Tillie,
Practice what we preach! No working until we drop. Hope you relaxed the rest of the day!

I woke up in Dallas today, flew back to LAX, then was dropped off at the office. One more hour and I am heading home to hopefully do NO WORK at all. I am exhausted. Manged to clean an entire hoarding house yesterday except for one room with only me and two local helpers. What a difference it made and she loved it! Here is to fresh starts and changed lives :)

Thanks Tina,
I really needed the laugh! :D

Got the watering all done and now I am going to lay down on the cat covered couch and sleep. :)

ACK! Sorry for the 'free love/hippie/affirmation' mushy stuff!
That's so totally not my style... (Damn menopause has my hormones going totally skitzo!) What I meant to say is: "Suck it up and get back to work!" ;0}~ [[WINK]]
(of COURSE I'm just kidding!)

What I really wanted is to just remind you that you're not alone!
Hell, I can barely cook dinner or wash dishes these days without catching myself fantasizing about cracking my hoarder husband in the head every time I have a frying pan in my hand! [Sometimes I think the only thing that's stopping me is that I've seen enough episodes of CSI to know that I'd never get away with it... Besides, he's 6'5" & 300lbs - I'd have a hell of a time finding a place to hide the body!] Well, and then there's that pesky "Love" thing...
LMAO!

Sometimes all we have is humor to get us through the rough spots.
Hang in there, Cookie!

You must take care of YOU, Our Dear Tillie!

Breathe, Take A Break, Run Away, Recharge.

You are Needed.
You are Cherished.
You are Loved.

Good morning,

I have worked myself sick. Totally exhausted.
Over compensating cleaning my "No Clutter Zones"
trying to keep his squalorous hoard out and away from me.
Living with a hoarder is hard and depressing.

Anyways....

My must do list today is to water the trees, bushes & garden plants.

Have a great day everyone.

I just want to thank those that responded to the note I wrote on Sunday saying I wouldn't be at the chat, and what I had been working on. I didn't expect to see responses and was so pleasantly surpised. THANK YOU!

Been sitting here reading on the interwebs and eating lunch.
Maybe I have sat for too long? One & a half hours.
Got the house all cleaned. :D
Smells wonderful in here.
Now I am off to shower & shampoo so I can smell nice too.

Tina thank you for posting!
I was worried. :(

Hope you are able to get some rest after last night.
Take care, Tillie (((hugs)))

Sorry about having to bow out of the chat session so abruptly last night. I was looking forward to catching up with everyone!
For those who were logged in at the time: Hubby survived. he's back home & resting comfortably.
:)

Hey Sheryl,
I am always having to get lazy cats out of bed too so I can make it.
They can't stay because I sleep on the sofa hide-a-bed and I need to fold it up into a couch.
Many times I am tempted to fold them up in it. ;)

YEA! The garbage truck is here now taking away all the rubbish he put out this week! :D
I love trash day.
Now the cans are all empty and ready to be filled again.

TTYL :)

Good morning :)
My ToDo list for today...
clean the bathroom super good
wash the floors
vacuum the carpet
dust
wipe down all door knobs, light switches, remotes, etc...
sweep porches

On cleaning days like today I am very happy that my house is so small. :D

Don't forget to watch HOARDERS tonight and then comment on the episode in Cory's thread here.

Have a GREAT Monday everyone! :)

Take Three! FaceBook Status

Did I mention that it is Monday? :)

Guess that was a photo fail! This is the clickable link:

Attaching Photos:

In this box, far upper right is "inset/update image" I use ow.ly to turn a photo into a URL. This is my Facebook status for today - http://ow.ly/i/XG6a

What am I doing today?

Did the morning routine, made half the bed with the older cat refusing to move off the other side *sigh*

Work (busted!)

Visit APS (need to get a copy of their plan for dad; I asked why they were visiting them and they did not know. I asked for their plan, something they must have in place before they start home visits)

Home!

The dinner-time rush, clean-up, feed-the-cats routine :) Oh the Joy!

Happy Monday!!

