That's a big list! Subc, gently, do not upset yourself because the blocks weren't available to Bean earlier. He's having a beautiful childhood and just a very careful reminder that even if you never found them, his childhood would be remarkable by anyone's measure. So there are things that can be donated or repurpose (Not these, just in general) with no ill effect on anyone. Telling myself this, as much as you!

Okay I only got one load of laundry done last night because the laundry room was very popular. I dry to WFH today and my towels are in the dryer and my fleeces and indoor fleece pants are in the washer. Up next: cat blankets although it's really cat blanket now that I just have the one cat. I'll have a substitute while it's washing but she will miss the stinky one, I'm sure.

Good morning!

Tatoulia, thank you for the kind words. I know kids are happier with rocks and sticks and an adult who is genuinely interested in them than with any toy in the world, and Bean is spoiled with toys, but I still get annoyed when I find things and realize I saved them so long and missed the window that made it worth doing.

The tree blocks (and the toy trolls) barely got a glance, but the newly out dress up box with ds's old hard hat in it was a hit, and the toy periscope was exactly the right timing. He got really excited and asked to take it home. (And of course I said yes).

Is your kitty the type who loves a fresh, fluffy blanket, or will she be annoyed that it is no longer stinky?

I did all the things on my list yesterday. Plus I wrote some thank you notes (two more to be done, so will try to squeeze that in today) And I threw out a pair of adorable, beloved, but well used and leaky boots with the trash. Bean enjoyed them. Boots don't last forever. Buddy does not need cute boots that leak.

Dinner at Bean's house was yummy and fun - heartdaughter and her wife came over and there was much hilarity with the periscope. And my class was good, but I got home late and both wound up and exhausted. Didn't get to bed until 11 and slept badly, so here it is almost 8 and I am still on the couch with my coffee!

I am not going to post today's list. I know it is too long.

hi all, just a brief update.

I did get all the things done in my list on Sunday. I went to work yesterday and got exhausted. Today I am trying to work from home but have a bad headache.

I did go through my upstairs freezer this morning (I finished the big downstairs one and made an inventory the other day). I re-organized the food in the upstairs freezer, which is the small type on top of the fridge. I found 3 things to take out and thaw to eat - soup, cooked apples, and a tamale. There is quite a bit of good food in there for me to start eating.

I did throw out a small box of things that were either too old or contain meat and no one will want. So now it is easy to find everything I want in there.

Now I am working on consolidating my work planners. I de-coiled 3 of them and are putting the pages together and threw out a lot of old pages. I probably do need to keep these planners, but consolidating will help, and I am not going to buy this kind anymore. Having one per year is just too much, so I hope to find a 3 or 5 year planner next time.

Lila, good job on the freezer and the planners.

I'm Not feeling great about my day, but trying not to beat myself up. I won't list the things I didn't do, but we'll just say I forgot/skipped a bunch of basics - didn't even brush my hair until after dinner.

I did almost meet my evaluation goal
Do my chores
Finish my thank you notes
And unload my car.

I also worked in the basement a little and found 8 things to get rid of. 5 packs of bulletin board border to go to school, a plaster cast of ds footprints in sand when he was a baby (they didn't come out well, but I have held on to them all these years thinking I would do something with them.) a sentimental coloring book, and a large knitting basket.

Good morning!

Gave myself an extra hour of sleep this morning, so I'm more rushed but more rested.

I left filling and running the dishwasher off my done list yesterday.

So, here we go again, very full day:
Yoga
Chores
Lesson plans (almost done)
Pack lunch/snacks/swim bag
Drop off recycling
Take bulletin board borders to office supply closet
Unload kiln
Teach - including getting fill in notes for some evaluations
About an hour putting notes into evaluations (all the time I have in the schedule)
Swim
Chores

Off I go.

good morning,

I'm not feeling well. I was not feeling well yesterday and got very little done. Just got my planners re-coiled and put away. But I feel sick.

