I love hearing about the things you do, SubC and I never think about the cost. When I started to read about the two new chairs I thought, oh no, and then I kept reading and made by a local craftsperson and I was all heck yes! I do not like the cheap stuff on Amazon but respect the fact that it takes money to be able to reject the cheap stuff. I get that. And Amazon fills very real need in this country.

I have not gone to a food bank but many of my neighbors go. When I volunteer at soup kitchens I think of it as feeding my neighbors and I enjoy that. Good banks are wonderful and I am grateful that we have them. I don't know what the future holds to be sure so I keep that in mind, too.

I've been spending a bit too much lately too, esp. now that we have an overseas property we have our eye on and we have about a year's time to buy, based on the seller's timeline. So I shouldn't be spending a dime right now.

I am up early for me. I'm doing two loads of laundry and I usually finished folding last night's laundry. My house is a mess. A true mess. The childhood ornaments that I am keeping are all over the place and I need to deal with that. I cannot remember if my young friend from work is sleeping over this week. Plus I cannot love in this mess.

I've looked around in general and I definitely have what Tillie used to call Clutter Creep. So I'm going to have to deal with some of it today. I am on a short schedule because I'm going to members night at the MFA for the Sargent exhibit. I'm also experience Weith Creep so I don't have a fancy dress to wear. But I've been giving some thought about what would look nice. The shoes that I would enjoy wearing are at work and I'm not sure that I have time to walk down to the office to get them.

Mom was in bed when I got over there last night but she heard me come in so we talked. She doesn't know where she is and it's very hard.

I have to spend at least half an hour dealing with the clutter. Wish me well (of course you wish me well. This is my way of wishing myself well)

Lila, think of the medical bills and suffering and compare that to 69 cents for a can of some food. Cost benefit analysis of tossing the old and getting new works out pretty simply then! 😉

I can't watch Hoarders at all - too depressing. But if it motivates you, go for it.

SubC, hope the shed comes.

Random musing re creative space - attended an art opening a week ago, and I realize that those old repurposed warehouse studios have so much room! If I had one, would I fill it up too much? It's only a dream anyway at this point. It seems like a lot of space, but perhaps that artist was just a neater and more minimalistic person than I naturally am. But a studio does really offer a lot more workspace than your average house, where you have to fit it in around other purposes the standard rooms are given over to. Oh well.

Have a good weekend, all.

Good morning!

It is raining.

I slept 11 hours. Woken once by a nightmare and once by the cat throwing up in my room.

Lila, great job on your kitchen! Are you going to try to put in those 4 hours this weekend?

I think your food choices were good. Don't worry about going to the food Bank. I have worked at food banks and my biggest take away is that half of what they offer you is being diverted from food waste already. So if you ate those old beans instead of getting new beans from them, the new beans would eventually become old beans and get tossed or fed to somebody's chickens.

CM, at first I thought you were talking about studio apartments. Based on what I have going on out in the workshop barn, I would say we fill studios up. I still need to do so much work on mine!

My shed did come. I'm looking forward to working on getting it filled (sorting through all my garden things and having them in one place) and landscaping around it. It's so pretty! And the windows have screens, which I didn't know. And it locks.

I am going to sign up for a local holiday fair in three weeks. I don't know how it will go, but it will give me a chance to connect a little more with my neighborhood and hopefully turn some of my inventory into money. The set up fee goes to advertising and to the volunteer fire department, so no loss there. I would give the fire department $30.

Dh wants to drive to a furniture store we like out in the country (even more than us. Those poor people, if only they had a dollar general...) and look for a chair for his office. The cheap one he bought during Covid is falling apart and he has back problems and works from home two days a week now. So I better get moving!

Good morning!

I did end up going to the new food bank, and it is pretty nice! They have a place that does gleaning after the local farmers (with their permission) so there was a lot of fresh produce. Apples, onions, potatoes, a butternut squash, greens. I even got some strawberries, although they came from a donation (not growing locally right now). I got a pound of ground beef for the family and a pound of Impossible beef (plant based) for me. A loaf of bread, some masa, a can of corn, and a couple of turkey/stuffing meals for Son. So that was a big help.

