New thread for 2025:

https://hoardingcleanup.com/message-board/?msgbrd=10&topic=33693

See you there!

For those not on the Daily Tally, I want to report that I made it! I hit my goal of 600 things gone in 2024!

Tonight is pretty calm. I am going to think about goals for 2025, here and elsewhere.

Some thoughts I am having:
I want to keep counting items (not trash) for the Daily Tally thread. In 2023 my goal was over 1000 items (which I did), in 2024 it was 600 (which I did). I am trying to pick a number for 2025 since it motivates me. Well, my year 2 goal was 60% of the first year. So how about if my year 3 goal is 60% of this year? That would be 360 items. That feels doable (hard, will have to push, but doable) to me.

I am thinking about starting a thread about organization. It seems to me, that once you get rid of say, 90% of the clutter in a space, the main problem becomes organization of what's left. Like in my bedroom. I got rid of a lot of stuff, but now every surface has stuff on it. Not piles, but stuff. I even have an empty drawer! I think a goal of mine for 2025 will be to organize what is left. How to quantify that, I don't know. Projects? Surfaces? Minutes spent? But a thread might help me, and others, be accountable. I will think on this and create a thread for it soon.

My other goal is to shun laziness. There is probably a better way to state this, as I am not technically lazy, but I have some bad habits. Like, I ask someone in my family to take out the trash or to bring up the laundry or to do the yard work. At least, I should do SOME of that, and then ask for help with the rest or if I am working. But surely I can move more and do more things myself. And be more active instead of watching so much tv. I wonder if I should limit my tv time - either to a certain amount of time per day, or only after xyz is done, or only in the evening after 8... hmmm.

Thoughts welcome.

I am also thinking about a cleaning thread. Like, "I will clean x number of things in 2025." Sounds kinda weird, but with so much hoard, many things have not been thoroughly cleaned in years. For example, washing the curtains, or scrubbing the oven or baseboards or whatever.

Am I getting overly ambitious? Anyone else looking for new goals like this or have ideas?

Lol Lila, I do not have that sort of phone.

I'm pretty sure my cell phone is dead right now. It's been sitting on my vanity for nine days.

I like the idea of a new chat thread every year, it makes it easier to look back.

Happy last day of 2024, friends!

CM, I am at the very top of the orange on that map. It is dark here sooo long and I can't wait for more daylight!

I am going to start a new Daily Tally thread for the new year tomorrow, and am thinking about what my goals will be. I always only count things I was actually keeping, not trash, and in 2023 I got rid of over 1000 items, and in 2024 I am close to 600. I kind of think there is not nearly as much to declutter in 2025. It would be quite challenging to find 400. Maybe even 300. I'll think about it. I am hoping a few more of you might want to do the Daily Tally with SubC and me. It can be counting whatever you want.

I am going to get started on my bedroom shortly and try to get those last 20 items out to hit my goal of 600 in 2024.

I think having a new 2025 daily chat thread will be good as well.

SubC, what I did with my many Starbux cards: I downloaded the app on my phone, then scanned each card in and now they are all on one card on there. I threw out all the physical cards and I just can scan my phone when I go get coffee now.

Hope to see you all soon. Happy NYE!

Well, it worked, but it's huge - hope that doesn't screw up the display for anybody. Apologies if it does - I guess we could start a new thread for 2025 if need be.

Hoping to tackle some of my scary decluttering areas in the new year. Roommate and I were chatting about it this morning and she reminded me of another shelving unit in my bedroom (it defies a few laws of physics how many shelves are in there, honestly) that there are a few of her books still on. I forgot about those because they were on a bottom shelf. So those can be gotten out. It may permit me to put my office supplies and important papers on that shelf. And down the line we may shift everything to bring this clothing rack thing from another part of the room to that space. But that would be a very huge undertaking and we're not ready for that just yet.

The other wooden bookshelves that are mostly cleared for my use (one was cleared some time back and has my art stuff on it but is hard to get to; however, that can be improved I think) - those wooden shelves will hold doll boxes above, art and office paper below, perhaps some crayons and my stash of assorted adhesives.

I'm feeling excited about the art and craft stuff becoming more accessible. Have some collage and painting projects in mind. Don't want to get too far ahead of myself but honestly do wonder if I could sell paintings and mixed media pieces locally at some point.

Lila, I so understand about lack of flat surfaces. It is all through this house. Roommate as frustrated as I am about it but we are at least on the same page about solving the problem by moving more clutter on out of here. So yay.

Probably rather busy rest of today, so I'll wish everyone a Happy New Year now. By the end of the week the weather here is set to be the coldest and nastiest it's been for awhile, so we'll be prepping for that. Hoping it is short lived. I'm keeping from getting the winter blues by really forcing myself to keep a positive attitude and finding things to get the endorphins - creativity, silly sitcoms, whatever it takes.

As Mr. Spock would say, Live Long and Prosper in 2025.

I saw this in a Facebook group so I'm going to see if the link to display the image will work here. Then I'll post my ramblings in a separate post.

Lila, you have done so well! I am really pulling for you to find those last 20 things!

I don't know if I'll be able to keep my total over 200 or not. My family was very generous for Christmas. Counting the new yip yips, some craft keepsakes from grandsons other gifts and a few family hand me downs, I am up by 17 and so far only out by 9 items I managed to send home with my kids.

My son's family left around 9:00, and right now I am just trying to focus on dishes and laundry. I had my last big breakfast with sweet holiday carbs this morning.

After a very expensive December, I think we are going to have a minimal spend January.

I will still need as much gasoline - because everything is done on a round trip to Bean's house, work, or both, but I told Dh that between the overstock and leftovers in the house and me trying to lose some weight, we may limit our grocery shopping to one or two green vegetables a week and whatever meat he needs (which might be none, since we still have salmon and shrimp in the freezer, half a cooked pork loin, and several pounds of sliced turkey!) we have canned and frozen fruit, a bunch of root veggies, way too much bread, and an ongoing supply of milk and eggs.

I should make spending my backlog of gift cards a goal for 2025. They are mostly $5 Starbucks cards from kids.

