Good morning!

Strange dream about moving into a tiny overcrowded house with a bunch of children who were apparently mine but were not my children. I think it's from the book Bean has been asking me to read over and over. The large family lives in a very crowded small house.

I actually find the crowded small house in the book very appealing except for the laundry and dishes that keep getting worse as the mother slowly loses her patience trying to feed everybody.

Bean went to bed only twenty minutes past his bedtime last night. I was almost an hour past mine, and I have no idea how late Dh and ds stayed up.

I still don't have proper lesson plans and I still really need to work on things for my pottery class. And I still don't know when I will do those things.

I also don't know when dsil is planning to come for Bean.

I asked ds if he wanted a book from his childhood that I'm not overly fond of (Bean and I have been looking through some of the books) and he said no, so I will give it to dd and dsil or get rid of it.

I did not buy a "big daddy sheep" because Bean has been focused on the fisher price little people lately. I have two bins of (partial) sets from the 70's that I bought at garage sales when my kids were little. The original ones my brother and I played with are still at my mom's house because we each had sets and we played with them together and both loved them. My brother insisted the sets stay at mom's for the grandkids and not get split up. His youngest is 13 now - I need to ask for my school bus. Bean would like it!

Ds wants to introduce Bean to the Brio train today (that is my kids' equivalent of the fisher price sets - everyone's are together and stay here to make a huge train set)

Good afternoon!

Yes I'm just waking up.

One of our subway lines has been shut down for an entire month. It reopens tmr. I have enjoyed having the shuttle busses and today I'm going to ride the shuttle bus from my house to the end. Bf said he'll meet me and come into town with me. The shuttle busses have been lovely and wonderful and the drivers aren't from here and they've been so polite and nice.

This has been a very challenging situation because the shuttles have been operating in two pieces. One to the north with no service downtown. Then the southern part is on the other side of the city with no decent ways to connect the two. But from my end, it's been lovely. I think my neighborhood is safer with the busses, esp since I walk a lot at night.

I washed the summer bedspread last night so I'll put it away today.

Good morning! Up somewhat early this morning. Dh and Bean are sleeping, but I'm starting to feel better rested. Dh got his covid booster Friday and felt quite crummy yesterday. He did manage to take Bean out on the tractor for a bit.

My own boy is coming to visit from out of state this afternoon! Work sent him, so this is a treat. He has all day Monday with me and Bean.

I'm trying to figure out when I'm going to find time to work on my projects for my pottery class. I thought I would have some time this weekend, but I didn't know dsil wasn't going to take Bean back at all. - Not complaining! I'll take all the time I can have with this little one! Watching the glee on his face when he told his mommy on FaceTime last night that he dug up potatoes "with my HANDS!" And reading favorite bedtime stories together. those things are the gold in my days.

CM,

I was so excited to see that nice long picture from you! I'm glad you are USING and loving your new toy/tool.

I'm sure you'll get the "nest" under control. It seems we so often need external events to make us prioritize things - even when they are things we want to do.

Someone is chatting in his bed..

On my new toy typing this. The keyboard is like butter, so smooth and soft and responsive. Touchpad is a bit too responsive at times; I'll be figuring out how to make it slightly less so, in order to avoid accidentally doing things I don't intend.

Read back through some posts so now I know more what you ladies have been up to. Hope Lila and Road check in soon too.

Re the tabs - I know, it's sort of like hoarding, but I don't want to close a tab until I'm sure I've gleaned what I want to from it. This can happen in one of several ways. The easiest and simplest is that sometimes they're just quickly obsolete - the weather one from a couple days ago that I just forgot to close, the login screen for McDonald's wifi, etc.

Then there are the ones that I was interested in for awhile but have either found better information sources, or lost interest in. These are also easy enough to dismiss. They just have gotten buried in subsequent tabs so I catch them when I go back through more methodically eliminating tabs.