This morning I am making acorn squash soup out of the rest of the squash I cooked the other day. I simmered it with some carrots, garlic, onions and spices in vegetable broth. It is cooling now and I will blend it with a little bit of half and half, just a bit to help it be creamy. I'll freeze half since I am the only one who likes it.

I don't know if I will get the 4 hours in this weekend - doubtful. But, I am working on things bit by bit.

I pulled all the spices out of the spice cabinet, washed it out, consolidated several jars, threw out a few that were old duplicates. I put everything back and it looks very nice and everything is easy to find.

Loaded and ran the dishwasher.

Called and went online to find balances on about 8 gift cards I found, wrote the balance on them in sharpie and put them in a small bin with all the coupons I found so far, so I can use them.

Remote deposited a couple of checks and did a balance transfer. Answered some emails.

Enjoying a nice calm day. I am supposed to work tomorrow but it is likely I will stay home one more day.

the Lila show, episode 2 today...

Yesterday afternoon and evening I:

- went shopping
- picked up Tot, brought her to my house and made a cake together
- cleaned off the kitchen table. Wow, that was a lot... and I admit I threw a few things into the spare room to deal with later, but not a lot.
- cooked a fancy recipe for dinner and had the 3 granddaughters, son and DIL, Son who lives here, Teen, and another son with his girlfriend all over for dinner!
- enjoyed time holding the kids and playing and talking together. It was so nice.

Now my kitchen table, bar/counter, and all kitchen counters are not only decluttered, but CLEAN. I cannot remember the last time this was so. I am very motivated to clean the rest of that area... one freestanding wooden cabinet with a stereo on it, all the appliances, little shelves, spice rack, and floor. I could get all of that done in about 2 hours. Oh and the light fixture.

Then... if I really worked on the living room, I bet I could get that done in 2 hours too (on another day probably) so wow, my main living areas are coming together. I have a small entryway to mop and then people could come over and COME IN without me being totally embarrassed!

I do need to have the carpets cleaned. They smell like dog. Which means I need to wash a certain dog as well.

What are you all up to today?

Thanks Lila! I felt brave. I am always telling my kids that being brave isn't not being scared, it's being scared and doing the thing anyway. If you aren't scared, you aren't brave, you're just not scared.

I also have a quote I put up sometimes that says "Always speak your truth. Even if your voice trembles."

I couldn't go back in the classroom tomorrow if I didn't speak. In fact, I told some of the kids I was doing it to back myself into a corner.

I really hope you have fun baking with tot, and I'm glad you got your down day.

I feel a little better. My shed is late though.

Go get your ten things!

Good example for the kids, SubC. Really cool!

I took vitamins and feel sort of nauseous, so I am going to eat a banana muffin I baked and froze a few months ago. It is warming up in the toaster oven.

I am doing good but tired.

I sorted things on the table. There were 4 winter squash on the table from spring... surprisingly still seem good. So I poked holes in 3 of them and put them on a cookie sheet at 400 degrees for a half hour. They are cooking now and I will scrape them out, freeze some and eat some for dinner tonight.

I wiped the counters down in the kitchen again to keep them nice, and wiped off the blender, fish oil for the dogs, and pencil sharpener and put them where they go. I put some things away and threw out any trash. I put some boxes downstairs for Son to take out. I have a lot more to do but needed a rest.

I picked up all the dog toys and took out 3 that no one plays with to donate, one that is practically new that they don't care about to give to my friend who has a new puppy, and threw one away. That is five items down!

I have hoarders on - if you ever watched the episode with Carl in it, it is terribly sad but makes me stop and think. I am not "watching" it but it is on while I am cleaning an typing.

I need another cup of coffee with my muffin... so low energy.

post 2, update -

omg so tired. So far I:

- let the squash cool, scraped the squash into a dish and put it in the fridge

- cleaned off the bar/counter!!! Yes the whole thing!! It was so gross when I got down to the dust layer. But I did it! Wiped down the keurig, food scale and phone and put them back on it but it is totally clear otherwise!

