CM I am thinking of you and your friend ((hugs))

Tillie, you sound a bit like a disney princess who is friends with all the cute little creatures outside :D Everything you described sounds so beautiful! What a way to start the day!

I'm at my in laws' and we have a several hour drive back home this evening. So my agenda is to make sure I have laundry done so I have all my work clothes clean and available for the week. I also want to pick up a few healthy snacks.

Hope everyone is doing well!

CriticalMass hope all goes well for your friend I will keep both in my thoughts.

Hope all is going good for everyone today!

Good Morning Everybody :)

It is a very cool and quiet morning here.
Cats have had their canned food breakfast and are now settling down for the first nap of the day.
I am drinking tea and surfing the web.
Have a short and easy "To-Do" list written up for today.
The quail sleep overnight in the trees on my property. They just all got up and started their day.
The lizards are warming themselves in the sun, getting ready to hunt for breakfast bugs.
The bunnies are all tucked into their beds waiting for evening when the fading sunlight will help to hide them as they graze.
The humming birds are busy noisily defending their territories from other birds.
Tiny green finches are starting to arrive to eat the cat nip seeds.
The robin is taking a bath.
Guess I should get off the computer and start my day too. :)

Enjoy the season! :D

CriticalMass

(((HUGS)))

Still having to just pop in and out - my 93-year-old friend who fell back at the end of June, was in hospital then rehab then back home, began having trouble again. So she's going to have surgery tomorrow for a hematoma on the brain. Prayers for successful surgery and recovery would be most welcome. And thanks! When all this settles down I'll get back to my decluttering plans, which are still there, and will proceed ASAP. Good day all.

That's wonderful news Greta :D
With gentle encouragement I hope your Mom continues to do things little bit by little bit.
Make sure you enjoy these beautiful last few days before school starts! :D

This morning I got up and got dressed then went into town.
Did a bit of visiting and a bit of shopping.
There was a sale on at a shop that had exactly what I needed and now I have what I was desperately needing in the "unmentionables" department ;)
Later today, when it starts to cool off a little I plan to go outside and water and play with the cats. Then make sure they are all inside at sundown when the baby quail will be here. :)

Hello all!

Today it is beautiful out can believe school starts in little over a week I feel like my summer has just started.my mom the past 2 days said she cleaned off the stove, and today wash washing some of her bedroom furniture that she got from their house maybe this is a start of something fingers crossed still wish my dad could live there who knows maybe there will be a miracle. I do think I see a tiny very dim light at the end of the tunnel so we are headed in the right direction.

Tillie got to keep the cats happy

Hope everyone has a great Day!

Today at sundown the cats and I spent about an hour watching all the baby quail wander through the property.
They are sooooo cute. :D
We were all inside the house watching from the windows since the cats are cats. lol
Went to the store today and got some food.
Pulled some weeds.
Did some other stuff but didn't really do much today except sorta hang out around here.
:)

Hi Anonymoniker :)

Great plan writing down positive affirmations.
Try writing them down on one piece of paper each and taping them up all around the house.
Like one on a mirror, one on the tv, one where you will see it soon as you wake up, etc... :)
Good plan making the yard decisions ahead of time too.

Today i.made a list of things to do when.i feel.down, such as gratitude, positive affirmations, exercise...and to clean.something...even just one thing! Im next going to.make a list of the Cognative Behavior Therapy steps on decision.making. I think.having these written down.to refer to when i get stuck.and overwhelmed will help me?!
Also im going to walk around my yard and evaluate my next load to the dump. Making the decisions ahead helps me avoid panicking while making the pile....again sorry for all the typos! :D

Good Morning :)

Been spending a lot of time lately just enjoying summertime around my home.
The plants, flowers, night skies and all the creatures.
Wearing summertime dresses and going barefoot through the grass.
But today I think I should get my list and go get some groceries since we are running low on important items like cat treats.
The house is very dusty living here in the desert off a dirt road with the doors and windows open all day and night.
If I dust today it will be all dusty again by tomorrow morning.
So, maybe I will just wait and dust tomorrow. ;D
Procrastination.
I should at least get dressed and brush my hair while I ponder what I will be doing today.
Brain fog.