And finally come the ones where I want to hoard information, which I'm not going to apologize for because it doesn't take up physical space and as long as I am organizing it by topic and relevance to my projects it'll be useful. What I do for, say, a science article that's relevant to my science fiction novel, or any other article on my various topics I'm interested in (I try not to save every last one, just the meatier ones), is I use PrintFriendly.com to convert the webpage to a PDF then I save it to my local drive. (I don't use the cloud for my own stuff.) Because it has happened that I've gone back to look up something and the blog or website has vanished. The horror! 😱 All the FOMO!

Anyhow. I've been getting the tabs eliminated by deciding do I want to convert and save this or that, then either doing it or not, and closing the tab.

When I get rid of the old computers, Tatoulia, yes, there is a local nonprofit that helps special needs kids and adults, and they recycle them and I assume get some money from selling the scrap. I remove and destroy hard drives first, to circumvent identity theft and just because it creeps me out knowing years' worth of my thoughts and words are on the things.

It's good to have this computer project right now because this coming week is weirdly crowded with potential household projects that would make it harder to do physical projects, plus it may still be very hot for this time of year. The roof repair is supposed to happen, and (fingers crossed) my roommate may, at long last, get her screened in porch on the front of the house.

In amongst all this, a couple of times members of my roommate's family are going to be in town. One of them she will just meet at a restaurant, but one brother will briefly be here before they go out to eat. Guess what that means! I have to once again deal with my "nest" on the couch, which has gotten rather gnarly again in all the rush and stress of the summer. I was wanting to do it anyway, which is what is frustrating - seems I never get the chance in life to motivate and do something for its own reward, it's always because of external pressures. Sigh.

But I will be happy nonetheless to get it done, and if I can just keep the inner grumbling at minimum - and not let it become externalized grumbling, whilst accomplishing said task... there are items from the dining table because I have my old laptop set up there so I can finalize getting stuff off it. There is the box the new computer came in. There are papers from tax figuring and papers pertaining to the fraudulent debit card issue, and more that I don't even remember.

Y'all - I did at one time work in offices and complete my work and file things away and stuff.

WHAT HAPPENED?!

Those were 80s offices, for one thing - life really did move at a more manageable pace then. I wasn't expected to multitask, so my executive functioning didn't hang me up nearly as much (except for working memory and auditory processing, e.g., remembering and dealing with phone calls and tasks that didn't have visual reminders). There were papers instead of everything on computer - so at least a person could SEE and handle the work. Although computers definitely have advantages, or I wouldn't have just gone out and plunked down many US dollars on a new one.

Ack. It's late. I'm starting to ramble.

Suffice it to say, the coming week will be less tranquil than roommate or I had envisioned, but if all goes well, good things will be accomplished. I still haven't heard any word on my friend's funeral. This is turning into a strange situation. I hope it gets resolved. Speaking of funerals, I may watch some of the Queen's funeral on Monday, in and around the commotion, at least catch a bit of it; I'm sure there will be some inspirational moments.

My BFF out of state and her husband have Covid. This is also on my mind. Sounds like not bad cases but I just want to hear they will be okay ASAP.

So, lots going on, and lots on my mind. Take care, stay well everybody.

Wow! A lot going on!

Congratulations, CM on the new computer and on your roommate retiring! All great stuff! I'm glad you were able to get the computer.

SubC, you sure did a lot! Shorter amounts of time help me, too,

I went to goodwill, dropped off the items, then went up to see BF. We ran errands all day in the suburbs and with the car. Then I went to see mom, now I'm showered and doing laundry. I'm washing my summer bedspread so I can wrap it up and put it away. Kitty is sound asleep next to me.

Cooler weather today, which is my dream.

CM!

I am so glad for you!

I am taking a quick break - bean is awake but he is playing in his bed and doesn't want to get up yet.

I was a machine! During his nap I started the dishwasher, started a load of laundry, skimmed ten quarts of milk and made two wheels of mozzarella, (two quarts of skim milk and enough cream for two batches of ice cream in the fridge) unloaded the dishwasher and put almost everything from making the cheese into it and restarted it, hung/put in the dryer the first load, and started a second!

Why can't I work like this on days when bean is not here?

Because when bean is here I'm super happy?

Because when bean is sleeping I know I only have a short time to pack things in?

Dunno.

The Big Exciting Things have happened!

But it's been a whirlwind so I haven't had a lot of time to post, lol.