- okay, I did move a few items to the kitchen table to get that done. I am working on that now,

- sorted a stack of papers from the kitchen table, filed some, threw some out.

- had Son bring up the baby swing and put batteries in it to use tonight for Star.

That was a lot, and I have to go shop and pick up Tot in half an hour. Then we will make the cake together. Will clean up, work on the table, and get the baby toys with her.

I feel like I got enough done today and am happy with the results. Son is going to vacuum, and maybe even mop if I can get him to, while I am gone getting Tot.

I even did a little work from home because I got a couple calls, texts and emails.

I made some solid progress today and really pushed myself!

Good morning! ohhh nobody's here yet. Come back friends!

Today is trash day. I decided at 7:30am to clean out the closet downstairs where my ex would put canned foods. He would buy whole boxes of things and shove them in there and we could not easily get to any of it. I would ask the kids if there were any beans, or tomatoes, or whatever down there and they would look and say no. Well this morning pulled out boxes and empty wrappers and two milk crates 2/3 full of cans.

I found many cans expired in 2019, of guess what, tomatoes, beans... a few other things. Anything expired less than 2 years I kept and brought some upstairs to use. The rest went into the trash.

I know some things COULD have been okay, as canned foods last a long time, but tomatoes I was told are risky if they get too old, and many cans were dented. So off they went to make room for new, because I am going to the food bank today. I have not gone in years but my finances are in the toilet. Yes I feel guilty throwing food away and then going and getting more, but I am feeding very young children and don't want to risk them getting sick. It's over now and I won't shove cans in there anymore. I can use that space for other things now. I have a big shelf of food I did not sort through but that is for another day.

oh, I also hung up or folded and put away a lot of clothes that were draped over furniture in my bedroom. It's progress.

It certainly is progress, Lila, so good for you!

I am glad you understood my last post in the spirit intended (descriptive), because I wasn't sure if I was getting the tone right or not. Because some of this stuff is so heavy duty to talk about, I have to be careful not to edge over into a rant. Thanks for understanding. I'm sure, too, that you'll get there with creating that staging area - and with someday not even needing it because the whole place will be how you want it. Poco a Poco!

I'm sitting out in the screen porch listening to the leaves rustle and have the lighted Halloween pumpkin for a bit of autumn ambience.

One more P.S. Lila - hope you feel better soon!

Good morning!

Good job on the storage unit CM.

Lila, being able to put your clothes away is progress.

I feel awful this morning. Last night I went to a three hour zoning board meeting to speak against rezoning part of the field that abuts my property for a DollarGeneral. It's funny, I can handle a classroom full of kids all day, but put me in a room full of adults and my fight or flight response goes into overdrive. I shook the entire three hours. But I guess I did ok, because after I spoke, my neighbor leaned over to Dh and said "you married up."

There were over 150 people from my tiny community. All opposed. The realtor for the property owner and a representative from Dollar general spoke in favor. The property owner signed into the meeting, but read the room and left before they called his name. I think we might actually win.

The mayor spoke against on behalf of the council. The township trustees sent a representative to register their unanimous no vote, and the fire chief spoke against them on their safety record and listed the upgrades that would need to be made to our hydrant system to adequately protect their building.

The Dollar General guy identified us as a "food desert" because the nearest grocery store (which delivers) is 7 miles from their proposed site. (The general store, which sells food, is 1.7 miles) The room actually erupted in laughter. Later, one woman read the definition of "food desert".

I mean, seriously, most of my community can buy eggs, herbs, vegetables and honey within a mile or two of their house if they don't produce their own. Meat is a little farther if you don't hunt. Fruit is only available in season. Milk under the table because of regulations. We have a farmer's market.

One guy in his 20s stood up and said name, address, "I've lived here all my life. I've never been hungry. But if I was, these folks would help me out. I don't need some out of state company to sell me an overpriced bag of chips."

I didn't get to bed until 11. I'm now suffering from the after effects of adrenal overdrive. But, my garden shed is getting delivered today!