TTYL :)

Most of the time the quail wander around in small groups of their extended family. Grandparents, parents, adult children and their spouses.
This time of year these smaller groups join together with other groups and then you see coveys of fifty to one hundred members.
Their new babies have hatched and you can see half grown babies all the way down to the teeny tiniest new hatched babies.
I think they gather together like this because there is more safety in numbers and the babies are the most vulnerable.
Anyways, last night a huge covey of quail came through here. All different sizes and all different ages.
I figure there were about ninety birds all together and only about thirty were adults.
It's been a good year for quail and cottontail bunnies here. :D

Thinking of you, Bitsy.

Hi :D

Things went well at the dentist's. Got my teeth cleaned. :D

Hi Roxie :)
Nice! that you are going to have family visit!
For fun the cats and I have been spending time outside. There are lots of grasshoppers right now and it's fun to chase them down trying to catch them. :D

Hi Oodles :)
Wishing you all the best with whatever plans you make for caring for your daughter. (((HUGS)))

Good luck & God speed tomorrow Bitsy.

Hi LR2014 :)
Did you see how pleasant the weather is this time of year around lake Tahoe?
:D

Hi Greta :)
WAY TO GO! for the house selling! :D
Yes, this must all be very stressful on your Mom. (((hugs)))

Hi Tatoulia :)
Thank you for being here with me. (((HUGS)))

Hi Karl :)
WTG! for clearing the area and making room for the game. :D

Hi CriticalMass :)

Hi Jess :)

Hi to all others, including you lurkers :D

Good Morning Everybody :)

Wonderful to see you all here! :D
Was busy yesterday looking through all drawers and cupboards looking for things to unload when the neighbor has her yard sale late August/early September.
Whenever she has her yard sale every few years, I always join in with whatever I have to sell.
One day only, 8 to 3, and we always sell most everything, and we have fun together and make money. :D
The trick to a successful yard sale is to price everything for a lot less than what you think/know the items are worth.
The people are all looking for a great deal and we are looking to declutter our stuff. Win win.
Right now I need to get things done around here before my dental appointment this morning.
It's a fresh new week, a time to start all over again with all of our plans and goals.
TTYL :)

Hi to all
I haven't on here a lot this week my parents house sale was final this week which has allowed me to start the Medicaid process for dad I feel like a 1000lbs is off my back. Hopefully mom will work on hoarding I know these 5 months have been very stressful for her which can be a trigger I see she is hoarding some. One day at a time now if I would just follow that.

Bitsy I will thinking of you hope that helps

Hope everyone has great start to the week

Hi bitsy, Oodles, Karl, Tatoulia, Roxie, Tillie, CM, Jess, Vicki, Diane, Greta, and Coralie! Just checkin' in.

Bitsy, it's nice to hear that you have your car "mostly cleared out." I've made more progress on mine since the last time I posted, but I'm far from being able to say that it is "mostly cleared out."

I spent a little time surfing the weather maps on the Internet this evening, looking for a place in the U.S. that has cooler weather. Awfully hot in my neck of the woods at the moment! No, I'm not going to travel anywhere; I just wanted to fantasize about being in cooler temps for the moment! Ha.

Hugs to all!

always wishing all of you good days.

got car mostly cleared out.
got current car tag.
had a CT scan and an arteriogram.
am at my daughter's in beautiful North Carolina.
they say they have a pair of pileated woodpeckers that come up the mountain near their deck, but i haven't seen them yet.
i am going to have caratoid artery surgery Tuesday and i am a little nervous.

thank you all for your posts. they help me to keep on trying.

Hello All:

I don't know what I would do without all of you here. Just having you here gives me strength. Before I found this board I would give up repeatedly & just get lost. I have one thing down & that is to re-visit here. I was heading for a lost time but surprisingly woke up this morning ready to go. PS: I am busting my daughter out of the hospital. State Law indicates she can choose where she receives her care. If it does not work out here she still has facility care pending. I had council with our local crisis center.

I hope everyone has a blessed and productive day. I am always thinking of you. Remember - we are all in this together.

Great to hear from everyone and thanking you all for your encouragement and help. Roxie, you are just so loving and sweet. CM I cleaned out a 12 x 10, filled to the gills, top to bottom, front to back, storage space last year. Only a few itms made it into my house. Let me know if I can help you in any way-listening ear, sympathetic shoulder, sounding board on what to keep/what to throw out, kindred spirit, etc. can help on any way.

