P.S. I am very glad you are getting hired!

I think you should stop the volunteer part. Or maybe just do "casual overtime" which is working 10% over your paid hours without logging it.

It definitely includes putting them where they go!

So here is the thing - the counter was covered with a big drift of everything, so for example, I would see a paper clip. I would pick it up "1" then I would look to see if I could see more paper clips "2","3". stir the pile "4","5","6".

Walk to the drawer, open it, open the paper clip box, put them away, close the drawer, back to the counter - I see a bead "7"...

If you can't find any more trash in your storage area or around the house, go look in your xh's stash. I do not believe he will take all that junk!

I think I will put the applesauce off to tomorrow.

Ahhh SubC!! We are both giving too much to work, I think! "No one is making you work." So true I think for us both, even in very different circumstances. In fact my 'boss' had a talk with me just the other day about not havng to do everything, and going home to rest. We will sort it out. I agree the schedule I kept the last 2 weeks was insane and not healthy. I am sure I could have cut something. The big things that took about 19 hours last week were a training for my position, and a funeral (including my helping with all the prep and setting up plus travel to the gravesite). I did things normally family would do, but family is elderly and coming from out of state, and she was a friend, so I did it. I will need to be mroe careful about committing to this kind of thing, even if rare. I could have asked for more help. I am actually getting hired part time now so will be getting told when I am overdoing it on the volunteer side, lol.

This morning oddly I could not find enough things to fill the trash bins, not even one of them. That is weird so as soon as I am done typing, I am going on a search through the garage and house for items to fill them, if the trash truck hasnt come yet (I dont think it has).

100 things!!!! what?? Does clearing 100 things include putting them away where they go, or do they have to leave the premisis? This sounds impossible, but I may give it a try. I have family coming for dinner and the kitchen table, bar, and all counters are covered feep in junk!!! I have to have it done by 6 and I also have to go out of town for an appointment in a couple hours, so I better get on it.

Will report back and hope to hear from you all!
p.s. the Brio tracks brought back memories! My kids loved those!

1:20.

My sub has sent cute pictures and videos. My students are fine. They are having fun.

Dh does not think I had the stomach flu. He thinks it was psychosomatic - a reaction to exhaustion and stress. I told him I am only going to work two days a week next year. (I have been thinking about this, but today made me realize I need to do it.) he said "nobody is making you work."

My counter is clear. I did use the boxes. My sink is not clear because I need a rest before I empty the dishwasher. I can't decide if I have the stamina to start applesauce today.

I tossed a quart of so of random bits and scraps into the trash bag.

It is 11:15.

I am - eating breakfast.

I no longer feel guilty about not going to work.

I have done my morning chores
Finished loading and started the dishwasher
Started a load of laundry

And

Worked on the scullery counter. (Which contributed to the dishes and laundry)

I challenged myself to clear off 100 items. I got to 90 surprisingly quickly with little sense of progress (paper clips, rubber bands, thread, beads.. So I chose the ten largest items for the last ten.

I am going to keep working on it, but I have two empty cardboard boxes on the floor of the scullery. I am 100 percent sure that everything that is on the counter right now will fit in those two boxes. So, when the dishwasher is done, I will be able to finish emptying the scullery sink. I will then put all the items into the boxes so that I can use my scullery to prep apples for applesauce - one of the tasks for which it was intended.

After I clean up from the applesauce I will dump the boxes back on the counter and return to picking at the mess. (Otherwise the boxes will get stashed and a new mess will still build up)

Good morning

Lila, it is good to see you!

Your work schedule is not ok. It is not ok even for someone who is well paid, let alone as a volunteer! I know that what you do is important, but are you truly willing to give your life for it? Because that is what you are doing - one day at a time.

Tatoulia, we have a sub list - which I cannot currently access because it is posted in drive and my iPad offloaded drive and can't reload it because I don't have enough memory, which is a me problem - I should have printed it using the chrome book at work.

But yes, our contracts say that if we can't show up, we are responsible for scheduling our own subs. We are also allowed to use approved subs that are not on the list. All three of mine were busy today. (This allows us to pull in specialized people who don't want to be subs in general, but are happy to say, teach one or two days of pottery a year)

I have an email in my box from the sub who is supposed to be doing my classes today (copied to the directorship told me to use her) that she was already scheduled for 1:00, so she is double booked. I don't know what I can do about that, so I am ignoring it.

Here is the thing I am really struggling with - I haven't thrown up since around 8 a.m. yesterday, although the headache lasted until after 3. So one could argue that the headache was exhaustion and dehydration and I am 24 hours symptom free. (I never had a fever) I am feeling a little week and tired, but also like I could pull myself together and get through my day.

However.
I am feeling like that because I slept past seven - so it is not now possible for me to do chores and get to school on time.

I lost four pounds yesterday and I am not hungry.

I filled the coffee maker this morning and then set it to run the automatic program that would make the coffee tomorrow instead of starting it - so clearly I'm still a bit foggy despite sleeping ten hours last night.

My easy classes are in the morning. My hard classes are in the afternoon.

I think I got sick because one of my students only stayed out one day when she had this. I don't want to make other people sick.

I have an email from my heartdaughter (who also struggles with an atlas complex) that says she is proud of me for "taking the day that you need and deserve."

So I am going to try to rest and recover and putter and catch up on things. The equinox is about balance. I was not able to observe it in any way that is meaningful to me yesterday, so I will do that today.

I forgot to tell you that I took 11 books to the used book store wednesday.

Hi all, I just read about half of your posts (the oldest half) and plan to catch up on the rest in the morning.

I worked every day since I was last here with not a single day off. So I took off this evening and am not working again til Monday or Tuesday, aside from a little bit of work-at-home on Sunday. I NEED the break.