SubC!! You are brave! I am so proud of you for stepping outside of your comfort zone for something important! I am so touched that you did that. What strength and I pray they will listen and you will win this important cause!

CM, oh I miss screen porches! I grew up back east and now live in the PNW and where I live now you almost never see a screen porch. I have dreamed about adding one. So nice.

I am off again today. I got my lazy, do-little day yesterday and so am happy to get started working on things this morning. Just had coffee and am starting to feel energy.

I feel a bit better. I am having Tot over to bake a cake later. She always has some kind of cold so no one is worried she will catch something from me... maybe mine is just residual from what Son had last week. I am not sick sick. Anyway, here is what I want to get done today:

- clear off the kitchen table so we can eat
- clear off the kitchen/bar because enough is enough
- go in the garage, find the little baby toys for Star and wash them. Maybe look through the teeny baby clothes for her as well and see what DIL might need. And some blankets. Sheesh, I just cannot get rid of this stuff I saved from my grands... but I can use it or see if DIL wants it.
- try to get Son to vacuum and help me mop

I also have some calls, emails, and such to make. That is enough for today, except maybe while I am doing this stuff I can declutter. I will aim to declutter 10 things today.

I will report back on how I do with my goals. I hope to hear from you guys too as it is motivating for me!

Belated Happy Birthday, SubC! I have a handful of posts to go back through so I missed that.

I'm thinking my little scheme about pulling out the quilting fabric by one color at a time, and grabbing the right amount of plastic shoe or sweater size boxes (there is a ready supply of empty ones) and then bringing it back to the house to do that color, might work. Then take the finished neat organized boxes back and stack them, and fetch the next color.

I could do multicolor, then just follow a rough ROYGBIV sequence with any additional in between colors or things like pastels dealt with as they arise. And neutrals. Solids separate from prints because they are used for sashings and stuff.

A couple days ago I made a quick list of standardized pieces to cut for block piecing. Not too many sizes or shapes. It should simplify and speed things up. Still needing to get the sewing machine cleaned but I will soon.

This quilting and fabric focus is but one area among many, of course, and I won't neglect the others. It will, however, be a thing I can do when the weather is not cooperative. Dealing with only one color fabric at a time will ensure that I don't get bogged down in the sorting process. And it can go back to storage quickly and not clutter up my living space.

Also, in putting the stuff into boxes I will downsize pieces of fabric that are bigger than I can realistically use - if I like it, cut off a small piece then pass along the bulk of the rest. Get rid of any fabric that I never really liked but was trying to "rescue" (yes, I've done that - sheesh) and just work with the ones that truly spark joy.

We have lost those thrift stores here but there still is that fabric thrift store and they are having a swap/sale type event the end of this month. I plan to take some fabric and just donate it but NOT acquire any new. I'm really getting over the desire to search for new fabric. What has been a game changer in that area is my shift from wanting to design whole quilts to being content just making basic stash-busting scrappy quilt block sets, passing them on to someone who has room to assemble entire quilts a lot more easily.

It has helped to have the question settled that the church guild does intend to keep on quilting, including making new quilt tops. And the beauty of my new modus operandi just making blocks is that even if the church quits doing it at some point, the block sets could be given to some other local quilting charity.

So. That's my plan for hacking the weather challenge. Because weather has been a major holdup so often, and I just can't keep letting it be. Motivation has been a big enough problem but I've got some now, and I want to run with it.

P.S. miscellaneous

Tatoulia, I'm glad some things are getting easier. Poco a Poco, vamos a llegar. Little by little we will arrive, whether that's the ultimate thing of getting to Heaven which is what my Franciscan Friars were meaning, or simply the small achievement of healing from sad times and taking charge of the day to day as one's energy returns.

Lila, thanks for the prayers. They are much appreciated. I bet what you might be feeling with regard to the storage unit is simply that you need a staging area. This is not pretty, but you probably weren't in on all my original story when I began posting here in 2015. Being essentially homeless had my roommate not taken me in, because my income is too low to afford decent places (the low income ones in my town are in unsafe areas, far from my church and friends and other places I need to drive to, a scenario that just doesn't work for an agoraphobic, some are high rises which also scare me, or my pets wouldn't be allowed), was why I had to either throw away pretty much everything I had, or choose to rent a storage unit.

