Hit post because my battery was low.

I am really glad you are enjoying your sheets.

Also, the head and stomach could very well be stress.

How is the weight loss going? Getting feedback on that from your gp/nutritionist seems like a good idea. Especially with meds involved.

Hi Tatoulia!

Goodwill will wait.

Your recipe file made me laugh. Thanks. The "failed attempts.." Pile is now 2.25" tall. However, aside from a few random things I'm sure I will find, all the paper is either filed, sorted, or in one of two recycling boxes - a paper ream box and a diaper box, both full. I still have some old files to clear out and things that are sorted and need filing, but it is a good start.

Today's box had a legal sized flat envelope in it. I opened it. It was a video cd of my grandmother's funeral in 2013 and a copy of her will. With a note from my uncle. I immediately started crying so hard I couldn't breathe. There was other paperwork in there regarding her estate - which based on the paper trail I apparently interacted with and took care of. I have no memory of any of it. I put everything back in the envelope and put it away. Not ready.

Don't care if it has been ten years. Still not ready.

Hi I did not go to goodwill but I did walk to the grocery store and got a few things. Now I'm lying down for a bit. Stomach and head.

There were quite a few people at the park so I got to see some neighbors. That was good.

I'll go see mom in about half an hour. I'll be able to take her downstairs for supper time.

I will take my recycling put when I go to mom's. Trying yo move myself forward despite the depression.

I have a file folder called, recioes I'll never make.

Feeling much better today. Slept from about 6 PM last night to 10 AM today. Only got up to feed cat during the night and stuff like that. Was feeling miserable yesterday with stomach and head issues. I don't want to live this way so I need a solution. I'll make a dr appointment. And maybe an appt with a nutritionist. I can do this.

Had my coffee and a long phone call with BF. We are making this work.

Oh the vintage sheet buying I've done has proven to be an excellent thing for me. I love the sheets, they are very comfortable, and they make me very happy. So I'm glad I've been buying vintage sheets on Etsy. They are doing it for me. I need to get rid of a corresponding number of top sheets to keep it even.

Yay for output!

I am working on papers this morning. I have turned the entire dining porch into a giant horizontal file system with me at the center. I've taped up labels for the piles. Because as I am discovering various boxes and file holders and stacks, what I am realizing is that every one of them has almost the same categories of partially sorted stuff, all from different stretches of time.

I have labelled one stack "failed attempts to create a schedule or system to organize, evaluate or restructure my life."

I am making some progress filling the recycling box too.

Thank you for your kind words, SubC. I was going to goodwill for donations and not going inside! The parking lot is under renovations and there is no place to park other than street parking. So don't worry, we are talking output not input!

Good for you for downloading the yoga app!

Good morning!

Still waiting on that baby...

Tatoulia, it will take a while. It makes sense that you feel sad. Just remember to be sensible at goodwill. You can't replace BF with things.

I am still processing a lot of sad here. The bottles are just staying for now. I have them out where I can look at them, but they are part of a mess, not part of my decor.

I got up and did yoga this morning. Dh has decided to start working out at a gym. When he told me that he was planning to ge5 up at 5 every morning and go, I was a little hurt because he almost never gets up early (even at six) to do yoga with me anymore. But it also made me realize that I need to stop waiting for him, so I added the yoga ap to my iPad and I'm just going to do it alone.

I'm going to try to get my morning in better order before school starts.

Your story about the glass bottles broke my heart, SubC, in a yearning sort of way. Thank you for telling the story.

Lila, I hope you get your good night's sleep before the baby arrives!

That was good to hear who it your clutter club, Cm, and how it evolved over the years.

I'm doing fairly well. I am exhausted. I wake up tired. I'm sure it's just the depression. I really miss him. And work is killing me.

I had dinner with woman I worked with 18 years ago. We had a blast. Talked all night. Her husband was out with friends and then was in the bay, waiting for us to finish dinner. And he didn't care if we stayed in the dining room for another hour or two. I hadn't seen him either so we ended up going to the bar and having a drink with him. They drove me home afterward. Truly lovely, lovely evening.

Garbage out. Visited mom. Bought some seltzer. I ran out earlier this week and I've decided that the lack of seltzer explains my fatigue. If only!

Mom's house is very clean as my ladies were by yesterday. My house is also clean. So nice.

I had to get rid of my window boxes tonight. The petunias ran their course. It's been pretty warm this summer. Im not sure if it's worth it to get other plants right now. I'll see what is around.

Right now I'm drying my towels and washing my jeans. I'll fold up the towels and hang the jeans.

Very much missing my sweetheart. I wish he were here.

Saturday I'll go to goodwill and run other errands. Those things will make me feel better.

I know I'll see him again. Im just not sure how long I'll have to wait.

Hi CM,

Thanks for coming by! I was getting lonely.

I have decided not to go to my class tonight. I am really low on energy and I cannot find the payback on the two hours of driving and getting home late.

I have been puttering about here and there.

I can't seem to engage with the garden or my pottery. I have been picking at some papers. I found a stack from my short adventure as an English teacher - interrupted rudely by Covid - and have managed to recycle most of those.

I hope your group works out for you somehow. I've started to think group therapy might not be the worst idea in the world. But there would be driving.

Hi,

Not doing too much at the moment except getting ready for the bunny event this weekend, which I would enjoy a lot more if it weren't coinciding with a terrible heat wave on the way. I wish so much that the organization's anniversary would be in a more reasonable weather month. Alas.

I'll be baking today, just cupcakes which are easier than a big cake, since my roommate's oven hates me (feeling is mutual) and takes a perverse delight in ruining many of my sheet cakes. But cupcakes bake through more easily, so they're pretty foolproof.

Roommate is doing her best, it's a struggle sometimes. Sounds like her physical therapist knows his stuff, though, which is encouraging. Her sleep quality is not great, and mine is okay but not like I wish it could be. So some days I am grouchy. Today not bad though.

The cats and dog have had fleas, and it took awhile to get around to treating the cats - the one we thought would be easier turned out to be more difficult, whereas the wild child one didn't do too badly. So now they have the meds and we can hope for better days. Death to fleas! Nasty bloodsucking buggers.

