Tillie you are such a sweetheart. I love hearing about your life. Your father sounds like a remarkable man, and I am sure he was proud of you. I know that you amaze me everyday with your knowledge, education, compassion and patience. I would love to have you as a close neighbor. And I'm serious, Tillie, if you ever need anything I will take care of you.

Well I scheduled a trip to take mom "home" up north in September. When she was sick earlier this year she asked to go one last time. I now have it scheduled. We will go for a quick trip for only three nights and will stay st my friend's house. I am glad I can do for her. Her cleaning lady can feed the cat and I will feed my little pumpkin on the day I leave and ask BF to stop by the next day and then I'll be home the third day. I think my little buddy will do okay. I think it's easier than sending her to BF's. Tillie do you have any insight? She is now 13. She eats both wet food and dry food and is very very good about drinking out of her water bowls.

I am going to get moving on the house today. I want to keep working on my work for now. I did a nice load of laundry today. My handyman is back from vacation but hevhirt his back and won't be here til next week. With the nice machines downstairs, I am fine with it (but I didn't mention that, I merely said, feel better).

SybC it is so hard to find a dress when you absolutely need one. Have you tried Thredup? I believe they have fast shipping and easy returns. I've sold some of my dresses through there.

Good Morning Everybody 🙂
Ice tea "Clink!

Hi Tatoulia 🙂
Thank you.
If I lived closer to you I would put up your chandelier.
My Father was a master electrician and growing up I learned a lot from him.
He and I completely rewired this house together.
He wired the computer control panels for the space shuttle launch pad and lots of other very impressive jobs.
So I would do your chandelier properly for you.
(((HUGS)))

Hi Subclinical 🙂
WAY TO GO! for keeping to your shopping list.
The goat needs that collar so it was not a splurge ;D
Nobody here would think it strange you have a goat.
You see pickup trucks with small baby cows at the grocery store and sometimes horses, cows & deer walking down the street.
One night I had to call the Sheriff because there were about 24 cows standing in my front yard.
Wishing you good luck finding a pretty dress (((HUGS)))

I have no pressing chores to do today.
YEA!!! 😀
Will do some laundry and wash dishes but otherwise I can just putter around all day.

We all need to brainstorm ideas for inspiration and motivation.
Playing games like "beat the clock".
Fill the trash can as fast as you can while a song plays.
Help when we are stuck.
Breaking down big tasks into smaller more do-able bites help.
But what would be inspiring?
A mental image of what it will be like?
The freedom of having it all behind us?
Peace of mind?
Having the time to do the things we love doing?
We all need goals and plans, things to strive for.

Tillie, I am glad you got a new dress!

I did not get a new dress. I looked in every store in the mall two near the mall, and two upscale resale stores. I am now looking online and hoping the color will be ok.

All I brought home off list was a grocery store sample cup and a new collar for one of the goats who has never had a collar.

When I checked out I had a big bag of cat food, the collar, a bag of nuts, and pineapple juice (lunch). The checker asked "new dog?" And I said "really big cat." He looked a little taken back, so I said "no, really I have a goat." Then he really looked like he thought I had lost it. I had to explain that I don't actually live in the city, I was just shopping there.

Tatoulia, it's really great that this group has helped you get to where you can get rid of your bookcases. Now you can have something you really love instead. And you can go visit them at your bf house. 😉

Today I stay home and paint, and then I go to the food bank. We ate the loaf of bread from last week.

Congratulations on the better weather and the lovely new dress, Tillie!!!

Hi Everybody 🙂
Ice tea "CLINK!" with lime ;D

Hi CriticalMass 🙂
YEA!!! 😀

Hi Subclinical 🙂
WTG! on the bunny pen! 😀

Hi Tatoulia 🙂
Good luck locating that tape measure.
I know exactly where mine is. ;D
Keep being inspired by the new decorating plans.
(((hugs)))

The cooler temps have really helped me and my garden.
We both don't feel all worn out and defeated all the time.
Went to town yesterday to get drinking water and rubber gloves.
The gloves are for when I use plant killer on the small trees trying to grow where I had all those old nasty trees removed a little while back.
Stopped by the thrift shop and found the most lovely teal blue NEW dress, my size!
Cost 2.00 LOL ;D
So another one of my ratty old worn out ones will be leaving.
Felt so good this morning I spent time outside and washed 3 windows and the storm door.
Then I sprayed the plants with Miracle-Gro plant food.
Swept and hosed off the porch & walkway.
Been so long since I did anything outside but water.
Really need to wash the car since the birds have been crapping all over it.
Maybe someday soon I will do that.

