Hi Tatoulia - hugs💗💗💗

Something fun to report.
Well, a couple.
1) the H finally noticed the fridge. Haha
2) we did t waste any leftovers this week - it's a minor miracle. Very pleased.
3) saw fridge shelf liners at Aldi today and thought "oh! I could use those now." Bought em, put ?em in!
4) when I came home I brought in all the groceries. I'm still low energy (kidneys plus ??) but since I've lost 25 lbs (still +100) it's so much easier getting around, being on my feet, going upstairs, arching heavy bags. All of it. Doesn't seem like it could make that much of a difference, but this is what I experienced last time I lost 25 lbs. yay
5) had a little surge of dread thinking of putting the stuff in the fridge then I remembered there's all this space in the fridge now! Whoo hoo! Easy!
6) even after I stocked the fridge there was still room!

In general I'm psyched because when I can string together enough days where my brain is working and I'm trying to use the systems that help me keep track of things, i start to gain actual traction on solving problems instead of just haplessly jumping on and falling off the hamster wheel called life. Hmmm. Last time I felt like this I ended up deciding to become a professional organizer. *raised eyebrows!!*

Checking in. I know a lot of us have health issues and am sending my best wishes. Good work on throwing out the mice blankets, Road. Very good progress. Thank you all for the well wishes. Definitely on the path to recovery.

Good morning all.

Keep getting well!

Road, good job noticing messes!

Use what you have - tables, sorting space, whatever. That goes for groceries too. Obviously you need to replace the things you use and are out if, but take a quick look in that fridge and think of the minimum you need to buy to use/use up a couple if things that are already in there. Stick to your list!

Today is my long day. I need to throw together lesson plans, check some notebooks, find something to take to my class for firing tonight, do chores, and pack lunch.

I did not buy new cutting boards at the grocery store yesterday. I need new ones eventually, but it can wait.

I bought chips, salsa, and ice cream for Dh at his request, plus diet soda for me (a bad habit that has become thoroughly entrenched again), a bottle of wine that was on sale, and refrigerated ravioli for a quick dinner. I wanted to wear a sign that said "my house is full of organic vegetables, local apples, and homemade bread! Don't judge me!"

Gotta go! Carry on! Get better!

Tatoulia!! Omg are you ok? You have been on my mind - let us know how you're feeling when you're up to it. Sending you healing vibes :::::

I did a little more on the fridge today & did all the usual taking care of the doggies and took the garbages out, etc. Tomorrow I prob need to hit the grocery store and do some laundry. I took a look at my sons shelves and was motivated to clean in his room. Have only felt that urge one other time in last 6 months. He cleans and dad does too so his room is ok but I just took notice of the feeling
Which shows you how rare it is. or I should say a sign of progress.

Subc, I'd say about half the garage is in bins and half is kind of piles. I think that's a good strategy. I think I will get another 6' table for that. Actually, I do have a sorting area already in the basement. I should just clear that out and use that. I was working down there a bit last month. I got out the Halloween stuff and lined up the main Christmas bins. I did a bunch of old laundry and threw out some blankets and stuff that got mouse damaged a few years ago. To me the garage is both harder to navigate physically and probably has the harder stuff to purge. Maybe if I clear some stuff out of the basement I would be motivated to at least clear a bigger path in the garage. well, either way it's all good.

Goodnight Johnboy. Goodnight JimmySue.

Today's panic -

While looking for lesson plans I found my plate renewal and realized I've been driving on expired plates for two weeks.

Panicked, abandoned plans to try to get beet greens (urgent) into fridge while they are still edible and left early for BMV.

No line, was in 30 day grace period, so no fine or late fee.

Now at school half an hour early with a large hit of adrenaline in my veins and an inadequate coat. Fire drill in 45 minutes. I think my classes are going to be a bit loose today.

Good morning.

Sending love out to all the tummies this morning, and Lila's leg!

The cold and the short days are starting to get to me.

