I really need an energy drink or something. Ok, I am forcing myself to get up. Will report back.

SubC that's the shingles shot for you. Feeling lousy and flu-ish. Hope you are doing better!

Lila, glad you were able to turn your mood around.

I had an okay day WFH. Then I napped, showered, and BF and I went to the museum of fine arts. We saw an exhibit that you would have enjoyed, SubC, The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina. Painful story. Remarkable pots. Really breathtaking and presented well.

The other accomplishment was I kept breathing and I didn't cry. I also saw mom.

My July 4th post which I accidentally posted on the Daily Tally instead of here.

Hope everyone will be okay, and able to enjoy whatever is comforting about the holiday and maybe a brief diversion from the heavier stuff. It's been pretty hot here. A change is coming later in the week. I'm going to butcher the watermelon soon, and sit out and watch the fireworks that neighbors will inevitably be shooting off. They are impatient, starting up even though it's not dark. If I spent money on fireworks I'd want to get the full effect.

Roommate and I are trying to brainstorm solutions to things like overscheduled time, cluttered house, time management (me primarily on that one), chronic joint pain flare ups (roommate), and so on. Hard to believe we'll be coming up on a year she's been retired, in mid September. It takes a year to see how things jibe, what with changing seasons and daylight savings and holidays and many other things, to see how everything coordinates together, what flows vs. where the logjams occur. Maybe the next year will be more efficient. I hope. These summer nights end up seeming endless then ending in a scramble to get meals and pet care and showers and whatnot and get each to bed at a reasonable time.

I've been in touch via Facebook messenger with my old college friend I met during orientation in a randomly assigned small group - we discovered we were both creative writing majors and became immediately thick as thieves. Then she ended up in other parts of the country, and I was going through various tribulations and didn't always get time to write. Anyway, it's been fun to reconnect and hopefully it'll be a boost for each of us. I bought that nice laptop almost a year ago too, and I want to do so much more with it. Plus roommate and I have a few more digital art classes coming up this month.

Well, I better go check on my watermelon.

We got 2-3/4" of rain in the night. More to come.

Lila, you are doing great! And you are accelerating. I don't see you having any trouble doing first third in 5 months, second third in 4 months, done at the end of your year!

Tatoulia, now it is 2:00 and all I have done is make and eat lunch, load the car, and take a shower. I have six baskets of laundry waiting to be put away. (My dresser should be empty, but it is far from it) now I have 3 hours to do all my errands and get to class - with an hour of driving. How will I ever make progress like this?

CM, I hope you and your roomate find some working solutions.

I did get to the dry cleaners today. And I did two loads of laundry (folded and put away). I've showered and dishwasher is ready to go. Bf came over and brought me seltzer. We visited with mom for an hour and then we ran to the grocery store for milk and fruit.

So I didn't do much on my day off but I did it. Once I'm in a routine again I'll do better right now the depression is keeping me from doing anything. And that's okay. I'll be okay.

Tatoulia, grief is heavy. It makes everything harder.

I decided to squeeze dropping the expired medicine at the secure drop and getting my shingles shot into my errands yesterday. Now I have a sore arm and a headache. Also I didn't get everything I wanted to do at school finished because the shot took longer than I expected and I had to rush off to class.

We had a rough class last night - everybody broke something - even Walt who is really good. But we also had some really cool pieces, so overall it was a fine ending to the session.

I slept late this morning because of getting home from class late. I need to get out and do my chores, and I want to pick blackberries this morning before it gets hot and rains. I also need to wash my sheets today because I didn't shower after class last night and my hair smelled smokey, so now my pillow smells smokey.

Wow! You did so much! You are my hero! What a great feeling to get the expired meds out of the house! And a less than great feeling to get the shingles shot. My first one was a bit troublesome but the second one was better.

Having my coffee, so coffee clinks! Going to go to work soon. I showered last night snd think that I will not shower this AM. I'll just go to work with hair that was wet when I fell asleep and let it go at that.

See you all later. It is recycling night for me so I'll be happy to get everything out of the house.

I have an easy enough 10% item I could do tonight. Finish up an area that would take ten minutes, max, and would take the area from 90% done to 100%. What do you think?