Jess, good to hear from you! Oodles, good to hear from you--you are in all too familiar situation. We will help you weather this storm.

Dear Tillie-hope you, Mr, Scooter and the other kitties, the bunnies, and even the owl are all well. Thank you for being a solid support. Thank you so much.

Everyone--if I got your name/situation wrong, if I forgot you in any way, please don't hold it against me. I need you all!

Hello All hugs & support. Welcome Vicki - TBI here as well but only enough to disorganize things. I miss everyone to where has Karl been?

It has been a week and I am finally getting back to simple tasks. Daughter still in hospital sounds like she is headed for facility care. After successful clean out I have her apt in my house. Without her income I will be out of my home in 30-60 days. I ask why clean? Why get up at all? Picture me with an elephant strapped on my back.

Well...lifting that elephant I am going to work on kitchen and laundry today.

WHITE HOUSE: Where is my good job, affordable healthcare and tax start over program? Being laid of for 3 yrs wrecked my life. What a bunch of hooey

Good Morning Everybody :)

Hi Jess :)
WAY TO GO!!! for keeping up with everything even with your new work schedule! :D
Good luck with your plans for today.

Hi CriticalMass :)
Makes perfect sense, catching up on stuff as you can catch up on it when there is stuff to catch up on. :D
Looking forward to hearing about your storage unit challenge as you begin to tackle it.
Good luck and best wishes for that daunting project, but won't it feel so GREAT once it is over & done with? :D

Yesterday was a beautiful day here. Dark, cool and rainy all day.
Today there is no rain predicted, just sunshine, another beautiful day. :)
Planning to scrub out the cat litter boxes.
Maybe do something fun outside, like play. LOL

TTYL :D

Hi, everyone - just a quick post to say I haven't dropped off the face of the Earth! Just been in a busy cycle here lately, which isn't unusual for me at the beginning of a month what with payday and bills and whatnot. Stuff to finally have the means to catch up on, at least somewhat, so then it takes time to do the catching up! Hope that makes sense.

Summer will be on the wane enough soon, I hope, that I can begin to work on my storage unit without roasting like a chicken in an oven. It'll be a big challenge but I'm as ready as I'll ever be to tackle it, I think.

Anyway, should be more settled in the week to come and will go back and read through posts and then post again! Have a great day, all!

Hey guys, sorry I've been absent for a bit. I just had my first week of work and I was pretty wrapped up in adjusting to that. So far everything is really good! I managed to change my morning routine without it throwing me completely off track. Yay!

Since I'm so tired when I get home I've been taking extra care to put things back where they belong right away so clutter doesn't creep up on me. That also really cuts down on stress in the mornings because I know exactly where everything is.

Today the plan is to clean the floors and one bathroom and make a trip out to pick up dog food. Bonus points if I clean up my car too. I've had to drive the dog around lately and I want to make it a weekly habit to wash the blankets I cover the seat with and take out anything that doesn't belong in there.

Have a wonderful day accomplishing your goals, everybody :) We can do this!

Hello :)

Hi Roxie :)
He's doing fine getting back to work. He was sooooo ready to get back to it.
He's tired from all the resting he got being basically idle for five months and has to get back on a regular schedule instead of eating and sleeping as the mood hit.
When he was in the hospital he had a room mate like you had. We spent a lot of time caring for him until they gave the poor old guy his own room.
After shopping this morning I spent the afternoon resting and now I am up past my usual bedtime. :D

Hi Vicki :)
Thank you for answering Roxie's question.
Welcome to the message board.

Hi Tatoulia:)
YEA!!!! WAY TO GO GO GO!!! Removing the coffee table! :D
Think about space as a valuable possession.

Today I feel a lot better.
Mostly need to get more sleep now since I had not been sleeping well.
Last evening we had a large pack of coyotes hunting around here, probably are still out there.
It is easy to keep the cats inside when the coyotes are here, they don't want to go out. :)
But I am sad for all my baby cottontail bunnies. :(
A Great Horned Owl has been eating my Quail family at night too.
Oh Well, the circle of life.............
Off to bed for me. Good night, sweet dreams. :)

Hello everyone! Thank you for your kind words and encouragement. Welcome, Vicki! Glad you are here!