I've been working on my writing some still - one novel in particular is getting the most attention, though I like to shift around between them. And I got an idea for a cute kid's picture book that would use some of my newly acquired digital art skills. I really wonder if it could sell, and it wouldn't take that long to do if I can just get going with it. First, I will need to gain a bit more confidence in the illustration part - the visual conceptualization, which is not my best skill set, e.g., realistic drawing, because I am more of an abstract expressionist artist. Although I'm not aiming for photorealism, still even a stylized version of things like houses, people, streets, and the moon (the moon is a focal point) need to be realistic enough. Perspective and such things need to be handled properly. The story itself is in the Big Concept stage, so still brainstorming how to work with that and nail down an actual plot sequence.

My library guy is a resource who can help me with the digital aspects and he's just so encouraging. A real gem. I hope to get in a couple of individual sessions - they call it "Book a Librarian" - with certain Inkscape skills and a Gimp skill that I have wanted to learn for years but hadn't got round to, and it won't be that hard now that I've been working with Gimp for years.

All this is a productive way to pass the time while the weather is still stinking hot, also I'll want to get going on cleaning that sewing machine and hopefully get it running again. That got pushed aside in all the kerfluffle about my roommate's mobility issues.

Yesterday I went to my old local clutter club meeting that I hadn't been to since way before Covid even. I'm not sure if I like it enough to return on a regular basis or not, but I had been thinking of it from time to time, and then I ran into one of the ladies at the grocery store recently. You see, when I first started going to that group in about 2015, it met at a place closer to here, in a casual cafeteria that was closed in the afternoons. Seating was laid back, atmosphere was plain but homey. Then it moved, when the agency sponsoring it moved, to a stuffy downtown corporate type building, and pre-Covid the clutter club was crammed into a small, sterile conference room. And for awhile there were people coming who were forced to come by county hoarding code enforcement, so they had an attitude and spoiled the mood (though I empathized with them, and tried not to judge, because everybody's got to start somewhere).

Another thing that had begun to bug me back then was that the lady leading it, who was/is a therapist, and a really sweet person, began to come across more "therapist-y" and the vibe changed from more of a camaraderie to more like group therapy. Not a lot, really, yet enough to bug me (who has had more than my fill of therapy, group and otherwise, in the distant past). There seemed to be more therapy and pop psych lingo, more boring directedness, some dumbing down, and all in all less room to be my geeky quirky self, is all I can describe it as. I mean, I understand it was for a serious purpose, but I'm a firm believer that one can tackle serious things with fun and humor. So between the corporate conference room atmosphere and the therapy speak, I just decided to quit going, and try to spend more time actually doing my decluttering (whether I did or not, who can say, it's been a few years, lol).

This time, we were not in the tiny conference room. In fact, it appeared that the agency had reconfigured their entire space - movable walls I think - and this time we were in a BIG sterile conference/classroom, and it was also set up for Zoom (yikes, I'm mike and camera shy with Zoom) but I know it's good for those who can't make it in person. The vibe was still therapy-ish. Kind and nice, but meh, I don't know. I brought my crocheting and I'm glad I did or I wouldn't have probably been able to sit there through the whole thing. And yet. I don't want to be overly negative - so I might go back next month just in the interest of being open minded. This apparently works for some folks, so who am I to barge in and be a Karen about it. So we'll see. It may be a way to find a local buddy, too, so there's that.

Anyhoozles, I'll just put that on the back burner till next month, see what the weather does, what my literary aspirations do, and what clutter I might find to toss here and there. It'll pick up, I'm not going to force it at the moment. Bigger plans await the cooler weather, and I'm not going to spill the beans on those just yet.

This has been a strange summer that took some unexpected turns, and yet I wouldn't call it a bad summer either. And good news - I'm doing better again with the pushback against the agoraphobia. I had gone swimming last Saturday at the water park for one last time, it was a long drive and I did great. And a long drive on Sunday across town to my cousin's for her grandson's birthday party, which I also did like a boss (the drive I mean). School has started here this week, which means more traffic and school buses (hate getting behind one), but I have my little tricks for manuvering. So I'll do my best not to let those things bug me anymore than I can help.

I went down to the basement to move some more things to make it easier to clean and paint.

I found a box of magazines and catalogs I had saved for the pictures. I had a couple of empty drawers and I thought to myself, well, I can't get this in one drawer, but maybe two. Let's see what's here. Ten minutes later 2/3 of them were in the recycling and the rest were taking up 3/4 of a drawer. They dated back to 1995. In 1995 I lived in Virginia. Then Iowa. Then a different house in this state. I moved some of those 3 times.

I think I'll go try to was some mats.

Good morning.

I miss everybody.

Yesterday I went to my heartdaughter's house to watch a Netflix special with her. It was heartgrandson's first day of high school. It was good to see her and I enjoyed the special, but I was experiencing a lot of stress and I don't know why. It could have just been that this is only the second time I've visited her since she moved to this house two years ago, or it could have been her new dog, who is sweet, but in training and wants to climb and chew, so I had to have part of my attention on the dog the whole time. He would lie down next to me and I would start absentmindedly rubbing his belly and then suddenly he would be chewing the edge of my shorts. He never did really settle. I'm sure it didn't help that I brought lots of exciting new smells into the house.

Bean's puzzle mat came yesterday. It is cute, but not quite as exciting as I thought it would be. Hopefully he will like it. I put it together and I need to move it down to the basement.

And clean the wall.

And paint

And wash more mats.

And none of those are on my list of nine priorities today.

The house is messy and I am feeling stalled.

2nd post for other issue I wanted to discuss - the mats.

Yes, Lila, I am excited and pleased with myself about the mats. I have a really big stack of them - probably enough to do the whole floor on that side. New they would be at minimum $6 each so we are talking hundreds of dollars saved by saving something from the dumpster!

But this is the sort of thing that gets me in trouble. It gives me a big rush and then I want to save every potentially useful or interesting thing and I don't seem to have the ability to evaluate which are good ideas and which are not.