Last night after I took Bean home I wanted to clean up the living space and work on my pottery. Instead, I was delayed by a video call from Dd2 (more important - nothing urgent, my kids are just pretty much always more important) and then Dh came downstairs begging me to make dinner, so I did that, which ate up most of what was left of the evening and trashed the kitchen.

Bean and I did not bake bread yesterday because we were too busy with watching the fence posts go in - he needed to be outside or stand on a chair and I needed to be right next to him - because he was either outside or standing on a chair.

I don't have class tonight because it is a new session and now the class I won't be ready for (that I'm taking) is on Wednesday nights.

I grabbed a piece of scrap paper and did a massive brain dump of "things I need to do" which I probably need to plot on a quandrant chart.

At the moment I feel like everything is urgent.

Oh no Tatoulia!

I'm so sorry we didn't know!

Rest and get better! I hope the antibiotics work fast.

Been in hospital. Home now. Not sure if I mentioned the terrible abdominal pain I had last week. I have a diagnosis and am home on antibiotics.

Hey road, everyone needs a good star now and then!

Dh went through the digestive pain roller coaster - scopes and scans, severe elimination diet, meds. We finally determined that 1) he's lactose intolerant and 2) the pain is basically caused by stress. This took years. I finally found a holistic health and nutrition doctor who works out of a women's center in the city. Dh said "I'll try anything." He called her and asked if she minded that he was a man. She said "not if you don't mind that my waiting room is pink." So he got a referral to a fantastic mental health professional, dietary guidelines to follow when he is in stressful situations, an anti anxiety med for occasional use, and a muscle relaxant for emergencies.

He still has bad days, but his life is much better.

My favorite moment in the journey was when his mom (who is one giant stressor) was visiting and said to him "I hope we're not stressing you out" (because we don't intend to change our behavior in any way) and he said "no mom. I'm on enough drugs to handle anything." She thought he was joking. He literally wasn't medically allowed to drive the whole time they were here that trip.

Urgent but not important can be things with deadlines and expiration dates too - like "it's urgent that I make cheese this weekend because this milk is about to go off, but it's not important, because I still have cheese and the chickens can drink the sour milk" so if I get to it, great, and if not, I will not have to do it at all and the consequences are minor.

Road, are the things in the garage in boxes or bins? Maybe you could do some work in the basement until you have a "staging area" then you could take the boxes down one at a time to work on?

Right now I am cold and unmotivated. Bean and I spent a lot of the day outside watching the fence posts go in. Tomorrow they will stretch fence. They may even hang gates and be done tomorrow. That would be fantastic. Bean is napping. I should take a hot shower before he wakes up. That would probably help.

Lost my post again. Always letting my iPad run out of juice without noticing til it's too late.

Hernias hernias everywhere. Cm, I didn't read your post til after I posted mine. I had a friend who had to have one of those mesh surgeries repaired. Ugh.

Regarding the quadrants, if memory serves, there's urgent and not, and then important and then not. You want to be focusing on spending more and more of your time in #2 which is important but not urgent. That's relationship building and activities that feed your soul and build foundations for your future. Not important and not urgent is the quadrant of "waste" which is where a lot of people spend a lot of their time, but it just doesn't benefit you in anyway - it's where you go when you're tanked. Video games, junk tv, stress eating... Urgent and not important is also a waste - you're just getting sucked into other people's vortexes essentially. Important/urgent can't be avoided really, but you can examine what you consider is important and try to minimize the urgency of things... at least that's what I remember about this concept.

I always liked the 80/20 concept. It's the idea that if you pick the right 20% of things to focus on in your life, you will get 80% of all your rewards there. Alternatively, you can spin your wheels on working on the 80% of your life that will only pay off in 20% of rewards... you can approach a given task or project with the simple question - is this something that will have a big reward for me or is it likely to be a waste of time? It gets you into thinking what the end results of something will be and not just what feels most pressing at the moment/what's in your face?

Haven't thought much about these things for awhile...

