Hi SubC, I hope your day goes well. Change is hard even if it is a recurring, shifting change.

I had a good day yesterday, worked hard, had a very successful day. Now I am off today, tomorrow, and Monday which is much needed! I am so happy to be home today and not talk to people (except my family).

Today I:
Got up early, read the Bible, made coffee
Gathered trash in a bag, as it is trash day
Picked up broken angels and put them in the trash bag too
Took that bag of trash outside to the bin
Rolled the other bin to the road
Pulled some weeds out front and put them in the bin
Put dirty clothes and towels in baskets/hampers

There is a lot I would like to accomplish over these days off, but mainly I want to enjoy being home.

What are you all up to this long weekend?

Hello everyone! Lila, I'm sorry about all that went on. I am so sorry. If you can limit your grief, please do so. Tell yourself you'll cry about the things for X minutes and then let the glass things go. I have not been in your position and my advice is stupid. Trying to find a way to comfort you.

Florida specialist: please reach out to Cory Chaomers and ask him if it's okay to advertise here. Keep up the good work.

SubC, last day of school. Wow. 5e time is flying.

I slept in today. My company gave us a mental health day today. I had to get up in the am to turn off my alarm and feed the kitty. I then slept solidly until the doorbell rang. My meds were being delivered. I got up, then got dressed and took the garbage and recycling out. I have so much laundry to do today. Let's see if I do it.

Have plans with BF and Emiko tonight. Should be fun. It may be the last time she sees him before he leaves.

That's the plans for today. Basically nothing.

Good morning. I caught up on all your posts! So nice to hear the good things. I hope the iffy things improve. I wish my memory was good enough to recount and respond, but to do that I need two windows and today is a one-window morning.

I took today off after being required to work Saturday. I needed a day at home. I will do some calls or emails, but no big work. I might run an errand later. It is so nice outside!

So how is everyone's decluttering/cleaning efforts going?

I keep getting injured or sick and it has really made my house look like no one cares about cleaning. In fact the kitchen was so bad yesterday, almost every dish dirty in the sink, food spilled on stove and counters and left to dry there, even wrappers and trash on the counters. Thank you Teen. Teen refuses to even throw away a wrapper when the trash can is right there. I tried to start cleaning yesterday, scraped dried noodles out of a pan and off the stove and counters, and got overwhelmed. Well I am very thankful that Son cleaned the entire kitchen while I was sleeping. I feel a bit guilty he did it and not me, but also so very thankful to have clean counters, stove and sink and clean dishes. I know Teen will just wreck it again which is so discouraging.

Goals for today:
Get stuff cleaned and out of the house.

I did give away that big recliner yesterday. I loved it, but the seat was peeling the fake leather off, and once it gets bad no one will take it. So I gave it to someone who wants to cover it, for their father who needs a recliner. This made a very nice big empty space in my living room.

Also behind the recliner is a narrow tall shelf for DVDs. However teen has knocked it over so many times it is basically beyond repair, shelves on the floor, frame broken, DVDs all over the floor behind the recliner... so now just in piles.

Goal for today: go through the DVDs. I tried last night and got too emotional. A lot of the videos you can't find on netflix or amazon or anything. I will try to choose a few to donate and put the "watch soon" ones in the tv stand and box the rest, or maybe move them to a shelf in Tot's guest room until I can handle donating more.

The shelf was covering a big hole in the living room wall that Teen made a few years ago, and it makes me very sad, but I need to throw out this broken shelf. The hole is too low to hang anything over and too big for me to simply patch. It hurts my feelings to have all these holes in my walls... but I can't keep clutter just to put in front of holes.

There has to be something deeper about that.

Will report back later!

Yay for new shorts, CM! That's a good feeling to know you are set as you head into warmer weather!

Lila, good thought-process! No need to keep things just to hide the holes in the wall! Congratulations to son for clean8ng the kitchen! Do not feel guilty! He's developed good habits so no need to discourage.

I'm going to PO today to send the pants back and to mail a gift to a friend. That will feel good to get those things out of the house!

Hoping to do some laundry today. We shall see if the machine is busy.

Working from home today, in office tmr and the next day.

