I refuse to give up! Two big bags and one smaller to goodwill today, including a quick pj drawer clean-out and a nice throw. Some coffee mugs. Good feeling.

Did mom's grocery shopping. I still need to do my own shopping. I get overwhelmed when I'm doing both of our shops. I got cat food, litter, etc.m but like to really think before getting my food.

We have a mobile company coming to do our shredding for us. I spoke with the guy today. This keeps me out of the basement having to do this. It's affordable and Bf and I can split the cost. Big relief.

We had a tiny snow squall today and now it's sunny and bright. I was driving and opened up my windows and let the snow come in. Very refreshing. I was driving my car and not BF's. I haven't driven my own car in a long time.

The gardening may be getting out of hand.

I was trying to decide what to do with the wet, shady side of the barn. My brain suggested "what about fiddlehead ferns?" I thought "good idea!"

It is sunny. I am manic. Dh is not home.

I came inside and looked online - if I buy the ferns individually, they are at least $6 each. 60 feet of barn, one fern every 2 feet = 30 ferns. $180 😮

So I kept looking - 100 ferns wholesale - $112 including shipping!

I bought them!

Now I will have to plant 100 ferns. 🤭

Almost done preparing the third strawberry bed. (I have five to reclaim, but wisely only ordered enough strawberries for three - back when the weather was bad and I wasn't manic.)

Good to hear of your gardening, SubC! And yay for second shot! I'm still loitering by my pharmacy for an extra dose. Our state also has a sign up program so I'm doing that.

I'm up, have had one cup of coffee. Will have a second and breakfast then off to goodwill. I need to drive my car. It's been a while. Have been driving BFs.

Yay for basement work!

CM, Take your vitamin!

Got my shot Friday. Arm very sore but not as bad as last time. Mild headache and queezy tummy - like carsickness.

Finished getting a second bed ready for my strawberries. Moved some iris plants, and planted some luffa seeds. The luffas may not grow - they are old.

Spring break this week, but a lot to do!

Okay I'm on my own here but I do hope that other people stop by when they can!

Platelets went okay. I just learned that my mother is out of personal products so I have to go to the pharmacy. Not what I want to be doing. But I just said that I'd head out in an hour. And I think my hour is coming to a close.

I have a bag of recycling ready to go. I would love to do some laundry tonight. It piles up fairly quickly around here, esp in the pandemic.

What are you doing today?!?

Have had breakfast and need to get ready for platelets. Will call first since I didn't get my usual confirmation but my app says I'm on the schedule.

Very cold and windy today. But bright sunshine.

Ok I went through four boxes at BF's and emptied one. Have a bag for goodwill in the car. A bag for me to take home. The other three are going to require shredding. I will take my shredder to BF's tmr and I will let the games begin. So much to shred I think the shredder only works a half hour at a time.

I was amazed at how they are all just papers and old calendars. None can be just tossed due to nature. Ugh. Why why why. Why did I bring these from a job that I worked at from 1996 to 2005. Why didn't I just leave them. What did I think I'd need them for? Clearly I didn't need them.

There were various things that I used to use to decorate my office and they are in lovely condition and boxed up nicely for goodwill.

Picked up my delicious lunch then brought it home to eat it. So tasty.

Beautiful day here. In the 60s. Going up to boyfriend's basement to get my stuff organized. Hopefully nothing worth keeping.

Checking in! CM I am so proud of your efforts in the storage space! You are doing great!

I have the day off and I'm excited. At BF's request we didn't tackle his basement last night. Instead we went to Macy's and I bought sneakers. I am thinking about walking to the lunch place where I would get lunch when I was still at work. That would give me about three miles of walking in, round trip. Maybe closer to four.

BF got four of my basement boxes out for me and put them next to an empty trash can. So I can work in those later.

Hello ladies! Thank you for the kind words! Glad to hear that your husband received his vaccine SubC.

Tonight we start on the basement. I keep having dreams about decluttering.

I'm eating much better. Lots of salads and vegetables. It's in the 70s here so windows are open. I'm washing cat blankets and bed. Her blankets can go away for the season. If she's cold we can share the throw. I will leave her clean bed out for a bit longer.

Okay back to work. My stomach hurts. May be from today's boot camp.

