CM, I am really glad you are coming around more.

I like the dissertation on bins. You are thinking about how you are going to organize your stuff so that you can manage it better, and that is good.

Tatoulia, that is awesome about your dresses! I am happy that your cleaners are coming again too.

I have been working down in the basement again - still just sorting and organizing. Recycled a few bits of old brown wrapping paper.

But, here is an accomplishment:
I had plastic stacking shelves two deep and full in the guest room closet. They weren't one full one in front of another full one, they were like that so that I could turn rectangular boxes the deep way.

I have been moving things around in the house, and this morning I realized I had a clear space on a deep shelf deep enough for the three game boxes that didn't have a narrow direction. I carried the paper bag of hangers down to the basement, put my sewing machine on the floor next to the shelf, moved those three games, removed the front set of plastic shelves, turned the remaining games sideways, and STILL had enough room to bring the stack of puzzles up from the basement and put them on the shelf in the closet!

So, somehow my organizing and cleaning has opened up space equal to three 10" deep, 30" shelves! I still have too many games and puzzles, but if I can see them, I can get to making better choices.

The new room is very sparse and open. Not much furniture, and only a few little foot cube cubby shelves (three low ones behind the couch and four made into speaker stands by stacking them 2 high.) There is one wall that was planned to have a bookshelf, and we do not have the bookshelf. Also, dh stereo equipment is stacked on an old poor quality set of drawers.

So, dh told me last night that today we are going furniture shopping at the Amish furniture store that I love! Our goal is to find a nice bookshelf (possibly with doors on the bottom to put table cloths and a seasonal throw inside) and something for his stereo.

The top of the bookshelf will have a few books, some family pictures, and some of my favorite pottery - with space around it.

Quick hello. I haven't done anything around the house this weekend other than routine maintenance. I am focusing on health right now but clean house is part of my health.

Cleaners surprised me by asking me if I'd like them to come tomorrow YES. Answer is always yes.

So I walked to work, walked back home, took mom out for groceries, walked back home. Relaxed, watched the Tonys, took an intermission for a walk, picked up cat litter, showered, now ready for bed.

Cm I'm glad you are being thoughtful about the containers.

I will give the cleaners their large bag of clothes and bedspread. I should do another look at what I can give them. I finally have my dress rack completely clear with only dresses I currently wear.

Errata for previous post:

"free and clear"

not "fred and clear"

Turned off predictive text on this Android tablet because it was sluggish and annoying, but now I have to try and catch more typos.

Hi again!

I actually got most of those clothes from yesterday hung up/put away after all. Found a few that escaped getting into the laundry loads but no probs, I still have a load of towels to do so they can go with those.

SubC, smaller bins or boxes are nice. I'm paying attention to size as I pick out my new clear tubs. Generally not going above the 56 Quart:

Dimensions (Overall): 23.0 inches (L) x 16.25 inches (W) x 12.38 inches (H)

I get them at Target or Dollar General, Sterilite brand, and they're more squared off. The same brand ones at Walmart now have more curved sides, which grates my OCD soul because of the waste of space, LOL. 😅

Those Target ones also come in a 28 qt. half the depth, and in sweater box and shoe box. Plain white lids to gratify the would-be minimalist in me. There are also larger ones which MIGHT be useful for artworks, and there are heavy duty ones with latching handles.

Anyhoo... apologies for the boring dissertation on storage boxes - but the bottom line is I'm thinking in terms of the smallest size box that can be deployed for a thing/group of things. So that later, when moving, no one including me suffers physical injury lifting many heavy overstuffed tubs. Big ones only for large lightweight stuff, and as few of those as possible.

OK. Enough on boxes for now, I promise.

I do have books, and the thing is, my quirky books I will keep. May have mentioned this before bug our new library now charges 3 bucks a pop for Interlibrary Loan. I tend to need it for books on obscure subjects (like flaky old 70s-90s UFO books) for my novel and blog writing research, new books I hear about and want to read right away but don't want to shell out for new hardcovers, etc.

I don't like the terms and conditions on commercial ebooks, where you pay but still don't own the book fred and clear.

I get free ebooks and PDFs from sites like Gutenberg Project, Baen (science fiction), and various places. But it still is harder to remember to finish them. I downloaded a classic called Varney the Vampire from Gutenberg over 5 years ago, got about halfway, and still need to finish it! This could be our new running joke, like the badger: "CM, finish Varney the Vampire!" I was enjoying it, just got distracted.

This has been kind of a meandery post, and I'll wrap up now, since I go to my 96 year old early tomorrow. I have to be alert, because if her mind is fuzzy she speaks way more Spanish, and my 3 years of it in high school is barely adequate. I even Googled what I realized were some idiomatic expressions the other day - which was helpful. It's a challenge!

Dh took me to a play. My friend was in it and she won an award! We went out to eat to celebrate!

Her husband brought me mulberry jam and he wants some of my extra canning jars.

Found a purse to put in the donate bin while I was getting ready.

Hello Everyone

Hi Tatoulia
That's so good that they got you replacement Kindles.
You just needed to learn to not treat that first one like a paperback.
Lots of people sit on their laptops. :/


Got lots & lots of tiny little things done today.

