Hello everyone!

Porter I'm sorry about your family situation. I'm not sure why your wife doesn't want to see you and I encourage you to keep the door open, just in case she changes her mind. This is s difficult time for everyone and I wish you much peace.

SubC, I take the train to work and then walk home. Generally on Tuesdays my BF picks me up and drives me home, otherwise I walk. It's more than a mile but under two miles. I have trouble once it's hot out so generally stay at work til about 7/8 before walking home. Bear in mind I work from home a minimum of two days a week, which is a very nice benefit. Congrats on having your daughter compliment your space!

Anony keep up the good work. It's a struggle but we are doing it!

CM I hope your stomach is better.

Tillie, the never ending need to kitty litter! It's sometimes the only thing that gets me out of the house. The temp swings are terrible and stressful. Oh, to be 40F right now! Love the cool weather. I don't know how you survive the triple digits and hope you are using your evaporative cooler.

Time with brother was short today and it didn't get too difficult. Then I came home and slept. Going to make dinner then maybe get dressed and go visit mom. I can tell the humidity has passed. BF was going to go home today and do some cooking and cleaning. We will spend time together tomorrow. The air was very heavy this AM and afternoon.

I'm playing music to putter by but I'm feeling really frustrated and I don't feel like doing anything. I am super frustrated and going to try to push throughout it.

Good Morning! 😀

Hi Porter 🙂
So many changes in your and your daughter's lives.
Please do go out and find another rescue cat.
You and the cat need each other. (((HUGS)))

Hi Subclinical 🙂
GREAT! that the bins are all nicely sorted out to contain only all of one type of things!
Wonderful organization! ;D
So nice that your daughter came by and enjoyed your studio.

Hi Anonymoniker 🙂
Hi CriticalMass 🙂
Hi Joan 🙂

Hi Tatoulia 🙂
I am frustrated that you are frustrated (((HUGS)))
The evaporative cooler gets turned on about 10:00am and stays on until after 8:00pm.
The ceiling fan is used off and on all day & night.
Hoping that you are able to stay out of the heat and that your humidity doesn't get too overwhelming.

I am tired...
There is so much needing to get done around here but I just do not have the energy to do anything about it.
This makes me sad.
I'm sure that soon I will be feeling better physically and all the house cleaning and weed pulling will get done, eventually 😉

I don't know what happened to the beginning of my post.

I HAVE LABELLED my bins
The LABELS keep falling off
MASKING TAPE
STICK ONS
Have AT LEAST a temporary reprieve

Great work, SubC -- congratulations on getting so much done!

I'm going to vacuum before I take the garbage out tonight. I know it will upset the kitty but it needs to be done. Plus her upset lasts only as long as the vacuuming; she doesn't suffer beyond that.

Time to put on some music and get going!

Ok, I did a respectable amount of shredding, I changed the
Cat box, I vacuumed the living room/den area and I dusted the bookshelves. Very humid. Very uncomfortable. I am going to go open up a brand new can of food for the kittycat to thank her for being so good. I'm also going to out the shredder away and out away the vacuum.

I've showered and out the AC on in the bedroom. I def worked up a sweat.

~☆~Hello, Happy Hoarders!~☆~
Im enjoying my new experience of both sleeping different hours, and being facebook-free! ...tho i kinda messed today up by sleeping too late...
Even tho im not progressing like a 'normal' person would, ive finally gotten through the stuck point my screen porch was at! Without facebook, there is no interruption in decisions. It is an amazing difference! SubC, why arent you 'friends' with your Mom?
One thing that has been a really nice glimpse into normal-ness, is when i either get a dish out, or put a mug away in my clean cupboard, ill often just stand there, with all its beauty & simplicity, and just stare at it! Its big enough to encompass my whole field of vision! Its wonderful! 😀
~☆~♡~☆~ ~☆~♡~☆~ ~☆~♡~☆~

