post 2- hope someone stops by today!

I made the gazpacho and cleaned out the fridge. I didn't WASH it out, I just got everything out of there that was going bad, and rearranged.

I put WD40 on a squeaking thing. I cooked some pasta. Now I feel like I am losing steam and it is only 2:30. I think I will make some coffee. I wish I had some iced, but I could brew it strong and add cold water and ice it. I think I'll do that.

Hi everybody!

Hi CM - who keeps starting all these fires?😉
I know it becomes exhausting. And it's the thing about "when you're up to your @$$ in alligators, it's hard to remember that your original objective was to drain the swamp."

Hi Lila, I'm sorry to hear about tot and acorn. 🙁

My beans are currently yellow beans. I'm letting the green ones go for black beans for winter. I dehydrate them with salt, cayenne, and just enough olive oil to make the spices stick, so probably not what you want for dinner. They make great snack food if you like spicy.

Nice job on your fridge!

I had a good day with Bean today. He made me vacuum.

I finished the garage. Most of the stuff in the garage belongs in the garage (the stuff that doesn't is up on surfaces.)

I washed the water hog mat - that goes below the steps into the house - for 30 minutes. Starting with the hose, then scrub brush, then hose.. It can now be classified as "a little dirty."
I left it on the driveway to dry because I forgot that it is supposed to rain all afternoon. From the look of things I need to go move it back into the garage once I finish this post.

Then I came in hungry - and I made a good choice! Instead of eating easy but unhealthy, I had a peach to hold me while I made a salad. Then I went downstairs to get the lettuce and ended up washing out a nasty vegetable crisper..

So now, it is almost 1:00, and I'm going to make my salad!

Good morning!

Today is a Bean day.

I enjoyed the library program. I brought home a library labelled tote bag, a folder full of information handouts, a flower shaped multicolored highlighter, and a name sign for my classroom door.

Now I need to get four of my coworkers to sign up for library educator cards and the library will deliver book collections to my school every month! (It is possible that four or more of my coworkers already HAVE educator cards, I just need their names on our school form.)

I do not have any tasks on my list for today, just Bean.

How is everybody else doing?

Hi you two, and anyone else. 🙋‍♀️

Summer marches on. I keep having new fires to put out, and lack of resolution on pending matters. Plus things that pain my soul in deeper ways than I would feel comfortable delineating here. But I am holding as steady as I can under the circumstances.

Some annoying obligations are behind me. A few other things, and not all of them annoying but involving work. We got some rain days and days ago but are back to hot for awhile.

SubC, I like your bit about doing some of those little things we notice in passing. It's a good strategy for the hot, lower energy days.

So often, I wish I didn't have obligations and deadlines, because I hate the coordinating involved. Especially when I've been putting out fires.

Gotta go now to put out another one. 🔥 🚒

last post of the night-

We did good today SubC! I am proud of us. I hope some of our friends stop by tomorrow.

Getting late but I had an online meeting and then got a few last little things done:

-sorted mail, opened it and threw out quite a bit
-picked up the few pieces of trash in my bedroom and noticed the dust bunnies, so I will vacuum soon
-put away the hand washed dishes and washed the pans

I feel happy. I improved my situation today by getting this stuff done.

Tomorrow I am free til noon and then I have 2 appointments, then maybe an hour at home before going in to work for 3 or so hours. I am OFF on Friday (staying home) and Saturday.Work a half day Sunday, half day Monday, 2 hours Tuesday and a few hours Thursday but OFF Weds, Fri, Sat. I am carving out time for myself.

See you tomorrow.

Good Morning!

Lila, I am so happy that you are moving toward the life you want!

I also hope more friends will stop by today! I know Lila and I posted a lot. Just drop in and let us know how you are doing, don't worry about processing it all.

I have 5 things on my list today that are not every day things:
Pick beans
Plant more beans
Sweep the garage (both cars are out because mine is still at the shop)
Sign my contract for fall
Teacher night at the library

Other than those I have a "things I have noticed" list to pick from or ignore. I am trying to choose a reasonable number of those for each day. They are low urgency, variable importance - like sweeping the garage.