Good morning!

I'm at office. Doing a little work. Walked down. Will walk back.

Tillie my first kind died in an unfortunate accident where I fell asleep and for some reason I put my elbow on the screen as I was getting out of bed. Very sad. I believe at the time that the costs was 199, and for 50 they sent me a new one. I also bought a hard jacket for it. The second one for some reason just gave out, and the woman on the phone said, let me send you a new one. No charge. I forget what happened to that one but the 4th one the guy was being a real jerk in the phone to me about the whole situation and I was asking if he could just send me an old one (at this point there were two more versions out) and I was frankly surprised by his tone and manner. So I asked to speak with someone else (anybody else) and he said, well I'm offering you X amount off a newer version and the next person won't. The next person in the phone, I just said, I love my kindle. I love it so much. It's my favorite thing and I love it. And the man said, I'll send you an old second generation, no charge, just please send the broken one back and we'll be good. And that answered that. And it's been 100% great. That was a long time ago.

I was good with actual books. I would bring paperbacks on vacation (esp when traveling overseas) so I could just leave them behind and not bring back.
Back to work. Enjoy your day!! Say hello to Jack for me.

Good Morning Everybody

Hi Subclinical
Yes, I remember you mentioned that some are shoebox size.
That way small items are getting sorted out (like with like) and not getting lost in a bigger bin with other types of things.

Those are very good goals you have set for yourself.
Good luck finishing the closet this month and getting the basement under control! :D


Hi Tatoulia
YEA!!! There was great food that you could eat at the church festival!
If I had to choose only one type of food to eat for the rest of my life I would choose Mediterranean.

Your Kindle always having unfortunate accidents makes me want to know if you where always loosing paper books here & there too before you switched to the Kindle? ;)


When it warms up a bit outside I plan to water the flowers & grass.
Will putter around in here tidying up.

SubC those are great goals!!!!

I love my kindle. I have the second generation kindle, no back lighting, it's like reading on paper. I love it because it holds so many books and doesn't take up any room. I got rid of 20 boxes of books. Yup, 20 boxes. When I first started here that's what I did. I had to make room for mom's wedding china and other things and I got rid of books. It hurt so bad. I had them three deep on my shelves in my closet (I have California closets and specially had them made to hold tons of books. I had books everywhere. My bookshelves in what I used to call my library were stuffed with books. Bedroom: cluttered with books.

I am grateful that I took to the kindle with no trouble at all. I understand the need for the heft and feel of a book, but my goodness, I am grateful for the kindle. One funny side effect: I never know what I'm reading. I know the subject, naturally, but not the title. Because I'm not carrying my book around or looking at the cover.

I know I'm lucky to feel this way. It is not for everyone, and I don't try to push it on people. It helped me a lot when I was getting rid of books. It helped me to know it would be okay and the books could still be my friends. Oddly enough, my mother, a champion book lover/hoarder loves her kindle too.

Due to some unfortunate accidents I am on kindle #4. The last go round it was difficult to get the old school ones I like. I'm being more careful to not be a bonehead.

Now back to Jack: I love him. I'm glad he's yours, Tillie.

Hello hello!

Cm great to hear from you! Congratulations on doing all of that laundry!!! I know it was a huge task and you did it!!!!! WTG!

Tillie you took care of dear Jack. You are so wonderful and kind and lovely. On behalf of cats everywhere, thank you.

SubC you are doing great! And I'm glad you cleared the aisle.

The church festival was great and the food was fantastic! Very delicious. There was American Food (that's what the sign said) and Mediterranean Food. So delicious. We got a plate to go for Mom and she was so happy with it.

After I left mom's I went for a walk then came home. Then I walked up to see BF and he went on a nice walk with me. I think he's worried about my health. Now I'm home and ready for bed. But first had to check in with you all.

Goodnight, see you tomorrow. And Diane, wherever you are, and however your house looks, I love you lots. And I miss you.

CriticalMass!

Tillie, you shouted and she came!

Great job on the laundry CM! I am wishing you great luck also with the storage area and the rummage sale.

I tried an ebook this year. I do not like them. I will request the real thing and wait for interlibrary loan if I have to. My Dad loves ebooks though, but that is because he is visually impaired and can make the print huge. Large print books are big and heavy and still require him to use magnifying lenses.

We will both keep on. I do want to mention that the bins are many different sizes. Some of them are shoebox sized. All the ones belonging to my kids are big ones though. So, that is hopeful.

I am setting two goals - by the end of June I will finish my closet. And by the end of summer, everything in the basement will be sorted and organized. Without buying more bins or other containers. Even if I have to put stuff in paper grocery bags until I clear out bin space.

Hi CriticalMass

Great to see you today.. :)

WAY TO GO! working on the laundry and hanging some in the closet even!

That's the problem with plans
things come up and all our plans get delayed.

Good luck filling your tub with donations for the church rummage sale.

Hope the cooler dryer weather holds for you and you get to work in storage.
Clear bins are so much better than the opaque ones, no need to label everything.