I have an event tonight and I really need to be there if I am functional. I took this morning off to stay home and rest to try and go work tonight. Will see how it goes. I am getting really behind on work.

update -

I took another full grocery bag of old food out of the big freezer to the bin outside, also emptied the vacuum when I did that. And I brought up a full grocery bag of ice packs and such, which are sitting on my table to sort.

Hey it's something!

Good evening.

Lila, I hope you feel better and your evening work turned out ok.

I did all the things on the list.

I have another too long list for tomorrow, so I will make a "done" list. I may try to work on the basement some more.

"Hey it's something" is today's theme.

I did yoga and chores. I changed our sheets and did a load of laundry but didn't put it away. I started the evaluations and did enough to be neither ahead nor behind tomorrow. When we picked up Dh car we took the truck, so I did not get gas or take trash. I emptied the dishwasher.

Dh could tell I am feeling low energy, so he cooked a nice dinner to eat at home before our concert. Now he is changing and then we will go.

I talked to all three of my kids today.

That was so nice of your dh! What a good guy.

I managed to get the dyson canister all apart, washed the bin, really scrubbed it. Then looked up videos about how to clean the cyclone part. No luck with the videos. It was so disgusting in there when I looked in the bottom - dust all caked in there smelling like old vacuums smell, ick. I decided it was so gross that I would take a chance and just wash it. If that messed it up, the oh well, it is too gross to keep using anyway.

So it took me a good half hour to bang all the caked dust out of there before using hot water and a sprayer, a brush, some Mrs Meyer cleaner, and it looks pretty darned clean now. It is sitting outside drying with the filters I washed.

That was exhausting, so I am resting. I only have to wipe down the rest of the vacuum, and wait 24 hours before putting it back together. If it works and doesn't stink, I will be thrilled, and might even go ahead and buy a hose for it.

The thing is, this was not on any of my lists, but it took all day to clean the vacuum. I have not being able to cross anything off my list. But tomorrow I will work on the lists.

I also got another 2 bags of food out of the old freezer and now everything that is left is food I want to eat. Yay! I will work on eating it until it is gone or it can fit into my upstairs freezer, and then I have to clean it and sell it.

I am tired.

Hello all. It's Epiphany (gregorian)for a few more minutes, anyway. A day of dogwalking, laundry, going to work, dogwalking and going to the store.
you all have been so busy! it's great to read your posts. thank you! I am trying to repair my sleep schedule by not staying up past midnight, so i'll say goodnight and post more later.

Good morning!

Happy belated Epiphany Messi.

I didn't get much done last night, but the mixed recycling is loaded in my car for drop off. Plus the old glasses that go to the donation bin at the front of the fitness center.

I have rough lesson plans, but need to get my stuff together. (Literally and figuratively)

Today's goals (stretch in parentheses):
Yoga and chores
Gather lesson plan materials/swim bag/(girlscout box/snacks)
Drop recycling
Remember to take school stuff from car
Teach
(Order brushes, load kiln)
(Drop off Girl Scout box)
Swim
Chores
(Make list for Thursday)
Set up coffee
Get to bed at a reasonable hour

Anything else is bonus.

hi guys, so nice to read all your posts! Hi SubC, Messi, Tatoulia! I am sick this morning. I must have caught it from TotsFam, mainly a cold but I feel pretty ragged. I just placed an online order for some soups, juice, fruit, tea etc to help me feel better. It really is not a good time to be sick, when I just had nearly 2 weeks off. But, my next event starts next week so I have to do all the prep from home and hope I am better enough by Monday.

I don't know if I will feel well enough to do any decluttering today, but maybe some very light working on it. I am sitting with my electric blanket staring at the tv for now.

Lila, I hope you feel better soon! There is a lot of yuk going around in my area but so far I've avoided it. I hope yours is short-lived.

Good morning!

Hi Messi!
Lila, I hope you are feeling better this morning!
Tatoulia, are you settled back in at home yet?