Hi all

March here has been being a cranky lion 🦁 with ridiculous winds 🌬 the last few days. Today is our one decent day, then rain and T-storms ⛈🌧 over the weekend but we do need rain so okay.

The brain hangover from my migraine, fighting the wind, and other aggravations were really trying my soul. I would no sooner get out of one bad mood than boom, something else would set me off. 😠😤😡🤬💥🔥⚡💣⚠️ it got to the point where even I didn't want to be around me.

Did finally make one connection that I had been neglecting taking my vitamin supplements that help my mood, cognitive, and stress response. So I went and bought the ones I was out of and got back to taking them. Seems to be helping some. There are big things in my life that no vitamins alone will be able to fix. But at least I'll not be at such a state of depletion.

Today I'm not sure what I'll do just yet. It is the day of transition weather wise. Wind not as bad as it has been but still some wind and the beginning of the rain clouds will roll in by evening.

At some point my storage unit work may be doable without as much concern over the weather. But for now I have to take into account that winds will blow loose papers, catch the edges of lightweight items and topple them, etc. And I sure hope the management does follow through on getting that crummy guttering replaced. That has made rain more of a problem in front of my unit than others.

I may go see how it is and do a little, though. My roommate's boss went and changed their meeting from yesterday, when I would have been gone anyway, to today 😑 so they'll be yack yack yacking; I had been looking forward to getting stuff done here without having to factor that in.

SubC, I'm sure you'll get a chance to get your shot(s) soon. I'm checking every now and then, whenever the age limit drops. I'll be 59 in April. So if it's 65 and drops to 60 I'll still have a bit of a wait. But maybe not too much.

Tatoulia, I too think you're brave and kind to be donating platelets. Enjoy the decluttering party with bf. It's nice to know what things are going to be easy to pull out and where to send them.

Hi Lila, Tillie, and anyone else. 👋

Hi Tatoulia!

I'm a bit overwhelmed but reading and don't want you to be lonely.

Whatever you decide about blankets will be fine. I still think you are a hero fir donating platelets!

Go basement!

CM, I hope you are feeling well!

Dh got the j&j shot tonight so he will be cleared before me (my second shot is Friday)

Keep checking for extra shots!

Hello everyone, anyone!

My cleaners came today so my house is really nice.

Bf and I have to tackle his basement tomorrow night and I'm pretty excited. I have a ton of his stuff in his basement send we need to clean it up. I am so excited at the prospect of getting rid of more stuff. I know I have boxes from two jobs ago that I'll need to shred but I also have records from when I was a teen and other things that just need to go. So I'm excited.

I also have some coats to get to goodwill, I just need to open my closet and make a plan.

I started a fitness boot camp yesterday and I'm sore. It's twice a week all on line.

So that's the news. I've been loitering at the pharmacy looking for leftover shots. No luck yet but I feel good. I have Friday off and was going to go to the museum but now I think I may not. I give platelets on Saturday and let's face it, I hate that.

We got a lot of gifts from my company last week. I can't remember if I told you. One of them was a very nice throw blanket. There's a woman that works at Red Cross who always likes my other company throw blankets (I now bring my own blankets when I go) so I'm thinking about making a gift to her. I also am prepared to donate a different throw blanket to goodwill. It's starting to look ratty but still nice enough to donate. I just need to get rid of stuff. I love the feeling of getting rid of things.

Thank you! I had a wonderful day off today. Had to drive a bit to pick something up then stopped at a friend's house to drop off her son's birthday gift. Both parents were home so it was great to stand outside and see them.

Nearly 2 AM and I have a big day tomorrow.

Drive by happy birthday to Tatoulia!

🎈🎉🎂

Thank you! Cm I am so sorry about the migraine. Glad you are better now.

Happy Birthday, Tatoulia! 🎂🍨🎁

Well, after I posted yesterday I went to storage and did a bit of book sorting. But also was in a box looking for a document I need - but it was partly one of those that was a Box of Sad. It will need to be dealt with but not right yet. I need more good happy progress under my belt first.

Don't know if it was that, something I ate, glare from my phone when my roommate texted me, or what, but shortly thereafter I got an ocular migraine and had to go home while I could still sort of see (slowly and cautiously and off the big streets; it's not too far). Was in bed the rest of the evening. Okay now though.