Anyway, I'm just going to drop the headlines and brief summaries, then I'll come back later to write in greater length.

Headline 1: As of Wednesday evening, my roommate is Officially Retired!! Woohoo! 🎉 I'm so happy for her, and it's going to be a lot less stressful for me. I wrote all kinds of funny retirement graffiti in sidewalk chalk for her to see when she got home.

We went out and ate a steak, which came with plenty of other yummy food - salad, potato - and we got desserts too. I briefly contemplated a rare glass of wine but I'm glad I decided against it because everything was so very filling I think anything else and I would've exploded.

Headline 2: On Thursday, we went out to do a bit of shopping and errands. One place we went was Best Buy, where I'd seen a couple of gaming laptops I was interested in.

I think you see where this is going...

One of them (the lower priced to begin with) was on sale $200 less than when I saw it a week or two ago - and I took the plunge. Typing this on it right now. 😁💻 It is so fast - no lag, no freezing of the screen. I'm gonna love this.

I wasn't all the way done with my file directory dejunking thing but that's okay; I'll finish cleaning them up during the transferring over process. And I promise that old computers will not be sticking around.

Thank you for the explanation. Yay on getting a good slide!

I did one load of laundry (sheets) and one of delicate things. I've showered. I've swapped out my summer white bedspread for the thin white quilt. Will do more laundry later.

Will have a quick cup of coffee, get dressed, go to goodwill.

Oh no, they want the big slide for the yard! They were getting rid of a little plastic toddler slide that can go inside. Dsil's cousin has it now.

SubC, are you saying they didn't want the slide? Oh boy. Please get rid of it.

I am doing laundry and will shower soon and go to goodwill. I have to donate the bag that is here and whatever is in my car. Beautiful morning here.

Bf went with me to visit mom yesterday. She was really happy to see us.

Good morning!

Hanging with my sidekick while he eats his oatmeal. (He asked for chocolate cake)

I think we will dig sweet potatoes today.

And finish the laundry.

I do have a bunch of toys in my car that his parents downsized from their house as "too young or not interesting" and sent back for the "toy library" in my basement. I haven't looked in the boxes but I think they all originated here. I refused to store the large plastic slide. It was not cool enough, too big, and not hard to replace.

The irritating shirt is in the clean laundry and will be added to the donate pile today.

My coworkers were pleased at the addition of my old ice cream maker to the teacher resource closet.

Great willpower, SubC!

Yesterday was the most fun I've had in a very long time. Great conference, I stayed for the excellent cocktail party, spent some time in my colleague's hotel room to decompress before dinner and then dinner was excellent. So much fun. I am exhausted today naturally but such is life. A lot of my work stress has dissipated.

I couldn't believe how much fun it was.

Update - drove home past contractor house. Box of sports balls. Wasn't tempted. Don't need them, not my job to find somebody who does.

Bean is staying until Monday night! We put away some of the laundry.

Good morning!

Slow start this morning because the power went out yesterday. I forgot when I set up the coffee maker and didn't set the clock. If you don't set the clock, nothing happens when you press the button that tells it to run the program that makes the coffee in the morning.

I'm picking Bean up after school today. I'm actually not sure how long I'm keeping him. Might give him back to his Daddy overnight tomorrow and then reclaim him..

Need to get ready for school and put away some laundry!

Good evening!

Tatoulia, you make an excellent point.
I went another way.

I hope your conference was fun!

I made good choices today! I had some extra time this morning, and I thought "I should put some of this laundry away." But then I thought "no, laundry is the easiest thing I do and if I don't put it away, it still slowly disappears from the baskets. What I should do is set myself up for success. Transitions and getting started on things are the hardest for me, and I want yo stop collapsing on the couch."

So, I gathered up all my papers and put them in four stacks - plan for tomorrow, plan for next week, general resources, and nothing to do with school. I put plan for tomorrow in my teacher bag and the other stacks on the dining porch so I couldn't pretend I was at the table because I was going to start using the materials "in a minute" while I chain snacked. Then, I put all the laundry baskets on the couches, so I couldn't sit on them at all. Then I set out a pot because I keep wanting egg salad and not having any hard boiled eggs, and I set out the chocolate cake recipe with all the utensils and bowls and non-perishable ingredients. I put the tape and the pen next to the jars of salsa. I set out the herb scissors and my gathering basket, and a glass to remind myself to drink water, and then I had just enough time left to put Bean's toys away.