~☆~Hello, Happy Hoarders!~☆~
Im enjoying my new experience of both sleeping different hours, and being facebook-free! ...tho i kinda messed today up by sleeping too late...
Even tho im not progressing like a 'normal' person would, ive finally gotten through the stuck point my screen porch was at! Without facebook, there is no interruption in decisions. It is an amazing difference! SubC, why arent you 'friends' with your Mom?
One thing that has been a really nice glimpse into normal-ness, is when i either get a dish out, or put a mug away in my clean cupboard, ill often just stand there, with all its beauty & simplicity, and just stare at it! Its big enough to encompass my whole field of vision! Its wonderful! 😀
~☆~♡~☆~ ~☆~♡~☆~ ~☆~♡~☆~

Anony, I am not "friends" with my mom because I don't have a Facebook account. That's why I use hers to see my kids' photos. Everybody knows and is ok with that.

I love that feeling you are talking about from your cupboard.

Do you think you can make the porch feel that way? Is it a big job?

I wanted to go to the studio where I take classes today, but I am feeling overwhelmed and pinned down by the rain and the dark.

I switched out all the colored hangers in my closet for white, which made it look nicer, but I also realized I really need to go through my clothes again.

I didn't buy the white hangers. I had hangers left over from the last time I cleaned out my closet, and the person who runs the community closet at the food bank said I could trade hangers.

I do still have 4 red hangers in my closet - those are the "too small but I have not given up" clothes.

I have also dumped a drawer of card games and puzzles all over the living room floor. How many packs of regular playing cards do you think a family needs? We do not have bridge parties.

Also, I think I should get rid of the slinky. You can still buy metal slinkies, and this one has a very small stretch. You can even get a fancy brass slinky in a pretty wooden box. I am not going to, but knowing that I could helps.

Dd2 went shopping after work yesterday and bought more clothes. She says she is going to get rid of old clothes, but she already has too many clothes. She says, "but shopping and getting something new makes me happy." I told her that is the dopamine hit from the hoarding gene - "you know how your sister can't drink? (Begin sarcastic tone) I gave you guys great genes. (End sarcasm.) I'm sorry."

Hello everyone! Good yo read your posts!

Anony getting unstuck is a thing of wonder. How nice that you can admire your clean cupboard! I feel that way myself sometimes, and it's a good reminder to take a step back and appreciate the fruits of your labor. I know it's hard.

SubC you are very organized re your closets--great work! I have a bag here ready to be donated and I'm pretty excited about that.

Very humid here. Just got home from work. I was fortunate that someone offered me a ride. I need to make dinner and then relax.

I am hoping the painted shelf put back in the kitchen, with the new sofa on the screen porch, will be a whole new pretty direction to look in! Im gonna vacuum it tonight!
SubC, i used to have quite a slinky collection...even a really cute Slinky phone...a landline...i had extensive collections of that sort of stuff...they can be fun....☆
☆.....hopefully, i can get some stuff done tonight, in spite of the huge freaky bugs everywhere....*

Hi tatoulia,

Did you get dinner? Do you usually walk to/from work? Or take a bus?

Anony,

Lots of progress on your home! What kind of bugs are you fighting?

I finished the drawer. We had 23 decks of cards. When I sent the photo of the discard pile out to the kids, I held a guessing contest and dd1 was spot on. The other two were way too low. 3 decks got thrown out because they were missing cards and nine are going to goodwill. So we still have way too many cards, but if I got rid of half of everything in this house it would be amazing.

I purged two card based games, one of two old maid decks, two slinkies,three puzzles, and a magic trick. Ds wants one of the puzzles.

The drawer is still full, but it now opens and closes easily and you can get anything out by moving no more than one extra thing.

I slept really late this morning, but I feel less tired. And the sun is out.

