Good morning, everyone!

That's really cool, SubC, that you sell pottery and teach people to make pottery. That's a very cool gift.

I managed to go through and throw away quite a few magazines yesterday. I got distracted in the evening. DH's father had to be admitted to the hospital with a potential mini-stroke. He's 75 and has been in poor health for a while. The whole situation is rather stressful for the family.

That's cool that you have all those animals to care for. I have a miniature dachshund that keeps me on my toes.

Today, I have several exercises that I have to do for therapy. That might wear me out, but I aim to go into each room and pick up a few things to throw away. I've started using a sticky note app on my laptop to help remind me of the things I need to do. I'm hoping to keep myself accountable. I think just posting to this site will help me with that.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day!!

Good morning.

So, Goodwin, how did it go?

I do sell my pottery. I do a few craft fairs every year. I've been trying to expand but can't seem to find the time or get organized enough to apply for shows. I also started an Instagram, but haven't really posted.

I teach pottery during the school year (and run two dungeons and dragons groups and this year I will have three science enrichment classes focusing on mammals and birds with visitors from the farm.)

I spent a lot of time in my studio yesterday. I was really enjoying the process and fell into the "forgot to eat" zone. I ended up having raw carrots and leftover rice pudding at 9:00 at night after chores because I was too tired to cook - Dh is away for work again. Sometimes I wonder what would happen to my schedule if I lived alone and didn't have animals.

I watched a homesteader YouTube video once where the blogger said "I don't have goats for milk. The milk is a happy side effect. I have goats because they force me to get out of bed at a reasonable hour every morning." In my case they are for milk. But they also force me to disconnect from whatever rabbit hole I have fallen into before it becomes two in the morning and I am starving and exhausted. They start screaming for dinner if I am late. Twice the neighbors have called the cops. Not for a noise complaint - the goats sound like a woman screaming and in the right atmosphere it really carries.

This morning I plan to focus on chick pens and then do more pottery. I'm trying to get things ready for my last class session tomorrow night.

LoL. Sure, dropping the 17 off my name!

I do find decision-making exhausting. I get overwhelmed to the point where I stop thinking almost totally. I just shut down.

Oh yeah, he could definitely bring me things to sort through. That's a great idea! Thank you!

It's true, I haven't been taking the time to actually create. I seem to spend time gathering supplies of all kinds for different arts/crafts/hobbies (I have too many), but I rarely seem to get any of the actual art/crafting/hobbies done. I have the time to do it, as I can't work, but I just don't seem to have the focus (which is ironic because one of my MS fatigue medicines is also used for ADHD). It's really cool that you do pottery. I've never tried it before, but I love the results. Do you ever sell your pottery?

I'm definitely going to get DH to help me out by bringing me some things to go through this evening. I'm still trying to get myself to go through some magazines to throw away. I'll let you all know how it goes.

Hi Goodwin! (Do you mind if we drop the "17"?) glad to see you back!

I wouldn't say shame was necessarily a motivating factor, as the people I cared most about impacting with the hoarding were my kids and Dh. I did do a lot of " stash and dash" over the years when people were coming over - which tended to make it worse.

Do you find the decision making exhausting (an issue for a lot of us) or is it purely the physical demands? The magazines sound like a good choice.

If your Dh is supportive, can he help you by bringing you small chunks of sorting to do sitting down in a comfortable spot?

Also, I would suggest making sure you make time to DO your collage art. I am a potter, and I have been learning that I make more progress in my studio when I schedule time to actually create. I am motivated to toss things by the frustration of not being able to find what I need, but also, as I create small, functional spaces to work, i am better able to focus on what I need and what I don't need.

I have a small farm and spent the morning cleaning out the buck's shelter, but I am actually heading out now to do some studio work.

Good morning and thank you to everyone for the welcome!

I feel like my situation is still salvageable at this point. I've had to have people come into my house for home health and also to set up new internet. I was so mortified that people had to see my house in its current state. That has been somewhat of a motivator for me. This is the first time I've really felt like I've had someone besides my father and DH to talk to this about. My father's situation is worse than mine, and he won't even let me come to his house. I don't want to end up like that. Has anyone else felt like the shame has been a motivating factor to clean?

My hardest problem is my energy levels. I have MS and even though I'm on several medicines to help the fatigue, it is still significant. I have to sort of plan out what activities to expend my energy on. Right now I'm doing some physical therapy and that's knocking out a lot of my energy. I also feel overwhelmed by the situation.

With DH help, the house does stay livable. Our kitchen sink is always pretty clean. I did manage to clean the toilet some yesterday. I've got a box started with things to donate. Today, I will be going through piles of magazines (I do collage art/journaling) and I need to go through them to pull out anything I want to cut out and throw the magazines away.

Thank you again for the warm welcome, and I look forward to getting to know you all.

Good morning

Lila, such a roller coaster of a post, I'm not sure where to start. I'm glad your eyes are getting better, but concerned about the Head injury.

It has to be heartbreaking to have to have a restraining order against your own child. I hope teen is able to finally get the help they need. It's horrible that it takes such a crisis for our society to feel like we can intervene.

