Good morning! Happy August!

I like the roadster image! I now imagine you are a little red classic car - penned into the garage and a bit dusty at the moment, but soon to be shined up and cruising down the open road.

I just realized it is 27 days to open house for school and I will spend a week of that at ds's, so I am panicking a little. Our summer was shorter than usual this year because we shifted our school year for covid.

I need to email the building person and find out if my shelves are done.

Meanwhile, I measured my counter. In the name of transparency - I had lost my empty space to a pile of canning stuff, and I started by putting that away. So the new dimensions are 53"x36"x14" but the only real progress was bringing the peak down from 19, and I will now get much slower, because the rest of it is a drift of small things with no easy choices. The drift is currently about 26,712 cubic inches. I am hoping for 500-2000 cubic inches of progress a day - moving it either over or down an inch. A cubic foot is 1728 cubic inches. Maybe we should aim for a cubic foot a day?

Ok, time to get off my tush. My new mantra is "do something." (In the evening that becomes "do something or go to bed" because I stay up online when I am tired.)

White Rabbit 🐰, White Rabbit 🐰, White Rabbit 🐰 - Happy August and where the HECK did the time go?!

I think I discovered one other possible reason my brain was dull this past week. I'd run out of Vitamin B complex and the week prior had bought new - and set them down and forgotten to open the bottle and put them in my pill box! 😜 Derp!

So hopefully this will get me back on track. The certain things I know my brain needs, some are more noticeable than others if missed. The B vitamins are definitely one of those that seem pretty essential to keep up with.

Fifteen days until the bunny club has its big annual fundraiser. I had been going to do crafts, and still might, but definitely need to focus on the bake sale. Having the shindig in August has always been tricky as far as food prep. Both in not wanting to overheat the kitchen at home, and making sure stuff doesn't melt or spoil in transport.

I hit upon the idea of no bake cookies shaped like bunnies. The usual chocolate and peanut butter ones, and I've also found recipes for things like vanilla and strawberry and more. I think this could work.

What I really wish I could do for the bunny club, because they're in such desperate straits right now having received two bunny families with babies, is win the lottery, or at least know a car dealer who would donate a Mercedes-Benz to raffle off or something!

Le sigh. 😟

Hi CM,

I had a friend in college who used to say that rabbit thing. Where does it come from?

Good luck with your cookies! I am always skeptical of bake sales, because I always wonder if the people selling charge enough to cover the ingredients and make them worth the time. I hope yours do!

Sometimes I have trouble wrapping my head around the bunny club, because as much as I love my bunnies - around here, bunnies are livestock.

Take your vitamins!

I got my squash weeded and the black plastic moved down so that they have weed free space to grow into for at least the next few days. Eventually they're going to run so far down the hill that they go out of the old garden area, through the rusty sagging fence, and into a space that could technically be considered yard. Then we'll just stop mowing at the squash line and they can fight it out with the "grass" (think ungrazed pasture, not lawn.)

I also have some blackberry peach tea and some ice cream mix cooling on the stove until they are ready to go into the pitcher and some jars for pre-chilling respectively.

I'm going to go take care of a few minutes of weed eating and then put those away and have some lunch.

Things put in fridge, weeds whacked, lunch eaten, beans, a few tomatoes and a couple of squash picked.

I went out to start weeding the melons and it started pouring rain. Honestly, I was relieved. The garden needs the rain and my knees and hands hurt. Now it has stopped raining, but everything is wet. Not good for weeding. Especially when the weeds are two feet high.

So when it rained, I had a snack of kale chips, drank four glasses of water (maybe I was dehydrated?) and watched some YouTube. Watching a woman with 5 kids - one of them Bean's age - make a full breakfast with biscuits, meat, gravy, eggs and fruit, then bake rolls and several loaves of bread, pit and can 18 lbs of cherries, boil down the flesh that came out with the pits for juice and can 5 half pints of jelly, and cook dinner from scratch (not even using the rolls - those were for lunch!) and then sign off in a clean kitchen with daylight coming in the window was not inspirational. It made me feel incompetent. And she filmed it. Without crying babies or fighting kids on the soundtrack. She apologized to her boys for giving them sandwiches for lunch - on freshly baked rolls.

