Oh Tillie I am so sorry about your headache and sinus! What terrible pain!

I am finally better. I've been enormously frazzled. Really overwhelmed. I'm better now.

I think I mentioned that mom is back on lockdown and unfortunately I don't have a deep well of energy to give out right now. She doesn't need much but I don't have it to give. It's really hard on her but I'm absolutely overwhelmed.

Yesterday I worked at BF's so that the internet person could upgrade his internet and do some installation. It went really well. Instead of sleeping over, he sent a car service for me in the AM, which I really appreciated. I like this driver. He's kind and educated and smart and can talk or not talk.

I took the bus and subway home in the afternoon. It was very humid. BF's house has central AC so I had been nice and cool. I didn't want to take a cab. As I got off subway, BF called me and he was walking back from Whole Foods with a bag of sandwiches. So he walked me home and I chose two sandwiches. One for yesterday and one for today. Then after getting home I just wanted to sleep but BF needed to run errands so we did that. I was really overwhelmed but he said I appear to be okay, so that's good. I have been worried that people can see it on me. Yes I could've said no to joining him but I wanted to get heavy stuff for my house.

Then today his very old cat came here to spend the day. He was pretty calm and not agitated like he was last time. He ate all of his food and used his box and all around was a very good houseguest. I was able to return him before my cleaners got here. I had made them signs in Portuguese saying, I have a second very old cat here today. Please just clean what you can. But as luck would have it, the work at BF's office was done early and I could bring my buddy back.

Earlier in the week I had cleaned the carrier. I washed the inside soft part and I took the actual carrier part and cleaned it with the hose out front. I felt really resourceful when I did that.

I canceled my Sept 11 platelet donation. I've kept my October date. I just needed to cut back on one thing.

I had three bags of garbage to take out tonight! It piled up on me. I also threw out something that I had been avoiding.

I have a start of a bag for donations. I'm thinking of taking the subway downtown tomorrow to get a salad at my old lunch place. They are open again. I think I'll feel good to pick up some food and be able to see the guys at the deli, even though I'm huge and fat. Also I'll stop at the main office of my bank and use the coin sorter. I've decided to turn in all of my coins since I'm about to buy stock as a side investment and I have a shameful amount of coins right now. So I'm planning a pleasant part of the day even though I'm swamped at work and shouldn't take such a long lunch.

We used to get out early the Friday before Labor Day but they didn't announce anything today. That's okay.

Thank you for listening to my ramblings.

It is 104F degrees right now.
There has been a high heat advisory for tomorrow when it is predicted to be even hotter.

May as well be living on the Sun. 🙀

Been sitting watching Roku stuff.
Drinking lots of tea.
Made and ate a sandwich.
Head pain is gone. YEA!
Stuff I could be doing but today I am staying put and resting.
After sundown I will water the garden plants.
Thinking I will take a nap very soon. 🦝

Overwhelmed. Have cleaners coming tmr (normally Wednesday). At least I'll feel better with a clean house. Going to bed now. Take care, everyone.

Good Morning Everyone

Hope you are doing better this morning Tatoulia (((HUG)))

CriticalMass
"FLAT SQUIRRELS!"
😂 LOLOLOL

Darn sinus headache returned last evening and is still with me but not as bad as before.
My plan for today is to rest and drink plenty of water & tea.
There are deep dark circles around my eyes no matter how much sleep I get.
🦝

Good news is that there are only 15 active cases of virus listed in the county now but there is another death, bringing the death toll up to two now.

Finally got that sinus headache gone.

Did a little of this & that then washed dishes and wiped up the kitchen.
Did some more of this & that.
Now I am resting my back and waiting until the sun has started going down when I will water the grass.

🦝

When I was a young teen, we lived on the edge of a rural area outside of a small town (they paved my road when I was 14 but there was only one farm on it) every year before Christmas a group of moms and daughters would drive almost two hours to a big mall in a city in another state to go Christmas shopping. It was amazing! What I remember most was the bookstore. A whole store full of books!