When I got home tonight I put the eggs on, got myself a glass of water and made the cake. While the cake was in the oven, I took the dishes to the scullery, labelled the salsa and put it away, washed the counter, cut the chamomile, and had another glass of water. Then I took the basket out and picked in the garden until Dh got home with dinner.

I did chores and took a shower after dinner, and I still didn't put the laundry away, but it's bedtime. I think I did good.

Drive another way. 😀

Your daughter asked for a slide and you got the slide. Mission accomplished. You have stuff. Don't need that stuff. Other people will take that stuff. We are on a hoarders message board for a reason.

Off to my conference.

Good morning!
Coffee clinks!

I'm bathing my brain in caffeine.

I did sleep a little longer last night, but I don't know how I'm ever going to catch up.

On anything

I am still coming home thinking I will make good use of my evening and I am still watching videos and snacking because I am tired. It is such a deep, comfortable rut, that was just waiting for me from last year.

Yesterday when I was driving home I passed a collapsed play set in pieces with a free sign. It was only three miles from my house, so I went back with the truck and got the slide for Bean - his mommy told me to get the next slide I saw (this happens a lot out here) so she could attach it to the play set in his backyard.

But, the guy came out to help me load it. He was very sweet, but he tried to convince me to take the whole thing (not to clean up the yard, just in a "are you sure? You're welcome to the whole thing. There's no limit. He'll grow into these swings. I can help you put it in the truck" way.) He told me he is a contractor and he's being paid to clean out the whole property. That there's a full barn and they have a dumpster for trash but that he'll be putting a lot more out because he hates to throw away things that are still useful. (the slide was in much better condition than most that I see by the road - not even faded.)

I am now torn between "I need to start driving the truck to work" and "I need to find a new way to drive to work".

Also, if I can find 20 minutes to go back and put a slide in the truck after work, WHY can't I come home and pick up Bean's toys?

(Also, even though I know all the joys and benefits of Bean's city neighborhood, my heart is screaming "this is a nice house! It has a barn and a big yard! It's three miles from my house and probably about to go up for sale! Bean's family should move!") It has been made very clear to me that my kid has no intention of moving until her youngest has finished attending grade 6 in the really really good public school her kids will walk to. - unless a fantastic opportunity to upgrade turns up in their neighborhood.

Ok, now rambling - this is another rut. Open to suggestions!

Good evening, everyone. Rare day where it's just me!

I continue to add to the goodwill bag. BF and I are gearing up for hazardous waste day.

Big and long day at work. Tmr is an all day conference followed by cocktails then dinner. I skipped tonight's dinner even though I had made the reservations for it. I went to today's cocktail party for a very short time, enjoyed a very tart non-alcoholic lemonade, then went back to the office to work. I ended up taking the train and then a shuttle bus home because I'm just so tired and I needed to go to the pharmacy to pick up meds.

My goal for this weekend is to look through the closet again. Keep working toward fewer things.

Good morning, all

SubC yes I need to clean out my car. The trunk is organized but is having a ton of stuff in the trunk organization? No of course not. It's just hard to face sometimes that I need to do things.

That's a good point on the tabs not using electricity. I am a bit of a bugger when it comes to things being plugged in. I hate to see cords, esp phone chargers, plugged in for no reason. I unplug my toaster and I don't keep my computer On and plugged in when I'm not using it. A long time ago, my friend let me stay in her VT house even though she wasn't there. The next weekend when he4 husband went to the house, he thought every appliance was broken. She said no, Tatoulia probably unplugged everything in the kitchen.

When I mentioned computer, above, I only have my work laptop. I took my laptop to hazardous waste day without ever firing it up to see what was on it. Easier for me.

Good morning.

I'm not feeling the exclamation mark today..