I had a lot of stuff even after downsizing, including family photos and such. And I had/have stuff that can probably go. But going through it and deciding take time as we all know. So - decent apartments won't rent to me but storage unit people don't ask questions. Of course it would be great if I could put the $$$ I spend on storage towards living quarters rent, but that's not how the system is set up.

All that to say that the storage unit is not an optimal solution but is was what I can do in a crunch situation. It does need sorting through, I do want to get rid of a substantial amount of stuff from it, and hopefully at some point I'll figure out a solution to increase my income and be able to move from my roommate's place to a residence like maybe a senior apartment or dare I hope a small rental house. And at that point, neatly transport my things from roommate's and my remaining pared down things from storage, and integrate them in an organized fashion into the new place, sweep out the storage unit for the last time, and never have one again.

All the organization and decluttering books and websites are geared toward people who have an entire residence of their own, even if shared with family. Not shoehorned in around the main resident's prior existence (don't get me wrong, I'm thankful that she made room for me). But the advice is always about how to clean and declutter "your house/apartment" and it has to be a lot easier to do that, because then a person isn't limited by daylight hours, weather, what a vehicle can hold, etc. The kitchen, bathroom, etc. are essentially your own, for instance, even if some sharing occurs.

So I think although it's hard, and I don't mean to imply it isn't, dealing with a house is easier than dealing with a storage unit, and storage units are a trap for people who have a house but think that a storage unit will help them deal with extra stuff. It will increase the difficulty, not lessen it. Because then the excess is viewed with less urgency and downsizing can be more easily procrastinated indefinitely.

If a staging area is what is needed, that can definitely be created in some part of the house. It might be small to begin with but it can grow.

Thank you for explaining about the storage unit and the history, CM. Definitely I am glad I have my house, and I think you are right about what I really need is a staging area. I started to form one out of a small bedroom upstairs, but it got packed with stuff. I will keep trying.

SubC, it is an actual tv that a friend gave me recently after Teen broke the other one. I actually have Hoarders playing on it right now as I type, as a motivator to declutter today. I don't really pay a lot of attention to something like that show. I just look up from the bills or papers once in awhile and think "omg, I don't want to be like that!" and then get up and toss a few things.

I was supposed to work all day today but Teen woke me up super early having a meltdown, and I felt sick like I am getting a cold, and a headache, so I called in. I am just going to stay home from now through the weekend to try and get over this throat/cough whatever. But I don't want to waste the time. I want to get things done.

I can do some work from home tomorrow. Today I am too tired. But I will try and work on decluttering a bit and cleaning.

I am trying to get some things done.

I took two large jackets out of my bedroom, looked them up on ebay to see if they are worth selling (they are not), and moved them to the room downstairs where clothes for Teen that they are not using are. I have donated a lot, but kept a tub or so because whenever I donate, they get angry and say they wanted the stuff. So for now I am leaving the jackets there for a little while.

I picked up a lot of papers and things off my bedroom floor, sorted them, and threw away about 80%.

I am tired so I think I am going to take it easy tonight and then get up in the morning and have a good decluttering session tomorrow. Then I think Tot is coming over to help make a cake.

I get in a mindset sometimes where I just want to be alone and not deal with any people.

I keep thinking about going in the garage and purging, but then I feel incompetent to do it.

Good morning!

Tatoulia, sorry about the work mix up. Now I also want a danish.

Yes, it was my birthday, thanks for the good wishes both of you.

Lila, video is a challenge. It catches your mind and lulls you. I saw a study once where your brain activity while watching tv/videos is the same as while sleeping - but your body doesn't get a rest. Hopefully that wouldn't be true for an instructional video.

Are you watching on an actual tv? We don't have tv, so I just watch online - mostly YouTube. It's bad because there is always something I want to watch if I pull it up, but it's good in that it is really portable. I try to tell myself "ok, you can watch this, but you have to do it while you.(chop vegetables, put away laundry, wash dishes, clean up.)"