I am keeping up with dishes and laundry! I almost got to bed at 9:30 last night, but dd2 called with more moving stress.

I have: picked the beans, planted more beans, and signed my contract (electronically) I am now drinking water because it is very hot outside.

Next I will move some things that are not supposed to be in the garage and are taking up floor space. Then I will sweep it.

Nice work on your goals, SubC! I want to hear about your garden-born dinner! I have a lot of produce I need to use up, so maybe I will get some ideas.

The one thing that bothered me today is as soon as I got the sink cleared out, teen came up to "cook" and I told them, you HAVE to put the dishes in the dishwasher when you're done, and don't leave a mess. But no. About 8 dishes in the dishwasher and a few utensils dirty on the counter... I did get teen to come back and put most of it in the dishwasher. I wish things could stay clean for one day.

I went downstairs and helped teen sort laundry and put in a load. I ordered some stuff to be delivered that we need (toiletries, a few groceries, cat food) because of my covid exposure and not going out yet, and If I am being honest, laziness. It will arrive soon.

I used up the almost empty bottle of windex on the windows and one glass tabletop.

I went back in the den and sorted the last bit and got one more paper. All done!

I sorted some produce that had some bad areas and washed the good, savable parts.

There is still so much to do, but I am glad I got this much done.

oops, I meant teen left the dishes in the sink. But, then did put them in the dishwasher when told.

Lila - nothing stays clean.

I used to have a friend who had four kids very close together. Her mom would come to visit, and watch the kids for a day, and the mom would dress the kids all in the same color from the skin out, and do all the laundry in the house. Then, right before my friend came home, she would stick all four kids in the bath and do the last load of laundry - so that when my friend got home, there would be NO dirty clothes in the house.

Dinner was zucchini, yellow squash, and two colors of carrots chopped up and sautéed in butter and garlic with black pepper and salt - served over pasta. Sometimes I add oregano, but the yellow carrots were sort of spicy. Onion is also an option.

Dh was pleased with me when he got home. 😊 he noticed that the house was a little better and appreciated having dinner ready.

Ok, it's 8:00! Off to do my evening routine - see you all tomorrow!

Yay Lila!

I am very proud of you for working on the den!
Won't it feel good if you get it all done today?

I have been working very hard.

I attacked a pile in the scullery to see if there was anything else to go out to my studio.

I found a partly completed project tgat I am never going to finish and put it in the trash can!

I also found a bucket full of teacher gifts. Things were so stressful at the end of the year that I forgot all about them completely. I reread and bravely recycled the cards, put some things away, ate two pieces of candy, put one thing that is just not me in the donate pile, and set two tea towels on my dryer to wash before using (I have a bleach load running)

Note: the tea towels are the only things on my dryer!

I emptied the chest freezer into coolers, got the gaur dryer from my studio (place where it is most often used) and melted all the ice out (not a frost free freezer - used to do this once a year, haven't done it since pre covid.)

I wiped out the inside of the freezer and plugged it back in.

Now it is time to be brave and refill it with only things that we will actually eat that have been in there less than 3 years. (Dated 2020 or later depending on substance - caramel syrup for example keeps a really long time, bread not so much.)

Wow SubC! You are doing great and it is very motivating for me to hear it, like we are working together! Ohhh I hate going through the freezer and getting rid of old things, but then it feels so good once it is done.

I hate to admit this, but I have had a sinkful (well, both sides of the double sink) of dirty dishes for... a couple weeks. It is all stuff that can't go in the dishwasher. I have kept up the dishwasher but not the hand wash stuff. And it got gross, even though at least every few days I loaded the dishwasher and rinsed out the sinks.

Well just now I washed like 5 cookie sheets, blender parts, and a bunch of plasticware that can't go in the dishwasher! I am so proud of myself, I even washed out the sinks and the drains! I have a big pile on towels air drying now. Then I notced 4 frying pans on the toaster oven to wash, so I put them in the sink, sprayed them with dawn powerwash, and will wash them as soon as the other ones are dry so I can put them away and have space.