Day two of week two of school and I am running on coffee. Yesterday was a really good day, but I need to find more time to sleep. Also, Bean's toys are still all over the floor.

Cm, I am excitedly looking forward to your big news!

I hope you can just let go of the old computers. Are you sure there is anything on them you need? Is there something specific you are missing? I have two old iPads on my desk. One is broken - as in, the computer is physically broken with a cracked screen and a charging port that won't connect to the charger. The other one is too old to upgrade to any browser that will work on the internet. They are there because I never remember/have time to drop them at the apple store at the mall to be recycled.

Tatoulia, it was the comment about "some old papers..that were [your] brother's" that made me think your car might need a look.

Also, to add to the CM entertainment show where people who don't know what they're talking about explain computers. i don't think open tabs use electricity. I have twelve tabs open on my iPad. I turn it off. Sometimes the battery runs out and it turns itself off. When I turn it on again, the tabs are still open.

Took some art supplies that Dd2 left here to one of the other art teachers at school yesterday. Also remembered to pack lunch.

Dishes are still behind, laundry not put away, barely keeping ahead of lesson plans - papers all over great room, and haven't looked at the garden for days, but taking time to enjoy the good stuff and keeping up with my classroom.

Bean's Daddy picked him up at school yesterday. Bean helped me take the greenware cart down to the kiln. He pushed the cart 😉 all by himself 😉 (I held on to the front corner to "steer" - as long as I didn't touch the handle I wasn't "pushing") "(Bean) push cart. Grammie steer." Then we got to the scary looking freight elevator "Grammie's cart go in elevator?" "Yes, the cart is going to go in the elevator." "(Bean) NOT go in elevator!" I laughed. "No. (Bean) not go in elevator. Grammie not go in elevator either! The cart goes in the elevator by itself."

Ok, things to do!

Hi CM, I am excited for your new computer. Please see if your town has a computer recycling program such as Boston's. It's part of our hazardous waste days.

As for the tabs, and try not to laugh while you predict my next words, you should shut them down and close your computer. You know vastly more than I ever will about computers but the electricity and leaving the computer on all the time, even when it's sleeping, can't be good for anyone. Sometimes leaving tabs open is like having a membership to a gym. I might actually go to the gym tomorrow but ultimately, I will not. But I'm able to with a membership. I say just start closing some of the tabs. Try it. For me. See if it uncluttersvthings for you a bit without having so much going on when you just want to log in and check one thing.

You can laugh, we are all friends here

Well I have to do some straightening up and getting ready for tomorrow. Two big days in front of me at work.

P.S. More boring computer stuff that was part of what I meant to say in previous post -

When I keep it in Hibernate mode because I hate having to get all the tabs and stuff back (which on the fast computers at the library takes no time at all by the way), then the cache gets full and that's another thing that really slows it down.

So it's a Catch-22. Have it ready to go, albeit sluggish, or have to wait and remember all the things to reopen each time I boot up. Neither of which is conducive to productivity - but definitely conducive to frustration and stress.

Having a pretty good day. Roommate had to go into the office, and I took care of her pets this morning then have just been doing this and that of mine at a leisurely pace. Laundry in the dryer. Relaxation music and nature scenery on YouTube on the TV. Ahhhh... 😊

Found some sleeveless cotton tops end of season clearance at the thrift store for 50 cents each the other day. Those were very much needed. Some of my ratty ones can now be purged, and some "not really ratty but shorter than I like to wear out and about" can be demoted to sort-of-ratty status. LOL.

Really do want to go through all my clothes, and streamline. As I've probably said before, clothes aren't my major stuff problem. They are probably one of the easier things to pare down for me. So I'm thinking go through them anyway, and enjoy an easy win.

Soon, I will be tackling some much more challenging items. Things that will require lots of decision making effort, which is tiring. But sometimes I've been known to get on a roll with it, so let's hope I can again.

Life has been in limbo a bit, just waiting to hear about some things. I called my friend's daughter and they're still in the process of arranging the funeral. Big family with various travel arrangements, having trouble getting hold of the priest, this and that. Hopefully it'll work out soon.