Really wishing you at least a little bit of time to do your crafts, writing or other fun leisure activities.


Hi Subclinical
WTG! for putting things in a donation bin!

Good that you moved the box that could get wet.
That was helpful Dh pointed that out.

I know that things get shifted around and temporarily get put in aisles.
YEA! for moving them out of the path! :)

Very glad to know you are limiting yourself on the number of bins and are not going to get any more.

Limits...
we all need limits.
It keeps us from allowing things to get out of hand.
Things like our weight, alcohol consumption, speeding, what we will put up with from other people, how much work we will do in one day, how much stuff we will keep, etc.


I made a candle today and really didn't do anything else.

I'm here! It's been longer than I meant to be gone...I was elderly lady sitting this past week, picking up more time than usual as her daughter had a trip out of town.

My roommate went for an overnight (she's on the road home now) to where her mom lives. I spent today doing all the laundry I had piled up for way too long during the time my friend was in the hospital. It changed from cold end-of-winter to spring/summer during those weeks, and the clothes are the evidence! But now they are clean. And I'm tired... and I need to call my friend to catch up on how things are going.

Had to ransack my bedroom to find all the clothes, though it's been such a mess I may have inadvertently helped it? LOL. You may recall I've wanted to move stuff so I could reach the closet - well, I did reach it. Hung up some clothing items that were washed some time ago and weren't able to be hung up at the time. With today's two laundry loads, this may all take more than one day to wrap up. I'll keep at it though.

The stuff in front of the closet in part contains my file boxes, which I've been meaning to straighten and restack neatly. And I think it'd be safe to get rid of health/Rx insurance statements more than - what, 2-3 years old? They are about 4-5 sheets of paper apiece and I've never had to look back at any of them.

Dolls, sewing/quilting project bags, writing notebooks, and other items also got caught in the small hurricane I made. This coming week is much less scheduled, though, so if I stay focused I'll accomplish what I've been wanting to for so long, which is to neaten up all that and put things back in their proper places.

In my van are transparent tubs I've bought, a few each month after payday. I need to start taking them over to the storage unit and transferring things out of opaque tubs like I've been meaning to. My church garage sale is this month, so keeping a donation box with me as I go through stuff there and here at the house will be a good idea. Maybe the opaque tubs themselves can go!

The weather has finally moved on from the rainy pattern and the river settled within its normal banks. If it doesn't get too hot too soon I can get enough storage stuff accomplished before hot weather hits. It's hard to have missed another spring (or fall) season; that happens too often. But it was for a worthy cause. I'll do my best to work around the delay factor.

Another thing going on is that the bunny club is having the fundraiser in August, so I must also dedicate some time to working on projects for that. Those bunnies are high maintenance! The shelter house is bursting at the seams with around 30 rabbits now. People are finding our group readily on Facebook - the ones who want to know if we can take in their rabbit(s)! Why aren't the adopters also finding us? Sigh.

Tatoulia, hope the diet changes are helping you feel well and energetic.

Joan, glad to hear you found another helpful healthy thing. Your determination is awesome to behold.

SubC, congrats on getting the evaluations done. Try not to get discouraged on the clutter cleaning. I feel that frequently, I have dreams almost every night about being in places like flea markets with tons and tons of stuff. It's depressing. But we must keep going. I love labeling too...

I'd like to read that "Digging Out" book, but I don't want to buy it. Our new city library has gone so much to digital material that they don't have it in book form. There is some sort of ebook service, I don't know if it'd be available that way. I'm kind of slow getting in the habit of reading ebooks - I've read some but I'm slower with them than with traditional paper books.

Tillie, I kind of had a feeling Jack would wrap paws around your heart. Keep on keeping on.

My cousin didn't answer the phone.

We moved a sweater, a shirt, and a dress from my closet to the donate bin. Earlier I tossed a graduation robe in there from the costume trunk.

Dh looked at the basement. He can't really tell that I did anything except that he likes where I put my big desk (the one I store things in/on, not the folding one where I actually work). It's ok, because I mostly moved stuff around.

He reminded me that I was supposed to keep his aisle (through the room to the workshop) clear and I moved the things I had shifted into it. He also showed me a corner that will be wet if the condensate pump on the hvac system fails, so I moved a box away from there.

When I showed my mom the room, she started trying to help me figure out where I could put more bins to store the stuff that was still a mess.

I said "Mom. I am not buying another bin." And she got her sympathetic voice out and asked "did he say you weren't allowed to?" I said "no. I said i'm not allowed to. I have 72 bins! If I clear out three a year I'll be done before i'm 80!"

He's your cat now.

You had to ask........

OK, I will tell you.

A few weeks ago Jack (you're not my cat) was severely injured.
He was all chewed up.
His front left leg was mauled all the way down.
His little toe, the one to the outside of the paw was dislocated and degloved.
Jack could not walk.
He asked me for help.
I did whatever I could think to do to help him.
Steven refused to pay for Veterinarian care for him.

Anyways...........
Jack is fine and doing very well now.
He is able to walk with only a slight limp at times.
He is happy and keeps flirting with me.
He lays down & rolls around, always keeping an eye on me to make sure I'm watching.
He keeps close and always smiles & winks when I see him.

