Ps remote was in the drawer where I keep my remotes!

Tillie! Orange juice clinks!

I have nothing to impulse buy. I've gotten a good group of tea towels, Swedish sponges, jams, homemade soaps, together. When I run out, I run out. And I'm done. I will reinforce the idea of no impulse buying. I'm also rejecting the idea to buy myself lots of things by way of saying, it's from the cat.

I will bake for the people under me at work and I'll do my usual of a donation to a soup kitchen. I've been doing this for years and I find nothing more hopeful or satisfying than giving to a local soup kitchen in their names. They don't like it, but it's what I do.

The decorative plate I bought at goodwill won't work after all. So it's in the goodwill pile.

I don't need any clothes for the winter. I have my coats from last year. I'll see if I need one more skirt. I'm not sure that I will.

Well back to work for me. I've used my light box and I've gotten dressed. I'll see if the laundry is being used. Would love to do a bit.

Good Morning Everyone
"Clink!"

Hi Subclinical
GOOD LUCK! with all your plans for today 😀

I am picturing a warm and loving Christmas day in your home with family all gathered together.

Hi Tatoulia
You no longer feel the need to keep the chair to remember your parents.
The chair has served it's purpose in your life.

The fireplace remote might be with the Winter/Holiday items, where ever you put those???

WAY TO GO!!! for fixing a spending budget and sticking to it.
YEA!!! that you are all done so there is no need to go into the shops where it's crazy insane with all the holiday shoppers!
Plus there will be NO impulse buying
right? (((HUG)))

I have a few ideas as to what I might do today.
Wash dishes
Shampoo my hair...

Have not reset the clocks
Been waking up between 4 and 5am and if I reset the clocks I will be waking up between 3 and 4am and that would be just too depressing.

Steven has done nothing around here but be extremely mean and nasty.

I just finished reading the posts.

I was at the Museum of Fine Arts yesterday for a lecture. Afterward BF and I had coffee and a biscotti in the cafe. I told him how the auditorium was the same one where I watched a documentary on Sacco and Vanzetti, many years ago, and how on my way over, I asked a neighbor kid if he wanted to go with me. He was about 12 or 13 but his mother didn't care about him so he could've joined me on the spot. There was football on that night, and it may have been an ?important game' but I don't remember behind that. Anyway, he did not join me and when I got back, he asked, what are you going to do now? And I felt sad. Like no one had ever invited him to anything.

So I gently said to BF last night, he's gone, right? (He moved away at some point) And BF quietly shook his head "yes". And then he quietly added, his mother is gone too, and last time I saw his father, he was super skinny and looked like he didn't have long to live.

We do what we can, when we can, SubC. I'm so sorry about this boy and that he'll be in court soon. He still has time for ideas and a different outcome, he's just starting from a different place this year.

I have a plan for today.

I have to email dh at noon and 4 with progress updates.

I can't think about Christmas shopping yet. Mil called yesterday in her usual panic because we haven't told her what we want or made travel plans. So we asked the kids if they had plans.

Dd1 decreed that all children shall be here Christmas Day. And ds claimed FIVE days for him and his wife. :)!

Today I have to think about dishes. And the burn box.

Hello hello. Where did the weekend go?!?

Made a big decision over the weekend regarding the chair I've insisted on keeping. I'm ready to let it go. I contacted an antique dealer re getting rid of it. I've been able to locate it on eBay. I'd like to realize some $$ for it but if it's nit gone by December 1st, I'll donate and take a deduction. I'm not sure if I'm even eligible for deductions anymore now that I don't itemize.

Id love to get about 200 for it but I'm not willing to put the work into it. So I'll see if friend can sell it and if not, I'll let someone find it at Goodwill.

I hadn't wanted to get rid of it because it reminds me of both my parents, and I only have two things that remind me of both. Most of my things were my mother's. But I've gotten to the point where I want it gone. What a relief for me.

I haven't read everyone's posts but I think CM has several pair of new jeans-Yay! I hate buying jeans. And to think you were able to find so many! Remarkable! Good work ! And yay for the baby chicks. SubC!