SubC, thank you for the kind words about my mom. I appreciate it have a great day with your grandson!

I worked from home today about 3 hours and now feel like I need another day off. That will happen Friday.

I sorted the DVDs and put 9 of them, in cases, into the donate box. Then I asked Son to dismantle the DVD shelf and he took it out to the trash. Actually it is a big relief. I do need to get that hole fixed though, it's an eyesore.

I also went behind Teen as they cooked and encouraged them to "leave it like you found it." They were able to put away their leftovers, and wiped off the stove and counters. They forgot to put their dishes in the dishwasher, and went downstairs, so I did it this time. I want them to feel like they did something good, with the cleanup they did do.

So the kitchen is still clean.

I also folded up winter clothes and put them in drawers, and hung up a few things. I picked up papers and receipts off the floor in my room and threw away most of them.

Ran a couple errands. Feeling like I am making some progress here.

Good morning!

Lila, you sound like you are making progress. The recliner was a big step! And I am so happy that working with teen went well!

I'm glad you get another day off on Friday.

Tatoulia, did you get to do your laundry?

Bean and I had fun with the ducks yesterday. They really enjoyed splashing in the baby pool.

When dsil picked Bean up, Bean instructed me that when I got home, I must "put the ducks away, and dump out the water, and put the pool back sideways." His need for order may be my salvation.

I did not stop and take any of the free irises someone put out by the road. Even though they were free, I still have too much to plant.

I would like to mention that I don't almost always pour myself a glass of wine when I get home on Fridays, I almost always have one on the last day of school.

I have lesson prep and grading to do this morning because I was too tired last night after chasing ducks around in the sunshine.

There are clean sheets on the bed for my son and ddil, but there are still baskets of clean laundry parked in their room.

I have a rain barrel workshop tonight and a last kiln load to fire after school (well, not the last, but the last that will be returned this year.)

Ok, I need to get busy!

2 weeks to my vacation.

Lila, great work! And you were so smart and thoughtful to let the teen's accomplishments stand without pointing out the dishes! A victory for both! Great to get some things out of the house! Well done! I hope you feel lighter!

If you or your son or even teen are handy, you could watch some YouTubes to figure out how to patch the wall.

Put the ducks away! Yes, SubC, your grandson may save us all.
I did wash my sheets and folded them and I put them away. Just one load and it felt good.

I didn't do the dishes last night because I went to bed early. So I just did them. I need to do my hair, get dressed, and go to work.

Take care, everyone! We are doing it!

I worked late last night. Got through a lot of work. Back to work today. Need to do my hair and get dressed, etc.

Cleaners today. Clean sheets when I get home!

Have a great day, everyone!

hi all,

A long couple days of work, and very tired. I would even call in a "mental health day" if I could, today and tomorrow. But, as much as I believe things can go on without us, I did need to go today and I am glad I did. My boss took us to lunch for a meeting today and covered the bill, so that was nice for us all. Tomorrow is my "big day," the event I have planned and spent many hours inviting people to. A kickoff event, something I was hired to do. So, I must go, and I will be glad I did. And then I can have Friday off.

I was supposed to work this evening as well, but 1) our dog got a foxtail in his paw and we were trying to soak it and help him stop licking it and 2) Teen had a quite angry meltdown. It was brewing yesterday. They had gone in Tot's room and grabbed a bin of pretty ceramics that I had saved that Teen had treasured as a little child, and she dashed it all to the floor. All the little things, ceramic angels, a porcelain elephant, little dishes she played with and glass trinkets she had gotten from vacations, all shattered everywhere. I looked but cannot bear to pick them up. I started, but the angel with the wings broken off and the other angel with its praying arms broken off just put me in tears, so I just shut the door and they sit in there. I will have to deal with it. Many saved, treasured things will be going in the trash. I had hoped she would have them on the shelf in there and show them to Tot and explain where she got each one. But, no normalcy here. Sad.