Also had my son take out the trash.

Will continue...

Lol Lila!

Tag - you're it!

I also feel like we are working together.

The good food is back in the freezer (I need to make a plan to use some of it soon)

The chickens will be getting four pints of rhubarb and two pounds of tofu - not too bad. The tofu was actually free and at it's expiration date when I froze it.

My kitchen sink is good, but my scullery sink is awful. That is not a job for today though - my three goals for today were to do that freezer, worm the buck - both done, and cook dinner from my garden (coming up soon)

I'm trying to shell a few drying beans before I start.

post 2 today -

SubC, I did not even get to look through the den but since he is coming SOON I will do it this morning, and make sure I got anything I need. I also have some boxes I will put in there for him to use as he moves things out. My dream is that he will come with a moving van or a trailer, but it is more likely he is going to just take a couple things. I don't think he has a permanent place yet.

I hope to sit down and talk with him about getting legal paperwork filed. I am willing to give him, say, 2 or 3 months to get things out. I don't know if he would agree to that... we'll see. There is a terrible, ratty couch he brought here from across the country when we got married and I hate it. One of our pets actually died on that couch and I always think of that when I see it. I want it GONE but he has never let me do that. He needs to take it. Also remember the old, beat up recliner I put on the curb months ago because it was the old dog's recliner, smelled like dog, and has actual holes in it a foot wide?? Guess what, it is in his den in pieces. He has got to take that with him too. I will talk to him about it.

Teen is about as angry as usual, intermittantly, and says they never want to speak to Dad again. As far as I know, ex has not reached out or spoken to them at all since he left. He has not spoken to me, either. Just email or text. But not even that with teen. He is a jerk to do that to teen.

I am so happy you have Bean. I will smile about that as I miss my Tot.

I will come back and respond to the other posts and let you know what I am doing after I go do some things!

Welcome to the next act of the subc and Lila show!

I hope acorn has a light case and is better quickly! Usually babies don't have it too badly, so I will cross my fingers that that holds.

Good job making use of your cool weather!

My car is at the shop and is unfortunately racking up a hefty bill. I have to have a safe car to drive Bean though. (I have personally found myself on the side of the road more than once, or twice, but never with a child.)

I weeded a little in the garden and cut some basil (lemon and licorice) and filled the dehydrator. I've also cleaned off the bathroom counter and washed it. There is still too much on the counter, but it is clean and neat.

In a minute I will go top up water for the critters and carry some things out to the "go to school" pile in my studio.

I haven't found a trash or a donate item yet today, but I still have time.

back again,

My August is almost planned out. I have to find out about a couple of appointments, but am marking days OFF where I can just be home... even if I do have to do some work from home. But I am trying to make every Friday a day with zero work, and Saturday too.

Good job making appointments, SubC. And getting things done, too. I like that balls in the air picture. I am thinking about which bounce now. I have some shattery ones I am throwing in the air too much... I also look at the square with the Important and Urgent quadrants to help me decide what to do next.

In fact, the 'checking through the den' became the most Urgent AND Important thing, so I spent over an hour in there this morning and went through like 8 tubs of paper and found the ones with my name or my kids names that I need to have, and a few other papers. Just a very small stack under an inch, but things I need. There is one or two more tubs I need to look through later today and then it will be done. I also put empty boxes in there, moved his books in there, and took the smaller bookshelf out of there because I want to keep it. He can keep the bigger one. If he makes a big deal about it he can have both, I don't care that much.

Now I need to eat something.Then will figure out the next Urgent AND Important thing. However, cleaning the kitchen is pretty important but never seems urgent to me... so, I really should do that as well.

It's a little bit lonely here.

Here are things I did today that were hard:
Made a dr apt for me.
Made a service apt for my car
Left a message with the fence guy.

Did not eat all of the remaining chocolate cake.

All the new stuff that has come into the house today is produce. I am working on the produce.