Tillie it is definitely fall here and they are semi-predicting snow for next week. It is quite cold in my apt but I'm not ready for heat yet. I will put in fireplace while I enjoy my tea. I really wish I knew where the remote is for the fireplace.

My Christmas shopping is done. Everyone is getting either a tea towel (from Etsy) or a Swedish sponge. We finalized the gifts for my artist/designer friend today while at the Museum of Fine Arts. Everyone else is getting a $10 gift. And I'm so pleased! I have theatre tix for BF and mom and I have a belt/sash I bought mom on Etsy. And I'm done. Today I made up a packet of about 15 different Christmas cards for my elderly neighbor who needs them for his bingo friends.

What a relief to have this done. And I'm proud of my $10 limit. I told a few friends at work that while I dont expect us to exchange gifts, but if we do, there's a firm 10 limit. I'm pretty excited.

I told my sister the same thing. She doesn't actually get me anything but it sets a tone. I think the people whom I usually buy chocolates for (drycleaners, other neighbors) will get yo enjoy something I've baked myself.

Now I can put my wallet to rest. I've done what needs to be done.

Love you all. I cannot wait to get this chair out of my house.

Good Afternoon EVERYBODY

Missing a few of you and starting to worry. 🙁

Finished going through my clothes and moving the Winter stuff to the top and Summer stuff to the back.

Swept lots of leaves off the walkway and porch.
I leave the leaves in flower beds and on plants to afford them some insulation from the cold, snow & ice.
Hope we do get some wet Winter weather.
Fingers crossed X

Good Morning Everybody

Hi Subclinical
You did the best you could do at the time with what you had to give with your time, resources and all the unknown factors of future events.
With hindsight we can see how life has played out but in the present we are blind to the future.
If only we had known, had a crystal ball to see the future we would have proceeded differently.
But we can't see what the future will be.
We simply must do the best we can in the present and hold faith that future things will be things we can handle/smooth over somehow.
(((HUG)))

With raising orphaned baby wild birds and rehabilitating injured wild birds
The first lesson I learned is that we can do the absolute best we can for them
but some will still die.
But at least we gave them a chance to fly free, without that they most certainly would have died.

I feel like I am treading water. I feel like I am getting nothing done.

I spent a couple of hours yesterday literally just staring at the chicks. But they are such a good thing. They are 16 tiny miracles. I opened the eggs that didn't hatch - two rotten unfertilized eggs, two underdeveloped chicks who clearly died before the last week, two chicks who pipped and died, but when I opened the egg, they had not absorbed the last of their egg yolk and closed their abdomens. So all four failed chicks were genetic. I did everything right. There was nothing I could have done to improve the outcome. I took 16 eggs that had a chance to become chicks and I optimized their environment and they hatched!

In almost everything in my life, I am left to assume that I was a deciding factor. Not necessarily the deciding factor, but a deciding factor - could I have done something differently? could I have done something more? Was there something I did or didn't do? a point at which I could have changed the outcome if I had only known more, done better, tried harder....

I cry over every kid who comes through my classroom and struggles in life. The boy who goes to court tomorrow lived in my barn one summer. He stood in my living room this last spring and talked about getting a coop job with my husband's company and living with us and commuting together and taking care of my farm on weekends so that we could go on trips. What if I had asked him to stay for the summer? Put tools in his hands and had him outside with the goats every day and kept him hours away from the situation he ended up in? I thought about it. What if I had asked....

There are 16 tiny fluffy peeping miracles in my barn telling me that at least once - I did everything right.

Hi Subclinical 😀

CONGRATULATIONS! on all the hatchlings.
They feel so soft and warm and precious cupped in your hands.

Hi Tillie,

I'm reading.

16 chicks.

Good Evening Tillie

It was a pleasant day, warmed up nicely by afternoon.

Got the linens and stuff sorted out and tidied up.
Some Summer things put away and some Winter stuff gotten out.

I thought all the big green grasshoppers were all finished off by the cold but Scooter found one in the grass.

