Tatoulia,

You were amazing this weekend! I have such a cute image of you carrying your chair down the sidewalk and stopping to sit in it.

Dd2 is moving next weekend. We talked about coming to help her, but she decided she could do ok with her friend's big car instead of the truck. "The only thing I'm not sure about is the mattress, and it's only 4 blocks. I have a bunch of friends coming to help me, so if it doesn't fit, we can just carry it."

It sounds like things are going much better at your mom's. I'm very happy for you both! I only drink bottled water when it is medically necessary. I declare your mom's water so! Hydration is critically important as we get older.

Tillie,

I'm glad they got the fire out! Everything is sodden and waterlogged here. We had a couple of sunny days this weekend - for which I am grateful, but they just thawed the mud without really drying anything.

I am very amused about scooter and his piggy. I hope this gives poor mousie a break.

A hawk got one of my new chickens yesterday. They have poor instincts. Hen raised chicks are much smarter than these silly incubator hatched creatures.

I have my pottery class again today. I'm pleased with a couple of the pieces I worked on this week.

LOL 😀
Only 4 rest stops would have been great!

Hope she likes and uses her trash basket.
If she will grab a bottle of water to drink more readily than taking a glass to the sink/water cooler then I feel bottles of water are a necessity and will keep her hydrated.
You did a lot this weekend getting things moved around.
WTG! 😀
See what happens when you get enough sleep?
Plus it sounds like you are happy (((HUG)))

So cute about the pig!!

Well we took the chair over to mom's. We are both really happy. Me, because it's out of my house AND I found a way to let it go and Mom because she likes having it in the house and it is a breath of fresh air from the big upholstered chair.

I took her garbage out, etc and I also brought over her document box and her trash basket. So it all went well. BF helped me with the chair and I was actually able to get it down my stairs myself do I bet I would've only had to stop and sit four times had I carried it!

We then ran errands and just got back from a particularly tasty dinner. He joked its past my bedtime since I've been going to sleep so early this weekend.

I may still try to get a walk in. Mom needs water and I too could use a few things. Right now it is easiest to have bottled water at her disposal.

Just 12 noon here now

Since there was no breeze/wind this morning I went out and lit the burn barrel.
Wind is starting to slowly pick up now but the burn barrel is finished burning and has a cover on it.

Two days ago there was a "control" burn that got out of control near here and they did not mess around dealing with it.
They sent out every fire truck they have along with many Sheriff's Deputies.

Still not a single drop of rain since I last reported any rain here.

The kitchen sinks have been scoured all ready for dish washing.
But first I had to cook some asparagus and chicken nuggets so I now have some food ready to eat today. 🙂

Mousie is still drying where I tossed it and tiny pink plastic pig is still cheerfully floating in the water bowl.

Hi Tatoulia
WAY TO GO! Getting stuff out and getting things organized for their new locations!

I suppose you could carry the chair and take frequent breaks resting by sitting on it.
JK LOL ;D

YEA! for getting that well deserved and needed sleep you got!

So great to hear Mom is doing better now with the new arrangements.
Easier for her to get her necessities and a relief for you. (((HUG)))

Well, I called Scooter over to the water bowl
Plucked soggy mousie out and plopped the tiny pink plastic pig into the bowl.
He was fascinated!!!
Piggie floats beautifully.
He watched Piggie for a while, drank some water and now seems very satisfied.
The plastic pig is more sanitary than the cloth mouse and not as big so Twinkles might drink now too without always complaining about mousie.

Wow! SubC! Congrats on finding what you lost! So happy for you!!!! And yay for the newborns! SubC you do so much. I am in awe of you. I truly am.

Tillie, I can hear Scooter from here! Crying and carrying on.

I took my bags to goodwill-the big bag in the house and some of the things in my car that I'd taken from mom's house. I got her one pretty box to put her papers and to put on the bottom shelf of the new tv table and bought her a small trash can for by her chair! Thank you TIllie for that idea! I basically took yesterday for myself. I stopped by mom's with BF, which helped to keep the visit short. We brought her some more bottled water as she is doing very well drinking water now that she largely chair-bound. She has just enough strength in her to get to the bathroom and back to the chair. She seems brighter and more together. We attribute this to the meals in her room (she frequently refuses to go downstairs and then she skips meals, then things get rough for her personality wise) and the fact that she's drinking so much water. The cleanliness must help, too.