Anyway then last night Teen threw the DVDs I sorted all over the room, as well as all of my work papers and a basket of laundry. Then tonight they went into a rage and broke the wood trim off all the walls downstairs and found 2 glass items somewhere in the garage, brought them in and threw them. Glass everywhere. Also broke the baby gate. Police came and did nothing, crisis people were called and did nothing, told me to take Teen to a counselor. As if we have not for many years. There is sadly no help for mental illness, autism, any of it.

Anyway, Son fixed the gate and cleaned up glass out of the family room but the rest is just strewn everywhere downstairs.

I am exhausted, running on little sleep, dog is licking his wound raw, and I have a soft cone somewhere but who can find it in the clutter? He is limping. I have to take him to the vet in the morning before work and will miss part of work but my team will start on the event prep without me.

I am glad I am not prone to depression because this would really put me in an abyss. I am very tired. Everything is messed up and broken and so many things need to be done that I don't know how to even start.

I hope tomorrow is better. I fear my entire paycheck for 2 weeks will be spent on getting my dog well.

Glad Monday is also supposed to be a day off, and I hope it stays that way.

Wow, that resonated with me, SubC re letting people ruin your day when they aren't even here yet. You have helped me immensely. Recently I saw a friend whom I hadn't seen in many, many, years and I got it into my head that she was bringing her husband to lunch and I was upset about it for a week. Now in my case, it didn't come to fruition and in your case it will, and yet we both are wasting the same time.

Hippos distributed. That is so sweet.

I slept relatively poorly last night. A lot of up and down and heartburn, which I hate.

I have to return shoes and two pair of linen pants that I bought. They colors weren't working for me so I bought two more and now I have the original colors to return. I could mail them and once a woman in the store was a bit snotty, by pointing out that I could mail them, but I don't want to be intimidated by that one person's remark. Look at me, making decisions based on a random statement made to me once. I need to stop this.

I need to get to mom's today to change the cat box. I normally don't like to go on sundays because that is the day she has her college student visit and I feel that it's my day off. But I know kitty's box needs to be changed so I will head over sometime later.

I don't now if I mentioned this but mom was a little weird yesterday. Basically had her boobs hanging out in the dining room (she was having lunch when I stopped by). She had in a cardigan with no shirt underneath it. She said she didn't have any shirts and so when I was in her place, I found two in her drawers and I hung them up in her closet. Then I came back home and ordered her four or five tshirt type tops from Macy's. Two were in white, which is a disaster, but she spills on everything so what does it matter. I buy on the sale sale, sale prices for her. The quality is good enough, meaning that the cotton is thick and the seams are sown well. So I bought what I could find in her size and I am hoping they all fit her okay.

Today I have to wash my blanket and put it away. I was much too hot with it last night. I had the ceiling fan on but couldn't open the windows due to rain. It's now sunny and cool and I am happy.

Joke was on me as the store had closed on May 8 and another boutique went in, so I kept walking around trying to find it! So I will be mailing back the linen pants. Do not want to drive to a different location. So that's settled.

I did very minor grocery shopping as o started to feel very weak. I've felt like this lately. I came close to fainting a week ago when BF was over. I think I need my meds checked. I am not dehydrated. I'll start checking my blood pressure every night.

I stopped by mom's. The bra I brought that is too big for me fit her very well. I have one more like it and will bring it over. Plus I ordered some me for her. So all is well in that front. I also brought her a fairly nice navy shirt with some eyelet detailing that will look nice on her. I'm so glad that some of my clothes can go to her. I wish I had some skirts to give her but I don't think I do. I think I've donated the only two that would have made sense for her and I'm not sure they would have fit her as she has a very big stomach and no waist to speak of.

Not very warm but I'm not feeling great so will run AC in bedroom tonight.

New kitty is a joy. I'm so glad I have her. My last cat made it to nearly 19. This cat is 15. If I can even have two great years with her, I'll be happy. Quite frankly, I'll take whatever time we have. She is adorable and very social and cuddly.

That's the news from Boston.

It's been busy but mostly good.

I bought one pair of shorts because I actually found the kind I like. They are men's 100% cotton jersey with drawstring and pockets but you can't tell, they are pretty plain and basic. I needed a new black pair as my current ones are ready to be yard work shorts. I am also going to order a grey pair that they didn't have in stock, and possibly a blue. I've been short of shorts, haha, so this is legit. I still have those ones from my friend that I need to sew on, but those are bright colors like pink, yellow, orange, etc., and I'm still slow getting to my sewing. I'll be glad to have those eventually; meanwhile I'll have some versatile neutrals ready to go.

