stacked neatly. This was done in many days of long hours, trying to avoid dealing with the interior of the trailer and garage which only had little goat trails. Now have done so much inside it is getting better each week, not by leaps and bounds. Have been really motivated to clean areas in garage and storage that have infestations of rodents and spiders. I had ear to ear grins reading what you wrote Janie.
Never have given a cyber butt kick, and would be glad to start next week
How will I know when a butt kick is due?
You all have become so important to me, thanks so much.

It is so good to read your posts, everyone. Dianne will understand that I am a bit withdrawn at the moment, but I do come and read and get inspiration each day. In fact, I tend to want to sign on here first thing with my computer.

I have seven straight days of teeth brushing in my pocket now. I'm continuing to calendar this and that method seems to be working for me.

I did a load of dishes yesterday and removed more items from my car that were left there from my last cat supply shopping trip. I am now using regular plates to feed the indoor and feral cats their daily canned food, as my pro cleaner suggested (rather than paper plates) as I've run out of paper plates. Not sure I like this. On the one hand, the cats can lick the plates cleaner than paper ones, plus eventually I know I'll pick them up and wash them. Maybe that is the con: I have to pick them up and wash them.

I need to go to the grocery store but I just woke up half an hour ago so who knows when I'll go... I seem to rally later in the day.

Good morning everybody :)

Another day of taking it slow and staying inside as much as possible.
Hoping the smoke here will not get too bad today.

Tidied up the bathroom and swept near the litter box. Fed the cats & gave them fresh water.
Need to straighten one of my dresser drawers.

TTYL :)

Good morning everyone! :D

I don't have that much planned for today. :)

Today I just plan on going to work. And then after work I am going to go over to my boss' house and hangout in his hot tub. Lately I have been having really bad neck pain; and my boss' hot tub always makes my neck feel better. :)

This morning I accidentally scared the crap out of my boyfriend.

My neck was hurting really badly last night; so I went out to the living room to lay on the floor for a little while because that always helps relieve my neck pain. And while I was laying on the floor last night, I accidentally fell asleep. And this morning when my boyfriend saw me asleep on the living room floor, he totally started freaking out because he thought I was dead. He thought I snapped and actually killed myself. Once he realized that I was just asleep, he asked me why I was asleep on the living room floor; and I told him that it was because my neck was hurting really badly last night and when I came out to lay on the floor, I accidentally fell asleep.

Hi Roxie :)
WTG! on all you got done yesterday. Hope today was a good one for you. :)

Thank you Janie :)
That is different isn't it. lol
WAY TO GO! you got a lot accomplished even with going off to work. :D

Diane, Diane , Diane
well, at least it wasn't more rat poison or worse. ;)
WAY TO GO! for returning that camera and finally getting the new AC unit!!! :D
Dealing with that spill is one of the rules of staying clutter free.
It's the rule called " never neglect a mess".
As soon as you see a mess has been created, you deal with it. :)
WTG! Fantastic job! :D

Thank you Karl :)
I will keep trying till I get it right. ;D

The air currents brought thick smoke here this morning and it has stayed all day. It was dark and orange colored light here all day.
I am feeling very tired, dizzy and weak from trying to breathe.
Did a few tasks then mostly rested inside with the evaporative cooler running.
The cats are feeling tired and down too.
Fortunately, so far none are near enough to me that I'd need to worry. :)
Hope everyone else is safe too.


http://www.mynews4.com/mostpopular/story/Wildfires-in-Northern-Nevada/M4lOTUWwI0ebqcGR9BflUQ.cspx

Tillie, when you click on the link button, the dialog box has "http://" already entered for you, probably in case you're going to type in the address by hand. Try hitting the Delete or Backspace key first, to erase that text, before you paste the link that you want to share. I bet that will fix the problem you're having.