But,
Jack is not your cat!

Why would you retrieve him? ;)

Hi Subclinical

YEA!!! WTG!!!!
For being brave and taking the pictures!
Having a photo is the best way for you to see how things have changed.

I like how you have containerized and shelved your items.
You are creating order out of chaos.
It is in a limited space where you have created boundary lines for it.

I seriously believe that a person with hoarding tendencies needs a space of their own to store things.
Everybody should have a limited space of their own to do with what they choose.

I am so very, very sorry to hear how your Aunt was injured.
She deserves better that that ((((HUGS))))

I try to stay away from all the hoard here but sometimes I have to venture through it and so often I am injured or my clothes are torn.

Mostly I am out there to retrieve a cat, one like Jack.

Hi Tatoulia

Those shrimp will be a delicious addition to any dish.

Yes, I miss Diane too. :(
She was so happy to have her freezer for frozen fruit to make her smoothies.

Have fun at that festival.
Probably very little will be there you could eat.

That tale of the man living at the office would be good bones for a movie.
LOL ;D

Thank you
Yes my brother did come down my road and stood out there hoping I would allow him onto my property.
I didn't & he eventually got the message and left.

Haven't done much of anything today.
Steven is going shopping at the thrift shop and might visit yard sales too. >:(

I haven't done much today because there really isn't much for me to do.
All my chores are done, house is neat & tidy.


Steven has done none, nada, zilch to clean up his mess.

Tatoulia, youbare living on the wrong coast.

So, I finished that rack. And I took before pictures. Technically, they are during pictures, but I have never been brave enough to take before pictures before.

And I FaceTimed my mom, and I showed her the rack and told her "this is what contained mental illness looks like." She didn't laugh.

She says my cousin (the one who is like a good sister) is planning to spend the next week with my aunt and uncle "helping them downsize". My uncle is also a hoarder. Except he is in denial that he has a problem. My aunt struggles to keep clear space in the house. She fell last year and was hospitalized. She tripped over something that should not have been there and hit her head on something that should not have been there and knocked herself out cold and needed stitches.

My uncle and my mom own property together and he has hoarded the buildings. He keeps everything clean and in good repair, but he is constantly paying people to move stuff from building to building so things can be fixed or cleaned. He can afford it. My mom wants to sell the property, but he always has reasons for why this is a bad time. He manages everything and never gives my mom bills. Sometimes he even gives her checks for "rent". Mom worries because she knows my cousin doesn't have money and there are expenses that her brother is paying (property taxes, power, water, repairs...)

I should call my cousin.

So Tillie I'm so sorry about your siblings and I admire your strength. I seem to recall that once your brother passed by and you refused to see him. And I'm glad you did.

SubC I cannot thank you enough for the description of the room! Perfect! And well done!

Tillie your mention of the freezer reminds me of Diane and how much I miss her. When I first got in here, she had just purchased the extra freezer. Oh how I miss her so.

I went to visit BF and there's a festival at his church so we will go to that in the afternoon. I then went for a walk and watched a bit of the parade. It is an absolutely beautiful day here. Sunny, cool breeze. Lovely.

In my perfect world it would be in 50s every night if not colder. In the day time never warmer than 70, 72.

I bought a big bag of frozen wild caught shrimp. I can take our and defrost portions to add to salads or sandwiches. The shrimp are raw, so I'll gave to defrost then cook, which is only a few minutes.

Will relax, take another walk then shower and get ready for our time today.

Tillie we have tons of space at work. Probably more than we need. The office is fresh and nice and well-maintained. I tend to stay on my floor or the one directly above me. The space is so beautiful and bright and clean.

Going to read a bit then head back out there.

Good Morning Everybody

HI CRITICALMASS
Shouting so you can hear me. ;)

Hi Subclinical
GREAT! job there!
Sounds like a very good setup for storage and easy enough to access now.

Relieved your dollhouse pieces are in a safe place where they won't be getting damaged or lost.

WAY TO GO! For a clear hallway!

Hi Tatoulia
I knew you had a sister.
I had two sisters who are hideous, substance abusers with less morals than an alley cat who have always been physically and mentally abusive to me.
My two brothers are even worse.
My whole family always hated me so I evicted them all from my life decades ago.

Your office building is HUGE!
No wonder you work from home whenever you can.

WAY TO GO! Clean laundry & a freshly made bed!!!

Where ever you end up going today have a wonderful time.
Visiting orphan kitties would be so hard for me to leave them there.


It's COLDagain.
Had to get back out the space heater since it's 59 degrees inside here.
Yesterday it was cool and breezy.
So glad the freezer is gone from the pantry and I can now store the space heaters in there instead of trying to get them in the garage.
Now they are easily accessible when needed. :D

So, there is a 14x17 rectangular room.

One short wall is a staircase and under stairs closet. The other short wall is one of the foundation walls. it has been broken and reinforced by being braced with steel beams that are now supporting the house. Measure out 30" from the surface of the beams. Install a rack that runs parallel to the wall and fill it with bins. (Leave a 3ft gap at each end of the rack so that it touches no walls and you can enter the 30" gap from either end) This uses a total of 5 feet of the room.