A really good thing happened. On Friday morning, roommate returned from walking her dog with the news that a garage sale was in progress at the house of my childhood friend 2-1/2 blocks away. I've been trying to figure out how to reconnect with this friend. I know that I learned after the fact that her mom had passed away a year or two ago, and I would see the truck for the lawn mowing people occasionally. Yet I never saw my friend come or go. I remembered that she used to go to work very early before Covid, had no idea whether she was working remotely, whether the phone numbers I had were current, etc. Tried calling them but the voicemail message was generic so I didn't leave a message. Didn't know if it'd be creepy to just go over there and knock on the door after so long. I'd been at an impasse.

So... I jumped in my van and off I went and my dear friend was there and so happy to see me! We have a lot of catching up to do. There is a sad side, in that she has some serious health issues. But perhaps she will get through treatments and who knows. Trying to pray, hope, and not worry about that, and just rejoice in our renewed contact. Even got to chat with the friend's sister as well.

This spring has been blessed with renewed contacts, my cousin who moved to town, and another friend recently in addition to this one. I'd been feeling cut off from my past connections a lot, kind of alone in the cosmos at times, so now I am reassured. I think there will be positive overflow in terms of reduced anxiety even. The endorphins from the encounter itself, and the easing of existential angst, can really help a person in that regard!

Today we had the bunny get together. Different venue, quieter, which was refreshing. Attendance was small, probably because lots of graduations are taking place and other things connected to the school year drawing to a close. The bunnies seemed to enjoy themselves. I got a migraine right at the end, I think from something different I ate for lunch that might've had MSG in it.

This coming week I have one appointment that I will be glad to check off the list, and the forms to fill out. Then I will feel relieved. Hoping the bunny people don't pressure me too much about clipping toenails again at the shelter, which always eats up two consecutive days. I don't mean to make the bunnies wait too long, but I need some breathing room. We'll get it done asap, but on my timetable as well as theirs.

Add me to the list of "wonder about autism sometimes." It does run in the family along with ADHD, which I know I have. Like you, at my age I'm not convinced pursuing any official confirmation or disconfirmation (if that's a word) would be worth the hassle. So I just sometimes refer to myself as neuroatypical or neurodivergent which covers the bases. Makes one wonder a little bit, if there are connections with autism and clutter and hoarding though. Maybe someone should do a study. Probably someone has.

Been enjoying the outdoors in the evenings here lately, before the mosquitoes arrive in force. Connecting with nature is also a very good thing. The weather does get crazy and unpredictable here, but on occasion that works out in our favor. Peonies have been blooming and I love them.

Good morning!

CM, I am so glad you have new shorts and are getting time outside and reconnecting with people! Those things are very important!

Tatoulia, you are taking good care of your mom!

I'm sorry the store was closed.

I am getting Bean a little bit late this morning - and no donuts. He's staying home with daddy instead of leaving for work with mommy and daddy is not a morning person. We're meeting in a different location too. So, I took an extra hour to sleep - which turned out to be a good idea because Dh woke me up a couple of times last night - I think I was snoring, and I know I was hot. I got pushed over.

Anyway, chores to do and a bit of clean up before I do go get him.

Have a great day!

Interesting about the autism comment, SubC. Two of my kids have it. And Teen has told me I am as well, but I dunno. I feel like at this point it doesn't matter... I am who I am.

Son is making fresh lemonade right now. Can't wait for a glass.

Tatoulia, are you able to see my IG? I cannot get through their hoops to 'prove' it is not a "fraudulent account." I keep pressing the 'email me a code' thing but it never shows up in my email.

I did get a lot done today including some nice restful time. Ran to the bank, deposited the cash, came home and paid the bills. Called to find out gift card balances on all those cards, wrote the balances on them with sharpie, and put the smallest balances in my purse to use up (major stores so I can get toilet paper, laundry soap etc).