I'm very glad you went to the personal trainer. Dh has been working with one on his back for some time now and has gone from unable to lift more than 20 lbs and moving like and old man to lifting 80 and horsing around with Bean again.

I hope your little ones get better quickly. Bean reassured me onscreen yesterday that "I am tough and I won't get sick." I told him "I know you are buddy. Grammie is tough too, but we have to wait awhile to be sure we don't spread the germs around to other people." Fortunately his girlfriend's family has just gotten over Covid and is willing to take him for a playdate today. Dd is working from home feeling crummy.

I am going to not see him in person for three weeks. That is the longest ever in his life.

How did the bedroom go?

I do know fly lady, but she lost me at shoes. I also don't feel a need to shine my sink, just to empty it so I have access to water for washing things and cooking.

Dh has gone away for work again, so I am on my own the rest of the week. He has admonished me to make good choices.

hello all. Welcome Goodwin. SubC, your kitchen sink comment reminded me of FlyLady, do you know of her? Tatoulia, I saw the comment to you about 'good luck on China" and I thought wow, Tatoulia is really a world traveler! lol. When I scrolled and read the other threads I saw what it actually meant.

I am home today and trying to organize my bedroom, because the little ones are sick with a cold (I think) and I am trying not to catch it. My eyes are getting slowly better - less light sensitive, so that's good. However last week Teen had a rage episode and I ended up in the ER with a head injury. It has been a horrible week. I am still nauseous and it is hard to work or in fact do anything when your head and neck are in pain. I got meds but still, it feels like someone beat me in the head, which, in fact, someone did. All of this has been quite depressing.

I did something for myself today and went to talk to a personal trainer at a gym for a free consultation. I am very weak, my balance is bad, and I now feel quite vulnerable. I have been thinking about taking a self defense class but I need to build some basic strength and balance first, I think. Being a victim of dv is something I went through 30 years ago and never thought I would go through again. Teen was taken to jail and then inpatient and they are looking for housing, so perhaps there is a silver lining that finally someone is helping. It's sad that it took this to get anyone to help. But they cannot come back here (restraining order) and that is a relief in a way, and a terrible heartache in another way, that I cannot even talk to them at this time. Of you pray, please pray for the situation.

Well, that's all for now.

Welcome Goodwin!

Read your introduction. Thanks for posting in here so we'd see you!

I always say, start anywhere. Sounds like you should probably start small - some place you can have a sense of accomplish,ent and not wear yourself out.

Empty your kitchen sink?
Clear off a small surface, or even a square foot of one?
Walk around a room and pick up a bag of trash or recycling?
Stop bringing things in - maybe just today or this week?

What would make you feel better if it was done?

Tatoulia, my Dd does have Covid. She doesn't feel very sick and she's hoping it will give the baby antibodies. But this means it's going to be awhile until I see Bean. He called me and cried because he wants to come spend the night at my house. It's hard for me.

I'm trying to make good use of the time though. I got some garden work done this morning and ran a load of laundry.

Subc I'm worried about your daughter, keep us posted when you can.

Goodwin! Welcome! Jump right in! You can tell us your situation, what's going on where you live, what you'd like to get accomplished, etc and we are here to support you. If you want ideas, we've got them. There is no judgment here and we will cheer you on and shore you up as needed. This group loves new members so you haven't stumbled upon a clique or other unfriendly group! So chime in on what we are saying and share as much or as little as you want!!! So happy you are here!!

Today I have to get cat boxes clean and garbage out. Having my heavy groceries delivered at 2.

Did I mention I had lunch with BF's neighbor? We had the best time! I got hung up in a drenching downpour and laughed all the way during my walk home. Completely soaked. No umbrella but not sure that would've helped. I have so many umbrellas so I did not want to stop to buy one.

Hello everyone! I'm new here. I posted an introduction on another thread. I'm not sure how to get started here. I really just wanted to say hi, and I hope everyone has a great day!

Good morning

Tatoulia, I enjoyed hearing about your day. It sounded like a lot of fun.

Good luck on the filing and China.

Dh doesn't comprehend "take it easy" he was clearing downed trees off the paths in the woods yesterday with tractor and chainsaw. He is really fine though. It was more scary than truly dangerous, and mostly because they kept me away from him and badly informed.

I got some work done in the garden yesterday - not much, but some, and threw a few pots and made custard to freeze.

I don't know what is happening today. I woke to find that Dd sent a note at three a.m. concerned that she might have Covid symptoms with a list of possible approaches this morning, but no decisions. I am going to go out and get my chores done in case she picks "mom shows up at my house with a Covid test and waits outside" (not my favorite option.) I may have Bean today, overnight, and tomorrow, or I may not have him at all this week.

Lila, I am now caught up on posts. I am so sorry for what you have been going through. Sending love to you.

Oh that is scary, SubC! Harrowing experience. Hope he'll still take it easy today. No need to rush on a Sunday.

I'm glad you are finding things that you need to keep things moving and organized at your house!

