Hi all,

Much for me to catch up on! I will share a couple big deal accomplishments:

1) did a quick turn around on getting a neck X-ray for my son.

2) scheduled his neuro appt.

3) scheduled an eye exam for myself and am going there this am.

Much anxiety right now due to upcoming school meetings and medical stuff...

Decided the other day I really need to start journaling again also. Was that sub c or cm? And then once I got to thinking of that decided it's time for a new vision board. I used to be way into it and even started doing small workshops. I can't tell you exactly what happened but I've been totally disconnected from that practice for several years I think.

More on that later. I'm going to double back and read up!

Shoring you up, SubC. Even though we aren't having true conversations Fiona, I find each person's posts to be very helpful. I'm glad your husband cleared out the garage. I know this is upsetting. Hang in there.

Good morning!

Lately it seems we all have such different schedules we end up talking to ourselves. Ah well, someone will always be along..

I went to the studio last night.
Dh emptied the entire garage in two hours.
Some stuff is in my pottery studio, some stuff is in the animal barn, some stuff is on the front porch, some stuff is in the yard.. The back of the truck is completely full and the truck is parked in the studio/shop barn (as usual)

I think I have adrenal fatigue. I feel nothing about any of this.

I just want to make it to Friday so I can spend my weekend catching up.

Dh and I have a concert to go to on Saturday night - in person, masks and proof of vaccination required. I am still stressed about it. So I guess maybe I don't have adrenal fatigue, it's just that the stuff is too low on my list.

None of the stuff is sentimental, and Dh keeps hiring people to do big jobs around here (I think he wants to get all the major work taken care of as part of his retirement plan) so I'm just thinking "ok, I know how to use Amazon prime if he gets rid of/wrecks stuff I need." And "worst case - we generate five or six cans of garbage that could have been avoided."

I have become more willing to spend money these days. Possibly because I feel like I have less time and energy to throw at things, but it is carrying over into nonessentials. My definition of non-essentials is broad. There are holes in both my wheelbarrow and my barn coat. My most recent "nonessential" was a high quality shovel for transplanting trees. Almost a month ago, I bought three pottery tools on sale for a total of $18. Big splurge! I also ordered a book. Everything else I have bought recently is food or feed. We have been getting less take out and still not going out to eat.

Also, some of the stuff belongs to school, and I am about ready to take it back and throw it in the storage closet dirty. (It came home because school doesn't have a hose) I still love my job - as in, what I do in my classroom, but some stuff has happened the last few weeks that has changed my attitude toward my administration from grateful to cynical. And I'm honestly not sure it's fixable.

Anyway, don't make decisions at high points or low points..

The cross quarter was Saturday. We are now in the dark half of the year.

Bean is sleeping.

I arranged to drop him off at home today so I can take sone pottery down for my class and spend my evening glazing.

Dh walked in a few minutes ago and said "don't panic ok?" I said "ok, why am I not panicking?"

My garage floor is getting done tomorrow.

Good morning.

Tatoulia, I had envisioned your garage as something smaller. I'm surprised you could store bins in a large public garage.

You have been doing a good job looking after mom this weekend!

I have definitely saved too many stuffed animals, but I can't pare them down yet. Unfortunately Bean only likes a very few. He doesn't like stuffed animals in general. He lives real animals though. And animal books.

Lila, changing your diet is really hard. Like the hoarding, it's easiest to start at the point of getting the stuff, but tgat can be super hard with food if you live with other people. What are some fruits and vegetables you like?

Doing something every time you go into your room is great! Also, it is exercise. If you are working on your path, you are moving, you are bending, you are not sitting. Just keep reminding yourself to try to move more for a start.

Which reminds me - road, check the laundry

I need to clean up mil's sewing stuff. DD1 asked her to make a Santa suit for Bean while she was here, which was lovely, because it kept her busy at the sewing machine the whole time and she was able to feel like she was being helpful and useful without making my life (much) harder. (Also, DD is pretty happy about the Santa suit.) Her lack of concern about pins was a little stressful, but it went ok.

One issue is that the girls moved a table in here for her to work on, and I'm not sure Dh can help me pick it up to move it back.

I'm going to take Bean home and work at the pottery studio this evening. I have some things that have to be dropped off to be fired. As usual, got nothing to speak of done on lesson plans this weekend. I did rip out the entirety of a small knit and crochet project I had started. Which is not actually progress.

Lila you are doing great! I love getting rid of stuff! Glad to see you pushing through! Hello SubC!

Lila I live in Boston Proper. Right in the city. I park in a public garage about six blocks from my house. I have a designated parking spot. I'm right by the stairs. It's public in the sense that you can rent monthly but not by the day. I think in winter storms they used to open it up but I do not use my car daily or even weekly so I can't remember how that worked. I used to drive my car several times a week for work. I now have zero travel for work. As soon as I took this job, I got rid of my expensive car and got a Toyota. In the last 12 years I've put only 30,000 miles on it. And I let my friends drive it so I'm not even responsible for all of those miles.

Someone keeps breaking the garage doors. I haven't seen any break ins to the cars. I think people break the doors so they can park for free.

I did more laundry tonight after doing mom's groceries. I have to go fold them and off to bed.

I'm tired too, SubC.

Lila, Tillie wasn't feeling well and stopped posting. I got in touch with Cory. He tried emailing her, with no luck. We miss her terribly.

Good job Lila!

Our company leaves in the morning - probably after I head out to get Bean. He was here most of the weekend so that was nice.

I do not love my inlaws. I wrote more, but this is a public forum and if I regret it I can't edit.

Fil and Dh did some fencing work this afternoon that I really appreciate. It helps me out a lot to have it done.

Last night I was so exhausted I went to bed at 7:35. Then I slept until new 7:30.

oh... still no replies today? I hope to hear from you guys!

Today has been rough but I got a bit more done, 5 minutes at a time. Every time I went in my bedroom I spent 5 minutes and did SOMETHING. I sorted a tiny pile, threw half of it away and found my dog's new tag I was looking for. I made a path to the dressers and looked through them for things to donate. I donated a couple of pillowcases and a tee shirt that is new but I don't like the logo (was free). I took out 2 empty boxes to the trash. I folded a few towels and donated one that has bleach stains (they repurpose these). I had a digital scale sitting on the floor that I don't like. I have a regular analog scale in the bathroom that I think is more accurate, so I donated the digital one. I also went through some plastic drawers and donated a new notebook, a little speaker and some earphones. A tablet cover, a few other little things. I had my son take the big box of donations to my car. I have a small box almost ready to be put in the car. Oh, I also donated a purse I liked but never use anymore.