I put away two pints of dehydrated spicy beans.
I labelled them.
I cleaned the dehydrator and left it ready to use.

I took out the compost. I made two quarts of lemon basil tea and decided I don't like it very much, so I won't make it again, (unless Dh surprises me by liking it) but I will drink what I made. I ran the dishwasher. I did some laundry and I am going to try to see if I can get all the clean put away before bed time.

I put a thing in the landfill bag and a thing in the donate pile.

I have a load in the washing machine and a load in the dryer and all the clean, dry laundry is put away.

I picked up the winter blanket from the floor in the corner of my room and folded it and put it away on a shelf - I managed to make space on the shelf!

I was listening to a podcast while I was putting away laundry and the podcaster said "you can't keep all the balls in the air all the time. The trick is knowing which balls bounce and which balls shatter."

Today I feel like I am doing ok with not shattering any balls. I'm trying to do things that will make my environment more functional, my body healthier, and tomorrow easier. I definitely bounced eating today though. (Sometimes - ever since my kids were little - I go through the day chanting "food, clothing, shelter" in my head - trying to be sure I hit at least the minimum in all three areas.)

Gee, it's been the SubC and Lila show around here lately... come back everyone else! SubC, thank you for coming and posting... I need the company.

My rest days have not been so restful, but I am working on my attitude. Teen is angry and this morning was running around slamming windows so hard I thought they might break. I did say something about it but then they just went and slammed doors too. It is exhausting, but now they went back to bed so I have peace. Also, Acorn has covid and I am beside myself with worry. And missing my little grands. I guess I won't see them for a week or so. I had them over last week so I stayed home yesterday and today working from home. I have a zoom meeting tonight, and tomorrow I have a class I lead but I will take a covid test before I go. I think the Tots were exposed Saturday and I saw them Friday but I am being careful.

Today so far:
did some reading on the porch
took pizza boxes out to the trash
pulled a few weeds
watered the flowers
went through my car and took out all the trash, brought in things that needed to come in, and made a stack to take in to work when I go back.

All of this was stuff it has been too hot to do but it was cool this morning.

The table and counter are piled up and the kitchen is bad but I am going to clean it today.

What are you up to?

Good morning again.

Lila, do you have august all planned out?

I got a bunch of beans into the dehydrator last night, but I didn't meet my getting to bed goal.

I didn't find anything in the house to get rid of yesterday, and my Dd1 brought me a bag of razor blades that she tried and doesn't like (the part of the bag she didn't use) plus the handle.

I did drop off the plastic bag recycling while I was out getting Bean.

I'm going to try to work outside as much as possible today. The garden still needs a lot of work and so does the barn. If I get too hot I may try to do something in the basement.

Yesterday I worked 12 hours. Then had to get up early and work 4 more. Now I am home and exhausted and going NO WHERE else today. Tomorrow I work a few hours in the afternoon, but can rest in the morning, so I have this whole evening and tomorrow morning to relax, clean or organize, whatever. Right now I am eating cookies and watching mindless tv because I am too tired to do anything else.

I love the work I do, but I need a break. A big break. So today, last day of July, I am going to map out my August. I want to take at least 3 days off each week, and pick one week where I do nothing at all work related unless there is a crisis call. This means I have to work hard this week so I can be caught up. But, I am taking Weds and Friday off this week to just be home.

My ex is coming here in a few days to get some of his things. I would like to make sure there is nothing in his den I need (paperwork) because he could take it all. So, I will go in and look through one last time and pull any paperwork I may need later. It is all hoarded up so almost impossible to find, but, if he takes things I know I will never see them again.

How are you all today?

Good morning!

Lila, 12 hours is a long day! I'm glad you're blocking out time for yourself.

I hope you got a good look through the den and found what you need.

Does the ex have a new place so that he can actually take all of his stuff? I'm wondering if you will have to put a deadline in your legal agreement so you have a date when you can just toss whatever is left.

How is teen doing with all of this?

