I think it would be funny as hell to have the doll house filled with tiny newspapers, tools, books, clothing, and assorted clutter.

I have a problem :(

He has the carport piled high and packed full of misc assorted "stuff".

The back door leads out to a porch that leads directly into the carport and there is an opening directly to the left from there to get into the back yard, which is also terribly cluttered, with my clothes line in the center of the back yard.

For the past 4 days there has been a skunk living in the carport.
I wish it would go away. I don't mind when they just pass through my yard.
I want him to clear the area so it will move farther away from the house.
Skunks sleep during the day and I don't know exactly where it's sleeping.
Then I worry that it may be in there because it is a safe place to escape from coyotes and it may be having a litter in there.
If so, then I don't want to disturb it and risk the litter.

Anyways, thanks for listening. :)
I just needed to get this off my chest.

Hi Dianne :)
Thank you.
You must have needed that long nap.
WAY TO GO! for getting the usual stuff done.
Good luck with the paper shuffeling. ;)

Hi Diane :)
Big (((hugs))) and WTG! for the shopping trip and not buying unneeded stuff!
WOW! that huge trash can is already half full. :)
You are doing amazing!
I told him that I wanted to go to the little diner in the casino and get a hamburger. He said the better place for hamburgers is this other restaurant. And I said can we go there? And he said he didn't want to. :(
I will keep working on this issue.
I am concerned about that rat poison you got into. :( Take care and if anything comes up remember to tell a doctor about this.
The air was a pale yellow today due to the smoke and my eyes are sore & tired right now.

Speaking of things left behind by previous owners...
When we moved in here he was up on a ladder pulling stuff down off high shelves in the garage.
Pulled out a big handful of wire and then noticed the blasting cap attached to the end.
LOL :D
I called the sheriff who was here to get it before I even hung up the phone.

Another beautiful day in Central Oregon, under 90 degrees with a nice breeze. Took a trip to Goodwill to dump 2 old TV's and Christmas stuff. Went in the store and bought some brand new bins, want to throw all the ones with mouse stuff on them. It was strange walking in there, used to be so familiar, now felt odd, like why was this so much fun. It actually was fun to see some of the stuff I donated last week on the shelf for sale. Took a look to see and sure enough, there is some of everything that I could ever need, so might be easier this week to give stuff away knowing I can find it if I ever need it in the future. Went to Walmart, across from Goodwill, to check out cameras, very informed sales person, left not buying anything, even though cameras are good prices there, still need to return camera to Costco before I buy one. Sales person said she had heard the same thing about the camera I bought that doesn't work, reassuring. Felt good only buying what I was looking for, and also helped my fear of shopping. Don't want to do it again any time soon, but was good for me.
Now home relaxing.
Put so much stuff in garbage cart this morning, my 95 gallon cart is 1/2 full since yesterday pick up. I didn't write everything down for July challenge because of the filth, just wanted it gone. Amazes me how I keep finding bins of stuff stashed in strange places out there. There was a box of rat poison the mice had chewed into, so this powder covered a shelf. Old owners must have stuck it up there, anyway when I pulled stuff out, powder got in my nose, later I saw the box, went in immediately and took a shower, and decided no more cleaning today, my nose started bleeding and is still burning from breathing rat poison. probably won't be pulling stuff out of high places without a ladder an inspection first in the future.
how is the smoke Tillie? Did you have hamburger?
Dianne and Susan, thanks for your kind words always.

Hi Roxie :D
WAY TO GO! on your accomplishments!

Welcome Janie :D
From your posts it looks like you will fit right in with us.
WAY TO GO! for all you have done already! :D

I'm new here and wanted to say HI! I recently got a part-time job and will be going back to work on Monday. I was looking for a support site to keep me on track and found you all here. I started my clean-up process on 3/20/13. From what I can determine, my first floor could be classified as a Level 2. My upstairs bedrooms & bathrooms, and my basement could be classified as a Level 3. Money is an issue so I'm trying to clean-up on my own, one step at a time.

To ease into my clean-up I started on the first floor as these are public rooms and not as bad as other areas. In the past 3-1/2 months I have de-cluttered the kitchen, dining room, living room, entryway and powder room. I'm currently working on the family room although today I haven't really accomplished anything as I have been reading a lot of your past postings to get familiar with this group. Keep up the good work!

