About to go pick up Dd and take her to the surgery center.

She wants me to braid her hair because she can't shower for a week. That's one of my few shining mom moments - I was braiding her hair for a 4h show and another girl her age pointed out to her mom "(her) mom braids her hair!" To which my ever appreciative 14 y.o. Pointed out that it was the only thing I did right and all the other things this other girl's mom was good at. At which point I replied "it takes a village." And braided the other girls hair too.

Good morning!

I slept in too late but have had a nice morning. Talked to my son who is usually too busy, had some coffee and eggs and toast (my special, day-off breakfast).

So far I also:
- loaded the dishwasher and hand washed some pans
- got all my dirty laundry into a basket to wash later
- took a few boxes and trash out for trash day and put the cans to the road
- scrubbed the inside of the baster bathroom toilet (it really needed it!!!) and also let sanitizer sit in the bowl and scrubbed again, so it's very clean
- answered some emails, picked up a bit

I need to find a bathroom cleaner spray that sanitizes surfaces and do the rest of the outside of the toilet. I don't want to buy any unless I am sure I really don't have any here - I have sooo many cleaning supplies it's ridiculous. Some are so old they are covered in dust @@

I made the bed.

We went to the play.

Laundry is almost caught up.

Dishes aren't too bad.

The kids are on their way home from vacation and will be dropping Bean off in about an hour.

Dd2 is trying to get an orthopedic appointment for tomorrow.

CM, I'm glad you enjoy the new time. I am on the western edge of my time zone and I always feel like just when I am starting to get some light in the mornings they take it away.

Bean is here today!

He was so sweet last night. He just kept running over and giving me big hugs.

It's supposed to be cold again today, but he wants to "dig outside" so we will see..

Oh my gosh you guys,

Bean and Dh are still sleeping (neither has adjusted to the time change) so I have been really good and taken advantage of the time to work on my counter drift.

I FOUND A CHECK THAT HAS BEEN MISSING FOR MONTHS!

This check has been stressing me out! If I do nothing else today, that is enough for my daily tally!

Hi everyone!

Lila, that is a lot of work and I totally get the billable hours reference! SubC I am so sorry about your daughters break up and fractured collarbone. If she doesn't have a recliner, now it the time to buy one. Cm I think adding pockets to your shorts sounds terrific!

I have one bag of clothes to donate and half a bag of household items. Not the two clothes one household I'd hoped to do but still feeling very solid. It is garbage night tonight so that is good. Already cleaned the new old kitty's box.

Now is the hard slog of getting through the jet lag that comes with the time change. I do understand what you mean, SubC, about the darker mornings. I woke up a half hour late, but managed to make it to Mass anyway - and even to stay awake therein, lol. I'm really tired today. Weather remains chilly enough that I don't want to go anywhere.

But I was productive here, got on a roll with some old bunny club paperwork, and started a trash bag (small one), typed some information on a list, deleted old emails. Stuff that doesn't add up to that many cubic feet, but is satisfying. Perhaps I shall consider it "virtual cubic feet." I like that.

There may be enough physical paper tossed after I go through more of it, too, to add up to at least a partial cubic foot. And anything that I do keep will be neatly organized in one place, the size of a reusable shopping bag. I have one with a rabbit print. Right now the papers are in another one and I think there are more in a plastic tub. Should see an improvement. As always, my trusty computer kicks butt helping me get things done so much faster.

The only thing that was not so good was that I got in hyperfocus and couldn't make myself stop; I worked way past lunchtime and almost made my eyes buggy. The idea of longer days seems a happy thing but also I feel more driven. I seem to have just two settings, hyperfocus and cocoon. Honestly, with this weather, cocoon mode can be very tempting. The pull to just go get into my minky robe and turn off my phone and hibernate. Only hyperfocus can give the energy to resist.

Oops, P.S. SubC, meant to say Woohoo on finding that check! Such a relief!

Good job Tatoulia!