Go to the side of the rack that is away from the wall. Put bookshelves against the rack facing out into the room. You have now used 6 ft of the room. The room is now 14x11 and rectangular in the other direction - one wall is bookshelves instead of ugly patched concrete. There is an open "doorway" at each end of the bookshelves.

That is what I did.

Great work, SubC! Clearing the hallway!!!! I can't quite picture what you are describing. But that doesn't stop me from being thrilled. Yay on donations!

Three loads of laundry done! And my bed is made! So happy about this.

I'm going to go see BF and show him my new glasses. Then I don't know what I'll do. I have to walk. It's the Pride Parade today (I think). So downtown will be a bit of a zoo. I may cross the river instead, into Cambridge. Or I could go down to the cat shelter and visit with the cats. Time will tell.

Wow Tatoulia! You are rocking the laundry! And soon you will be getting up with me!

I'm sorry you don't have a good sister. I don't have a sister at all, but I have a cousin who is like a sister.

I cleared* the "hallway".

* by "cleared" I mean, made it empty, swept, and then decided that along with the step stool I would leave the chair with the busted cane that is nice to put the bins on instead of the floor, and also the pieces of my broken dollhouse which lean against the wall. There are beams against the surface of the wall and the dollhouse pieces fit mostly within the depth of the beams.

Now I am taking a break to eat a piece of fruit and drink some water.

The rack is clear of things I do not want on the rack, but there is still some space, so I have to decide what else I DO want on the rack and put it there.

I found two more orphan sheets to donate and an old mattress pad that is supposed to be folded up with the moving blankets on the shelf in dh shop.

SubC great plans for today!! Let us know if you need a break.

I woke up, naturally, today at 621. Actually that's the time I went into the kitchen. I am never ever up this early! I'm taking good care of myself and it is paying off!

I giggled a bit-last night when I write about leaving stuff to my brother and sister, I thought, do they know I have a sister? And I thought, Tillie probably knows. Sister is largely absent from our lives and has been since I was 14, which is essentially fine by me. She escalates things rather quickly and my mother would prefer it if she doesn't get involved in anything. She follows me on twitter so occasionally we tweet to each other but I'd rather not have much to do with her. She escalates things with lightening speed. If she does call my mother, then she immediately emails me by putting a lot of stress on me. And I'll say, you and mom need your own relationship, please don't involve me. And she'll say she understands while continuing on with her nonsense. My mother would also like the calls to stop but she is her daughter. Sister visits maybe once a year for about an hour, and then 1/2 into the visit she texts me to say she's at the end of her rope and how do I take it. And I text back, just turn on tv and watch a home decorating show and talk about what you like and what you don't like. But she won't. And she talks baby talk to mom in front of me, and about me, as though I'm the problem. So I just say, mom and I have a good time together or I enjoy mom's company. So sister is a little out there. I ignore it. But I'm happy to leave her some money. She is very poor, lives beneath the poverty line and somehow it's everyones fault but her own. She could just embrace it and enjoy it. In the past when mom's been in hospital for extended periods. sister will say, tell me what I can do, and I'll say, come see mom and give me a night off, and I send gas $ via PayPal (generally 100 which is much more than needed) and then she says she's busy, and then on twitter i see her out with her friends at a bakery, no doubt eating on my dime. But I stay silent, because to me it's only money and the fact that I fell for it is on me and not her. Crazy Town. mom sometimes says, don't call your sister. Let me die in peace.

Two loads of laundry already today!!! One more to go and need to put clean sheets on the bed.

Wow! That guy really messed up his life!

When I was in college, I had a friend who got a commuter locker in the student union and a campus P.O. Box and had "enough friends who were good enough friends" to let him sleep on their floor one or two nights a month.

Tatoulia, did I know you have a sister?

My work has a coffee maker, a microwave, and a mini fridge. Coffee not included. Running water on a different floor.

Dh is playing golf with his friends this morning. My goal is to finish filling the hard to reach rack and completely clear the walkway between it and the wall. - The rack basically creates a hallway at one end of a room in the basement - you go "into" the hallway and there is enough space to pull the bins off the rack, place them on the floor between the rack and the wall, and open them. My new bookshelves are now the "wall" on the back of the racks, so from the room, you just see bookshelves. I don't want to store anything in the hallway space except maybe the step stool I use to reach the top rack.

I like the edited phrase better, too. It seems easier on the ears, and the heart.

It was a giant shock that someone had been living in our office. I mean, he worked for us, but still. Apparently our wellness rooms have chairs that recline into a bed. They also have small fridges for breast milk, so the women don't have to put in our larger fridges. Our offices are well equipped with coffee and tea and fridges and dishwashers and TVs and vending machines, etc. we have showers, too, and although I've never been In the showers nor would I know where to find them, they are apparently very nice. The story goes that they would occasionally find something belonging to the guy in one particular wellness room. And I don't know exactly what happened or how it happened or who knew what or didn't know what, but he was caught living at the office. And they fired him. I'm not sure what else was going on because someone else was fired the same day. And they didn't get severance packages the way most people do. And then HR kept finding his clothes and other stuff around the office including stuff from a second job, and when they sent the first package of stuff to his house his wife called and said, don't send any more of his stuff here, send it to his girlfriend's house and then the girlfriend called and said, don't send his stuff here. YIKES. It was fantastic gossip. Really Grade A.