I didn't bring her new things over yet. for the chair, I'm going to need BF's help. We probably need to take in a car. I can't see myself carrying it all that way. I am excited. To get it out and get it to mom's! very comfortable chair.

Okay that's the news for now. I got a lot of sleep again last night and I'm feeling so much better! Two long sleeps in a row and the stressors have abated.

Coffee clinks!

YEA!!!
For finding that small important paper thing!!! 😀

Okay, got it, thanks for the sire info. 😉

Good idea.
Maybe I should try putting a toy in the water bowl.
He has some small plastic farm animals he's fond of and I thing the tiny pink pig would float too.
LOL ;P

Maybe you should get scooter some toy fish. My kids used to have a little windup one that swam in the bathtub. I wonder what svooter would do if you made a fish swim in his water bowl!

These are (probably) the last babies from my old buck. The new buck wasn't ready yet when Annie was bred. I needed an early kidding for milk. I bred a second doe to him, but she would be due in a week if it took, and doesn't look like it. Also, she appeared to go back into heat and was rebred a month later.

I don't think the new buck has any kids coming for a month.

The exciting thing I came to tell you guys though, is that I found the small, important paper thing! So I can just take the recycling to drop off this week.

Good Morning Everybody

Yea! for two baby goats!!!
Now these are from that new Buck you got, right?
Fingers crossed they are genetically strong (((HUG)))

Sounds like you have several Nanny goats ready to be put out to pasture.
Wishing you healthy new girl kids to take their place. 🙂

Good luck making a little more progress today.
But I would be spending a lot of time just watching the new babies 'cause they are just so darn cute.

Steven fell this morning on the back porch
so my day has already started off badly.
Took him a long time to get back up and there is no way I could physically help him get up.

I really must clean the kitchen today.
If I had a dish washer there aren't even enough dishes to fill it half full.
But since they are on the counter it looks very messy.
And since you can see the kitchen area from the front door it makes the whole place look messy.

Scooter is still putting his toy mouse and penguin in the water bowl.
Tried taking the toys away from him permanently but he sings a very sad little song calling to them as he searches for them. :/

Good morning! Baby goats looking strong and healthy.

Doesn't mean I won't lose them suddenly if there is an underlying genetic issue, but promising. I am also encouraged that neither of them is white - which is often linked to a problem here.

The sun is out today and I am feeling optimistic about making some progress. I will report back.

Tatoulia, how do things look for the chair?

I made a little progress on laundry, dishes, pottery, lesson plans, and my seed order. Did not finish any of those things.

Annie had her babies - boy and a girl. Really pretty, and they seem strong and healthy. This is the first time she has had only twins, so maybe that means they will be ok.

She is 8 years old now, so this could be her last kidding. I will see how she recovers. If she does well, I may breed her next year, but if she doesn't keep weight on, she is probably done. Her triplet sister snowdrop kidded last year and is still very skinny. I think snowdrop is retired. (My mind could be changed if she plumps up over the summer, but I don't expect it.)

Tatoulia, nice job paring down!

YEA!!!
Kitty has forgiven you! ;D

Glad you had a nice dinner last night.
Oh well, about the cookie making.
Good luck getting that chair out this weekend.

WAY TO GO! keeping the back of the toilet and vanity clutter free.
That kind of décor gets dusty looking fast if you don't constantly clean it.
Surfaces are so much easier to keep clean too when there isn't a whole bunch of stuff to pick up and move out of the way.

YEA! for a goodwill donation! 😀

Have a wonderful day.

Hello hello! Cookies are cancelled because hostess is sick. I found out yesterday. Bit of a relief, truth be told. Has a. Dry nice dinner with two work friends last night then went to mom's where once again I was greeted and adored by the cat! Everyone was right!

I was up unusually early today, before 9. I did two loads of laundry and am waiting for one to dry. I'm eating breakfast and getting ready to drop things off at goodwill.

In my bathroom I used to have a tray on the back of the toilet with three little jars/vases and on my vanity I had my toothbrush, soap dish, other adorable knickknacks. For the last two years, nothing on back of toilet and only soap dish on my vanity. What a relief.

I want to take the chair out of my apt and over to mom.'s this weekend. First, there's no place comfortable for me to sit now that I've removed the upholstered chair and second I want this chair out of my house.