Thank you both for being so kind. And yes, SubC, we have good technology now. What a beautiful thing that you and Mr SubC did for each other! Yes we are fortunate that I'll be able to visit or we can meet different places.

The rain has cleared so we will go get something to eat and then walk down to the esplanade to watch the fireworks. I went to mom's and took her to her place's Fourth of July party!

Tatoulia, funny to see him called "Mr. Subc". My students call him "Tech Support" because during Covid he would sometimes come in to online school to help me with the zoom set up, and the kids would hear or glimpse him and ask "who is that?" And I'd say "tech support."

I got a few things out of the cupboard. I emptied the bowl. Then I put some of the things from the cupboard into the bowl in warm water in the scullery so I can soak the dried out product off of them, rinse, and recycle.

The dishwasher is running. I feel run down.

That's cute about tech support. When covid first struck, I would refer to my cat as my supervisor. Funny, I worked from home on a hybrid schedule starting in 2010 but we never had video conferences until the pandemic (we did have them in-office to link the offices but never with someone remote).

I know you are exhausted but good work! I ran the dishwasher today, too. I haven't been keeping up with the dishes due to being sad but I did run it tonight.

I took tmr off, so I'm happy about that.

Good morning!

Today is a day I drive into the city for class, so I am organizing my errands. Recycling and a bit of trash to drop and a few things to take to my classroom.

The day-to-day is not bad, and Dd vacuumed before she left. I have garden work to do this morning.

I'm up and have emptied the dishwasher. I'm going to do some laundry. BF coming around 2. Cleaners coming at some point.

I'm so impressed with how much you get done in a day, SubC. Amazing.

Funny Tatoulia, I feel like I accomplish so little.

I've been up for 6.5 hours. I've relaxed with my coffee, unloaded the dishwasher, done yoga, had breakfast with Dh, started a load of laundry, done my chores, pulled weeds for three hours, thrown the laundry in the dryer, and spent the last 30 minutes surfing online and drinking water. I still have to go back out and pick lettuce before I can make my lunch. Most of that will need to be done again tomorrow. Only the weeding feels like progress, and honestly it feels more like catching up.

Good morning! Nice to read about what you are doing, Tatoulia and SubC. I had a nice 4th with my grands. We had a cookout and the neighborhood came out to do fireworks in the street and driveways. Tot had a blast. Acorn did until it got too loud and then she went to sleep.

I did great on decluttering yesterday. I posted 51 items gone on the Daily Tally thread yesterday! And I have at least 14 more in a bag that I am taking to someone today (VHS tapes they want). I passed 1/3 of the way to 1000 items gone from my home. I started counting on January 31, so it is about 5 months in. My aim was to have 1000 items removed from my home by the end of this year. I only count things I was actually keeping/saving, not actual trash. So if I use up lotion, I don't count the bottle when it goes. But if I throw out half a bottle of old lotion I saved for 10 years, that counts.

Today is my last day 'off' and I am watching Tot and Acorn while their mother has an appointment. I actually am supposed to work today but they are more important, and I need one more day, anyway. I will start checking work emails and doing actual work tomorrow. Today, I will declutter some more!

Wow, SubC, you are amazing. I mean this truly. I am a slug.

Lila, great work being a 1/3 of the way to your goal! You are doing wonderfully! There was a time when those items would still be there's just hanging out. Great work!

I a o; my second load of laundry. House has been cleaned so I feel good about that. BF is crying. He is having a tough time. We are trying to joke. It is not easy.

Oh, Tatoulia, I know for myself, I do want to see you posting. We want to be there for you. I had a bit of an emotional meltdown the other day when I was trying to sort, and felt like I did not want to "clutter up" this thread with my meltdown... but I needed to say it somewhere. So I posted it on the Daily Tally, out of the way, unlikely to be seen by many. And wasn't it SubC who posted a separate thread once about a bad thing that happened? So if you need to come and cry here, please do it, in whatever space you need. At the very least you get it out in print, you know someone else knows, and I will pray for you.

Today is a paid day off for me. We will have a cookout tonight, but I have all day to reax and work on my house some more.