Great work, CM, so proud of you!

It is my birthday and I am going to go shower and get ready to go to the museum. I need to straighten up a bit because Bf and I will have dinner here later.

Hi

Got the old rickety metal shelving unit to the DAV today and roommate got her first Covid shot - her workplace was giving them.

Looks like the weather will be not as rainy here until maybe Friday. And though cloudy, up to as high as 80 on Wednesday! So I can do whatever - storage, vine pulling, you name it. My quilting has resumed on Tuesday afternoons now, and my holy hour at 1:00 on Wednesdays. I also hope to go down in the quilting room around those and do the tasks that I need a bigger workspace to do than what's available here at the house.

So I'll play it by ear - storage unit is high on the priority list while the weather is optimal for that. Quilting I can always do during the hotter weather, as the church basement is nice and cool.

Hope also to do some crafts, maybe I mentioned that already, that the bunny club can sell. I'll do those out on the patio here when it's nice. Looking forward to the Daylight Savings switch and longer useable time in the afternoon into evening - especially before mosquitoes get plentiful.

Bunny club has a public event the 14th, with precautionary measures. We've gotten in a lot of white rabbits that need homes, so we're playing the Alice In Wonderland White Rabbit/March Hare angle.

Keeping an eye out for when and where I might get a Covid shot one of these days. The public library is going to open up a few more things this coming week - allowing computer usage with distanced workspaces, and browsing the stacks. Still no group rooms or donations to the used book shop. There will be times when I will make judicious use of that, as especially with my roommate home and talking I can't do some of the things on the computer as well, and sometimes it's good for my focus to be away from here. But I'll be sensible and judicious in my use of the public facility.

Will do! Thank you for the reminder, SubC. I a so worried about Tillie.

The paint in the hallway is very pale, a color called Borrowed Light by Farrow and Ball. One coat is in now. Hard to see the color. It will be easier to see tomorrow after the second coat goes on.

Really tired tonight, but glad to hear the updates.

Tatoulia, do you have colored paint?

Don't forget to check the rest of the board. We can't let Tillie's standards down.

❤️

Great work, CM!

I hear you in the books and children; in the other hand, they are kids. When getting rid of my children's books, I saw how many of them I'd written my name in and colored and used crayons and pencils and I liked seeing those happy moments. So while I see your point, writing in them or coloring them didn't alter the course of my feelings towards books. I love my books and was able to donate all of the children's books after one last look.

They are your books and you can give them to whomever you want but please remember to be gentle with yourself and if possible pull yourself away from the next life the books will have. I know I waited a long time to get rid of my dollhouse furniture and I'm grateful for where it went but it's now out of my hands. They will use or not use as they see fit. I have seen the current iteration of the dollhouse and I can see a few of my pieces in there. What ever happens beyond now is not my burden. The burden left me when I got rid of them.

Please know how gently I am saying this to you and to me. Once given, you will feel lighter. So find the right place and let go. When you are ready. I'll be standing by your side

Did pretty satisfying work at storage yesterday. I'm getting a little better with zeroing in on a goal and keeping my focus. I attribute this in large part to having gotten the ball rolling last fall with that garage sale; wasn't sure if there'd be carryover but apparently there is. And then I guess just going over a few times in the winter and refamiliarizing myself with what is still to be done. So now often I can isolate a specific task to do instead of just looking at the mess and going 😱 AAACK!

So I had a goal going in yesterday. Get the remaining set of sturdy wire shelves set up in the spot I'd designated for them. To do this, I needed to set up my card tables by the door and carry out the books that had been on one of the rickety shelving units and get the rickety one out. In the process I found some books that can go.

Got the good shelves positioned and partly assembled but needed more little connectors because sometimes they break or get lost. By this time the sky had clouded over and I knew we were going to get rain today but I wondered if it would start early. It didn't, but since the afternoon was getting on, I wrapped things up and went out to Menard's to get more connectors. The rain came later.

The forecast for the next few days is for cloudy weather and maybe rain, or maybe not. It changes. Temps look okay though so I'll probably be able to keep working.