So anyway, after that mistake I did attack my counter. I've got it down to 12" deep - although it is more squared off now, so some of that is rearranging. Still - it can't pass the 36" because those are edges, and I am keeping the 53" marked off with the edge of a tea towel, so visually the height matters as much as the mass. Down 3816 cubic inches - just over two cubic feet!

I finished all my classes before 5. Yay me!

I only picked a third of the beans. Then I got distracted by tomatoes and caterpillars. Then I took some caterpillars to the chickens which made me remember that I needed to go to the feed store. So I went to the feed store, came home, finished my work, and still need to pick beans.

Also I am faced with daunting piles of dirty dishes and clean laundry.

But I think I'll be lazy for a bit.

Oh, yes, sara road, don't worry about my fingers - I once cut off part of my thumb with a chef's knife. I bought a mandolin with a nice guard and gripper system that lets you cut anything from long cucumbers to round fat tomatoes to little green beans without getting near the blade.

Good morning!

I finished picking the beans last night. I also loaded and ran the dishwasher, so the mess is down a bit.

I think I'm going to give the dehydrator a rest for a bit, although the kale is almost done until fall. The cabbage moth caterpillars are getting bad, and the only things I add to my garden are cardboard, used bedding (straw) and as little water as possible. I squish caterpillars by hand. So, when we go to visit Ds in august, no one will squish the caterpillars and the kale will get skeletonized and stay that way until after the first hard frost.

My inner squirrel is very happy with all the dried kale and beans, but the kale will go quickly. Even dried it takes up a lot of space for the actual amount of food. It is much better to stay home and busy and feed my inner squirrel actual food than to be traveling around to yard sales or thrift stores letting her buy gifts for Justin.

The pandemic has helped me refocus on home.

It's interesting. I have three pairs of shorts that fit. One is torn, and one is tight. If this were a normal summer, I would go to the thrift store and buy more shorts. But they still won't let me try anything on. I rarely have to go anywhere. I wore a dress to Bean's birthday party. I wore a teacher skirt to my eye appointment. And I am happily gardening in long tshirts (I have plenty) and underpants. If I need to work in the barn I put on the torn shorts. So instead of spending $15 on secondhand shorts, I spent $17 on a new mandolin. I still would have preferred a used mandolin, but I have beets now. And having bought this new thing I feel pressure to actually use it. maybe next summer my other shorts will fit.

Today is supposed to be another nice day, then three days of heat and rain. I plan to finish weeding the strawberry beds.

SubC - ok, I tried pages but alas no room to install. Story of my life right now (usually)... I try something to solve a problem but it doesn't work because I have previously put off 16 other problems and now in order to solve 1 current problem I'm staring down the barrel of 16 old, neglected problems instead of 1.

Now I am trying the front and back arrows. I think I had mistakenly blamed them for some post implosions so lemme try this out... hey heyyyyy! Jackpot. That worked! thank you for sticking with me on that. That helps a lot and so straightforward I never would have come up with that. Lol.

Glad to hear your mandoline safety plan. I can't even look at those without cringing... and yet that is the exact tool I need for making pickled veggies for my banh mi kick.