I was too tired to post last night.
But I did every single thing on that list.
Plus I remembered to take some (five pairs) old glasses with me and drop them in the box at the fitness center - they collect old glasses and hearing aides to refurbish for people who need them.

And I stopped at the grocery store to get a refund for an overcharge.

The girl (woman, but I am getting old!) I gave the box of scout stuff to seemed really happy about it. So that made me feel good.

My list for today is a lot of "this and that" around the house.

It includes finishing off thank you notes, an hour or so of school prep/admin work, and doing a more thorough job on the barn door since we are predicted to have a high of 60 and it will freeze again this weekend.

I'm going to try to make some progress on the basement, but the dining porch is getting messy again and the counter of doom still isn't clear and I'm trying to develop a habit of maintaining things.

I have literally brought nothing new into the house this year except food packaging and mail, and all the mail has been recycled except three coupons and a fancy art catalog I like to look through like a magazine for inspiration. (I can afford almost nothing in it, but I once ordered a carved wooden spatula from them as a gift, and now I am happily on their mailing list.) so, where did all the mess on the dining porch come from?!

thank you messi.

SubC, you are on a roll for sure! Great work.

I am at home again today, sick, but have a 2 hour Zoom meeting I must attend today. It starts in an hour and twenty minutes. I am VERY glad my bedroom is in good condition now. I cannot do a 2 hour Zoom in the living room (Tot and siblings noise/interruptions) and I had planned to have this meeting at work in my office. But now I am able to have it in my bedroom.

My desk is not "neat," and not exactly finished, and neither is the office chair. The chair has pieces of fake leather peeling and flaking off terribly getting on everything, so I was deciding between tossing it/replacing it or getting a cover. But I need to use it today, so will put a blanket over it.

I need to clear the desk and chair, dust the desk, and set up my laptop and make sure it will run a Zoom meeting in there. If it will not, I have to try the chromebook. I better go get this done. I cannot, CAN NOT miss this meeting.

Wish me luck...

Lila, I hope you got everything together and your meeting went well.

It's there any other chair in the house you could use?

I rolled right into a wall. I have done a few of the things on my list, but none of the important school things for tomorrow. Right now I am binging on Christmas chocolate because I am cooked.

I tried to work in the basement today, and I did make things a bit more orderly and find three things that can go, but my big goal eluded me. I used to make flower fairies for sale, and I want to again, but I have TWO bins of silk flowers I thought I would sort them out, make a bag for the offsite craft storage, and get everything left into one bin. After two hours I couldn't make decisions any more and I had a full, neatly packed, but not stuffed paper grocery bag of flowers ready to go. I gathered up the rest of the flowers and..they filled both bins.

I know it was "fluffing" but it was very discouraging.

I did dig out the barn door track so it won't freeze shut this week, and I filled the wood boxes on the porch and in the garage so I can keep the woodstove going this weekend.

I got one small load of laundry done and I did yoga and cleaned up the playroom.

I've also spent time on FaceTime with Birdy and his mom and with my mom today.

In a few minutes I've got to leave to drop off the last of the old Christmas lights for recycling and pick up Dh - he's dropping his car off for some work. (If it's not one thing, it's another!

I guess I shouldn't be too frustrated. Things got better today. If I can say that every day fora year, I will be in a much better place, right?

Right, don't be too hard on yourself, SubC, you have been doing a lot! Decision fatigue is real. And things are getting better.

I did get my desk cleared, dusted, the laptop set up and had the meeting. It went well but I am sooo tired from it. I am very glad I decluttered my bedroom though, because the background was just normal looking dressers. NO piles and junk on them! I had planned to do this meeting in my work office, so imagine if I had not decluttered and got sick like I am and had to zoom in a hoarded room? omg. I have had to do it in the past, and had to take everything off the dressers and windowsills, put them in boxes or on my bed or hidden somewhere for the meeting, then put it all back. Ahh. This way is better.

