Tatoulia, actually i dont have any laundry on the bed, but i have things im working on, or that i need to start planning? I just realized, after not getting very far putting this stuff 'away', that in fact, it is exactly where it needs to be. I think sometimes i get so caught up in thinking everything needs to be 'put away', that i dont see it objectively?! I have a huge bed and it works nicely for me to have my notebooks, other books, etc.,handy! That happened a while back when trying to clean out my sock drawer. I got really stuck in trying to toss worn out socks. It went on for weeks. Then i finally asked myself why am i so reluctant to throw them out? The reason was cuz ive really had a hard time finding socks i like in stores! Anyway, i need to remember when i get stuck to step back and ask myself why?
Ok, warning: scary spider story!!! Theres another spider that isnt a Brown Recluse. Where he is, near where the ceiling meets the wall, can be an unwise place to shoot them with a BB gun cuz its like playing pool. The BB, often along with spider parts,can ricochet back on me, and has twice! Ive gotten spider legs on my shirt!

Ten minute miracle: vacuumed the bedroom
Five minute miracle: vacuumed living room & den
Changed cat boxes, garbage out, running dishwasher, all laundry folded and put away.

Anony never apologize for wondering who said what! Who can keep track? To me, the important thing is we all learn from each other and draw support from each other. I never intentionally fail to acknowledge someone--but it happens all the time!

Tillie I am going to hop in shower and climb into bed. It is dark a full hour earlier already. How did that happen? Congrats on both of your under sink projects!

Anony I bet your bed is covered in clean and dirty laundry--if so, there was a time when that was me. I found a way to still change my sheets weekly, while leaving that terrific ball of laundry still on my bed. But that was over a decade ago.

Take care, everyone. Hoping to hear from Diane, CM, Tess. LR, Roxie and Bitsy. Missing you all. Tillie if you hear from Diane, can you shoot her a quick hello from me??!!??

Awesome playlist to work by!!! ;D Music can often be even more energizing than coffee!!! 😀
.....while my well is being worked on, im going to change the bedsheets, which is like wrestling a 200 pound creature that is 7 feet by 7 feet, just cuz of the type of mattress & the corner its in....plus, of course, all the stuff in the bed needing to be cleared...

Hi Anonymoniker 🙂

Well the house got all cleaned.
Had lunch, watched the latest episode of "Fear The Walking Dead"
and have just been relaxing.
The cleaning music line up for today was
"Flowers" by the Rolling Stones
"Hotel California" by The Eagles
and "Rumors" by Fleetwood Mac.
Did that ten minute miracle under the bathroom sink.
Looking forward to taking a shower, too late in the day for a nap so it will be early to bed tonight for me. 🙂

Ooops? Sorry?! Correction: Tatoulia, i like your boxes plan of tossing them!!! ....i try to remember yall's posts so i can comment, but i should just write it down so i get it right?!

Tatoulia, im so sorry my scary spider story creeped you out! I was creeped out preparing for it & had to down a glass of wine first! Im glad it is over....until more show up...ha ha
Tillie, i like your box plan...to toss them! I may do that, too! ....and i laughed at your 'rearrange the dust'....ha ha
Today im having the well water tank cleaned, refilled & planning an alternate power system for filling it! 😀
~Happy cleaning to all!!!~

Good Morning 🙂
Tea "CLINK!"

Hi Tatoulia 🙂
WTG! and good luck filling that donation bag! 😀
So proud of you for breaking down and recycling those perfectly good nice clean boxes. (((hugs)))

Hi Anonymoniker 🙂
WAY TO GO!!! 😀
I hate killing too but we all must do whatever it takes to keep our homes safe places for us and our pets. 🙂

Monday, Monday...
Must clean house today.
Not just tidy things up.
Scour bathroom, sweep, wash floors, vacuum carpet, wash off places/areas and rearrange all the dust.
Will begin at 10:00am.
Yesterday evening we had a surprise rain storm blow in! 😀
Didn't rain enough to water much of anything but it was very refreshing none the less.
My 10 minute miracle today will be to remove stuff from under the bathroom sink and wipe out that area and put stuff back in an orderly way.
With my washer in the bathroom, I keep laundry supplies under that sink.