Just want to declare that not only did I reclaim my floor space (clothes and some garbage) but after posting last time I decided to go for the next 144 and managed to do 288. Go me. Cause it was not pleasant. I was staring at that acreage (In actuality 2 sq ft) for a few days remembering my goal had been to do that section and all the rest behind it by the end of the weekend which was *last* Sunday. But I know what happened between then and now and how that derailed me which I haven't shared here (Suffice it to say the bins have returned) but instead of getting stuck there I somehow managed to Grit my teeth and get myself to get down on the floor and start. There's a bit of a universe between staring at something daunting like that and actually putting your ass on the floor and getting your hands dirty. I'm guessing the more experience you have with doing that the more the gulf shrinks to a less distorted perception (??) Well, anyway, I got that done and then as I've been doing after each chunk was done, swept and washed that area of the floor. Another small garbage can crammed with trash. Will bring up a couple more kitchen garbage bags today. I think this will be 6 so far. I'm estimating this is from an area of about 25-35 sq feet? OH MY GOD I can't believe I've been living like this. Putting this experience is a major reality check... I hope this isn't triggering anyone. Is it?

Next: maybe now that the whole area around my bed is cleared (of garbage, not stuff), I will wash the whole thing and try to push into the back 40.

Well, anyway, I will close cause my son just walked in my room impersonating forky from toy story 4 so I cannot resist going and hanging out with him now. He's 100% nut.

What are you guys up to today? Is Saturday a big project day for you?

P.s. I can't believe you said you'd be lazy after watching all those class videos and all the other stuff you did yesterday. You got so. Much accomplished!!

Re: shorts... repeat after me. Today I am going to kohl's clearance or the thrift shop to buy exactly 2 pairs of shorts that fit my current butt. I need this. I deserve this. It's not too much. It's the minimal acceptable amount. Bean doesn't need anything from there today but my butt does need two pairs of functional shorts. 💕🙏

Lol! The "lazy" was me saying "I have accomplished enough! I now instruct myself to sit here surrounded by dirty dishes and ignore them."

Here is the thing about the shorts - I don't need them. The purpose of shorts is to cover my underwear if I am going to sit or lean on something or I am in a situation where I don't feel my underwear will keep my lower region clean or protected enough, or someone who isn't Dh will see me. I effectively have no neighbors. I wear my good shorts on Bean days, I wear my tight shorts if I am going somewhere with lots of yummy fattening food as a reminder to be moderate. I like the shorts with the rip (it is in the hem, I'm thinking about cutting the hem off.)

I don't even want them. If it wasn't for sunburn, bugs, and basic sanitation I'd run around naked all summer. I have bathing suits, but I swim naked in our pond.

Going to the thrift store is 45 minutes of driving. Kohl's is an hour ten. Plus shopping. I hated shopping in new stuff stores before the pandemic. Now I live in an area with a 47% vaccination rate, and maybe 10% of the people are wearing masks - mostly children and their mothers and old people - who are probably vaccinated. I go into a store and I get angry and my list of people who have died starts running through my head. Which is not healthy for me.

Oh, and Justin is not Bean.. Justin is "Justin Case" around here we try not to buy or store things for him. 🙂

Excellent job on your floor!

Are you a challenge person? Do you want to try to match each other - your floor and my counter? I find having someone else to commit to helps, but I don't want to put pressure on you if that is unhelpful.

Always choose your kid over cleaning! Good call!

Haha I love it. I'm now going to think of your shorts family as Bean shorts, squeezey shorts and fave shorts... maybe you are a shorts minimalist? I'm padding around trying to think if I'm minimalist at anything,..

I really feel for people in low % vaccination areas... it feels like everyone around here (except little kids) is vaccinated but it still feels dicey to me. A couple vaccinated people at my parents retirement place managed to get it anyway and we were all sick a month ago and I am not sure we didn't get it even though we are all vaxxed and still taking precautions. My cousins husband is a hold out and was insisting on going to Branson, mo even though my uncle is an 80 yo diabetic and my cousin teaches a special needs population. And he works retail. I was actually aiming to get down that way to do some genealogy research but Springfield mo ended up a hot bed. Do you feel lucky being set apart and somewhat self sufficient or would you rather live where people are taking it more seriously? We are in a major metro but suburban and last spring when everything was kicking off I just felt lucky to have a yard and not live in an apartment building anymore.