Burning paper is not a big deal. I do sometimes burn something that has a small amount of coating on it, but it still smells like a wood fire. Last night definitely included a lot of plastic.

I like making my own dessert because I know exactly what is in it.

Sundaes:
Milk, sugar, eggs, cream, butter, cocoa, vanilla, salt
(ok, plus a maraschino cherry from a jar) I should learn to make my own cherries. There are 11 ingredients in the cherries and most of them are "flavorings", preservatives, or dye. Plus they have corn syrup.

Maybe today I will find the courage to plan classes. Dh and I are meeting friends to eat pizza outside at a park today. I'm not sure how it will go.

I haven't baked bread in so long... I am trying to resurrect my sourdough starter. I fed it and put it out all night last night and it is barely bubbling. But there are some bubbles, so there is hope. I will put it outside today so it can be warmer.

Good Morning Everybody

What a magical experience that must have been.
Plus at Christmas time there would have been all the twinkling lights on all the sparkly decorations.

Some people in the county will put ALL their garbage in burn barrels.
The every 6 months or so set it all on fire and allow it to smolder for days.
Fortunately I don't live near any of them.
I do gently/ceremoniously place any tiny creatures I found in my yard in to be cremated.

That's what I love about making my own foods.
Nothing but fresh wholesome ingredients.
No HFCS, preservatives or artificial colors.

I have faith in your sour dough starter.
Been planning to start baking some of my own bread too when the weather cools down here.

Have a fun pizza picnic today. 🙂

Been suffering with a sinus infection last 3 days.
Allergies/asthma from dust, pollens and that nasty wildfire smoke did a number on them.
Drinking lots of water and rinsing with the neti-pot.
Today should be under 100F but then we will get back up in the 100s rest of the week.
So not usual weather.

Good Evening Everybody

EEEWWW burning trash is the worst. >:/
I put in so much wood when I burn paper so it's more wood than paper.
Plus those smaller branches need to be gotten rid of anyway.

Turkeys are fun 🙂

We are fortunate that we can get so many things by ordering online.
In the old days we would just have to never get what we want or need.
I have bought my tea lately by ordering online.
It was either that or go without.

WAY TO GO! for all that food prep and clean up!
AND you even groomed Bunnies!

Those sundaes sound wonderful and I am very happy you had them. 😋

Yes, I do understand.
Very hard to get into something when you don't believe it will happen.
Maybe just a rough draft, vague outline of the criteria?

Yay for tillie's quail!

We are a tiny turkey sanctuary here.

My neighbors are burning trash.🤬my eyes were burning halfway through chores and my throat is sore. I don't know how people survive the wildfires!

Tillie, I'm sorry you had so many challenges on your groceries. I just spent an extra fifty cents a box to get six boxes of the pasta I like shipped to me because my store is still out.

I am having trouble getting to work on my classes. I think it may be because deep down I don't really believe they will happen.

I spent most of today in the kitchen. Cutting up tomatoes, loading the dehydrator, putting some containers in the fridge for quick use in recipes this week, and making chocolate sauce and ice cream mix. And then cleaning up after all that! I also took a break for bunny grooming and picked tomatoes and beans.

Dh and I had ice cream sundaes with homemade ice cream and chocolate sauce tonight, which will not help my weight.

Went to town.
Filled my water bottles.
Grocery shopped.
Got a lot of things on my list but there were too many things they didn't have that I need.
Kitty litter was scarce. Only a few containers of stuff I have never bought because it's ridiculously expensive.
The bread was not much on the shelf, only one loaf of rye so I got that.
Fresh ginger root was not looking so good but I did manage to find one acceptable piece.
They had no "hairball" indoor formula kitty kibble/cereal.
They were out of the cat's favorite snax.
But had their seafood pate'.
The fresh fruit & veggies badly need restocking.
So I will have to go back soon & hope they are doing better.

I walked right past all the cookies, candy, chips, donuts, Danish, pies, cakes, hostess & little Debbie.
They had sweet junk foods everywhere!
AND they even had some Halloween candy!!!