Weather report, because it has become a tradition with me here - still several hot summery days, possibly some rain in a few. This past weekend was cool and rainy; I drove across town to my cousin's for her grandson's 1st birthday party on Saturday.

I'm sitting here typing this and the computer screen is freezing frequently and Chrome saying "Not Responding" when it does. I will be SO GLAD to get a new computer with a fast processor and oodles of RAM. The paradox for someone like me who has a gazillion tabs open (ADHD brain thing) jumping back and forth between internet and Word and graphics software, is that it takes so durn long if I shut the whole computer down between sessions, to boot it up again and get all those tabs and apps open again. Plus I never know when I'll actually be having a spare moment to work. Or suddenly need to.

But soon the entire pattern of my days is going to be changing, for the better I daresay. And I'll have a computer that can be a workhorse, nay, a racehorse, rather than a stubborn mule. Speaking of decluttering - when I get the new computer, I need you ladies to BADGER me to get rid of the TWO old computers I currently have, and decide also what to do with this one that might be okay for someone who could get a little mileage out of it yet (like with Linux operating system which I tried and didn't like but some people use it on old computers and love it).

That is a total of three computers that need to go away - but at least the first two immediately. I'm pretty sure there's little if anything that needs to be copied from them or deleted - they do not need to be taking up space around here. One of them is a laptop of mid-90s vintage that is a real "antique."

I'll have to take a picture of my new racehorse computer when I get it, and post it on Instagram. Might shop seriously later this week or by next. I was just waiting to see if I was going to have a funeral to attend but now I can see it'll be awhile and I'll not be super busy otherwise, I don't think.

Big news tomorrow evening, fingers crossed, stay tuned.

That is sweet about the toy shelves!

Our goodwill specifically does not want old fabrics. But the city is also rolling out some sort of textile recycling so I'll wait to see what that looks like. In the meantime, I'll see if I have anything to bring to the upcoming waste day.

My car isn't too bad but yes I'll take the challenge. How do I know it's not too bad? My friend organized the trunk! But the glove box etc may have some of my brother's prescriptions in them. I have some stuff in the trunk that I do not know what to do with and I'm not ready to donate. Let's say December 1st to make a decision. Honestly I haven't been to my car in so long. Maybe today.

Tatoulia, I'm sorry you are suffering!

Thanks for the note about the fabric recycling. My local goodwill also recycles fabric, so they WILL take stained and torn items - it's worth checking.

I'm starting to think we should challenge you to clean out your car..

Bean and I made 3 loaves of bread and a pie. We got donuts this morning. My love language is carbs!

I took the shelf of bins to his house and brought home the other shelf. I set it up in the perfect space in the scullery and put a bunch of his toys on it. He is accessing them more than he did when they were crowded into baskets on deep shelves in the great room, and the great room looks better (well, not right now, because there are little people all over the floor, but when it is cleaned up...)

Checking in on everyone!

Lila, I've heard how donation places have huge trash bills because people donate things instead of throwing them out. What a mess for you to handle! I am very careful in what I donate. If it's trash, it's trash and no one wants my stained shirt. The city of Boston does have a textile recycling drop off as part of hazardous waste day.

Our next day for that is two weeks away. I'm not sure that I have any hazardous waste but I will take a look at papers. I think I have some old papers in my car that were my brother's. If I haven't taken them out and shredded them here already. I don't know because I'm not at my car frequently enough to know. I do need to go to my car today or tomorrow because I have a donation bag for goodwill.

I'm suffering from anxiety. Job related and mom related. Mom has been pretty calm, so I'm happy for her.

Big week at work. I wish I had taken this coming Friday off. I really need some time off to relax.

Bf and I had a lovely, unplanned night together on Friday and then on Saturday we went to watch our friend's kids play soccer, then we went to the Museum of Science with them and did other fun stuff. We walked a lot this weekend. I'm working on getting a handle on my weight.

Hi Lila,

I'm sorry about the dumpster, but good progress on the food!

I threw pots. I also canned 7 pints of runny salsa. New recipes- arg! I tried to tilt the ladle so I got a thicker scoop, and I put the two very very thin quarts that were left ("makes seven pints" it said!) in the fridge to drain tomorrow and eat the salsa fresh and use the liquid for soup base.