Ok, off to work on my house!

SubC, I'm glad you are enjoying family. It will be nice when the surgery is done and everyone is healthy and can do normal things!

What is everyone doing for New Years?

I am home alone today. I did not work on my room today, but I worked on something that has bothered me for a long time.

I have mentioned how I've had hordes of gift cards and coupons hidden all over the place, a throwback to my poverty days where I wanted a stash of gift cards for emergency. And then several of the stores I had cards for went out of business, and some cards actually expired. It was so upsetting when I realized I had lost around $200 in wasted gift cards.

So I had started putting all my gift cards and coupons in a little bin when I found them. A lot were going to expire the end of 2024, and some I wasn't even sure if they had a balance. So today I:

- gathered all the gift cards and coupons
- took the expiring ones to the store and got about $55 in free stuff using coupons
- used a gift card to pay part of the balance
- scanned all the coffee app gift cards into my phone
- used a gift card balance to order some clearance stuff online
- called to find out the balance on all the remining gift cards and write the balance on each one with a sharpie

So now I have about 75% fewer gift cards to worry about. I still have some random ones and will shop with those when I need to buy birthday gifts, groceries, etc. I will no longer hoard gift cards, but if I am given one, I will use it in a reasonable amount of time.

So, it was a good day, with a lot accomplished, plus I filled the car with gas and deposited a check.

I realize tomorrow is my last day to get to my goal of 600 items gone from my house in 2024. I need to get rid of 20 things to reach my goal.

Lila, that is amazing!

I am still enjoying a house full of children and grandchildren.

We're going to the holiday train exhibit at the museum this morning, then dd2 and her boyfriend are flying home. That will be hard for me.

Unfortunately Bean can't come to the trains. Dd1 has decided to keep her family out of crowds until after Buddy's surgery. It's probably a wise choice, but a little disappointing. They will come over this afternoon to hang with us and Birdy's family again.

Birdy's family will leave tomorrow and I will be very sad.

Last update for the weekend:

In the past 2 days I donated or threw out 71 items from my bedroom (all things I was keeping, no trash) PLUS 2 grocery bags full of trash.

I also vacuumed.
The "new" bedspread is washed and on my bed.

I am so very proud of myself for tackling the hardest area of my house. Tomorrow I will put the two boxes of things to donate into the back of my car, and will put away the few items that need to be moved out of my room into a new spot.

I do have the "where to put things" issue still, since all flat surfaces are covered in things, although not piles, and all have been sorted.

Where are you guys?? It's the Lila show... but I am doing so good and am proud of myself. Worked on my bedroom more this morning and added 10 more items to the Daily Tally thread.

I am now at 563 items gone from my home in 2024 (not counting trash - all items were things I was keeping for some reason). My goal for this year is 600 items gone. I have sent out a lot of stuff in the last 2 days and I might make my goal! Still working on my room.

I have to say that although my bedroom still looks like a hoarder house, it is so much better and there are clear, wide paths around the room where you can see the floor except for in front of the closet, which is my next area to tackle today.

Also, can I brag? I finally took the blanket off my bed, which has rips in it, folded it up and gave it to a local rescue, even though I was not finding a replacement queen blanket yet. Then I remembered a nearly new queen bedspread that has been on top of the dryer with the cat laying on it for some time. I threw it in the wash and will put it on my bed tonight. Even though it is not what I really want, it is warm and nice and when I get my new place or redecorate my room, I will buy myself a nice quality, beautiful bedspread. But for now this will do.

Update:

I am so proud of myself! I decluttered 43 things from my bedroom (listed in the Daily Tally thread) AND took out a whole grocery bag full of trash!

I also had my son move one tote of almost-fits clothes into the downstairs office, and took out an empty laundry basket that had been on my floor full of stuff, so now my bedroom is really getting better!

You are making good progress, CM! Thank you also for the reminder about New Year's planning. I would like to set some goals for myself.

SubC, how long is everyone staying?

I am proud of myself, too. I got all the clothing and stuff sorted out. I laid out some sweaters I washed to dry and will fold those and put them in drawers later today.

I need to sort all the non-clothing items now. There are a lot of papers and books, and just piles of odds and ends. I picked up a small box this morning to sort, and it contained recipes written on papers and index cards, loose batteries, parts to different furniture, coupons, a gift card, old mail (I threw some away and need to file the few keepers), pens, all kinds of weird random objects. It is the decision making that gets to me as I sort boxes and piles like this.

I guess I need to have a simple sort idea. Like, if I don't have a real purpose or desire to keep an object, it goes. I tend to keep things I am ambivalent about until I have a feeling one way or the other, which never comes.

I have four days left for my final push to get rid of, like 90 items if I want to hit my goal for the year. It would be hard to make it, but I am going to try and get as close as I can. Details on the Daily Tally thread.

Oh yes, Jim Henson and Frank Oz of course. Great guys. Sad that Henson is no longer with us. Frank Oz also does Yoda for Star Wars. Such talent. Your Yip Yips I was not familiar with but being a sci-fi gal I did get a kick out of the Pigs In Space sketches and the ones on the Planet Koozebane with aliens. Plus many others - the Swedish Chef, for example. I can do the Swedish Chef's voice and crack up myself and my roommate.

Today I accomplished something I keep mentioning and now I finally did it - got the remaining books that are roommate's off the shelving that's in my bedroom. Two boxes of them. Next step will be to put items that will work best on that shelf - a lot of it is colored paper, a few colorful organizer folders, and perhaps the crayons and colored pencils. These items have been on a table next to the bookcase, and if I can clear the table, I may be able at some point to use it as a workstation for my laptop. I have one in the living room right now and I may not dismantle that, because sometimes it does work to do computer stuff out here too. This whole configuration will be evolving as I see what works best though.