My house is really awful but today I cleaned everything off the stovetop, washed it off (a few spots still need to be cleaned with the special glasstop cleaner), unloaded and loaded and ran the dishwasher. I planned to go to bed early tonight, but some neighbor's car alarm has gone off 4 times in the last 30 minutes, and now it sounds like someone's sprinkler broke off or a fire hydrant blew and water is flooding the street. I am going to bed and hoping the noise quits!

I am so happy to be home tomorrow and will be checking in here in the morning! I plan to rest AND be productive, starting with making sure the garbage bins are filled tomorrow before the trash truck comes!

Goodnight!

Checking in. SubC I'm sorry about your stomach bug! And you have to get your own sub? What?

I'm glad you are enjoying your new computer, Cm. Try not to be stressed about the books. I hear you, I support you, and I want you to be not stressed about it.

That would be really hard CM.

I am sick. Haven't tested for covid yet, I think it's the stomach bug that is going around school. I normally don't get sick, so I am also angry. Apparently my iron immune system has finally worn out.

I have slept most of the day, but my boss keeps waking me up. I currently hate that we are responsible for our own subs.

Something more pertinent to the hoarding struggle from a couple of days ago, and I'm trying not to let it throw me. But it is like a trust issue setback, something that may seem trivial but has... implications.

I have attachments to books, some of which go back to childhood. In this case I'm speaking of the content of the book for the most part, rather than a physical book. There are a few physical books I'm sentimental about but that's not my focus at the moment.

Certain books have been like old friends, emotional comfort food, whatever you want to call it. Some of them I've reread so many times over the years I practically have parts of them memorized. I would not want to lose access to their content. Well, as you know, I've discovered some of them on the Internet Archive. And that's been great. Especially since many of them are semi-obscure, like the teen malt shop romance novels of 1940s-50s vintage. Or weird trashy popular books about crazy stuff like UFOs because of that satirical novel I want to write about that topic.

All well and good. Until the other day, when things were still rather crazy, busy, and emotionally draining, so I had found one of the malt shop novels on the Archive and was blissfully indulging in a bit of escapism (Calgon Take Me Away is good, but literary fluff is better). So I'm going along, and I notice a couple of pages are repeated. Oh well, weird fluke, I think. No big deal.

But then I get closer to the end of the book, and there are several pages MISSING or badly scanned with half the page cut off. 😲 This is what gives me trust issues! So now I'm thinking about keeping more books because of the fear of being unable to access them.

The Archive does have a way you can donate books to be scanned, and perhaps there's a way to let them know of errors, though whether they would be corrected in a timely fashion, I don't know. I've also considered scanning my books myself. But that does take time. Although with my new fast computer perhaps it would go fast enough.

When I was a teenager and young adult, incomplete library collections of a series, or books that were out of print and hard to find before Amazon existed, were a source of frustration for me. I had dreams of having a house with a really nice library in it. One of my cousins and her husband bought a house with a library. I was sad when they sold it.

Anyway, I've been proud of myself for becoming more comfortable with electronic books, and I'm not going to let these sorts of setbacks discourage me. But I hope I can arrive at a solution that is still efficient because I don't want to get bogged down or in an indecision trap.

Should be asleep, but I need a bit more winding down time.

After the post at the library, I continued to work but was having some blurred vision. Turned out to be one of my ocular migraines but at first I didn't recognize it as such. And I was so enthused about the computer that I just kind of powered on through, just pausing here and there to blink and walk around.

It went away rapidly once it peaked. But driving home, even though my vision was back, I had to face the setting sun, which thanks to the almost equinox time of year, was coming through the westbound tree lined street like it was Stonehenge. It was awful, and I was squinting and had my hand up to block some of it. I was just creeping along.

Unfortunately, I lost track of how many side streets I'd passed, and I came up to a bigger one sooner than I expected - and apparently was running a red light, because this other vehicle coming from the south was turning and they honked and I was like Oh no 😳 - luckily they missed me and traffic was light and no cops, but I felt really bad and really thankful at the same time. Note to self: In future, if the sun is that bad, pull over on a side street and wait a bit for it to set!

Last night, all of a sudden, my girl bunny was having tummy trouble. She has had a long streak without any. It was upsetting, coming late at night, and not knowing how bad it was nor how long it would take for her to respond to the medicine and hand feeding. She did, though, and I felt safe leaving her, with the boy bunny for company - it's sweet how bonded they are. So I got some sleep. In the morning she was better but needed one more round of meds and hand feeding. And then I sat with roommate's two bunnies so roommate could be up front when the guys came and go with them to the hardware store.

So yesterday then (Wednesday), more work was done on the porch. It was still terribly hot but the guys kept on going because they had to get the boards up and primer on. Because it's supposed to rain early in the morning. The cool front came in early evening already. Yesterday's high, 97, predicted high today, low 60s. Gotta love Kansas.

They have more to do, and my roommate has an appointment and company (today, Thursday) but I guess she's going to meet them somewhere. Meanwhile I am doing the pet care and being here for the workmen so they can come in to do wiring, etc. It promises to be crazy and distracting as much of this week has been. I get a chance I will tackle the sofa nest, which it has been difficult to attempt.

And in the afternoon, if it's not raining too much, the roofing guys will be here! 🤪 Never a dull moment. And it's trash night. I had to write things down because I've been having memory glitches with so much going on at once. I hope I do okay.

I want to check on my friends with Covid yet I'm so fried I start worrying that I'm going to hear bad news. Which is not that likely, it's just my fevered frazzled state imagining the worst as it tends to do. As soon as things settle, I will check. But I need to pace myself.

This was supposed to have been the week when things settled down! Maybe next week...?