Iced tea clinks! I just brewed a fresh pitcher!

Beautiful sunny day with no humidity. I've been working from home-easily did two loads of laundry today. My friend sent her drawings and I am so pleased with her ideas! I am hoping my drapes are done this weekend so I can have handyman hang the rods for me. I am recthinking having him do the chandelier/I'd like someone a little more professional to do it. I haven't yet been able to search for the chain I'll need to lengthen it. Plus I'll need to wire lengthened. I believe handyman is coming tomorrow to work on my washer. It's been going very well downstairs but still I'd like to see my washer fixed. I may at some point decidecyo do larger loads downstairs. Up here, it takes two loads to do my sheets, where the big machine downstairs could do two pair without breaking a sweat.

I am hoping to find some inspiration tonight and get some work around the house done!!!

SubC I found my little tape measure which is helpful for now. I still need to find my large one so I can measure my walls. My artist friend is looking for my new shelves. And needs the dimensions. I think I mentioned this but BF says he'd love to take my current bookcases. They are very beautiful solid wood but I have never been happy with the height (too short for my 12' ceilings) and also, they do not fit into the new plan. I would have never been able to consider letting them go had I not found this group.

Tatoulia, I hope you find your tape measure! Tape measures are really important for planning reorganization!

I have to go into the city today.

First I have to order the kitchen counters and cabinet knobs.

Then I have to go down to the studio where I take classes to glaze the one piece I actually completed in my class. And buy firing cones.

Then I have to go to the mall to buy a dress to wear to ds's wedding, because it has been determined that nothing I own is acceptable and I have been haunting second hand shops all summer with no luck. The wedding is in 24 days.

Then I meet dh, my girls, and my son in law for dinner to celebrate Dd's birthday (she went out with her friends last night)

The good news is that the dress (and dinner, and the cabinet knobs) is on dh credit card, not mine. (He told me "look, you are running out of time. Just let me buy you a dress and be done.") 🙂

The counters will go on my cc, but then we will pay it off with the line of credit we opened for construction. The interest rate is really low and I pay $500 a month on it in the months I have a paycheck and dh pays the regular payment, so we can pay it down faster. By putting the cabinets on my cc, I get 1% of the cost back.

Anyway, hopefully I will avoid any snares that cross my path.

Thanks for the drive by CM! Helloooo Tillie & Anony!

My goal tomorrow is to find my tape measures. I can't find any of them and it is hindering me.

WTG SubC! Wow!

I can't post a picture

I made the bunny pen!

The bunny loves it!

I had to use a 3'x12" piece of wire shelving I had previously hoarded, plus a lot of zip ties for construction and hinges, and a bungee cord to hold the lid shut, all available in my barn.

I was also able to use four of the plastic end caps from the "new" shelving to replace the Easter themed rubber erasers that have been standing in for missing end caps on the cut ends of the wire shelving that is installed in our closet.

I'm not sure how dh will be able to find his shirts without a bright purple rabbit to guide him, but hopefully he'll adjust.

Left over from my purchase I have:
10 metal angle braces
1 16"x17" shelf
A wire bracket thingy with four hooks on it that I may end up using somewhere.

I bought the stuff for the project.
And then I did the project!

Hooray for getting the van window fixed!

I had to go into town.

I stopped at the goodwill (I did not take stuff to drop off) I spent $27 😳

I have been noticing that several pairs of my shorts have been showing significant wear, so I decided I needed one or two new pairs. I tried on 16 and bought my 2 favorite. - $8 They had two immersible blenders which are on my "always buy" list at $5 or less because I use them for so much in the studio that they are not intended for and they burn out every few years. I was down to one. - $9. So far, not so bad.

But then, a gallon ziplock bag of foam stamps jumped into my cart (so much fun in the studio for just $1!) and I found a bundle of 6' wire shelving - $10. (Minus discount, plus tax)

Here was my thought on the shelving - it is 18" wide. So if I turn it on it's side, it is 18" tall. I have had a "yard playpen for the bunny" on my buy list for a long time. I can use bolt cutters to cut the shelving so that it makes a rectangle 6' long by (I'm not sure yet how wide, but at least 2') and put a lid on it with more shelving and the bunny can play outside safe from Hawks when I'm not watching her.

I bought myself a project. I don't need another project. But it's not returnable, and it was under $10. Where am I going to find a bunny pen for less than $1/ sqft?

Really fast drive by - but had to share the exciting news:

I'm getting the van window fixed on Thursday! Woohoo!