I need to go through clothes too - not that many, but that's a situation of disarray that I hate. Things that will go on the bookcases are actually part of the hindrance there as well, so it should get easier. I have jeans here and there - even a couple pairs in my van - and the ones I haven't worn for awhile I have no idea whether they fit so those should be tried on and dealt with accordingly. I'm not at the weight I want to be and I don't know if it will change but I'm not going to stress about it at the moment. I don't think it's getting worse, anyhow. No jeans that don't fit will be allowed to remain in my possession; they will be passed along where they can be used and I will trust that God will provide me what I need when I need it. A couple months ago or so I was able to find three pairs at Goodwill so I'm not lacking. I just need to get rid of any stragglers.

There are other wardrobe items like jogging pants and unmentionables where I do need to seek new to replace the worn out. It has gotten difficult to find ones that meet my very exacting specifications - cotton, drawstring waist with deep enough pockets for my phone, elastic casing ankles NOT CUFFS (they changed my brand of jogging pants to have tighter cuff ankles which look dorky, and I'm mad!). For unmentionables I will need to check other brands than what I used to get because manufacturers I used to rely on have been changing and cheaping out on the waist elastic width and things like that. They don't feel the same.

Oh, and the bedroom is not the only place I want to do more in. The craft room definitely needs attention, the sewing area and those paints and items for the bunny organization that I'm determined to keep less stash of. So there's that. I have started to do a little. Once I do a little, I can build momentum and keep going with it.

I'm going to start making a list of positive New Year's Resolutions that make me happy and hopeful to make, and that I feel are doable and will really improve a lot of areas of life. And along with it a list of projects that I have never lost interest in but that easily get lost in the shuffle of everyday life - I just need to be reminded that I've said I want to do X, Y, and Z, and pick a target time/starting point for them.

Anyone else doing New Year's planning - it doesn't have to be resolutions if that is a scary word. Just things that we look forward to doing. If you feel like it, share them!

Good job Lila!

I'm proud of you for losing weigh. I have been gaining it. I'm sorry teen'sstuff is so hard.

I am exhausted. So much family yesterday! Bean spent the night and I did not sleep well. His room is taken so he slept on a cot in our room and I was on high alert all night. Then he heard a sound at 5 a.m. and shrieked. I was up for the day.

This morning (eventually, when she gets up) dd2 is going to make pancakes and then dd1 is coming back with her dh and Buddy and we are opening presents.

Right now Bean and I are cuddling by the tree. I'm having coffee.

CM, Jim Henson and Frank oz invented Sesame Street and the muppets.

Baby steps update #3 for today:

Finished 2 loads of laundry.

There was a deep drawer in my room, full of bedsheets, so full it could not close. I took everything out, saved the few I am using on my bed, and am putting the small pillowcases in the guest room drawer, along with a nice top sheet for the kids to use for fort-building. Now I have plenty of space in the drawer.

I sorted a pile on my other nightstand. Did not dust yet, but put a book into the donate box.

Will try on those jeans when I go to bed.

hi CM! I am doing some laundry here too. It is a good day for it, as TotsFam is going out for the day.

Baby steps update to my earlier post:
I tried on a jacket and two new bras. The jacket and one bra fit perfectly, so I cut the tags off and put them in the closet and drawer. The other bra is very nice, and close to fitting, so it went into the "almost fits" bin. I have lost 13 pounds recently and hope to have these clothes fit in January.

I put the throw blankets in the storage room closet. It is hard for me to even look in there, as there is stuff of Teen's childhood in there. Eventually, I will sort that closet and bin things up for her when she has a stable place. I also decided to remove one jacket from the coat closet when I hung up the new one, and I put the older one in that storage closet because it was Teen's, and I will bin it up with the other stuff.

I also did some reading and ate lunch.

I will continue working on the laundry, and I have 3 or 4 more items in the Decide pile to try on: jeans and a slimming undergarment. Will finish that today and sort some more of the non-clothing piles in my bedroom.

Quiet, calm and somewhat productive day - did a little leaf raking, vacuuming, and made pizza. I'll take a little time to chill before deciding if I want to tackle anything else big this day or one of the other days. Might tackle something small yet.

It's still that time of year, of course, where the days are so short, and I feel like by the time I get going on stuff it's close to time to shut down for the evening because it's harder to see and such. Although I may at some point do evening laundry which I don't tend to do when roommate is here because of the awkward location of the laundry room in the traffic flow; I usually do it in the afternoons. But if I have the house to myself it could work to do it later. We'll see.

I had not heard of the Yip Yips - Sesame Street came along when I was just a bit too old for it and having no kids or grands, I don't get it vicariously either. However, I'm a big Muppets fan of the variety show and have seen some of the Muppet movies. So I looked up the Yip Yips online so I'd know what they looked like. :) They look like Muppets.

Oh I remember Yip Yips, SubC! That is great! I am so happy to hear how she noticed and complimented on all your hard work clearing things. That really is the best gift.

Thank you so much for the encouragement and praise on my work in my room, too. It means a lot to me. I think we rarely get feedback on things like this, because it is so hidden in every way. So it is good to be able to share it here, with friends who understand.

Last night I put the "decide" pile near the desk and the blankets by the dresser, to figure out today. I am going to try on all the decide things today and make a goal to donate SOMETHING. Which is hard for me, since most of it is new, was gifted to me, etc and never tried on, but we can do hard things!!

After I deal with that, then I can start to sort everything else which was literally under the piled of clothes etc and is now exposed.

I look at it all, I think about how many times I have sorted these piles of stuff and kept it all... I think about how nice it will be to have it gone, but also how uncomfortable it makes me when I have a lot of open space in my bedroom... weird. I am going to try and be prayerful about my sorting and ask God to help me be more of a reflection of him and his orderly and beautiful way of being. I don't want all this crap getting in the way of a calm and peaceful life.

I am still sick but getting better. TWO of my ex husbands are in town this week, which is emotionally stressful for me in some ways although I am working on letting it go. Maybe as I sort I can see if any items have negative "vibes" or memories from them and release those things and feelings.

Hope to check in again today and hear how you all are doing.

Lila, that is amazing! I am so proud of you for finding the energy to do all of that when you are tired and sick!

And you picked a great place to start! Now, when you are deciding about the decide pile, you can see what you already have and how much space there is.