A new computer and s quiet space - perfect!

Apparently Dd tested negative again yesterday and dsil decided they would stay at home. I don't know what precautions they are taking.

I have a full day at school today and then home to try to make good use of my evening. Dh has a fancy work dinner, so I will be on my own. Still have to get lesson plans together and do chores this morning, but I am dragging.

SubC, I hope your family escapes Covid or if that's not possible, has a super light case of it. I'm going to contact my friend via text to see how she and her husband are getting along. Hopefully all right. He is a firefighter so the risk of exposure is there.

I'm at the library downtown with my new computer. Decided to go in the genealogy research room instead of out in the main library - nobody minds, and one of the librarians is an old friend. It is so QUIET and no excess stimuli - I can feel the tension just melting off me! I'm glad I thought to just go ahead and sit in here. It's something I've pondered for awhile. I have a whole big table to myself and there's not even anybody at nearby tables right now.

So, I'm working on my directories. I was right about having gotten far enough along with my restructuring of them that I can just go ahead and begin transferring files over. I catch some more junk to delete as I go. Feeling so righteous and like this streamlining is going to spill over into other areas of life. And that I will once again be productive in my writing and things - more than ever before, dare I hope?

I think it confirms that it was right to make the leap of faith and get this computer - that more time preparing might be unnecessary delay. It's good.

At home, Project Screen Porch is underway. I imagine it's pretty busy, although this is another of those upper 90s days (which may be over by Thursday), so the guys won't try to work through the hot part of the day. I have a feeling they'll have some left to do tomorrow. Haven't heard a thing from my roommate and I had texted her about something else earlier. They must be keeping her occupied. Or if they quit for the day she may have decided to take a nap.

I got to watch the Queen's funeral service in the morning (replay - didn't think it'd be wise to try and get up early with all the stuff going on; sleep deprivation is not a good look on me). Then some of the procession to Windsor Castle later on. Will watch the burial tonight or sometime soon. It was even more of a big, what's the word, "production" sounds crass but I can't think of another off the top of my head. Quite ceremonial and symbolic and elaborate, I guess. And amazing. The King is pretty fit for his age walking all that way, too.

So, things are still busy this week but perhaps beginning to settle into the era of roommate being retired and my life feeling less stressed as well. I like that.

Good morning.

Ds and I looked over the train set (which is actually a hodgepodge of brio and brio compatible) and decided there were PLENTY of trains and the two mostly plastic Sesame Street themed ones and the oversized circus animals can go. The set will still take up two bins, it will just be slightly less over stimulating.

Bean and ds played with it for two and a half hours.

Must get moving. Never enough time...

There's a lot going on for you, SubC. I hope your daughter stays healthy. I'm sorry about the dog. Hopefully Bean likes the cats, and vice versa.

Going to bed. It's nearly 2 AM.

Oy vey!

Dd1's flight got cancelled. She is coming home tomorrow.

Dsil took Bean home for the night. He will probably have to explain about the dog. They are coming back here to sleep tomorrow, but I probably won't see Bean because I will get home after he goes to bed and probably leave around the time he gets up. I don't know if he will still be here Wednesday night.

Ds made dinner. It was delicious.

My entire great room has been taken over by a brio track.

Also my Dd1 has been exposed to covid on her trip and dsil will be arriving this evening to move in with us for a few days (or potentially longer) instead of picking up Bean.

Poor Dd1 will arrive home to an empty house. They do have two cats, but her dog was adopted out to a new family while she was gone (this had been planned - she loves the dog, but the dog needs to be active - the house had become more restricted with baby gates and the yard more crowded and Dd hasn't been for a run every evening in a long time.)

Bean doesn't know about the dog yet.

Good morning!

Strange dream about moving into a tiny overcrowded house with a bunch of children who were apparently mine but were not my children. I think it's from the book Bean has been asking me to read over and over. The large family lives in a very crowded small house.

I actually find the crowded small house in the book very appealing except for the laundry and dishes that keep getting worse as the mother slowly loses her patience trying to feed everybody.

Bean went to bed only twenty minutes past his bedtime last night. I was almost an hour past mine, and I have no idea how late Dh and ds stayed up.

I still don't have proper lesson plans and I still really need to work on things for my pottery class. And I still don't know when I will do those things.

I also don't know when dsil is planning to come for Bean.

I asked ds if he wanted a book from his childhood that I'm not overly fond of (Bean and I have been looking through some of the books) and he said no, so I will give it to dd and dsil or get rid of it.

I did not buy a "big daddy sheep" because Bean has been focused on the fisher price little people lately. I have two bins of (partial) sets from the 70's that I bought at garage sales when my kids were little. The original ones my brother and I played with are still at my mom's house because we each had sets and we played with them together and both loved them. My brother insisted the sets stay at mom's for the grandkids and not get split up. His youngest is 13 now - I need to ask for my school bus. Bean would like it!

Ds wants to introduce Bean to the Brio train today (that is my kids' equivalent of the fisher price sets - everyone's are together and stay here to make a huge train set)

Good afternoon!

Yes I'm just waking up.

One of our subway lines has been shut down for an entire month. It reopens tmr. I have enjoyed having the shuttle busses and today I'm going to ride the shuttle bus from my house to the end. Bf said he'll meet me and come into town with me. The shuttle busses have been lovely and wonderful and the drivers aren't from here and they've been so polite and nice.

This has been a very challenging situation because the shuttles have been operating in two pieces. One to the north with no service downtown. Then the southern part is on the other side of the city with no decent ways to connect the two. But from my end, it's been lovely. I think my neighborhood is safer with the busses, esp since I walk a lot at night.

I washed the summer bedspread last night so I'll put it away today.