I had a good day yesterday. I had a pedicure in the AM, then was going to meet my friend and her daughter at the Frog Pond in the Boston Commons. It was so muggy and when I got out of my pedicure, I was closer to where we were going to meet than my house and so I went to a store to buy some cheap flip flops so I could go in the frog pond to cool off. I then sat in the shade by the frog pond and read my kindle. Lots of people around so no need to be on my guard. In fact, the shade bench had lots of stuff on it and the parents looked at me when I sat down and I said, I'm just sitting here and they said, move the stuff over if you want and I said no, I'm fine as is. Everyone at the frog pond was polite. People were sharing benches and keeping eyes on the kids, etc. there are life guards too. So it was fun. We got reasonably priced snacks from the snack bar (unheard of! All the carts were super expensive). I had a hot dog and the kids had onion rings. Then we went in the carousel which was a bit decrepit but the kids were fine with it. Oh the whole family came not just friend and her daughter. The husband and both kids came. Afterward they offered me a ride home but I decided to walk further downtown to the grocery store and then I took the very crowded subway home. When I got here, after showering, I then competed my mothers paperwork and I have it down to one small bin. All those bins into one. I do have a box to mail to my sister but since it has irreplaceable stuff like my grandmother's wedding invitation, she asked that I not mail it. Otherwise, Done.

The next project is my BFs filing since I have a bunch of his paperwork to get filed.

I had to finally clear out my car trunk. They've had my car since March. Isn't that a hoot? The mom needs to use the trunk so she can take her dad out in his wheelchair. I'm so glad to see them using and enjoying the car. I walked up to their house Friday night and then she drove me home with the stuff. I sorted in the trunk. She said she'd take anything I want to goodwill for me, which was terrific.

And I woke up yesterday AM deciding to down size my mother's wedding china. I don't need a service for 12. I'll down size to either 4 or 6 and sell the rest. It is absolutely beautiful, Minton, and is true porcelain china. Big decision.

That's the news for now. Have reserved a car and I'm taking BF's former neighbor for lunch. She lost her husband a month ago.

Good morning.
Hi CM!

He is actually fine. He felt better yesterday than I did. I ended up skipping most of my plans and taking a bit of a recovery day. I did the minimum to keep from falling behind.

I did putter about with some of my school supplies and found some older folders/binders/files to pass on or recycle. I don't count those in, so I won't count them out.

We'll see if I can do better today.

That sounds very scary with your husband. I hope he is doing much better now. I've not been in a hospital family/friend position since before Covid. And I didn't realize it was so strict about the Hippa stuff as long as there wasn't specific identifying information being spoken (although perhaps where you were there was). Again, best wishes for his recovery and hopefully the info they gave you will prevent such a thing from happening again.

I went to the yard sales. I bought a glass globe with a tree in it - I love those but they are expensive, three textured rolling pins for my class, and a book for Bean that Dd will probably leave here.

Good morning my quiet friends.

I did drop the recycling and some things at school, brought home other things from school that need to be washed and sorted out, plus an exciting collection of binders and folders to organize my school stuff that I pulled from "free, take what you want" boxes in the office - again not counting in my tally.

I also ordered a shoe sorter of the type that has doors that pull down and compartments to put the shoes in. I am hoping to be able to put my various active piles that constitute my filing system" in the shoe slots and close the doors. I will count that in when it comes.

Yesterday I did nothing but chores and run the dishwasher. The rest of the day was spent on what was supposed to be a five hour (including travel) routine medical procedure for Dh. He is fine, but did not respond to the anesthesia well and it ended up taking 8 hours and being very stressful. In part because they would not allow me in the room with him as he was being cared for in a large dorm style recovery room and they said I might overhear another patient's medical information.

Also, I think they did not want a witness because I did get a few minutes with him with his original post op nurse and he did not look good and she rushed me out of the room telling me she would get him up and dressed and bring him right out - pull up to the front. Half an hour later I stopped a different nurse who was bringing out a different patient to ask about the delay and she "reassured" me by telling me he was fine way too many times while also saying things like "fainted" and "nauseous" and "monitoring his pulse" and ending with a rushed "she'll explain everything when she brings him out" and disappearing. An hour after that the original nurse came out alone, "explained" nothing, but told me "he's awake now" and "he's fine, but he's a little dehydrated, so we're giving him another IV. It will be about 15 minutes." I asked her if I could come sit with him and she left and returned almost instantly to tell me no (I could wait in the car or the lobby- not even the waiting room!). 20 minutes later the nurse I stopped in the parking lot came out, told me he was the only one recovery right now, so I could come see him if I wanted, and took me to a fully dressed, freezing cold to the touch, semi-coherent Dh lying on a gurney with a fresh IV bag, four gauze pads taped to his arms, and a continuous bp and pulse monitor with alarms. He also had a different nurse (I never saw the first one again) who walked me through the whole post op crash and what medications he had been given and which of two commonly used anesthesias he had been given and that we should notify doctors in the future about what happened with this one and put all that information on paper for me and then told me he would be ready to go home when the bag was empty and he felt like getting up, let me sit with him for a bit but told me nicely that I had to leave when they brought someone else into recovery - and then just let me kiss him and walk out, did not give me the bums rush to the door the first nurse did.