~♡~Good Morning!~♡~
Tillie, i am now sipping on some ice coffee that i made a pot of yesterday, as youd suggested to someone! What a treat!
....i never vacuumed the porch last night....there were crickets jumping out of everything i moved....and SubC, i literally have bugs not even discovered yet....2nd only to the Amazon in new insect species...during the daytime heat i think night will be easier, then at night the bugs are overwhelming...early morning is the only time & is the hardest to function for me...
I hope we all are happy with our achievements by the end of today!~♡~

Good Morning Everybody 🙂

Hi CriticalMass 🙂
Hope you have found a comfortable place to be on your computer.
When I am reading/posting here, I am standing at the kitchen counter.
Found that by being able to stand up straight, bend and generally fidget around keeps my back from aching.
Good luck on all your organizing & decluttering at home away from the heat and I hope you find the time to enjoy doing your beading. 😀

Hi Subclinical 🙂
Have you found some way to stick the labels on your bins yet?
Along with labeling the outside of them, tuck a label on the inside of each bin and that way if the label falls off you can easily peek inside to know what all is in it.
WAY TO GO! for all those little decluttering/organizing tasks!
Every little bit will all add up to make a big difference over time. 😀

Hi Anonymoniker 🙂
WAY TO GO! for standing there and enjoying the sight and ease of your nice clean cupboard!
(((HUGS)))
YEA!!! for refreshing iced coffee! 😀
Sorry the bug invasion has begun but keep beautifying your home area by area in spite of them.

Hi Tatoulia 🙂
I never do Facebook either.
I found it too creepy and invasive of my privacy the way they tap into our contact list.
WAY TO GO!!!! for all you do to keep up the house!
Take it easy on yourself and don't over do while the weather is so hot & humid. (((HUGS)))

Going from temperatures in the 40s to three digit temps has taken a toll on me, the cats and the garden plants/grass.
Keeping up with the bare minimum here.
Cat stuff gets done. Scooter has been vomiting a lot & I clean that up as it happens.
Even watering outside every other day all the stuff still is having a hard time not wilting/browning.
Last night I had a visitor, a big skunk in the yard. 😀
Still have not gone grocery shopping or left the house.
Will need to go soon, running low on kitty litter and kibble.

TTYS ;D

Hi gang.
bittersweet move completed.
We took the chance of moving to another home for the three of us. One I finally got it all in, all put away, all organized.
They are both gone.
My wife has left orders that i may not visit her.
My daughter left me a note that she is moving to her aunts.
Its like grief and heartache.

when i try to write about it i just get chocked up.
I'm sorry i haven't been on. I've purged alot of things that if we were still together neither of us would let go, but knowing she won't be back I just walk it out to the bin.

I know ill go on, but it hurts. I haven't been alone in a very long time. I can barely afford my place. I know ill eventually feel better, but I'm just bummed out for now.

my male coworkers are planning a card game at my house.
it's what I used to do. But I'd trade that for having my family home again. I'm basically leaving daughters room as is .
and if she wants to come back for week ends or something I'll let her.

I'll wait till my wife passes before removing anything else.
I've spent alot of time building the shelving in the closet and kitchen spaces. I have alot of appliances, and tools. I put in alot more effort than nessasary. And my new place feels like home already.

I plan to get a cat.
A spade female kitten. I'll wait to name the cat until I actually bring one home. I'll wait to see if the cat name fits that daughter and I had for a stray we knew was abandoned and we adopted. Kamere Kitty aka KK.
I still have most of the toys from former pets.

In my solitude. I plan to work on both my hobbies.
a clay wall machine, and the flying bike. I think I love to develop and the share the flying bike concept.
but the wall building machine I think would become a business with much less competition and danger a hoverbike. Both could help eliminate co2 issues so they equally important to us all. So i look forward to doing some real modeling and prototypes at scale. I think the worst thing i could do is get lost in tv habits or partying with friends to often. My thinking is sure we know how to build hoses, and get around, but we're choking the planet and will continue to do so until something comes forth that's much better but also clean energy.

So I think I will pour myself into this work for short period.
and if it fizzles out. I'll sell everything and buy a boat that can sail from Alaska to Hawaii and live out my life pursuing that dream.

Great work, Anony! I never did use Facebook because I have enough things wasting my time! Plus, working in an office, your co-workers make friend requests and that invariably leads to someone complaining to somebody about something or the other. Esp if the person posts while out sick or on disability, etc, or something political. So I've steered well away from that, luckily.

I am hardly a clean freak but I'm plugging away. As you know, if I don't post, I find I don't do anything. I need the reinforcement and support and cheers. I also feel good about seeing what I've done in black and white.