Then got calls, texts and emails from work. This is unusual because my boss also takes today off. But apparently he got sucked into working. I limited my involvement to a half hour, and I will get paid for it!

Picked up a bit more. I will go back in my room and work on it some more before bed. Will ask Son to take a box out to my car to donate.

Hi, Lila, I've sent you a few messages via IG but you obviously aren't getting them. The pants I have for you are Eileen Fisher wide leg linen in size XL if you are able to check the size chart. Also a size XL double knit wide leg pant from J Jill. I sent you the size charts. Let me know if you can look these up and if you think the pants would fit you now or if they are anything you'd wear. If not, that's absolutely fine!

It's a grey day with a bit of rain. The green of the trees is very pretty.

We went to hazardous waste day, then visited mom, then ran a few more errands. Successful day for us! And it's only 2 PM so pretty snazzy.

Made it through graduation. Hippos distributed, tears shed.

The autism thing is basically a working theory with me. Probably am, not big on labels. It's just shorthand for a grab bag of things that may or may not coexist.. I'm pretty sure I would never have offered a teacher an armchair diagnosis. I also care not at all that she did.

Yay for the donate box!

I didn't do anything useful last night, so I need to get out of this dress and back to my regularly overscheduled life.

My in-laws arrive in six days and school will be over!

I keep crossing with Tatoulia.

I am so tired. This morning I slept until I woke up at nearly 8. I remember Dh alarm going off, but he got up, made coffee and left for golf without saying goodbye. I'm quite sure I was asleep again in seconds. I don't remember the coffee grinder.

I have so many different things I need to do today. It is hard because I don't shift well. I don't even want to start.

I am working on making sure I get some rest and some things that I enjoy. It is so stressful to know my in-laws will be here on a day I normally just dump everything and crash. Dh knows not to talk to me on the last day of school. Mil never stops talking.

I will be an exhausted, wrung out, emotional mess about ending my year with my kids - some of whom I know I will never see or hear from again. The hardest part of my job will still be in front of me.

Mil will be all "isn't it nice to be done?" (I'm not) "but you don't have to teach any more." (That's the part I like.) "but now you'll have time to catch up on the house." - subtext, this place is a pigsty.

I'm going to buy myself a bottle of wine and pour a glass when I get home Friday. I almost always do. Fil is extremely uncomfortable even being in the same room with someone who is drinking and mil is very judgmental about it. Although sometimes she gets in a mood where she wants to tell you things like she likes the taste of rum (in cake, with the alcohol baked out) - tee hee aren't I bad?

When I feel the urge to respond to her, I'll just have another sip of wine.

I really need to find a way to stop letting these people ruin my week when they aren't even here yet.

You know what,

If she wants to pay for it, go ahead and try it. Just promise me that you will never in any way feel obligated to cover the cost and that you will not leave anything important there so that if she stops paying you can let whatever is there go.

Do you really not have the use of a table for a few hours?

Tatoulia, I'm glad you have clothes!

Loaded kiln, heading to class.

Senior lock in tonight.

Cross your fingers I get a good prank.

Looking forward to hearing about the prank!

I had a good day at work. A bit of a headache tonight. I came home to a clean house and clean sheets! Such a great feeling! I'm so glad your son helped you with your sheets, Lila.

Hello everyone! It's Thursday! It's trash night for me so I've double checked my fridge to see if there's anything that needs to go. I also have cat box to change out.

How is everyone? Cm we support you 100%! We want you to be free of the clutter!

I have two pair of shoes to return. They are so pretty but I've tried them in three different sizes and I cannot make them work. That's okay. Gone are the days where I try to make ill-fitting things work. They never do and end up being a waste of money.

So that's what I'm doing today. Working and thinking about what to do next here.

Today they filled stairwells with balloons (taping off the bottoms and avoiding primary fire escape routes), hung streamers throughout the hallways, put up black lights and disco balls in some of the classrooms, turned every single sign or decoration in the hallways and several classrooms (including mine) upside down, wrapped the individual drawers and desk tops of all the administrators in wrapping paper, carpeted the hallways and covered tables with bubble wrap in every classroom BUT mine - the only room where we always NEED bubble wrap - but it all found it's way to me, and hid 300 rubber ducks throughout the school. I brought home a red one.

