Hello! Thanks for the kind words, everyone! I vacuumed the back of my house (living room, den, under desk). I'm doing one more laundry then climbing into bed to read. It's early for me--only 9Pm but I'm ready to call it a day. I did put vacuum away even though I'll need it to do bedroom tomorrow. I am trying to develop normal habits. Use something, put it away.

Hello, all!
Yesterday was amazing! As my first 'experiment' i just kinda spontaneously cleaned what i saw that bugged me. And like youd said Tillie, rather than put a post-it note up, or add it to a list, or integrated it into a plan, i just walked over and dusted it, or wiped it, or tossed it, or whatever, right then! I did little patches all over my house AND outside! The funny thing is, ive always thought i had to be organized with it, and i think that is why id get overwhelmed, but what i think im going to try is just spontaneous-spot cleaning until it is not as overwhelming, overall, then maybe go back to project/plan type of cleaning? And Tatoulia, your mention of 'puttering' kinda inspired me, cuz thats what its like, but i did that all day long without tiring or getting freaked out or any of my usual problems! My astrological interpretation of this is, that my property purchase chart has the sun & moon, both intercepted in virgo, but this method is very piscean, so that could be why it feels so very flowing & easy?!!
~I hope you all are having things fall into place & work out today!~ ~♡~

Hello, all!
Yesterday was amazing! As my first 'experiment' i just kinda spontaneously cleaned what i saw that bugged me. And like youd said Tillie, rather than put a post-it note up, or add it to a list, or integrated it into a plan, i just walked over and dusted it, or wiped it, or tossed it, or whatever, right then! I did little patches all over my house AND outside! The funny thing is, ive always thought i had to be organized with it, and i think that is why id get overwhelmed, but what i think im going to try is just spontaneous-spot cleaning until it is not as overwhelming, overall, then maybe go back to project/plan type of cleaning? And Tatoulia, your mention of 'puttering' kinda inspired me, cuz thats what its like, but i did that all day long without tiring or getting freaked out or any of my usual problems! My astrological interpretation of this is, that my property purchase chart has the sun & moon, both intercepted in virgo, but this method is very piscean, so that could be why it feels so very flowing & easy?!!
~I hope you all are having things fall into place & work out today!~ ~♡~

Cm, I hear you on the books. I got rid of 20 boxes of books. It was tough. Of my nancy drew books (some from the 30s) I kept only two. It was very very hard to get rid of my books. So many first editions , many signed by the authors, all gone. I kept only maybe 200 books. I am lucky I that I love my kindle. It really does fhe trick for me. No new books into the house. I don't really like library books anymore because I like to read in bed and I don't want the dirty book in the bed with me.

Hellooo MsHope! Happy for the check in! Great work! I know it's tough to decide on project materials. It feels like giving up on a dream. I remember thinking the same thing/-no wonder I'm in debt! I did ultimately get rid of my yarn and knitting needles. I'm just not convinced I'll be knitting again. Right now I'm being tripped up by 'treasures' stuff that doesn't fit in a category, just stuff I like. So difficult to decide which things I've loved enough. I look at each piece and think, well it's only one piece. But in fact, it's hundreds of pieces. I don't have a good answer for it.

Suddenly I'm not felling well. Must go. Have been having health problems but haven't seen dr. I'm very uncomfortable.

Tatoulia, I'm sorry you aren't well! I hope you can get to a dr. If you need to.

Hi MsHope!

It's great that you are almost out of debt! You have to let go of the idea of keeping everything because you spent money on it. You enjoyed it at the time and that's what you got for your money. If you were overweight, you wouldn't say "but I can't lose weight, I spent so much money on food!"

As for the not sure hobbies, maybe plan a day to make some soap and see how you feel about it?

CM, are there paths in all the space where you live, originally just your personal space? I'm glad you're getting a nice break cat sitting! Labor Day sounds like a good goal if it isn't too hot.

I have always had a lot of books. I can't imagine not having a lot of books. But last year for the first time I can remember I got them all on shelves.

Right now there are about 30 stacked sideways on top of each other instead of shelved correctly, but that iartly because I have fewer shelves than I used to.

The cabinets came for the addition, but the painting isn't done.