I guess I did more than I thought. I think before that box goes out to my car I will look over my bookshelf one more time and see what needs to go. Then I can put the keep books onto the shelf.

Whew.

And now for the update on my decluttering. I did go through the box of my son's special things from childhood. I threw away about 2/3 of it. I wondered why I kept some of that stuff! I saved 3 or 4 precious things... cards he made for me when he was small, etc. I have a short stack to mail to him, mostly things like the first time he wrote his name, a couple cute drawings and essays from when he was little, and his report cards and a few medical papers. I did not look through the report cards but am going to do that before I mail them, so he only gets a few and not 20! I also got out all the school class photos of his, school pics, family pics etc and put them together with the special papers. Of course I saved one from each grade for myself. He has not given me an address yet, so I will text him again today and if not I will send to his dad.

The rest of the week I did no decluttering. I was too busy. Today I went in my bedroom and was frustrated I still cannot walk to the windows or dressers, so a path is my next goal. I had 2 cardboard boxes on the floor with breakable things (you know, because of my kid). I took everything from one box and put it into a tub (threw out 2 items and donated 3 plates). I am going to add the things from the second box so it is all in one bin, and shove it into the corner for someday when my kid is not breaking things. Then can fill the empty boxes with donations. I also took one full bag of trash out, and I finally folded up the Queen comforter that I could not decide what to do with, and put it in an empty bin downstairs. If anyone needs it, it is there, out of my room. If no one uses it this winter I will probably donate it then.

I feel so paralyzed when I go into my room and try to continue making the path, but I am forcing myself to do SOMETHING every time I go in there, even if it is to put one thing away or sort one pile. So off I go to do that again.

What are you all up to today?

SubC, just read your posts and am caught up. I wonder where Road is, and has anyone heard from Tillie? I hope your inlaw visit it going well. I know the relief when people finally leave, even if we love them. I need to be alone sometimes.

Thank you for helping me think about the weight issue. Yes, it is important to me to lose it, because it is affecting my health. One issue also is there is a strong history of heart disease in my family. Dad, grandparents, uncles all died young of heart attacks. And now I have high cholesterol and some other issues. The doctor and the cardiologist told me I have to lose the weight if I want to be healthy. I also have autoimmune issues. So I have switched to a mostly plant based way of eating. But the junk food calls to me. I can hardly stand it. I crave fast food, candy, junky foods. I was raised on those foods because my mother was mentally ill and never cooked. Well, she cooked hot dogs. I love hot dogs but I am avoiding them now. I almost never ate vegetables or fruit as a child. It is a hard habit to break but I am trying. I feel like an addict sometimes.

What worked before was counting calories and exercise. I just don't have it in me to measure everything and count calories anymore, and I have arthritis that makes exercise painful. Excuses... I need to do something. My doctor gave me phentermine pills so I will start taking that tomorrow and see how it goes. He said it is safe as long as it is not combined with other drugs or caffeine. He said he will check my blood pressure etc to be sure I stay healthy on it. He said yes there are minor risks to any medication, but my weight is more likely to kill me than the med, so I am going to try it for short term. Wish me luck. I have about 60 pounds to lose.

hi Tatoulia! I just read through your posts and am hoping your mammogram and medical stuff all came back clear. I hate having to go back for a second look. It sounds like you are doing good. I like the idea of using something for an occasion and then donating it back. Why hadn't I thought of that??

I also think it is very cool you got rid of the stuffed animals etc. I need to do that too. I don't know why we hold onto all this stuff. My kids would just throw it all out if I saved it til I died!

The addicts in the garage situation sounds unnerving. Do you live in a big city? I have always lived in the country until I moved here (Washington state) and now live in a suburb. I would freak out if anyone was in my garage! Stay safe.

Going back to read others' posts.

Hello everyone!

I went to mom, found her glasses, did a load of he4 laundry, and I mounted her ironing boarD with the new hooks I bought. I'm now back home and doing a quick load of my own laundry. I don't like doing too much laundry because then I cannot stop and then the day is lost. I took out about half of my recycling.

I do small loads. I like my things properly sorted by color and weight. Time consuming but worth it.

I have to do mom's groceries then a few of my own and visit BF.

What are you doing today?

Quick check in. Got my flu shot last night. Became extremely tired around 5 PM tonight and went to bed. Now up just in time to go back to bed.

I have so much recycling to take out tmr. Yes we gain an hour but the loss of sunshine will be brutal.

That does sound miserable, SubC. First you're worried about your barn space and second, us8ng a hose to wash off stuff in the cold? Absolutely miserable. I'm so sorry.

We are waiting to hear back about the schedule, but the guy said they were looking for work right now, so I anticipate it being soon.

90% of the things in the garage will not be hard to relocate. He will want to put the outdoor furniture and storage shelving in the studio barn, but I am going to insist on his empty space in the new basement area. He can suffer through that for the "only a few days" he promised this would take.

But the other 10% is stuff that is there because I need to wash it. In the yard. With the hose. Before I put it away where it should be. And I ignored it all fall. And now it is cold. Maybe 4 hours of work? It's just cold.

SubC, how much stuff is in the garage? What types of things are in there? I can understand the anxiety caused by suddenly having a deadline. When is the work supposed to start?

The students grow up so fast! It's very sweet to hear of your attachment to them. I am sure they care about you and that you are making an impact in their lives.

Tatoulia, I have to gloss over that right now, but I am glad you have weight lifted from you.

Dh accepted a bid to replace our crumbling garage floor. Which means that soon I will have a hard deadline to empty the garage. And it is cold.

My inlaws arrive tomorrow and don't leave until Monday morning.

Yesterday a much loved former student who is not in my classes this year told me he is a senior, not a junior as I believed. Which means he will never be in my class again. I am sad about that.

I am, however, really happy about the new round of vaccines! I hope a lot of my kids will get vaccinated. I have decided that in January (after break) I am going to stop interrupting class to remind people to cover their noses.

Checking in after a long day followed by a long nap. I need to shower and get the dishwasher running. The cleaners were here today but I was in meetings from morning to night so I never saw them. They were just a blur.

Hope everyone is doing okay! BF has convinced me to keep my dinosaur costume but honestly I don't know where to put it. I'm so picky now. I may just put in the trunk of my car.