Yes it gets tougher and tougher to bounce back. Sorry you are having such a tough time with bouncing back from the dental work, Tillie, Thank you for the encouragement, Roxie. It helps to relieve the guilt.

Well, I managed to get the coffee table out tonight. Looking at my house through someone else's eyes tonight. Not pretty.

I don't have room for all my stuff. Easy, I'll get rid of more stuff. To quote Tillie, space is an object! (Is that what you say? Something about space being something good)

A little scattered right now. Thinking of you all with gratitude.

TBI = traumatic brain injury

Hi :)

Hi Roxie :)
When you need the sleep and rest I am always happy to read that you laid in all day.
(((hugs)))
You have been through and are still going through so many exhausting physical and mental challenges.

Hi Tatoulia :)
Thank you so very much for your dream post. ;D
Happy that you are putting your welfare first concerning your brother.
WAY TO GO! for what you have accomplished! :D
If you could get some good solid sleep I know you will feel better. (((hugs)))
Looking forward to your friend's visit! :D

These last few days I have been taking it easy, resting a lot.
Have not bounced back as fast as usual from the dental work but there were complications with it and my trying to push through in spite of the pain
was just wearing me out.
I hate getting old and crickity. LOL :D
Feeling much better today and the swelling is barely noticeable.
My plan for tomorrow is to get to the grocery store. Have my list all made up.
The weather here feels like Fall already and we had rain last night.
So unusual this year, wonder what winter will be like.

Tillie, I could have sworn I made a post last night telling you that I'm happy Mr tail lie is doing better-physically and hoard-wise. I must have dreamt it. In any event, it does look like things are looking up and for that I'm grateful.

Roxie, you are doing so well! It is draining to take care of so much. You are coping so well!

For me, I have decided to not let my brother's mental illness bother me. I'm going to try to do that because it's been keeping me up at night (for decades, but recently very, very bad). I long ago gave up celebrating his peaceful moments since there really is no point.

Today I got two bags out to a Goodwill. Very pleased by that. Need to shred papers and get the whole house vacuumed. Getting help tomorrow with some things and need house yo be acceptable. All I want to do is sleep, but I don't sleep, don't get anything done, and feel terrible all around. Friend arrives in a week. I know she will help me but I need it to be clean before she comes here. Once she's here, she'll take my kitchen and make it sparkle. She did it last year and I know she'll help again this year. Very loving, giving, and non judgmental. How's that for a friend?

Good Morning :)

Hi Tatoulia :)
I dropped Diane an email note this morning with greetings from all of us. :D

Yesterday I got the usual weekly house cleaning done and washed laundry too.
So nice not having people in and out all day long. Got to work uninterrupted.
Today I can start on those long over due projects that I have had to put off since March.
But maybe I will just relax and enjoy watching birds.

It's important that no matter what else we do every day that we take the time to enjoy the little blessings in life. :)

Tillie and Oodles, I'm so glad that you are here! And that goes for Roxie and Bitsy and Diane and LR and Gem and Reader and Mel and I know I've forgotten someone--Jess-- and I'm sure I've neglected to mention others too but thank you. thank you. You are so supportive and lovely and giving and wonderful and your bad days help me and your good days help me and I need to keep posting. My backsliding coincided with not posting

Thank you!

Ps Tillie if you talk to Diane can you tell her I say hello!

Good Morning Everybody :)

Hi Oodles :)
How are things going for you today?
That is the nice thing about new days, we get a new start on our plans.
The hoarder that I live with was not a hoarder to begin with.
A brain tumor slowly started growing and as it grew so did his hoarding.
It went undiagnosed for about 18 years and I can look back and see how as it got bigger so did his hoard.
The tumor was successfully removed and his ability to take college courses and graduate with honors was never affected by this.
But his thought processes about "stuff" were still the same.
I have been slowly, daily using CBT to try to rewire his thinking about getting and keeping so much stuff.
"Buried In Treasures" has a lot of things I have been using.
He did not want to change and as we all know, the person who hoards needs to have the desire to change or nothing will be accomplished and forcing them will only make things worse all around.
What I am trying to say to you is that I truly do understand your struggles with a TBI and that I think you are doing a GREAT! job working through all these obstacles you are facing.
It takes time and patience and I want you to be kind to yourself even when others are not being kind due to their ignorance of TBIs and the hoarding connection. (((HUGS)))