My bedroom:
Floor between bed and closet is clear.
But all surfaces have clutter - nightstands, little table, dressers. The rocking chair is finally free of clothing (and I have to admit it felt weird to go open the closet this morning to get my tee out) but has a stack of books on it.

The floor on the other side of the room, between my bed and the far wall, is pretty cluttered/hoarded up. I am not sure what I am going to do about it. I do in there to start and just stand there, looking at things, nothing seems to be an easy start point.

BUT, I am in a mood where I do want the clutter gone now, and see it is possible. So will ride the motivation and work on decluttering the surface tops today. Even if it means finding drawer space or bin space. I hope to have things to post on the Daily Tally.

Happy 4th my friends.

Tatoulia, I also want you to post. We will know you are sad. You can talk about it, or you can talk about other things so we know you are ok. Also I am selfish and want you to help me.

Three years is long, but you can manage it. Dh and I dated long distance for three years. I saw him one day at thanksgiving and one weekend in the spring the first year, we didn't have any money, so we wrote lots of letters. We could afford to talk on the phone for half an hour once a week. There was no internet.

You guys can call or video chat every day! And you have some money, so hopefully you can visit in person at some points.

Three years will go faster than you think. Bean is almost 3.

Lila, I am so excited about your bedroom!

I just took the things I use everyday out of the bowl and put them back. The other things need to go in the cupboards, but I have to clean out the cupboards first. Maybe I will try to make a start. I did wash some of the things that were piled by the hose waiting to be cleaned up for recycling or back to school while Bean was playing in his pool this afternoon.

They are gone now, so I definitely need to go do something!

Good morning!

Lila, I hope you got your bed cleared off and got a good night's sleep. It's ok if you put everything back on the floor and the rocking chair. You have less dirt and dust, fewer papers, and more clarity.

What is in your drawers now? When do you think you can start returning the book stacks?

Dh leaned the toilet and vanity in our bathroom yesterday and gave the floor a quick sweep (there are still dust bunnies in the corners) unfortunately, he swooshed all my vanity clutter into a big plastic bowl and left it on the floor. So I guess my job for the day is to clean out the bowl.

I did put the various packaging from my shoes into the appropriate recycling collections. I also brought more papers up from the basement and sorted through them and added a small stack to the recycling. I need to spend a few minutes tidying up the"none of the above" piles that have been accumulating.

Dd will go to work today. Dh is off, so the two of us will spend the day with Bean. I have a small bag of trash to take when we go to the library (the shopping center the library is in has a row of public trash cans and my bag of trash is smaller than the average fast food bag)

I hope everybody has a good day!

Good morning SubC. It sounds like you will have a nice family day today. I messaged ddil to see if I could come pick up Tot and spend part of the day with her. I would love to have her help me sort, make biscuits, do a little errand running. I hope she is not busy.

I did get my bed cleared off and put the books in stacks on top of stuff along the other wall and the clothes on the rocking chair until I figure it out. Small stack of papers left, on the night stand. My floor between the bed and closet it clear! I find id strange how on one hand I love it and on another hand it makes me nervous.

What is in the drawers... well, I have, let's see, 4 big dressers and three small 2-drawer night stands. Wow that is a lot, plus a wardrobe cabinet and 2 book shelves. Let me process for a moment.

2 tall dressers - one near my bed has clothing I wear now. The one on the other side of the room is winter clothing, cameras and random things in one drawer, and clothes that are just slightly too tight.

The other dressers, one is photos and little special things, thicker sweaters. The other is sheets, pillowcases, a few warmer pajamas. The top drawers are tools I use often and special mementos of my dog and some other stuff... one of those I could probably clean out and make space in.

The wardrobe is paperwork, photos, blankets, a sewing basket, some other things. The nightstands are greeting cards, stationery, old coins (yeah I know...), journals/diaries, a few other mementos and stuff I use like USB drives, a tablet, a few cords, a memory rock someone gave me that I can't bear to throw away but don't want to look at all the time either in my yard.

It seems as I share this, that I could make some more space by donating from drawers, move the shapewear stuff to a drawer on the other side of the room, and have space for the clothing that is left on the rocking chair.