Dd2 came in last night and gave me the most wonderful gift - she said "oh my gosh, the hall is so empty. Where is all the stuff? This room looks amazing!" Pause "do you still live here?" She was chattering away and kept interrupting herself to comment on how nice everything looked. Her boyfriend looked a bit bemused, and she tried to explain that there is normally a ton of stuff everywhere. Then she said to me - "but the counter is still covered in moop (material out of place) right?" And I said "go look at the counter. Go. Right now." And she went. And this little squeal came back through the door and then she came back and said "you cleaned the counter. Seriously, where is all the stuff?"

She hasn't seen the one side of the basement that still looks like a junk shop after an earthquake, or the pile of boxes and the buried table at the end of her sister's old room, or the bookshelves in the room where her brother will stay, but she made me feel really really good about all the progress I have made.

She also brought me a physical gift - when she still lived here, one Christmas she made four crocheted "yip yip"s - the martians from Sesame Street who discover a telephone) https://www.pinterest.com/sstew20/yip-yips/ and we started using them as Christmas stockings. This year she made me six more! So now we have ten - one for each original family member, one for each spouse/significant other, and one each for Bean and Birdy. She said Dh and I will have to share (as we did before) until she makes another one for Buddy. I can't believe how much work she put into them!

I'm going to do my Christmas in/out total after all the presents are done.

Thanks SubC. I have not looked in the other room for the blanket yet. I did sort the last piles of clothes and also found some sheets in the pile. I ate dinner and realized that my entire bed is covered in clothes and blankets.

So, as much as I did not feel like it, I started dealing with the stuff on the bed.

I found 2 things in drawers (not clothes) for the donate bin. I moved things around in drawers. I hung up the stack of things I wear regularly.

I put several items in the laundry basket to be washed. I folded cardigans and put in one drawer, and regular sweaters and put in another drawer.

So it is like halfway done (stuff on the bed).

I am proud of this, because when I went in there after dinner I felt extremely overwhelmed and almost threw all the piles back where they came from so I could sleep in my bed. But I didn't. I may end up putting that pile of "need to try on/decide" things back into a pile, for tomorrow, because I am still sick and too tired to deal with it.

Lila, good job on the clothes! I hope you find a blanket for your bed.

As for me:
Presents wrapped and under the tree.

Rooms ready.

Mr. Kitty used his box.

Dd2 just messaged me that they are heading home.

It's nice to come and see you guys making progress. Poor Mr. Kitty, though.

I had nice time with TotsFam here at home today, and also went into my bedroom and continued the clothing sorting. I sorted the entire pile of clothes and blankets that was in front of my wardrobe cabinet - a pile that was over a small chair and onto the floor. I now have 5, or maybe 6, blankets folded on my bed. Unfortunately they are ALL "throw" blankets, none of these big enough to cover my bed. I may have one big enough in the other storage room. I will look, so I can get rid of the ripped one on my bed.

So now I have several piles on my bed. One pile is "try on or decide whether to keep."

I have one big pile left to sort, on the rocking chair/small table area in front of my closet. Once I sort that, I will look in my drawers to see what I have room for and continue on.

Hi all, long day.

It was good that Bean didn't stay. Mr. Kitty had some swelling over his eye last night - looked like a bite or sting, not bad. This morning he was still in the same spot on the couch, his food was untouched, and the whole top of his head was swollen. He had an emergency vet visit with surgery to drain the abscess and lots of drugs. He's pretty loopy now, but doing ok. This was not really the month I needed a major vet bill. I have to clean his incision every three to four hours. They offered to keep him overnight and I was like "I think we have reached our out of pocket maximum!" I'm good on the follow up. I paid an extra $27 for long acting antibiotics and pain meds, because if it starts to swell up again I can wrap him in a towel and reopen and clean it (instead of bringing him back to have them do it) what I don't have is access to drugs. (I do have access to dosages because I have a vet cousin who will math them for me, but she is far out of state, so she is only helpful if an otc human drug will work)

Anyway dd2 and her bf have landed and are going straight to her friend's house, so we won't see her until late. I have their room ready and just need to wrap gifts and prep the room for ds and ddil who are arriving tomorrow.

Hope the gummies are helpful.

Tomorrow my roommate leaves for her family weekend and I'm hoping to keep busy doing some things that are more awkward to do in this house when two people need to be able to get around. Like maybe put up a card table and do some things that need to be spread out. We have had fewer and fewer usable flat surfaces in recent months - but I think as we continue to get things moving on out, that situation will improve again. Just have to be patient until it does.

I also hope to have more time to get items of hers from the shelves in my room, something that was started but then stalled out because of busyness or whatever, can't even remember what but I think it'll go better now.

And laundry. And vacuuming the living room.

And exercise - I need more of the endorphins and blood circulating to the brain. Something easy, like just walking up and down the block, or putting on YouTube and dancing.

Should probably make a list.

Thanks CM, I will look for gummies like that and try it out. I hate being sick! SubC, that is so cute how Bean responded to the dino packaging! Good he is not used to a lot of waste.

I am coughing and my ear hurts. I slept til after 9 again, so I must really need it to get over this sickness.

This morning I made my bed and started with the clothing organization. I sorted all the clothes that were on my desk chair/desk area. I am laying tings out on the bed: things that fit and I wear now - one pile to fold and one to hang, things I am not sure what to do with, and then anything dirty into a laundry basket. I have a donate box right nearby as well.

Will report back as I go.

Happy Boxing Day!

Lila and CM, I'm glad you both had good Christmases. Tatoulia, I hope you did as well.

Lila, those sound like good presents - useful or consumable plus the picture.

We have been trying to go for quality over quantity with the grands. Bean's family is also very pro "buy used, shop small" Bean got a little student guitar (from Santa - who is us - it is what he asked Santa for) a wooden bow and arrow set with cork tips, a mini lego set, and a dinosaur play set. Dd looked at me like I was crazy about the Dino set but I explained that it was on clearance for $7 and I couldn't resist. You can tell Bean isn't used to new/commercial toys, because when he was opening it he asked me "Grammie, why did you put so much packaging on my dinosaurs?"

We had a really nice time with Bean's family yesterday. Bean loved all of his new toys and had a great time handing out the presents. He made a Christmas ornament for me and Dh.