WHICH REMINDS ME I did something very hard and long overdue on Tuesday. I have two bins in front of my garage parking stuff. Stuffed animals from childhood (some must've belonged to my siblings) as well as clothes that belonged to my mother. I threw everything out with the exception of two of mom's dresses and one pantsuit. I also grabbed my sister's Stieff owl and I'll send it to her. I didn't check the rest. It was time. And so they are gone. I did it fast and quick and with no real thought. I had to do it. This is all from when I got rid of my storage space in Nov 2014. And so I got through the stuff in about five minutes and called it a day. Had to be done. There are addicts now hanging in my garage and someone had opened one of the bins. I had noticed some drug paraphernalia by my car one day. Someone keeps breaking the garage door and then anyone can just start to hang there. Sometimes the people breaking the door are people looking to park in the empty places.

I only go to my car during the day and it is next to BF's office so I feel safe. Anyway, I did it and it is done.

Good morning!

Tatoulia, those of us who know you knew exactly what you meant, but I suppose it is good to clarify for the newer people just in case.

Good job resisting the plates and bowls. I'm glad the disposal replacement went well and I hope all your test results come back good.

I have nothing to report, but I am cheering everyone on.

Meaning I use the trays, then donate back to goodwill. I don't return them in the sense of I get my dollar back.

HelloM

Mammogram and blood work done. Hopefully that's the end of it and no need for ultrasound. Walked there and back which made for good exercise. BF met me on my walk home and we ran to the Whole Foods. I just made a grilled ham and cheese sandwich.

I'm going to try to do some laundry now. I did a quick load this AM and still have piles to go. I didn't want to get too entrenched in laundry today. Cleaners come tomorrow.

So I returned the lampshades and I also went to good will to look around. I bought two things. One is a picture frame that is very nice and made of pewter. Lovely. I am not a picture person and have only one picture in my home. But I do have a some small pieces of art that I can put in it. I also bought a small glass tray. The thing about the small trays is that I use them and then when. I am done with them, I return them. This one will be very nice at Christmas time.

There is a bit of a victory here. I also had two plates and two bowls, and by the time I wound my way through the check out lines I was over the two plates and bowls and apologized to the cashier. So that worked out.

Big election in Boston today. Wish I had worked the polls but it didn't happen.

Road, how are you feeling today? I know the booster threw you for a loop and may have contributed to the overwhelming anxiety. I hope your son is feeling more like himself, too.

I can't remember if I posted yesterday. Having the disposal replaced brought no anxiety. Not before, not after. I like this company. They put on booties over their shoes and wear masks. They do their job and leave. It was a positive experience all around and just now I realize I had no stress leading up to the service visit. Very nice.

I took today off to Power Up The Polls but I wasn't called to volunteer. So I called the hospital yesterday and scheduled my mammogram for today at 3:30. I didn't get mine last year due to pandemic and there's a bit of a troublesome spot so let's see what happens. I am not nervous at all. I am also late for blood work. Pre pandemic I had blood work every two weeks. I had blood work March 2020 and once this year. So I'll have everything checked today.

I purchased new lampshades for the lamps I moved into the bedroom. I bought one set at Home Depot and one at Target. The target ones were the keepers so I'll go to Home Depot before hospital. I might also drop by Goodwill. Just to look around. Right now I'm doing a quick load of laundry. But I don't want my day to be mired in laundry.

I've been making lists recently and that has changed how much I get done. I use the notes app in my phone and iPad. And I check them off. I'm shocked at how much better I feel as a result.

Good morning.

Lila, normally I would not focus on the weight, but the comment about your doctor makes me feel like maybe I should try in case I can be useful. I am assuming that losing the weight is important to YOU for your health.

So, to begin - what worked last time? And can you do it again? Can you become more mindful of your eating and moving habits? You have already identified fast food as a concern - what can you do to help yourself eat healthy food made at home? What are the stumbling blocks? Can we help you?

Now, the size 12s - the size 12s have to go. Sell them if you can, and put the money aside for future clothing needs, but they are just taking up space and probably making you feel bad. Forget them. You aren't supposed to be a size 12. You are probably a very attractive and healthy size 14.

You can ignore this, but I am curious - were you raised in a tradition that doesn't celebrate Halloween?

Also, Road made me wonder - would locks on cabinets be better than bins in your room?

Had a great day with Bean yesterday.

Today school. Must do lesson plans and some housework. Invasion of the inlaws on Friday. So tired.

Lila, this is hard work. I have a bit of a tear in my eye. You are amazing. Glad to have you as a friend. Sending you much love. You are doing the tough stuff. And yes, send to his father if you must.

I know I am posting a lot... I need it to keep going with the declutter!

So I texted my son and he did not respond yet. But I went through my 2 drawers and huge pile in a cabinet and sorted out all his sport and elementary school pictures, took one out for me to keep and put the rest in a tub to prepare to mail in a box later. I also went through the photos of him with his siblings and took one or two out of each to send to him as well. I have one big heavy album that is just his (I did one for each kid and one family album). I still need to go through his 'special' box but will do that soon. I have a cardboard box for each of my children from when they were babies. In the box is everything from their hospital wristband and card, to their footprints, to their very first scribbles and drawings and special art of essays through their school years. It is a lot of stuff in a small box, per kid. I plan to go through (probably cry), maybe save one or two things, take pics of anything special, throw out some and mail him the rest.

This is HARD but I need to do it. It is stupid to save all this stuff when my son is an adult with a family and a house. If I died it would probably never get to him. I want my affairs in order. I want him to have photos from his childhood. I don't just want someone going through my piles and piles of junk and not noticing there are important things and just throwing it all away. So I better deal with it while I can, right?

SubC, good job on the SMALL souvenirs! That is hard for me. I will try and get the foundation laid for mailing the pictures etc to my son. We have a rocky, strained relationship for several reasons. He has autism (as does my youngest) but he is a genius. We can go months and never talk (he lives across the country) and sometimes I call and he is gruff and distant, other times very talkative and happy. I called him yesterday and he was cheery. Now I need to call or text again and ask for his new address. He moved this year and for some reason is very weird/stingy about giving info out. I know it makes no sense. I hope if I tell him I am sending some things he will be glad. If he says to just throw it all away I won't know what to do. Well, no sense getting ahead of myself... if I can get the address, I will send him the photos. I decided to send in two boxes, so that if one is lost, not everything is gone. I'll just split things up evenly so that even one box would have memories from most years of his childhood.

If he doesn't give me the address, I could mail them to his dad's house. He lives maybe an hour away and will probably see him over the holidays.