It was nice that I could pull out to get rid of a sheet I had that the cats have practically shredded.
I had patched it up as best as I could but it was in dreadful condition.
One new sheet in/one old sheet out.

Good Morning Anybody

Supposed to get up in the 50s today, YEA!
Just planning to putter around in the house.
Things need a little straightening up.
Been slowly pulling out Winter things and still have Summer things in the way. So I need to straighten linens and clothes out.

Laundry dried nicely out on the clothesline today.
Happy that extreme freezing is slowly letting up.

Good Afternoon

Hi CriticalMass
YEA! for finding jeans! 😀
Hope you have had a marvelous day.

To those with access to Netflix I am recommending you watch
"FIRE IN PARADISE"

It is terrifying and extremely sad but it's exactly as it played out in real time.

One of the most terrifying things I have ever experienced was having to drive through thick smoke and flying burning cinders to escape a wildfire.

You're right, the Dalek didn't post. I wasn't sure. I was using a desktop computer at the library, and when you do that you have to make it emulate a mobile device. I'll try again.

Got 3 pairs of jeans yesterday at Goodwill, each narked $3.99 but one was green tag half price. I badly needed jeans.

Today is a big day - went to All Saints' Day noon Mass AND it's payday so have to go now and do the payday banking and errands. Plus NaNoWriMo has officially begun, and I want to do some writing, and pack away Halloween decorations. TTYL!

Good Morning Everybody
"Clink!"

Hi Tatoulia
I think he's just worried about who's going to feed and care for him.
He was so tiny and sickly when he came here that I had to bottle feed him and those bottle fed babies tend to be clingy. LOL 😀

Waiting to hang out the wash.
8:30am here and it's only 20 degrees out there right now.
Should be up to freezing (32 degrees) soon since the sun is up.
Will wear my new jacket when I hang the wash.
Washed it last evening and it's all dry now. 😀
Today I will do some nutritious food prep and try to hide the leftover candy from myself.

Scooter loves you!!!! That is so sweet. He's worried when you're outside alone. It's role reversal!

Hi Tatoulia 🙂

WTG! for that lasagna!

Yes, we can have things for as long as we care to and then let them go to open up room for new possibilities.
We just can not keep everything forever or we end up with too much stuff. LOL

YEA!!! for finishing cleaning the stove!!!
I often have to be "the adult" and make myself finish tasks.
My "little kid" self doesn't want to but does as I say. 😉

Washing laundry this evening.
Tomorrow's high will be in the 50s so I can hang it out on the line.

I know Scooter frets when I leave the house, separation anxiety.
He sits on the window sill the whole time waiting for my return.
Is clingy and needy the rest of the day.
But I did not know just how bad he gets.
Steven was still sleeping in his bedroom but I opened the door right before I left so Scooter could go in there.
Steven said Scooter spent first half an hour screaming and crying.
Would not settle down.
Poor little idiot animal. 🙁

Happy Nevada Day! What a great day you had, Tillie! I can picture your London Fog jacket! Fantastic! And your other things sound great, too!

I did a little shopping at goodwill last week. I found a lovely little framed etching that will look very cute on the wall in the kitchen where the vitrine used to be. Under 4 dollars. I also bought a Welch's juice/water pitcher that's adorable and I can re-donate when I'm done. I bought one decorative plate for 99c and I beautiful art nouveau brass frame (vintage but not of the period) for 99c. So altogether I spent 10. I liked the things and thought, I'll just let them go when I am done. See what I've learned? No need to form attachments! Attachments for people, pets, sometimes places.

SubC! What a lovely, and loving, surprise! Your husband does such a nice job of showing you how much he cares for you. You deserve every nice thing that happens to you.

My lasagna is the best I've ever made. Creamy and delicious. I brought a big piece up to BF. He swears I didn't make it. My kitchen is clean. I'm running the dishwasher and I've showered. I walked some but not a lot. The city is full but manageable. All the little goblins and ghosts.