I did buy a carton of chocolate icecream.
And I bought ingredients to make actual meals.

So far I am doing GREAT with the September challenge. 😀

GREAT NEWS

🐓

The sun will be up over the horizon in a few.
So it is now legal sunrise for hunting.
Distant shotgun blasts reminding me it's quail season. 🙁

Good Morning Everybody

Hi Subclinical
Keeping our carbon footprint in mind is always a good way to monitor ourselves.
We can all do things the easiest way or we can put in a little more effort so we feel good about how we have lived our lives.
Unfortunately there are times when we just have to bite the bullet and accept things as they are but we still can make up for that with other choices.

Why is there so much plastic packaging with fresh veggies???
A brown paper bag would be more acceptable and reusable and recyclable.

That's so great that you can project movies and Dh got rid of the streaky TV.

So sorry people on the other site tried to "fix you" or diagnosed you.
They just don't understand the struggles specific to people who just have too much stuff and need to sort it all out.
For them the easy solution is to just toss it all without any thought, no emotional battles to think through.
They tell me I should just toss out all Steven's clutter, do it behind his back even.
Or to make/force him to clean it up.
Yeah, right. No way that's happening.

This is the only site where I feel I can talk honestly about Steven's meanness.

5% is low enough for running some in town errands but not for sitting all together inside for any length of time.

Don't know the percentage here but there are 22 active cases listed and most people don't get tested unless they are feeling real bad.
It's the infected people who only have a mild case or no symptoms that really worry me.

Woke up at 4:30am.
Drinking my tea now.
Hosed off the car yesterday, have my grocery list all made out.
The empty water bottles are in the car.
Plan is to fill water bottles then grocery shop this morning some time after the sun comes up.

CM, you are amazing! Great job on the cap and all the furnishings!

That is a great idea to leave yourself with a starting point.

I would not call my create space "cleared of excess" yet, but I am making progress and tgat was a nice shout out. ❤️

You can go to other sites as long as you don't leave us. 😉 I used to hang out on another site that did threads with specific challenges and had topics that were more about my day to day life, but people kept trying to fix me. I would talk about my struggles with scheduling or setting priorities or finishing things and they would tell me I was unrealistic, depressed and needed therapy. At one point I actually tried to reassure someone that I was not suicidal and they argued with me! So I now read only there every week or two. And I talk to you guys about anything.

Tillie I am glad you finally got some better weather with less fire. I read something about how much carbon you burn using a dryer yesterday and am re-motivated to get my line back up.

The article also made me feel a little better about my struggles with food packaging. It said that you would have to eat completely package free food for 11 years to have the same impact that you have in one year of eating vegetarian. So I will keep trying to avoid packaging, but I will remember that giving in to some packaging so that I can feed Dh a vegetarian meal he will be happy with is much better than avoiding the packaging and having him eat a chicken wrap at the drive through because he feels deprived.

I wish people would just wear masks. My boss sent out our current plans to parents and included a note that in person classes are dependent on the positive test rate staying below 5%. It is currently at 5%. Schools have been open for a week. Dd says there is no way we will have in person classes.

Did I tell you Dh got rid of the large screen tv? It was old and had lines in it. We have been discussing what to do about Videos. We both watch on our iPads when we watch alone, but we used to have "movienights" when we would watch something together. When we stayed up watching the crime shows, we used my iPad With the sound run through the stereo, but Dh said the screen is too small. Then Dh remembered he has a projector. Last night we hung a sheet over the windows and projected a movie on it (from Dh iPad using the stereo) and it was great! It wasn't even that hard to set up. So, I think the "how to replace the tv and where to store it" argument is over at least until college football returns.

I have two days at home because Dd only wants me Monday and Thursday this week. I think I am being switched to Monday Thursday the next four weeks - and then it will be only Monday because one way or another I go back to work.

Speaking of which, it is now September and I need to buckle down on my planning. I will report back later.