We are a big company and I just don't leave my spot enough to know what's going on. As I mentioned, I don't even sit in my department. I have a pretty empty area here I like to sit. I am able to sit just about anywhere but I gravitate to two different spots. There's a window seat I'm fond of and then there's a seat that is fairly isolated. I know my mgr didn't like that I refused to sit in our department but I tried it exactly twice and couldn't stand it. Now he's used to it and doesn't bring it up.

Oh! Big legal news! I signed my updated Will today! Now I have made sure that BF inherits my house, and everything else. I'm feeling at peace knowing that if anything happens, he's all set. He gets it all. At work he's also my insurance beneficiary and I split my pension between BF, brother and sister. I have another account that goes solely to brother. My mother asked that I leave something to brother and sister and so that's how I did it. If BF doesn't outlive me, it all goes to one of my girlfriends. She's super rich and doesn't need the money and I don't care. She's a great friend even if I haven't seen her in a few years. She's on my safe deposit boxes as a co-owner and she can have whatever's in there as far as I'm concerned. I only cared about my apartment and making sure BF gets it.

So I've wrapped that worry up!
Goodnight dear friends!

HaHaHaHaHaHaHa

I love that Swedish chef!

A whole week of doing stuff.
Driving around but being home at night.
Sounds like this could be a fun and relaxing vacation.


I think a wellness room would have a nice bathroom.
Maybe a mini fridge?
Plus evidently it was not being well used by the other employees so he'd have privacy.

A back pack with a few toiletries and some changes of clothing and he'd be on time to work every day.

Tatoulia, that sounds like a good day. I like your work.

I have to wonder though, what is in a wellness room that a guy could live there? I guess it wouldn't have to be much, I lived in my car for a while, but I am still trying to envision it.

The bins are on racks - open uprights and wire, not shelves, so if they are big bins, they are just one high, but the little bins fit as many as six. I don't want to have to unstack six bins to see what is in there.

Tillie, I like your new edited phrase much better. Now I envision the Swedish chef from the muppets following you about cheering "Bork Bork Bork Bork!"

Dh just told me he took the whole week off next week and we are going to do stuff! Like, driving places stuff. He promised I will be home every night for the goats, but if I am quiet, you will know why.

Laughing out loud!
A guy living in the wellness room!!! :D

Great that you had a lovely time out with the girls.
Very nice the place had a good salad too.

We are all extremely happy you are feeling well.

Good luck and best wishes for your weekend plans.
Nothing strenuous, if you get tired rest.
If you want a nap then take a nap.


I have been back to doing "The Gentle Art Of Swedish Cleaning".
Very slowly pulling out things that I have been contemplating releasing.
Setting them aside, out where I will see them.
Thinking some more.
My life has changed, I no longer need, do or want this in my space, so I can & will simplify.
Looking in the cabinets at what I am definitely keeping.
Making good solid decisions, no regrets, and letting them go.

Great work, SubC. Could you store the bins "label in" or label on top instead of sides, so they are anonymous while on the shelves? Just a thought.

WTG with all you've been doing. I agree you need to label the bins, otherwise your mind is still cluttered. WTG getting rid of a puppet (.i am afraid of puppets).

Good girlfriend time tonight. A group of seven went out. I had a greens and grains salad and it was delicious. I stopped and bought raspberries on the way home. I also got a good walk in after dinner. Now I'm showered and sitting quietly with my best girl as I wait to take my blood pressure. I asked my office to get scales and blood pressure machines for our wellness rooms and they agreed. Actually they have scales in two of the rooms. I never use the wellness rooms so wasn't sure if the situation. I'll now have to find where they are. I don't know if we have one or two wellness rooms on each floor. They once discovered that one of our employees was living in a wellness room. He'd been there for 7 months. Super odd.

I look forward to seeing what I can accomplish this weekend. I feel good and strong.

YEA! Subclinical!

It makes so much sense to have your bins labeled.

Since those shelves are your designated spaces to store things
it's your area/space and doesn't matter what anyone else thinks you should or should not have stored there.

Once you get things all sorted out and organized like with like it will be so much easier to make decisions as to keep/toss/donate/recycle or relocate to a better area.

Make sure the labels for the kid's stuff are large and stand out from the rest because that's not you who owns the things.
You are just fulfilling a parental obligation.

Good luck getting the floor a little more clear. :)

I found a lacing card set (donate box) and three small balls of yarn (school box) to get rid of.

I am labeling the bins. This is a big deal. This is brave. Previously I have left all of the bins unlabeled and just tried to color code things and keep a mental map of where I put them.

I was afraid that dh would go in the basement and see the labels and get angry and argue with me "why do we have three bins of baby toys?!"