Hopefully all my lids will seal. The kitchen looks better.

My Dh is a good one. I promised him the old ice cream maker will go to school Tuesday or Wednesday (probably Wednesday)

Ok, I am up waaaay past my bedtime!

I went to the store and it made me so tired. I only got one bag of things. Now I feel ready to go to bed. I have a meeting though, but it's a casual/social meeting and I am going to try and keep it to an hour and a half.

I had to dig in a dumpster today. Where I work someone donated stuff last week because their parent passed away. But the stuff obviously was in a hoarded home because it was dirty and had a very unpleasant smell along with water (?) damage. Well we looked at the stuff and decided it was unusable so tossed it all. Fast forward to today where this person said they donated a few items by mistake and the family wanted them back. Thus my dumpster diving. I could not bring myself to say we threw them out. Items are recovered but I just feel kind of icky.

I am seriously so exhausted. I think I have long covid.

oh SubC, you are like me! Get a new toy, feel overwhelmed by it, never use it, but can't get rid of the old one... I am so glad your husband helped you! Now will you be donating the old one? Custard sounds lovely!

Yesterday I got the rest of the fridge sorted. I did not wash all the shelves, but I did consolidate a lot of things where there were multiple open bottles/jars - ketchup, mustard, pickles, sauces. Now the fridge is closer to empty and it is easy to find things.

I also gave away some produce last night and some today. So it is getting down to a manageable amount left. Another lady is coming for lettuce. I am glad because it is beautiful lettuce, but more than we would eat and I did not feel like a salad from it. It is soft leaf lettuce which I like on sandwiches or wraps but not so much in a salad.

Went to church today, worked, did a social visit, came home with a headache, took Tylenol and am resting. I have a meeting in 4 hours.

Let's see, what's left? Cabbages that I need to put away (need to wipe out the downstairs fridge, or ask son to do that). I have a nice looking vegetarian tamale casserole I think I'd like to make. I have all the ingredients. It just seems daunting, as I am tired.

I will look at my planner and try to do a thing or two today. What are the rest of you up to?

Good morning! (Just barely here)

I was starting to spin my wheels, so I came to report and refocus.

Tasks done -

delete things from my computer so that I could reinstall banking ap and pay my cc bill - this took over an hour and a half.

Chores
Tablecloth dry and on table
Two batches of custard frozen.
Dishwasher emptied
One load washed and put in the dryer.
Shelf that is going to Bean's house for his toys dug out in basement, cleaned off, and set up with almost a full set of bins (must find more matching bins)

Space under the counter in the scullery cleared out.

Doesn't seem like much.

There is a lot of backstory on the frozen custard though. You may remember that I had an ice cream maker I loved and made a lot of frozen custard for me and Bean. It would only hold half a batch of custard, and the motor started overheating and seizing up so that I had to stick it in the fridge before doing the second half of the batch. Also it was very loud.

Dh found the entire situation unacceptable, so he researched ice cream makers and bought me a new (used) one for Christmas. The new one has buttons and a screen and it is bigger than the old one and generally intimidating. So I stuck it back in it's box and stuck the box out of the way under the scullery counter, where it promptly got buried.

Now I couldn't use the old ice cream maker because Dh had gotten me this new one, and I couldn't use the new one because I was overwhelmed by it. Also, I couldn't get rid if the old one because what if.. So I had two ice cream makers and no longer made frozen custard. Yesterday Dh commented that he should have realized this would happen and made a date with me to make custard together.

Anyway, yesterday I finally dug the box out (shoved everything else back until this morning), cleaned the ice cream maker, read the instructions, and made two batches of custard. This morning I froze both batches of custard. The new ice cream maker is easy to use. Clean up is a little harder, but since it freezes the full batch in 45 minutes (instead of half the batch in 50) I can make a lot more frozen custard on one day, so the cleaning time per batch is less.

I am going to take the old ice cream maker to school (and leave it) so I can make ice cream with my pioneers classes (one or two classes each week) during our dairy unit.

Ok, the thing I really need to do right now is chop tomatoes for salsa.