He was supposed to spend the night and stay with us today, but by the end of the day he was cooked and Dh was tired and Dd said he had to come home with them. I'm a little sad about that, but I'm going to work on making good use of the day. Dd2 and her boyfriend arrive some time after 3, but they will be going out for dinner with dd2's bff.

Let me try that again...


MERRY

CHRISTMAS

MERRY CHRISTMAS

This will be a bit short and sweet for now. Christmas here was simple and nice. Last night roommate went with me to Christmas Eve Mass, and this morning was present and stocking time. For lunch we had tasty smoked beef and pulled pork from our favorite BBQ place, and I cooked up a batch of scalloped potatoes to go with it along with finger food nibbles like baby carrots, etc. For dessert was the extra pumpkin pie I'd made at Thanksgiving and frozen and thawed.

It was more of an indoor type of day, with fog and grey skies. We watched YouTube, the Nutcracker orchestral performance by the Rotterdam symphony from a few years back. I've watched that one every year since I discovered it, often twice.

Sorry everyone has had sickness still and upheaval and mechanical glitches. Seems sometimes those things go in cycles. We've had cycles around here; right now it's calm but it may or may not last. A handyman (of the trustworthy and non-creepy variety) would always be welcome but we don't always have one we know is good. I try to fix things but some defeat me, like the closer doohickey at the bottom of the front storm door which detached from the doorframe and it's in an awkward place and I could not get it reattached. So a person learns how to do without for awhile, keeping a hand on the door every time going in and out, making sure it shuts so cats don't escape. Whenever it does get fixed we'll probably automatically keep holding onto it.

Lila, I don't know if it will help but thought I'd pass along this tip - I have been eating an elderberry and zinc gummy morning and evening for two or three months now. I can't prove it is what has allowed me to finally have an Advent season without getting Covid, because I did also get the shot and tried to avoid any obvious places where germs are spread. But I haven't gotten any other illness either, so... I do believe they are doing something for my overall immunity. Also making a point of getting sunlight when I can. I know where you are that may be more of a challenge.

Well, prayers for everyone's improved and sustained health going into the new year. Enjoy the holidays!

Merry Christmas friends!

I really enjoyed seeing the little grandkids all excited, jumping up and down and clapping while opening their presents. It was delightful! Having a 2 year old running across the room with your present shouting that they have a present for you is pretty exciting! It really was a thrill. I can't complain. We mostly did gifts for the children this year so minimal gifts to each other. I did get a photo of al; 4 kids from TotsFam, in a frame, a dark chocolate bar, a gift card and some tea. I also got a mixer/chopper which will be very handy, and a very nice coffee mug that I really love with a decorative cross on it. And a kitchen shears, which I need.

I am on the recovery end of the sickness, so hope to be working on my room tomorrow. Today was mostly Christmas stuff, cleaning up the living room and dining room afterward, watching a Christmas movie, and we will have a nice dinner here shortly.

My goal for tomorrow, assuming I will feel much better, is to make my bed and then lay out ALL of the clothes and blankets that are in piles in my bedroom on the bed. Then will figure out what I have room for, maybe try on some things to see if they even fit, make donations, and make room for what it left to be put away.

Merry Christmas!

Lila, changes are always hard, and changes around major holidays and traditions are harder. And I am sad for you about Teen. I hope you are having a blast with your grands this morning though.

My son sent pictures of Birdy celebrating his birthday last night - they stopped at a National park with a hotel and he got to eat a fancy dinner in the lodge and swim in the pool (Birdy loves water). This morning they will continue to spend the day with Ddil's Birdy's great grandmother (mom of ddil's mother's husband. - who has only been in the family for 4 years, but she is all in on Birdy and his cousin and my people take family wherever love sends us). Then they will continue on to ddil's mom's house to see Ddil's birth family - especially her grandfather, and come here on the 27th.

This morning we are opening presents with Bean's family (whenever they get here) and baking and hanging out with them.

I didn't quite get done with the house - the decorations are up - except the lights I want Dh to put on the front porch, and the nativity scene with the cowsheep some of you may remember (I am setting that up with Bean) and the dining porch looks lovely, but yesterday Dh decided to do a home improvement project I have been wanting finished for seven years.

There is an air return in a corner of my house that is just a big black plastic and insulation covered column. It was installed during work on the addition OUTSIDE of the wall. Yesterday Dh finally framed it in (he did not clad it, so it is just in a 2x4 frame) to make space for this, I had to take away the shelf of toys that was partly hiding it. All the toys are now piled on my scullery counter. Along with yesterday's dishes and recycling. Hopefully Bean and I will find places for the toys today.

Merry Christmas eve, friends.

Breakups are hard. And I'm sorry about the burn, the work stuff, all the hard things... Tatoulia, that is why I always, all my adult life, had either a husband or a boyfriend. Call me shallow (I probably used to be) but I wanted a guy around to fix stuff when needed. This is really the very first time in my life I have gone without a partner of some sort for more than 2 or 3 months. I don't like it, but I also don't want to go back to being a person who is casual about boyfriends. Not intimacy, I was pretty 'nope' about that unless I loved someone, but I think there were times in my life I thought of someone I was dating as just a friend I like to hang out with and who would fix my stuff when things broke, and help with projects, when in fact they were thinking about marriage and such. I can't be like that anymore. I do ask my sons to help, but they are very busy so it is few and far between.

Turns out the fan not working was because there are two different breaker boxes and that one was on a different circuit. When he flipped the right switch, it worked. So now I have light in my bedroom, and a working fan, so even though it is not as pretty as the first one and is a bit crooked, I'm just not going to look at it. It will be good to have light to wrap some presents tonight.

Christmas is hard for me this year. I am sick, for one thing. I am sitting here alone for Christmas Eve for the first time in my adult life, as TotsFam all went to the other grandparents' house. And you remember Teen, who is still gone, and this is the first Christmas of her life we have not been together. The first Christmas my childrens' stockings are not hung on the fireplace... my grandkids are instead. I dunno, there is something very sad about having no kids to celebrate with. But tomorrow morning 3 of my kids will be here with 4 of my grandkids and it will be nice.