I'm laughing about the recliner - there is no way a recliner is going in her apartment! She would have to get rid of either the table or her bed. She has plenty of pillows to prop up with though. And good friends taking care of her. Her stupid ex (definitely ex) bf even brought her dinner. Because - irony - he broke his collarbone in February and she took care of him. He also recommended his surgeon.

CM, I knew you would understand about the check! Any paperwork that leaves your life is progress!

I love that hyper focus state. One of the hardest things for me the way my life is right now is that I don't have long stretches of time to fall into it. I would get so much more done!

I am making progress on the counter. I am caught up on the laundry. I had a good day with Bean. He was tired from his trip. We just played cars and trucks and kitchen and train and read books, and every now and then he would come over and say "I want to be holded a little bit." And we would have a cuddle.

Tomorrow I am taking a long drive to have a look at a goat who is probably overpriced, but I might buy anyway if I like her. I have a lot of reservations. The last time I drove this far for a goat, I came home with two different goats.

I have things to put in the tally.

Good for the ex bringing dinner! That's a nice thing.

I have more clothes ready to leave. Stuff that I bought when I was heavy and just trying to get through the day. At least one dress and two tops will be nice for mom.

I've been hungry and not in stomach pain for two days. I forgot what it feels like.

We are having a nor'easter today but so far just a lot of rain and wind here. I'm sure other parts o d the state are having snow. I'm glad I got my garbage and recycling out last night.

I need to sort some papers to take to work for shredding.

It's nice except her broke up with her two days before she broke the bone, a week after he was able to take care of himself.

Her surgery is Friday. I have to fly to Denver.

I bought the goat.

I hate wind. That is all. It's 30-40 mph today and about to drive me mad.

Hope this is not going to be typical of the entire rest of the month/spring. You had asked, SubC, if I could shelter the entrance of my storage unit by parking my van in front of it. Wind like this, or even half of this, would not be stopped in the least by that. And unfortunately I have stuff right up to the door anyhow, so it'd be harder to get in and out if I parked super super close. Sorry if this sounds like I'm shooting down your idea; I don't mean to be negative. This wind is just awful to deal with, always has been.

If I was the type to move to a different place, I would probably do so, live somewhere with way more placid weather.

Today I need to do other stuff anyway, and yesterday one of my roommate's rabbits was sick again but he's better today. We've tried to track down why they get frequent tummy trouble - possibly molting and grooming ingesting hair. Need to stay on it with the brushing. I forget sometimes.

Roommate will be going out of town this weekend. I hope I might be able to do some project that I can't do while she's here - like maybe something that involves setting things in the common space as a staging area, in order to achieve something amazing in my bedroom - but of course I have to be able to gauge whether I'm taking out more than can be put back in a reasonable time because obviously I can't leave it in the common space. And I'm notoriously lousy at estimating time, space, and work pace. Wish me luck!

Good morning.

Woke up early on my own today. Probably could have gone back to sleep, but I immediately started worrying about my Dd.

I never remade the beds after Dh sister and child visited, and the cat has been sleeping on the mattress pad, so I have popped that in the wash and one of my goals is to remake that bed as soon as it is dry. I am slowly catching upon laundry.

It snowed last night. The forecast is cloudy all day with a high of 40, so basically "wet and unpleasant" I plan to stay in and work on things until we leave for the play. I've got the fire going already.

Oh SubC, I understand very well that extreme frustration of just beginning to feel like you're getting caught up and getting a handle on things, and then suddenly there's another crisis and upheaval and you're back to feeling like all you do is rush around putting out fires. And that even if you do get the blaze extinguished, you will have forgotten what you were doing, lost the flow and rhythm, or circumstances around you will have shifted and that will also mess you up.

I loathe that pattern of existence.