I don't know what to do about that.

Good morning!

Lila, still waiting on baby with you. ?

Tatoulia, I do need motivation. I'm starting to feel like I have run a marathon this summer with this basement. And now I am too tired to take one more step.

Also, Dh has not mentioned a possible recycling trip again (his work got suddenly really busy due to a bad thing) so these will be sitting in my recycling zone until November.

I also bought paint for the basement wall yesterday btw. Paint is expensive! I wanted to buy "oops" paint, but they only had grey.

I cleaned out part of a closet this past week (and donated a sentimental jacket that never fit right when I dropped off yesterday - which was hard) and in the course of moving things around, I encountered my bottles again.

I have a bunch of old cut glass liquor bottles that belonged to my great grandmother. She saved everything. She died when I was in 4th grade. My great grandfather died a year later and there was a giant estate auction at their farm. I was 9. My mom's whole family lived in town, so I spent a lot of time at their farm with my cousin as a little kid. My great grandparents were hoarders. They were also poor all their lives. My grandfather was their only son and he worked his way through law school and spent the rest of their lives trying to make them more comfortable. The staircase to the second floor had a rail on one side and a waste high stack of books on the other on every step. When we cleaned out the cellar there were jars of expired food that were rusted, colorful, and unidentifiable. Every piece of obsolete equipment and non-running car was rusting in the yard. The house was full of odd, interesting things, colors, textures, patterns, small spaces to play and hide in and fresh baked cookies. I loved it there.

At 9 I didn't really understand the death part because my family talked about heaven like they talked about Maine (where my grandmother's family lived but we rarely visited - gram's family was in Maine and we'd see them when we went there, dead people were in heaven, ditto. I was 9. Time was not long.)

So my cousin and I are running free on this farm. People are unpacking and sorting through all the treasures, people are talking (mostly in horror but I missed that - autism?) about "when my house gets cleaned out" - I think I thought this was a new thing we were going to do - clean out all the houses. The family is discussing the future of the farm (my cousin and I are arguing in the yard over which of us will live in it when we grow up - both of us left the state - me at 17)

And they let us have some of the treasures. Nothing valuable - because we were kids. They wouldn't save things for us - furniture we loved was auctioned off. The farmhouse was rented, fell into disrepair and eventually burned to the ground. The day of the auction ended up being the last day I ever set foot on the farm.

I loved the way the light came through these bottles from the farmhouse window. And I've had them for 45 years without ever living anywhere I could recreate that. I have the bottles, my great grandmother's pencil box, a little vase (that got broken later and I glued) and a pottery dog lighter. My cousin and I each got a steamer trunk that we found in the attic. Our parents had them cleaned and refinished for us for Christmas, which in our eyes destroyed them and it took me years to forgive my mom. I had a rag doll but gave her away later. When my grandmother died I got the two little rockers some everyday quilts, and my great grandparents dining table and chairs.

And based on the crying I did this week over old bottles that have no good place in my life and the crying I'm doing now, I'm still processing the losses.

Sorry this got long.

Well no baby yet. I would appreciate it if she waited until I get a good solid night's sleep and maybe wait until after my meeting in the morning. After that, anything goes. Except well I do have an event I am in charge of Thursday night, lol. But baby is more important! She is having mild pains but not progressing.

I am so tired all the time. I did several hours of work from home. That was good. I got the dog beds and things out of the dryer and they are back in place. I took the dog toys out of the dishwasher, rinsed them and they are out on the deck to dry.

I also sprayed my dogs and rubbed it in and put them outside a bit to evaporate. I will brush them a little before I got to bed, and also need to vacuum.

Recycle, SubC. Justin Case is full. (In case you need encouragement).

Laundry folded and put away. Recycling ready to go out. The stuff aggravating me has ceased to aggravate. Need to change kitty's box and go to bed.

Goodnight!

Hi Tatoulia! I missed you!

Also surprisingly not sore.


Also, just realized I got excited for Lila about the grandbaby in my head and then came back to post later and realized just now that I hadn't posted the grandbaby stuff.


So, Lila, I hope everything goes really well, and I am super excited for you!

Lila, don't take this as critical, but I don't have dogs, and I think everybody who has indoor dogs has a house that smells like dog. It's just a question of wether it's clean dog or dirty dog. My sons house usually smells like clean dog.

This is however, coming from a woman whose daughter went to camp and was told by a friend that her friend brought one of her mom's t-shirts with some of her perfume on it in case she got homesick. To which my daughter replied "what?" And her friend said - "you know, how when something smells like your mom's perfume or powder it makes you feel better because it smells like your mom?" And (I know this because she told me the story later because she thought it was hilarious) my kid said "my mom doesn't wear perfume or powder. My mom smells like goats."

This is however, not insulting to me because this same kid wanted to sleep in the stall with her own baby goat every night the summer it was born. When I said no, she then lobbied to bring the goat to bed with her. Also no.

Bean's play mat did not arrive. We did purge two lions. I dropped the stuff at the thrift store. This has been getting a bit harder. I also went in. I spent $5 on a three shelf modular unit that matches the one from my mom's kitchen - which I am now using in the basement, however, it is a sturdy plastic shelf (old school 70s miracle of plastic plastic, not modern bend if you put a book on it polypropylene) which has been propped up on a set of particle board drawers on one end for years because somebody smashed one of the legs. It is three sections wide. So I got two shelves and 8 legs, and I can replace the missing legs and shelf, plus add one taller shelf to the center (or a side, but the center would probably look better) I am not sure what I will do with the extra shelf pieces. Part of me says recycle them, and part of me says save them for Justin Case. I don't think I can donate them without legs.

Thinking about the new grand baby and of course the mom! I'm sorry your place smells like dog. You took great steps in fixing it. My place smells like cat right now. My place generally does not have an odor but it's been both humid and rainy so no open windows. Plus I've had two cats here.

SubC I bet you are sore from washing those foam pads!!

Okay I was angry and aggravated yesterday. Now I feel better. I was aggravated over silly stuff but I also have an issue with an employee and so it's all messed up into one

I have to fold three laundry loads and gather up the recycling. Will put on some music and report back!