I am just too sick to enjoy much of anything right now. I want to go to bed but it's not even 7:30 yet and I have presents to wrap. I am excited to see the grandkids wake up and have presents from Santa, though... that will be great!

Apparently no one is very hurt or angry about the break up except his partner's parents. They think my extra son is the devil. Meanwhile, his Mom just doesn't want to lose her "daughter" and is continuing to nurture that relationship. She says they both say they just grew apart and lost touch with each other. He kept the house, his mom helped her find an apartment, and they split up their stuff and the pets. They've been together for ten years, but neither wanted kids.

Everything that still needs to be cleaned off the dining porch is on the table. That is progress. Tomorrow I will clean the floor and focus on other things. I can come back and pick at it later.

I recycled some things that were not easy. And I put a couple bits and pieces in the trash can. I feel like I have made a lot of progress this year.

That is upsetting news about your ddil. Nothing is as painful as a burn. Im also sorry to hear about your extra son. Breakups are so hard and painful.

Thanks for saying that about my work. I definitely work hard and enjoy what I do. The redundancies caught me off guard no real surprises as most of them made sense.

I'm tired and so I'm going to bed. One of my coworkers came by tonight and picked up my luggage to store for me. Pretty nice!

Good evening!

Lila, I am sorry about the fan. Good job on the high chair though!

Tatoulia, I'm sorry you are stressed. I can't believe you have to worry about being caught in redundancies, your work always sounds really happy with you.

I hope you get your house squared away!

I finished cleaning up the play side of the basement. I even found some more things to part with (I will post them in the tally thread) but I didn't make progress on the dining porch. Dh pointed out that I don't have to do it until Boxing Day, but it is still hanging over me.

It has been a full day here with less than great updates. Buddy is fine, but ddil scalded herself and had to go to the hospital with 2nd and 3rd degree burns on her hand. Mostly 2nd. They had to cut into one of her fingers because of swelling and she is very bandaged and medicated. The hospital said she can still travel as long as she doesn't drive, so they are still coming, and of course I will be delighted to help with Birdy, but I feel awful for her. My extra son is a nurse, so we will have help available if there are concerns about bandages or healing.

He is the second sad update though, as he and his partner have split up. Apparently back at thanksgiving, but he didn't want to tell us. He was waiting for my actual son to come home and break the news. But his mom told on him when we took her Christmas treats over tonight.

The last year has been a roller coaster.

I've been having a frustrating few days, too, Lila. So aggravated. Things in my house keep breaking and it's only getting worse. I need a handyman and an electrician and a plumber. Yes that's where everything is right now. So many problems. I've tried to fix some on my own with no luck.

Example. One of the doors on the kitchen cabinet was coming off, so I took it off. Screw fell into the disposal, now the disposal doesn't work. I cannot find the screw. I bought one of those magnet things and cannot locate it. So now I have a cupboard without a door and a disposal that isn't working. Oh and the sprayer on my kitchen sink fell apart and the new one I put on leaks. And a few of my outlets need replacing. BF's friend/handyman has not gotten back to me. I texted before my vacation (at that point, it was just the sprayer and the outlets) and I just tried him again. I don't want to let just any handyman in my home so I did contact an expensive plumbing place since they have worked here before and are decent folk. I had a local plumber during the pandemic and not only did he not fix my sink, but he came on to me and I discovered after he left that he had gone into my bedroom. I found a hallway lamp, not just inside the bedroom door, but all the way in my bedroom. Disgusting.

So I've been really aggravated and frustrated. I need to put some money into my house. I just took a very expensive trip and there are redundancies at my work. I'm a wreck.

Okay a friend from work is coming over now. She offered to to store my luggage for me! Yay!

So I'll try to be positive and not be too upset. I just need to get things working properly.

Good job on the scullery counter, SubC! That's an accomplishment and you are holding ground!

The high chair is clean! It is one of those solid wood ones they used to have in restaurants. It was caked with food. I set it outside in the rain for a half hour, then poured hot water with Dawn in it over it, let it soak 10 min, scrubbed with a brush, poured hot water over it, rubbed with a cloth, then used cleaner, then wood polish. So nice looking!

I have come down with their cold and feel miserable. However my one task today was the bedroom fan.

Imagine having a long bedroom and only one side has a light. The other side, with most of the piles, has a ceiling fan/light. Months ago the light stopped working. Finally I got bulbs, but it still did not work. Then the fan wouldnt work. Months of no light... finally the other day I bought a new ceiling fan. And finally today, TotsDad took down the old fan and put up the new one. The new one was bent and looked not as nice but I was like whatever. And then... it doesn't work. TotsDad thinks maybe it was just needed a new switch all along.

So that is frustrating, and I have a new, bent, non-working, cheaper-looking fan light on my ceiling, and parts of all the old fan all over my bed, tools and screws on the nightstands, and still no light.

Hoping TotsDad will try to replace the switch very soon. In the meantime I have to find room among the piles for all this fan stuff.

How are you all? Any plans for Christmas Eve?

The scullery counter is cleared off. There is stuff in a box. It is a smaller box with less stuff than what was stashed to clear the counter in October (I think it was October?) anyway, last time. That box was still there. I pulled it out and REMOVED SOME THINGS. I did not add to it. At all.

The bench where I park things is cleared off. The couch is cleared off. My bedroom is surface clean.

The two main remaining areas are the dining porch (better than it was yesterday) and the play side of the basement. Also better, but both are still really big jobs. I am hoping to work a little tonight and then finish them both tomorrow. We'll see. There still isn't room for everything in this house to be put away neatly. But I am getting closer.

Hi Lila!

How is the high chair?

I have made really good progress on the scullery counter and plan to make one more run at it before I go to bed.

Tomorrow I will finish it off (still reserving the option to keep one box in the cupboard below like I did in October - if that box can just keep getting smaller I will get there.) and work on the dining porch some more. It would be lovely if I could actually finish the dining porch tomorrow as well, but we will see. Progress is happening. that is enough.