I think the first nurse was just interested in assembly lining him out asap and most of the problem could have been avoided if she had actually looked at him half as closely as I did because his color was bad, he was incoherent, and I was actually going to be shocked if he actually came out promptly. I wasn't worried about it until the second nurse kept saying "he's fine, he's fine" every other sentence. I just figured they realized he wasn't awake yet and were keeping an eye on him and I wanted a guess at how long because I needed to pee. He says he remembers his first nurse "shoving" him into his clothes with no assistance from him "I have no idea how I got my pants on" and "I think falling?" "There were a lot of nurses."

So, yeah, got home exhausted last night. Lots planned for today.

White Rabbits ?

Happy august.

I took the donation pile to the thrift store yesterday. And dropped some trash when I got gas.

The mixed drip recycling and stuff to go back to school are in my car because I'm hoping to do that on the way to class today. I don't have Bean because he has a doctor's appointment.

I did go in the thrift store. I bought a fabric bin that fits in my cube shelf - which I am not counting as in because I have been wanting one and I consider it part of the cube shelf, a springform pan because I found a cheesecake recipe I want to try(I'll count that in if the recipe works in the next two weeks and get rid of it if not), cookie cutters for school and pottery, but I did pull enough stuff out of my tool box to feel like the cookie cutters for here (4) are balanced, and a few consumables and gifts (found a great book for ds to read to Birdy - mint hardcover, only 50 cents)

This weekend will be a real test for me because it's yard sale weekend in my community.

Oh Lila.

Thank you for sharing. That is hard.

You may think this is silly, but my kids all swam competitively and they had UV tinted swim goggles - In your place I would buy some with large lenses with a quality seal. At least to wear at home, but I would wear them out too.

I am sorry you are going through this and I hope it does get better!

Bean and I had a good day. He is feeling pretty clingy toward his parents right now. Mommy is working and at the doctor a lot, and daddy is about to leave on a trip for a few days, and of course the baby is coming. He's staying with me Sunday night through Tuesday night and I tried to make some fun plans with him, and he just told me he didn't want to spend two nights.

He wanted to do laundry and take the compost out and pick some blackberries, so those things got done.

hello again. Thank you for the kind words. It has been a hard month, but also blessed, so I try to focus on that part. I have noticed, from reading about your Bean days SubC, that I am taking time with my grands for granted since they live with me now. They are always here and blend into the day to day, so I have not been taking special time with them as much - asking them what they'd like to do and giving them my full attention for a few hours. I do spend moments with them, sometimes playing a game or something, but I want to be more intentional. This time will not last forever.

I am slowly catching up on posts, and thankful for the unborn baby having a good prognosis SubC. Let me share a bit about what I lost from the surgery. It was on my eyes, so, I cannot easily drive at night or long distances. It took awhile for me to even be able to go back to work, which is about a 5 minute drive, but now I am comfortable with that. One eye is blurry and sensitive so driving is minimal. I lost the ability to read for more than a few moments a day. And same for looking at screens, but this last few days I can do about 30 min on screens and/or reading, so that is coming back, but still hard and gives me headaches, but I have to work. I also had to stop certain foods and caffeine and stop the medication that was supposed to help me with weight loss. And, I cannot do anything that would get particles in my eyes, so no trips to the beach, or going out on a windy day, or a smokey day like it is now. I mean, I can go out to the car but not really take walks or be outside much. I am light sensitive, so cannot have the living room lights on, or be in the sun without sunglasses, and wore sunglasses when I had to do public speaking. My work hours are cut short due to not reading/screen time much. I have to take several medications that can't be taken on an empty stomach so now I have to eat breakfast which I don't like - usually just toast though. I cannot do anything like dremel my dog's nails, or dust or use cleaners or hair spray or anything that would get in my eyes. I can't wear any eye makeup or face powders, can't use exfoliants on my face, can't shower daily because it is an infection risk. I have to sleep with a cover on my eyes so the natural light no longer wakes me up and it is harder to get awake and I wake later. I have to leave meetings or gatherings to put drops in my eyes every hour or so. I can't write as much, for work or pleasure - in fact I am at my limit so will have to end here. There are a few other things, but that gives you the gist. Hoping it will get better over time.

Good morning!

Tatoulia, I'm glad you found the person and your beer was able to bring some enjoyment to someone.

Today is a Bean day. I'm looking forward to just relaxing and doing whatever he wants to do. I do have some dishes to clean up, and a bit of laundry to put away, but I'll only work on those if the opportunity arises. Otherwise I'll finish them this evening.

Wednesday is my big errand day for clearing the donate pile off my dining porch.

Okay the main person I was trying to find I found! She immediately cracked open an ice cold beer, took the others and the wine. I had some old beers in the fridge that I dumped out. Two. So problem solved.

I'll glad you found your tongs, SubC!

Okay I have at least one bottle of wine and four beers that I am never going to drink. How terrible is it to put them in a bag and put in a public trash and let some of the drunks in the city enjoy them. Serious question. I will take all answers seriously. My two options are dump down the sink or put in public garbage for others to partake. No risk of kids getting into it. Will put where the minimally housed people hang out. Obviously if there are people hanging out, I can just ask them if they want it. That would work too. Maybe I'll see if here's anyone around who would want. Maybe that's the answer.