I just straightened my Standing desk again. It was really great for wrapping gifts, too. It is still a little warped I guess but I will keep it for now. I am not sure what to work in next in my room. Lots of things to choose from.

Now that I am gaining some traction on my room and kitchen, etc. I am starting to think about the basement and the garage again. I know making elbow room in the garage would mean more to the H but as it's starting to get colder I'm thinking more in terms of the basement. Also the garage is so packed now I am really not sure where to start. I think I would need to buy a tent or something... any ideas?

Hi all,

Subc, thank you for the gold star! A gold star for adulting. Not very adult of me to want that is it?! Lol

Productive morning so far...

- Emptied dishwasher
- made pumpkin muffins (what?!?!)
- cleaned out another shelf in fridge, dumped a bunch, and cleaned some of the surfaces in the fridge... so far doing a good job maintaining everything I've cleaned in there. I think I figured there were 14 sections and I have 5 left to go. After that I may redo the cabs. Or figure out a perm solution for the condiments overflowing the corner counter. drives the H insane.
- posted progress pics in the fb hoarding group I'm in
- Talked w Vet about older doggies health issues
- fed dogs & got them outside a few times.
- checked on raised bed... one head of broccoli still going, and a ton of little Green tomatoes... the H trampled all over them fixing the fence, but they are still hanging on. Very minimal garden this year... next year?!

Sons bday was yesterday. Have several family members who either Tested pos or have been exposed recently so small gathering for party. We will do another Little one in a few days when they can come. Pissed that one sibling did not even call him. Furious actually. WTAF. Ok now I'm stewing. Anyway! The MIL is still in the rehab facility. She's feeling better so she's starting to be a little awful again. I feel for her but have to follow the H's lead on this. He's already said she can't stay here so we will see what happens.

Lila, I hope you can get a little reprieve with the teen being taken care of for a bit. So stressful being in limbo waiting for a slot to open up or whatever. Hope leg feels better soon... I'm sure signing the paperwork is hanging over you like a lead weight. Hopefully when you do it, it will feel like a relief. How are your health issues? I'm sorry I missed so much.

I keep having these attacks - chest pain and pressure like a heart attack but not a heart attack. Severe gas pain/ pressure... Maybe caused by allergic reactions? maybe hiatal hernia? Anyone?? Lasts for a few hours even after taking meds. And often repeats a few hours afterwards. And with my kidneys I don't think I can/should take antacids. Don't want to Go back to this jackass doctor again. But not sure I have a choice. I might already have a referral to a GI so maybe I will just do that. Ugh.

What's on the agenda for today, everyone?

Good morning!

CM, I'm glad you are addressing the problem - whatever it turns out to be - quickly.

Also nice to hear that you are getting some structure back in your life.

I have the raisin bread in the oven and the dishwasher started - the little teapot didn't fit, but that's ok, it still has tea in it that I might reheat or use for another loaf of bread to freeze.

I forgot to tell you guys that my mom sent Bean a book that will live here. So so far for October my in is one book, ten pots, and one replacement shirt. (The leaving shirt is in the donate pile, but I have not made the trip to the thrift store.) also I got a new barn coat right before the month started and have not discarded the old one - I wore it while doing fencing work because I was afraid I would catch the new one and tear it.

The pots are a log jam because I have too many pots. I make them, and then I like them, and I want to keep them, but I have nowhere to put them. Right now there are five pots sitting on my couch, one on the woodstove that has to move before we light the fire (and it's a high of 47 today, so basically - now.) and four in a box because they need to be cleaned up with a Dremel blade that I do not currently own, but want to buy.

My scullery counter is a mess. But not a huge mess. But the boxes I scooped into are still here. I might put them back on the counter for honesty. But in the boxes so I can move them.

I think Bean and I will mostly stay inside today. He can watch the fencing from the back window and we can bake. I am nearly out of bread.

Hi,

Still not completely settled but this coming week should see me regaining a little structure.