Good morning! Up somewhat early this morning. Dh and Bean are sleeping, but I'm starting to feel better rested. Dh got his covid booster Friday and felt quite crummy yesterday. He did manage to take Bean out on the tractor for a bit.

My own boy is coming to visit from out of state this afternoon! Work sent him, so this is a treat. He has all day Monday with me and Bean.

I'm trying to figure out when I'm going to find time to work on my projects for my pottery class. I thought I would have some time this weekend, but I didn't know dsil wasn't going to take Bean back at all. - Not complaining! I'll take all the time I can have with this little one! Watching the glee on his face when he told his mommy on FaceTime last night that he dug up potatoes "with my HANDS!" And reading favorite bedtime stories together. those things are the gold in my days.

CM,

I was so excited to see that nice long picture from you! I'm glad you are USING and loving your new toy/tool.

I'm sure you'll get the "nest" under control. It seems we so often need external events to make us prioritize things - even when they are things we want to do.

Someone is chatting in his bed..

On my new toy typing this. The keyboard is like butter, so smooth and soft and responsive. Touchpad is a bit too responsive at times; I'll be figuring out how to make it slightly less so, in order to avoid accidentally doing things I don't intend.

Read back through some posts so now I know more what you ladies have been up to. Hope Lila and Road check in soon too.

Re the tabs - I know, it's sort of like hoarding, but I don't want to close a tab until I'm sure I've gleaned what I want to from it. This can happen in one of several ways. The easiest and simplest is that sometimes they're just quickly obsolete - the weather one from a couple days ago that I just forgot to close, the login screen for McDonald's wifi, etc.

Then there are the ones that I was interested in for awhile but have either found better information sources, or lost interest in. These are also easy enough to dismiss. They just have gotten buried in subsequent tabs so I catch them when I go back through more methodically eliminating tabs.

And finally come the ones where I want to hoard information, which I'm not going to apologize for because it doesn't take up physical space and as long as I am organizing it by topic and relevance to my projects it'll be useful. What I do for, say, a science article that's relevant to my science fiction novel, or any other article on my various topics I'm interested in (I try not to save every last one, just the meatier ones), is I use PrintFriendly.com to convert the webpage to a PDF then I save it to my local drive. (I don't use the cloud for my own stuff.) Because it has happened that I've gone back to look up something and the blog or website has vanished. The horror! 😱 All the FOMO!

Anyhow. I've been getting the tabs eliminated by deciding do I want to convert and save this or that, then either doing it or not, and closing the tab.

When I get rid of the old computers, Tatoulia, yes, there is a local nonprofit that helps special needs kids and adults, and they recycle them and I assume get some money from selling the scrap. I remove and destroy hard drives first, to circumvent identity theft and just because it creeps me out knowing years' worth of my thoughts and words are on the things.

It's good to have this computer project right now because this coming week is weirdly crowded with potential household projects that would make it harder to do physical projects, plus it may still be very hot for this time of year. The roof repair is supposed to happen, and (fingers crossed) my roommate may, at long last, get her screened in porch on the front of the house.

In amongst all this, a couple of times members of my roommate's family are going to be in town. One of them she will just meet at a restaurant, but one brother will briefly be here before they go out to eat. Guess what that means! I have to once again deal with my "nest" on the couch, which has gotten rather gnarly again in all the rush and stress of the summer. I was wanting to do it anyway, which is what is frustrating - seems I never get the chance in life to motivate and do something for its own reward, it's always because of external pressures. Sigh.

But I will be happy nonetheless to get it done, and if I can just keep the inner grumbling at minimum - and not let it become externalized grumbling, whilst accomplishing said task... there are items from the dining table because I have my old laptop set up there so I can finalize getting stuff off it. There is the box the new computer came in. There are papers from tax figuring and papers pertaining to the fraudulent debit card issue, and more that I don't even remember.

Y'all - I did at one time work in offices and complete my work and file things away and stuff.

WHAT HAPPENED?!

Those were 80s offices, for one thing - life really did move at a more manageable pace then. I wasn't expected to multitask, so my executive functioning didn't hang me up nearly as much (except for working memory and auditory processing, e.g., remembering and dealing with phone calls and tasks that didn't have visual reminders). There were papers instead of everything on computer - so at least a person could SEE and handle the work. Although computers definitely have advantages, or I wouldn't have just gone out and plunked down many US dollars on a new one.

Ack. It's late. I'm starting to ramble.

Suffice it to say, the coming week will be less tranquil than roommate or I had envisioned, but if all goes well, good things will be accomplished. I still haven't heard any word on my friend's funeral. This is turning into a strange situation. I hope it gets resolved. Speaking of funerals, I may watch some of the Queen's funeral on Monday, in and around the commotion, at least catch a bit of it; I'm sure there will be some inspirational moments.

My BFF out of state and her husband have Covid. This is also on my mind. Sounds like not bad cases but I just want to hear they will be okay ASAP.

So, lots going on, and lots on my mind. Take care, stay well everybody.

Wow! A lot going on!

Congratulations, CM on the new computer and on your roommate retiring! All great stuff! I'm glad you were able to get the computer.

SubC, you sure did a lot! Shorter amounts of time help me, too,

I went to goodwill, dropped off the items, then went up to see BF. We ran errands all day in the suburbs and with the car. Then I went to see mom, now I'm showered and doing laundry. I'm washing my summer bedspread so I can wrap it up and put it away. Kitty is sound asleep next to me.

Cooler weather today, which is my dream.

CM!

I am so glad for you!

I am taking a quick break - bean is awake but he is playing in his bed and doesn't want to get up yet.