And YES!!!!, you CAN overcome this! :D

Oodles
(((HUGS)))

It is Sun & I am starting all over again. I feel like I was at base camp of Mt Everest the top was in sight then got blown completely off. Daughter ended up in the hospital. The dogs escaped I thought I lost the 12yr old sick one.(found & are ok I left the gate open) I accidentally broke my phone cord/no internet.My daughter ended up in the hospital. I physically collapsed. Worse I experienced humiliation/guilt of my family. I don't want them to see me like this. We moved my daughters things in & my house is 10 x worse now. My brother did text me the next morning & said he loves me. I have to complete this over hall of OOdleness. I have to beat this!I saw MO's post. I understand & it is sad/tragic like any addiction that this illness wrecks families. I wish I had never been struck by lightning, I wish I had never gotten sick. But I did/am & I CAN OVERCOME THIS AND SO CAN ALL OF YOU!!!! Love/prayers for all of you and let's have a forward moving week!!!! We are in this struggle together! I am going to visit my daughter then work on the kitchen tonight.

Good Morning :)

Hi Greta :)
Happy you enjoyed a nice time away and also got to see that rainbow. :D

Hi Roxie :) "clink!"
WAY TO GO! keeping a good handle on the medicine schedules by refilling the container. :D
Good luck with your filing and bill paying.

Cloudy cool day with a few little sprinkles of rain.
Nothing planned for today except to just relax and enjoy it.
These past five months I have not kept up with the usual daily house cleaning since he was always here or in hospital or needing me to take him to Dr. appointments.
Tomorrow he returns to work, with some limitations on what he can do.
I plan to get back to my weekly schedule of cleaning the house on Mondays instead of the daily touch ups I have been resorting to to keep it sort of livable here.
But today I will just enjoy the fact that he did not die or lose his leg and life is returning to normal here. :)

Hi everyone it is great to see all the wonderful support here. We had a nice time away I was relaxed and eating better and enjoying being with my family minus one child who didn't go. Now back to reality " that stinks" but it's life. Hopefully soon things will ease up but enough of that. We got to see a beautiful double rainbow while away. Even though I don't didn't mention all your names I still have you all in my thoughts I hope you all have a wonderful day! And will write more very soon hugs to all

Hi Everybody :)

Hi Tatoulia :)
GREAT! to hear from you. :D
WAY TO GO! for maintaining the bedroom!
You are always in our thoughts too (((hugs)))

Hi Roxie :)
YEA! for sleeping in a freshly made up bed!!! :D
You have been doing an amazing job taking care of things day after day. (((hugs)))
Your cabin sounds like a little piece of heaven.
My family are Ojibwa from the Quebec area.
My Grandparents had a cottage on the shore of a Michigan lake and my memories of days spent there are my most cherished. :)

Cloudy today and we had a little rain so far already.
I decided to bake chocolate chip and pecan cookies.
Maybe it was his close call of possibly losing his life or his leg over the past five months but I have been noticing a huge change in his attachment to his hoard.
He has sold some guitars and other stuff to the pawn shop and donated quite a few truck loads of stuff to the charity thrift shop.
He has also taken truck loads to the dump.
Still a long way to go but his progress has been amazing! :D

Good morning everyone! So great to read your posts! Jess, I am excited about your new job! Everyone else--I am so proud of your accomplishments and am truly going to use your posts as my inspiration today.

I have to see brother early today. He has been increasingly needy and erratic all month and it has taken a toll on me, but I will see him today, hopefully have strength to get out with my mother today, and then really buckle down and get going on my place. Bedroom has sated 90% good, so that might be doable right now before the brother calls and needs me to get going.

Hope you are well. Forgive me for not mentioning you by name, you are all in my thoughts!