But I decided - I have three storage racks. If the storage racks are full of bins, they are full. He doesn't get to argue about what they are full of. They are mine. He said I could have them. If the bins are labelled, it is easier for me to deal with them. I can "see" what is in there without opening them. I can find things more easily. I free up mental storage space, and I can be more realistic about how much there is of different items.

And what I decide is worth keeping in my bins is up to me. I am not going to be embarrassed about my labels. (Well, I might, but I am going to get over it.)

Some of the bins have things in them that belong to my children that I have agreed to store for a while. I labelled those bins with the child's name. Those bins are in the hard to reach storage rack. Things like yarn are in the out in the open storage rack. Holiday stuff is in the less open but not hard to get to rack.

The basement is still a mess. The floor is still covered, but the racks still have space.

WAY TO GO!

Every little bit counts. :D

New glasses are good!

I puttered around in the basement this morning. I sorted through three bins of puppets and found one puppet to give up.

Very small steps.

Good Morning Everybody

Hi Tatoulia
YEA!!! for new glasses!

WAY TO GO! for continuing to sort through your drawers, closets and cupboards.
I know that good feeling when things are all sorted out and neatly arranged inside those hidden away spaces.
Funny how that can make a whole room feel lighter.


Hi Subclinical
You are so right
one little thing at a time and those little things all start to add up.
Change is hard for anybody. That's why it's best to do it one little thing at a time.

Have no real plans for the day.
Should be doing some cleaning/dusting, weeding, etc.
When I get to dishwashing today I will empty and wipe out/dust one cupboard or drawer.

Good morning! I'm showered and need to get ready for work. I'm excited to be able to get rid of more things this weekend, or at least to make a bag for the cleaners. Spoke with dr this AM. we will continue to monitor the situation over the weekend.

I can pick up my new glasses today!!! They were ready yesterday but I didn't feel like going.

Thank you all for being supportive. I know I can count on you to shore me up and it's a great comfort.

Tatoulia, you are always SO positive! It is normal to be down about things sometimes. Especially when you are concerned about your health. We want to be here for the bad stuff too.

The eye thing sounds scary. I hope it is not as scary or unpleasant as it sounds to me. And if I had to check my blood pressure three times a day, my blood pressure would be sky high, because I would be freaking out about my blood pressure....

Salads and raspberries sound nice. I also really appreciate reading about your bf and the changes walking is making.

We got into this one little thing at a time, so, we know one little thing can make a difference!

I started a new thread about digging out.

Good Evening Everyone

Hi Tatoulia
That salad sounds delicious.

Good luck and I hope your eye is an easy fix.
Steven has had bleeds too.
You are NOT complaining too much.
You have an awful lot on your mind right now. (((HUG)))

Your BF is seeing the world from a different perspective.
Things are a lot different between walking and driving.
Walking is more connected.

WTG! working on your drawers!
Those little things all tend to add up.
So often, less is more.


Glad I got some stuff done today.
Felt so good to finally stow away that comforter.

Just took a shower and am sitting here in my bed and there is a very refreshing breeze blowing through the room.

Oh gosh 90F already. I am glad you can put away your comforter. I am basically eating salads and raspberry's and I had a bit of roast beef at lunch. I'm drinking my usual tins of water and walking even more than my usual.

SubC I'd love to learn about Digging Out. That would be terrific if you started a thread on it!! Or just did it here. Up to you!!!! I worked some more on my drawers today. It's hard to realize that even a tiny thing makes a difference. I think, but it's so small. But it's not. It's one more thing that I don't need.

Tillie it's so humid here I could die. And it's not even all that humid. I walked home with a friend from work then BF met me st the grocery store and I got a salad with raspberries and mandarin oranges and carrots. I'm looking forward to getting some meal plans for low sodium and low potassium.

Meanwhile I'm taking my blood pressure three times a day. I also have a bleed behind my eye that needs to be taken care of. It's a lot right now. I'm trying not to think about it.

I'm just out of the shower and still sweating. How can this be?

BF and I went for a walk again tonight, around 8 PM. Suddenly he's complaining about drivers with their cell phones out. He never seemed to notice it when he did it and I'd be yelling st him the whole time. I'm grateful for his new perspective. And I'm grateful to have him walk with me. It really is opening up our relationship nicely.

By the way it's 67F but it's bothering me. I have windows closed to keep the humidity out.

I think I'm complaining a lot tonight. I'm sorry. I don't like to be a grumbler.

I'll be talking to dr tmr and seeing what our next move is.

Trash out, clean kitty box.

Good Afternoon Everybody

Hi Joan
Good to hear your stomach is feeling so much better.

Hi Tatoulia
Hope you are well and resting up.
Are you finding enough to eat?

Hi Subclinical
YEA! for not jumbling the sorted stuff as you cleared the bed off.!

If you want to discuss "Digging Out" in depth I'm sure we would all benefit from it.


Got up and moving at 7:00am
Went out and lit the burn barrel then watered the flower garden.
Emptied and washed out the two litter boxes.
Since it was all up in the 90s yesterday I felt it was safe to finally wash my fiber filled comforter so I can store it away.
Did a bunch of tiny other tasks then I made myself some French toast at 11:30am.
Now I'm taking a break. WHEW!
The winds are picking up vigorously and there are high thin clouds forming because of all the humidity, but no rain in the forecast.