Good morning! Wow SubC, I am impressed with your recycling of the floor tiles for Bean's play area! That is awesome.

I am all worked out. My boss cancelled the meeting I had with him today so now I get to stay home and work here. I like it because I don't have to do my hair or my (minimal) makeup or find something to wear. I have to go in tomorrow, though, so today I need to figure out clothes.

Last week I did ALL my laundry but then sort of laid it over the rocking chair out of habit instead of hanging them up. When I needed clothes, almost all of them were wrinkled beyond being able to wear. So I guess I will run them through a quick wash, dry and hang them today.

I threw out a sock and a pair of underwear with small holes. I threw out one dog toy that is pretty ratty and old.

My son came back from a long trip and said when he walked in the house it smells like dog. I feel bad, I have not been able to get the carpets cleaned yet. Will schedule it after the new grandbaby is born, any day, since I can't have wet carpets when I am watching the other two grands.

In the meanwhile, to try and make it better, today I:

- Took several smelly dog toys out of the bin and am running them through the dishwasher
- sprinkled baking soda all over the carpet. Letting it sit and then will vacuum
- Put a whole dog bed (not just the cover) and crate liner in the wash, ran it, then ran a rinse cycle with sanitizer. It's all in the dryer now
- put the other dog bed cover and a couch blanket in the wash and will rinse with sanitizer
- blew fresh air in with a fan until it got too hot outside. Now have an air filter running.
- found a bottle of "spray dog shampoo" that you spray on them and brush to help them smell better. It is natural and safe. I will do that shortly.

What else could I do to help it smell nice in here? Maybe clean with Mrs Meyers...

I also took all the aging oranges out of the fridge and juiced them for my breakfast.

I am tired but may have a new grandbaby today!

Good morning!

It rained off and on all day yesterday and I was a little down - I think I needed a rest day after doing such a big chunk of the basement. I do have the clean mats down and I really like them. I definitely want to do more.

Today is a Bean day. Yesterday (with Dh blessing) I ordered him a foam puzzle mat of a city. It is only 3'x3' if you put it together square, but I thought it was better than a city rug because you can move the pieces around and change things up. We have Amazon prime, so it might come today while he is here to play with it.

I'll check back later to hopefully see what everyone has been up to.

Good morning!

I have a large stack of two foot square blue foam tiles in my basement. They were used in our preschool room and then stored in a very dirty storage room and they are scuffed and scratched and the school was going to throw them out. So of course, I brought them home.

They are filthy. Today's upper body workout - scrubbing twelve of them to make a padded play area for bean on the concrete basement floor. Eventually I plan to do as much of the floor as I can and put rugs or carpet squares over them, but this will do for now.

They are coming clean very well with enthusiastic scrubbing with Dawn dish soap. But 12 is definitely enough for one day! Back out to do the second side of the second 6!

Good evening.

We have been to dinner with old friends and their son who has moved back and so I am peopled out.

CM, that is interesting history about the bunny club. I had assumed it formed around the rescue and not the other way around.

Lila, I hope you are asleep. A good residential program could be a great option for teen, especially if there are others close in age they can make friends with,

I think autism sometimes comes off as disrespectful when it is not meant that way because the autistic person doesn't understand the viewpoint of the neurotypical person. Sometimes we are incapable of doing simple tasks because for us the task is not so simple. There may be a lot of variables that you aren't even aware of. I am not trying to excuse teen, because they still have to find away to function in life, but that may end up including not cooking for themself.

How did they get to their friend's house?

I am impressed with your printer rescue!

Bean is not coming tomorrow because his daddy was gone all weekend and wants to keep him. I get him on Tuesday.

Tatoulia, the bunny club started out in 2006 as mainly a small social get together of local bunny owners, and they did a few community activities as they got rolling, such as making therapy visits to care homes or disabled individuals. They also exchanged information about rabbit health and behavior.

Because I'd always dreamed of such a group and even tried to see if I could start one a decade or more before, I don't know how I missed hearing of their existence until 2009. During this time, as they became known in the community, people started giving them rabbits (people have frequently tried giving me rabbits too - anyone who has a rabbit becomes a magnet for people trying to give them another, and I did adopt a couple of my own this way).

So they had a few in their house and would find homes for them. Gradually the number climbed. More humans joined and helped out. They had a permit and inspections. But it was still a small operation - until it wasn't. So we filed articles of incorporation and applied for and got 501c3 nonprofit status. This was about a year before Covid.

Things seemed to be taking off, we had hoped to get a building somehow. We even didn't do too badly keeping going through the pandemic. Then there were some serious personnel issues, a schism if you will. And more rabbits coming in, and it's hard to say whether we'll be able to weather the storms and keep going or what. I'm wanting to be less in the decision making loop and more of a behind the scenes helper with just the things I do well such as writing and graphic design.

The daughter of the founder is trying to find a way forward. I pray that she can. We are at a crossroads. And as I have said, my health and other concerns are going to need to take priority in the next few years if I'm to have any sort of decent life as I reach retirement age.

hi, exhausted Lila here. I got about 3-4 hours of sleep last night, up late working on my procrastinated work prep and had to get up early to go in. There was a massive paper jam in the work printer which a coworker told me "only the maintenance company knows how to fix it" because the screen was frozen and there were folded and half shredded papers stuck in it. But I NEEDED my printouts, immediately, so I persisted until I got every possible paper shred out of there, got the screen to clear, and got it to bypass the 270 other print projects that were backlogged to print mine! I am pretty pleased with myself for getting that done. Even though it is not my job.

Anyway I am done for the day.

Now I forgot what I was going to comment on... hmm. SubC, good job on the toy bench! That is a big win for sure! Then the lifestyle decluttering thing, that is something to ponder.