Just came here quickly to say I am very happy, though, for daylight savings and the prospect of lighter evenings, plus days lengthening overall in the months to come. Roommate and I had spring fever so badly that we drove to two favorite plant nurseries on the south side of town. I got an apple mint and a mojito mint, to grow for the rabbits to snack on. And an irisene, aka bloodleaf. I'd had a bunch of them from cuttings, but last fall when I was very upset and unhappy I didn't have the mental energy to care about bringing at least one plant indoors, so they died.

Hope to start sewing on the shorts this week.

Good morning!

My Bean arrived safely at my parent's house last night and I was sent pictures of him joyfully eating cookies with my dad and having story time with my mom.

Meanwhile I have started my day by accidentally luring scalding hot coffee down my front and giving myself a first degree burn that is going to make some of my clothing very uncomfortable today. Sigh.

I do have my car loaded for school - including a good sized box of recycling and a feed bag full of trash! But I do not have my lesson plans ready. Must really get on that.

This week will be very full with commitments in the studio after school today through Thursday and kiln loads to fire at school. It's a dash to Friday night.

Tatoulia, how are you?
Road, I am still;worrying about your son.

Hello everyone! I am still here but not caught up to date.

I took yesterday and today off in honor of my birthday. On Sunday I got rid of five plus bags of clothing and household things. I felt so much lighter. I've been going through my house and weeding out things for relocation. I had a big Rubbermaid thing of Christmas stuff that I put by the garbage last night knowing that someone would come along and take it. All good stuff but I didn't want to take Christmas to good will in March. So that plus the five or more bags to goodwill. A lot of recently purchased clothes because of the weight gain and subsequent weight loss. I'm saving a few dresses for my mother. I should mention that I do not have much in Rubbermaid containers here. Mainly just all of my cards and postcards etc. most things are on shelves. The organization products dont work for me.

I am determined to pare down my place. And it's going pretty well. My friend Emiko will help. I have the momentum going. Some of the houses hold things leaving are things that don't make any sense to me anymore. Others are decorative items I bought at goodwill and it's time for them to go back be donated back. I've added a few things recently but nothing too bad. I am very excited to be cleaning and clearing and making decisions

I am at 29 lbs off. Amazing. I tried on a dress in my closet today and it doesn't just fit, it looks fantastic. So I washed it and a few other dresses to see if those fit yet. They may not. But they are washed and hanging in the bathroom.

I spent some money this weekend but ultimately not too bad. Just stuff from thrift shops that I will be fine if I end up donating those at a later date.

I had a girlfriend and her daughter over on Sunday for cake and ice cream. They wanted to take me out but BF and I had an art gallery to go to so we had them here. They loved the new kitty. And it was fun having them over. I did a little sweeping up. I realized that I do own way too much stuff which was helpful to see. It's okay not to keep the stuff forever. So I will be working hard he next three weeks to get stuff out of my house. I've decided which blankets new kitty will enjoy and I have washed some of the older ones to donate to the shelter. I'm also reaching 5e point where I have to look at my towels realistically and pair those down. I like to have four towels and I think I'm at seven. So three have to go.

Oh! When my friend and her daughter were here, I served their cake in fancy glass bowls and BF and I had ours on my every day plates. I mentioned that I have two or four of everything and not more and my girlfriend said exactly, why would you need more? And that was reaffirming. She, despite living in a very big house with her husband and two kids, tends to own only what she needs and she is a good roll model for me. They go through the kids toys every year to donate what the kids don't play with. Very healthy habits.

So that's me, I'll have to read up to see how all of you are! I'm feeling strong and capable of getting rid of things to make more space here. Space to stay as space and not space to fill up. BIG difference and I hope I can live up to it.

I'll wash the dresses for mom some other time. BF is heading over now.

Going to pick up a cake and go over to mom's soon. I've been on the phone since 7 with well wishers and friends calling me from all over. Pretty nice!

Happy birthday Tatoulia!

Good job on the decluttering.

I started the kiln at school.

I also dropped the trash and recycling.

I found out tonight that I can put things for sale on my shelf at the pottery studio next week during the conference! Pretty cool! Wish I had more warning/prep time though.