So pleased to hear from you, Anony! You are doing a great job!

Hi everyone, happy belated solstice. I usually like to mark the occasion by going out to watch lightning bugs. But it's been kind of a disjointed week. In addition to my backache, I got the stomach rumbles this week. And one of the bunnies had stomach trouble too! I had to hand feed her. She is doing much better and I'm doing mostly better.

In between all that, I had my various activities of quilt guild, etc. This afternoon and tomorrow I sit with my elderly lady and I wanted to make sure I had some lunch and snack things to take along, so the grocery store was another thing. And laundry.

Yesterday was also my clutter club - I told the social worker I'll just work on decluttering at the place where I live through the hot summer and then we can resume the plan to move the storage unit in the fall. Sounds like all of us are just settling in to endure the heat in our own way, doesn't it.

Tillie, I've been reorganizing my beads too. A friend of mine wants me to put together some bracelets and I have some of my own that need restringing. So beads are in my immediate future. That and continuing to get paperwork done and shredded etc. I need to clear a space to work on my laptop seated comfortably. I've been working in bed and that's not helping my backache one bit. Also want to get my sewing machine set back up. I think there are places for both, but paper and stuff occupies them now. So my goal is to dispatch that.

I'll say Happy Weekend today in case I get busy and don't get back to it beforehand.

Sorry to hear about your continuing back pain, CM. YES get a clear space for the laptop. Glad bunny's rumble funny is better and hope you are 100% soon.

I think that's a very good idea re storage space. You can work on your living quarters, so it won't be as if you are losing time or losing ground.

I'm shredding today too. Garbage night. Much cooler here today/much more livable. Decided to work from home rather than go in.

Hi everyone!

Tillie, I hav l shelled my bins but not all of them. The laels keep falling off from temp and humidity changes. I' tried masking roe, packing tape, and stick one.

It looks like I am going to have set leat a temporary reprieve from the duct work, so that is good.

The area where you live sounds really interesting.

Anony, I am definitely not a clean freak! If you could see my house, you would think I never to housework.

It sounds like you are making good progress with your home too. Sometimes I log on to Facebook using my mom's account so I can see pictures my kids post. My mom is only "friends" with my 3 kids and my cousin.

CM, I hope you feel better soon! I don't think it matters where you work on your stuff, as long as you are making progress. A better place to work is definitely progress.

I started my day by putting away the dry tools and washing some more and reloading the shelf.

Today I have three accomplishments -

1) I recycled two magazines - so I'm down one for the month.
2) I cleaned out a drawer and threw away all the saved rubber bands because I know I have plenty of rubber bands in another drawer, (I started to check them each for stretch, and then I thought I would just check the pretty colors or really sturdy looking ones, and then, I just threw them all out!) and recycled my deceased cat's rabies tags
3) I took the cans to the recycling center. That is a really big one. I stopped drinking soda in December and cans started accumulating very slowly after that. I did the math on the time to crush them and realized that recycling cans paid less than half minimum wage, and I decided that after I took all the ones on hand, I would just toss them in with the regular recycling.

But then I didn't make the trip, AND I stopped crushing. But today, I crushed six paper grocery bags of cans, drove to the recycling drop (a short trip past picking blueberries at a friend's house) and turned in four big garbage bags of crushed cans. I am going to set the $12.60 aside for thrift shop buys that will help organize my studio, and now, I am done sorting out the cans.

Then this evening I helped at the food bank. People.

I am tired.

Hi 😀

The day before yesterday my rosebush had 12 huge beautiful red blooms on it.
The intense heat cooked them into black shriveled sadness.
This evening another thunderstorm happened and it was truly amazing.
Strong cooling winds blowing furious and constant from the south.
Lots of beautiful rain here.
The drops were big and sorta hurt when they hit me as I stood barefoot out in the grass getting soaked. 😀

I can picture the big raindrops, Tillie! SubC you get a lot done in a day! I tend to make very few plans in the summer due to my intolerance for heat and humidity.

cm--way to go! Getting those small projects out of the way!