New successes! 🙂💫🐇🥇🎆

I got up later and was a bit draggy and grumpy the first half of the day. But then in the afternoon I went to the storage unit. And I got out of there one large rickety shelving unit, one small one and a small cabinet. And a few odds and ends. It was a bit late when I finished so I'll make a run to the thrift dropoff tomorrow.

I've been reading some decluttering inspiration and tips and people's experiences in other places online (but don't worry - you all will always be my favorite! 😻😺😹). Those have sparked a few thoughts, or reminded me of concepts I hadn't thought of for awhile.

Take these rickety shelf units (please!). They are bowed, chipped, look blah, etc. One of the things I read recently was a reminder that we can have nice things. I used to do so much dumpster diving and find a thrill in getting something for free.

Maybe at times it was an okay thing. But I now have more of a sense of what I want, a look for my new place when my days in this living situation draw to a close. I want Tillie's little quiet space, Tatoulia's decor that sparks joy, SubC's creative space cleared of excess - and all in my own way with my personal aesthetic.

And I won't have to spend a ton of money to get it when the time comes. But in order to have a nice whatzit for this or that purpose, I really need to let go of the 2 or 3 scuzzy whatzits that have been acting as placeholders.

One thing I've been doing when I've been over there as I finish up is getting an idea for where to start next time in my mind. It's like what I try to do when I write - think where the story should go next time I sit down. It can be changed if I think of a better idea, but it keeps the flow going.

So I wrapped things up, restacked stuff that will be dealt with on one of the future trips, and came home and got all clean and freshened up. Now I'm going to have a nice supper and look forward to Dark Shadows. 🧛‍♂️👻🏚️🌌🌚

WAY TO GO!!! CriticalMass!!!

YES!!! Keep reaching for the stars!!! 😀

Love your new sparkly "mind set".
Yes you do deserve to have nice things (((HUG)))

It's ok to visit other sites.
Over on "Stepping Out Of Squalor" I go by the name casper. 😉
Been there a long time 2011 and have made some good friends.

What a relief...
Only got up into the mid 90s today with a gentle little breeze.
The smoke backed off enough too so I could hang out some laundry.
Got 3 loads washed, dried, folded & put away. 🙂

Good Morning

Hi Tatoulia
I sure do understand BF's reasons.
I am thoroughly disgusted with people who scream and rant and threaten when the issue of masks comes up.
Steven is so proud of himself when he comes home from the grocery store and goes on & on about how he abused the employees there.
These people are so inconsiderate and self centered. Not caring at all about the health and safety of anyone.

OK, rant over.
((((HUGS)))) for BF

A bit hazy this morning.
Hoping the smoke stays low.
Nice and cool morning 67F degrees, wonderful.
Today is supposed to only get to the high 80s and then return back to 100s the rest of this week.
Still no rain in the forecast. 😛

Plan for today is to do more watering, some laundry, shampoo my hair some time.
Scooter wants us to stay in bed snuggled in the blanket.

Good Evening Everybody

Happy you got out and enjoyed the beautiful day Tatoulia.

Wishing whatever is upsetting BF resolves soon in a most positive way.

YEA! for dishwasher at night!
I don't have such a luxury appliance. 😉

Hi CriticalMass
What a bummer...
Waiting all that time, wasted time and the oil isn't changed yet. 🙁

BIG BIG (((((HUG)))))
That was a hard one but you did it!
Best to remember your Dad with that nice model airplane rather than the sad looking cap.
Happy feelings 😀

Sounds like someday you will be needing a stepstool like I got for Twinkles for the Bunnies.

The smoke continued to get thicker all day and had that nasty burning grass smell to it.
By afternoon the sun was a big orange ball you could look directly at and not burn out your eyes.
After the orange ball went below the horizon an equally orange moon appeared.

Played with some beads today.
This evening I watered the Lilacs and garden.
Almost 11:00pm, better brush my teeth and go to bed.

CM you are amazing!!!!