Today is a Bean day. I pick him up early because his mama is working on a site today.

I am working on an evening routine - but last night I started at 8 and with chores, dishes, and start a load of laundry, I did not get done before 9:30. I will keep working on it.

Hello to Tatoulia, CM, Becky, May May, and Road!

Road, I miss you - hope everything is ok!

Today I brought home a candle and a key - neither of which I can explain without a long tangent related to my sad thread, but I need them, and found a small gadget in my kitchen that can go.

I am pretty wiped out at the moment, but tomorrow I am going to put my key on a chain around my neck for strength and go attack my home studio.

Good afternoon!

I was hoping someone would have been by, but here is my update - I did not get out to the studio until ten. From ten to noon I sorted pretty efficiently. From noon to one I moved things to the locations where they belonged - including washing off a few things, at one, I remembered that the original point of this exercise was to find some stuff I am missing and that I had not addressed any of the areas where it might be hiding. I then shuffled things around I effectively for 20 minutes until I realized I should stop and eat lunch.

So now I have had lunch and a bit of a rest. Besides putting things in better locations, I have a 50lb feed bag full for the landfill, a box partly filled with mixed recycling, a box of stuff to go to school, and a new item to donate.

I am going to go back out and focus on finding my missing stuff.

Can't find the stuff. Way past diminishing returns. Done for the day!

My second 50lb feed bag is half full.

Some of it I could wash and recycle, but the time investment is too high.

I'm just going to keep trying to ask myself "what will happen to this when I am done with it?" And "will this use make this trash?" And "don't buy plastic (where practical)."

hello all,

SubC, you are getting stuff done. I envy your gardening. When I lived in the country, we planted and always had plenty of fresh food. I don't like living in the suburbs, where I am now... not much room to garden, BUT, in all honesty, it is more of a time/energy issue. Maybe in the spring when it is time to get ready to plant, you can remind me, and I could try to plant a few things next year. It would make me happy.

Yesterday I worked alllll day and by 5 I was feeling rather unwell, like I was at the end of my energy, but I had a program I am in charge of from 6 to 9. I thought about bailing on it but I knew I needed to be there, so I stayed, and I am so glad I did. It was wonderful and I felt so good when I got home, although ready to fall into bed. But then teen was having a crisis and I stayed up until 1:00 am with them, but I'm glad I did.

This morning I feel a LOT better. Slept in, had a bagel and am drinking iced coffee.

Going to pick up Tot. Back to report in later!

Lila, you might be able to plant a few fall vegetables in a pot now. If you go to
https://www.almanac.com/gardening/frostdates
And type in your zip code it will tell you your first frost date and I will tell you what you can plant.

It makes me smile tgat we are both having grandbaby dats.

Bean is 2 now, so I got out some new toys and he has been having a blast. We also made "hot bread" and a "cake for papa". The potatoes were not as exciting as I had hoped, but he had fun in the garden with his rake. Now he is napping. I should be prepping some beans for the dehydrator, but "Grammie lazy" as he says when I don't want to do something.

That is a cool website SubC, thanks!!

Grandbabies are the best! We had a great time for 4 or 5 hours and then I took her home for a bit. They are all coming back for dinner soon. My table is covered with stuff being sorted so we will eat in the living room.

This morning I got things done:
took trash cans to the road
put branches in the compost can
made a couple of medical appointments
Talked to a couple friends on the phone
prepped some cilantro for a dish teen wants to make
cleaned off the stove and 1 counter
emptied the ex's kitchen shelf - I will use it for food items I only use once in a while
called about prescriptions and stuff like that

Then had Tot over and played and hung out and stuff.

I am tired now, and after dinner will chill. I need to sort prescriptions... again.

Hello again!

A storage rack with bibs is in my car to go to my classroom.

Recycling is in the car.

Bean's car seat is in the car (it had to be washed, dsil is going to reassemble and reinstall it when I pick Bean up.)

Chores are done.

I pulled some weeds in the garden, and I am going to go tie up a couple of tomatoes and plant a few fall veggies.