I got back to yoga again this morning. Dh has an early start and it is cold here, so I'm going to wait to do chores until after he leaves for work.

Haha, Danish Bread sounds yummy!

Had success at storage yesterday, neatened up a small area considerably and got about 2 cubic feet of donations plus tossed some trash.

Unfortunately, later got a migraine - from bending and lifting? Weird. Not a bad one, though.

SubC I have been meaning to comment re that thing you said a few days ago about how ultimately everything's gonna burn up in the sun or something one day a long time after we're all dead (I'm paraphrasing). I have had that very thought! It probably is helpful when we get too stuck, to give some perspective.

This morning went to Pilates with roommate. It was my first time ever and I don't know if that class will fit my schedule, but now at least I know what it is like.

Saw a weather forecast - good thing I got some done yesterday because it's starting to be "breezy" and the next three days are set to be "windy" (also a storm Thursday) - breezy is already going to make it harder to work at the storage unit; however, I might know a way around it. I wish it wasn't a big old open garage door. I don't know if maybe pulling it down all the way would work...? Or most of the way. Or another thing, I have assorted bags of quilting fabric and I have plastic boxes - perhaps bring them back and finish the sorting by color here.

I texted my cousin "Before" photos and one "After" photo yesterday of the area I got organized. That is rather cool to be able to do that. I'm not good with having people come help me in person; it gets me frazzled. But this form of virtual teamwork is positive and motivating.

Been so busy that I haven't even gotten Harry to Hogwarts yet. Still only on Chapter 2 of the first book. Lol!

Hello,

CM, I'm glad you found your books! Good luck on the storage unit. Ni'm also glad you have you cousin.

Lila, I think an area like the garage might be just the thing. Then if you make some space, you could work on an area that is a mix of storage and use like your room and shift some of the storage out.

Is ex still renting space from you?

I highly recommend a solid chunk of vacation. It makes a big difference.

Tatoulia, it sounds like you are getting your feet back under you. I'm glad.

My parents are gone (they texted that they have reached the bed and breakfast they are staying in tonight on their way to visit my dad's friend tomorrow) and Bean's parents took him home.

Bean and I carved his staying here Jack-o-lantern today and hung the ghost on the porch,

I am caught up on the barn chores which I slacked on while I had company, and almost on the dishes. Tomorrow I will catch up on laundry and finish canning the applesauce.

Hopefully I will also get some pottery done, because I only got one (the most important) piece done while my parents were here. Just too much going on. But it was a really nice visit.

My mom brought me two puppets and some rubber stamps as birthday gifts. And Dad took us all (7) out to a really nice dinner to celebrate.

If I read your post correctly, happy birthday SubC! Yay you! I am getting my feet under me and it feels good. A giant bag of recycling out tonight and cleaned someone's litter box.

I worked from home today. We don't have this day as a holiday. I thought I had a 930 AM meeting so I stayed home. Turns out the meeting is tomorrow AM.

Cm I'm so glad you found your books! Sending my support as you go to the storage unit!

I need to do some decluttering this weekend. The week is already eaten up with stuff.

Lila you are doing great.

CM I thought that you meant to write danish bread! Okay I have a small cat who is ready for bed and who can blame her?

Happy birthday SubC!

Hi Tatoulia! Now I want a cheese Danish.

I wasted a lot of time watching TV today. I did my laundry (2 loads), ran the dishwasher again, washed a few dishes, wiped the counters.

I put an old dog toy in the trash.

I got sidetracked by an email telling me my email storage was almost full and having me look at old emails with attachments. Well the attachments were videos and pictures of Teen as a little one, and my dog I lost, so I downloaded them and deleted them off the email storage, which brought me down to 88% used. That is enough of that for now. I am all emotional from looking at that stuff.

I guess I needed a day of just doing nothing.

I have to work very long hours the next 3 days. Then I get two days off. Then another long day. I am so over it.

I think what I need to do is not allow myself to watch any TV unless:
a) I am really sick
b) I worked all day and need to decompress, or
c) I am watching something educational just briefly (10 minutes) in between tasks or while I eat breakfast or lunch.