They also left me the markers and acrylic sealer for the prank they had planned in my room - I often lament the fact that I want a permanent grid on my tables for mapping and cutting. They were going to grid my tables, but realized that they had not gotten permission and it was permanent and might be seen as vandalism. We're gridding the tables next week.

I have too much grading to do.

Carry on!

I want to be free too. Want it so badly. Just feeling uncertain these days again. Need to chill and pray, for wisdom about what to do, and for hope because the clutter all seems very daunting and in a state of gridlock. I'm very, very tired of this situation my life has ended up in. Maybe I will feel better if I rest and pray and just try to get some peace of mind.

Got a weekend of activities coming up, a class on Saturday and a bunny event on Sunday. Plus a routine doctor appointment on Monday. I also need to fill out my medicaid paperwork, now that the Covid emergency is over it's no longer suspended. I don't like filling those out, it's tedious. But gotta do it. Found the folder of past ones to look at for examples. It was hard to get to but I extricated it from the tight space.

Good morn8ng.

CM, I'm glad you could find your paperwork. How many past copies do you have? Can you discard any? (Shred or tear up and mix with food waste or bunny bedding)

I truly do hope you find a solution. Maybe if roommate rents a storage area, you can have her things out of your room and tha5 will be enough to break your gridlock.

Everything here is such a mess right now. It's overwhelming and I actually want to work on it, but there is too much going on at school.

Today is my last time bringing animals in this year. Next year I don't have any animal classes. Tomorrow is graduation. Next week is wrap up and a lot of parties plus my in-laws and son and ddil arrive. Then evaluations. 17 days to my vacation. 8 to my last day of school.

Grading to do still..

hi all, I'm back. Love my day off!! SubC, do you have to work over the summer at all (outside work at home, of course) or can you be home focusing on those projects and decluttering and such?

My boss is going on leave in 2 weeks which reduced my hours at work by about 4 hours a week. I also finished teaching my class, so that reduces my work-at-work by another 4-5 hours a week. My overall hours will go down a little... but the nice thing is, I can work from home on more days. Much better for me.

Hi all, miss you all! Hope to post a few times today as I work on the house.

Today I took out the bathroom trash and started to declutter my bedroom.

Silly me, I started with a nightstand drawer. It is funny to me because my bedroom is all piled up and looks terrible with no space, but I start with a drawer... sigh.

Anyway I did that because I wanted to find some cash to put in the bank to pay a bill I have not enough in the bank for. I knew some was in that drawer and some in another dresser so I looked through. I got rid of a few things (will list in my daily tally). But here is the thing.

I was literally crying and my heart breaking as I sorted that drawer. Drawings and notes from Teen, when they were little and loved me. Their first haircut ponytail in an envelope. How I miss how sweet she was and how close we were. They hate me now. I don't know if it will ever change.

Then in there were momentos of my best ever dog who passed 2 years ago. And a pawprint of our little dog who helped me raise my kids for 15 years but is long gone.

Then the pair of soft, brown leather gloves my ex (Teen's dad) bought me when we were dating. When we were in love. It was the sweetest gesture; they are good quality. But they are a bit tight and they break my heart. I was going to donate them, but I think I will put them in the little box on the shelf I have for Teen, if and when they are grown and stable. They might like to have something that shows their parents loved each other.

Then a couple of papers from the funeral of my dear friend/ex-boyfriend who died almost 10 years ago. I miss him so much.

Well that was so hard, but I did save the things that are so meaningful and threw out other things. I found so many gift cards stashed in the drawers and dresser - more than 25, I kid you not - so I sorted those and will call for balances and start using them instead of cash.

I found enough cash to cover my bill, and will put it in the bank this afternoon.

So now I am emotionally tired, but want to keep going.

I also listed one of my recliners online for free. It has some damage to it, and if it is not fixed it will get worse and then no one would want it. So I hope someone will come take it who knows how to fix the minor damage.

What are you all up to?

My heart is breaking, too, Lila. I'm glad you found money and gift cards. You had to go into the drawer. Next burst of energy you can work on your bedroom and the piles.