Last night settling into bed, I saw a bulge on my tummy. I'd seen it a month or so ago and prayed it wasn't a hernia recurrence, forgot about it, then last night was like dang, I am going to have to have the doctor look at it. I have a checkup coming up so at least I don't have to debate with myself over scheduling an appointment.

It's been almost exactly six years since the big surgery that was to have fixed everything, and that one can't be redone. It can only be patched with meshes. Two failed meshes were why I ended up having the big surgery. Sigh.

But I'm trying to think of positive things, such as hopefully I'm catching this early.

More about other stuff in another post soon.

Hi Lila! Thanks for stopping by!

I'm sorry your leg is giving you so much trouble. Sorry about teen too, but what was happening wasn't working, so maybe this will work. Fingers crossed!

Good job on the phone calls!

Yes, important and urgent things first. Then just important. Then just urgent if you decide it is worth doing. Sometimes I will do an urgent thing before an important thing because i know I can do the important thing later, but the urgent thing I will miss. If it is neither important nor urgent, you can ignore it.

I get into that "can't do the thing, so I will do nothing" place. It's hard. Later I get mad at myself. Resting is a thing though. If you need to rest, rest.

I did not finish the garden. I did not move the fence things. And I did not plant garlic.

The kids called and came out for dinner and brought Bean. He is asleep now and I need to go do my chores. I am putting them off and snacking on things I found in the freezer today. Sadly leftover dessert and not veggies.

I made dinner though. And I started the fruit soaking for raisin bread, and the kitchen isn't too bad. And almost every dirty dish is in the dishwasher! A few things are soaking and I will run it in the morning.

post 2 -

All I have done is eat and make a couple phone calls, but they were calls I needed to make, so that's good. I also tried to find a paper I need, but The Bedroom between-bed-and-closet Hoard has taken over. I think it is in there, somewhere. I'm torn between sorting all that stuff to look for it, and just moving on to do other things, so since I can't decide, I am sitting here watching tv. This is how nothing gets done...

I do need to decompress. I am not in a proper mindset to get actual work done.

I remember someone here sharing a grid. Let me think. Important and Urgent. I used it for awhile. I will try and rank the Important AND Urgent things as priorities and the Important but not urgent things as secondary.

Anyone else doing anything today?

hi all, it has been too long! I have not read your posts yet exept to see SubC having a good time here by herself! Sorry I missed it! I will catch up soon.

Since my last post it has been crazytown over here. Leg injury not better, can't get in to a specialist yet, had to go to the ER to check for a clot, trying to get my separation paperwork done but still not, because... Teen got admitted. I drove 4+ hours and slept in a hospital chair overnight and after 3 days they got inpatient. I hope they get the help they truly need. I miss them and love them so much but it is a relief, in a way, to get a break. Now I am home and trying to get my brain straight and figure out what to do.

So far today I just sorted mail, wrote new appoitments in my planner, and sorted some emails. I am trying to prioritize. Ex wanted to sign the paperwork while he was in town but that got short circuited by the crisis, so is that a priority now? Or not? I will email him and find out. I have my heat and a/c scheduled to be replaced this month. I have to drive once a week to do therapy with Teen. I have so much work to get caught up on, calls to make, everything is behind again.

And my house is in disarray. I feel in a relatively good place mentally, and hopeful. But again I am struggling to get priorities and a way to get caught up, with a bag leg and tons of things that shouldbe done now.

It's the subc blog!

Carrots are washed and trimmed - tops given to bunnies. They will need more work when I use them because there were a lot with nematode damage.

Leeks are also washed and trimmed and both are in the fridge.

Laundry is in the dryer. Compost went out.

Three wheels of cheese and six half pints of pesto got moved from the upstairs freezer to the chest freezer in the basement where they belong. Ten large ziploc bags and three items to recycle got washed. (Well, the recycling got rinsed - took 20 seconds. Why do I let this stuff pike up?)