Have a wonderful day. 😀

Coffee clinks!

We are having some autumn weather and I was able to sleep with window open, ceiling fan on and lots of blankets. Heaven.

Tillie, I love hearing about your antique plants, bushes and trees. What a joy.

Anony, I know nothing about spiders and truthfully had to read your posts very quickly due to the creepy crawlies. Yikes.

Yesterday,
Dishes
Laundry
Shredded mail
Sheets changed
Recyclables ready to go out.

I need to make a bag of items for goodwill. It's been a while since I've done that. And I'm feeling strong.

I've been very good about not saving boxes, haven't done in a few years. The second that "well there's a nice clean box" sentence runs through my head, I say, yup, then break it down for the recycling bin. What a terrific feeling.

Oops I just spilled my coffee. Going to wipe it up NOW

YES! SUCCESS! I AM THE QUEEN OF MY JUNGLE! HA HA Amazingly, at only several hundred thousand times heavier & bigger than those spiders, i was able to overpower them in a battle to the death with my boots! It turned out there were 2 more of them inside the lampshade & one was super pregnant! I squished all 4 of them!....what a relief...and since i could then get to the catnip in that corner, the kitties celebrated with me in a festive triumph! Philosophically, i dont like to take lives, but this is more like self-defense....they were in my territory & its a primal natural thing to defend one's territory, especially from super dangerous creatures!

....now that i opened the curtains for more light, i can see there are 2 Brown Recluses on that lamp, which will make it hard to see if either drops off of it while i move the lamp with them on it outside....geeeez...

...yes, im always careful about making any attempt to get a spider that is not easy enough to succeed! Id much rather know right where the spider is, than have it fall or run somewhere unknown! I have used windex on them, but it takes quite a bit...its funny how most of them wont even run away when im shooting BBs at them,or climbing on a chair with a big glove and paper towels...they must see me with all those eyes?!?

Tillie, yes, i think thats what ill do is just carry the lamp outside. Im waiting to finish my scrumptious coffee & for it to kick in and to get up the nerve for it...ive got it all planned how im gonna do it, etc...amazingly, ive had 3 people get bit by them at my place, but ive never gotten bit. I think it may be cuz im so phobic of spiders that i easily see them before they get too close...they arent as reclusive as their name suggests, tho?!!
Another thing interesting about my spider phobia is that i have seen a clear difference in my fear of them depending on my female hormone levels. There is no mistaking it! That stereotype of women being afraid of spiders is backed up by physical facts, at least for me!
I like this (just a few) minutes miracle idea. Im going to start trying that one, too?! 😀
....ill be back...hopefully, with spider removal victory story! ;D
Happy cleaning & organizing victories to you all!!! ~☆♡☆~

Hi Anonymoniker 🙂
Take that frickin lamp with it's spider outside!
This morning I discovered a medium size spider while making up my bed.
I grabbed this can of miracle stuff called "bug spray" and after I sprayed the spider it only managed to run two more inches before it was deceased.
We have brown recluse here too and when I lived in Tucson I was once bitten on my leg, no fun.
We also have plenty of black widows living in the hoard here. Was once bitten by one of those too.
Do whatever it takes to get those spiders out of your home. Even the common ones will give you a nasty infection.
I spray "Bug Barrier" around the house foundation and windows and that really helps keep most all of them outside.
Have to do that again because as the nights get cooler the spiders all try to come inside where it will be warmer during Winter.

Did a ten minute miracle...
removed everything from under the kitchen sink and washed down the area.
Wiped off the few items I keep there and put them back. 😀
Found no leaks or evidence of any bugs or rodents.
YEA!!!