I'm up for whatever, I know for sure it's motivating to come back here to report because I keep thinking about it while I'm staring at the schtuff on my floor. I probably could have measured my floor trash in cubic inches and then I would not only have felt crushing shame accurately describing the state of things but a tremendous sense of accomplishment getting rid of it all. Lol. Not sure how reliable I would be at this point, some days I still forget I'm in this group but I would give it a try.

Just got back from the shower (accomplishment) and my son told me "purse box, put in" and I'm like "uhhh. Were you in my room?" And he says "yes, help clean" 🥴🥰 the other day I herd him talking to my mom on the phone and there was some convo about him calling her from my closet and he sounded like he was saying " busted" and all I could think of was how much of my room did my mom see on FaceTime. This might be one reason I'm motivated to fix things - fear of being found out! Oh my gawd.

Morning accomp: showered, washed The newly cleared floor, bagged up new garbage...

Hope everyone has a happy and productive day. 💕💕💕

Thanks for joining me for lunch roadie.

There is no shame here. No shame, no guilt. Sometimes we are sad.

The pile on my counter is 69" long, 36" wide, and 16" tall in the middle (the edges slope)

I have always felt lucky to be able to live set apart. I am an odd duck and living near people has always felt lonely, stressful, and isolating. I wish that Dh would take it more seriously. He won't wear a mask anymore unless it is required, and he goes to bars with his friends. He got the J&J vaccine, which is as low as 30% against infection with delta. So, he will get sick, and either we won't know, or if he has symptoms (which may be a cold) he will refuse to get tested, but I will get tested (over and over, because - colds.) and if he gives it to me I will miss two weeks of school and even if he doesn't ever get sick I will be constantly afraid that I am going to infect Bean or my students.

And I wish more people would get vaccinated because death pisses me off.

Wow, there's a lot to respond to. I'll have to do it in stages. I'm glad for you all for backs and eyes that are doing better and thumbs and fingers that remain attached as they should.

My own knee likes to pop now when I get up from the floor. I'm going to a new doctor for a checkup soon and I hope she can identify which part is having issues and maybe recommend exercises. I think overall it's getting better, just slow. Next year when planting I will borrow my roommate's gardening bench instead of doing all that bending. That's what messed me up. Swimming seems to help. At first the knee protests then after I've acclimated to the water it's all good.

My brain, now, that's another story. Probably beyond help. 😂 This week was hot and we didn't have work being done. Thought we would but parts are coming on a slow boat from wherever. Supposed to rain tonight and switch back to moderate temperatures for a few days.

I have my cases for the dolls and theoretically am ready to go. Yet I feel kind of fuzzy headed and like I don't have a plan. It's just a feeling because I did have a plan, I'm just not remembering the details. It's like it was sharper in my mind when the buzz and commotion of the home repairs was going on. Even though that time was crazy. Now it's a lull plus the heat to contend with. I'll get back on track.

CM,

I hope you remember and get your barbies all tucked in their cases.

The ice cream is frozen and I got all the kohlrabi peeled, cubed, blanched, and ready to go in the freezer (as soon as it cools down a little). It came to 5 quarts plus half a pint I just stuck in the fridge to add to something later. There is more room in my fridge now.

Next big food jobs are blackberries and beets. Next big garden challenges are weeding around the winter squash and the melons. Or I may just let them grow into the weeds and have a treasure hunt later.

I worked on my counter a little, but I'll measure it tomorrow.

Hey we have ourselves a little challenge it sounds like. I will do some measuring tomorrow too. Having a concrete benchmark to compare Progress to sounds like a solid strategy,

Did someone say blackberries?! Oh enjoy! My fave winter squash is "butternut rugosa". It's absolutely massive and the texture of it is smoother And the flavor sweeter and more complex. You could make 4 meals out of one of them! I told my neighbor the pests don't seeM to bother them And she said "I guess they don't speak Italian!"

CM, there's Nothing on me that doesn't hurt most days. And some days more than others. Hope the doc has some ideas. I have medical ptsd from a toddlerhood in hospitals so Even though I need help it's complicated to get help. I got a gardening/kneeling bench last year and it was a game changer. If my shoulders and arms hold out I'm in business.