Okay I will report back.

Good morning.

Woke up with five big projects spinning in my head, thinking i could maybe do one. I picked cheese because the milk is the biggest time pressure, but I decided to just make enough cheese to get to 3 weeks of stored milk. So, I made four cheeses. I had to give two gallons of sour milk to the chickens, which made me a little sad, but I will give the chickens crackedcorn and garden weeds until the milk is gone and that will save a little on the feed budget. And now I am caught up to my color coding system, so I should do much better at keeping track and using the milk when it is fresh!

Also, I can start the laundry and do a second project because I put reasonable limits on the first one.

Good evening!

the party went very well. Bean had fun. I gave him his gift of a small herd of zebras after his friends left and he was very pleased with it.

Lila, I'm glad to hear from you. I'm very sorry about your dog.

I'm also still worried about your surgery. I am wondering about what sort of things a person would lose from their life after surgery. Has it affected your mobility? Vision? Hearing? Diet? Immune system? I'm sorry you are struggling so much.

I am very proud of your for making progress on the storage room.

I left my blacksmith tongs at class on Thursday night by accident and I have been stressing about them - they were a gift from my father, custom made by friend of his as a favor, and they are unique, extremely useful, irreplaceable, and sentimental. But they were right where I left them and I brought them home. And I thought, I should probably just go through my house and get rid of everything that isn't at least half as important as these tongs. But I won't. I don't have the willpower, and many of the items would just be unimportant because they are generic and replaceable, but also I use them frequently and would just have to replace them.

One thing I did do today - I have lost a little weight, but not a lot. Basically, I resisted buying larger clothes even though everything was tight or worse, and now my largest sizes fit comfortably. But I only had three pairs of decent (like, I could go to Walmart in them) shorts. So, a brand that I really like, but they are ridiculously expensive was having a summer clearance sale. I have ONE pair of their shorts, and it is one of the ones that fits and I actually feel good about myself when I wear it. So I wear it a lot, and after 5 years, it is still in really good shape. So I bought two more pairs exactly the same - on sale with free shipping they were just nice store at the mall expensive.

They arrived today and I went to my drawer, pulled out three pairs of shorts that are more than one size too small, and stuck them in the donate pile. So I am net down a pair of shorts.

I have also ordered some tools (ribs and steampunk molds) for pottery. They will arrive next week and I am going to try to do a similar thing there.

Lila! So good to hear from you! I. Glad that your surgery went well and you are in the mend. I'm very sorry about losing your pet. Good on you for giving away the bed and some food. You are helping out another dog and you won't have the reminder. You are doing very well. Please keep going — safe and slow pace. You've been through a lot.

Sending you my best wishes. Thank you so much for posting. Hearing from you and CM is wonderful!

I went to the post office and mailed back that hideous steam iron. I walked around a bit and stopped to pick up some fruit and milk at the grocery store. I did have a grocery delivery today but that was seltzer and juice. Heavy stuff. I still like to pick out my fruit, milk, food stuffs.

I'm reading now and enjoying my afternoon.

Struggling, not caught up on posts, came here to ground myself in something that stays the same. Yes I have God and a great life, but lately, struggling. Still recovering from surgery, many things that brought me joy are gone because of it, and my dog died. I have one younger dog left. I am just sad. I gave away her bed and her bag of food to a friend. I am not counting the bed in the daily tally, because I want to forget about it, and I don't want something so sad on a thread that makes me happy.

I have done very little with the house and decluttering. Today I have begun on the small bedroom that is turned into a storage unit. You literally could not walk 2 feet inside the door or get to anything or open the closet or see what is past the high piles. It is the space where I literally throw things into when there is nowhere else to put them, ever since TotsFam moved in. It is a very daunting, 10 by 11 space. This morning I did what I always do - looked in and felt overwhelmed. I had no idea where to start. But I forced myself to start with what was in front of me, and try to work pathways into the room.

I scooted over bags of dog food, picked up some bag clips and a measuring cup and put them in the kitchen.

Looked through an emotional box of Teen's childhood things that Tot got into and mixed other junk in.

Emptied one small box into a small tote to consolidate small things that need to be sorted.

Took one small box of coffee pods into the kitchen and put pods into kitchen spaces.

Threw the two empty boxes over by the front door to get recycled.

This created enough space that with some creative stacking, I made a narrow path to the shelving unit. I put some children's games that I could reach onto the shelves and some other things onto shelves.

Put a couple of art items onto the art shelf in there. Took 2 boxes of dog treats that were for my dog who passed and put them on the bar/counter to decide who to give them to.

You still can't walk in there, but it is a little progress.

Good job passing along some of your stuff, CM. I know that for a significant number of us, a good home is very helpful in reaching the decision to let go.

Sending positive thoughts, as always SubC! Great use of the Justin items! Have a great party day!

Groceries have been delivered and now I'm off to the PO to return this god-awful expensive iron steamer combo I bought. Terrible. Heavy, awkward, cannot iron a shirt because of the design, hurt my hands, etc. I'll go back to my regular steamer.