Hello, another interesting morning. Cleaned and painted two more shelves, then moved more stuff out to sort, in the mean time, I knocked over a bottle of charcoal started, which quickly soaked into clothes and linoleum on floor in a storage area. Made it easier to decide to throw away those clothes, cut that section of vinyl and removed it, the fluid socked back side of it. Then got some water/vinegar/soap and cleaned the cement in that area, that lighter stuff sure stinks. vinegar helped get it up and the thick dirt on cement, never been cleaned obviously. I had only planned to work a few hours then take the day off for fun, the spill caused those few hours to stretch. I was done around noon. It was in the 80's by then so decided not to take camera back, then I thought, "you say you will do something then make excuse to stay home" so got in car drove into Bend, went to Costco and returned camera without a problem. They had about 6 air conditioners left. The camera and AC were exactly the same price. So glad I told you I would go today, if I procrastinated until tomorrow, probably all AC gone. Also got some frozen berries and soy milk to make frozen drinks, better than ice cream for a treat.
Traffic was so heavy, decided to go directly to Costco and not go to lake, maybe tomorrow. I really like my quiet yard, crowds not my thing. Tomorrow will be hotter so may go tomorrow, if not lake will go to river, which is closer. I felt like getting new AC was fun enough for today and I had to get prescription food for my dog and would have been too late if went to lake, so all in all, very good day, and proud of myself for dealing with the spilled charcoal starter without letting it wreck my day, and went to return camera in spite of the fact that the spill threw my plans off by a couple hours. Laughing at the group last eve. made today even better, thanks.

http://www.unfuckyourhabitat.com/

http://www.unfuckyourhabitat.com/

Yesterday, I brought the garbage bin back up from the street and collected the week's mail. I sorted through the mail, loaded some cardboard into the car for recycling, and bagged up one full bag of clothing to donate. I brushed my teeth and did the dishes, and tossed some garbage.

How's everyone today? I always hope when I sign on to see others' names instead of my own as the last post!

Good morning :)

Over night the winds change direction and by morning the air is clearer. But by afternoon the wind changes again and has been bringing a lot of smoke this way.
I was able to sleep in this morning to make up for coughing keeping me up from sleeping last night.

My To-Dos for today...
Sweep floors & porches
Vacuum carpet.
Dust.
Wash floors.
Do one load of laundry.
Shampoo my hair.
Water the lilac hedge.

Then for some fun I plan to paint the things I made for the dollhouse.

Hope everyone has a GREAT Monday! :D

At the Sunday support chat, I said that I planned to take care of the foil lining in the oven before the end of the day. At 4am -- still up -- I remembered this, and decided to at least get as far as removing the old foil. As I did so, I noticed that there *is* some cleaning to be done in the oven, after all; the walls are probably OK, but the door needs a little scrubbing.

I went back to the computer and got sucked into reading page after page of Web entertainment. It's now getting close to 6am. I'm going to get some sleep. Not sure how I'll balance work and cleaning duty over the next few days.

Hi Diane :)
So happy you like the Tillieisms ;D

How I remember what people posted so I can respond to each one.

I don't.

I open 2 windows on my laptop, read one post & respond then an other etc...

Switching between the two windows is easy and convenient. ;)

WTG! You are amazing! Filling that whole big bin and cleaning and painting as you go along!
All your hard work will all come together soon and you will have time and space to craft.

See you in chat :)

wow the board is active today!!! How do you remember what people individually wrote to respond to them personally? must be a lot younger than me!! Fun reading everything.
Today I cleaned those shelves, I call them Tillieisms---spray before you clean so dust lays low. You can't organize a hoard. So sprayed shelf that had rat poison, wiped with wet paper towel, threw out. Painted the shelf and wall behind it to trap any remaining poison. Then put more stuff in garbage cart. It is full, with little space left for house garbage the rest of this week. Threw away anything that appeared to have rat poison on it. disappointed to have full already, will just bag extra stuff for next Friday after pickup. amazing, last week I didn't get garbage cart full because of heat and the past 2 days I was a, throwing away machine. I think working lots of hours in a row is good to allow me to see the extent of the hoard and be willing to toss many things I would keep or clean to give away. Tillie-ism, amnesty-can throw away anything I want without guilt. This is getting easier. It is 86 out now, that is the maximum temperature I can tolerate.
watered plants, and trees
started the day by doing dishes, have piled up a few days, not bad
I enjoy you so much, doll house conversations, hoarder Barbie and hoarder house, funny. Enjoy reading all the trips to the dump Dianne is taking, amazing to me, my dump is quite a drive.
It was fun painting today, love using my hoarded paint so don't have to give away. And area looks so much better, and mice prefer the unpainted darkness so much better, they are probably sending a protest to the police, vandalism of mouse hideouts. guess should get up and move around before settle in for the support group. Thanks again for all your humor and wisdom. Oh yeah, Dianne the stuff you said yesterday was one of the nicest things I have ever read about myself, caught me by surprise for sure, meant a lot to me that I have a positive affect on you. Thanks so much for the kind words.