Good morning Everyone. Okay I slept til 10. Was upset in the night about BF's situation. He's fine. It was just an upset; people refusing to wear masks and causing him a big problem. They got really aggressive with him. Over a mask. A life-saving device

Hello. Beautiful day today. I went in a Chicago Mysteries Tour. The tour guide was very, very good and really knew his stuff and his slides were excellent. He's not quite my style but he grew on me.

The evening went a bit south due to some problems BF was having. I think he's better but he's still at office and I want him to go home. I know he's okay but upset. I just asked his twice if he was ok and he changed the subject twice. So I have my answer.

Okay I'm running the dishwasher. It's so comforting to run at night.

Good night, dear friends!

Good Morning Everyone
"Clink!"

YEA! Subclinical
you have really been busy this morning!

Smoke is back, thin hazy yellowish right now.
Hope it doesn't continue to increase as the day progresses.

Beautiful coolish morning though.

No plans for the day.

My mechanic never called back. Sigh. Here we go again. Maybe tomorrow. If I had a decent income, I'd just start taking my van elsewhere and the guy would remain a friend, no hard feelings. We know his life is complicated, we would understand.

My roommate also has to keep using him for her car because it has this weird issue that keeps the check engine light on so probably would complicate other places being able or willing to do much with it. And then there are the repairs needing to be done on the house...

SubC, glad the knit rabbit/bunny patterns came through okay now. I bet you're right that Henry is probably that lady's Bean. A cashmere bunny will be lovely for your Bean.

Tatoulia, so happy for BF's employee recovering from Covid. But will be praying for your mom's residence employee and everyone there. Please keep us posted. And do plan on having a ride home if you do the platelets again... the weather will be cooler in a month too which might make for less of a sick feeling.

I forgot to tell you all the mini-story from when I went to my storage unit Thursday and got rid of some things. One was my dad's old ball cap. It had the company logo from the airline he worked for embroidered on it. He wore it quite a bit in the years before he died.

I'd taken it apart at one point because the strap was broken. Was going to stitch it together but would've needed to replace the bad part. Looked at the pieces and realized if I'd cared that much I probably would've already sewn it. Remembered the cap was NOT my dad. My dad, if he could tell me so himself, would surely say he didn't want me tormented by a stupid disassembled ball cap anymore.

Thought about just cutting off the logo as a remembrance. Realized I have his desktop model airplane that the company gave him at retirement, and that would have the logo and was in good shape, so would be a nicer memento.

So - I spoke to my dad in Heaven telling him I loved him, even thanked the cap for reminding me of and being useful to him once upon a time (whatever works, right?). Then tossed the remains of the cap into the dumpster. And felt free of one tiny burden.

Today I made a blueberry oatmeal breakfast cake in the new toaster convection oven, then took a nap. Glad you all liked the baby bunny pix. Aren't they just too adorable! My own boy bunny's birthday is tomorrow - I can't believe he will be 8! He can still jump from the floor to his cage which is up on a low table, about 2 feet.

My girl bunny refuses to try even though she has plenty of strength. At the shelter her cage opened out on the floor, and I guess the concept of jumping into a cage never laid down a groove in her brain. As boy bunny ages at some point I hope to come up with some system for him to have, perhaps a ramp, and that might also get her able to go in and out of her cage. The boy likes to jump into her cage during exercise time, too. And for a long time he would eat her food. I had to start putting her bowl out of his reach.

CM, smooth as glass! I wonder if Henry is her Bean.

Tillie, you did a lot yesterday.

So far I've run my dishwasher, made breakfast, and done my chores. I'm heading out to pick the garden so I can get beans blanched and into the dehydrator again.

Good Evening Everybody

So many wonderful posts to read. 🙂

Hi CriticalMass
Ooooo Baby Bunnies, SQUEEEE!

Wonderful how motivated you are!
You CAN do it! We all believe in you (((HUGS)))

YEA! for finding the bunny patterns for Subclinical 😀

Hoping the mechanic didn't make you wait too long and that your oil has been changed.