Hello all!
Tillie, last night i looked close at the spider on the floor lamp & im pretty sure its a Brown Recluse! I thought about using my vacuume, but its a Shop Vac & im scared it will crawl back out unless i cover the vents & put it outside for a while till its dead for sure, or i might try carryng the lamp outside cuz its staying on it during the day. Ive never been bit by one but the bites can be really bad.
I bought some coffee yesterday & its brewing now...itll ne nice to have some after a week without!!!
Yesterday i had a great day, and then, again, driving home i was overcome with sadness, even though im not driving through my ex's town..its very strange...im not even really wanting to be back with him at this point, yet this happens every week...at least i didnt have nightmares this time..

Good Morning Everyone 🙂

Hi Tatoulia 🙂
WAY TO GO! for your five minute miracles! 😀
So glad that you slept!
Sometimes we just have to do what our bodies dictate. (((hugs)))
Sorry the humidity there is so heavy, try to send some of that moisture over this way. 😉

Hi Anonymoniker 🙂
Have you tried sucking the spiders up with the vacuum?
I have never yet had any crawl back out of the vacuum bag.
The natural state of this property is a sand dune.
The soil was made by me adding compost, earth worms and manure to the sand.
Also, my garden is not annual vegetables but rather shrubs, trees, plants and bushes that people have given to me over the decades.
The lilac hedge is an antique that I made up from three ancient lilac bushes planted here when the site was first homesteaded.
The wild yellow roses and some iris are also heirlooms planted by the first woman to ever live out here.
Without these plants and the tiny bit of grass the place would once again be half buried under the drifting sands.
The sand was so deep when I moved in here that I did not know there was a cement front porch or cement walkways out front.

That darn headache seems to be lessening this morning.
Hope, hope, hope it will go away for good and never return.
I did get the dishes washed yesterday. 😀
Today I need to scrub out the litter boxes. ;P

Wishing everybody a slow & easy yet productive day. 🙂

Good morning!

I was just so tired yesterday and so after spending time with brother I came home and napped. Around 9PM BF called and he was running some errands so I got dressed and joined him. But honestly, all I really did yesterday was sleep. I ran dishwasher but didn't empty and did one load of delicates in the washer and hung them up. I think the crushing humidity is really getting to me. Now it's getting very dark like a rainstorm is on the way. Even my brother, who normally wants as much time with me as possible, told me to go home and sleep.

I'll make coffee in a bit and get going on changing sheets and emptying dishwasher. Five Minute Miracles, both.

Tillie my dear, my mother at 86 says, getting old isn't for sissies. I think when we are younger getting old seems like the easiest thing in the world, don't have to work, have plenty of leisure time, etc That is hardly the truth.

Have a wonderful day, everyone. Stop by if you can.

Oh, Tillie, im so sorry you arent feeling well? Would a nice warm bath with Epsoms Salt help your body feel better? The garden area will always be there, and while youre taking a break from it, the soil can take a break & regenerate some, too?!
I spent the day with a friend for his birthday, and it was a really nice day! Tonight there were 2 big spiders hanging over my work area in the kitchen! I think my cleaning is driving them out of that corner?!! It really does make it harder for me to clean up with big spiders all around?!!
Happy cleaning tomorrow to all !!! 😀

Good Morning Everyone 🙂

Hi Tatoulia 🙂
Thank you (((hugs)))

Woke up with a stiff neck and headache today.
Tea and aspirin should help soon. 🙂
Need to plan/fix something to eat and then clean the kitchen.