Unfortunately I'd already recycle the outer box but I've found a solution.

Beautiful weather here windows open and the breeze is so nice.

Good morning!

Tatoulia, I'd like to join you in the summoning.

Today is Bean's party.

His piñata and wall puzzle game are ready to go. Dd supplied the piñata treats and a big photo print out (made at her job after hours for cost) and I did the rest using supplies from Justin's stash. I also sent over some of Justin's markers already with the little ceramic animal tiles, a reel of his ribbon to hang them, and appropriately colored paper streamers from the party supplies box.

Saving money, saving resources, reducing the stuff in the basement. Win all around.

Off to do the things I need to do before I go!

Yay for destashing!

I love steampunk. I'm starting to move that way with a few of the pottery pieces I've been doing. I want to get a couple of photos up on my Instagram, but not today - I've spent to9 much of the day (successfully!) completing online tasks that are difficult and tiring for me. (God bless the second tech helpline guy!)

Dd and the baby get monitored twice a week, so things change, but so far most of them have been changing for the better. He's at 7 months gestation and they are no longer concerned about early delivery. He's due mid Sept. the only thing that has been changing in the bad direction is moving so slowly that it should be fine. (Like if a bomb was going to explode in ten minutes but it only took 5 to disarm it - the countdown clock is stressful, but meaningless if you just do the thing.)

Ok, this was my reward break, back to work I go!

Continuing to hope and pray for all to go very well with baby. I don't remember if you said the anticipated due date; seems at first they might have been looking at early delivery but then it changed? Again, my sincerest best wishes for good outcome for him and mama and everybody.

It's going to be hot here next week so I'm trying to prepare for it. Might watch some of the Olympics - love the grace and skill of the gymnastics in particular.

This morning I had a little destashing win. There is that man a few blocks over who makes steampunk sculptures, and I like steampunk still but really don't have time or space to pursue the maker thing in that area. So I have been carrying around a grocery bag full of supplies to try and catch him and see if he wanted, but could never know when to run into him. This week at his house across the street from the house where he has the steampunk operation, they were having a garage sale so I stopped and asked, and his daughter said he was over there so I was able to give him the items and chat with him a bit. That was enjoyable and satisfying.

CM, thank you for checking in!

Dh is home. I didn't get the house all the way cleaned up, but I had a good day with Bean and a good class last night. Lots of cool pottery came out of the firing. I got to bed very late and slept in some this morning.

The kids got mostly good news, although one of the surgeons really scared them by going over all of the very unlikely bad things that could happen. They have been told that the surgery will probably happen at 6-9 months - the confidence in waiting so long is a good sign -, but that if the baby starts to turn blue they must call an ambulance immediately because there will be very little time. But he probably won't... (it's going to be a very stressful six months.) they said they will not be traveling and I will only be able to watch the baby at their house, because mine is too far from the hospital.

Heart and brain are fine, and they expect to get clear margins on the surgery and be done. Bean is allowed to go to preschool and bring home all the colds.

I have many projects to work on today and don't know where I am going to focus, except I need to make the wall puzzle game for Bean's party tomorrow and put hanging strings on the piñata. Also I need to get my supply lists up for my classes by the end of the day.

Oops Good to hear from you, CM! You too, SubC.

Good to hear from you, SubC! Hoping to summon Lila and Alanna and anyone else!

Yeah, I'm here, I check in now and then to see what people are up to and whether the new baby has arrived. Sounds like things are lining up for him and hoping it continues to go well.

It's been a busy and sometimes disjointed summer but I guess we'll figure it out. Trying to tweak schedules because roommate needs to be an early bird to do garden stuff before it gets hot. And I'm a night owl. But some activities such as going to the gym we still need to synchronize together.

Summer is flying by way too fast.

They meet with the doctors most of the day tomorrow and get most of the results then. But what they do know is good - his heart is fine, and one doctor meeting was cancelled because the team doesn't think that specialty is needed.

My Dh comes home tomorrow night.

SubC, thanks for the praise! I got the file out to recycling bin and took the papers to work I'll work on the coffee table tmr.

I understood what you meant about Bean, that it was inconvenient. I'm glad you have a few solutions so you can go to your class. And it sounds like son in law will help with something else.

How did your daughter's appointment go?

Missing CM, Lila, Alanna and everyone else! Stop by when you can!

Hoping to make more progress tmr. Need to keep moving forward. It's nearly eight months since mom passed. I need to pull it together.

Good morning!

Excellent job Tatoulia! You will get through the coffee table.

I don't mind having Bean here for four days. I love having Bean here. But I scheduled one six week pottery class this summer as my only purely for fun thing. And I was not ok with my sil scheduling a last minute vacation in a way that meant I was going to have to give up the last week and just assuming it would be fine.

The new plan enlists heartdaughter to watch Bean for three hours and allows me to go to class. Dsil also agreed to take care of a time consuming errand for me, because I had an easier way to do it (without driving into the city, but it was a single date option) but I would have needed time to prepare and do it during the week before my class. Now I will do the preparation after my class is over, and he will drive into the city and take care of the rest. I will use that time to work on projects instead so I can watch bean and still be ready for my last class.