My goal today is to shred papers. They are piling up.

Have a wonderful day everyone!! Keep up the good work!

HAPPY SUMMER SOLSTICE!
Today is the first day of Summer.

Hi Tatoulia 🙂
Good luck shredding the papers.
Hoping you and kitty are nice and cool inside. (((HUGS)))

Hi Subclinical 🙂
We have been experiencing many years of drought here so when it does rain I enjoy every drop.
Sorry you will have to relocate the basement stuff but it will be easier to manage now that you have it organized.

Hi Porter 🙂
Hi CriticalMass 🙂
Hi Joan 🙂
Hi Anonymoniker 🙂

Been enjoying this beautiful cool morning here.
My lavender that I grew from seeds is all in bloom.
Stupid white chrysanthemum (gift from neighbor friends last year) is blooming too.
It's a Fall flower and supposed to wait till Autumn.
Will need to go grocery shopping soon but worry about the heat.
Thinking I may need to consider going very early in the morning, like about 6:00am.
Fortunately, there is nothing I need to look for at the thrift shop and I NEVER go to yard sales. 😀
I have enough beads and beading supplies to keep me busy this summer.
Hoping Netflix gets more videos I would like to watch. Lately they have been posting way too many foreign language movies. 🙁
It's been weeks since I last spoke to a human.
With neighbor friends gone and Nate & Mrs. Nate moved to Washington state, I am all alone, except for all the cats, birds, bunnies, lizards & snakes here. ;P

Hi Tillie! Hope you can get to the grocery store! I bet the lavender is beautiful. It is significantly less humid here but still warm. I just ran a bag of kitty litter up to mom and I brought her some cool water and a turkey dinner. Much hotter out than I expected. I am wearing a cool cotton dress breeze kept blowing it up.

I cleaned the area where kitty eats today and I'm working on kitchen counters. As long as I'm puttering, I feel positive. I will wait till tonight to shred papers. I literally have sweat on my face from my walk.

I was up at 3:15 AM because I was at too warm, even with ceiling fan on. I may just have to sleep with AC on tonight. Good sleep is worth it
Back to work for now, wishing everyone a wonderful day. We can do this!

Happy solstice!

I loves firsts and beginnings and fresh starts. 🙂

Tillie, I am sorry about your roses. I keep trying to grow roses, but they always freeze. I don't want those "knock out roses" I want something old fashioned and charming. I'm going to try again when the addition is done because I have a south facing, sheltered concrete wall.

I love lavender too.

I can't imagine not speaking to a human for weeks! Actually, it sounds a bit appealing. Just having the drywall guy (who is very nice) here every day is wearing me down.

I'm afraid the stuff in the basement will just get unorganized. It's organized by being grouped in distinct locations, so I'm concerned that the moving with mix things up.

Tatoulia, how are your papers? When it is hot here I tend to work in the studio or basement because they are cool. I don't feel like I get a lot done, but I often have trouble focusing and tend to bounce around a lot. It drives dh nuts. He will " clean the kitchen" and then move on. I will empty the dish drainer, and then go do something else, and empty the dishwasher, and go do something else, and take the compost out, and do something else, etc, etc, etc.

There is an example of this from my studio project today. The tools get used and laid down, not usually washed and put away. So I emptied this nice 8 drawer rolling cart, and I decided to try to put most of the tools away - instead of having sponges or wooden knives everywhere and grabbing the nearest one and washing it, I could have a drawer full of clean ones and then maybe a jar of assorted relevant clean tools at each dedicated work station! (Mostly I don't put things away because I don't know where "away" is - the thing doesn't have a place)

I found a wire shelf, propped it up at an angle, and started looking for tools. The rare clean ones I put away, and the rest I washed as I found them and then laid them out on the wire shelf to dry. When the shelf got full, I quit and moved on to something different.

I have a pile of plaster molds that need to be washed. I had nowhere to put them, but now I have nicely lined (with salvaged drywall) shelves ready for them. So I grabbed one, brought it in, washed it, and set it on a towel in the corner of the porch to dry. I'll wash another one when this one is dry and put away, and eventually the pile will be done.