So I'm cleaning the kitchen and there's some spilled sauce on the stove. I'm wiping it up but some is more difficult because the burner had been on to cook the meat and the sauce sort of baked in. My mind says, oh you can go back and get that layer and my brain says, are you kidding? Do it now. Does anyone else find themselves always not finishing something? Now that I see myself doing it, I stop and I finish.

Wish I could help any and all of you with laundry. I promise to fold and put away.

Happy Nevada Day! What a great day you had, Tillie! I can picture your London Fog jacket! Fantastic! And your other things sound great, too!

I did a little shopping at goodwill last week. I found a lovely little framed etching that will look very cute on the wall in the kitchen where the vitrine used to be. Under 4 dollars. I also bought a Welch's juice/water pitcher that's adorable and I can re-donate when I'm done. I bought one decorative plate for 99c and I beautiful art nouveau brass frame (vintage but not of the period) for 99c. So altogether I spent 10. I liked the things and thought, I'll just let them go when I am done. See what I've learned? No need to form attachments! Attachments for people, pets, sometimes places.

SubC! What a lovely, and loving, surprise! Your husband does such a nice job of showing you how much he cares for you. You deserve every nice thing that happens to you.

My lasagna is the best I've ever made. Creamy and delicious. I brought a big piece up to BF. He swears I didn't make it. My kitchen is clean. I'm running the dishwasher and I've showered. I walked some but not a lot. The city is full but manageable. All the little goblins and ghosts.

So I'm cleaning the kitchen and there's some spilled sauce on the stove. I'm wiping it up but some is more difficult because the burner had been on to cook the meat and the sauce sort of baked in. My mind says, oh you can go back and get that layer and my brain says, are you kidding? Do it now. Does anyone else find themselves always not finishing something? Now that I see myself doing it, I stop and I finish.

Wish I could help any and all of you with laundry. I promise to fold and put away.

How WONDERFUL Subclinical!!!
Your husband really knows how to say
"I LOVE YOU"

Enjoy your evening 😀

Congratulations Mr. Rooster!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

HAPPY NEVADA DAY!
Nevada was made a state on October 31st. LOL

Take care Tatoulia
Don't be getting sick (((hug)))
UMMMMM lasagna ;p

Hi CriticalMass
I looked but didn't see the Dalek meme. I will keep looking. 😀

I had a BLAST in town today.
Enjoyed seeing the adult's and kid's costumes.
Everybody was in a great mood too.
At the thrift shop I bought a "London Fog" jacket.
It's made with "Thinsulate" so it's warm but lightweight. Paid 2.50 and it's a light rust/copperish color.
Also bought 2 night gowns, a skirt, 2 long sleeve Tshirt type tops, a blouse, a sheet, one embroidered pillow case and a sterling silver pendant with a large faceted amethyst stone on a 24 inch sterling chain.
All together I paid 20.50
Filled my 3 water bottles.
Then I went grocery shopping and people were happy there too.
Got lots of produce and instant oatmeal and lots of other good for me food stuffs.
Left the house at 10:30am and got home at 3:00pm.
It was a good day. 😀

Oh my friends, I am just blown away!

My beloved left work early, and he picked every last tomato, started a fire, deep cleaned the kitchen, and made me dinner!

It was so lovely to come in to a warm, clean, delicious smelling space when I was expecting dark, cold rooms, dirty counters, compost needing to go out, and dirty breakfast dishes left on the table. He even had music on and a glass of wine for me.

One chick hatched during last bell. Hopefully more will hatch overnight. But at least I know I didn't completely mess up and my rooster can do his job.

I just uploaded the Dalek Procrastination meme to my Instagram. It's a little large for the format but anyway, a Dalek is a robot from the BBC sci-fi show Doctor Who. They are evil and they go around hollering "Exterminate! Exterminate!" in their robot voices. So people make jokes substituting other words for "Exterminate!"

HAPPY HALLOWEEN friends!

Happy Halloween! It scares me, of course. It is wet and raw here and I don't think I'll be sitting outside tonight. I have a sore throat and a stiff neck. I may wrap up and go to BFs to hand out candy.