I ended up managing to stuff it all back in the closet. I did avoid jumbling the sorted out stuff, but I need to pull the stuffed things back out and try some more because they will get very wrinkled and are totally jumbled. I might fold all the sweaters on the guest bed for now. Because I think "Now" will come to deal with them this weekend.

Dh won't be available to help me until this weekend.

Joan, I am very glad to see you posting! Wonderful about the no stomach pain! I remember dh looking at me when we finally got his stuff figured out and saying "my stomach doesn't hurt." I was like that's good. And he said "no, you don't get it. My stomach always hurts. I can't remember my stomach not hurting." I couldn't imagine living like that.

Tatoulia, just eat some things that you like that are not on the high potassium list for now. Don't eat salt or processed food. That will get you through the next two weeks Then the nutritionist can help you make sure you are still getting everything you need in your diet.

Back on the clothes thing - I do not wear anything on the spectrum from tomato red to medium green. I do wear very dark bluish greens and christmassy reds. Mostly I am a wine/purple/blue/brown/black/white dresser with some pinks and turquoises. I like jewel tones and crayola colors. I have added some grey as my hair has changed. I have one dress that I know looks good on me - it is my renfest costume.

Tillie, digging out is really hard to read. I am on the section about forgiveness. I might start a different thread to all about it?

I started my post a while ago and didn't realize that Tillie and Joan had posted! Joan I took the soles and the laces out and they washed up nicely. They are now on my drying rack.

I am thrilled that your immunologist is finding new ways to help you and his other patients. And naturally I am smiling from ear to ear, just hearing from you. I wish I were nearby to do your laundry for you!

I feel fine, luckily.

I'm going to shower now and go to bed. Many thanks for helping me through everything. You are great friends.

Tillie my mother never liked brown, either. I'm a blue girl. I wear navy and a lot of blue. I don't wear black as it doesn't suit me. I wear a lot of white in the summer. White tops with blue skirts.

SubC I had forgotten about your clothing clean out method! Great to have your husband's input! And you are so brave to try on clothes to get an opinion! Yay there is cheese!

Tillie now that I know my stuff doesn't love me back, I'm enjoying looking at some items I've purchased over the years and just might try to sell at the consignment shop. And I do feel lucky to be able to give my things directly to the cleaning ladies. I love picking out their clothes!

I went for a walk tonight after visiting BF, then visiting mom, then back to BF's. I still don't know what to eat. If I could just concentrate it would fall into place for me. I'll go have some raspberries, which I picked up during my walk.

Hello everyone, Tillie, Tat, SubC, CM, - everyone I forgot.

Was just looking at the posts. Tat, sorry to hear you have medical issues, but glad you are getting expert care.

I have found that all of my medical issues connect in some way to my immune system. Also, I have had life-long trouble with my stomach, food, my gut, etc. etc. For years I have been seeing an "immunologist" = allergist. He is offbeat, so we get along well. He is now into "functional medicine".

I had my regular appt. with him just a week ago last Tuesday, and he was very excited about a new find of his from functional medicine called Biocidin. I bought some from him, and it is FANTASTIC. This stuff FIXES the gut, not to mention fixing all kinds of other stuff. My kidneys have been testing low for some time, and it is definitely helping my kidneys.

Of course, they do not make any claims about the product, but after 30 years of trying everything for my stomach, I know when I've hit pay dirt. First time in my life I've had NO stomach ache. They do not require a prescription to buy the products, but they will not provide assistance in using their products, and someone inexperienced in cleanses may need some advice. They will steer you to doctors that carry their product line if you consult them. Biocidin.com.

I can only do one load of laundry about every 2 or 3 months due to health issues. Not out walking yet, so no need to wash my Allbirds. Don't know about the laces, that is a good question.

Hope everyone is well otherwise.

8:42PM.

OK, I get it now.

It's all pulled out so you can do a fashion show and your DH tells you his opinion.


YEA! WTG! for making the cheese!


Good thing is that once you get your wardrobe down to exactly what looks good on you, you can keep it workable by using the one in-one out rule.

You will know better what looks good for your frame and complexion.

I know I can't wear shades of brown. I look hideous in browns.

Anyways, good luck with your project.
If you get frustrated, walk away, take a break and come back to it in a little bit.

This is really a GREAT plan. :D

So here is the thing, I don't have maybes and keeps. I have entire categories of clothing that won't go back in the closet - like, sweaters. And socks.

I wasn't trying to decide, I was trying to get them together so that I could ask dh to help me. I thought, if I see all the skirts, then I can grab my favorite and try to make an outfit and ask what he thinks, and then switch out the top or whatever and then when I have an outfit he likes, that's a keep, and I move on to the next skirt...

At some point he starts saying things like "I like that one better than the brown one. You should keep that and get rid of the brown one." Sometimes I argue, rarely I win. Sometimes he says "well then get rid of both of them."

I made some cheese.