Re your brain, my brain defn fires differently during an emergency. Weird how circumstances can alter your processing speed...

Over and out, compadres

SubC "so I can't plan pickles" my favorite line so far. 😂 Also: beware the mandolin... I have a cousin and friend who have less finger surface now than they used to...

CM - I hope you can sort out the quilting group situation. Having been a creative in my career And a current hobbiest (? That doesn't look right) I appreciate how essential that can be. Seems like for years I put that at the bottom of the list. Now it's near the top and although I'm sometimes out of whack in the balance dept., I still feel good about keeping my sewy stuff front and center in my life.

Ok this iPad is pissing me off so I will be back after I give it a time out. I did lose my last post twice already. Argh.

Everyone have a great day !

#GuardYour144

Sara road, I'm glad I made you laugh.

Thanks for the visit to come back to.

I am on an iPad and usually just use the back/forward arrows, but typing in pages then copy/paste is also an option, you just have to switch between pages and your browser.

I ate lunch and finished 7 more classes.

I'm going to get ice cream mix into the fridge (trying to preserve something every day) and pick beans, and then I will tackle the last two (hardest) classes.

Hold that line!

Lila!

So glad you are better! Fantastic job with the freezer too. You are making good progress!

CM, I am proud of you for hanging on to your motivation in the midst of the chaos. I hope that you are able to continue with your quilting group. I know it's important to you.

I will be curious to hear how it goes if you get a light.

I had Bean yesterday, but I still managed to fill the dehydrator with green beans working during his nap and in the evening. I am starting to turn the tide on the refrigerator. Next I need to make more pickles (which keep getting delayed) and freeze kohlrabi. I gave never frozen kohlrabi before, but I have so much this year! I have a lot of yard/barn work to do too, and my classes need to be updated this week.

I'm not sure what is happening today. Sil asked me to pick Bean up at early. Then he said he wants to come out with him, but his back has been bothering him, so he might need to ask me to come get him. I'm not sure why he wants to come out. I'm kind of hoping he wants to talk, because I think he needs some "Momming" as my heartdaughter puts it. But he might just need some time alone in the woods. Anyway, I have no idea who will be here or for how long. So I can't plan pickles....

It doesn't really matter. Bean provides a lot of clarity in my life. If I can spend a day with him and support his Daddy and the trade off is I lose six quarts of pickles and the chickens eat a lot of mushy cucumbers, that's an easy choice.

Ok - off to do the things I need to do no matter what!

Dried beans packed away, ice cream in ice cream maker, Bean came over for 8 hours and I fed him and his mommy dinner. I sent them home with four squash.

Toys everywhere, kitchen is a mess but I ran a load of laundry today, and I picked more beans.

The Grammie is tired. But we had a lot of fun. He fed me imaginary soup and we fed the goats and we took a big low bin out in the yard and filled it with water and splashed and floated sticks and leaves. And we played catch and trucks and read books. The wrong one of us took a two hour nap. (Which is when I prepped dinner, did that load of wash, and put away the beans.) I also ran the dishwasher during nap, but you can't really tell.

Someone on my other board where I always fail the challenges posted "what is your fantasy self item?" (The thing you are keeping for the person you imagine yourself to be and not who you are.)

Lol! My whole house! Mostly my fantasy self is efficient and competent and never gets tired. Everything else is built on that. - farming, pottery, teaching, crafts, housekeeping, baking and food preservation, spinning and knitting and sewing, exercising, eating right, and being an amazing wife, mother, and grandmother.

My real self is fat, tired, overscheeuled and messy. But she has ice cream.

I got totally busted when Bean saw the green container come out of the freezer and yelled "that!" Dd said "oh, he knows what that is, does he?" I said "I think he is asking ?what is that?'" It did not help my case that he was making bird mouth before I even got a spoon.

Still here, cheering everyone on. Bird mouth! Bean knows his ice cream.