Very busy all day today with out of the house things. My friend is leaving today also.

Clink!

I stopped at the goodwill yesterday. I needed a sheer stretchy piece of fBric for a pottery project, so I bought a large nightgown.

I also bought another lunch container for dh. It is bento boxy and I am hoping it will help inspire me in packing his lunches.

And I bought an under bed box. It is solid wood and nicely finished and the wheels roll smoothly. If was $10. Unfortunately it doesn't quite fit under the bed I wanted to put it under. It will fit under Dd's bed, but currently she has a lot of flat art stored there, and it doesn't match. So now I'm not sure what I will do about it.

I chose but put back a shadow box picture frame (i want to make a shadow box of some high school stuff, but I have enough projects right now) and a twisty tree sculpture thing with rings on it that I thought would make a neat display for my Christmas ornaments at sales (but might be hard to store and transport and could be knocked over if people took too many ornaments off one side. I already have something that is less cool, but works.)

And I found several items that inspired me about pieces to make, and I took pictures instead of buying them.

I have terrible poison ivy. On the webbing between my fingers and on the backs of my hands and up the inside of both arms past the elbows. Also on top of one thigh and on my chin all down the front of my neck. I picked up a little goat and cuddled him while wearing shorts and a t-shirt. I didn't know he had been in poison ivy. I am horribly allergic and I have my arms wrapped in bandages because the blisters are breaking and weeping. It makes it very hard to do anything.

SubC I'm so terribly sorry about the poison ivy. Hugging a little goat--wow--such a sweet image. I know here we have goats who come in and eat poison ivy in our parks. Goats love it and no reaction. I am so sorry about your wounds and itching and hope you recover soon.

Regarding the bed drawer, could you move the flat art to under your bed? In the alternative (shudder) should you return the underbed storage? I used to hold on to things when they didn't work out. I'm trying not to do that. I used to tell myself, but it's perfect! But it's not if it just becomes One More Thing. In my decluttering, I've had to distinguish between finding a use for something and having something be useful. I've had to draw a line for myself/unless I have a use for it/it's gone. If after donating it I find I could've used it for this, that, or the other thing, that does not mean I should have kept it. I don't know how well I am explaining myself.

You did a great job of taking photos of stuff instead of just blindly buying it!

SubC I loved your parallel between owning too much and eating too much food. So wonderful! Thank you!

I am working from home today, which I am happy about.

Thanks for the sympathy tatoulia. I hope you are feeling better!

The only place on my property with no poison ivy is inside the goat pens. This little guy had gotten loose.

I will put the under bed drawer either:
Under Dd's bed (moving her art)
Or on the floor of Dd's closet (I'll have to turn the wheels 90*.

Either of those will best be done after she moves back out of my house in six weeks. So for now, it will get parked in the basement.

I am going to put extra sheets and blankets in it. Currently they are on shelves in Dd's bathroom and I don't like that because of the humidity.

The next major renovation is the "master bedroom suite" (the master bedroom has always been a kid's room or guest room, the "suite" includes it, another little room "Dd's room" we created by closing in the porch in front of it and turning an exterior window into an interior door, and the bathroom "Dd's bathroom" with a large dressing area and weird wall closet)

Good Morning Everyone 🙂
Ice tea "clink!"

Hi CriticalMass 🙂

Hi MsHope 🙂

Hi Subclinical 🙂

Hi Tatoulia 🙂

All the recent wildfire smoke and heatwave really knocked me down.
Made me so tired and felt like trying to run under water.
Still hot & smoky here but I am feeling better.
Wishing you all a Good day (((hug)))

I've been thinking of you, Tillie. Please take it as easy as you can. The news never really talks about the terrible effects of wildfires for those in the path of the smoke. I'm thinking of you. Please rest.

SubC good plan for the use of the drawer--I was just checking in in the event you needed to reconsider it--I know we both don't mind the prodding--you are doing a great job and I am envious of your planned bedroom suite!

I have dusted the bedroom and am working on laundry. Our humidity is back. I'm getting my hair cut today. It is very long for me and it is driving me nuts. The feeling of itt on the back of my neck. It's just past my shoulders It's been fun to grow it out but I am only too happy to start over. Too much.