I also could reconsider donating 3 or 4 items from my closet so I could hang a few more things.

Thanks for asking. It helps me question myself when people as me things.

Will update the Daily Tally with a few more things that have left.

What are you all doing for the 4th?

Lila! You are doing great! Find a home for the things you use by seeing if there are a few more things you can donate! I was looking for an article of clothing last week (now I've forgotten what I was looking for, which is a blessing) and after a while I decided, I must've donated it and that's fine. At the time I kept thinking I bet it would fit now and look cute but guess what? Today I'm not even sure what it was so I'm good to go!

I'm sorry about the bowl of stuff that you have to go through, SubC. I hope when you do so, you'll find some things to let go of.

I am very, very sad. He has set a date to leave and so it is all very real. He does think he'll make enough to give us a good retirement life. He knows I am devastated. The big thing is not showing the devastation at work. I cannot let people see this.

Okay will go visit mom now. Trying not to cry.

Tatoulia, I feel your sadness and pray it will get less painful for you. I don't know how long the anticipated time apart is, but I hope you are okay. Wish we could all get together and watch a movie and have a glass of wine, or something.

I spent the day with Tot. It was great! A day well spent.

Before I went to get her, I worked on my room a little bit this morning. For the first time I can remember, ALL of my clothes are in drawers or hung up. ALL of them! It is kind of shocking. I hope to keep it this way.

I sorted drawers and while I only found one top to donate, I took out the items in the pajama and tees drawers that are too tight, and I moved those into that tub of clothes downstairs. That gave me room to reorganize and fit the light sweaters and cardigans in a drawer, and I made space in my closet for the few tees from the rocking chair to hang up.

I kind of feel I had more to donate but now I am not sure what I did. Maybe I put them away again or moved them to the tub downstairs. But eventually, they will go. I am working to get my bedroom nice and then will keep it like that.

I also realized I have clothing that I wear that I kind of hate, but I wear it because nothing else fits. Hmmm. As I am able I want to get rid of those items. But right now I would be naked so that is not an option yet.

I did, however, finally donate that one piece of clothing that the guy made fun of me in. I was hanging onto it because I loved it, it was pretty new and soft and fit perfectly. But I can't wear it because I feel so self conscious in it now. So I finally put it in the donate bin.

Also Son helped me fix the vanity doors in my master bathroom (the newly clean one), and I cleaned off the scale in there as well. It is really coming along and looking nice now!

Tomorrow I have off and we will have a cookout for dinner, so I have morning and afternoon to continue cleaning and decluttering.

Lila! Wow! I'm glad you donated the sweater. Bad feelings linger in every corner, I'm afraid, and while I'm upset at what happened to you, you need not carry that around with you.

Amazing work on the bedroom!

The BF is leaving for what we can best estimate at 3 years. Initially he was talking about five to eight months, to work on the family properties and make some decisions on some land he owns. Now he has a job offer that he will be taking. We do not know what the future holds. He speaks three languages fluently. English is his third language. He will be able to make a lot more money overseas. We are sad but hopeful. We use the expression Leap of Faith. We are taking a leap of faith.

He was crying yesterday because once he leaves, he will not see my mother again.

The shipping container and movers arrive on Tuesday. Then he's here for about a week before departing. We have my support system activated. He will take my car to be serviced and inspected this week.

I am very, very sad. I am not sure you want me posting here with my sadness. I don't want to be bringing you all down.

Good morning!

Wondering if Lila got up to a clean vanity today.

CM, try this: don't try to make a plan, just do it. Go pick an area you feel interested in, get started on it, and see where it takes you. Then you can analyze it afterward instead of trying to overcome every possible obstacle before you start. It may go wrong, it may go well. You can always stop and refocus, but I think trying something new and different might at least give you some useful insights. Even if they are "well, now I know not to do that."

I am near both a city and a major transportation corridor. My job and pottery studio classes are inside the beltway. Usually the air quality warnings are just yellow for in the city and green for me, but the Canadian wildfire smoke has been traveling down and we have had several days of red in the city and even orange out where I live. I wore my Covid mask to class last week.