Hello, everybody. Yesterday I put away clean dishes, brushed my teeth, and rounded up all the dirty clothes into the laundry basket. I moved two donation bags of books from by the bed to the back door so I can put them in the car next time I use it. I threw some garbage out It's not much but it is forward movement.

Tillie, I think of you and the brushfires and hope you are okay.

Dianne, I applaud your movement forward and hope you will not beat yourself up for any backsliding. Just brush yourself off, be present here, and take one more step forward, okay?

Diane, I always look forward to the posts here. I depend upon daily reading to keep myself moving forward, even a tiny bit. Mice? I don't have them here due to the cats, I guess, and maybe the raccoons.

But in my last home I smelled something really odd and finally figured out that when I turned on the stove I was "cooking" mouse droppings. Ew. Anyway, my son (then living at home) figured out an ingenious mouse catching routine with an empty cardboard box. I think they are so cute I just cannot kill them. So he'd take the box far away and release the mice, until all were gone.

Yes Karl
Plan something to celebrate! :D

Good morning :)

I have fed the cats.
Now I need to get dressed and go to the grocery store.

Have not made any more plans past that point.

Last night I glued 2 shelves and a banister together for the doll house.
Had been working on the pieces for the past few days. Need to paint them next.
I am very pleased with how nice they turned out. :)
I measured the doll house....
14 inches long
7 1/2 inches deep
14 inches tall
It has 6 rooms and 2 hallways :)

Happy Saturday!

One week until inspection. I thought I was "just about ready" -- the real clutter is gone, anyway -- but I still have some significant basic cleaning to get done. I'm sure I'll be able to get things into shape, though. Maybe I'll try hosting an event for later that same day, to celebrate the inspection.

Hey diane,
You're invited to come and party with me and my crew anytime! We'd love to have you party with us! :)

(((HUGS)))

Hi Diane :)
Isn't it interesting what mice will chew on?
I am fortunate that all the mice here attracted snakes.

(((hugs))) it was their loss not to have the pleasure of your company at their party.

Mariana,
I am about 80 miles from Reno.
There have been quite a few wildfires this past week due to lightning.
We are under a "Red Flag" warning, meaning that no burning is allowed and other preventative measures are to be taken.
Fortunately for you the temperatures have cooled down and only get up to the 90s and no more thunderstorms are predicted. :)

Sorry to hear about bad water, sore back, and fire near by.
Amazing what we all have to face, not just clutter, lots of other challenges.
Last night I did go up on roof for awhile and to my surprise, the neighbors that live around me all had a party on the deck above my roof, that I was not invited to. I had to talk to myself, and force myself not to listen to what they were chatting about. I felt hurt and sad that I was not invited. So when I was pulling weeds this morning, I pulled weeds along my neighbors driveway, above my place, the one with party last night, it helped me to get over resentment by doing something nice before he was awake. And today went well, other than mice droppings.

thank goodness for cooler weather----love it!!!
Worked outside today Pulled weeds early, trying to fill garbage cart before 7:30 am pick up. Didn't quite fill it but gave it my best shot. Then started on bag for this week. Pulled out a bin with some great decorations, mice agreed, it made it easy to throw almost everything away, a few things they weren't interested in, I donated. Only donated stuff with no evidence of mice and easy to clean hard stuff, like silver and porcelain, easy to toss the rest. Did mostly outside stuff, garage and walkway, cause it is the first cool day, did not want to be inside today. Although some of the areas I emptied and cleaned were not fun, a typical hoarders scene, plenty of mice have enjoyed living in every corner and every box and bin. So happy I am not shopping anymore, imagine what another 20 years of shopping addiction would have created, oh my, thanks for being here daily, makes all the difference.

Tillie: are you in the Reno vicinity? I have a nephew there and we are planning to visit tomorrow. Guess we better keep a watch on wildfire progress and its location.

Well,
I will keep practicing till I get this right.
Thank you for your aptience. ;)

This afternoon the day got very dark and orange colored here.
WILDFIRE. :(
Got my cat kennels all lined up and ready just in case.
Sky is still dark yellow but looks like we are safe here for now.

http://mantherapy.org/#/center

lets see if this works ;)

Dianne,
WAY TO GO! for all you have accomplished.
Feel better soon.In the meantime spend more time laying down with the dogs. :D
Listening to a sleeping animal always puts me to sleep. It is so soothing. :)

Thank you Karl :)

Trying to do too many things at once, and I completely forgot that I had the chat open; oops. I've signed out now. I'll probably be around on Sunday, but a bit late to arrive again.