~Good Morning!~
SubC, i really like your comparison of not losing weight cuz itd be like wasting that money from the food bought...wow?!! Good one!!! I hope your poison ivy heals up quickly? That sounds really miserable!
Tatoulia, i hope youre feeling better?
Tillie, that smoke & heat sounds aweful! We finally got our monsoons & it feels soooo glorious!!! I hope yours comes soon?
Well, i had a bit of a meltdown yesterday. This one brought some good ideas and realizations, at least, tho. Im thinking of keeping a log(i really like that idea!), and looking at this, for now, as an experiment. Maybe a daily hour of straight cleaning, no decisions. Then grading both its effort level, as well as its satisfying level. Also doing an hour a day of productive planning: decisions, ideas, envisioning, etc. Today im gonna just clean! All day! Im gonna see how much better i can feel from it. Yesterday i started this & i was surprised at the difference?! .....ill report my findings...ha ha
~Happy Productive Day To All!~ ~♡~

Thank you Tillie.

Actually, the dolls will not go in the addition. The addition is going to be a very open and flexible space with carefully curated decor. The guidelines are going to be in part - we both love this, but either it is incredibly durable or we don't love it so much that we will be upset if the sometimes out if control grandson of our hearts breaks it. (I have a daughter who is not related to me by blood or law and she has a son. I call her my "heart daughter")

The dolls will eventually have to have a space in the basement I think. I can't come up with a way to turn any other space in our house into my own space to withdraw from the world, and so, that will have to be it. Other things will come out to make room though. Books will go in the addition, and furniture, and kitchen/pantry things. And when everything is settled, I will be able to see what I have to work with and obtain new types of shelving to display the collection where I can enjoy it and only share it with people I choose.

Tatoulia,

Thank you too for the words of support! I'm glad your evening went so well! Sorry you have to go to work today.

I have a bunch of homework to do for my class tomorrow. Also have to go to the animal pharmacy for a sick goat (tummy troubles) and the grocery store so I can feed my company. My friend and her son are touring local colleges today, but her daughter is staying here. She's 14 and self sufficient. Yesterday she brushed the bunny for me and then played with her for two hours. And by "played" I mean "watched her hop around and held out tempting green tidbits to be nibbled."

SubC--love the plan for the addition and love the expression for your heart daughter. You will find a place for your dolls. The teenaged girl staying with you sounds so lovely. Actually, your whole lifestyle sounds so lovely. You have so much going on and you manage it so well! Keep up the good work!

Getting ready for work.

Have a great day, everyone! Iced tea clinks!

Popping in

I've been cat sitting. In the friends' 3,000 sq. ft. house. It is SO nice to be able to walk ACROSS a room instead of threading through it and sidestepping piles of stuff. Such a good reminder for me that when I get a place of my own, I want SPACE. Barring a miracle, I won't have a 3,000 sq. ft. place, either, so this is going to take some planning and work. However, since it's off in the more distant future, I shall concentrate on decluttering what's in front of me in the present day.

The slideshow at Cory's event the other day showed pictures of people who have tons of books. I hope my books will be manageable when I get that place of my own. I've gotten rid of some, but I'll always be a book lover. Trying to use the library more, and wishing I liked electronic books as much as I do "dead tree books." Sigh.

Back to the cat sitting - it's so quiet over there, too. I have taken naps two days in a row. Last week was hectic, lots of running hither and yon, and with my brain's annoying propensity to have lengthy weird disturbing dreams in the hours before I wake in the morning, once again nap sleep is so restorative because I wake before dreams begin. Best of all - I get a KITTY to lie on the sofa with me. All those cats (3) are very affectionate.

I made progress on my quilt last week and am still going. The big rows are all sewn, and now I do the embroidery on the little squares for the rows between. Hoping that will go quickly. It's going to be so satisfying when I can take the finished quilt top to the church guild and say "Here she is!" They've seen some of the work in progress, but there's nothing like the big reveal.

So many things for me have been stop and start, and I have spent so much time bogged down. Whether it's fun stuff or tedious stuff. This decluttering is helping me focus, even though I've a long way to go.