Tatoulia, I hope you are doing well. I find it so difficult that all of my other kids were pretty responsible and not disrespectful etc but then Teen is like this. They tell me it is the autism but I dunno. I feel like I have no recourse but to move her out someplace (SubC, maybe residential will end up being where we go). I can't exist in chaos any longer, it is exhausting. She seems incapable of simple tasks. Her friend's mother called me and told me she comes over and makes a mess in the kitchen and just leaves it. (I'm sorry? Do you want me to come and clean it up for you? What can I do? Maybe friend's mom can tell her not to use the kitchen if she can't clean it up.) It is a universal problem, not just home. Some kind of dysfunction, I dunno. But there is no reward that will motivate them to do it, and no consequence they care enough about to change. No therapists, doctors, counselors, teachers, etc have been able to help yet. So I dunno, I love them, I don't want to tolerate this, but if I kick them out they will be not survive it. Easy target for traffickers for sure. So tiring.

Anyway I am trying to step back and let go of things and if they cause destruction I take the money out of their savings (from childhood) to replace or pay for things. They don't care though.

So I am home and really to fall asleep but Teen's friend's mom is calling me saying I need to come get them, and it is an hour round trip in the country, with no other way for them to get home... so, I guess I have to go get them. This is a very nice mom but does not want to have them there for days on end. If I say no it will make it very difficult on this nice mom.

And so it goes...

Tatoulia, you are doing great!

I am taking a break again. Dh and I are leaving to go to the house of friends for dinner in three hours, but right now he is playing golf and I have been working on the basement again.

I realized I wasn't totally truthful about the bins. Most of them were on racks, but there were two towers on the floor. One tower was three footlocker sized bins of stuffed animals and one footlocker sized bin of duplo blocks. I dumped out all of the stuffed animals, washed the red bin, and used it to corral some loose Christmas things (oversized decorations, paper gift bags, two large decorative tins with bows and decorations in them)

Then I filled the blue bin with my favorite stuffed animals (why are the stuffed animals in a bin is a question for another day.) then I decided to wash the empty grey stuffed animal bin with the lid that doesn't snap and dump the duplos in, and then only keep as many additional animals as would fit in the purple, former duplo bin.

The grey and purple bins were the same brand, same style, same size, but fluffing occurred and now the duplo bin lid won't go back on.

However, after messaging my offspring several times and adding one bear to space available in one of dd2's bins, I have a black plastic trash bag of animals to donate and all the animals fit in two bins.

I am going to see if Bean can help me get rid of some lions tomorrow. I know which two I want to keep, but if he is attached to the other two, they will stay.

Meanwhile, the rack is moved and filled with seasonal items and my dd2's belongings. And no gardening is occurring.

I found an inspirational video about decluttering and she talked about nine categories of decluttering - stuff being only one.

I am currently contemplating "lifestyle decluttering" examining the roles you play in life and prioritizing the most important and discarding the ones that no longer or currently don't serve you.

Like:
I am a wife
I am a mother
I am a grandmother
I am a daughter
I am a teacher
I am a potter
I am a gardener...(I have a lot more which might be part of my problem)

She also talks about examining whether our roles are complementary or in conflict (for example, "I am a grandmother" complements "I am a mother", but "I am an environmentalist" would conflict with "I am a monster truck enthusiast")

Anyway, the point is that decluttering your lifestyle can really help with decluttering your environment, time, and relationships.

Also, I have to have something to think about while I move bins and sweep floors..

Hi I'm back. BF called me and yesterday I waited too long and my post understandably disappeared so I decided to close out my post.

So, all electronic recycling taken to hazardous waste day. Old computer tower, toaster, coffee maker, cords, etc. felt really good. Did not take things to goodwill because I picked up groceries on the way home. And I didn't want them to spoil. Did take a bag for goodwill to my car.

So I don't know if I told you this or not. It may have been in my lost post.

A friend out of the blue asked me for my address. She has never sent me anything before. She did not know about BF leaving. She sent me two things that were delivered straight from the vendor. My work friend was sleeping over. They are cute but I don't need them and don't want them. Also they feel like they'd break really easily. So I bagged them up for goodwill. Then I also bagged up two Christmas gifts from someone I do not like. I absolutely loved the gifts and used them but I neither want nor need the bad juju. In the car. I feel lighter for getting rid of them.

I went out for dinner with Emiko last night and I brought with me two pair of pajamas that had been at BF's house. I had washed them. She loves my old pjs for some reason.

There's a lot for me to take care of here but I wanted to say that I got rid of stuff that is perfectly usable and great and I don't have the desire to keep for whatever reason.

I may go to car today and take to goodwill. In the meantime, I'm doing laundry.

Visiting cat went home.

Congratulations, SubC! And hip hip hooray for your husband noticing and being excited! Great work!

CM, I have a question and I hope you'll forgive me for not knowing. What is the Bunny Ckub? Is it a social thing that has charitable aspects? Raising money to take care of bunnies? Is it more of a rescue or shelter type situation? I never really ask and being a city dweller, it occurred to me that I honestly don't know. Would love to hear more about it!

Lila, I do hope you are able to reinforce better behaviors in your teen. I know parenthood is a struggle and a mix of emotions. Sending you and teen support

Have to run be back soon.

I did it!

The floor on the first side of the basement is clear. It is not perfect, and I have not sorted through everything, but everything is in a cupboard, or on a shelf, or in a bin on a rack.

I have two empty bins and five empty cardboard boxes.(but remember, I bought four bins) otoh, many things were not binned or boxed.

The wide "hallway" space on the other side of the basement is clear.

The Mickey bench is drying in my garage (because it might rain overnight)

Dh wrapped his arms around me and said "I am so proud of you. I wanted to help you, but you had to do this yourself. This is amazing. You did such a good job."

There is a pile of empty bags and boxes and bins on top of the chest freezer. I told him "this is all empty, but I don't want to get rid of it yet because I haven't done the other side." He said "you're going to do the other side?!" I told him "I'm going to do the whole d—n house. But not this summer." (There are two weeks to open house for school)

Tomorrow I move the holiday/dd2 storage rack into the bump out in the new section of basement.

The saga continues.

Taking a break from the basement. I am soooooo close! Honestly, I cannot believe that I have actually done this in less than 2 months. I am not quitting tonight until Dh approves the basement for storage rack relocation! But I am taking a water break.