Bean wanted to wear his regular pajamas last night and try on the zebra pajamas today. He insists that he is still "three and a half" and will not be four until his friend party on Saturday.

I got a good start this morning and stuck raisin bread in the oven so it will be ready when he wakes up. I'm glad I have him hear to distract me from worrying about Dd and the little one and all the tests they have today.

Speaking of worrying, CM, I am starting to worry about you. I know sometimes you have so much going on it is overwhelming to get your thoughts together and post. But if you are ok and reading, maybe you could just post that?

Everyone, I did it. I applied myself. I sorted through a fairly large filing tote of my mother's. I've created another bag for shredding and I've separated out the stuff my sister would want. And I've put my sister's stuff in a priority mail box and I'll get that to the PO. I also filled out my passport renewal. I have stuff for me to go through as well but I've managed to separate things. My coffee table (usually empty) is covered but I'm good with it. I'll take mom's filing tote to recycling tmr. What a relief. Yes I have to deal with the coffee table but I am relieved.

I am now showered. Dishwasher is all set to run in an hour. I will water my plants and go watch reruns of the great British bake off.

Hi SubC. Happy birthday to Bean! I'm sorry about the added stress of possibly having him stay with you for four days.

I took my big bag of mom's papers and put in the shredding bin. They told me to being as much as I like and to not worry. So that's really nice.

Did three loads of laundry and immediately put them away except for the delicates, which air dry.

I'm going to take an hour now to identify more papers to get rid of. That will feel like an accomplishment.

My cleaners came today so clean sheets for me!

Good morning!

Dh has had to go on a trip for work and I am "batching it" as my mom says - leaving things a mess everywhere and not eating proper meals (don't worry, I will clean the things up before he comes home and "not eating proper meals" means that yesterday I ate - one item at a time and spread through the day: toast, cherries, zucchini, cereal with milk, watermelon, eggs, popcorn, walnuts, and a bit of ice cream. My nutrition will be fine.)

Anyway, Dh is working only an hour from ds and is planning to pop up and visit Birdy. I am jealous. However, today is Bean's birthday, and because his mommy has medical tests very early tomorrow, he is coming to spend the night. I have bought him some zebra pajamas (he loves zebras) and I am hoping they fit. They look a bit skinny. We are going to put together his piñata for Saturday. The paper mache part is done.

Anyway - told about Dh also to say I sent the small basket of things I've been collecting for ds to ds with Dh. I had already counted them out, but now they are actually gone, basket and all.

Slept late again this morning and much I want to do before Bean comes, so I better get moving!

Good morning!

Hi Tatoulia. It's good to see you. It's been lonely here.

I'm sorry you don't sleep well.

I slept well last night, although I did dream that I went out to the barn and the goats were loose and had destroyed all the hay and straw bales and scattered them everywhere. Then (in my dream) I realized there was a cougar in the barn and I caught it in my arms and wrestled it under control. I asked Dh to shoot it and he said "oh, it's so pretty. You don't want to kill it. I'll just sedate it and it will be fine." Then he did and I was petting it and I woke up.

I have no idea what that was about, but I wonder if it has anything to do with the frankly unreasonable requests for extra child care I am suddenly getting from sil - he wants me to keep Bean for four days (with less than two weeks notice) so that he can go on vacation. They are at a very inconvenient time. I can understand that he needs a vacation (DD's mental health issues are exhausting) but he doesn't have to have this one. He can plan something that I can support without me becoming exhausted and overwhelmed.

Anyway. Good job on the papers! Reading all of that must bring up a lot of different emotions.

I am still plugging away here. Not making any sustainable progress, but not falling too fa4 behind either.

SubC,I sleep miserably every night. It has been this way all of my life. Even as a little kid I had trouble sleeping. I know the toll that takes and I hope you will sleep better tonight. I can understand your resentment toward your husband; even more so after reading the letters my mother sent to her mother. Seeing my mother fight for us kids.

I stayed in today and went through some of my mother's papers. I read quite a few letters she wrote to her mother (as far back as the 1950s and as recently as the 1980s). Some of it was painful, esp the stuff in the 1980s. I did not read all of them, not by any means.

I have a large bag of stuff to take for shredding. I'll contact my facilities person first to make sure it's still okay for me to use the bins. I think I told you they brought me my own bin after mom died, which was very generous. We do have shredders we can use but so time-consuming so I will double-check in using the professional shredding bins.

I have a smaller batch of things to mail to my sister. She's fascinated by genealogy and there are some things she could mine for info. So I'll get those mailed this week. Still so much to go through but I did quite a bit today. Around 6 I started laundry and went to the grocery store, more for a walk than for any other reason.

So that's it for my news. I miss you all and am thinking of you all.

Oh! The humidity broke for Friday so that was good. My house is messy right now yet I know I can pull it together in half an hour. How do I know that? Because when my brother came by for cane on his birthday it took me half an hour. And I felt so proud of myself. Today's mess is going through papers. But I have one bin to go into the recycling bin out back. These are the medium sized bins, not those huge stackable ones.