Awhile back I had been thinking about setting a date for the moving of the storage unit. I'm wondering about Labor Day weekend. More on that later.

Hi all,

It's nice to read down a little and see that other people still struggle with the process of hoarding. I have cleaned out my house a huge degree this past year. Now, I am in the process of going through bins of my hobbies in my garage. I am realizing how much money and materials I have wasted. No wonder I am in debt! I find so many different packs of beads, glues, papers, and other items that I "saved"...I'm struggling with the question: "Will I go back to these hobbies?"

I've been having fun using up my old oil paints. For many tubes, I just cut them open with scissors and squeeze out the paint and use it up. Some of these paints are over 20 years old.

I do have the space to neatly store these supplies in my basement. However, I'm not sure I ever will make candles or soap again. Yet, maybe I will. I guess this is part of the process. I have a ton of collage items for mixed media art. It is basically worthless, but to me it feels like gold.

Hope everyone is having a good day and taking it one day at a time. When I started, I never thought I would get this far. I'm also done spending or going to craft stores. I have three more debts to pay off and I'm good to go.

It's 830 am

dinner wentsystems

I served 12 porter house steaks. I Bought them ON sale.
Also 12 bakers potatoes and bisquits
green bean casserole, corn casserole, bushes backed beans
salad was available but none was eaten.
I saved time by warming the steaks in two crockpot
s at 110 degrees then when I started my post last night turned it up to 180.. and lit grill using a leaf blower to stoke . Then put them on.150° tastes better but 180 kill anything that may be contaminated. Then serving right after the last hand. I made $58 on the first game minus the cost of the food and charcoal. Then the second game started with five players the restarted when we had 7 players.
I made $151 on the second game.
After the game we went out to the fire pit and did a lot of talking. Guys were not in groups this time. Basically all strangers to each other except by me.
I left at 1230 am leaving bryan in control of things.
I took 4 fares for uber. I made $129 in two hours.
got hone at 310 am and crashed in my room.
there are stil 3 guys here. I don't mind.
but I'm fixing eggs, bacon, potatoes and toast.
With tea, orange juice, or coffee .
I want everyone out by 10 am
To get ready for tonite.
I have three couples from high school I haven't seen since graduation. As my first game.
and bryan is bring in his group of veteran friends for the second. We decided to start the first game at 6pm and the second at 11pm so they don't overlap.

there doesnt seem to be anytime go looking for more bolders.
I talked to my daughter and she says very bored at her aunts and misses her friends. She said my wife is basically sleeping 24/7. A ND isnt eating.

When i talk to her I talk to her while im in the art room.
and I talk about our projects. She hasn't responded since I suggested a race issue. Basically I write most of story and the story board for the landscapes and she draws the humans and their faces. So im puttering. I think I would like to put in a dry erase wall 4 feet by 8feet.
Cheap and easy.

I may spend about a 90 min on the latrine plans. While I'm in the basement doing laundry. There's a city ordnance requiring permit and the storage tanks have be compliant. Will cost $1,000 each on an unproven investment.
that's too much. Unless I can buy with gambling money.

It has to be a two tank system. One is always collecting and the other is pressurized. So its too complicated to do both functions with solar wind and gravity. Too little energy to keep pressuring over and over.

Once I get the the latrine and hydrogen tanks set up .
ill turn to bike which is already invented and available for puechase. Gambling money again.
Thin I'll start work on the hover craft .
I'm thinking it'll have a weight require ment of under 120lbs for the flying person and 20lbs for the bike.

this means if it can be flown unmanned it can carry 100 lbs of product. By installing the remote system.with room to spare. I may never succeed but I'm drawn to trying like a moth to the flame.