I hurt my back this weekend. Very difficult to move. I did walk partway to work on Tuesday but then needed to take subway the rest of the way. The walk seemed to do me good.

I have someone who will help me with gentle stretching (over zoom) Saturday afternoon. I am grateful for that.

All is well. Cleaners come tomorrow and my friend comes for dinner tomorrow.
The back pain is a wake up call for my weight and my age. I can control the weight.

Good evening,

Tatoulia, I hope you are enjoying dinner with your friend in your freshly cleaned home.

I picked up my new glasses today. I can see much better, but am getting a bit of a headache as my eye muscles adjust.

I also went to the fancy grocery store, which was a much better experience this time. On Dh orders I bought a decadent dessert (hot fudge cake) which we just enjoyed. I picked up fresh local sweet corn at the farmers market on the way home, and we each had a stack of corn, a glass of wine, and the cake for dinner. Very indulgent and irresponsible - lol!

I had to laugh a little at my grocery shopping. - nuts, fruits, bakery bread, cheeses, sugar, vinegar, dessert and coffee filters. The only box was the case of peaches I bought to do a second canning. I also bought a mandolin to make dried beet chips. So that is another thing in my life. But the more vegetables I can turn into snack food, the better chance I have of getting back to a weight where my knees don't sound like paper being crumbled at every step.

I am going to do one batch of beets plain, and then maybe add cinnamon (no sugar, just cinnamon) to the next batch - we'll see what I think after I try them.

I got email from heartdaughter this morning - she starts her first salaried job with benefits and vacation days mid August! Dh and I are taking her and her fiancé out to dinner to celebrate.

Besides the glasses/store trip into town (which took 4 hours) I slept in, ran the dishwasher, made a pitcher of tea, cleaned up the kitchen, and dried more kale. That doesn't seem like much for a whole day.

You did a lot today, SubC! I am proud of you! My back is significantly better today. Looking forward to my stretching zoom session on Saturday.

Nice having my friend over tonight. Kitty was glad to see her, too.

House clean and I've showered. Time for bed.

Good morning.
My day is overcommitted in too many directions.

The weather is supposed to be good all day, so it is a rare opportunity to tackle some large outdoor tasks
I put off creating my online class pages and they are due today (14 classes and poor computer skills)
My fridge is full of milk and produce begging for action.

Dh left early for a breakfast meeting and I am having trouble getting started.

I tasked myself with starting a load of laundry before I allowed myself to post. Next breakfast and then chores.

I may check back a lot

Hi all, popping in. Will check back after catching up.

Sara aka Road.

Hi Sara road!

So glad you are sticking around - I look forward to your post as a reward after my next task session!

This morning I weeded two badly overgrown strawberry beds and did the 5 easiest classes. 9 classes (and two strawberry beds) to go.

CM, good tips on preventing posting disasters,,, I think my main issue is that I'm trying to do this on an iPad so side by side is trickier and I'm always hitting things I don't mean to... I really need to get a new computer.

The "guard my space" mantra came back to me quite a few times the last few days (as I noticed I was losing ground)... good to notice how it slides inch by inch... The 144 has me chuckling... "guard the 144"... or "hold the line on 144!" sounds like an epic war saga. Hey, this *is* an epic war. Perfect! Lol

So anyway, I forced myself to recover my sq inches. Why is this so hard? Did some laundry. Only abandoned 1 pr shorts to the mildew gods this week so not too bad.

Sounds like the bday part was quite an event. Sometimes I can't wrap my head around how an extrovert like me can become an introvert but I think I have. Or maybe mine is more anxiety ahead of an event... not sure. And of course Covid shuffled the deck on everything.

So far today I have fed and medicated child and beasts... cleaned up puppy messes. Grrrr also chatted with neighbors, and did quite a bit of gardening. Today it was weeding and pulling carrots, a few beets, and accidentally harvesting onions and leeks while weeding,,,.. My plan is to make more pickled vedge for banh mi sammies. No daikon, but I have rainbow carrots, a few types of Thai basil, cilantro, and all the

Hi Sara!