I think I'll see if BF wants to have a cup of coffee with me (he's working right now) and then I'll run a few errands.

Good Morning Everybody

Hi Subclinical
I think that it's good that you used something that you had saved.
Now it's been used and removed from your basement.
Now enjoy the newly open space and not having to go buy baggies.

You have been doing GREAT learning to not try to rescue EVERYTHING.
You also have made great strides in decluttering and organizing your spaces and learning that you have a limited amount of space to keep your things without them all becoming a big jumbled mess.

Keep up this wonderful progress by finding ways to use up and recycle those random items you have still held onto.
Then enjoy and remember the good feeling of no longer having to be the curator of all that Justin Case. 😉

You sure have been busy this week!
How are the goats? Things will get even busier when the kidding and milking begins.
But it will be so nice when you have homemade ice cream and cheese to enjoy. 😀

Did not accomplish anything yesterday because Twinkles was being too demanding.
I gave him everything but he wanted ALL my time and attention.
Made me a nervous wretch chasing me around and meowing loudly at me if I tried to ignore him by doing anything else.
I refuse to brush, pet, feed and coddle him 24 hours a day.
He's one of those cats where if you give them an inch they will take your whole arm. ;p
He finally settled down after I threw him outside in the fresh air and sunshine.

Hi.

Wow.

So much happened here in the last few days. My life got crazy busy, but this morning I am just taking things slowly.

I will need to address the physical chaos from just moving quickly from one thing to the next all week. I also need studio time because my class is ending and the deadline for wet work is next sunday. And my rabbits need to be brushed, hooves need to be trimmed, and my garden needs to be started. And of course, lesson plans.

I did a project with my kids this week in which I was able to use a bunch of plastic containers I had set aside to either use or take with me to recycle when we visit ds instead of buying a box of ziploc bags.

I'm not sure if that is good because it got some things out of my basement, or bad because it encourages the saving behavior, but actually using the things I saved to use seems like a positive step and I know it was a good (if tiny) choice as far as environmental impact, money, and time (saved me a stop at the store).

Good Morning Everyone
"Clink!"

Hi Tatoulia
YEA! for getting rid of chaos rather than organizing it!
I'm sure kitty will soon be back to enjoying your visits once she forgets about the recent invasion.
Have a wonderful weekend with your friends. (((HUG)))

Organizing...
In order to organize things in the best way possible is to first declutter then organize only the real keepers.
Steven has been trying to organize his hoard for well over 20 years.
He now has boxes/bins/totes/bags all filled with a jumble of miscellaneous items and can never find what he needs/wants.
This leaves him feeling deprived so he remedies this by going out and acquiring even more to compensate.

Thank you all for the beautiful support you have given me as I did this journey into adulthood these last few weeks.
You all held me accountable to never chicken out and you celebrated my accomplishments with me.
Love you all (((HUGS)))

Today I am planning to sew a new half slip. Need a new one and have the fabric and elastic. 😉

Enjoy your day off, Tillie! You did so much this week and I'm so proud of you for lifting that weight off of your shoulders!!!

I'm working on getting rid of my chaos. Not organizing it; getting rid of it.

I do hope my little sister finds it in her heart to love me again. It's been am tough week for my little friend.

Good Evening Everyone

Hi Tatoulia
WTG! you did a lot today.
That is a great start on long over due paper decluttering.
YEA! for a big bag of donations!

Kitty, I am sure you appreciate the new clean so please give big sister a break & forgive her. 😉

I'm looking forward to taking tomorrow off.
Not having to go anywhere.
I'll be able to sleep in and then do something fun.

Too tired and too cold to take trash & recycling out. Hoping I'll wake up in time in the AM. Mom seemed good tonight although kitty hasn't forgiven me for all the commotion yesterday.

The cleaners texted me today to thank me for the extra work. They are so kind.

Cm you are doing great! So proud of you! You've been really busy!!!!

Tillie there'll be more to shred over the weekend. But I started and I feel good. Have consolidated two donation bags into one and have washed all of mom's utensils and have taken them back.

Good Afternoon Everybody

WAY TO GO CriticalMass!!! 😀
Wonderful you got that paperwork done at home!

You sure have been busy these last several days.
Very happy you went swimming and really want you to have more of those leisurely relaxing times.