~Good Morning, all!!!~
Im hoping to get several things done before today's heat kicks in.
I like the idea that some of you do with charts & logs, etc., so i may do some kind of thing like that with my progress. Im figuring, even at my very slow rate of progress, i could feasibly get my whole place done, including the outbuildings, in about 3 years...and as its been pointed out, it took WAY longer than that to get this way! At this point, i cant even enjoy anything else until i get this place better.
There are 4 more little piles/areas in my almost normal kitchen dining area to fix, before it becomes a completely normal room! Each little bit i do makes me feel lighter & better!
~☆~I hope you each have a beautiful day!~☆~

~Good Morning, all!!!~
Im hoping to get several things done before today's heat kicks in.
I like the idea that some of you do with charts & logs, etc., so i may do some kind of thing like that with my progress. Im figuring, even at my very slow rate of progress, i could feasibly get my whole place done, including the outbuildings, in about 3 years...and as its been pointed out, it took WAY longer than that to get this way! At this point, i cant even enjoy anything else until i get this place better.
There are 4 more little piles/areas in my almost normal kitchen dining area to fix, before it becomes a completely normal room! Each little bit i do makes me feel lighter & better!
~☆~I hope you each have a beautiful day!~☆~

Porter, I know it's tough to be called a hoarder. I remember feeling very defensive when someone called me a pack rat. I'm not sure having a comeback for your friend is necessary. Just weather the storm. What makes you feel your house is organized is someone else's chaos and vice versa. It is all relative. My bedroom is clean and clear. I have just the furniture I need and like and I am happy with how it is decorated. Someone else could come in and say, her dresser shouldn't have anything on it or she doesn't need that much art. It's a personal opinion, said through someone else's eyes. You don't need to agree, but you don't need to defend it either. Just appreciate that there are many approaches to stuff.

A few years ago I had a friend staying with me and she said, you have too much stuff. I totally understood and together we worked onreducing. I know I have too much stuff, even after getting rid of bags and bags and bags and boxes and boxes and boxes. I cannot rest on how much I did a few years ago, i need to keep moving forward and keep on reducing. It's tough and hard but I'm doing it.

Iced tea clinks, everyone! I'm off to spend day with brother. Hoping he will have a happy day.

Anony, congratulations on your hard work in the kitchen! So good to hear you happy!

Tillie the humidity was much better starting last Sunday. Today it's a little heavy but we are expecting thunderstorms followed by cool air tonight. It was cool enough last night for having the windows open and the ceiling fan on.

Mom so enjoyed her company last night. Mom called me around 9 PM and sounded happy and excited. She said they enjoyed the tea and the cookies and that they had a good old fashioned chin wag--a phrase which I had not heard before but is perfectly descriptive. This particular friend works as a home health care aide, seven days a week. My overseas friend suggested that I hire her to come to mom's once a week (without mom knowing about the payment part). We have known this woman fr over a decade as she used to take care of a friend of mine and we have included her in every holiday festivity for years. When my friend died, I still invited this woman to join us for holidays but she generally works those days. I will approach her gently as I do not want to offend her. I'm not sure what the going rate is but I'd gladly pay for a few hours every other week. My mother has so little in common with her home aides (and in fact is taking a break from them right now)and doesn't really have a friendship with them. i had offered to pay for dinner for them last night and my boyfriend separately offered to buy them dinner. I think if I go gently I can figure out if it's doable.

Day with brother was lovely. So lovely. I am now doing laundry and going to see if a little puttering music is a good idea.

Take care dear friends.

Hi Everybody 😀

Awww, thank you Tatoulia (((HUGS)))
So happy your Mom had a good time visit!
That would be so nice if you could arrange more teas for her.
So relieved that your Brother visit went lovely! ;D
Happy your humidity is behaving for you too!

Hi Porter 🙂
Seems now-a-days people are quick to label everybody as a hoarder if they have more than a few meager possessions.
Like if we are not all radical minimalists we must then be hoarders.
I too have faced the judgment and harsh words when people see all the clutter in the yard and decide that as a woman it's my place to clean it up.

Hi Anonymoniker 🙂
WTG!!! FANTASTIC! that your kitchen is almost there!!! (((HUGS)))
Enjoy that great feeling you are getting from seeing what you've done!

HI,HI,HI to everyone! 🙂

Got up super early this morning and went to town to fetch some water.
My well water is good to drink but the minerals in it clean me out, so I get different water. LOL
Stopped by the thrift shop and found a beautiful summertime dress, new, never worn or washed before for 5.00 😀
Now I need to decide which dress I already have will be tossed.
One in, one out is the rule.
Won't be too hard since I have 2 dresses that have seen better days to choose from.