I was a machine! During his nap I started the dishwasher, started a load of laundry, skimmed ten quarts of milk and made two wheels of mozzarella, (two quarts of skim milk and enough cream for two batches of ice cream in the fridge) unloaded the dishwasher and put almost everything from making the cheese into it and restarted it, hung/put in the dryer the first load, and started a second!

Why can't I work like this on days when bean is not here?

Because when bean is here I'm super happy?

Because when bean is sleeping I know I only have a short time to pack things in?

Dunno.

The Big Exciting Things have happened!

But it's been a whirlwind so I haven't had a lot of time to post, lol.

Anyway, I'm just going to drop the headlines and brief summaries, then I'll come back later to write in greater length.

Headline 1: As of Wednesday evening, my roommate is Officially Retired!! Woohoo! 🎉 I'm so happy for her, and it's going to be a lot less stressful for me. I wrote all kinds of funny retirement graffiti in sidewalk chalk for her to see when she got home.

We went out and ate a steak, which came with plenty of other yummy food - salad, potato - and we got desserts too. I briefly contemplated a rare glass of wine but I'm glad I decided against it because everything was so very filling I think anything else and I would've exploded.

Headline 2: On Thursday, we went out to do a bit of shopping and errands. One place we went was Best Buy, where I'd seen a couple of gaming laptops I was interested in.

I think you see where this is going...

One of them (the lower priced to begin with) was on sale $200 less than when I saw it a week or two ago - and I took the plunge. Typing this on it right now. 😁💻 It is so fast - no lag, no freezing of the screen. I'm gonna love this.

I wasn't all the way done with my file directory dejunking thing but that's okay; I'll finish cleaning them up during the transferring over process. And I promise that old computers will not be sticking around.

Thank you for the explanation. Yay on getting a good slide!

I did one load of laundry (sheets) and one of delicate things. I've showered. I've swapped out my summer white bedspread for the thin white quilt. Will do more laundry later.

Will have a quick cup of coffee, get dressed, go to goodwill.

Oh no, they want the big slide for the yard! They were getting rid of a little plastic toddler slide that can go inside. Dsil's cousin has it now.

SubC, are you saying they didn't want the slide? Oh boy. Please get rid of it.

I am doing laundry and will shower soon and go to goodwill. I have to donate the bag that is here and whatever is in my car. Beautiful morning here.

Bf went with me to visit mom yesterday. She was really happy to see us.

Good morning!

Hanging with my sidekick while he eats his oatmeal. (He asked for chocolate cake)

I think we will dig sweet potatoes today.

And finish the laundry.

I do have a bunch of toys in my car that his parents downsized from their house as "too young or not interesting" and sent back for the "toy library" in my basement. I haven't looked in the boxes but I think they all originated here. I refused to store the large plastic slide. It was not cool enough, too big, and not hard to replace.

The irritating shirt is in the clean laundry and will be added to the donate pile today.

My coworkers were pleased at the addition of my old ice cream maker to the teacher resource closet.

Great willpower, SubC!

Yesterday was the most fun I've had in a very long time. Great conference, I stayed for the excellent cocktail party, spent some time in my colleague's hotel room to decompress before dinner and then dinner was excellent. So much fun. I am exhausted today naturally but such is life. A lot of my work stress has dissipated.

I couldn't believe how much fun it was.

Update - drove home past contractor house. Box of sports balls. Wasn't tempted. Don't need them, not my job to find somebody who does.

Bean is staying until Monday night! We put away some of the laundry.

Good morning!

Slow start this morning because the power went out yesterday. I forgot when I set up the coffee maker and didn't set the clock. If you don't set the clock, nothing happens when you press the button that tells it to run the program that makes the coffee in the morning.

I'm picking Bean up after school today. I'm actually not sure how long I'm keeping him. Might give him back to his Daddy overnight tomorrow and then reclaim him..

Need to get ready for school and put away some laundry!

Good evening!

Tatoulia, you make an excellent point.
I went another way.

I hope your conference was fun!

I made good choices today! I had some extra time this morning, and I thought "I should put some of this laundry away." But then I thought "no, laundry is the easiest thing I do and if I don't put it away, it still slowly disappears from the baskets. What I should do is set myself up for success. Transitions and getting started on things are the hardest for me, and I want yo stop collapsing on the couch."

So, I gathered up all my papers and put them in four stacks - plan for tomorrow, plan for next week, general resources, and nothing to do with school. I put plan for tomorrow in my teacher bag and the other stacks on the dining porch so I couldn't pretend I was at the table because I was going to start using the materials "in a minute" while I chain snacked. Then, I put all the laundry baskets on the couches, so I couldn't sit on them at all. Then I set out a pot because I keep wanting egg salad and not having any hard boiled eggs, and I set out the chocolate cake recipe with all the utensils and bowls and non-perishable ingredients. I put the tape and the pen next to the jars of salsa. I set out the herb scissors and my gathering basket, and a glass to remind myself to drink water, and then I had just enough time left to put Bean's toys away.

When I got home tonight I put the eggs on, got myself a glass of water and made the cake. While the cake was in the oven, I took the dishes to the scullery, labelled the salsa and put it away, washed the counter, cut the chamomile, and had another glass of water. Then I took the basket out and picked in the garden until Dh got home with dinner.

I did chores and took a shower after dinner, and I still didn't put the laundry away, but it's bedtime. I think I did good.

Drive another way. 😀

Your daughter asked for a slide and you got the slide. Mission accomplished. You have stuff. Don't need that stuff. Other people will take that stuff. We are on a hoarders message board for a reason.

Off to my conference.

Good morning!
Coffee clinks!

I'm bathing my brain in caffeine.

I did sleep a little longer last night, but I don't know how I'm ever going to catch up.