Yes I definitely must give up about fifty percent of my garden plants.
I suffer physically from the labor and the inside of the house suffers from neglect.
Watering, pruning and weeding take too much out of me any more.
Such a shame because the yard/garden is such a tiny little area and it has given me so much joy and happiness to have it.
I have until next Spring to think about this. 🙂
Getting old and having health issues is no fun but I don't recommend the alternative. LOL ;D

TTYS 🙂

Oh Tillie, what a sleepless night without Marty. Glad he's back home. I am so sorry about your struggles right now. I wish I had a way to ease your burdens. I thank you for being so enthusiastic for my tiny accomplishments. I am pleased that I have truly added to my daily routines and I feel more like myself with each passing day. My worries still have worries, and I can't find a way through them, but I'm used to them now. I also know that having some area of my house acceptable help me cope with everything else. I keep trying to reinforce the idea that the less chaos in my home, the more strength I feel to face the chaos everywhere else.

Haven't caught up on everyone's posts just yet. Just getting home from a long day at work and a long night entertaining a visitor from overseas.

Keep up the good work everyone. Glad to have your support. We can improve our lives by improving our living spaces and letting go of the heavy weight of our hoards.

Hi Anonymoniker 🙂

I have this thing I call the
"spider relocation program".
Using a deep clear drinking glass and a piece of stiff paper
I capture the offending spider and relocate it to the yard.
I hate needless killing, was raised that if you kill it, you eat it philosophy.
It is true that less stuff makes it harder for them to hide and a lot easier for you to see them.

The cats & I got everything watered in the yard today.
I shampooed my hair.
Did some beading.
Did all my usual daily tasks too.
Did a five minute miracle task in the garden. Now all the old iris leaves have been removed from everywhere. 🙂
Now that it's cooler I don't have to water every other day. YEA!!! 😀
Next watering day will be Sunday.
Now I can have the time and energy to do other things.

Sleep tight, don't let any bugs bite, especially not the bed bugs. 😉

Im sorry about the double posts. That refresh button was making my posts disappear...i just shot the pregnant spider...i really dont like killing things...its a constant battle over territory with critters here...another nice thing about having a clean, simple place would be less places for bugs to hide?
I had another dream about my ex last night...the 2nd one this week....(sigh)
~♡~I hope everyone has a nice day, full of accomplishments & enjoyable moments!~♡~

Tillie, i can so relate to being in such a dark place its hard to help others....i also can so relate to worrying about kitties when they arent there as usual....right now there is a big spider that looks very pregnant hanging over my work area. It may have come out of that corner from my cleaning stuff off that top shelf yesterday...i can either leave it alone, to have its babies, or try to squish it & hope to get it without baby spiders going everywhere...or try to shoot it with the BB gun & know that baby spiders will likely end up around the area....or go back to sleep & hope it leaves....dangit...

Good Morning Everybody 🙂

Hi CriticalMass 🙂
The only reason why I ever attended Star Trek conventions was because there are other Whovians there and I would not be alone in my passion, ;D
Dave, who posts here sometimes, highly recommends Brooks Palmer's books too.
I so wish others here could address some of the "Newbies".
I read their posts but am in such a deep dark place myself that sometimes I just have nothing positive to say to them, no way to help myself or anyone else.
Google and all the other search engines are the most wonderful inventions ever!
Youtube is also a fantastic thing.
Since 1999 I have spent way too much of my life surfing the internet and learning about so many things that I never knew even existed before.

Hi Tatoulia 🙂
WAY TO GO! with that 20 second toilet miracle! 😀
WONDERFUL Kitty update! (((hugs)))

Hi Anonymoniker 🙂
YEA! for successful clearing of the project area! 😀

Marty (the cat) did not come home at all last night so I didn't sleep well from worrying about him.
He showed up on the porch shortly after I got up this morning.
Yesterday my back started hurting bad no matter what I was doing or not doing so I did not accomplish much on the home front.
At 10:00am today the cats & I are going outside to water the trees and bushes.
After that I'll see what else I might do around here.
LOL 😀 Poor tired Marty is trying to sleep in my bed right now but Scooter keeps attacking and jumping on him, wanting to play. ;P