Can't properly explain what peace I have for doing all my final papers/wishes and really want you to get yours together so you can have this great feeling too. (((HUG)))

WAY TO GO! Tatoulia! 😀
You have been getting things done today.
Make sure to toss Badger a bisket.

Papers got mailed this morning.
Stopped in at the thrift shop, bought a green jar candle that smells like chocolate covered mint cookies.
Came home, ate lunch.
Have everything ready to darn a sock soon as I am off the laptop.
These socks are so warm soft and wooly and there is only a tiny hole in the heel of one of them.
Well worth the time to darn it.

We had cross-posted, CM! Glad you found the site! It did seem pretty easy to navigate and WTG for taking care of this!!

I have one bag for goodwill and I've shredded one bag of papers. I have dealt with some of the things I took from mom's drawers last week, including washing some and putting some in a plastic container for my sister to sift through.

Sister is talking about a visit mid-March. I don't have an opinion. I'll just wait and see.

So I'm forging ahead. And yes I feel better. So no reason to stop now.

Next week's task has to be getting my hot water heater replaced. I need to get that stressor done.

Okay back to work. I have showered today but no real laundry as someone else is home and seems to be using the machines.

Go to student aid.gov. They've consolidated a few sites. The firms are there and are downloading. If you need me to send to you, I will.

UPDATE

WOOHOO!!

I went to try the student loan website again, still no luck, thought to try to find a way to print out a form, and somehow in my Googling, stumbled upon the website from before - it had a new URL!

It's quite possible I had been sent an email about this, which might have gotten deleted when I lost those other Yahoo emails.

Anyway, I jotted down the new URL so I will be able to find it again AND... I got my application done and printed out! Right here at home!

So now I feel jazzed to go and do some decluttering in my room. Because I'll need to send them a copy of my Social Security income yearly letter, so in the process of getting that I might as well do some straightening. Maybe even some laundry later, depending on how the time goes.

Welcome to our chat here, Dazed! It goes a little slower than the other kind, but we get the chance to follow each others' lives and progress. Would love to have you stick around. As Tatoulia said, we are in the process of learning not to buy or save things for Mr. Justin Case. That fellow can get his own stuff! He doesn't need our help.

Semi-crazy week for me. Not too bad though.

I did get to the gym on Monday! Sorry to be slow reporting back. I just swam, very leisurely, in the warm pool. Then had a lovely sit in the hot whirlpool, and showered and came home.

It's good to know Badger has a Tardis.

Prior to that, I had made it out to the cemetery to put new flowers on my parents' grave. Their death dates are both in February with Valentine's Day sort of in the middle, and I'd wanted to do this on Valentine's Day but we had that snow and wet slop. Monday was sunny and dried out.

Tuesday I had two holy hours at church in the afternoon, filling in for the gal before me. It was a great spiritual refreshment time. I prayed for my roommate and our mechanic/handyman. There is some serious frustration going on there. He has a crazy life too, and we don't want to be pushy with him, but he also needs to learn to communicate if there will be delays. She had to rent a car for her trip because he promised to do the work on the last possible day then nothing happened and we still haven't heard back.

Tuesday evening about 10 till 10:00 I got a text that they needed me to sit with the older lady yesterday. Then yesterday morning my girl bunny wasn't herself, but she started eating before I had to leave, and seems fine now.

I had planned to go to the library and use their computers. There's paperwork I MUST do regarding my student loan debt, and I admit I've procrastinated somewhat. There's still adequate time - except the site's server is down. I tried it from more than one place. If anyone has time, try going to studentloans.gov and see if the page loads? I hope if I can't get the application done via web as I have other years, maybe I can get a hard copy somehow to print and fax... this could be a major scary headache if it doesn't work out like REAL SOON. 🙁

SubC hope all goes well with the baby goats and that this time they live long and prosper.

Tatoulia, glad you got those needles gone. I had some leftover unused ones from my mom and some veterinary ones. Wanted to keep a couple of the syringe part without the needle, for squirting paint in interesting ways, LOL.

That's helpful, SubC, that I can just get rid of them in the regular trash if they haven't been used. Thanks for that info. At least I hope it is true in my state - will check with my nurse friend.

Tatoulia, I feel ya on the papers. I so want to get through my "jottings," those myriad slips of paper I scribble my ideas on so my ADD brain doesn't implode from frustration. And other things - computer passwords, etc. I have a place for passwords, but sometimes if I join a new website on the spur of the moment, a slip of paper is generated. Getting those caught up will eliminate much clutter and visual distraction.