On anything

I am still coming home thinking I will make good use of my evening and I am still watching videos and snacking because I am tired. It is such a deep, comfortable rut, that was just waiting for me from last year.

Yesterday when I was driving home I passed a collapsed play set in pieces with a free sign. It was only three miles from my house, so I went back with the truck and got the slide for Bean - his mommy told me to get the next slide I saw (this happens a lot out here) so she could attach it to the play set in his backyard.

But, the guy came out to help me load it. He was very sweet, but he tried to convince me to take the whole thing (not to clean up the yard, just in a "are you sure? You're welcome to the whole thing. There's no limit. He'll grow into these swings. I can help you put it in the truck" way.) He told me he is a contractor and he's being paid to clean out the whole property. That there's a full barn and they have a dumpster for trash but that he'll be putting a lot more out because he hates to throw away things that are still useful. (the slide was in much better condition than most that I see by the road - not even faded.)

I am now torn between "I need to start driving the truck to work" and "I need to find a new way to drive to work".

Also, if I can find 20 minutes to go back and put a slide in the truck after work, WHY can't I come home and pick up Bean's toys?

(Also, even though I know all the joys and benefits of Bean's city neighborhood, my heart is screaming "this is a nice house! It has a barn and a big yard! It's three miles from my house and probably about to go up for sale! Bean's family should move!") It has been made very clear to me that my kid has no intention of moving until her youngest has finished attending grade 6 in the really really good public school her kids will walk to. - unless a fantastic opportunity to upgrade turns up in their neighborhood.

Ok, now rambling - this is another rut. Open to suggestions!

Good evening, everyone. Rare day where it's just me!

I continue to add to the goodwill bag. BF and I are gearing up for hazardous waste day.

Big and long day at work. Tmr is an all day conference followed by cocktails then dinner. I skipped tonight's dinner even though I had made the reservations for it. I went to today's cocktail party for a very short time, enjoyed a very tart non-alcoholic lemonade, then went back to the office to work. I ended up taking the train and then a shuttle bus home because I'm just so tired and I needed to go to the pharmacy to pick up meds.

My goal for this weekend is to look through the closet again. Keep working toward fewer things.

Good morning, all

SubC yes I need to clean out my car. The trunk is organized but is having a ton of stuff in the trunk organization? No of course not. It's just hard to face sometimes that I need to do things.

That's a good point on the tabs not using electricity. I am a bit of a bugger when it comes to things being plugged in. I hate to see cords, esp phone chargers, plugged in for no reason. I unplug my toaster and I don't keep my computer On and plugged in when I'm not using it. A long time ago, my friend let me stay in her VT house even though she wasn't there. The next weekend when he4 husband went to the house, he thought every appliance was broken. She said no, Tatoulia probably unplugged everything in the kitchen.

When I mentioned computer, above, I only have my work laptop. I took my laptop to hazardous waste day without ever firing it up to see what was on it. Easier for me.

Good morning.

I'm not feeling the exclamation mark today..

Day two of week two of school and I am running on coffee. Yesterday was a really good day, but I need to find more time to sleep. Also, Bean's toys are still all over the floor.

Cm, I am excitedly looking forward to your big news!

I hope you can just let go of the old computers. Are you sure there is anything on them you need? Is there something specific you are missing? I have two old iPads on my desk. One is broken - as in, the computer is physically broken with a cracked screen and a charging port that won't connect to the charger. The other one is too old to upgrade to any browser that will work on the internet. They are there because I never remember/have time to drop them at the apple store at the mall to be recycled.


Tatoulia, it was the comment about "some old papers..that were [your] brother's" that made me think your car might need a look.

Also, to add to the CM entertainment show where people who don't know what they're talking about explain computers. i don't think open tabs use electricity. I have twelve tabs open on my iPad. I turn it off. Sometimes the battery runs out and it turns itself off. When I turn it on again, the tabs are still open.

Took some art supplies that Dd2 left here to one of the other art teachers at school yesterday. Also remembered to pack lunch.

Dishes are still behind, laundry not put away, barely keeping ahead of lesson plans - papers all over great room, and haven't looked at the garden for days, but taking time to enjoy the good stuff and keeping up with my classroom.

Bean's Daddy picked him up at school yesterday. Bean helped me take the greenware cart down to the kiln. He pushed the cart ;) all by himself ;) (I held on to the front corner to "steer" - as long as I didn't touch the handle I wasn't "pushing") "(Bean) push cart. Grammie steer." Then we got to the scary looking freight elevator "Grammie's cart go in elevator?" "Yes, the cart is going to go in the elevator." "(Bean) NOT go in elevator!" I laughed. "No. (Bean) not go in elevator. Grammie not go in elevator either! The cart goes in the elevator by itself."

Ok, things to do!

Hi CM, I am excited for your new computer. Please see if your town has a computer recycling program such as Boston's. It's part of our hazardous waste days.

As for the tabs, and try not to laugh while you predict my next words, you should shut them down and close your computer. You know vastly more than I ever will about computers but the electricity and leaving the computer on all the time, even when it's sleeping, can't be good for anyone. Sometimes leaving tabs open is like having a membership to a gym. I might actually go to the gym tomorrow but ultimately, I will not. But I'm able to with a membership. I say just start closing some of the tabs. Try it. For me. See if it uncluttersvthings for you a bit without having so much going on when you just want to log in and check one thing.

You can laugh, we are all friends here

Well I have to do some straightening up and getting ready for tomorrow. Two big days in front of me at work.

P.S. More boring computer stuff that was part of what I meant to say in previous post -

When I keep it in Hibernate mode because I hate having to get all the tabs and stuff back (which on the fast computers at the library takes no time at all by the way), then the cache gets full and that's another thing that really slows it down.