No social activities at all on the 4th. Didn't look for any fireworks, either.

I just checked to see whether I might be able to avoid getting new drip pans for the stove if I just wash the ones I've got, and replace the aluminum foil that they're wrapped in. I found that one of them has very little metal left in it, and is mostly just the foil now. OK then, I guess replacement is called for. I wonder if it was like that when I moved in, or if it's decayed that much during my own tenancy.

Tillie, for future reference, it's good if you can use the first input field for the URL itself (the http://... part), and then the second one for the text description of the link, so that we know what to expect if we click on it.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLex73JrqI8j6VjXbRGcp0KUUZ5bgn4X8w

Thank you Karl :)
Now I will practice doing this till I get it right.

Everything I know about computers I have learned through the generocity of people online. :D

I don't know if we're still doing the Friday afternoon chat for Kara's benefit (evening in UK), but I'm in the chat room right now in case anyone else joins. (If you do join and I'm there but not responding, I'm probably preparing some food; just be patient and I'll return shortly.)

Tillie, when you're composing a message here, just above the text input box you'll a bar with a couple of font menus on the left, and a row of icons on the right. The next to last icon is "add link".

Good morning :)

So quiet and nice & cool 72 degrees here this morning.

Today I plan to tidy up a little.
Sweep & vacuum.
Go over the bathroom.

Kitchen is clean but house is full of dust.
This last week there were a lot of dust storms so bad sometimes visibility was reduced to 1/8 of a mile.
Makes no sense dusting when everything will be dusty again is a few minutes. lol

That little bit of rain yesterday really helped knock down the dust.

Need to go to the grocery store this weekend so today I will write up my list. Running out of food here except for cat food. Too scared to ever risk running out of cat food. ;)

Hoping everyone had some relaxation and fun yesterday. :D

(((hugs))) Dianne
I was not offended. I took your statement to mean that you loved those professional firework displays with the large fireworks that look like the sky is filled with a massive chrysanthemum.

What I have been worrying about with you is your well water.
So sorry to hear the report.

Thanks Mariana,
THAT'S AWESOME! GO BUCKEYES! ;)

Hi diane,
No, I live about 3 hours away from where that happened. I saw it on the news though. And I'm glad the lady is okay. Thank god for those wonderful firefighters that helped her get out of that giant sink hole. Aren't firefighters wonderful? :)

Hi Tillie,
We had some of those too. :D

It stopped raining for a little while where I live. So we got to shoot off some of the fireworks that my boss got. We didn't get to shoot all of them off though; because it started raining again. So there are still a lot of left over fireworks. :)

HI Everybody! :D

I have had RAIN here! :D
So wonderful!!!!
I went out in it and danced around barefoot and splashed in a small puddle! :D

Hi Roxie :D

Hi MayMay :D
I had a box of those little paper things that you throw down and they go "POP" and some party poppers with paper streamers in them and I did those today and the kitten loved it. :D

Dianne
WAY TO GO! on all you accomplished! :D
I watch the fireworks on tv too. The casinos in Reno really do a great show with music that fits the display.

Hi Diane :D
So happy you are relaxing this afternoon. Please take care of yourself and feel better soon.
Will keep my fingers crossed that costco still has A/Cs and you get yours soon.
WAY TO GO! for all you have accomplished! :D

Diane, I posted about my day on another link here.

Wow, Dianne, when you break a logjam you come out roaring WaY TO GO!@

It is cooler today, 84 now, so was out in the garage and in big bedroom all morning, it is amazing how wide goat trails are becoming. A few days ago all I could see is the mounds, now that is cooler, see all the progress. I looked online at the Costco site, and at the camera I bought for hoarding pictures, only 2 reviews by customers, both said it worked for several pictures but could not turn on again after first time shut off, exactly what happened to me, now feel more comfortable returning camera tomorrow, and getting air conditioner instead, if they still have them. the one I have is fine when it is this temperature and cool at night.
MayMay, are you near where the lady and her car fell in the sink hole today in Ohio? what a shock for her.
I can't help you Tillie, know only what I taught myself about computers. Maybe Karl knows.
I feel more positive today and so happy I can watch fireworks from roof If I want to watch, don't always watch. Have to hang with dog, to make sure she is ok with all the noise. I have a dry cough and have felt run down for 3 days, so am enjoying relaxing this afternoon. Did go through several small boxes of junk, still would like to finish filling garbage can for tomorrow if possible, only about 1/2 full so far, or a little more, don't want to waste space in my 95 gallon cart!! I was only 1/2 filling my 35 gallon cart and for the past 5 weeks I have stuffed 95 gallon, so am happy about that. Felt so good to have cool morning so could get some sorting done. Happy to read all everyone writes.