Roads,

Thank you for sharing about your son. There is something chaotic about having a child who is not always emotionally stable. I went through it with my oldest and now with my youngest (girl). She went all summer without a huge blowup and it was so nice that I let my guard down and started leaving some fragile items out. Then she blew up and started throwing things and knocking things down, so I had to go back and gather all the glass etc and put them back into boxes in my room. I HATE having boxes of fragile things in my bedroom. I trip over them. I put the actual dishes in a tub in the garage but there are irregular shaped mugs, pyrex etc that don't stack, in cardboard boxes in my room and I really hate it as it reminds me every day of my child's explosiveness and the pain it causes. There are kitchen knives in there too.

Thinking about going in my room and trying to consolidate a few things and maybe fine more to donate. I have two bookshelves in there. I may take a look and see if any can be donated, to make room for those tubs of books I have in there.

I am learning from you all, to not try and read every reply and then post. I forget what I want to say! So I've read some of the posts and am answering.

Tatoulia, it sounds like a pretty nice Halloween. And so cute about the dino costume! I have not ever dressed in a costume, that I can recall. Even as a child I was not allowed. But I did get to take my grandd to a party and she was dressed up and cute! So fun. And exhausting - as I am an introvert. I have spent today so far sitting on the couch watching tv. I am drinking coffee now and hope coming here plus caffeine will move me to get some more decluttering done.

Road, I so appreciate all your sharing. I too wish we all lived near each other. Wouldn't it be lovely if we could help each other? Hang out and talk in person? Cheer on the decluttering. This board is very helpful to me. I come when I am stuck, and I get moved into action even just a little bit.

Let me talk about the problem with clothing a little bit. It's a long standing problem so any feedback is welcome.
I hate to admit this but I have gained and lost 100 pounds twice and am now on the gaining end (up about 70). The first time I lost the weight, I got rid of everything too big as soon as I shrunk out of those sizes. I bought all new cuter clothes. I was at my low weight for about a year and then regained. As I regained, I had absolutely nothing to wear!! I had to get donated stuff, shop thrift stores, and buy new... which was humiliating and our finances were going down too. When I lost the weight a second time I was terrified to get rid of the too big clothes but I did it.

So all the smaller sized items are fairly new (I did this gain/lose 100 pounds twice in the past 7 years). When I started to gain this time it was slower but I hung and boxed all the newish smaller clothes. I had to again re-buy bigger sizes and this time it was a real burden. We had very little free income. But I needed clothes.

So now I have clothing that is almost all relatively new, in sizes from women's Medium tops/14 jeans (some 12's were goal pants) all the way to my current XL and 1X tops and 20W pants. The sweaters fit a long time even as I lose weight so I tend to hang onto those longer. The smaller sizes are in two rubbermaid tubs in the family room (these are the ones I recently sorted as there were 3 or 4 tubs). Then, in my bedroom I have:

closet: one side is currently fitting and one size too small; the other side is sentimental items too small but I won't get rid of - there are only 8 or so of these items.

Tub under the bed: summer clothes that fit or are one size too small.

Big dresser: pajamas too small and some other clothes too small, but all within 25 pounds or so. I did donate a few things out of there this time around.

3 tall dressers: bras and underwear that are 1 - 2 sizes too small. Jeans size 16 through 20. Brand new leggings in current and one size down. Socks and underwear that fit. Dress pants. Shapewear in current size and one size down. Current pajamas (I did donate a few items out of here also this time around). Sweaters that fit and one size too small.

What I don't get is that I generally wear the same things every week. I have one pair of jeans that fits well and I just keep washing/wearing, waiting to lose 10 pounds so the next ones fit. I wear the same 2 shirts 90% of the time at home, and the same 3 shirts if I go out. All the rest is waiting for me to lose weight. Which my doctor says I must do... and I can't get rid of smaller clothes since this time I have no money to buy anything new.

Sigh.

Good afternoon merry sunshine. ;)

Way to go on purging sick's and underwear!

I am sad for those who are in dysfunctional relationships. I always hope they can be fixed, or that if they are not fixable, people can move on. Life is too short to spend it making yourself or someone else miserable.

My living room is trashed. :)

Bean is napping.

I had 20 minutes warning that the basement seal guys were coming this morning. I shoved everything out of the way. They are done now, but they said to keep children and pets out of the basement for 24 hours. I do not feel good about that. My pantry is down there. Also, since they just sealed the basement - isn't it going to be venting up through the house?

Ok I have no spare time, so I need to go use this nap to do something useful.

Good Monday morning and Happy November! If I sound cheerful I'm faking it.

SubC - so glad you got a get away. We're you on the Wisconsin side or the michigan side? I'll bet the trees were beautiful.

I ended up getting zonked from the booster shot. Totally fine first 24 hours and then kind of low grade fluish from Thursday evening through last night, so maybe it's something else. My son got his on Friday and wanted to stay home today which isn't typical so he's not feeling right either. But then again he was kind of out of it since last weds. He was telling me some stuff the other night that really spooked me - saying he was sick, die, like Eric, sign for "same" Eric, who is my brother in law who died last year... He has really limited language but has had some psychic experiences over the years and so it's nerve wracking. We never got in to see the neurologist after he had his seizure over the summer and now I'm convinced he has a brain tumor. The medical stuff is my most substantial category of dysfunction. I've just been lucky that he's had relatively few health issues. But when he does it's a challenge. I have a ton of health problems I can never get to the bottom of, partly because drs suck and partly because I suck. My friend was on her way over to help schedule the neurology appt. when she fell and dislocated her shoulder. I had to ask the H to help me last night which he said he would but I will pay for it (in toxic relationship currency)... send me good juju to get this done so I can get this kid's brain evaluated properly.

Ack! I'm totally freaked out now. Overwhelmed.

Ok I'm changing the topic Now. I went through all the laundry, tossed some undies and socks. Anything that has a hole or looks stretched out or is ugly, gets tossed. I still probably have 5 loads worth of laundry that is still lurking under my bed or in the basement, but enough of it is back in circulation to start to get a sense for what I have and what I need. I have at least 2 dozen undies, probably 3. I have at least 3 dozen pr. Socks, probably 4. This is particularly ridiculous because I only wear socks nov-feb. I guess I have about 8 pr shorts which is plenty but they're all falling apart at the same time. I've been shopping for replacements but no luck. Jeans... I have about 5 ? Defn need a few more. I have tons of tee shirts ( I mainly wear jeans or shorts, tees and sandals.) but they are stacking up on the Too-worn-out side of the scale now too. I'm pretty cheap so the way I've been buying is clearance racks at kohl's and target and thrift shops. But I no longer frequent thrift shops for obvious reasons. Clothing is not a hoarding category for me. Sometimes the mess gets so out of control that I lose track of things but I have no emotional baggage with clothes. Well, I have emotional baggage with some of my sons old clothes, but not with mine. Had to qualify that one.