So it's a Catch-22. Have it ready to go, albeit sluggish, or have to wait and remember all the things to reopen each time I boot up. Neither of which is conducive to productivity - but definitely conducive to frustration and stress.

Having a pretty good day. Roommate had to go into the office, and I took care of her pets this morning then have just been doing this and that of mine at a leisurely pace. Laundry in the dryer. Relaxation music and nature scenery on YouTube on the TV. Ahhhh... 😊

Found some sleeveless cotton tops end of season clearance at the thrift store for 50 cents each the other day. Those were very much needed. Some of my ratty ones can now be purged, and some "not really ratty but shorter than I like to wear out and about" can be demoted to sort-of-ratty status. LOL.

Really do want to go through all my clothes, and streamline. As I've probably said before, clothes aren't my major stuff problem. They are probably one of the easier things to pare down for me. So I'm thinking go through them anyway, and enjoy an easy win.

Soon, I will be tackling some much more challenging items. Things that will require lots of decision making effort, which is tiring. But sometimes I've been known to get on a roll with it, so let's hope I can again.

Life has been in limbo a bit, just waiting to hear about some things. I called my friend's daughter and they're still in the process of arranging the funeral. Big family with various travel arrangements, having trouble getting hold of the priest, this and that. Hopefully it'll work out soon.

Weather report, because it has become a tradition with me here - still several hot summery days, possibly some rain in a few. This past weekend was cool and rainy; I drove across town to my cousin's for her grandson's 1st birthday party on Saturday.

I'm sitting here typing this and the computer screen is freezing frequently and Chrome saying "Not Responding" when it does. I will be SO GLAD to get a new computer with a fast processor and oodles of RAM. The paradox for someone like me who has a gazillion tabs open (ADHD brain thing) jumping back and forth between internet and Word and graphics software, is that it takes so durn long if I shut the whole computer down between sessions, to boot it up again and get all those tabs and apps open again. Plus I never know when I'll actually be having a spare moment to work. Or suddenly need to.

But soon the entire pattern of my days is going to be changing, for the better I daresay. And I'll have a computer that can be a workhorse, nay, a racehorse, rather than a stubborn mule. Speaking of decluttering - when I get the new computer, I need you ladies to BADGER me to get rid of the TWO old computers I currently have, and decide also what to do with this one that might be okay for someone who could get a little mileage out of it yet (like with Linux operating system which I tried and didn't like but some people use it on old computers and love it).

That is a total of three computers that need to go away - but at least the first two immediately. I'm pretty sure there's little if anything that needs to be copied from them or deleted - they do not need to be taking up space around here. One of them is a laptop of mid-90s vintage that is a real "antique."

I'll have to take a picture of my new racehorse computer when I get it, and post it on Instagram. Might shop seriously later this week or by next. I was just waiting to see if I was going to have a funeral to attend but now I can see it'll be awhile and I'll not be super busy otherwise, I don't think.

Big news tomorrow evening, fingers crossed, stay tuned.

That is sweet about the toy shelves!

Our goodwill specifically does not want old fabrics. But the city is also rolling out some sort of textile recycling so I'll wait to see what that looks like. In the meantime, I'll see if I have anything to bring to the upcoming waste day.

My car isn't too bad but yes I'll take the challenge. How do I know it's not too bad? My friend organized the trunk! But the glove box etc may have some of my brother's prescriptions in them. I have some stuff in the trunk that I do not know what to do with and I'm not ready to donate. Let's say December 1st to make a decision. Honestly I haven't been to my car in so long. Maybe today.

Tatoulia, I'm sorry you are suffering!

Thanks for the note about the fabric recycling. My local goodwill also recycles fabric, so they WILL take stained and torn items - it's worth checking.

I'm starting to think we should challenge you to clean out your car..

Bean and I made 3 loaves of bread and a pie. We got donuts this morning. My love language is carbs!

I took the shelf of bins to his house and brought home the other shelf. I set it up in the perfect space in the scullery and put a bunch of his toys on it. He is accessing them more than he did when they were crowded into baskets on deep shelves in the great room, and the great room looks better (well, not right now, because there are little people all over the floor, but when it is cleaned up...)

Checking in on everyone!

Lila, I've heard how donation places have huge trash bills because people donate things instead of throwing them out. What a mess for you to handle! I am very careful in what I donate. If it's trash, it's trash and no one wants my stained shirt. The city of Boston does have a textile recycling drop off as part of hazardous waste day.

Our next day for that is two weeks away. I'm not sure that I have any hazardous waste but I will take a look at papers. I think I have some old papers in my car that were my brother's. If I haven't taken them out and shredded them here already. I don't know because I'm not at my car frequently enough to know. I do need to go to my car today or tomorrow because I have a donation bag for goodwill.

I'm suffering from anxiety. Job related and mom related. Mom has been pretty calm, so I'm happy for her.

Big week at work. I wish I had taken this coming Friday off. I really need some time off to relax.

Bf and I had a lovely, unplanned night together on Friday and then on Saturday we went to watch our friend's kids play soccer, then we went to the Museum of Science with them and did other fun stuff. We walked a lot this weekend. I'm working on getting a handle on my weight.

Hi Lila,

I'm sorry about the dumpster, but good progress on the food!

I threw pots. I also canned 7 pints of runny salsa. New recipes- arg! I tried to tilt the ladle so I got a thicker scoop, and I put the two very very thin quarts that were left ("makes seven pints" it said!) in the fridge to drain tomorrow and eat the salsa fresh and use the liquid for soup base.

Hopefully all my lids will seal. The kitchen looks better.