I did buy frozen food for dinner that has hard to recycle packaging. Packaging is my albatross.

Ok, chores, set up coffee, basic prep for tomorrow, bed.

Forgot to add - bought two bags for pottery I've been wanting because they were on sale.

That's great that you can put some pots up for sale, SubC! Sometimes not having prep time makes things easier. You can bring what you have and see how much you can reduce!

Goal to be completed by Sunday.

Two bags of clothes out
One bag of household things.

I need to move forward with things!

Good morning!

Tatoulia, that is an ambitious goal!

I can't believe I forgot to comment on your weight loss - it's impressive! I'm glad you are getting back into your clothes!

I am holding steady at a place I don't want to be. I helped out cleaning and organizing the clay studio last night and the owner bought us dinner. It was not exactly healthy, but it was good and I was hungry.

I am "volunteering" ten hours in return for a large discount coupon and a t-shirt. - honestly, I'd do it for the t-shirt and the sense of community. I go back tonight and then next week I finish my hours as a half day gallery sitter.

I can accomplish things for others that I cannot accomplish for myself. Every evening I have the same three hours I gave the studio. My aisle of shelves looked great - the owner hugged me. But can I clear off even one square foot of my counter in an evening? No. Can I put away the baskets of laundry? No. I mean, I cleaned the baseboards! I put all the cleaning stuff away when I was done with it. I can't even clean off my desk at school. It's a mystery.

Trying not to get to bed too late, but had to come in and confess to two clay boxes of cookie cutters brought home from the studio tonight. They had too many and were paring down as part of the clean up and prep. I was told to take what I wanted - half was suggested. I took about 2/5. I was also given a plastic container.

Dropped trash today.

Had trouble posting last night, got a 502 error - so this is a test.

Hi SubC. I think sometimes I have to look at my place with someone else's eyes. I pretend it's not my place and what would I do to make it look nicer. It is FAR more satisfying to clean someone else's mess unless that mess is in your home.

I have started the bagging process for more to leave. My friend who was over last weekend with her daughter said that she wanted an art piece that I love and had considered putting into my bathroom. (It is currently leaning against the wall in my bedroom as my BF found it in his house a few weeks ago). I will try to drive it to her this weekend. I could tell that she really loved it and I'm ready for someone else to love it. It's absolutely beautiful and when I bought it at a thrift shop, I contacted the artist since I know her work. Her husband got back to me to discuss it. I've had it about 20 years now. It used to hang in my office but I haven't had an office for over 14 years and I would just be hanging it to hang it. She will love having it so I'm very happy. It was that or sell it. So that will be a big impact even though it's only been in my house for a couple of weeks.

Hello, friends, and happy birthday Tatoulia! And congrats on the weight loss! Hi to everyone, I have been working nonstop. I worked almost 80 hours last week without a day off, but not all is 'billable' hours. Most is volunteer because I am only allotted a certain number of hours per week/month/year. But I love love love my work and have no complaints. I did finally take a day off Monday but had to work at home on laundry, cleaning, being with kids etc. Today is my real day off and I have to work tomorrow. This is the busy season, so is fall. Summer will be a lot more chill. And, I am taking my first week of paid vacation in April to go see my grands out of state!

Anyway my house is a wreck, the kitchen table and counter/bar are testifying against me that I am too busy. My floor desperately needs to be mopped but more than that I need a rest day to catch up on things. I am cooking, cleaned out the fridge (mostly), babysat Acorn last night, and am doing little things like ordering dog food online, prepping some returns, playing with my dog and cleaning his ears.

I put one thing in the trash today and will update my Daily Tally because I have not gotten rid of anything in a week or more.

I hope that after next week, I'll be able to get back to having 2 days off a week, because I am tired and my home is in terrible shape.

What I attempted to post 3-9-23 but kept getting an error message so I gave up, copy pasted it into a Word doc, and now here it is.