It helps me so much when Dh helps me clean. We used to clean up together every weekend, and then he got a real job, and I stopped working for a while, and the kids got bigger, and labor got divided, and the house got too cluttered for him to be willing to deal with it..

I'm glad I'm finally getting things back to the point where he feels like helping. The bedroom looks pretty good. There are some "catchall" containers on my dresser, but they are pretty.

Hello again. I have been having a very nice, relaxing day at home mostly alone, so I am enjoying the quiet and watching some tv.

I probably live in the northernmost area of our group, tho if anyone else here has a day length right now of less than mine, 8 hours 36 minutes, then you are more north than I. The sun is setting by 4:15pm, which feels awfully early.

Today I sorted by to-do paperwork, opened mail, consolidated some like paperwork and threw out a big stack, found a check and deposited it, and cut the dog's nails. I also vacuumed the couches.

I will work on my room some more when they TotsFam comes home from their Santa trip. I tend to go in my room when they are all in my vicinity for long, because they are sick so often, coughing everywhere etc. I need to work on my room for sure.

I finished up some online shopping for January birthdays as well, and purchased myself a new purse for about $25. The one I am using has a broken zipper, one of the main zippers, but I kept using it with it hanging open. Time for it to go bye bye.

I would also like to clean the high chair, which is disgusting with crusted on food and spit. I think TotsMom is a bit overwhelmed with all the babies. She is a great mom but it is hard to keep up with wiping things down etc. I may just set it out in the rain for a half hour to soften things up before I scrub it with disinfectant.

Back later.

I miss tillie too.

Being more south, you should have longer daylight hours at winter solstice, but slower increases and decreases.

How is your day going?

Dh cleaned the upstairs (dusting and vacuuming.)

He made me clean up my dresser. (Well, he asked me to so that he could have the whole upstairs clean, and then he stayed near me encouraging me not to stop)

After opening my teacher gifts and cleaning off my dresser, I am net zero for stuff (I am not counting in consumable stuff like lip balm and candy)

Yep! Gonna take a bunch of things off the couch. Don't know where else I'll put them all but I'll figure it out, I guess. Some of them are not that difficult, I've just had "stuff blindness" to them which is easy to get when busy and distracted. I found one thing that can be donated. The coffee table is already noticeably better. I may clear it and use it as temporary staging for the sofa - I know, must be sure and follow through and not just mess up the coffee table again, lol.

Working on a plan with the bunny rescue to pass along some of the craft paints to the lady who does painting parties as a business and did one for us in the fall. I have been aware for some time that I am tired of storing those items here; at one time we'd thought we'd have our own building but it's become pretty apparent that barring a miracle we never will. So I need to continue to downsize those craft items to only what we may use (and use up) for kids' crafting at two or three annual events, store it compactly, and don't let it become overstocked. In the spring is when one can find paintable wooden bunny ornaments so I do buy a few packages then, but I'll try to judge what is not too much for the storage space I have and the rate at which we will use them up.

I have a few old journals I'm going to type excerpts from and then shred the originals. That like scanning old photos is one of those longer projects, but will be satisfying and a good thing to do when indoors in the winter.

Today I have another digital art class at the library which I'm looking forward to. I think I'm beginning to surmount the learning curve on Inkscape, which gives me a feeling of accomplishment.

I don't know if it makes a lot of difference re solstice and lengthening of days, but I think I'm at the southernmost latitude of any of us here in this little internet space, a title previously held by our dear Tillie whom we miss a lot. I still think of her.

Happy Solstice!
Happy new (solar) year!

It's good to see you all! Lila, I too wonder where our short timers go and if the will ever come back. I always wish them well on their journey when I think of them.

I have turned the tree on, made coffee, and rekindled the fire from last night's coals (staying up all night to tend it is too much for me these days.) it would have been nice to do it at 4, but I slept until I woke on my own, so I missed that window. It's supposed to be cloudy, but I'll go outside to great the sun anyway.

This morning I am also thinking of the blessings that have joined us in the past year and meditating on Carl Sandburg's line "A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on." Hope.

Meanwhile I have some journaling to do and some things to write on bits of paper and add to the flames. I plan to spend my New Year's Day getting my house in order. I don't know how far I'll get, but that's the whole plan.

Tatoulia, I hope you continue to feel better. Why are you panicking?

Lila, it sounds like you made a good start yesterday! I hope your vacation renews you however you spend it.

CM, I will hope ;) we both find the time and space to sew this year. Poco a poco, one thing at a time, take something off the couch. :)

Happy Solstice

Hope is a good word, SubC. My BFF and I each have a spiritual word - hers has been Peace and mine has been Hope, for awhile now.

I understand about attachments to sewing machines! My mom even went through that a little, I think, with the one my grandpa gave her for a wedding gift. When I had my first job I bought her a nice one. My current workhorse one I'm semi-attached to but I could probably be open to a new one at some point - it all depends on money availability and quality of the prospective new one, etc. For now, I'm thankful that cleaning my current one fixed my own tension problem and the dust cover I purchased should help prevent other issues for now. More time and organization to be more productive on sewing would be awesome. I hope your new one is amazing and a joy to use.

Yes - counting items dealt with rather than time seems to be the way to go.

Hi Tatoulia - I hope you get all your goals done - I believe you will. You've been getting pretty efficient these days from what I can tell. :) Momentum takes awhile to build but less effort to sustain, usually. My momentum got generally better this year, with some ups and downs. Like I said awhile back, certain projects were outdoor at least in part, and that weather pattern that brought less wind was very helpful; unfortunately it came with a side order of severe drought, so... we'll see what the new year brings. And plenty of indoor things to work on too. Starting to pick away at those.

Lila, it sounds like you are having a good balance there between chill time and productive time. Hope it continues to be at a pace that feels calm for you.

hello SubC, CM, Tatoulia,
I do wonder what happened to Road, and others, sometimes.
I'm sorry you've been sick Tatoulia. And SubC, I will be praying for Buddy and his surgery. CM, I am thankful for solstice as well.

I finally have my two weeks off and am sooo glad. I just need to be home, get things done, relax, etc.