Congratulations on your new summer dress, Tillie! I love a summer dress. I rarely wear pants. I like dresses and skirts best. I could use some new clothes right now but I'm unhappy with my weight and would prefer to wear what I have for now. I have enough work clothes, esp since I am home two to three days a week. I don't really have enough casual clothes. But that's neither here nor there in the long run.

Took a bag of miscellany to goodwill today. Love passing my things on. Love it. Feels so good to just get the bag filled and out.

Heard from mom. She is still high as a kite and she told me the friend said she's coming next week. I have devised s plan with overseas friend re paying for visits three times a month. It'll work just fine. My BF likes the idea too and since he also knows and loves the woman, he thinks it'll be great if we can get her a couple of times a month. They can go for wheelchair walks or to the museum ir just stay in and have tea. I'm pretty excited about seeing my mother so happy.

We are taking mom and brother out for dinner tomorrow night for brother's birthday. He has chosen a fairly nice restaurant. I'm excited. He has come a long way. Not even ten years ago his mental illness prevented him from going into restaurants or public places. And now he's suggested a fairly nice restaurant. I'm pleased for him.

Puttering.

Coffe clinks!

My internet was out all day yesterday and part of Friday.

Porter, I'm sorry your friend made you feel bad. But I feel much better knowing that you are checking on zoning rules and such. Your boulder circle sounds very cool!

I am a hoarder. It doesn't bother me. Using different words won't change anything. Two of my girls are alcoholics. They don't drink, but they are still alcoholics. It's part of their genes.

My house is much better, but I still have difficulty discarding items. I am still driven to over shop at the grocery and gather unwanted materials of many kinds and repurpose "trash". I still have trouble with executive function and decision making. I am very comfortable in crowded disorder. Now that I am doing better people try to reassure me by telling me I am not a hoarder. I don't find this reassuring. It dismisses how hard it is for me to be where I am. As if I did a long walk on crutches and then when I said "I walked 5 miles!" I was told "well, you're able bodied."

But one of my best friends is here visiting. She arrived last night. And she commented on the dolls in the guest room. The words were neutral, but the tone was critical. That made me feel sad and hurt. She is not someone I normally have to feel defensive around, and there are very few of those people, so it was more painful than it might have been.

My chart is quick and easy. It is just a little check for each room. Most rooms will be "same" every day. " Same" is good.

Anony, it is great that you are making progress! Doesn't it feel good? I always feel much lighter after I manage to take a big step like that. I will be very happy if I can meet you at "done" in three years! I am going to need at least another year to finish my addition. Right now I am painting it and getting almost nothing else done.

I'm really sorry you have to deal with pain around your family stuff. I hope you can find a solution that brings you comfort. Families can be really hard.

Tillie, you are taking good care of the cats. I wish I could send you some of the rain we have had lately. my yard is a muddy mess.

Tatoulia, that is great about your brother and your mom! It's not like you are paying your mom's friend to be her friend, you are paying her for her home health aide skills so that she doesn't have to sell them somewhere else during that time and can be with your mom.

We've missed you. SubC! Happy to hear that you are actively working on keeping the input lower than it was! I am sorry your friend made you feel defensive. They are your dolls and you love them. I don't know why people go into other people's home and comment on the decor. (Btw, when my friend said you have too much stuff, I was in the midst of reducing so it was helpful not hurtful/-but if someone came in and said, you have too much stuff I'd be crushed)

Thank you for your kind words. I'm barely keeping my head above water with the family stuff. It eats away at me and jerod me up at night and then sadly I use it as an excuse not to do stuff around here.

Che the putter music.

Iced tea clinks!

Hi Everybody 🙂
Iced tea "clink!"

Hi Tatoulia 🙂
It's about time you and your family had GOOD times (((HUGS)))
You do amazingly well dividing your time and attention between Mom, Brother, Kitty, work and tending to your home.
I prefer to wear dresses all the time too but when Winter gets so cold, I wear jeans.