MayMay-I'm an ol' Buckeye myself! Stay safe and have a fun Fourth.

Hi Mariana,

No, I don't live in any western states. I live in Ohio. And actually all of my firefighter friends know about all the fireworks. Yesterday when my boss came into the bar with all of the fireworks everyone clapped and cheered. Lol. :)

We are really excited! Hopefully it will stop raining by the time that it's supposed to get dark out, so that we can still shoot them off. :)

Let's hope you don't live in a dry-as-dust western state. Those illegal fireworks spark several wildfires every year. Even the legal ones can be deadly. Don't tell any of your firefighter friends about them!

Hi everyone! :D

So far the 4th of July isn't looking so good for me right now. :(

It's very rainy right now where I live and it doesn't look like it's supposed to clear up anytime soon. Which totally sucks because my boss got some fireworks for us to shoot off tonight, but if it's raining, then we can't shoot them off. :(

I'm so sad because the fireworks that he bought are the really good kind. They're the kind that, if you get caught shooting them off, then you'll get arrested. Lol. ;)

Happy 4th to all. The fireworks around here last night weren't all that bad, just steady bang bang bang for about an hour at a reasonable hour. We'll see tonight. It is legal here to buy fireworks and some folks spend a ton of money on it. Silly and dangerous to me.

I might go out later and buy a hot dog and fries...if I'm feeling less lazy.

I know sometime today I'll rally and knock some things of my long list of to do. Probably put away clean dishes and wash up the dirty ones. Round up the laundry and maybe even, what the heck, start a washload? My my what a concept.

Diane, I too rely on this board being active to keep me going.

Hugs to all

Happy 4th of July! :D

We are just relaxing and hanging out at home.

:)

Karl,
would it be possible for you to explain to me how to make clickable links on this site?

:D

The one way that I know to make clickable links does not work here.

Hi Roxie,

Trust me, you wouldn't want me to be a therapist. I'm really screwed up... I suffer from depression and anxiety, I have really bad OCD, I have ADHD, I have suicidal ideations from time to time, and I also have some "hoarding-like" tendencies myself. So yeah... I would not be a good therapist at all. Plus there is no way I would be able to get through all that schooling. I took 2 psychology classes when I was in college and I absolutely hated them. I thought they were so boring.

I note that these Canadian bombing suspects seem to have also needed some help with their living conditions.

Happy 4th of July Cory! :D

HI Cory! :D

Thank you so very very much for giving us this message board and chat room. (((HUGS)))

We miss you but do understand.

Have a HAPPY and safe 4th of July. :D

Hi Everyone,
I want to apologize that I have been absent so much lately. My world has gone crazy lately with the business and trying to juggle too many things. I am hoping that it will soon calm down but with the franchising, it is not looking too promising. We are trying to restructure and I have been traveling back and forth to our other office which has been a huge commitment.

I love seeing how active the message boards have become. This social interaction is incredible and the support you give each other is monumental to say the least. Everyone keep up the great work on your homes and yourselves. You are doing incredible work AND having fun at the same time!

Happy 4th of July to everyone :)

Cory Chalmers
HoardingCleanup.com

Tillie my mouth is watering as you describe your meal!!!! Good you are going to make it happen!!

I have a big craving....
Haven't eaten out in a couple of years but I want to go to a diner or cafe and get a real hamburger.
The old fashioned kind
with the toasted sesame seed bun and the lettuce, tomatoe, pickles and onion sitting on the side of the plate so you can assemble it the way you want it.
Where you have the catsup and mustard bottles on the table and you add it just the way you like best.
One that comes with the lined plastic basket of thick cut sizzling hot fries.
And I would order a chocolate milk shake made fresh in front of me with real ice cream and lots of chocolate syrup. :D

Thinking I need to work on making this happen.