You can type it somewhere else and cut and paste I think. I know people have done that in the past.

Leaving for my eye appt really soon. Cross your fingers for me!

Hey all,

SubC, hope your appt went well...

Inch by inch. Yep - and I was intrigued by Tatoulia's "guard your space" imagery. Makes you think about in terms of not losing ground... have never considered things this way...

And I also appreciate the wisdom SubC laid out re: all the failed attempts and not having given him a foundation of trust. I think if I can get through this room and even start making progress on the garage he will start to feel a little hopeful but it's not reasonable to expect him to before that. Then again we do have a long history of him having a short and unpredictable fuse which can be extremely damaging and demotivating, but anyway, I have to get this done no matter how he behaves. I am accountable for my behavior and he is for his.

Re labeling bins, funny what you said about that. In order to be really useful they would need to say things like "am almost ready to let go of just need to take photos of these" or "these are very important and valuable you need to pack these better and store them in a safe place ..." do they make post it's that big? Lol -

Continued

I do use exclusively clear bins. I'm lost as it is I could never do anything if they were opaque.

Tatoulia, what kind of a place is your mom in? My parents just moved into a retirement place in town. It has an integrated assisted living place and there is a nursing facility next to that, they moved into an apartment in the independent living section. My dad is having a tough time though. It's mostly behavioral, not memory, but he is having some disorientation. You know, I am about to launch into a story about his memory problems when in fact I can't remember if I shared this story here yet. Oh boy. He was asking me what he was supposed to do with the receptacle end of an extension cord and how would he get that in the wall... (he had it reversed) and yesterday he kept insisting we couldn't see what he was pointing at in his new curio cabinet forgetting it's mirrored in the back and glass on all three sides... but no diagnosis yet. He Has been making my moms life pretty hellish with combative behavior. We are hoping he will embrace new lifestyle and settle down but we shall see. They are also due to get some a/v work done today at their place. We are in sync with our parental situation sounds like...

Who was talking about tracking changes in "commitments" the other day - CM? What's that all about? Curious...

So first - eye appointment - the news was better than the best case scenario - so I am super relieved.

I also cannot see what I have typed at all right now, so good luck with this post!

I can read what you guys posted because I can make that screen big enough.

Sara, I was going to tell you to just go ahead and tape a sheet of paper to the bin, but if they are clear I guess you don't need labels. I like opaque for the visual quiet.

The commitments was me. I've started to accept that just as I try to stuff to many things into MySpace, I try to stuff toomanycommitmentsinto my time. And they are related - sometimes I don't get things done because I can't find what I need or I don't have space to do them, or I am busy trying to juggle all the stuff, but sometimes it's because I run out of time. And I don't get enough sleep, which makes me less effective and less able to enjoy the things I have and do.

So, I don't know if you're familiar with the "container concept' but it basically is you decide what "container" you have for certain items, and any that don't fit have to go, or something else has to go to make room. My "container" in this case is my calendar. Which is effectively already overflowing in spite of the fact that the pages of my actual calendar are nearly blank, because I have all these things I do/want todo that don't actually leave any time for events and activities. So, when one comes along, I have to decide what I'm willing to let go to fit it in. Does that make sense?

Good morning!

Yesterday fried my introvert soul.

I started the morning by canning 10 quarts of peaches, which was fine, but then I left all the mess and went with Dd2 to Bean's house to help his parents get ready for his birthday party.

It was originally supposed to be 20 people, but by the time it started, it was 35, and then they kept inviting the neighbors over. Even this morning I flinched when Dh sat on the same couch I was sitting on.

Also, I did not "hold my ground" but I did manage to clear my counter spot back off this morning.

Now I need to start cleaning up and run the dishwasher about three times.

I did give the last jar of old jam to the chickens this morning. So all my canned goods are up to date and edible.