My son finally woke up and he was fairly cheerful so i feel better now.

Over the weekend we went to my parents place for dinner. My son and husband and bro went to see a college fb game and then came over for dinner. I went early so I could go over some genealogy stuff with them. I gave them each some stuff to review and took back what they were finished with and gave them the next batch to review. My dad was a jerk a couple times. One of the issues was with the food delivery and plating things up. I think what happens is he gets nervous for some reason but isn't self aware enough to realize he's feeling anxious, and then he just starts spinning out on everyone. But mostly my mom. He wanted to make sure the food was hot so he was going to microwave everything after it arrived. I asked him not to do the chicken or the salmon (cause it would screw up the texture and overcook it) but naturally he did not hear any of that. He has a problem with boundaries. I think his only gauge for food is how temperature hot it is. He doesn't seem to register other aspects of a meal's quality which is curious.

They actually asked me to host thanksgiving which I was kind of planning on but we hadnt discussed. We don't have a working oven so that makes turkey challenging but they suggested they bring a ham and pies, and the rest of us can divvy up the rest which makes it very manageable. I am chuckling thinking how my dad is going to handle Having a small microwave or toaster oven to reheat the ham... I better start getting organized... gotta finish cleaning out that fridge I guess!

Update on my sisters crew... at least three kids in that classroom got it. I don't think the classroom was ever closed down. How they ever got a sub to come in and cover a room with a COVID outbreak is beyond me. Unless they lied. They probably lied. Also just heard that one of the other staff had just come home from taking care of her parents who had COVID. There is a protocol for how to act after you've been exposed but she blew that right off and proceeded to cause an outbreak. Is there going to be any disciplinary action taken? No cause the school will try to keep it quiet. Will there be any criminal action taken? No, but there friggin should be. Endangering all those people and their families and all those kids with medical issues. Omg. What is wrong with people.

Well anyhoo. I managed to end my lengthy post in a fit of fury!

Hate to leave it there but I actually have to run. I will come back. Later and try to be Susie sunshine again.

Good morning!

Somehow it became November.

I was on vacation all weekend with my kids and Bean. We went to a beach house by Lake Michigan and it was cold but delightful. The drive was very long. Mr. Kitty is glad we are home.

Lila, I support mailing the pictures. I would send them insured - I realize you can't replace them with money, but I think the p.o. is more careful with insured mail.

Tatoulua, I hope your computer works out well.

I think I would love being a dinosaur and handing out candy.

I am not journaling as much as I would like, but I am working on it.

Road, good job on the laundry! It must be very difficult to live with rooms locked up like that.

We have a possible frost overnight tonight, and an almost certain one tomorrow night, so Bean and I will need to pick all the things from the garden today. I have a couple I want to try to pot up and bring inside as well.

I brought souvenirs home from vacation - a sticker for finishing a hike (not sure where I plan to stick it) and a few little rocks that I plan to put in my fountain - the fountain is from my grandparents' beach house and my cousin and I used to put pretty shells we found in it. I split the shells with my cousin, so there is room.

Lila, that will teach me to try to respond to posts before having read the very latest... you've leap frogged right on over the pond. Nicely done. And fwiw, yes, hearing about your exes and the empty space and emptiness ... of course it's related. 100%. And the acquisition is the depressed brain chemistry demanding dopamine and all those other good things. When you boil it all down it's pretty simple I guess. Or simple explaining it... fixing the causes and digging out is more complicated at least for me. You seem pretty good at taking action though... I'd say you have some pretty useful skills. I zoned in on what you said about your son breaking things... My son has Down syndrome and goes through phases where he's very destructive. It's probably been more of a challenge dealing with the ocd tendencies and compulsively moving things around the house in the rooms where I've tried to maintain order... e.g., the bamboo kitchen utensils got relocated to the bathroom drawers, the lamps must go on top of an antique book as a coaster, and all the meticulously organized binders mom works so hard to establish must be disemboweled on a regular basis... These "quirks" eventually led to basement, bathroom closet, master, and guest bedroom/office (my room) being locked with luggage combo locks. I can't blame my hoarding on him but his behaviors definitely increase the chaos... and my internal chaos increases his internal chaos etc etc. so anyway... all this to say I. Hear you mama.

P.s. Tatoulia, the image of you in the dinosaur costume made me very happy.

P.p.s. ? I just got my laundry. It was a whole unpleasant exchange with the H which I didn't appreciate but will spare you all. But anyway, I got the laundry.

Hi all,

I am almost caught up but not quite.

I've been spinning and busy and realized I haven't checked in for a few days and after reading the posts also realize how much it helps to check in more often.

Lila, so much of what you describe is exactly what I have experienced and other stuff is still what I'm actively dealing with. I had seen a lot of great recommendations for the book "buried in treasures" so I bought it awhile ago. It's a workbook format and very flexible. You can read any chapter and it will sound familiar to you ? it has helped me so much. You were asking "why" about some things and this really helps you understand the whys ? and once you understand why, you see things differently. Like how there might be multiple pieces of furniture you'll eventually only want one of ? and right now all the multiples are full of things, and you had plans to acquire more. I'm at the stage where I've pretty much stopped acquiring too much stuff but because I've been living like this for a long time I'm still used to seeing certain things too crowded... like the fridge. So I've played around with only using certain shelves, etc. to try to train my brain to see something different as "enough." As Tatoulia said, it's building muscle. A few months ago we had some discussion about "guarding your space" as in when you clear something out the tendency is going to be to fill it again and the challenge is to hold on to the space. I was really at a low point when I found this group and with a lot of help and wisdom from these women managed to get the worst of the mess cleaned up and have gradually been dealing with clearing the excess stuff out of my room and in the process getting used to the open/empty areas again. It's still crammed by any one else's standards, but compared to what it was it's a huge improvement.