I'm washing kitty ?s bed and I'm about to make lasagna. I'm pretty pumped for that.

SibC one of my happiest childhood memories is visiting the Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago) and watching the chicks hatch. A few years ago, I was in Chicago with a friend and we re-lived my happy childhood and we watched the chicks hatch!

Cm your word choice is so wonderful-Clot of Laundry. Extremely well done! No idea what a dalck is

I have lots of mail to work on tonight. I'll go start the lasagna soon.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 😀

Hi Subclinical
Perfect night to get home early, light a fire and stay safe & warm.

Good luck with your hatchlings.

I guess you are doing alright if you have clean clothes to wear, a clean coffee mug and a warm bed to sleep in.
You write often about school but we know you also have so many other obligations that need your time every day.
Tending livestock is physically hard work every day and at times it gets even harder.
We know that when things settle down and you have the time you will get your home under control. (((HUG)))

Warmer today here. A whole 13 degrees out there this morning.
Might even get up to 40 degrees this afternoon.

Have my grocery list all made up.
Drinking water bottles in the car to fill up.
Will be heading to town about 10:30 or 11:00am.

Happy Halloween!

Tatoulia, I hope your mom feels better.

My chicks might hatch today.

I left a bag on the couch yesterday and was unprepared for class. This is the second time this has happened in this class and I promised them snacks as compensation. It is my most fun class and I don't know why I have done this twice now. Maybe I am just not taking it seriously enough...

Everything here is due to freeze tonight and it is raining - trick or treat, wet roads, freezing temps... I'm coming home from school as early as I can!

My tomato plants will freeze too - which is kind of perfect for Samhain - end of the harvest.

House is not getting better.

Hi CriticalMass
Thanks for not being a ghost!!! ;D
GREAT doing a lot of long put off little tasks!
It's always so nice getting those done and then you can forget about them.

YEA! for doing the clog of laundry and freeing up the entryway to your bedroom!

Think like a Dalek...
exterminate - exterminate - exterminate
those obstacles. 😉

Good luck with the DNA kit.
I don't need to do one cause Granma told me who I am and where I came from.
Ojibwa from Canada and that my father's Irish/English ancestry doesn't matter.
O.K. Granma. LOL

Hi Tatoulia
Yes, cow girl has lived near me since she was a baby, about 5 years now.
She likes to visit my yard often.
Scooter always says mean things to her but she just hisses at him then ignores him.

There is also a gray cat with cute white spots who loves the catnip in my garden.
She lives across the street.

That's some pretty thick mist you had there to get you so soaking wet!
Hoping Mom's tummy feels better soon. (((HUGS)))

Hi everyone

Didn't want to wait much longer to post so you don't think, this close to Halloween, that maybe I ghosted! LOL!

Cold nasty weather here, and I'm catching up on laundry. It's crucial that I do, because since I had to do the big Cram It All Back In Somehow in my bedroom, the clot of laundry in the entry has tried its best to prevent access to the goat path to the bed. (Which path is passable only by the most emaciated of goats.)

But. It's on the way to getting better. My attitude is getting more "Tough Love" on the side of me that procrastinates and thinks of reasons to keep stuff.

And my roommate has even gently played Badger in a good way a time or two. For instance, she had bought us both Ancestry DNA kits last Christmas. I LOVE genealogy and all that. So why did it take me all year to get around to doing my kit? Because I didn't know if it might be complicated! You have to register online, spit into the sample tube when you haven't eaten in at least 30 minutes, put the cap on, package it, put it in the box, and mail it.

My ADHD brain equates such a "complicated" series of steps with planning the military invasion of a hostile enemy country. So, it defaults to "Procrastinate! Procrastinate!" Like a badly programmed Dalek! ROTFL! (That is pure gold, and I'm going to make a meme of it for Instagram.)

ANYhoo... roommate last night just told me to do the kit and I said "Okay!" And did it.

After that, I hand sewed the pocket that had ripped off my winter parka. And there was another thing, now I can't remember what, a small thing procrastinated on for a long time.

Anyway, I'm going to do lots more of this.