Will go back through posts and also give more detailed update on my little corner of the world ASAP.

Hope all is going well with everyone.

Hugs & clinks,
CM

Coffee clink.

Tillie,

I'm glad it is getting cooler there. Heat is exhausting all by itself, let alone having to go out and water things in smoky air!

I don't think I'd mind a bit of "campfire" in my air dried laundry. But everyone's poor eyes! Have you ever tried putting clary sage in the water for your eyes? It's supposed to be soothing.

Tatoulia,

so exciting about the shelf changes!

One thing that frustrates me about the construction project is that I have not been able to put my dolls back out where I can really enjoy them. Every time I would start to get them set up, we would need to do another thing and my spaces would get all jumbled and broken up again.

That is part of why I am concentrating on the studio now. I need to wait until all the construction is done before I tackle any more big hous reorganization projects.

I think dh and I are probably the slowest construction crew on the planet. We started this in February 2015.

Porter, that is a great idea for using electronic storage to keep things easily accessible. I am trying to move toward that with my pottery ideas.

I used to buy a lot of stuff and tear things out of magazines or photocopy them from books and then set the objects around the studio and tape the pictures all over the walls, but I am moving more toward taking photos on my iPad. I haven't figured out a really good way to organize them yet though. I don't think I am a Pinterest/Instagram type person.

Today I have to go to the grocery store and make a cake. It's Dd's birthday.

Just reading the first lines of tillies post
that s Czech N.

minimalism.
I resort to minimal ism .
on my book case I have my top 20 books.
but i have over 1000 books in my hoard..

I've learned to take pictures of passages on my phone.
then put in slu de e show.

while this may seem silly barely useful to normal thinkers.
I had a tbi when i was young. And I forget things . Alot more than I believe everyone else does.
So when I read some these passages in screensaver.
I remember alot more than just the passage.

I used to keep alot of books out in open. But as my dwelling get smaller the books go into the hoard.
And now the information that ive highlighted and put into a .jpeg format is represented as a sssingle . Period.
and when i click on it. I connect with some my past.
I still can't part with the books. But i have only need click.

good night. Hoping all is well.

Hi Tatoulia 🙂

Shelves with books are nice but display shelves/cabinets are so much more lovely to look at.
Being able to see and enjoy all your treasures at a glance would be so good for your soul.
My antique secretary desk has the glass enclosed display case built in on the left side.
This is where I keep my most treasured treasures and I really enjoy seeing these things every day.
YEA!!! for a new litter box! ;D
Have fun looking at the plans for your home. 😀
(((HUGS)))

So glad you got fresh produce, Tillie. I know Scooter appreciates your taking car of his eyes.

I did laundry today and got all the garbage out. Kitty has a brand new litter box. I received my friend's drawings for my home. I'm pretty excited. I need to study them more. I will print them tomorrow at work.

Her ideas are wonderful. I may be getting rid of my bookshelves altogether. It will challenge me but not break me. If we can get some shelving to display my treasures, I can put the books on my closet shelves. We shall see. Her plans have me getting different bookshelves but I think I'm ready to get display shelves and not have my books out and about.

Good Morning Everybody 🙂

Hi Anonymoniker 🙂
So wonderful you have your friend there helping you!
Yes, lots of times (most times) good enough is really good enough (((hugs)))
Have fun & learn lots at the earth bag tour.

Hi Tatoulia 🙂
WTG! for finding that perfect and lovely chandelier!
It's GREAT that the washer is not being totally occupied by someone else and you are able to keep up with your laundry. (((hugs)))
I don't hang out wash or even go out at times when the smoke is the heaviest but wait till the winds change and it's not too thick.
When I bring in the laundry I always love to smell it and it's been smelling to me like fresh line dried laundry but to someone elsewhere it probably would have some smokiness to it.
Scooter's eyes are looking terrible. All red rimmed and weepy. I keep soothing them with a wet wash cloth and he says that does help a little.
Mine are irritated and I am still coughing a lot.
Thank you for asking 🙂

Hi Subclinical 🙂
You are going great at the "not acquiring" and also for finding things that you can now let go of.
WAY TO GO! 😀

WAY TO GO!!! Everybody for resisting those sales, specials and freebies!