TTYL 😀

Internet addict here too *raises hand* - actually I am (surprise!) a card-carrying Information Hoarder. I've been this way from childhood. The kids across the street caught tadpoles in the ditch and gave me some. We were all excited about our tadpoles. Living a quintessential moment of childhood. Out of all the kids, guess which one was the nerd who was off to the library for books about tadpoles, frogs, and toads? 😉

When Google came along, I was like one of those romantic heroines, skirts flying, hair blowing in the wind, rushing to the arms of my long-lost lover. 😀

The spider didnt show up over my project area tonight, so i was able to clear off the rest of the shelves! And im pleased there werent any trauma trinkets to throw me into upset! YEA!!!
I also realised that part of today's laziness was likely cuz i had green tea, instead of coffee today! .....zzz..zZz..z.zz...zZz...zzz...zz.....ha ha

Hey, Tatoulia? We posted at the same time. I know my internet addiction is definitely getting in the way of my progress! Its awful & i dont know how to stop! Seriously!!! I tell myself how valuable all the info im reading is, and thats true, but meanwhile, im getting only a few hours a day of work done?!! One of my main reasons i keep wanting to hire someone, is to stop me from the internet while they are here to work?!! How stupid is that?

Hey, CriticalMass? Im not familiar with Dr Who, but imma google that term, 'Tardis' as soon as i post this...ha ha...i think finding humor in hoarding issues can be very theraputic, or more importantly, FUN!!! ha ha...i read an article today with a similar title & it got me wondering the difference in 'lazy and 'mental illness'....hmmm....i dont know which id rather be...im feeling like working tonight...even tho i dont have anymore coffee...ive got to get energized with green tea and Bob Marley(reggae music!) 😀 😀 😀

Hello Cm, Anony & Tillie!

Cm good to see you! Although not a Dr Who devotee, I did once see a classic old car with a Tardis license plate! I'd be happy to take a look and be part of the welcoming committee!

Anony, the Internet is a thief! Total time burglar. I have to work I. Staying away from it. I can spend countless hours on it but don't have time to take out the garbage??!!???!

Tillie my dear. The face of patience and perseverance. To hear from you is like visiting with a most cherished friend.

I cleaned the toilet today and it took exactly zero seconds. I just did the bowl. It was a 20 Second Miracle, to be sure.

Goodnight all. Finishing one more laundry then calling it a night. AFTER I feed the kitty, of course. OH tiny cat update: mom's cat continues to eat like a champ. I cancelled her ultrasound and instead made an appt a few weeks out for a checkup.

Quick drop in via my Tardis, LOL

Hey, we hoarders have a lot of stuff that we could say is a Tardis in disguise, don't we! 😉

Anyway, before I go flying off on Doctor Who riffs too far, I'll get to what I came here for:

I often stumble across books in the library by serendipity, and I found a good one today. It's called Clutter Busting: Letting Go of What's Holding You Back by Brooks Palmer. I've just flipped through it a little but it looks great - addressing those emotional hooks and countering them with positive, common sense and empowering new ways of looking at things.

We ought to have a thread for books we find!

Another thread we ought to have - is a "Welcome Mat" thread in the Welcome forum. I was just looking at it and I see several posts by people that were made back in July or so and never got a response. It takes time for someone to find that this is the most active forum, and I hate to think of someone getting no reply and being discouraged. Perhaps some of us "regulars" could each pick a day or two that we could make sure to check that forum for newbies and make sure no one feels left out in the cold? What do you think?

Tillie, im so sorry you have to deal with that. I think he is likely more difficult that average, but i often am astonished at how anyone handles a live in relationship! And it seems the more one gives into the unreasonable demands of the other one, the more unreasonable the demands become! Often just standing up to them firmly, and maybe even laughing and pointing out their absurdity, seems to help more!
Last night a spider was hanging over my work area, but i have had no excuse today. Ive been on the internet all day long & i can barely see from reading, so i need to stop procrastinating & get at least a little done. Its a beautiful, cool, rainy day....ahhhh....(sigh)....it makes me want to take a nap...ha ha