I forgot to tell you - yesterday 8 picked up a Mickey Mouse work bench from the curb. It had been there all week. The trash truck was due in a few hours and most of my neighbors had already driven to work.

It is plastic, and missing the tools, but it has plastic nails and plastic screws and dials and gauges and a scale that talks and a drill press that makes drill press noises and also talks if you switch Mickey on. All it really needs is a plastic hammer and a plastic screwdriver. It is basically clean except for dirt splatter from sitting by the road on the rain.

I am going to give it a light rinse with the hose and drop it off at the thrift store when I take my next load. I feel really good about this. It is definitely much better use of my time from a resource conservation standpoint than sorting out little handfuls of craft bits. I even put a few things in the trash tonight that I would normally try to save somehow. I need the time and energy for scavenging - lol!

Hi Lila and CM!

Bean left and I fell asleep face down on the couch. I only stretched out for a minute because my back hurt..

I did my zoom call this morning, and chores, and played with Bean and started dishes and laundry before i fell asleep. But all I've done since i woke up is eat two more donuts (I froze them) and repack ds stuff in bins that I am happy to give him instead of my matching/easy stacking ones (bins I had, some that I took dd2's stuff out of)

Oh! And I just had a message exchange with dd1 who requested some items from the basement!

Lila, have you and teen looked into options for future living arrangements for teen, or is the plan just for them to live with you and then..?

I hope you have fun with your grands!

CM, I'm glad things are less dire for roommate than you feared. I wish you success with the bunny club and the exercising!

I think I'm going back to the basement. I really want this table cleared off and put away!

I'm going to make a longer post, but let me just start with "yes! Donate lids!" For most people it is the lids that get destroyed. I have about 7 containers (Pyrex, Tupperware) that if I found a lid at the thrift store I would be super excited and buy it. Replacement lids are too pricey.

Ok, didn't want to forget that while I was organizing my thoughts.

post 2 today -

CM! Hi! I'm glad you came to update. I too strongly dislike heavy traffic. The city is repairing the road that goes across town near my house and it is blocked off in one direction. So now the traffic on "main street" is backed up all the way through town at certain times. It is bad enough I have to leave 20 min early to get to work which is like 5 minutes from my house! I am just not going anywhere I don't have to.

I got all the folded towels put away.

Remember how I have like 75% of my kitchen stuff locked in my bedroom so Teen doesn't break it? Like they broke ALL of my glasses and most coffee mugs, many bowls and plates... (autism)... so we have been eating off plastic ones, and I even have most of the silverware, storage containers, pans in my room. This is because Teen also would do things like take mixing bowls, use them for yucky things and leave them outside (vomiting for example, or cleaning the cat box) or would eat from things like glass bread pans and leave them in their room to get moldy or fall on the floor and break. Or would use every piece of silverware and leave them in their room all dirty for a month.

Well I am working on this. I am so tired of having to go get a fork out of my room when I need one. I told them, you are an adult now. I am going to treat you as an adult. You may not eat from baking dishes or storage containers or cooking pots. You may not leave food in your room as you will have bugs and I am not cleaning it or spraying for you anymore. To live here you must not destroy property.

I don't know how it will be but I am so over it. I am NOT putting the glass stuff all back out. I threw out the old plastic plates and brought the newer ones out of my room into the cabinet. I brought all the silverware back out and the pots and pans. I put two old coffee mugs that survived out there. A few glass items, only a very few, just in case.

Now as I am pulling this stuff out of my bedroom I see I have at LEAST 35 plastic lids. Maybe 50. Tupperware type, rubbermaid, pyrex, all the plastic lids. SO MANY. But I have only found like 6 plastic containers that match the lids. So I put those in the kitchen. Now I have about 3 containers with no matching lids and 2 thousand (lol) lids with no container in my bedroom.

My goal is to look everywhere for the containers and lids and then anything that has no matching counterpart will be donated. (Can people use there maybe? I hate to throw them out but seems silly to just donate lids).

That is my newest project.

Hi :)

Just unwinding after these last few weeks. I have hope that things are not as dire as they initially seemed. Meaning with roommate's health. Yes, there is some more serious stuff that she will have to contend with over the long haul. But I misunderstood a thing or two - like one issue is not new, it's just being monitored to make sure it is still holding steady. And the pain will be able to be helped with therapy and she started that.

My brain has a bad habit of flipping into apocalypse mode. And once there it takes awhile to resettle and be able to take in more nuanced information about a situation. That's probably due to stress response. If I can tackle the stress with healthy habits and prayer, it can lessen.

Anyway, I'm thankful, and ready to downshift into everyday standard operating procedure. This upcoming week will include preparation for the bunny group fundraiser a week from Sunday, but I don't think there will be a ton to do. And we are getting volunteers. I am the one who makes bright attention grabbing graphics to put on social media calling for helpers and donations because I am the one who worries most about being overwhelmed, haha. Squeaky wheel and all that, but hey, it is effective.

The public schools start here Monday. Back to zillions of buses of various sizes making traffic congested especially in the afternoons, which I hate. But I'm going to try my best to work around it. Try to be more Poco a Poco.

Roommate and I may be doing some exercising at the gym on the buddy system if it works out. It would be a chance for me to resume my own physical therapy exercises which I have gotten away from. Having the ready made motivation, and company on the driving part, would get me past some of my reluctances until the endorphins have a chance to increase and then they will carry me along again.

Just chilling on the decluttering front at the moment unless I happen to spot something to toss, but maybe it will flow better there too now that we're settling into a new groove. For awhile there it was just getting through each day. In some ways it reminded me of when we had Covid. Now it's more like when we were recovering from Covid. Getting back into the swing of things.

Well hello! Yeah, I was working. I didn't even get all of yesterday off, but worked. And I have to work a bit this afternoon, too, to prep for a training I am doing tomorrow. I have not been managing my time wisely and have been procrastinating and there is a lot to do. Will do better next week.

ohhh SubC, cradles and rocking chairs and such are SO hard. I hated giving those away. At one point I considered taking a cradle apart, carefully, and using one side of it as some kind of wall hanging/decoration. I am not crafty though so I didn't. I saved some stuff like that for granddaughters to use for dolls but I dunno. It is hard when our kids don't feel the attachment we do to things that are family-special.