The only progress I made today was that I took 2 bags of old, freezer burned food out of the big downstairs freezer out to the trash. I am slowly going to get it emptied so I can sell it. There is not room in the bins to do it all at once, so 2 grocery bags full is good!Just looking in there, I see 2 gallons of nice frozen whole tomatoes I froze this summer, a quiche from this summer, a lot of meat (I don't eat meat so might move anything that's not too old into TotsDad's freezer), not sure what is in the bottom drawers. I think if I take out 2-3 bags next week, move the meat, and cook a few things from either freezer, I should be ready to sell it by February.

by the way, TotsFam waited until tonight to add their 5 billion bags of trash to the bins, which left me room for my trash, the frozen stuff, and plenty of space left. He is putting all his trash out now. I really appreciate that. Last week I asked him to take all his leftover trash to HIS bin at the house he is remodeling, and he did that. So now we are "caught up" and I don't think the full bins will be a problem anymore.

That's all for now. Hope I will feel better enough tomorrow to get some cleaning done.

Lila, I love that you had a clean zoom background!

Think of all the time you got back not having to shift that stuff!

The freezer progress is good too! And I am glad the trash has been resolved peacefully.

I got one administrative thing done this morning, but still need to do chores, yoga, toss together some lesson plans, and gather up my stuff including healthy food before I go.

I also decided to stop being in denial about my evaluations - they are due in ten days, so I need to get on that. Bleh.

This morning I went down into the basement just to try to give myself a reality check while I have energy. Looking at my available storage space, I am going to need to remove at least one bin worth of stuff from the basement every month if I am really going to get it functional by the end of the year. I honestly don't know if I can do that, but I will try. It's not like I have a bunch of extra space in the rest of the house. It's really going to be about letting go of that much stuff.

I feel like I am down to the hard decisions, but then I remember it has all been hard decisions.

This is like lifting weights, right? We get stronger. The workout stays hard, but that is because you increase the weight, not because you aren't making progress.

Today's list:
Yoga
Chores
Lesson plans
Lunch and post swim snacks
Run dishwasher
(Trash)
(Kiln)
Teach
Swim
Chores

Plus a menu of options I am not listing because I will then feel bad if I don't do them, but if I do any they will be "icing"

That's quite a list SubC. And I have to say, there have been many times I came here and said there is nothing left to get rid of in my bedroom - but I have let over 100 things go out of there (donate or trash) in about a month. So sometimes our perspective shifts, and we look at things we thought we could never part with, and suddenly it is fine to get rid of. So I think your goal is possible.

I am still sick, stayed home. I did go down to the freezer this morning and took another bag of old food out to the trash bin. And then I sorted a bit in my upstairs freezer (on top of the fridge) and tossed out several things. I found a nice piece of salmon I took out to make for my dinner tonight.

I am very tired, but am going to try to vacuum with the smaller stick vac today because there is dog hair everywhere. I think I mentioned that my youngest Son is moving out this month. He has been absent a lot more than usual anyway. He was the one who vacuumed and walked the dog and took the trash out, so I am going to have to be more on top of that. He also would carry things up and down stairs for me, and sometimes clean up the dog poo. I will be doing all of it myself now. So I am thinking about whether I need any heavy things moved. But, TotsDad will still be downstairs for a few more months, so I can ask him to carry things. (He works a lot and has kids so I won't really ask him to do any of the other things Son was doing). I am just going to have to get more energy, time, and motivation to do it all.

It is an easygoing day. Will check in later.

Lila, I'm sorry you are still sick.

Maybe not having to move stuff around as much will give you more time and energy for the dog.

Will your son be leaving an empty room?

I hope you enjoyed your salmon. I snacked my way home in the car after swimming because I was very hungry - carrots, apples, almonds, walnuts, dried green beans and then a little humus on pita chips to top it off when I got home. Handful of Christmas candy for a chaser.