Today I have given about two paper grocery bags worth of stuff places. Also sorting and cleaning.

SubC thank you for describing your activities--gives me a berry good visual!

I live in a floor-through in an old Victorian townhouse. I have very high ceilings and very tall windows. I get great sunshine. My ceiling fans do a good job of keeping the air moving and when need to, I use the AC. I'm not a fan of summer and wish I had a pool to jump into or a nice cool basement.

I have fond memories of growing up in a house with both a pool and a nice cool basement. I'd tumble rocks and make candles and do woodworking and other projects. To this day just the smell of a basement can bring a tear to my eye. This year at Christmas my sister sent me a box of wood shavings. She'd been somewhere and there were curly wood shavings from someone planing, and she sent me a handful just to bring back memories. I enjoyed them for a week and then tossed. )I'm getting better!).

Once the sun goes down I plan to put on some puttering music and like you, start this thing and start that thing and I will feel greatly satisfied. I just need to sun to go down a bit, it is streaming in the back of my place right now. Bedroom is cool and dark as I've left the drapes closed all day.

*very not berry!

Hi Subclinical 🙂
Porter explained how he labeled all his storage bins so they would be easy to get back into the correct order after being moved.
This red rose bush is one of those old fashioned heritage species. The kind with the large blousy heavenly scented blooms.
I gathered all the petals and have them in a bowl on my dresser now.
I too tend to find myself flitting from one task to another all day long.
Sometimes it can't be helped when other things, people or animals demand your immediate attention.

Hi Tatoulia 🙂
Granma had a huge basement that we spent all our time in in the summer when it was hot.
But being in Michigan it was always so humid.
Her basement had a full kitchen, a pool table and player piano. Couches & chairs & tables & a TV.
Sometimes I would get my pillow and sleep on the pool table while watching monster movies on TV. ;D
My house here started life as a one room, no plumbing or electric home stead in a nearby town that is now an official mining ghost town.
So, absolutely no insulation with the 2 main windows facing directly west.
Thankfully I have a ceiling fan and a swamp cooler or I would die. 🙂

Decided all the cat's laundry needed to be washed today.
They are all happy now to have it back fresh & clean.
Did a little food cooking so I will have something to eat whenever I get hungry.
All in all it's been a nice puttering around day.

I love the vision of the house--I have known people with full kitchens in their basements. Oh how I loved monster movies on Saturday afternoons! I spent part of my childhood in Illinois--very happy memories.

I need to do some cooking one of these days. I haven't cooked in a while and I'm hungry just thinking about it.

~Good Morning!~
I know ive said this before, but reading y'all's posts honestly sounds like this could be a forum for compulsive clean freaks?! Y'all are getting a lot done! Each of you is seeming to have a good grasp getting done what you need to do with your home space?!
Between the heat wave & my facebook feed gone, im noticing i have much better focus. I say the heat wave, cuz i have to work around the heat, so i have to carry out plans, or its just too miserable later. I finally put plastic bags around my feet with shoes, and painted that shelf. That seems obvious now! Im going to assemble one of the new screen porch sofas today, hopefully.
Its funny how bored i get without facebook. And im eating WAY more, almost as if id quit smoking cigarettes...ha ha...its good! I like these new changes! I may clean off my night table today?!
~♡~Stay cool & happy, everyone!~♡~

~Good Morning!~
I know ive said this before, but reading y'all's posts honestly sounds like this could be a forum for compulsive clean freaks?! Y'all are getting a lot done! Each of you is seeming to have a good grasp getting done what you need to do with your home space?!
Between the heat wave & my facebook feed gone, im noticing i have much better focus. I say the heat wave, cuz i have to work around the heat, so i have to carry out plans, or its just too miserable later. I finally put plastic bags around my feet with shoes, and painted that shelf. That seems obvious now! Im going to assemble one of the new screen porch sofas today, hopefully.
Its funny how bored i get without facebook. And im eating WAY more, almost as if id quit smoking cigarettes...ha ha...its good! I like these new changes! I may clean off my night table today?!
~♡~Stay cool & happy, everyone!~♡~