Hi Subclinical
So sorry about DH (((HUG)))
Hope that works it's self out very quickly.

It would be nice if you could freeze dry laundry this Winter along with me. 😉
The Winter smell is a very nice smell.

WTG! for all you did today!
So glad your garden has been producing and you have been able to put up somethings.
You seem to have a wide variety of groceries and will be able to make all sorts of different dishes without a grocery store run.

Granma made bunnies will be so precious.
Grey cashmere will be extra snuggly.
What a great way to repurpose that wool.

Hi Tatoulia
I absolutely LOVE Art Deco.
What a fascinating tour that must have been.

YEA! WOOHOO!!! Fresh Kitty litter! ;D

Holding your Mom close to my heart that she and the other residents are safe (((((HUG)))))

How happy Bf's employee is back. 😀

Very glad you are feeling a lot better today, both physically and mentally.

OK....
So we are all in on the eating better in September challenge.

Really hoping the store has nuts other than peanuts in stock because I like to munch/snack on a small handful of nuts and have been really missing almonds and cashews.

Started the day by vacuuming the carpet then vacuumed the coils under the fridge.
Cleaned out the fridge and cleaned the kitchen.
Did a small amount of raking part of the grass.
Cleaned the bathroom.
And a bunch of tiny little other cleaning straightening chores.
Felt good to take a shower tonight.

CM, it worked great! Thank you!

I have an old grey cashmere sweater with the elbows nearly out and a moth hole. It has been waiting in my knitting basket to be reworked into something else. Now it can be an Easter basket bunny for Bean!

Tatoulia - are the fire escapes straight out of your apartment?

If you donate platelets again, don't walk home next time, ok? Get bf to give you a ride.

I am worried about the aide and your mom's home.

My cousin's husband has been preparing his classroom all week for students on the tenth. Yesterday they told him school will start online, so he spent today preparing his living room. (My family has a lot of teachers).

I got more ice cream mix in the fridge, my dried tomatoes In a jar, made two cheeses, and ran the dishwasher. I also made a good dinner, showered and put clean sheets on my bed. I already broke my hour of schoolwork though. Guess that starts tomorrow.

SubC,

I think that pattern was for the big Henry's Rabbit - this link should work to get the Henry's Bunny, the small one like on my IG. Apparently the gal who makes the patterns doesn't have them all for free anymore, but I got it free from here. Again, let me know if it worked and if it is the smaller one.

CM

Henry's Bunny

Oops, link didn't post, trying again

Henry's Rabbit

What a shame regarding your husband's back, SubC. Yikes. I hope the medications help him!

Cm I am aggravated by your mechanic. I don't like him keeping you from enjoying your day!

Tillie, I'm in on eating better and exercising more!

Today I took a lovely walking tour on Boston Art Deco Architecture. It was lovely. In the very humid afternoon, I ran a quick errand and then hung out with BF a bit. He has a part-time employee who left in March with COVID and she's back! So it was fun to see her tonight. She's very sweet. Her parents are worried about her but I reminded her we are her cool parents so not to worry. Then I did scores of laundry this evening. Will go finish folding.

Ok I am insane. While donating platelets yesterday I was miserable. So unpleasant. And I swore I could never endure it again. Today, I feel differently. I can not only keep my September appt but I've signed up for an October appt too. My discomfort is nothing compared to what the recipients are going through. I'm waiting to see if I have that marker that makes my platelets unsuitable. I've also figured out that I need the tums much earlier to help with the facial and hand numbness.

I cleaned kitty's box today. Finally got the litter.

I have one door out of my apt and two common area doors. The back of my house has fire escapes, which were strengthened and reattached two years ago.

The urban life is wearing on me.

New COVID case at mom's. One of the aides. I'm so worried for the aide. Now on lockdown. She's grateful that she got her haircut yesterday.

SubC,

try this link and then go to the right side of the webpage that comes up, should be a grey box to download a PDF. Let me know if it worked.