Idid my list - including unloading and loading and firing the school kiln, but i didn't take any trash. I decided the cans weren't full enough to be worth the extra time to collect it.

I also finally properly repotted my plant from the pot Buddy broke.

Coffee is set up for the morning, and (herbal) tea is in my hand. It's not late, but I'm very tired, so probably won't accomplish anything else today.

Good morning!

I slept late. I do not want to make a plan for today. Every time I think about it, it is just a long list of things I don't want to do (and have to do anyway)

I have to help Dh pick up his car today.
I will have to get gas when we do that, so I should take a bag of trash.
Dh and I have a date tonight - that is a good thing
And the two other time sensitive things for this weekend are my evaluations, which I hate, and homework for my class on Monday - which I actually want to do, but I need to drive to the city studio to use their equipment. So that is a big chunk of time.

Bleh.

I'm trying to think of something I can do that will be quick and give me a lift.

What are you guys doing today?

I hope you can think of something to brighten your day, SubC! Maybe go out and kiss some goats?

I am still not really well, so resting. Although I am getting tired of resting.

I am feeling most motivated to get that big freezer downstairs dealt with. Yesterday in the afternoon, I went down again and filled a whole kitchen trash bag with old food that I knew I did not want to eat. Took that out. There is not a whole lot left. I need to sort the meats. Anything 2 years old or newer is getting moved to TotsDad's freezer for their use (I may cook them for them later). There are a lot of freezer packs in there, like what you put in a cooler. I am going to take them all out, wash them, decide which ones to save and toss or donate the rest.

Today I made an attempt to fix the vacuum, too. I have a dyson animal from, oh maybe 15 or 20 years ago! The hose is cracked (big cracks) so I wrapped it in gorilla tape and will see if that makes it usable. I also used a scissor to cut the hair off the roller. I need to empty it and then vaccum.

I also need to fold clean towels. I dunno what else I will do today. I am finding it hard to be motivated.

I'll check in later.

Ok, I'm back.
And I'm tired.

I did the things that were "non-negotiable" and I deep cleaned the inside of my fridge. It was so empty I had to seize the chance.

I did not do the freezer however. It is still too full.

So, besides the fridge, I did yoga, turned in my class proposals for next year, organized my school expenses and submitted receipts, washed and dried the tree skirt, sorted through the pile of free pumpkins to give the ones starting to go to the chickens before they rot and stain the floor, (put the boxes containing the rest on a sheet of plastic), dropped a plastic grocery bag of trash, returned my overdue library books, went to the bank, and got groceries.

I added a free reusable wine bag to my possessions when I got groceries, so that cancels out the broken pot. I use them to store pint jars in groups in my chest freezer. I remember being short.

I have a lot more I want to squeeze into the three hours or so left of my evening, but for now I'm having dinner and some tea.

Lila, I hope you are enjoying the party.

The conversation was with my mother - her mother gave the doll to my daughter and it ended up back at my house. The Girl Scout stuff also belonged to my mother.

Dh took me out for veggie pad Thai!

oh I see! Yes, still very good to have your Mom's understanding and support!

Party in 2 hours...

I got the dining room table cleared off and dumped the pine needles out of the tree stand.
- swept up the needles from the stairs and entryway
- swept off the front porch
- made taco meat out of tofu and had 3 small tacos for lunch
- moved the medical records for Teen and my youngest son down to a cabinet in the storage space downstairs
- washed a load of clothes which are in the dryer

Small bits, a little at a time.

I will be very glad when today is done. We have had all the Eves and holidays, a wedding, and 2 birthdays in the last 2 weeks and I am SO done. I just need a normal day. I start back to work on Sunday.

Lila and SubC - you have really gotten the new year off to a running start!

SubC - congratulations on things out and the considerate way you checked with in about sensitive items. Yay about your clock and a good dinner.

Lila - I am so sorry about the cake mess. What a lot of cleaning and repair, especially aggravating when under the duress of putting a celebration together! I admire how you persisted and generously made the mini cake AND continued to clean and organize. You have had a bonanza of things going on these past weeks. I hope you get to relax a little today.