Tillie, congratulations on getting all that stuff done! I need to get going on mine. A job for the Badger, no doubt. My aunt had offered me some help last fall and I still haven't gotten going on it. I wanted to talk to my priest and to the mortuary and cemetery. And to the cousin who handles my aunt's affairs and who she said would take care of it all. It's hard being 60 miles from family and not being able to drive the highway myself. Well, more on this later.

OK, think that's most of the news for now. Off to the library.

I can feel your relief, Tillie. This will put your mind at rest. I am so proud of you for doing this and finishing it!

Well the chaos in my life/house won't get any better by thinking about it so I'll have to act!

Mom is at the dr today, I think. She didn't go Tuesday because the van didn't arrive, then I made her move it from Wednesday so we could get her house in order.

Time for me to work on papers and a donation bag. Must do today. Will feel better. The power is within me.

Good Morning Everyone
Hoping you all are having a great day 😉

Hi Tatoulia
YEA! for all that sleep!
Friday and Saturday sound like they will be fun, so have fun.
Badger loves to chew up and spit out old unneeded papers so keep him happy today as you work from home.
Enjoy all the cleaning ladies' labor in both your own home & your Mom's. 😀

Today I will go to the post office and mail off Nate's copies.
This is the final step in my last wishes being legally solidified. YEA!!!
Will drop by the hospital thrift shop since it's just down the street from there.
My Hyacinth bulbs are starting to put up their leaves out in the garden.
Time to start thinking about working outside soon.

I do love cats with extra toes!

Tillie I slept nearly 12 hours and I am feeling much better. I was going to go into office today but have decided to stay home and work from here. I can shred during breaks. I do have shredder. I never returned BF's to him.

I gave plenty of trash bags and my house is so clean. What a relief to get those things done for mom! Big relief! Now I just need to get the wood chair over to her house. She wants it and I want it out of my house.

So I'll work on shredding today. I have to. I need things to get better for me.

On Friday night I have dinner with some work girlfriends and then on Saturday a different group of women are going to someone's house to make cookies. I'll take the train there and someone offered me a ride home. This should be great fun.

I'm enjoying my coffee then will log into my computer and start my day.

Nice to know your Mom's home is very sanitary now.
I know how the mess was upsetting for you but she fussed too much when you would try to clean things.

How wonderful there was a petting zoo there!!!

My uncle was a merchant marine.
Sailors are very superstitious and they believe that cats with extra toes are very lucky to have.
They are adorable.

OK. When is the next day you can have all to yourself?
This day you and Badger will take a BIG bite out of those closet papers.
Do you have the shredder? Do you have enough trash bags?
I'm sure that most of these papers can just leave.
The few "keepers" can later be filed.

Right now I have a plethora of papers.
My plan is on Friday I will sort and organize them and get rid of all the unneeded ones then file the "keepers" away.
But tomorrow I am going to the post office and send off Nate's copies.
I hate papers and prefer to just toss all of them into the burn barrel but that is self defeating behavior.

The cleaners just just arrived here at my house. They earned their money at mom's, I am sure. I haven't seen it but when I stopped by they were scrubbing the kitchen cabinets. Mom sat outside in the hallway. When I stopped by, I took her downstairs where they had a petting zoo of sorts. Mom held a kitty. They had lots of kitties and sweet doggies and beautiful rabbits and a goat and a pig. The elders were in heaven. We got a kitty with extra ties for mom to hold and love.

I'll have to run up to close her window. The ladies left it open since the cleaning smell was so strong.

Now I have deal with my closets. I keep failing to start. I need to do this, the second they leave here. Feel free to laugh. I'll probably just shower and climb into bed.

But I have to do it. I haven't done it and I need to. I can't live with all the papers just shoved in my closets. It's bad for me. I need to do something about this.

Tillie you are just so sweet. I am tired and I have to figure out what to do once I have my house back to myself.

Hi Tatoulia
Hope you are doing alright (((HUG)))

YEA! for cleaning ladies!

I know that we all here feel very lucky to have you with us.

Should you come across another sharps container I would suggest that you ask the doctor's assistant if it would be alright to add it to their already much larger pile.
I know that I would have done that when I was working.

Wishing you a refreshing shower and a deep relaxing nap.
You earned it. 😉