The homemaking lady cleans her bathroom and vacuums her living room every day! Never gonna happen.

Ok, back to cleaning the kitchen.

I have picked all the carrots, most of the beets, all the leeks, and many green tomatoes.

I came in to sit for a minute and watch a video by a young woman who does home making/ homesteading videos.

She started the video by saying she always empties her dishwasher and starts some laundry first thing in the morning. That way she can put dirty dishes in as she goes, and at the end of the day there will be room in the laundry basket for the dirty things.

Then she labelled the broth she canned yesterday, carried it downstairs to put away, checked that her canned goods were neat and in order, and cleared and wiped her counter and sinks because "I'll be canning some tomato sauce later and there's nothing worse than getting things done and having no place to put them."

I would argue that there are many things worse, but five minutes in, I had realized two things:

1 - my house will never be as neat and clean as hers because she was basically ignoring the toddler at her feet the whole time she was filming and cleaning and there is no world in which any of those jobs would be more important to me than interacting with him - even if only to explain what I was doing to him and ask for his help even if he slowed me down. (He wasn't playing, he was just following her around.)

2 - she has a point about avoiding logjams. Because I have no idea where all this stuff I picked is going to go.

So I emptied my dishwasher and loaded it and started it and started a load of laundry, and took the dying sunflowers out of the vase and gave them to the chickens, and now I have had a drink and am going to rake out the compost.

Then, instead of picking more things from the garden, I am going to think about where all thus stuff is going to go and maybe make a little room.

Good morning!

I hope everybody is having a good weekend!

Dh has been working.

I woke up naturally this morning. Also hungry. Dh made a delicious, filing curry for dinner last night, and then I did not eat dessert or snack all evening.

I accomplished two things from my list yesterday.

I made cheese- a wheel of mozzarella and half a pint of ricotta,
And I finished digging the sweet potatoes.

I also cleaned up the kitchen, made an apple pie and some vanilla custard to freeze today, and I pulled out a row of dead beans to replace with garlic. I'm a little late planting the garlic.

Today I need to finish clearing the garden, although they've now pushed the freeze back to Wednesday... move a few things I have realized are in the way of the fence job, and possibly make some pots. The pots are becoming urgent. Apparently more urgent than the garden, but the weather is supposed to be really nice today. There is also plenty more cleanup to do.

Also, I miss being able to see pictures from other people, but I kind of like the "dinosaur" format. It is kind to my usually outdated electronics and poor computer skills. However, I just figured out I can do this:

🌟for Road for adulting!

Good morning.

Dh is not sleeping well, so I don't get to sleep - he is tossing and turning and getting up and down and turning his computer on in bed which keeps me awake. Then this morning his alarm went off early because he has to work again today. He begged me to get up and make coffee, and my chance of sleeping later was gone. So here I am on a Saturday morning when I should be caught up on rest, tired with a headache. Bah.

Road, it makes sense that if you get your fridge cleaned out and keep less stuff in it you will waste less food. It will be easier to see what you have and plan around it, and if your kitchen is clean it will be easier to make meals.

Impressive job cleaning your room!

I could never have a dog. Mr. kitty and I have an agreement. I pet him and feed him, care for his wounds, remove stubborn seeds from his fur and ticks from his skin, and when I'm around I open the door. He has a litter box he only uses if he gets trapped inside too long and he gets wormer if he needs it and a rabies shot every three years wether he likes it or not. In return he does what he wants.

I do not have any specific plans for today, but the house is a mess and I have a very long list of goals and projects. I'm trying to be realistic and choose the top two.

It's supposed to be sunny today with a high of 60, then partly cloudy with a high of 71 tomorrow, then freeze monday night and the beginning of the week. So I think it's put the garden to bed weekend.

Hi, oh I was hoping again I could figure out how to make a photo link work. The dinosaur format annoys me. anyway,

I was not inclined to clean but I committed to one small thing and ended up doing 5 or 6 things and basically cleaned a third of my room.