On New Year's Eve, I tried to go to a friend's house early, but the driving was too bad. I turned around and and I did a little cleaning and swept out dirt and threw out dirty water at midnight.

New Year's Day I took a morning walk with dogs. We saw a great horned owl, which always seems auspicious. Then I went to work and walked dogs after. Friday evening after work I took my friend's kids to see a movie. Not too much on the house yet, just dishes and laundry.

Good morning!

Messi, that sounds like a nice start to the year.

Laundry and dishes are hard. I still don't keep up.

Lila, your holiday season is really busy!

The year my uncle got married, my grandmother did Christmas Eve with church and Christmas day for family and friends. On the 27th she hosted a birthday party for her future dil, on the 28th she put on the rehearsal dinner. The 29th was the wedding. The 30th she held a brunch for the out of town relatives, and the 31st she hosted a New Year's Eve party. I wasn't born yet, but I think she was crazy!

I also always thought my aunt was crazy to have her wedding two days after her birthday when that was two days after Christmas.

Now we have a Christmas Eve baby. When Bean went up for the children's moment at the Christmas Eve service, the minister asked "whose birthday are we celebrating tonight?" And I was afraid he would say "Birdy's!"

Anyway, I hope you are getting to rest today and enjoy the last day of your vacation.

I am still hanging around the house with Dh and working on the basement. I think I will take a break and remake the beds, put away laundry, catch up on dishes, that sort of thing. I also need to do some work for school. (My classroom budget records are a mess and my worksheet for what I want to teach next year is due on Tuesday.)

Tatoulia, how is your year going?
CM, we miss you!

hi guys! So nice to see you messi, the owl is what stands out to me because I love birds! That is cool. SubC, yeah, it has been too busy for me, busier than usual because of the wedding and a new girlfriend in the picture and more people than usual. I am hoping at some point one of my kids will be in a home where they can be the holiday host sometimes!

Well this morning I got overly ambitious and now I am wiped out before noon! But in a good way because I got things done.

- washed the dog!! omg what a fiasco, she hates it, getting her in the tub was a whole job in itself, then she got her medicated shampoo that had to be rubbed to the skin and then wait 10 minutes. Then rinse, then get conditioner all over her and try to put cleaner in her ears (mainly a fail), let it sit a minute, rinse it... then let her drip in the tub and noticed the toilet is leaking a ton because I leaned on the tank and then seal opened or something. Turned the water off, cleaned it up, started toweling off the dog and let her out of there, toweled her some more. omg so tired, still need to clean hair out of the drain, clean the tub, and have TotsDad look at the toilet leak.
- stripped my sheets off my bed and put them in the wash, luckily, before I washed the dog!
- made breakfast bread for TotsFam
- cleaned up a bit

It is sunny out but cold. I should/would like to walk the foster dog, but we will see if it warms up a couple degrees and if I can recover in a bit. Or I may just take her in the yard to play and run around a bit instead.

I need to vacuum again and do some finishing touches on my bedroom. It is not really "done" but it is remarkably uncluttered. I need to clean off my desk a bit and put some clothes away. There are two things on the floor taking up space which need to be hung on walls. I need help for that, then my floor will be 90% or more cleared aside from furniture!

Back later to update what else I get done and hope to add to the daily tally and get the box of donations into my car.

update -

- I vacuumed, emptied it and put it away. I even vacuumed the dog beds.
- Dried the sheets and made the bed.
- Washed the dog's blanket, dried it and put it back on her bed.

I tried to work on that wardrobe in my room, which is hard b/c it is a time capsule. But I did manage to make room in there by putting some things away where they belong, donating one item and reorganizing. I have not put anything in there in the newly empty shelf yet, but I plan to finish clearing stuff off the dressers and desk and some of it can go in there. Things are really shaping up.

Tomorrow I will try to finish it.