Okay. I will do better.

hello again all. I caught up on your posts: SubC, 2 days is much better than 5! That's good. Tatoulia, I am so frustrated by Teen that I keep procrastinating doing anything at all with the lights or cameras or whatever - so yeah, good point about aggravating myself. Lights may be enough. CM, thank you for the update! Looks like everyone has a lot going on.

I worked and worked and worked. I left early today because I started to get a migraine aura. So now I am home for the afternoon, not sure if I have to go out this evening, but I am taking tomorrow off. I am BEAT!!

Today I:
- put a disposable glove on, went out in the backyard and gathered a whole paper grocery bag full of mushrooms that had grown in my yard from it not being mowed in so long. They are the toxic kind, so I didn't want my dogs getting into them or Son mowing spores into the yard.
- threw out 3 things and put a microwave cover thing into the donate box

That's it for now. I am so tired I am falling asleep when I sit down, but will slowly get some things done. I need to wash my clothes if I want to have anything to wear when I go back to work.

I am hoping tomorrow I can declutter at least 20 or 30 things and load them all into the car to be dropped off to donate.

I am going to go to the storage unit today. The weather is beautiful. I'd rather be doing something more enjoyable on such a lovely day, but so be it - I will regret if I don't take advantage.

It's been harder than ever this go-round psyching myself up - but upon waking I felt more positive. And I had one of my little moments where an inspired phrase came to my mind, which I will share in case any of you can also benefit:

BANISH
DREAD

I made a little meme on my phone with it using my Quotes Creator app so I could remember it, like I did with Poco a Poco.

Also texted my cousin about my storage unit plans, the one who has been working on all the stuff from my grandma's house and her dad's etc. and this proved to be helpful - she said "no judgment" and so now I feel like I have a kindred spirit. We can help each other stay encouraged. What a blessing! It has been lonely trying to work up the motivation on my own.

Also, I located my Harry Potter books - they were actually in the bedroom, placed neatly in a plastic sweater box that was in good shape; I did this some months back apparently, had a vague memory. So I'm rereading in my downtime. It's kind of a little reward to look forward to.

It is not going to be easy to do all this when I still have 0 idea of where I will be someday when I no longer live with roommate, and what will and won't fit there. I realize none of us can predict such things, but I think it's easier for people who know they will be able to afford some kind of decent living space if they need to move. I wouldn't even have the storage unit if I wasn't in this renting only a room situation. But enough about that; if I think about it too much it will pull me down. I am going to pray a lot asking God for guidance with various aspects, and I've just gotta trust that He will give me what I need.

Poco a Poco!

oh look at this, no one posted since yesterday!

Another day, my day off. So far I:

- emptied the bathroom trash and put in a new bag
- loaded the dishwasher
- did a little freezer sorting and found cinnamon raisin English muffins (had half of one for breakfast with a plum) and a frozen vegan meal (will have for lunch or dinner today)
- gathered dirty laundry and brought the basket out to the stairs to take down
- decluttered one pair of shoes

I have so much to do but am just decompressing right now.

We cross posted CM, so I am happy to read about your update. I prayed for you also, and believe God will give you strength and clarity. I pray the same for me, and all our friends here, as we sort through our "stuff," physical and spiritual.

When I read your post, my brain said immediately, "I wish I had a storage unit to sort." Haha, my reality said back, "your whole house is a storage unit to sort!" So true, the areas I do not use because of "stuff" have become storage units. There is a bedroom upstairs and one downstairs, unused and full of stuff. The whole garage is a storage unit. And honestly the family room has become a storage unit as well. My bedroom is harder, because the stored stuff is mixed in with things I use or look at daily. I think it would be easier for me to work on the garage or a storage bedroom, since many things have not been used in a decade. Maybe I will think of it that way. Sorting my in-house storage units.