Each Tuesday, (is this only after a new show, or all Hoarders shows?), the experts on the show are on A & E "Hoarders" Message Board to chat and answer questions.

http://community.aetv.com/service/displayForum.kickAction?as=119137&w=265899

BIG "WaY To Go!!!" Allie. :D
Wonderful job sticking to your plan and doing some every day! :)

You will be missed tonight, Allie! :) Hope all is well with you and GREAT JOB on that paper work!

Hi Everyone,
I went through some paperwork and sorted it (still a lot more to do), but my goal was to work on it every day this week and I did. chipping away at it. I won't be in the chat tonight so I did want to connect.
best,
Allie

Good morning everyone :D

Thank ya'll for the well wishes. :)

Happy the Fur baby is feeling better!

The day is dark and chilly. Maybe we will get some rain to go along with the lightening.

My To-Do list for today...
Get into my tiny room where I keep all my things and vacuum around all the edges
Dust and polish.
This should take about 1/2 hour to complete.
Then I plan to cook a pot of soup.
Going to spend some quality time sewing which is one of my favorite things to do.

Hope everyone has a fun Sunday! :D

Hey Sheryl,

Well I would love to. but right now I don't really have a career. I'm still in college and I am a waitress at Logan's Roadhouse. :)

@Tillie - geez, that was some tumble :( Hope your friend recovers! I agree the home alerts for the elderly are great and do work! :)

Bad news on the smoke unless you have a lot of sewing to get done.

Aced that maze! No way was I getting lost in six-miles of corn (think of all the spiders in there), and went prepared :)

@MayMay, I travel for work - want to switch careers?

@Cory - yes, the fur-baby has greatly improved; he is eating, playing, and sleeping :)

*Eat*Play*Sleep: The life of a cat.

Speaking of eating, I am off to finish dinner & feed the cats.

♥Mind♥Body♥Spirit♥

Hey Cory,

Have fun in Dallas. My dad is actually going to dallas next month for work. I always get jealous whenever he gets to travel and I don't; because I love traveling. :)

Hey Tillie,

Sorry to hear about your friend. :( I hope he gets better soon.

Thank you Tina, Sheryl & Cory :)

My 84 year old friend has 5 fractured ribs and a
nasty concussion. His shoulder and arm are only badly sprained.
Those in home alert systems really work, the Sheriff's Deputies were at his home within minutes of him taking a tumble down the stairs.
He should be back home in about two weeks. :)

Have a safe trip Cory. :)
Sheryl, have fun in that maze! :D

My To-Do list today...
Do some more work cleaning up my garden.
When the smoke from all the nearby wildfires gets too thick I plan to come inside and sew.

Happy Autumnal Equanox everybody!!! :D

Hi Guys!
Tillie, hope you are having a better day today and that every in fact turned out ok yesterday.

Sheryl I hope the Fur Baby is doing better too :)

My to do list today, yard work. Blow off the back patio, then hose it down. Fill in the trenches my chickens make where the patio concrete slab meets the back yard as they dig for cool earth (sheesh, every day), rake up the hay that has spilled out of the goats feeder, restack the firewood, then clean the inside of the house. Tomorrow, pack for Dallas and then I am off. Hope you guys have a great Sunday meeting. I fly at 6:30 so won't be on again :(

I slept-in, had breakfast, and vacuumed. The beds are made, cats fed, boxes cleaned, and dishes washed. Time to bug out and have some fall fun. Got my compass & maps and headed into the Mayan corn maze with 6 miles of pathways.

Hope y'all get out and have some fun with the family and friends this weekend!

Mind♥Body♥Spirit♥

Tillie - I am so sorry & hope you are OK - email me if you want to chat off-line.

How are you doing today (Saturday)?

Sorry Tillie! ((HUGS!))

Been one of "those" days. :(

Woke up to a sad phone call. Fortunately, everything looks like it will be alright.