- I cleaned up the odd glasses, refilled the water filter
- nightstand top and drawer
- all clothes in closet
- hobby stuff where it goes
- cleaned up office supplies and chargers, etc.
- found a basket for the stack of "inbox" paperwork
- wiped down the table and swept the floor
- picked up some more garbage
- printed more pages for October

Now I feel like I got something done AND I maintained the office space and it's usable as a workspace again. I think maintenance is the lynchpin for me.

Good morning all,

Ella! Yay! I'm so glad you checked back in.

And thanks to all of you for welcoming me back. I am going to try to keep this train on the tracks.

I think my hoarding issues are inextricably linked to depression and still struggling with adulting... by that I mean things like taking care of your health, your house, your bills, etc. I realize you all don't necessarily have the same combo of issues that I do, but for me, when I Establish or maintain a healthy habit , that's all a part of this situation. Today, I picked up my sons prescription and took both of the dogs to the vet. One to get groomed and one to get her teeth cleaned. (My son was not out of medicine Yet) I have neglected To pick this up about 10x. Or in other words, I intended to pick this up at least 10x and I finally did it today. What is the big deal? I don't know but these are the dumb things I struggle with. Same with the dog. My sister has struggled so much with pet maintenance, it made me not want to get any more pets I guess for fear that I wouldn't be able to be a responsible pet owner. My husband really pressed to get the second one (maltipoo) and she 100% needs regular professional grooming. I have tried to keep it going myself but had to have her shaved a couple times anyway. This time it was 2.5 months in between and I did a better job brushing and combing and success! So the groomer just cleaned her up and dealt with her ears and face and feet and if I can keep it up we can keep her long and fluffy and just get her trimmed every couple months. Sooooo fluffy. Everyone had their shots, the older dog had to get some lab work done and we will see where we are at. I kind of want a gold star for adulting. Also last night made another "clean out the fridge" soup and tossed some stuff and made a mental note to clean out the bins again. For me the "waste less" goal is hovering, just out of reach... it's on a continuum on a point down the road a little. The point I'm at now - well, my kitchen related goals are:
- trying to normalize an emptier fridge
- get it clean and keep it clean
- do more meal planning

I actually think reducing waste will just follow along without having to work on it that much if I can achieve those first things. I don't know if I'm making sense. I'm blathering. Oh! I did toss another bag of garbage. I got the bedroom garbage and the bathroom garbage and tossed out a yucky old foam pillow from my sons bed.

I'm going to challenge myself to a mini project here in my room and report back. My night stand is pretty neat. Desk needs to be cleaned again, clothes are all in closet. Maybe I will try to ... hmmm having a hard time. Trying to resist the urge to set up another standing desk. I just need to clean off the two desks I already have in here and I still need a bed!

Over and out,

Hi Ella!

Good job on the trash! I hope you got your daylight things done.

The "name" space is for your name - ella. People do that all the time! It doesn't contact us or anything, so you can put notes to more than one person in the same post. Or still make a bunch of posts. CM used to do that when she would lose posts.

CM, I hope you are getting off of the struggle bus! I love thinking of you sitting at that big clear table in that peaceful space! Do it a lot so it will feel normal and then hopefully working on your physical space will feel like steps toward that and not as disruptive. Is the single stream getting cancelled, or is it expensive? Here recycling costs $1, but you have to have trash service to get it and the trash service is expensive. If I retire and stop driving past (literally within 50 ft) the community recycling bin four times a week I might resubscribe. They offer larger recycling bins now - although I don't know if there is an up charge.

Road, you gave a lot going on, but it sounds like you are making good progress! I'm glad the pictures are helping. I've thought about taking pictures, but I am still worried about seeing forgotten things later and feeling regret about discarding them.

My house is a mess again, but this weekend should be less crazy. I brought home another box from DD's house for the "baby library" last night - I went over after work and she fed me dinner because dsil was at a meeting and Dh was working late. Bean is going through a very bossy stage.