Hi Jess :)
Thank you and YES it is such a relief to have that done! :D
WAY TO GO!!! for keeping the morning routine!
Have a safe trip (((hugs)))

Hi Roxie :)
Wishing you the best of luck finding a kind, caring, gentle and capable dentist soon.
Just getting this one tooth done has already made an improvement in my life. (((hugs)))
WAY TO GO!!! you have been accomplishing so very much! :D
Did you get all the crumbs out of your bed? :D
Keep enjoying nature as you keep watch on the neighborhood.
This morning I found a peacock feather in my yard.
Last time I started finding peacock feathers I ended up with a peacock and his peahen living here for several months.
Every evening they would come up on the porch and look in through the screen door at me waiting for me to come give them some cat kibble.
Then their owners finally tracked them down and took them back to their house.
I missed them. :)

Hello Coralie
Welcome :)

WAY TO GO!!! for what you have accomplished! :D
Yes, sometimes it is hard to see the progress but just by keeping at it little bit by little bit you will eventually start to see it all come together for you. :)

By the way...
I am not a hoarder but I do live with one.
One thing a person needs to do when faced with the trials of living with a compulsive hoarder is to educate themselves as much as possible about the hoarding phenomenon.
Cory created this website as a place for every
body, hoarders and people who know, love or live with a person who hoards to get educated and find support and helpful advice.
Together we CAN do this :D

Just wanted to share that I love reading this thread although I don't (yet) know most people posting around here. It's so nice to see the support, friendship and daily talk going on between the posters... :)

I'm really glad to hear your dentist appointment went well and you're ready to go back to work, Tillie! I totally agree that you need a day off, just enjoying the current season, doing the dishes and not much more once in a while. Hoarding can truly clutter and take over your mind if you try to fight it non-stop, day in day out.

It's nice to read that you've already started seeing the benefits of beginning to deal with your medical bills, Roxie. I could sense the start of relief and some form of new-found peace of mind in between the lines of your last message. Also, spending the summer in a cabin sounds divine! I hope you and your son will be able to spend some lovely quality time together when he gets there.

Good luck (in advance) starting work on Monday, Jess! It's really encouraging to read that you're finding such great benefits from following a daily morning routine. I need to figure out one for myself so I don't find myself wondering what needs to get done before I leave the house! (and then getting to work and remembering I forgot this and that, feeling annoyed with myself)

Oodles, all I want for Christmas is... a completely livable home too! :) (now I've got Mariah singing that song stuck in my head in the middle of summer, haha!) Wishing you continued progress.

On my side of things, I had several days away to enjoy a little summer break not far away from here. I've returned to a still cluttered home (but with a pathway all the way through the living room!) feeling both happy to be home and annoyed with the current state it is in. It's the bittersweet paradox of being in the (forever?) midst of cleaning up your hoard: it feels satisfying and great when you've accomplished an important step, but once you leave your home for a longer period of time and return back to it, you can barely see the progress and all that is left is the rest of the stuff. Oh well, it could (and has been) worse.

So, instead of trying to find some more things to bag up today, I'm going to take the bus to pick a parcel at the wrong post office (ah, summer time, when the mailman goes on holiday and his replacement drops off anything too large to fit into your mailbox at the other side of the city isntead of your usual post office!) nice and early, get some groceries, and then apply myself to figuring out how to organise my clothes closet while starting to put the must-keeps back in there. I have rid myself of easily 70% of the clothes I used to have (if not a bit more), so it's going to be interesting to see how I manage to organise what is left and how I react to a much more minimalist closet as the days go by. Stay tuned! :D

Wishing everyone on here a lovely start to the weekend! Espresso on me for everyone.

So many good updates in here! I'm so proud of you guys :D

Tillie, you made it through your dentist appointment! Yay! I bet that is quite a load off of your mind!

Oodles, you are doing fantastic! So inspiring!

So many other posts that made me smile too, you guys are just wonderful.

I'm getting ready to travel back home for the weekend, which is good but also stressful for me. I start my job Monday so it's not the ideal weekend for this trip but it has to happen now. I'm doing pretty well not freaking out about anything. I did my morning routine today (which has been such a positive thing for me) and now I'm taking care of a few online bill things. The only other thing I MUST do before I leave is print and fill out some forms for my first day of work. I don't want to leave it for the last minute and have a problem with my printer or something like that.

Have a great day everyone! If you're feeling stuck today I encourage you to take a step no matter how small, push negative thoughts away for at least a moment and take some action, fight back against feelings of helplessness. You can do this! You are worth those feelings of accomplishment!

Good Morning Everybody :)

I gave myself the day off yesterday from doing any housework.
Today I need to wash dishes.
And of course do the always, everyday type stuff for the cats.
Should get out and water some stuff too.
Maybe pull a couple of weeds.
So, sort of a laid back day today with not much planned.
We still have all of August to enjoy. :D
Will miss summertime when it's gone.