Hope everybody had a great day today :)

Hey Cory,

Thanks for the info. I'll call my aunt today and tell her. All of us would love to meet you too. And if my uncle gets picked for the show and you get picked to help him, then I'll be sure to bring Cory and Matt up to Michigan with me so that they can meet you too. :)

MayMay,
That is great news about your uncle because it means that they are willing to clean up! The downside is that we are going to be done filming the end of nex month so it must get submitted right now to even have a chance at making it in time. Also, here is what they are looking for in order to be considered and it doesn't sound like he has them all:
1) A Crisis
2) A Severe Hoard
3) Strong Support Characters
If he has all of these, then they will consider him for the show. Good luck and I would love to meet the family and friends :)

Friday 9/21

@flopz -yup, school, school, and more school :) I used to dream about school, intern & externships for most of eight years :) Good Luck & you can get through this semester! :)

===
*already did morning maintenance*

Leaving for work when I am done writing, here - have a great and productive day -everyone! :)
===
PS: The fur-baby is doing much better, he has gastroenteritis; his tummy was inflamed which is why it would not empty - emptying, now :)
===

Hey Cory,

OMG! My uncle from Michigan called me this morning with some really AWESOME news. My aunt is thinking about signing him up to be on 'HOARDERS'! I'm so excited I've been on the phone with relatives and friends all day today. I don't know how A&E picks who gets to be on the show but I really hope they pick my uncle. Plus my uncle is also really excited about it. :)

His hoard isn't as bad as some of the other hoards that I've seen on the show but it's still pretty bad. Most of it is outside and in the garage.

If they do pick my uncle to be on the tv show I really hope they will pick You to be the cleaning specialist that helps him. I think you guys would get along really well. Plus every female in my family and all of my friends have a crush on you. :)

Hi All,
Tillie, I would say for your plans going out the window you had a very productive day AND motivated him in the process to do a little of his own pitching in. Great job!

It is so incredible to see so many people connecting on this site and getting an outlet for both sides of this disorder. I love that people can now communicate with others about something so complex, so confusing, and so physically and mentally exhausting. Everyone is really stepping up to help others and I want to thank you all for that and especially to Tillie for coming up with the Daily Chat which has really increased peoples posts and ability to find answers. You all rock!

Cory

Today I am doing school, school and more school, but after I manage to finish all the homework for tomorrow I am going to clear my desk back off so it looks like an inviting work space as well as I am planning to do a load of dishes.

The main reason I am writing on this message board today however, is so that I can say a very quick hello to everyone as well as to wish everyone a wonderful day :)

Good morning :/

Yesterday's plans all went out the window.
He had a doctor appointment and returned home before noon.

Rather than waste this opportunity I decided it was a great time for us to do something about the bad smell oozing out from his bedroom.

He had a lot of food, dirty dishes and dirty laundry mixed in with all the general rubble.

I think the worst smell was coming from the bag of slimy, leaky, moldy "grapes?" I unearthed.

I put a sink full of dishes to soak while I started working on the 6 loads of laundry.

He was very pleasant during all this and then he went out in the carport and filled a big trash can from that area. :D

His bedroom still has clutter, dust and cobwebs but it is no longer a biohazard disaster site and it doesn't stink any more.

My plans for today are to get back to the plans that I had for yesterday.

Have a great day everyone :)

Good morning :)

My To-Do list for today...

ME TIME!

Taking the day off from everything
maybe give myself a nice relaxing & much needed pedicure.
might even take a nap after lunch

Have a great day everyone :D

Sheryl,

If you do nothing today other than take care of the fur babies and take a nap that's more than enough.
((HUGS)))

Thank you Tillie and MayMay ... I am both hopeful and concerned; we are leaving for his third x-ray @10:30a.m. to see if his stomach is emptying into his intestines (he is not vomiting). He's been getting IV fluids and meds to relax his tummy :( Poor baby.

Anyway -

Maintenance continues:
-Day three off work to care for ill cat
-Made the bed
-Cleaned bathroom
-Cleaned litter boxes
-Did the breakfast dishes and wiped down the counters.

...Vet...

When I get home from vet:

-Settle the baby back in, wash his crate & stroller, wash towels, put scan medical records

-Lunch

-Vacuum
-Dust
-Catch up on more scanning (have about 20 papers to scan (in addition to today's medical for the cat)
-Check e-mail
-Start dinner
...this is the plan so far, but I'll probably take a nap after vacuuming & dusting :)

Hope you all have a great day!

Hey Sheryl,

I'm so sorry to hear about your fur-baby. :(

I hope your fur-baby feels better soon.

(((hugs)))

Oh! Sheryl :(

Take it easy on yourself, I know how stressful this can be 24/7 till they are all back to normal again.
Hope things are straightened out soon and without much fuss.