The half of the unit that many books are piled in looks awful right now but I will be able to conquer it in due time. I'm really trying to keep in the forefront of my mind the question of what books I can live without, as I sort through. I've had time to rethink a lot of reasons I used to keep lots of books on many subjects, but now much of the same information is readily available online and more up to date. That helps a lot.

I do have books that are "old friends," many I've enjoyed from childhood on, and that would be out of print and hard to replace. I went through children's books and culled a decade ago. There are a few more I think I'll be willing to part with now. I would really like to find them good homes though, the ones that are vintage and I kept nice.

Rant: It makes me ragey when people let their kids just destroy books. They should keep the books put away if the kid is really young, and get them out for reading time - and make it a special ritual that also gets the little ones excited about reading! Then when the child is ready to learn how to care for the books teach them how. And praise them. Now I realize that being taught this way myself can sometimes backfire and make a child too attached to possessions, but most kids aren't born with the hoarder gene as I was.

Rant over; I just want to find the right person to give certain children's books to! 😉 Well, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Everybody have a good day and be blessed with great progress on your goals.

You are doing great, CM!

My painter has left for the day. He's done the ceiling, primed the walls and dine the trim and doors. Cannot wait to see the color tomorrow!

Having a storage unit day today

Looks like some off and on rain maybe tomorrow and some days next week, so I'll run errands or do stuff at home. There'll be sorting of stuff from the storage unit, stuff to computerize, etc.

Am about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way with the vines and will fit them in around other tasks and the weather.

Great news! Sorry the girls are working through some stuff but yay for your son in law. And your visitor! Have a blast with him! You have such a nice family.

Painter is here today. He's finished the ceiling and is now taking a lunch break. I work harder with him here. I can't just jump up and start doing stuff. So I'm glued to my computer and I'm grateful for that.

Family things are still going on. The girls are handling tgem well, but both are hard.

In other news, dsil got some great medical news today that removed a big stress on him, Dd and me.

And Dd says I can have Bean on Saturday AND Monday.

Good school day. Only one kid out for quarantine today.

Ran a load of dishes.

I do love birthdays, SubC and you've had some fun ones! I am happy just the two of us this year.

I'm sorry your girls are facing struggles.

Okay back to work. Supposed to be beautiful here today.

Good morning!

How are you doing Lee?

Tatoulia, your birthdays sound fun.

I have birthdays and I get older. My mom sends me presents. My inlaws call and we have an awkward obligatory conversation that makes my mil feel like she has done her duty. Sometimes I get to pick a restaurant and possibly even announce a command performance to my kids. One year I got all the kids plus ❤️Dd and ❤️Gs to the restaurant! Honestly, that was too many people at a restaurant - we couldn't all have one conversation.

Good luck with your bag.

CM, it is great that you can help your roomate out with the vines. On year I had a non-allergic friend clear some poison Ivy for me and it was a huge gift!

Yesterday was long and exhausting. I picked my seeds up from my friend, which was good. And I got to have a long conversation with him, which was also good because both my girls have some really awful stuff going on in their lives right now, and he loved them too. (He calls them his nieces) Things I can do nothing about.

And TODAY is my long day!

Dishes are just piling up.

Hello Cm! That's great you can help your roommate by removing the vines. I'm psyched that the weather is changing in your favor!

I'm a little restless tonight but it's still really cold. The wind has died down some. There is trash all over the sidewalks and the streets. I picked up some of it then visited with BF.

Tomorrow is supposed to be beautiful!

I must commit to getting one bag out of here. I just have to fill it and let it go.

Hi everyone, I saw you had started a new thread.

Weather has been SO much better than it was those awful days in February. I'll be gearing up for the big push at my storage unit. Taking a few partial days around other activities to pull vines out of one of roommate's flower beds. They are ones she is allergic to and has wanted gone because of that and also because they're too aggressive.

The strawberries here have been delicious and plentiful some years but tricky to get before birds steal them. I hope you have good luck with yours, SubC. And Tatoulia I hope you enjoy your birthday.

Hello to newbies and always thinking about Tillie.

Great idea, Lee! Let us know how it goes!

SubC I plan my birthday staying in January/February. It's a relentless process. I can't tell if BF is teasing me by saying he's getting me a cake or if he doesn't want me to bake or just what. I think he just wants to get me a cake. He threw me a surprise birthday for my 50th and I brought my own cake since I didn't want anyone else to get my cake. Lo and behold, I go to cut the cake and I got the wrong cake. We howled.