My bedroom has been appalling, and the rest of the house not much better. But now I have time to fix it.

This morning I slept in, then when I got up, everyone was gone shopping. So I got to chill. I also:
Loaded the dishwasher and ran it
Put in a load of clothes to wash
Put all the things that are not mine and don't belong on counters on the kitchen table and mentioned to DIL that we could have it cleaned today (she has things to put away)
Sorted boxes, saved 3 to wrap presents in, and took 5 or 6 out to the bin
Walked around the whole upstairs picking things up off the floors and putting them away
Walked around my bedroom and filled a grocery bag with trash and took it out to the bin
Went through each thing on my nightstand and tv tray - I still need to dust them and put things away, but I threw out quite a bit

The clothing situation is still very overwhelming to me in my bedroom. I am sitting on my bed right now, and there are piles of clothes on my desk, computer chair, a bin, a small chair, a rocking chair, and on a pile of blankets on the floor. There is also a basket of towels. I will start by folding the towels. Then, I will make my bed and sort clothes and blankets onto the bed - some probably need to be washed, some put away. I may have to donate some things to make room.

I hope to be on here each day while I am on vacation to get encouragement and report in!

Thinking of you all.

Good work donating the sewing machine. I can hear how hard it was and yet you are being practical. These are tough decisions.

I reserved a car for Sunday. I definitely do not feel like driving anywhere but I need to make some donations. I feel smothered in stuff.

I am finally feeling better and was able to get my garbage out last night. I canceled the cleaners this week because I cannot have them getting sick. I'll change my sheets today.

I'm up super early for me because I've panicking.

Good morning!

The actual solstice will occur at 4:20 a.m. tomorrow, so tonight will be the longest night.

I stayed too long at Bean's house last night and did not make any progress toward cleaning up, and I teach today, but I really want to focus tomorrow on getting things in order for the new year. I have never really gotten into the"word of the year" thing, but I think my word this year is hope.

A very practical, deliberate form of hope.

I got invited to a former student's wedding yesterday. I'm not going, but it was a very sweet gesture. He was a good kid. I hope he will be happy.

If I don't get moving I will elate for this last, chaotic, overwhelming school day of 2024.

Good morning!

We had a late night with friends last night. It was lovely, but I am very tired and slow this morning despite sleeping in. I am going over to watch Bean and Buddy this afternoon so dsil can go to the dentist and prepare for his mother visiting this weekend. Buddy's surgery will be January 16 as long as he passes his health screening on the 15th. They will be keeping Bean home for the first half of January to avoid exposure to colds. Don't know if I will be welcome once classes start, but I plan to go back to school at least the first week. Bean will go back on the 15th and then come home with me.

CM, I know that struggle with little bits of time. I want to plan and sort everything, and then it is partly laid out, but I have to quit and then it gets jumbled again. I'm finding from working on the counter that I need to just grab one thing and put it somewhere better. Not always it's final destination, just better - like my hair elastics keep ending up on the counter. When I see them, I will put them on my wrist. Then when I am in the bathroom, I will usually remember to take them off my wrist and put them in the drawer. Or if I see something that needs to go in the basement, I will move it to the chair by the steps. The mess got there one item at a time. Surely I can make it go away one item at a time.

Yesterday I cleaned more things off the counter than I added.

Tuesday I dropped the donations off at the thrift store. There were some things in the box that were hard and I wanted to second guess, but I didn't.

Here was the hardest thing - I have not done any sewing for a couple of years. The tension on my sewing machine is just too frustrating to me. The model I had became known for difficulties with tension. I've been meaning to take it in and have it serviced to help with the problem, but haven't found the time. Dh has noticed that I am not sewing, and that potential sewing projects have become one of the visible issues as I work on clearing things out and they are less hidden by other things. He bought me a new sewing machine. It's a really nice one. Not fancy computerized stuff, but a top of the line basic workhorse model with really good reviews. But he told me I could only keep it if I got rid of the old machine.

I got the old sewing machine when I was a young teenager. It was very fancy for a beginner. My grandmother - who was an accomplished seamstress - bought herself a new machine and bought the same one for me. The purchase included classes in how to use all the fancy features on the machine, and we took them together. She taught me to sew on that machine. I made clothes and costumes with it for myself and my friends, my ring bearers outfit, and clothes, costumes and quilts for my children. I didn't realize how emotional I was about it. I cried. But I also realized that my grandmother would have replaced hers by now. She would not have put up with that grumpy tension adjustment (it got worse with age) She bought me the machine so I could learn to sew, and she taught me to sew so that I could sew. And I established that if I have to spend twenty minutes fiddling with a tension adjustment every time I want to sew, I won't sew.

So the old machine left on Tuesday. Hopefully someone will get a good deal on it who has the technical skill to work on the tension, or the patience to readjust it all the time, or can afford to have it professionally addressed because the machine was so cheap. I am still in the process of letting go, but now I can unpack my new machine (I did already take it out of the box, read the manual and look it over to be sure I wanted it), set it up, and get to know it. I'm sure there will be some crying and a lot of talking out loud to Gram. But next fall, I hope Bean will go to the renfest fully outfitted. And maybe there will be at least one less bin of fabric in my basement.

I'm here too, counting the days till solstice (spoiler alert - there are 2!). SubC, I will be praying for Buddy, and for everyone who is sick. There are people in my circles facing difficult things too. So I just pray for everybody and I add "and if I forgot anybody, them too, Lord."

We got some more boxes of roommate's books donated to the library. I'm needing to declutter at least the public area, e.g., the sofa where I sit and stuff accumulates. It hasn't gotten too bad, thankfully, but it needs to be done and I'm a bit sluggish and/or not sure when to tackle it because the days get broken up into small pieces and I'm not great at making use of small pieces of time (it takes me most of them to organize my brain but oh well). I'll be with a friend tomorrow and Friday will probably be exercise day, then after that should be the home stretch before Christmas.

So far no Covid. Fingers crossed this will be the year I break that pattern of catching it before Christmas. Hopefully good riddance.

I am here, just miserably sick. Waiting for 5PM so I can rest.