The fence guy is going to come today and put in the stakes and lines for the fence. Then they will start work for real on Monday. Bean will like that! I will be very glad to have this job done. I feel like once the pasture is sorted out I will be able to think about the barn - which needs a serious clean out, and make some good decisions about what direction I am going with the livestock.

Ok, once again not ready for school today, but I do at least feel like I slept well for a change!

Road - take your vitamins! I'll try to remember mine!

. Hi Road - just wanted to reply & send you some gratitude. I'm going to do a couple of things that need to be done during daylight, (time pressure, yikes) and it's almost 4 pm now! I'm going to post it here when I've gotten something done. Thanks for this nice piece of guidance - much appreciated! - Ella

. Lila, just wanted to say I appreciate your welcome message and very helpful reply! I actually have started with the overt trash! Sending you some gratitude! - Ella

Tatoulia, we'll said. I get it, and it seems like this will be more do-able already. more stuff outgoing; less stuff incoming! Thank you for your encouraging welcome!! All for now, because I'm pressed for time. - Ella

. Hi Subclinical, just wanted to reply. Thanks for your friendly welcome, and support! Seeing your words is making a difference. There's just something about this - even I have told myself some of these suggestions yet it seems so much more do-able & startable now. Much appreciated- Ella

I have been on the struggle bus this past week and end of last - can't remember - it's nothing terribly serious, just that there have been some good things and some glitchy things on roommate's home project front. The glitches have had a ripple effect.

I will get back to posting soon, and I'm happy to see that Road is back.

The screened in porch did get done and it's very nice. I'll get around to posting a pic on Instagram soon.

At the library again with my nice quiet genealogy room and big uncrowded table, working on transferring files to my new laptop. It's satisfying but not a fast process, as I'm dejunking along the way.

Hey, maybe working on this nice table will spur me to keep streamlining in other areas of life. My roommate is starting to go through her own papers and stuff that she hadn't had time to in all the hectic years of working a stressful job. That, too, is something that can get me motivated to do more on my own piles.

Pretty soon we'll make some dropoffs at the thrift shop, electronics recycling, etc. We're going to have to give up our single stream recycling service but may be able to take some presorted items to a place - this of course will need to be managed carefully so it doesn't contribute to clutter. And unfortunately the place is on the south side of town and we're north. So we won't be able to just nip over there frequently.

Really struggled getting going yesterday. Ended up taking some D & B & other vitamins. Sometimes when I'm in a pit I'm convinced it's a deficiency... I reduced my anti depressant because I started worrying it was causing my tinnitus. I haven't had an issue til yesterday so it's either not working at all or it's Working well enough. I was still kind of physically recovering also. After my son got home from school I had arranged for a visit from the "birthday bus" - some staff and volunteers from the special rec. came by and he got some balloons, a little choc. Cake, a goody bag, and they sang to him. He loved it. Then the H came home and took my son to visit his mom who's been in the hospital. She actually got hit by a car in her apt parking lot. She broke two ribs, her arm, and has a Concussion and a compression fracture in her back. We typically don't see her much due to her behavior, but she's been better lately, and the other son is in Hawaii right now. We have visited quite a bit, but even so she could do with more because she evidently has no friends whatsoever and she's lonely and she's also a little confused with the concussion... So while they were gone I got my second wind and did the kitchen. The dishwasher was run and emptied on Monday and yesterday the counter and the sink were already chock full of dishes again. So now I know. Two days to make a big mess. 30 minutes to clean. I even unloaded. I have been working on the kitchen a lot the past month or so. I have stocked dish towels in the pantry again (that seems like it's been ages)... I've been Gradually cleaning out the fridge one shelf at a time, washing cabinet and wall surfaces, and just did two of the windows... I'm taking pictures of everything - very motivating and helps with my memory. Bit risky though because my son could just randomly text some really embarrassing photos of my mess to my mother or a friend... but I gotta do what a gotta do.

Over and out for now. Hope everyone is having a good week,