One specific practical example of deciding what stays in your bedroom vs. what goes is only keeping clothes that currently fit, that are in season, that you would not hesitate to wear, that you can wear right now as-is with no repairs. All else is a good candidate for storage bin within the bedroom if not removal. You can keep the donate/toss/sell sorting a separate project if it helps you make a path to the closet. You can also target things that don't go in a bedroom like anything hardware or food-related. Or if it's a potential project (like the frames). Maybe you read in bed or have boxes of books in there - you could decide how many you would like to have on the night stand - like 3 or 8? It's up to you - and everything else gets boxed up for another book sorting day? If there's no where to move the bins to right now and they have to stay in the bedroom, maybe they could be lined up along one wall? I wish I could come over there and help you and someone could come here and do the same for me in my room. 😏😆

SubC, was just reading through some of your posts. I am glad you are journaling again! And great job double spacing your accomplishments!

Today I went to visit my friends in my dinosaur costume. Then I went to boyfriend's and handed out candy in my dinosaur costume. I became fairly comfortable in it. I may try to wash it and see if I can donate it. I was surprised how happy I was in it and not self conscious at all.

Now I'm home and showered. I will need to clean out underneath my kitchen sink so I am prepared for the installation of the new disposal.

I've done quite a bit this weekend. I did stop at the grocery store in my way home from being a dinosaur and bought what I needed. I left some of it in the cat and BF will drive it down to me, too heavy to carry. And I carried a lot of heavy groceries for my mother yesterday.

I hope I can get my new laptop to work tomorrow. The screen is pretty small, I may have to bite the bullet and have the company send me a monitor. I don't want one but I'm not sure I'll be able to see this monitor. I've only sued the computer at the office so far. (I got it on Thursday)

So I'll go clear out under my kitchen sink. It's pretty organized since my friend did it when she was here and only my cleaners go in there. So it should be pretty okay.

Wow! Lila, sending the photos to your son sounds like a marvelous idea! Yes! Mail them unless you'll see him at the holidays and you can give them to him. If you have an extra duffel bag, you could put them in the duffel bag and he'll be ready for the plane!

Great thought process!

Thanks SubC. How is your day going?

I had to go out this morning and I did not have to dig through piles to find clothes to wear. That was nice.

I have a couple of bulky items that I want to try and sell. Generally I don't mind giving things away but these are worth more $$$, so that is something I need to try and do.

Last night in bed, I had the though to mail albums, photos, and other things I've held onto to my eldest son who lives across the country. This is the first time I ever thought I might want to give those to him. I am very obsessive about photos and have a big box of things from when he was a child. Suddenly I am thinking, I could clear up some space if I mailed him the big album, some things from that box (and take pics/toss the rest) and also his school and sports photos. It would free up a lot of space, really... all those photos in the cardboard holders. My only hesitation is that they could get lost in the mail. Hmmm. But I do feel ready.

Lila, that is an amazing amount of progress!

Things were hung, things were sorted, items were chosen to leave, so many many decisions made! And you have a path! You should be incredibly proud of yourself!

part 3: tiny bits of progress.

Today I made a path to the closet. I tried to sort it and found one shirt to donate. I hung up a pile of shirts that was on the other side of the room.

I went through a few dresser drawers and donated 2 items. I hung up a few more things. I donated one towel I found with holes in it.

I put two tubs on the bed and labelled one special and one plain. I picked up books from all over the room, in boxes, in piles, in tubs and I sorted them into those two boxes. I also donated about 3 books and put a stack of 5 by my bed to read. I have 3 that were loaned to me that I will return.

This was not a lot of movement, but it was exhausting.

I did not finish reading everyone's posts today. I did get a bunch of stuff done including working on mom's house and doing her grocery shopping.

Interesting insight on empty space, Lila. Just don't confuse empty space with emptiness. Live with my suggestion a bit then reject or modify or embrace as you see fit. I am on your side.

Speaking of hoarders, when my friend was cleaning out my closets, at one point I said this is where I have to go talk to Dr Robin Zazio.

Processing suggestions, part 2:
H Tatoulia! Good to see you. Thank you for taking the time to help me.
When you mentioned getting rid of a nightstand I almost audibly gasped. omg how could I? But then I thought about how on the Hoaders shows the psych suggests things and the person is super resistant and they have to work through it. What feelings come up: an empty space in the bedroom. I don't want an empty space in the bedroom. And then my thoughts are filled with the people I have shared the bedroom with: an exhusband, and a beloved dear to me exboyfriend, and the current husband who no longer sleeps there and does not share the room with me now. The first two have passed away. All 3 of those men, the memories of them being in the bedroom are of better times, times I was not alone. And when I think of them not being there, I am filled with grief. Could it be that this is part of why I do not want ANY empty space in my bedroom? I can't stand the void? I don't want to be alone?

Thank you for prompting this. I will think about it while I am working on my room today. But I am shocked I never noticed how terribly sad and anxious 'empty space in my room' makes me. I might have to have a good cry in there as I clear space.

Hello friends. I have today truly "off" so I am home and have sat on the couch watching tv and drinking coffee all morning. But it is almost 12:30 so I know I want to use some of my time wisely, to clean and organize and maybe to read a book or something.

Processing suggestions:
SubC, thank you. Yes, the inflow is better. But when you asked that I realized I am now, instead of spending money on new stuff, am spending it on fast food and takeout. I have gotten in a terrible habit of doing that almost daily when I can't afford it. This is resulted in weight gain and lost money. I need to stop that. Funny thing, I was JUST yesterday making plans to go out clothes shopping next week, AND making plans to go buy some more dog food, toys, and treats. Now you asked and it stops me in my tracks - what is going on with this?? The two things I have way way too much of and instead of organizing, urging, or using it, I am thinking about buying more!! And I have no where to put it! Do any of you have experience with this? At least now it is in my conscious awareness and I will NOT buy more of those things... but I still feel driven to and not sure why.

The clothes in my closet... 90% of them have not been worn in a couple years since I gained weight. I had a hysterectomy and then an injury so in the last 2 years I gained weight and can't wear any of those clothes. I also have bins of clothes downstairs that are too small - I did sort them and donated some to consolidate this month. But what I am wearing are clothes in the drawers and clothes draped and piled over the rocking chair. Can't get to the closet to hang them up. Maybe that should be goal 1? Path to the closet? Path to the dressers? And yes... donate more of the clothes. So hard for me, but I will try today.

I have been in my house 25 years with all the art in boxes. Good lord. I don't know what is wrong with me. I will try.

Lila, I have read your posts but not everyone's, so forgive me if I duplicate what others have said. Since I'm so far behind, I decided to read one person's at a time.

First off: you are doing great! It is a pity that the loveseat didn't go before your husband returned. I know he's piling stuff on it but don't focus on that. As soon as loveseat goes, you'll take the stuff off.