We were out late last night, visiting friends who live a hour away. His garden is so beautiful, it made me sad. It was good to see them though. This morning I slept late, but I am still tired.

Bean and his mommy are coming this afternoon to stay through the 4th (daddy needs some alone time after traveling and spending almost a week with my parents) it's supposed to rain most of the time they are here, but it isn't raining this morning, so I should get outside.

I also have a messy kitchen to clean up. I got a book out of the library about art projects with toddlers, and it gave me an idea of creating an arts and crafts area in the basement for Bean and me. It's a big project, but I'm feeling motivated. Especially with the new option for recycling things - for example random plastic part from a toy or game I can't find - nobody is going to buying at the thrift store, so I find myself thinking "I *could* maybe use it for this, or this, or that, or what if I wanted to..." or I could drop it in "plastic, unmarked" at the recycle drop.

I'm trying to approach this like the scrap metal drives in the war. Except this war is to save human life. (I tend to roll my eyes when people talk about saving the planet. The planet is fine without dinosaurs, and it would be fine without us. - the natural cycle of life is diversify-collapse-diversify-collapse etc.)

I did get up to a clean vanity!! And it was so amazing. I scrubbed the other half right before bed and it is sparkling clean. I still want to organize what is left on it, just a few things I use every day, and the waterpik. I will do that today.

Backstory - it is a very wide vanity but just one sink. DH and I added this bathroom when he moved in, and one side was his and one side mine. I always kept my side nice, and his was a hoard. His side was always dirty, piled with junk, made me angry every day for awhile. Every few months I would get so sick of it I would move everything and clean his side, but could not get rid of any of his stuff. I used to think, "someday, when he is not here anymore, I can have a clean vanity!" and yet look. A year later and I have not mastered this. Maybe there is some emotional component. Although I never let it get as bad as it was.

So now it is clean and so so nice to use! I will keep it like this now. Thank you all for the encouragement!

CM, I hope your kitty feels better soon. If they are in a room without other cats, perhaps you could put the medicine in a dish hidden in a yummy treat for them to eat, if he will eat it.

SubC, grandchildren are a huge motivation to make areas nice. I want a nice room for Tot and Acorn to play in and spend the night. I need to work on that as well. I started - this is the room all the broken angels were in - but it is an emotional room and being used as a sorting area. The other spare room, where guests stay, is clean and close to empty. So for now, that may be the play area for the kids, until I get the other room in order.

I stayed home today and am about to start working on stuff, as I drank too much coffee and am feeling jittery.

Good morning everyone! Great work on the vanity, Lila. Cm I am sorry kitty is under the weather. SubC yay for finding more categories to recycle!

We couldn't see any sky or clouds yesterday due to the smoke. I can't smell it but BF can.

We have trash and recycling services twice a week. This is a big thing for me. The hazardous waste is a few times a year, which is terrific. So far I've been using the shredder at work (with permission) and so I'm keeping up with my shredding much better than when I had to shred myself at home.

We took blankets and towels to the cat shelter yesterday. I also took a small bag of clothes to goodwill. BF took some suits and shirts to goodwill. Beautiful suits he'd bought in Montreal and wore many years ago.

His countdown to his move has started and so I'm feeling a lot. I cried most of last night and it was pretty intense. Then we parked the car and went to our favorite restaurant and I sort of pulled myself together. I was crying today too but not making a noise.

I've made a list of the ten percent that isn't done in my house. So I'm going to work on it now. I'll pick a room from the list and do the ten percent that would change up the room. I do have one lamp to give to BF. Then he has all of his stuff from my house.

It is hard to do anything when I am this sad. My heart is broken. But we have plans to meet in a few places overseas. Maybe todays task will be getting my passport renewed. I can have the pictures taken later in the week.

oh Tatoulia, that is so sad. I am sad for you. I hope whatever happens in the relationship, in the end, is good.