My Dh is a good one. I promised him the old ice cream maker will go to school Tuesday or Wednesday (probably Wednesday)

Ok, I am up waaaay past my bedtime!

I went to the store and it made me so tired. I only got one bag of things. Now I feel ready to go to bed. I have a meeting though, but it's a casual/social meeting and I am going to try and keep it to an hour and a half.

I had to dig in a dumpster today. Where I work someone donated stuff last week because their parent passed away. But the stuff obviously was in a hoarded home because it was dirty and had a very unpleasant smell along with water (?) damage. Well we looked at the stuff and decided it was unusable so tossed it all. Fast forward to today where this person said they donated a few items by mistake and the family wanted them back. Thus my dumpster diving. I could not bring myself to say we threw them out. Items are recovered but I just feel kind of icky.

I am seriously so exhausted. I think I have long covid.

oh SubC, you are like me! Get a new toy, feel overwhelmed by it, never use it, but can't get rid of the old one... I am so glad your husband helped you! Now will you be donating the old one? Custard sounds lovely!

Yesterday I got the rest of the fridge sorted. I did not wash all the shelves, but I did consolidate a lot of things where there were multiple open bottles/jars - ketchup, mustard, pickles, sauces. Now the fridge is closer to empty and it is easy to find things.

I also gave away some produce last night and some today. So it is getting down to a manageable amount left. Another lady is coming for lettuce. I am glad because it is beautiful lettuce, but more than we would eat and I did not feel like a salad from it. It is soft leaf lettuce which I like on sandwiches or wraps but not so much in a salad.

Went to church today, worked, did a social visit, came home with a headache, took Tylenol and am resting. I have a meeting in 4 hours.

Let's see, what's left? Cabbages that I need to put away (need to wipe out the downstairs fridge, or ask son to do that). I have a nice looking vegetarian tamale casserole I think I'd like to make. I have all the ingredients. It just seems daunting, as I am tired.

I will look at my planner and try to do a thing or two today. What are the rest of you up to?

Good morning! (Just barely here)

I was starting to spin my wheels, so I came to report and refocus.

Tasks done -

delete things from my computer so that I could reinstall banking ap and pay my cc bill - this took over an hour and a half.

Chores
Tablecloth dry and on table
Two batches of custard frozen.
Dishwasher emptied
One load washed and put in the dryer.
Shelf that is going to Bean's house for his toys dug out in basement, cleaned off, and set up with almost a full set of bins (must find more matching bins)

Space under the counter in the scullery cleared out.

Doesn't seem like much.

There is a lot of backstory on the frozen custard though. You may remember that I had an ice cream maker I loved and made a lot of frozen custard for me and Bean. It would only hold half a batch of custard, and the motor started overheating and seizing up so that I had to stick it in the fridge before doing the second half of the batch. Also it was very loud.

Dh found the entire situation unacceptable, so he researched ice cream makers and bought me a new (used) one for Christmas. The new one has buttons and a screen and it is bigger than the old one and generally intimidating. So I stuck it back in it's box and stuck the box out of the way under the scullery counter, where it promptly got buried.

Now I couldn't use the old ice cream maker because Dh had gotten me this new one, and I couldn't use the new one because I was overwhelmed by it. Also, I couldn't get rid if the old one because what if.. So I had two ice cream makers and no longer made frozen custard. Yesterday Dh commented that he should have realized this would happen and made a date with me to make custard together.

Anyway, yesterday I finally dug the box out (shoved everything else back until this morning), cleaned the ice cream maker, read the instructions, and made two batches of custard. This morning I froze both batches of custard. The new ice cream maker is easy to use. Clean up is a little harder, but since it freezes the full batch in 45 minutes (instead of half the batch in 50) I can make a lot more frozen custard on one day, so the cleaning time per batch is less.

I am going to take the old ice cream maker to school (and leave it) so I can make ice cream with my pioneers classes (one or two classes each week) during our dairy unit.

Ok, the thing I really need to do right now is chop tomatoes for salsa.

Dh came in for dinner, but very slowly so that I got grumpy from waiting. Then he accidentally spilled curried beet sauce on my tablecloth. The tablecloth is in the wash now, but honestly, it has stains already and is due to be tiedyed.

I am torn between feeling like I had a good day and the sense that nothing I did today is really going to last - it will all need to be done over again and again.

Lila, that is a lot of work! I hope you have a good sense of satisfaction.

Yay for your son!

I was in the garden, or the shower, or cooking..

I picked the dry beans and some more yellow beans, gathered a few tomatoes, pulled some weeds, and picked a batch of beets. Then I cleaned up the kitchen and took a shower. I put on comfy clothes that make me feel domestic and prepped all the beet greens for dinner. I made brown rice and an Indian dish that used MY onions, MY garlic, MY jalapeño, and MY cream. It occurs to me I could grow cumin seed. But the salt, pepper, brown sugar and curry powder will continue to be store bought. (My friend grew pepper one year and said it was a pain and very not worth it.)

Then I rang the dinner bell, but Dh is working on the new tractor and apparently couldn't hear it. In about two minutes I'm going to eat without him. He's having fun.

post 4 -

I wiped the cabbage and peach juice off the stove and one counter, and took everything out of the produce bins in the fridge. Tossed what was bad, washed out the drawers. Trimmed more cilantro and pput it in a vase of water to freshen. Picked out the oldest big carrots, trimmed and peeled them, and stuck them in the freezer (my dogs love these for treats). Put the good produce back into the clean drawers.

On the stove I have a few kiwi fruit, apricots, and peaches that I can't tell if they're still good. They LOOK good, but have been in there for many weeks. Before I decide, I'll cut one of each open and try them to see if they're still fine.

I did not finish the rest of the fridge but I am exhausted! Resting.