Hi Subclinical 🙂
Thanks for the offer of sharing your rain 😀
When anyone comments on your dolls,
remember that "we" here have already discussed them and found your doll collection to be a work in progress.
You plan to make a display of them in the new addition and you have been making decisions to keep the best and let the rest go.
This collection makes you happy and YOU should have this happiness.
We here all think you are doing very well and nobody else's opinion matters ;D

Woke up about 6am today and planned to go out and water the flowers while it was still cool.
But... I rolled over and slept until about 8:30.
Still went out to water the flowers because the temp today is 104 and they are really suffering out there.
While out there a Hawk flew low over me carrying a very limp baby cotton tail bunny.
So sorry baby bunny but happy the Hawk ate well today. ;P
The circle of life.
Been puttering around inside doing a bit of this & that, here & there.
It's been a good day 🙂

Tillie I'm glad you got to sleep in today! Oh boy that heat! Good thing you got the plants watered.

Humidity is much lower here today. It game me a chance to work on the bathroom since I wasn't ssweating to death, I completely cleaned thtounket and in going to go finish th vanity. I did some work on the tub. I did my usual Monday laundry today. And I worked on papers too. So some progress.

We did get out with brother. He was struggling today and at first wanted to cancel dinner but I was oat ring and asked him an hour later if he had reconsidered, and he had, so we went . He was very very quiet and a little abrupt during dinner but he ate well and ebpven managed to have a laugh or two by the end of the night. Mom had a great time and that meant a lot to me,

I'm going to putter some more and get ready to go into the office, generally I love Sunday nights since I'll be working from home on Mondays. Tonight is not one of those lucky Sundays.

*thoroughly cleaned toilet. Sorry for typos.

Thank you for the positive feedback! I really need it on social interactions, which sometimes drives my family crazy. I want them to analyze everything and tell me how I did. Very little of it comes naturally to me. I am better with children which i think is mainly because I have an education degree with a minor in developmental psychology. (For me children kind of do come with instructions)

The balance between rational, practical decisions and other people's emotions can be especially hard - worse the fewer experiences I have with that person.

I made myself a chart (I love charts) I used some three lined paper from when my kids were learning to print and made columns for days. Then I listed all the spaces in my life from bedroom to yard. Each evening I am going to check off a level for each space - better, same, or worse (based on the results of my actions and ignoring entropy like dust and the fact that weeds get taller every day). It will help me see where I am making progress and where I need to refocus.

Hey, everybody?! 😀
My 'assistant' and i got quite stuck trying to toss out some turn of the century paper plates, napkins & decorations(2000, not 1900...ha ha). I almost made a decorated box to put it all in, to store over the stove, till i read about an astrological interpretation of something happening now, which said something to the effect of 'needing to let go of the old, no longer useful things, to make room for the new'...and i then ran into the kitchen and jammed that crap into the trash!!! YEA!!! Seriously, like id ever have a group of people in my house, unexpectedly no less, eating party foods...yeah, right, please...ha ha...not even by next century....☆
Tatoulia, you have help me get so much clearer on what i want in a relationship! Thank you! Even when i was young, i knew i did not want to have kids. Oddly, i always seemed to attract guys that really wanted children?!? The women around me hated that, cuz they couldnt come across even one guy like that?! Im so happy for you to have such a rare & ideal situation!! ~♡~
Tillie, are you in any danger of those fires coming to where you are?!? From your description, when that happens here, it means planning evacuating?!!
SunClinical, i would likely also choose the sentimental items over practical ones...ha ha....i guess thats a problem for all of us. Recently, i realized many of the family items just remind me of being bannished from my family...im not sure what to do about that, cuz its all i have of them. 🙁 I may move them into another 'hurt'box, like the one i need for legal info, etc., on the guy that terrorized me, years ago. Its out of my site, but i have them if needed. Not seeing that family stuff might be better, too...

Hello Anony--great work! So hard to let go of paper products--and you did it! I finally threw out a box of Kleenex that had been my grandmother's. On the back it had an offer for a bonsai tree, if you can believe it. He offer expired in 1972 or some such. I'd had it for years, it was getting old and dusty, and one day it got wet and I through it out, and I'm good with that. It was time.

I too am worried about Tillie--write when you can! Or see if Marty or Scooter could do a quick drive-by.

I'm not very productive these days but no backsliding thank goodness. Just no progress.