Let's look at your bedroom. One thing I want you to know that all your "keepers" right now won't be your "keepers" tomorrow. They are today. So you will be seeing more go. For now, you are working on easier stuff. Trust me, and trust others. I am shocked on a continual basis of what is imperative to keep becomes a, time to go. So trust the process. It gets easier. You are building muscle.

So I am going to suggest you decide to get rid of one piece of furniture in your room. NOT BEING HURTFUL. You have three nightstands. Would a nightstand be a good place to start? I know all three are filled. I would venture a guess that if you took one drawer of one nightstand, you'll find you can get rid of half of the stuff. Even if you've gone through it recently. I won't judge you if you go into the drawer and decide it's all keepers. But try it. I have a sneaking suspicion that's there's at least one pen that no longer works that you can get rid of. Or maybe a highlighter and let's face it, no one uses highlighters. No one. (Don't yell at me, teachers!).

Let me know if this sounds like a good idea and if not does this idea help you think of some other goal to set? I'd like to think that the goal of getting rid of one nightstand will help you cope.

If you had told me when I started that I'd get rid of 20 boxes of books and still have too many, I'd call you nuts. But here I was , this summer, making more and more decisions on books with the help of my friend. She offered no input on what to keep in terms of books. She showed me them and told me to decide. And I was amazed and pleased with myself. Remember that I am eight years into this journey at this point. So it does get easier.

Let me know your thoughts. Here for you.

Hey everyone I just started to read these threads. Road, you are awesome. I hope your husband is doing well. Thank you for shoring up SubC. Okay back to reading.

I am here and I am safe and well! Thank you everyone!

My promotion in April has changed my availability and my stress levels. I had a good day Friday but a hard day Thursday. A victory on Thursday, though: I was melting down at the office (rare for me, a lot of things were going wrong and I had a new laptop that was not working properly on top of it) and someone offered me Halloween candy and it didn't even sound like something I would want. Sweets weren't going to be my coping mechanism. I did have a small container of apple cider, so I enjoyed that instead. Also, earlier in the day, they were handing out individually wrapped cider donuts and I didn't take any. I love cider donuts. I wasn't overly stressed at that particular time in the day. So essentially my relaxation tapes (now that I'm listening to them) have sunk in. I had two opportunities for some treats and it didn't even feel like a struggle. It was just an automatic "no, thank you." Last night when I was the last person in the office at 7 PM, I didn't need touch the various candies etc. that were around. so I'm feeling better about myself.

The promotion is hard. My unit is a mess. I had a new temp this week and so far, so good. I have posted a full time position for my unit and I am also interviewing interns for January. So that is going on. I am hoping to see some internal candidates for my full time position and I also hope my temp works out and is a viable option.

Earlier this week I started to put something in an "interim position" instead of just putting it away and I realized the foolishness of handling it twice. So I'm being more mindful. I'm busily doing laundry today (soothing) and will put away
one of my summer thin quilts and I think it's time to bring the comforter and duvet out. It's chilly here. I have to figure out if I should put both summer thin quilts away for now. Generally one stays on my bed as an extra layer year round.

My disposal broke. Did I tell you this? It's been here since I bought the place 26 years ago so I'm having it replaced instead of fooling around with it til it works. That will take place on Monday.

I am going to switch it my laundry, then make a cup of coffee, and settle in for some reading so I can see how everyone is doing!

Tired, overwhelmed, over scheduled , and worried about Tatoulia.

Lila, you can do this. The most important thing is to just start somewhere. Anywhere.

How are you doing on the inflow? Have you managed to stop it or slow it to essentials? For example - don't buy dog food until you are out of dog food samples. Don't buy dog treats until you are out if those, don't buy any more dog toys. The dog will slowly help you clear space.

Nest your empty bins as much as possible. Is there an awkwardly sized one that can be the next donation box?

You say your closet is sorted and full, but you can't get to it - so you are not wearing the clothes in your closet? The goal is to keep clothes that you wear in your closet. When you get to it, you may want to purge some more items. Or purge items so that you can reach those clothes in your closet and wear them.

Can you hang some of the art? If there is nowhere to hang it, realistically what do you think will happen to it? Do you see a new hanging place being made, or will it be in a box forever?

It's fall, can you fold a blanket on the foot of each bed?

Unfortunately if all the clothes space is full and you still have clothes everywhere, you only have four options - donate some of the clothes that are not put away, donate some of the clothes that are put away to make space for the piled clothes, donate something that is less important than clothes to make space for the piled clothes, or decide you are actually happier living in a pile of clothes than you would be if some of them were gone. It sounds like you have come to the place where you realize you can't pick the 4th option, so you will have to chose one of the other three.

Yes, clothes cost money. But that money is already spent. Do you wish you had spent it on something that would make your life easier and more organized instead of on clothes? Guess what - if you get rid of the clothes, it will be as if you did! The money will still be gone, but instead of clothes, you will have an easier and more organized life!

hello again. So dh came home and loveseat is still there. Unfortunately no one took it. The rest of the room is pretty good though. He is already piling things on the loveseat, so I guess if someone answers my ad and wants it, I will just move it all off and get that thing out of there and put the exercise machine down there without any discussion. If he wants somewhere to put his suitcases he can clean his room.

So I moved two empty tubs into my bedroom so I can work on that area next. Today I went in there, folded a few summer shirts and put them away and then got totally frozen. I just stood there looking at everything and muttering "I can't do this, I don't know how to start, I don't know how to do this." It is unbelievable to me that I have, over the past year, already taken out tub after tub and box after box of things from my bedroom to donate or move to the garage, and several bags of junk to the trash, and YET it is still a disaster. I cannot see much of the floor.

Please help with any and all suggestions. You all have helped me before (remember urging me to get the weights out of there, and to donate those cute fruit plates?) So please give any ideas or encouragement.

My bedroom is about 22 by 14. Furniture, which all needs to stay, includes queen bed, 3 tall dressers, one wide dresser, a cabinet, 2 bookshelves. I cannot believe I have all of those and they are full... ugh! And have been sorted! I also have 2... no 3... of those plastic drawers filled with stuff.

Closet is full of clothes. I purged it already and put in a shoe rack to get it organized. Closet shelves are full. All shelves and tops of dressers are full. Also 2 nightstands I forgot... no, 3! All full.