What a sweet story with Bean in the basement!!

You are doing an amazing job with the basement. Your basement is my garage. A two car garage filled wall to wall with boxes and bins and 25+ year old stuff. I will have to deal with it at some point. About half of it is ex's and he is supposed to come get it.

Tatoulia, it is hard when we are out of shape. It does get easier as we use our muscles. There used to be a group called FlyLady that I was a part of. Her motto was "you can do anything for 15 minutes." So I followed her directions and bought a timer and when I needed to attack some big things, I would tell myself that, set the timer for 15 minutes, and force myself to work on it until the timer went off. It did help.

I am watching Tot and Acorn this afternoon, so hopefully I can get a few things done in the meantime. I posted some old towels and plates in the Daily Tally. I gave old towels to a rescue and the plastic plates went in the trash because they were shedding plastic bits. This meant the nicer, newer plastic plates have come out of my bedroom and are in the cabinet, freeing up space in my room.

So far this morning I:
- swept the driveway
- pulled weeds in the driveway and front
- made coffee and read on the deck for an hour
- put stuff in the laundry basket to be washed

I have been putting the clean, folded towels away also and there are still some on the table. I washed them all last week to sort but they never got put away. Will finish that today.

I'll come post again before the grandkids show up.

Good job Tatoulia!

You had a lot of hard things to do this week! I bet it takes you less time to get things together than you expect.

I'm with you on today. I'm actually going to drop in on a zoom call with some international online "friends" (hosted in Australia this time) in a few minutes. Then chores, mucking out my house - the living areas and laundry have been ignored during the basement work, weeding in the garden, and Bean time (his mama is here, but will be gone from 10-1 for a funeral and then takes him home.)

It's supposed to rain this afternoon so I plan to dry some beans and start working on class planning. Two weeks to open house. I dreamed about classes again last night.

Well I lived through the day. And the week. I thought maybe visiting kitty was heading home but I was mistaken. Tmr for sure.

I saw mom and I went to cvs. Got all of the garbage out last night. Finalizing stuff for bf tomorrow.

Hard week. Much was very, very good and productive.

Tmr I need to get rid of stuff, do some grocery shopping, and start getting my act together. Who's with me?

Wow that was a big day you had yesterday, SubC. The realization of the moths, noting that you kept a bag of stuff and for what, and then tackling the burn box. That was a lot of anxiety and self-reflection. Very tough work. I too would've eaten the donuts but I'm not a good example to follow.

My car is loaded with stuff for two reasons: we cleared out the basement of BF's work and I cleared out his place. What's in the car? Christmas stuff, cleaning supplies, etc, etc. stuff. The boxes here are more of the same. It's a matter of dealing with it LOL so obvious. I will sort and take stock. Tmr is electronic recycling and I'm looking forward to it. Get his stuff recycled and out of his car. There's one piece in my car. I think I can then start to deal with the stuff in my house.

Okay off to another big work day.

Good morning!

Another full weekend coming up.

I have Bean today because dsil has to go out of town. He and Dd are spending the night and then she is leaving to go to a funeral tomorrow and coming back for him midafternoon.

Sunday afternoon Dh has made plans with friends we haven't seen for a while.

And I need to do some online training and set my classes up by tomorrow night - oops! I hope Bean takes a good nap today!

I dropped three paper bags of mixed recycling and three plastic grocery bags of trash yesterday. I think the clearing out may be stalled for a bit though.

Tatoulia, I appreciate that you have been coming by to talk to me! How is everyone else?

Tatoulia, I'm glad you were able to cheer up your mom and to get your laundry done.

It was really good that you were able to resist taking things, but I can't explain the car. Maybe your friends snuck things in?

I am having a tough day, but I am pushing through it. I found moths in the basement again. They had destroyed things again. Things I really liked, but fortunately things that *I* made this time. Also, I had a talk with myself. I said "girl, let's think about when this bag of stuff came down here." And I thinked. And the answer was: "after the fair in 2019." And I said to myself "so you are telling me that this bag of stuff was really important to you. So important that it has been down here for FOUR YEARS and never once have you wondered where a single item in this bag was. Never once have you gone looking for one of these things, or wanted to use it, or look at it, for FOUR YEARS! These are not baby things. They are your things, that you could be using regularly. What are you doing?! Fix your life!"

And then I decided to burn the burn box, which I have not done since I started the grass fire. But we were out of matches (or Dh hid them from me) so I had to go to the store. And I took the trash and the plastic bag recycling. And I was so stressed out, I bought a dozen sugar coated donuts on clearance and I ate three of them for lunch on the way home while contemplating wether or not binge eating is a problem if you are fully aware you are doing it and making a conscious decision to self soothe.

I have successfully burned the burn box. It took much longer than usual because every time the flames got more than about 8" tall I sprinkled them with water. The ground was soaked, the grass was green. It was still and drizzling and I weeded around the fire circle before I started and I took four buckets of water and the rake and my cell phone. It was ridiculous. And my heart was pounding the entire time until I felt dizzy and out of breath and by the time I was done I was shaking.

Now I am drinking water and feeling a little sick from adrenaline (and maybe donuts) and my belly muscles feel tight, but I did it.

And then I went online and ordered moth traps. Because there were none at the grocery store.

I need a shower. I smell like stress.

Despite my difficult day, I came home and did two loads of laundry. One was the sheets for the foldout from my guest being here and a load of delicates.

I may go try to do some laundry now. Maybe I'll do the quilt the guest was using so I can put it away.

Sounds like your husband is giving you great support, SubC. That's terrific that you can get the recycling out sooner!

Last weekend at BF's house, the helper kept wanting to save stuff and I kept telling her, you can save it if you want it but I'm not getting more stuff in my house. And I didn't hesitate on any of it. So why is my car full right now? No idea.

Having dinner with a friend from work tonight. Had a challenging day at work yesterday. Had good support from my superiors.