Hi Janie :)
The smoke is less but still causing everybody discomfort.

About housework...
I hate all those mundane mind numbing tasks too.
But they are so much easier to do and you can get them all done in a very short amount of time when you don't have to try working around too much stuff.
Floors can be vacuumed, swept or mopped in just minutes.
Laundry is a breeze when you are able to do one load of wash as soon as you have enough items to make a full load. Rather than trying to climb Mount Washmore.
And putting the laundry away is so easy when the shelves, drawers and closets are accessable and not over stuffed.
When there is only the one days worth of dishes to be washed, dish washing is not a major task. And when the cupboards, cabinets and drawers are neat & tidy, putting the washed stuff away is not a problem.
Dusting is easy when there are only a few items you have to pick up and dust off too.

Yes, I really do hate housework but want a clean home. I deserve it and so does everyone else here.
This is what we can all have once we get that clutter gone, straighten & organize what we have and get all caught up on the backlog of regular routine household tasks. :D

Hi Roxie :)
Thanks. We are used to living with skunks around here and love seeing the mothers and babies out walking around at times.
No way does anyone around here ever trap skunks because nobody wants to be the one to open the trap to let them out. ;D lololol
This skunk us used to the outside lights and all the noises we make.
I plan to just wait her out and see what happens.

Hi Dianne :)
WAY TO GO! WOOHOO!
You got a LOT accomplished! :D
I found the trashed/cluttered dollhouses to be sad too. :(
I like my dollhouse because there is never any clutter or messes and it's a nice escape for me. :)


Remember tonight at 5:00pm PST is the online support group.
Cory just may be there tonight. ;)

Janie, I'm glad to hear you are enthusiastic in your decluttering.

Tillie, skunks will naturally move on before long. However, she is probably nested right now in your area. You can leave her alone and when her young are big enough they'll all move along. Or at that point you can add bright light at night, noise like a radio or tv, rags around the area soaked in ammonia, etc.

Should you decide at some point to do humane trapping, you must toss a blanket or other disposable item over the trap before trying to relocate it, in order to avoid the spray. She'll probably spray so say byebye to any cloth drape.

Diane, a schoolmate of mine from my overseas high school founded the Cascades Raptor Center in Eugene, OR. I have not been there but what I've seen online indicates it is a hugely popular site to visit. I admire her so much for her rescue efforts. Started in 1987.

Yesterday I brushed my teeth, did one load of laundry (still need to put it away). I don't remember if I did anything else, but the laundry bit was good.

WTG! MayMay :D

Hey Tillie,

Yeah I just realized that. Lol. :)

Since I couldn't go to the link from this page, I just went ahead and typed the link in. :)

It's so awesome! :)

MayMay
one of the links I tried to post IS
a hoarded Barbie dream house! :D

Good morning :)

Taking it easy today.
Need to wash up some of the fruit I bought yesterday. Think I will eat the cherries first. :D
Want to tidy up the kitchen a little.
Maybe I will wash the litter boxes today rather than tomorrow.
This evening I plan to water the grass. Some of it is still alive but mostly it all looks pretty dead.

So, what are ya'll up to today? :D

I love the idea of a "hoarded dollhouse"! :D

I think they need to make a "Hoarder Barbie doll" and a "Hoarded Barbie Dreamhouse" for her to live in. And then they also need to make "Cory Chalmers and Matt Paxton dolls" to help "Hoarder Barbie" clean her "Hoarded Barbie Dreamhouse". Lol. :D

Darn it!
I tried to post links to tiny cluttered doll houses.
Yes, there are actually cluttered doll houses done as art. :D