The weather has cooled down nicely.
Will only get in the mid 90s this week.
Still smoky air but hoping it will stay thin and less of a nuisance.
I am very tired, I think the word for this is exhausted.
Need a vacation from my life.
Trying to keep things outside watered enough, keeping the house tidy, keeping the cats needs dealt with, keeping the house cool enough and everything else has worn me out.
Ran completely out of fresh produce for a couple of days but very early yesterday morning I ran to the grocery store and got FOOD!
Was home again before it warmed up out there.
YEA! me 😀
At 8:00am this morning I will go out and start to water.
Hoping that with the cooler temps I won't have to water every other day to keep stuff from wilting.

Yay for not buying earphones!

Not buying is twice as good as getting rid of. Because if you buy a new thing, even if you get rid of an old thing, you are back where you started, but poorer.

I need to proof read better. I don't know why, but autocorrect keeps changing "for" to "girl" even when I type it correctly.

Your chandelier sounds wonderful! I love that sort of thing, but it really doesn't go with my house, so I have to enjoy others'.

Thanks for the help, SubC! Today was spent with mom and then doing errands with BF. I changed my bed linens but nothing else. It's only 8 but I feel like climbing into bed, so I will.

Still papers to conquer here, SubC. With your help, I'll get there. This time next week I need them all to be gone. My draperies should be ready and I don't want anything on my dining room table when those are hung. I found a beautiful vintage crystal chandelier that I'll need hung above my table, so all around I'll need to finish up with all of that before the guy comes to put everything up for me.

Today while running errands I saw some sale earphones and I resisted the urge to buy them. I have a perfectly good pair already.

Keep up the good work, SubC!

Tatoulia, sometimes you need a break. But if you are tired of papers (.or are you done with papers?!) can you Ho back to art or try a new area you haven't tried girl a while?

My dd1 begged me to keep the drum. She wants her children to be able to play with it here in the woods like she did. She offered to take two 18 gallon bins of toys I agreed to store for her until she has kids in order to make room.

I decided that one of the floor lamps in the studio can go. It took me over an hour if struggling with bad lighting to decide that. I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed. I moved the other floor lamp, which I also use for displays at bazaars, and suddenly I could see well and what I was doing became much easier! It takes at most a minute to move the lamp to where I am working, and there is only one of me, so I really only need one lamp. There is another lamp I might also get rid of (I had one at every work station).

Dh and I bought lights for the kitchen area of the addition today. And he also bought me a new mop for my studio - the kind they have at the studio where I take classes - very effective and easy to use. So I guess I also have an old mop to get rid of.

Hip hip hooray! SubC & Anony! Great work and self control!

Tillie you know how envious I am of your clothesline! Is there any smoky smell to the laundry? Or is everything one big smoky smell? How are your eyes? How are Marty's eyes?

I haven't done anything but I did, in my laundry obsession, sneak downstairs today for a quick load. No one was using it and this load I hang to dry. I've set my timer to run down as soon as it's done. It will help me from obsessing all day. Pretty pathetic on my part.

I will do my dishes and relax this AM before getting mom. She just called me/thought it was noon. It's only 10:30. Her eyesight is terrible. Plus she's probably just missing me.

Have a wonderful day! Any words to "unstick" me are greatly appreciated!!!!

Anony, I'm very glad you are making progress toward a better living situation! Great that you will be able to ask somebody who is actually doing the construction about things like electric and plumbing!

Your friend is very sweet. Dibs are much harder to resist than sales!

I told myself yesterday "what if I go to the sale? I will probably find how many "treasures"? Three, five? I could do that every weekend all summer. And then there is next year, and the year after. Where would I put 30 more things? 300? Better to wait until I am better at this and have curated my own treasures. There will be plenty later." Also, the money. I am in a place right now where I need to not spend money. It is all going to wedding related stuff (did I tell you my son is getting married in September?) and the new addition.

~☆♡☆~Hello, to all you wonderful fun forum friends!~☆♡☆~
SubC, Im facing a similar situation with my friend whose nice trailer offer i declined. She's now offering me first dibs on all her stuff before her yard sale, then moving in with the new boyfriend. Im just not good being practical with that sort of thing any more?!? Good for you, for avoiding yours!
Tillie, i just love your beautiful perspective on things! I hope those fires go out soon?! That is so scary!
A quick-ish drive by....things are moving nicely! The tarp is on & my friend has been awesome! Shes been a fantastic guide with my stuckness! That saying 'good enough is good enough' really works! As we were figuring out the tarp, she was great in kind of teaching me how to move through the decision making process of each problem?! Tomorrow were going to an earthbag home tour & ill have a better idea of what this entails! Im excited & inspired & feel strong! Today flowed beautifully & i got a lot done! ~☆♡☆~Love & Light & Goodness to you all!~☆♡☆~

I made it through the who,e day without heading out my driveway. 🙂

I worked in my studio instead. Much fun and have two empty kitty litter buckets (I use the kitty litter buckets to store clay - mostly used but not fired clay waiting to be reworked for use again.