I'm up super early for me so I might as well make my coffee and get my day started.

Mom was pretty good last night. I got her into a clean nightie. She had the usual stories of people breaking into her place and stealing the remote for her tv.so I picked it up from the floor and said, the stealing stops now. It cheered her up.

Good morning.

I hope somebody comes by today.

Going through my son's childhood stuff with him last night was pretty emotional. I was worn out. Today I'm feeling reenergized though.

I told Dh that I wanted to buy ds a big plastic footlocker to transport all his things in because I want to keep some of my bins (still have cardboard boxes on my storage racks) and because there were a few items that were loose because they were too long or too tall for my bins. Dh said "take the grey one in my shop. It's full of plastic sheets, just dump them out. They should probably be recycled anyway."

Also he doesn't want to wait until November for another recycling drop and is willing to drive a load down with me with the truck, possibly on a Thursday afternoon so we don't have to deal with a busy Saturday.

I got through about half of the fabric. It was enough to put away the fabric that was not in bins.

I FaceTimed my son and ddil and went through his bins. He wants about 3/4 of it. I am ok with getting rid of about half of what he doesn't want. A few things I will put out for Bean to play with. He said to get rid of his very favorite stuffed animal from when he was little because it is completely worn out. I can't do that, but that is about me, not him. I still have dd1's shredded blankie too.

That is my day. I am tired. I need to get that table cleared off so I can stop for a while.

Things are slowing down today!

I got DD's things in the new bins and managed to add three bridesmaids dresses she left in her closet.

Then I decided to start with fabric since there seemed to be a lot of fabric on the table.

One bin spread all over the rug by fiber content and I have managed to throw away a small handful of scraps and donate two pairs of silk pajama pants that I thought I might use for fabric.

I am not going to confess to how many bins are left, but since I started with not all the fabric in bins, I am going to call this a success if I don't ADD any bins but I get all the fabric put away.

Know what I need? I need to clear off my work table and get my sewing machine fixed. That baby quilt in my son's bin? I MADE that 29 years ago with a toddler underfoot and a part time job. And I made him a matching bunting doll.

Aaaaarg!

SubC, you aren't wasting a minute of your time! You are getting so much done!

My challenge this weekend will be to deal with the stuff I've brought into my house. Then I will have to deal with my car.

Trying to configure Saturday's hazardous waste day since everything needs to be in the trunk and my trunk is full. I'm trying to see if I can borrow BFs car from the woman who has it. The electronics are in his trunk and it would be easiest for me to take the car. We shall see.

Good morning!

This morning I found a bin with my ds name on it (I am now working in the othe4 side of the basement as well because I need more space to empty the first side)

I cringed.

Then I opened it - it is his baby quilt and his favorite stuffed animals! His baby is due in January! So now, all I have to do is schedule a FaceTime call with him to empty the bin! Stuff he wants I will take to him in November. Stuff he does not want I will donate or keep in the "Grammie's house" toys (the Grammie's house toys also need decluttering, but that is a different round. I did find 4 games to get rid of last night.)

Thanks Tatoulia.

I think that child is going to save me.

Today was literally the first time in his life that he has seen the basement rug. It was also the first time in his life that he has seen the beautiful (to me at least, and really, it's pretty good) castle mural that his mom and uncle and aunt painted on the back of the bookshelf I'm using as a room divider.

I dropped the donations. They mostly filled the back of my suv behind the back seat.

I went in the store. I am still looking for specific items. I did not find them, but I did find a garlic press. It is the one I have, but in better condition than mine. I bought it for 50 cents to put aside. Because I love my garlic press and now I feel like I am set for life. They can discontinue or redesign it, I have a spare. A garlic press is small. Maybe someday I will decide that was a mistake, but I think I will get 50 cents worth of happiness out of having it until then.

Then I went into Biglots. My first reaction was to almost stop breathing from the plastic off-gassing smell. Then I started panicking. I made a beeline for the bins. I had to sort through them carefully to find four in good condition. NEW items! I felt so discouraged I wanted to cry. In used to shop at Biglots all the time! I loved it. The little containers, the holiday decor, trinkets, and treasures, and craft supplies...

I actually ran into furniture trying to escape to the checkout with my bins.

But yes, I still bought the bins. I am going to take the four unmatched bins that are full of stuff that belong to Dd2, and I am going to pack up that stuff in the four lavender bins that I bought to match the one I replaced her cardboard box with. Then when I move the holiday rack, I am going to slide them under it and leave them there until she can deal with them. I think she is also a hoarder, and she has enough stress in her life right now. She is doing much better maintaining her environment. She can get her present in order before she deals with her past.

Then I am going to use the four unmatched bins to help me sort out some other categories I need to add things from the table to. - wait, I didn't tell you about the table!

I haven't finished dealing with all of the stuff in bins, or over half of the stuff in cabinets and drawers, but the only visible mess on that side of the basement is a 6'x2.5' folding table with about two feet of stuff piled on it. That's it. Really. When that is gone, I get to move the storage rack and start setting up for me and Bean. I'm going to paint the wall behind the storage rack.

Anyway, eventually, when I have sorted out all the bins, I expect to be able to at least discard a broken bin and two big cardboard boxes. - net storage addition = one bin or less.

Wow!!!! Beautiful.

This is really emotional.

My basement stairs go down the center of the house and end at a landing against the wall. You have to turn left or right to see any of the basement. My pantry overflow is in a cupboard right at the bottom of the stairs on the left - the side I am cleaning.

Bean has gone down with me before to get something out of that cupboard, but I keep him on my hip.

Today he asked for cranberry sauce. (Yes, I have cranberry sauce, it's a treat, but I just keep a can downstairs) I told him I had to get it out of the basement and he asked if he could come.

I said "yes, but this time you have to walk, because guess what?"
"What?"
"Grammie has been cleaning up the basement to make a space for you and Grammie."
"To do what?"
"To play and do art and build big castles and trains."

The look on his face was somewhat doubtful.

Then we went down. And when we turned the corner - it was astonished joy - seriously, like a kid finding a puppy under the Christmas tree. I almost cried.