Good morning.

I did pick beans and weed a bit before it got hot yesterday. Lots more to do in the garden. It's supposed to rain most of the day though. Which is ok, I also have a lot of pottery to do.

I worked on books a bit yesterday. I am mostly just moving them around. I'm trying to find enough space to empty a shelf and carry it out to the barn to use for inventory for pottery. I did put one in my son's box, so I'll count that out, and set some aside for other destinations - I'll count those out when they go. The shelf is down by 1/3, but all the easy spaces are taken.

I spent too much time online yesterday and i did not sleep well.

It was nice Tatoulia.

Now Dh is home and I am behind on dishes again. Plus all of his trip laundry.

I knew you you were just curious.

We had a good time at the fair yesterday. Dh stayed for three hours - which is longer than the total time he spent at the fair during the 14 years when my kids had projects and events there. I had mixed feelings about that. It was great that he and Bean were having so much fun together, but I found that I still have some bitterness that he couldn't be there for his own kids. It would have helped me as well. Maybe some day when Bean is big enough to participate he will look at me and say "I'm sorry I missed all of this with our kids." And then I will forgive him.

I am being tempted by prime day. So far I have ordered car seats for the new baby (at 35% off exactly what they wanted) one for my car and one for theirs. And more of the colored lids that are definitely helping me with the milk situation. (44% off with prime deal and buy two price.) I think I am now set for life for both of those things. I'm not sure if I am going to count either in my net tally.

Now I need to go pick beans instead of wandering around Amazon finding things that i just really like. If I think of anything else I am actually planning to buy, I will check on it then.

Thanks for the info on the milk! I asked purely out of curiosity and without an agenda. I did not know that there's a controversy about raw milk vs pasteurized but now that you've said it, I can see that pretty clearly.

Getting an A+ was pretty nice, SubC! You worked hard for it.

My cleaners come tmr but they were just here on Friday. Oh well. If they hadn't left part of their vacuum here I might've pushed back.

Good night, dear friends.

Good morning!

Tatoulia, good job. living things are important. I confess to sometimes failing my plants however. It's lack of competence, not lack of effort.

How long the milk lasts depends - on what part of the fridge it is in, how much the fridge gets opened, if forget and I partly or fully freeze it by accident before moving it to the fridge (it gets "quick cooled" in the freezer for an hour before moving.) even the cleanliness of the jars and bucket (washed, but not sterilized) in general, a few weeks. Sometimes over a month.

The milk is raw - I do not pasteurize it in any way. It does get cooked when being turned into cheese or frozen custard. My kids drank raw milk as kids, but Bean is only allowed to have the cooked products by decision of his parents.

I would prefer not to get into a debate about raw milk here, but I will say, if I lived in a city, I wouldn't drink raw milk. Nor would I drink it at the home of a neighbor if I didn't know them and their operation well. (Or sometimes if I did)

Goat milk begins to taste "goaty" before it goes by. (Like store goat milk, which I also will not drink). My milk is sweet and creamy. And yes, home made jam is good.

My Dd walked into my entry area last night, looked around (you can see all of the main living areas from the entryway) and said "A+". That made me feel really good. She is very particular. Usually she would say "you might want to [xyz] before dad gets home."

Bean and I are going to the fair today. Dh says he will join us for at least part of the time. He is going to drive separately, because even though he took the day off in case he wanted to stay at his parents house longer, he has a meeting this afternoon. That way we are not worried about getting back and can be flexible. The plan is fair, feed store, library, bath, play if there is time left, return to mommy. The only deadline is leaving for that last step around 4:30, and I can always take him all the way home instead. It is supposed to get really hot today, so we will take lots of water and buy a frozen lemonade from the jr. Fairboard for our treat, and pack lunch, but probably end up eating it at home or in the car on the way home.

Got to go milk before my sidekick gets up!

Yes it took me hours to get around to it but cat boxes changed and window boxes watered and trimmed.

Goodnight, dear friends.

Need to hold myself accountable.

I hung up the delicates. Need to water window boxes and clean litter boxes. Keeping my two sets of living things alive (plants and cats).

Need to come here to force myself to do it.

Tell me about your milk, SubC. How long does it last in the fridge? Is it considered raw milk? Any knowledge you can impart to this city mouse is greatly appreciated!

I dropped off the donations. The bag was pitifully small but I did it. I enjoyed shopping at goodwill and bought three shirts. The last few months I've been shopping for tops. Especially where I am just so heavy right now.

I went to the grocery store for fruit and something else small. I like having seltzer, juice, cat litter delivered but I'll do my own grocery shopping. I didn't see any plants I liked for my window boxes so I'll do my best to revive the ones I have.

I just did up the dishes and I'm doing a load of delicate laundry, including the three new shirts. I'll hang everything to dry.

We are in a heat emergency here for the next three days. Definitely not in my favor. But I'll force myself to office tmr.

I'm going to change out the litter boxes tonight so when I get home from work tmr, all my garbage and recycling will be good to go.

Homemade jam sounds so nice.