One bucket had dry clay in it, and I poured that clay into a different bucket to soak (step one) but then when I tried to wash the bucket, it had a crack in it - no good!

So I will set they bucket aside as a "trash can" in my studio and throw it in the dumpster at school when I go to set up for open house in a couple of weeks.

The other bucket was fine, so it will go to school to be used by a student - I try to give each high school student a bucket to keep their clay in, the younger kids get ice cream pails. We usually run out of buckets (lids usually, they wear out and break) and some of the high schoolers have to use ice cream pails too.

I will not need the buckets any more because I will not get this far behind reworking the clay again - I am going to rework it as I go so it doesn't pile up any more. Eventually almost all of the kitty litter buckets will be at school and I will have reclaimed about 15 square feet of floor space.

The clay will be beautiful pottery which I will sell so I can buy good things like goat food and classes and better equipment and blueberry bushes. 🙂

I wedged 25lbs today and it will be ready to use tomorrow.

Tillie, the clothes line is the first nice thing about your weather!

I used to have a clothes line, but we took it down for the construction and haven't put it back. I miss it, but the weather has been so humid here this summer that I think clothes would dry in about two days - if it didn't rain.

My yard hasn't dried out enough for dh to grade it since first thaw.

Hi Everybody 🙂
"Clink!"

Hi CriticalMass 🙂
YEA! for a good battery and fingers are crossed that your window gets fixed soon and not too expensively.
You're doing great looking at the storage with a critical eye as to how things will be moved and finding the excess that can go. (((HUGS)))

Hi Subclinical 🙂
WAY TO GO! for finding more things that can be donated and especially for knowing how much bread the chickens can eat.
Hope you were strong and stayed away from that sale.
(((HUGS)))

Hi Tatoulia 🙂
Hope you are having a very pleasant weekend.
(((HUGS)))

The heat and thick smoke have given me a nasty sick headache for days.
I cough a lot and my eyes hurt.
Did manage to get up early yesterday and do some very needed cleaning in here.
The bathroom and floors were getting nasty and I just had to clean them, or move out.
LOL ;D
Laundry all dries on the clothes line in an hour or less.
That's nice, almost like owning a clothes dryer only the sunshine is free to use.
Weather forecast is for temps that are high but none any longer in the three digit range.
Now if they can just get those wildfires put out.

TTYS 😀

Stay strong, SubC! Remember your hard work on cleaning off those shelves--you cleaned them off for YOU and not to fill with someone else's junk. JUNK not treasures.

I'll repeat these words to myself as I go out in the world today.

Sending everyone much love and strength today.

Special love to Tillie. Thinking of you and the little furry friends.

Today is the community wide yard sale in my little town.

I am not going out.

Hi again!

Worked in my studio this morning and cleared off three more shelves to create a drying center (net time saver) also found two plastic bowls that I bought to use for molds (investment of $1) but I decided they are not all that great, so I added them to the goodwill pile.

And I forgot to tell you that I only brought home ONE loaf of bread from the food bank, and a little unsealed bag of pumpkin seeds (unsealed bags can't be given out), both for me to eat - we got 50 loaves of fresh challah and out of 21 customers gave away 2. They won't be good on Monday, so everybody took one. Hopefully the rest got taken this morning.

Clink!

CM, I am so glad about your van! And the art box. Did you take the art home with you to make decisions?

Tatoulia, shredding is hard work! Too bad the kitties won't use shredded paper in their box - you could skip the errand. 😉

Thinking cool rain thoughts for Tillie.

My replacement baby chicks arrived this morning. When I went to get the chick waterer that attaches to a mason jar, I couldn't find it. I think I must have given it away. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I haven't ordered chicks for several years, and those waterers are only a few dollars... So probably good.

I used the big gallon waterer which I would have needed to switch to after a week or so anyway, but I need to find a bigger bin for the chicks to live in because they are crowded with the big waterer.

Hi Everybody 🙂

Just checking in...
Only got up to 106 degrees today.
But the heat stirs up thunder storms and that raises the humidity.
No rain out anywhere near me though but today got lots of thick wildfire smoke.
At least this smoke smells nice like a pine campfire rather than like burning weeds and salt grass.
Either way it's still irritating.
By Saturday it's supposed to only get up into the 90s, YEA! ;p

Ice tea "CLINKS" to everybody.