____________________________________

Today 3-10-23 continuation:

So, more caught up on sleep now, feel better, legs not hurting anymore. Weather still meh. I'm just ridiculously impatient for real, lasting spring.

Motivation should return somewhat though. Got a little graphic project done for the bunny club event and uploaded to Facebook. It had photoshopped bunnies wearing fancy hats and holding teacups, and turned out cute if I do say so myself. That was my obligatory thing to do today, and about all I had the energy for but it was satisfying. I did doze a bit more in the afternoon today (went to bed super early last night). A few other things I need to get posted about the event, but those can be done quickly just with color and text, or if a photo is needed just a quick upload.

Then I hope to get back to some of my own stuff. Writing, sewing, and yes, decluttering too but I may want to do the sewing first - it's those shorts that need pockets, I've mentioned them before. Getting them done would tie in with my going through my clothes. To make room for the new ones I will be letting go of old ones.

I confess to being once again in procrastination mode re embarking on exercise. Wanting nice weather conditions for the first time back out. It's hard enough to regain momentum, says my brain, without fighting the cold and the wind. But I promise the Badger I will hop on it when I see my chance. I'll even do the organizing of getting my bag packed well ahead, so that can't become another delaying factor. Scout's honor.

Hi Lila!

I also have all the things of the house piled up.

Today is the first day of my spring break. I slept until 10:30 and still have not dressed and done chores. When I was a kid I played in the ocean all the time. Sometimes a big wave would come and knock you off your feet and roll you. The key was to hold your breath, relax, and put your arms in front of your face. The wave would dump you on the sand, and then you could stand up. That's how I feel. Like I just stood up after getting rolled.

Tatoulia, it is really nice that you are giving the picture to your friend.

I think cleaning in the clay studio is easier and more satisfying because someone else says "do this" (making the decision and setting priorities) and the "this" is so clearly defined. Also, I don't feel like all of the other things that need to be done are hanging over my head the way I do at home. It is easier to find the energy because I'm not worn down before I start, and there is an outside prompt to start.

CM, I think sewing your pockets is decluttering. It gets a thing out of your project basket, and maybe replaces one in your drawer with something better.

You're doing a good job accomplishing things.

Road, I'm still thinking of you and hoping you will check in with good news.

Yesterday I spent a lot of time on the phone with my dd2 because her boyfriend broke up with her. I find this emotionally exhausting. I'm not even sure I can help her. We are very different people. I suggested that she stop dating for a while. She got mad.

Today she fell on a ski slope and broke her collar bone. It will need surgery. I may have to fly to Denver. I may need to take time off work. Of course I am worried about my baby and want to take care of her, but also, I felt like I could finally see land. Not actually reach it, but at least see it. Now my break plans are all up in the air and I am worried about lesson plans, and I feel like I am never going to catch up and the land was a mirage and I will probably just drown.

Dh looked at me today and said "what? You were looking relaxed earlier." I said "now I have situational depression."

I put away some laundry and I washed the sheets, and I rinsed a bunch of stuff for recycling from the counter. I also cut brush.

I brought a bag of stuffing home from school. I had intended to leave it there but changed my mind. Things are going the wrong direction.

Tomorrow I think Dh and I are going to see a friend in a play.

Testing 123, couldn't post yesterday; fortunately was able to copy and save what I wrote so I can post it if this shows the site is back up...

Good morning!

CM, I was waiting for your cut/paste to show up, but apparently you've gone to do something else. (Taking a chance on that apostrophe - you said the site was down, maybe it was getting fixed?)

We had a nasty storm last night. My drive home from work was nerve wracking - sirens going off and radio emergency warnings, had to reroute 4 times because of trees or accidents. Watched a tree fall next to my driveway right before I drove down it.

The bread lessons went well, although my legs are tired from going up and down the stairs all day and I brought home a lot of dirty dishes.

I actually got up around 8 today, but I am taking it slow. Think I will just focus on starting seeds and going out with Dh tonight - it's a concert night. Maybe some dishes and laundry.