And as the waiter served the cake to each person, I made him tell everyone that I got the wrong cake.

And yes, I knew about the surprise party and had essentially nothing to do with the guest list, invitations, music, decorations, etc. BF hired staff to bartender and serve the meal so that was good. The following year we had make-your-own sundaes and people teased me that we didn't have any staff and that they had to our their own toppings on. That was a fun birthday. I can't remember what we had for dinner or who got stuck serving it,

Oh the pre pandemic times. We had no idea how lucky we were. My birthday last year was canceled ? had private night out with BF but the party was the following week and was canceled. I remember canceling the catering but still keeping then canceling the cakes. Yes two as one of the attendees had her birthday so I was getting her her own cake to take back to her roommates.

Hi Lee!

Let us know how it goes.

Tatoulia,

That's what I love about this place, out in my physical space, people would be saying "you let three quarters of the strawberries die of neglect. Maybe you should give up on strawberries." But you are all "Yay you! You aren't starting from scratch this year! Progress! Keep going! You can do it!"

Good job on the trash and the litter box and your desk! Nice fresh start for today!

I laugh that you say "planning my birthday" I would say "arguing about my birthday cake". Personally, I think it's your birthday, you should get to do what you want. But then, I have already sent my kids the schedule for Mother's Day weekend. They will be hauling mulch.

Lots going on today, have to go to school earlier than usual on Tuesdays, so I will check in later....

Committing to remove 4 bags today.

My hours have always been crazy, SubC. In high school I couldn't take early classes because I'd watch the news, then Johnny Carson, then David Letterman, then Tom Snyder (was his show called The Tomorrow Show?) then reruns of Dinis Day. I'd be up til the wee hours of the morning. I haven't found a time zone that works for me! And this is when there was one tv in the house, so I'd have to listen to it very quietly.

Trash is out and kitty has clean litter box. I cleared off my desk yesterday and it looks so nice.

Wow! You have some surviving strawberry plants!

It is very windy here and supposed to get cold tonight. BF and I went for a walk. We are planning my birthday, mainly how I want to bake my cake, and how he wants to get me one. We are going to the museum that day, too.

Okay everyone's I'm running the dishwasher and thinking about going to bed, which is code for, I have at least four to five hours before that happens.

Ok, fresh new thread.

Newcomers jump in!

Old timers welcome back any time, and we will always keep a chair for Tillie!

Tatoulia, that is a long walk. 3:30! I feel like you live on west coast time even though your body is on the east coast.

Most of March is going to be about the farm, but right at the end - when my shot is working and good lord willing daily cases are in the single digits/100,000 here - I'm going to do a bunch of drops, so I do need to dedicate a little time to optimizing those.

Today I prepared a strawberry bed. The first two years I had strawberries, and then I lost control of a lot of things and the strawberry beds got overgrown and I never got around to prepping them until after the berry plants arrived and they never made it and I let the beds grow over.

So last year I ordered berries again, and prepped a bed after the berries arrived and I planted late and I got no berries - but I weeded today and six of the 24 plants are alive despite being abandoned. And I prepped a whole new bed and the berries aren't here yet. I am going to wait two weeks and then pull anything that has sprouted and cover the bed until the berry plants come. Ideally, I will do 4.

I used some of the saved cardboard.

I will be getting my garbage out tonight. I took the recycling to the bin yesterday. I walked for three hours with a friend yesterday and it was great. We walked to the office and then other places and then back.

I'm doing a few loads of laundry right now. My furry friend got sick on the blanket we were sharing. She drinks too much water than spits up like a baby,

That is great news about the vaccines! I cannot wait to get mine.

I have started a bag to goodwill. I need to get it filled and get it out of my house. I have a few days off next week for my birthday but in truth, I wish I had this Friday off, too. Mentally I need a break.

Well it's 330 and I haven't eaten, so I'll go make myself some lunch.

Okay SubC good ideas I've started a new part to our thread.

Tillie we think of you every day!

I'll start out by acknowledging all people who have come here and helped us along the way. Too many to name- you know who you are. We love you and we miss you,

Let's see what we can plan to do in March. Anyone with any ideas?