Rocking chair covered with piles of clothes. Small folding table with lots of prescriptions. Many empty bins that have nowhere else to go. Boxes of books that have no home but I feel I need to keep. I pulled one bin out from under the bed, it is sitting in the middle of the floor with summer clothes piled on it. There are piles of clothes everywhere but I cant get to the closet. Dog toys, dog food samples, another bin of dog treats. A huge stack of blankets (I gave some away but these are the ones I kept for cold weather, company etc but they have no home). Bins of photographs. A box of framed art that I am keeping (I donated many). The floor is just strewn with small bins, piles of books and shoes, dog toys, random items. There is no space left in the garage or any storage areas to move any of this stuff. It is stressing me out. And there are boxes of glass items in there because my autistic kid started throwing and breaking things again.

I cant walk to the closet or the window or the dressers. I can't handle this!

Just checking in...

Got booster vax today. 0 side effects this time other than barely perceptible stiff bicep. I'll take it!

Little self care tonight... found my bag of cosmetics I've piled up from a subscription to whatever the hell that thing was. I just did it for a year and it was nice but I don't really do make up so ... but now I have a stash and my mantra is going to be consume consume consume til it's all gone. I'm sick of finding shoeboxes of dried up toiletries that never got used. So I moisturized everything and did some eye serum... I'm still a total mess but now my hands smell good.

Finished printing out another ancestors record... (about 4 hours!) I sat down and did some more paperwork including using my daily schedule worksheet which always helps me with productivity. Am starting to feel like I'm actually gaining ground on this room. I cleaned the floor again and got all the laundry out. I took out the bedroom, bathroom and kitchen garbage. I started rewriting my master list pages that disappeared... and posted a bunch more stuff on my door. I finished clearing off the front third of the desk all the way across. Now the standing desk is worse but my goal is to start using the desk for paperwork instead of my bed. I sorted through some paperwork in the process (from the desk) but not much hit the garbage this time. I called my sons drs office to deal with a repellent <?- (major exaggeration) situation. It was a little awkward but I got the job done and smoothed some feathers... I have at least 4,927 of those tasks still to do but one thing at a time. I kind of feel like I was spinning my wheels and now the vehicle is actually moving forward. I even put back all the binders and paper that goes along with printing that genealogy record. There's once again a place to put them and I put them there. The H walked by and again made a comment about the floor space. It really annoys me when he does that but I think I should feel that it's his dorky way of being supportive (but it still annoys me) .

Tomorrow I may take another stab at getting to a store for some lamps... I'm nodding off so I better quit.

Reading about the storms in New England - Tatoulia, I hope you're ok!

haha, thanks Road, I appreciate the encouragement!

Husband is coming home late tonight and I feel desperate to get this loveseat out of here. Even if I could move it to the garage while I try to give it away... but there isn't room. Praying that someone who needs it will show up today! I posted it in more areas. But the bed, mattress, box springs went out the door yesterday and that makes me happy.

I took everything to the donation place. I do have one large box half full to donate, that needs to get filled and put in the car. I am determined to get the family room finished today. I had meetings this morning and more tonight so I have about 4 hours now to get it done. I can't do a lot at a stretch so I am resting now. Then will go down, see if there is anything else that can be consolidated, find places for the remaining tubs. Donate what I can. And try to make enough room for the exercise machine to get put down there. I know if it isnt moved before he gets back he will balk and say not to put it in that room, so it needs to get moved. But ugh there is just so little space unless that loveseat goes!

Wish me luck!

Good morning!

Thanks road. I have a shiny new thread with good things on it!

Yesterday I dropped off my mixed recycling, the bags at the grocery store, and a small bag of trash, so my house is better today. I even ran the dishwasher last night.

I love your long newsy posts!

I am so sorry about your sister's classroom. That is my worst nightmare. I have a medically fragile diabetic student and when my Dh accuses me of being overly cautious I tell him that my decisions are formed by the need to know I have done everything possible to keep that child safe. The thought of her being in the hospital because I wanted to eat out.. No thank you.

I hope the fleas die quickly.

Lila, you are doing a fantastic job! It sounds like the tubs would be very useful in you DD's room. Go for it! Divide and conquer!

I hope your loveseat goes quickly! You are clearing out so many big things, it must be making a difference! I am proud of you for letting go of the dishes.

CM, I know that feeling all too well. Everything gets out of control and your brain tells "something new! Something different! Distract me!"

Can you pull focus and attack some small area in your room that has been neglected and will give you that "new" hit? If you can create just one area - make one shelf or one drawer perfect, create a small, flat, clear area to work on your computer, even find a new, unused notebook and a consistent place to keep it and start journaling your ideas so they stop spinning in your head. anything that feels like a point of order and control from which to confront the chaos. Just don't add anything from outside of the house.

Hi tatoulia! Don't be a stranger!

I have a whole page of good things in my journal from yesterday (I double spaced so they will jump out) still struggling with getting my school stuff in order. Today is the end of the first quarter! It is flying by!

Hot dog! It's a shiny new thread!

Hi everyone, I am going to TRY not to write a tome. (Can she do it?)

Puppy got spayed yesterday so naturally she is supposed to be calm and not run or jump or bother the stitches and she is doing all... also she has fleas :( so that's a whole hairy project added to the plate this week. 1 dog dosed and 1 to go, and piles and piles of things that have to be washed now. Blurgh.

The H spent the evening in the ER yesterday. Same symptoms he was having when he got dx with pulmonary embolisms last spring, but this time they couldn't find anything wrong. Mystery! More insane emergency room stories.

Good and bad news with my sister. Good news is she got the monoclonal antibodies treatment and said she felt like a wilted flower who got a good watering... brought her back to life. Bad news is all three staff in that class are + and now two of the kids. There's been almost NO spread within the schools, but in this classroom full of kids with disabilities, there's now an outbreak. After all three teachers tested + they did not shut down the classroom or consider anyone in there a close contact. Then two of the kids got it or already had it and continued to spread it because they weren't quarantining people the way they should have. The boy my sister works with is in a wheelchair and she has to do transfers and toileting and feeding assist. It's a medical environment with none of the safety protocols of a medical environment. My niece and her bf are + too. I forget if I said that.

Now that rant made my post too long. Lol

So anyway, subC, you listen to me and listen good. You are one friggin awesome person, friend and mentor. Youve had a positive impact on me in the short time we've known each other so you be nice to my friend subC !

Lila, great job on the bins and the donations. I was just gonna chime in and say screw that box spring because it's a future "if/when" and it's a very large thing. If it can fit in a match box or shoe box I think it's a little more forgiving of scrutiny, but large objects ?show no mercy! But I blinked and you already got the job done! Nicely done! I'm impressed and taking notes...

COVID boosters scheduled for weds,thurs, fri for the three of us...