Today I:
- found a bottle of cleaner that I hate the smell of. I thought 'I should use it up' but when I use it I hate the smell. So instead, I dumped the entire bottle into the toilet and let it sit for an hour. Came back, scrubbed and flushed - it did a fantastic job on the bowl! Sparkling clean! And it is a counter/tile cleaner. Then wiped the toilet down with the Mrs Meyers Peony cleaner so it would smell nice. Very happy!
- sorted my dresser drawers and found 2 shirts and 2 bras to donate.
- moved some clothing that is too small but not ready to let go, out of the drawers and ito the tub downstairs that I donated a few items from the other day.
- folded and put away a lot of my clothes that have been sitting around my bedroom with no space in drawers. Now there is room!

I can see my bedroom starting to take shape. Having a clean bathroom, vanity and toilet is motivating me to get my bedroom done.

It's like instead of the hoard spreading, the clean and organized is spreading. Yay!

I think since I am feeling motivated in this area, I will continue to work on it today. Ride the motivation instead of the "I should do x area" thoughts.

update Sunday:

I am working on my bedroom.

I hung up everything I wear that I could hang. I have a few items that do not hang well: light sweaters and those very gauzy cardigan things. Not sure where to keep them yet.

Then I started to focus on the massive pile and spread of things on the floor and a little table, between my bed and the closet. I can't even walk. Can't get to the bookshelf and barely can get to the closet. First I picked up dog treats and chews that had somehow magically jumped out of the bin and onto the floor. I put most back in the bin, brought 2 chews out for the dogs.

My next task is the books. I have books scattered all over the floor and piled in corners and on the table. Probably a dozen that belong to other people, and the rest are either books I intended to read or started to read, or books Teen took off my living room bookshelf and threw around in their bedroom. I will put those back in the living room. I will clear a path to the bookshelf in my bedroom (mainly by shoving things out of the way and moving the rocking chair and little table) and will see what books on that shelf I can donate. Then can put the rest on those shelves. Then make a stack of books to return to their owners. I need a nice phrase to say to people whose books they are, when I return them unread. People mean well, and bring me books and say "oh you need to read this" or "this will really help you, it applies to this lesson you taught" etc. I know I need to stop taking them. But what can I say that is gracious when I return a book I have not read after having it for 6 months or a year?

Tatoulia, it will be ok. You will visit each other and there is video chat now, and then BF will come back or you will go there and it will all be well. This is not forever, it is just one season of your life.

Lila,
I love that you have a clean vanity!

You are making really good progress. I love that the clean and organized is spreading.

You say "thank you so much for loaning this to me, but I have realized that right now is a period of my life when I just don't have time to focus on reading. I'm working on getting the house in order and I'm afraid your book will get misplaced, so I want to give it back to you for now. I'd love to borrow it again sometime when things are more settled." Or something like that.

My new shoes arrived. They are very comfortable.

I mostly spent the day with Dd and Bean. I didn't even really keep up with things, although progress happened on the dishes.

Dd is putting Bean to bed, so maybe I will at least get my shoe packaging sorted for recycling and maybe spend a few minutes on my pile of papers.

Good words, SubC. Thank you.

I had a clogged sink but I think I fixed it by putting baking soda and vinegar down it, then Dawn dish soap, then boiling water.

Son took a bathroom fixture down today and washed it for me.

I got a lot done today but am emotionally drained from the sorting.

I piled all the books from the floor on my bed and sorted. I moved everything so I could get to the bookshelf and put several books on there. I did not find any books to donate, but did a cursory dusting. I made five stacks of the books from the floor that are not mine. Three stacks, each from a friend, one stack from a place, and one stack that I have no idea who loaned me those books. I will take a photo of the unknown stack and send to a few friends and ask if any are theirs.

But my bed is covered in book stacks... also papers, and clothes.

I picked up receipts and papers off the floor and little table. Sorted and threw out a bunch. Have a few I need to keep. I have a few other random items on my bed that I don't know what to do with.

I have the tee shirts I wear when I am home laid out of my bed, and some tank tops. They all fit. I wear them. But I am almost out of hangers and drawer space. I don't know where to keep the clothes I always wear. For 15+ years they have been thrown on the rocking chair.

I vacuumed dust bunnies in my room as well.

I was excited to see things clearing out, but now I feel depressed.

I am eating pizza, and then will decide what to do. Might sit on the deck for a bit.