I am thinking today of how I work so many and such long hours, much of it volunteer but necessary. I enjoy it, but I do not get long stretches of vacation like all the other (full time) staff does. They take weeks at a time. I wish I could have two weeks off. I have vacation days to use before the end of the year. I tend to take 2 or 3 days here and there, to watch my grandkids or whatever. But really I should lump all the days I have left together, end to end with my usual days off, and take a chunk for my own mental health and rest. Then I would have time and energy to really work on my house. I will look at my work calendar and see if and when I could do that, before the end of the year. It is hard to do because of me being a program director. But there is one week on October our program is on hold and it ends mid-December, so in there somewhere I could possibly take a whole week and a half.

Lila, Tatoulia works 5 days a week, but I don't. This year I only teach two. I do have lesson planning to do, but I have a whole day with my grandson and two for the farm and house every week besides the weekends. I just have a lot of things that I do.

I tried to can applesauce today, but that went sideways on me. A jar broke in the canner in the very first batch, and now I don't really have time to deal with it because I had to wash out the canner and it takes too long to heat back up. I did manage to get the entire applesauce pot into the fridge. Also, I trashed the kitchen. And I am frustrated by the lost jar of applesauce.

So, I have to choose - miss class and finish the applesauce, or go to class and leave the kitchen a wreck.

I did manage to get my pots fired (although I think I will have to unload them with tongs) so I am going to choose option b.

My Dh will be upset, but my mom will understand.

I also still don't really have good lesson plans for tomorrow, but I will wing it. It will be ok. I know vaguely where everyone is and what they are working on, it will just be reactive instead of proactive. I taught that way 80% of the time all last year.

Good morning!

My brain is already working on lesson plans - lol!

I got 6.5 hours of sleep last night, but I'm really glad I went to my class. It was fun, and I got some cool pots, and a thing I have been wanting to try worked (so now I have to make a bunch more pieces while my parents are here visiting - which is fine, mom and I can chat while I work, I'll make her a cup of tea.)

Also there was a big cart of free ceramics magazines and I grabbed 13 for my classroom (restraint!)

As my parents are arriving as soon as I get home from work (or possibly a bit before) today, I probably won't be around until Monday night or Tuesday.

Carry on!

It's been longer than I intended. Various things going on, including some times going swimming with roommate. She is doing so much better and will wrap up physical therapy next week. We are in the process of figuring out which classes one or both will attend and how they would fit in with other commitments. Probably how it will shake out will be that she will find pilates and a water exercise class and I'll go for the buddy system one or more times then I'll do my own thing in the pool or on treadmill or bike, etc. Also want to resume my own physical therapy exercises (the ones for my abdominal muscles because of the prior surgery) which I have the papers listing what to do. When I feel confident I can progress to using weight machines like I used to also.

I've worked on some clerical stuff for the bunny rescue, and plotting notes for one of my novels (more to go on that, and the manuscript itself, incorporating the changes and expanding). I've been waiting for things to settle a little since my writing buddy's September event and finally I seized an opportunity and started typing. Exercising helps my focus and cuts down on vagueness and procrastination.

Also have caught up with most of my neglected laundry. Swimming towels to wash got the ball rolling.

And I'm aware that October is prime storage unit decluttering weather so should be getting over there very soon. Getting a few ideas on where to start that will show results but not be overwhelming and scare me off. Also am picking at places here and there at the house, places that have not been touched in months and months. I find that doing anything at all breaks the status quo and leads to doing more. It's weird how if I leave a pile for too long, it sort of seems "fossilized" and more intimidating. It's dumb, but at least I am seeing it and doing something now.

I'd like to reread my Harry Potter books this month, too, and I realized I'm pretty sure they are down in the wardrobe behind a bunch of stuff and currently not easily reachable. Yet I can do something about that, if I am methodical and persistent and don't lose my patience. I could go to the library and check out their copies, but it seems kind of... what? Silly? When I went to the trouble to acquire my own. Harry Potter is one series that I like to have in hardcover. Although I wouldn't mind having ebooks too but I can't justify the expense at present. There may be a way to check out ebooks. I guess I could do that if it takes awhile to extricate the hardcovers. Accio books! Wish it were as easy as the magic spell. Or that scene in one of the movies where Dumbledore and Slughorn put that ransacked room back together. Now that would be great.