SubC, I forgot what all you wrote but I know you had a good senior day.

Hello CM!

Hey Road!

So I am about to shower and lie down. I'm not feeling very well. I went to mom's and saw her. She was pretty good!

I did a lot of laundry today but it doesn't count since I haven't folded it and put it away. And new kitty sleeps on the bedroom chair so no putting it there. As soon as I shower, I will fold it and put it away.

Tmr is hazardous waste day. Making a list of what I'm taking with me.

Hi all!

Lila, this year I am not doing any camps, so once I finish the evaluations, I will have no more paid or time scheduled work until the end of august.

I hope to be focusing on the farm. My pottery, my grandson, my house, and of course - lesson planning.

That drawer sounds really hard. I hope you did keep going because it seems like after tha5 anything would be easy.

I do not think teen hates you. I think everything is really hard for teen right now and you are safe to vent anger at, because unlike dad and maybe others, teen knows you. Will. Not. Leave.

Teen wants to do a food challenge with you right now. Just enjoy that for as long as you can.

I told one of my graduating (tomorrow!) seniors a story this week. The story involved me panicking and fleeing in the face of a tidal wave of balloons, but only tangentially, the rest was a funny interaction with a younger student that followed. I got to the end and my senior asked "have you ever considered getting a formal autism diagnosis?" (Emphasis on "formal") I just said "what good would that do me?" No boundaries. The boundaries are just gone. I can't get to next Friday fast enough.

Currently resting with some wine and snacks before I get back in harness.

Good morning!

CM, I am also very happy about your cousin moving there. I just want the other post to stand alone. Seriously. The idea of another "temporary" storage unit frightens me. We know "temporary" and your budget is one of your concerns.

Lila, the YouTuber is "three rivers homestead" a lot of other homesteaders participate and tag "pantry challenge"

Good job cleaning out the fridge!

I tend to lose my lessons and have to recreate them. Someday..

Hello, everyone!

Work is so busy. Last night I had an event to go to, which I enjoyed, but it was very tiring to be on. I worked from home today and back in office tmr. And so goes the grind.

All of my clothes are the clothes I had before I gained the weight, SubC. I won't have to buy anything beyond a few white shirts. T-shirt types but with a 3/4 length sleeve. I also bought two pair of linen pants so I have an alternative to skirts. I didn't wear pants prior to the pandemic. Or I can say rarely. Last summer was when I rediscovered the joy of linen pants. It's fun wearing my dresses and skirts to work again. I feel like me

I'm feeling pretty good about getting rid of stuff. I'm feeling strong. I'm trying to be at my best for when BF leaves. I think if I and my apt are at our best, I can just focus on what I'm feeling. Does that make sense? In the old days, when I was still de-hoarding my place, then summer was when I hated my situation the most. Id be hot and my place would seem twice as dirty.

Road! I'm glad you stopped by! I felt so sad when I saw that your brother died and the terrible effect it had on everyone, especially your sweet son.

Lila! I'm so glad that you are here and doing your best! I'm fascinated by your pantry plans with CM.

CM, we all love you and support you. You know that we will tell you like it is. SubC is correct. The second storage space is just that, another storage place. Please don't. We will support you if you do go ahead with this but please don't.

Y'all...

It was my roommate's idea and it would be her money.

I cannot declutter the way people do who have houses. I am renting a room. These tables and such of which you speak, and these multiple rooms that comprise a home, are not my reality.

My roommate and I are well aware of the potential pitfalls and are intelligent enough to plan proactive strategies for dealing with them, and I will be monitoring the weather potential and advising her on feasibility, and if I don't feel confident that we can do this without making things 10x worse, then I will recommend that we don't go ahead with it.

We haven't pulled the trigger yet. We have time to evaluate.

In general, clutter problems are fueled and perpetuated by task and commitment overload in this modern society where consumer goods are too easy to acquire an excess of. Some people can stay on top of it. Some have executive functioning difficulties and it's harder. I know that's a bugbear I'm going to have to reckon with.

On the flip side, we have to do something radical or we're just going to implode here.