(((Sheryl))) (((Furbaby)))

@MayMay - so glad you take good care of your fur-babies :)

@Tillie - Slow down a bit, I am getting exhausted just reading your lists ;)

Yesterday: Work, laundry (start to finish), take-out dinner, dishes, trash-out, beds made and not much more. One of the fur-babies wasn't feeling well, then perked up, and around 8:30 had a high temperature so off to our county's emergency vet clinic - got home after midnight.

Today: Sleep, much-needed sleep and self-care, and care of the fur-babies. The not-feeling-too-well fur-baby was doing better until he ate, and is now trying to hide. So, another x-ray, this time at his regular doctor - his stomach is not emptying into his intestines. X-rays last night did not detect a blockage; i.e., string, fuzz, fur-ball.

Using my sick-days for the fur-baby.

I just finished giving Matt and Cory a bath. They were outside playing for like 5 hours this morning and when they finally wanted to come inside they were filthy. I have no idea what they were doing out there but when they finally came in they were all sticky and covered in dirt and Cory had a pine cone stuck to his head. It was hilarious. lol. :)

Good morning :)

My To-Do list for today...
tidy up the bathroom
sweep & vacuum the floors
water everything outside
put new shelf paper on the shelves in the bathroom cupboard
sweep the porches
start alterations on a dress

Have a great day everyone! :D

Hi Bonnie :)
Thank you ;)

Now is the time to get back to it!
Along with general housekeeping maintenance spend some time on another decluttering task.
Set a timer for 5-10 or 15 minutes and work on a small area till the timer "dings".
It is amazing how much you can get done in only a short amount of time.
Then reset the timer and tackle some more space.
So many areas can be cleared from a sitting position so grab a chair, sit down and clear everything within your reach.

You can do this! :D

Good Morning All!!

Did nothing yesterday because after my work marathon my entire body hurt. Hope today will be a better day. Hope to continue clearing the floor in my bedroom.

Tillie, you are my idol!!! I wish I could be as productive as you!!!!

Maybe what I finally figured out can help someone else in the future...

Yesterday I did some major clean out in an incredibly bad mess.
Years worth of long abandoned clutter in a carport with a leaky roof.
There were cardboard boxes that just crumbled when I touched them, ancient dried leaves that had blown in, some dead birds and rodents, bags and bottles of chemicals like old used motor oil and brick hard bags of stucco and cement along with some stuff who's bags had deteriorated to the point that I could not tell what was in them.

I wore jeans and a long sleeve blouse. Gloves and a face mask. Had my hair tightly braided down my back.

Right after I decided that I had had enough I came inside showered & shampooed and put on all clean clothes.

I started getting very itchy and it just would not stop so I took another shower and shampooed again.
This did not stop the itching.

I kept looking at my skin to see if I had a rash but there was nothing to see.

I took a benadryl and the itching finally stopped and I could sleep.

Showered again this morning and NOW I can see a slight rash on my skin.

No telling just what I was exposed to that caused it but I am writing this post in the hope that others will be very careful when dealing with long standing hoards of unknown substances.

Good morning :)

I have been up & busy since early.
Got the laundry all done & hung out on the line.
Did cat chores.

Taking it easier today after all the work I did yesterday.
Need to make some more lemonade and thinking about making another batch of cookies LOL :D

It is a beautiful, quiet morning here and I am just enjoying it.

Don't forget to enjoy all the little pleasures in life.

Have a great day everybody! :)

Hi Carol,
I know Goodwill Industries has a bookstore in Upland on Foothill near Benson. You can contact them to see if they would arrange a pick up of all the books but they won't want telephone books of any books that are not in at least decent condition. The bookstore sells almost all the books for under $2.00. Here is their info.

1760 West Foothill Boulevard Upland, CA 91786
(909) 204-4462

Cory Chalmers
1-800-HOARDERS.com

Good morning,

Soon as I finish drinking my tea and reading stuff on the internet I plan to go on the war path.
Need to clear off my patio table, AGAIN!
Going to grab a big trash can and start filling it with all sorts of HIS obvious trash/gabage laying all around the yard, carport and back porch!!!
This should make him nervous enough to start doing this task himself so nothing "good" gets tossed out.
Wish me luck ;)