Thanks guys, it's nice to get feedback and hear about your lives. Road, yeah, I have photo ornaments like that, that are special too. It's hard. I am scared because A:: my youngest's photos as a baby are digital and on a hard drive downstairs somewhere and no where else. I always think I will copy them. I haven't touched it in 8 or 10 years. That will happen in 2022.

I was sitting nicely working on my planner (got out my stickers, pens, markers and everything, which I have not done in probably a year) and was feeling better and relaxed. Then the young but large dog heard a noise and for whatever reason went charging through the living room and knocked my end table completely over... cup of coffee and cup of water went flying over my pens and markers and stickers, dumped on the power strip and all over the carpet. Stuff just went flying! All the power cords, laptop cord, phone charger, lamp, everything was soaked! Ruined some stickers as well. I was SO upset! There was NO reason for the dog to go crazy like that and run into the table! So while I was practically in tears over my coffee soaked markers and stickers, wiping cords and dumping liquid out of the power strip and getting my son to come with the carpet machine to clean up the mess with me... I also felt overwhelming guilt and sadness that this dog is so untrained because of me. I always had well trained dogs but this year has been hell, and I haven't trained him. He is wild and disobedient. He is a good boy and deserves better. I was actually writing kind of a training plan in the planner before this happened.

So my power strip is soaked. My cords and plugs wet. This laptop will die in about half an hour and then I'm done. Tomorrow I will have to find a different cord if I want to use this.

What a bummer of a day. Sorry to be so down. I have not felt this sad in a long time.

Oh dear Lila, I hope you are able to come back today. I want you to see this:

Never apologize for how you feel.

You feel the way you feel and your feelings are valid. If you hide them from people you are just guaranteeing that they won't respond appropriately. That said - *I* am sorry you are so down - as in I wish for you that these things that are making you sad we're not happening to you or were not things that you have to work through to get where you are going. I wish that you had more support so that they would feel less hard.

I completely understand the feelings about the dog accident. These things happen to me a lot. And my brain says "I thought I was doing so much better and now here is this horrible thing that happened and it happened because I did not do something I should have done." (Actually, my inner voice is meaner, but I don't want it to talk to you - I am nicer to other people.) then Tatoulia comes along and points out all the goid things I have done and tells me not to be so hard on myself.

So I will tell you. You are doing better. You will get past this setback. Hey - you didn't just leave the whole mess and cry and walk away! It is cleaned up!

Maybe training the dog needs to be a priority over clearing out stuff - DD's dog was badly trained and they took her to obedience school and she is so much better now and they are much less stressed. If training the dog will help things not get worse - work on that. The first step in making things get better is stopping them from getting worse.

Road, I also understand the "this was supposed to be amazing and now it is just overwhelming" problem. My dad used to call that kind of problem - too much of a good thing "what are we going to do with all these fish?" when we would be having such a great day that the fish box was full and it was still early and we were still catching. Sometimes we would stay out and catch and release if it was a really nice day, but usually it just meant you quit. You didn't want to overload the boat! (And unloading the fish was never as nice as catching them) Somehow I failed to generalize that lesson onto land.

Do you think you could part with some of the hallmark ornaments? My mom gets each of us a hallmark ornament every year. It is important to her, and a sweet tradition but I am 53, and I have been married to Dh for 31 years, and that is a lot of ornaments! I have passed on a few of them.

I'm sorry about your ornament, but good work on the cleanup and the tree!

Today I am driving down to the city studio (I can never figure out how to differentiate that from my home studio when I write) in the truck and the kids are coming by to take the truck to move something and then I will come home when they are done. (They live 7 minutes from the studio)

My decluttering goals are to keep up with the dishes, do two loads of laundry, put the laundry away (maybe), drop off the bag of trash from yesterday and clear another foot of my counter (I'm trying to finish it by the end of the week and it is six feet long and the stuff will get harder and I will have less free time later in the week.)

Lila, I'm seconding everything everyone else has said. I couldn't say it better. Yes put dog training as a priority. You and the dig will feel better. The rest is inanimate objects. Sending love, support, and hope.

Road, you have done so well separating into piles/baskets to sort! That was advice I was given here months ago, and it helped a lot. Doing one pile of like items at a time is a lot less stressful and chaotic to me. Does your husband have hs own room from yours? Mine does. He has his own room he spends most of his time in downstairs. He never comes in my room. His has not been cleaned in about 5 years so there is thick dust on all the piles and you cannot see the floor at all. I went in and cleaned it 5 years ago, and maybe 2 years before that, but then I said I can't do this. So now I only touch his stuff if it "leaks" out of his room into the family room. It is hard dealing with other people's stuff I think... but it is great if he is letting you do it! I always had to wait til he was out of town.

Tatoulia, I have no presents yet but you are motivating me to get going on that!!

SubC, it is very windy here too. Although I think I am very far away from you (Pacific NW).

I don't feel like doing anything!! I am drinking coffee and coming here to make my promises about goals. It helps.

I did online shop for things my dog needs. He got wrapped in the Christmas tree light wires this morning while I was asleep and my son let him out of his pen. SO frustrating but he meant well (the son, not the dog!). Now I can't find the end of the cord to plug it in. I need to get a flashlight and figure it out.

After that, my goals for today are:
- Finish dusting that blind that broke while I was dusting it before
- Set up the nativity that I got out the other day. I want to put white garland around it but will the dog ruin it?? ugh. Will decide.
- Put away the final few things on the end tables

Next steps, hopefully today:
- Go through the Xmas boxes and bins that are sitting in the dining room. Pick some out to donate and pick some to send to my son. Put out a few decorations and put all the boxes/bins in the computer room until after Xmas when I put it back away.
- Clean off the $#%^@^ kitchen table and then #$@%^ bar counter again, omg!!! When will it end??

I will ask son to vacuum. I might do a little in the kitchen (dishes etc) and my bedroom (move things around, vacuum).

What are you all doing today?

I woke up at 12 noon. Rainy but warm here. I was worried about all of you, knowing that you are in different areas of the country.

I will have to figure out my day. It is now nearly 2:15. I had planned to bring mom lunch today. I'll make my bagel and decide what to do. I did work an hour last night from 11 to 12 then fooled around on iPad til 3.

I need to motivate. A long lost friend texted me today to show me that he'd put up the mini tree I gave him 23 years ago. He'll come for dinner Wednesday. He said he is making sauce and I told him I'll have pasta and bread for us. Pretty easy night.

Hi all. Power was out here again for three hours - so no pottery and Bean didn't come. I started on my counter, worked on my class proposals for next year, and put up my grandmother's nativity set. The little cowsheep says hello.

Also, I took a nap.

Now power is back on, but they say we might lose it again, so I need to get busy.

Stay safe Lila, we are far apart, but high winds are a concern anywhere.

Thanks SubC, it is really bad out there with semi trucks blowing over on their sides. I don't want to go out but will see what son says he is doing.

Tatoulia, how nice to reconnect with an old friend! I hope it goes well.

I got the nativity set up with white garland around the edges and told everyone not to let the dog even sniff it! If he does pull it off, it is not around the pieces so nothing can get pulled off and broken.

I got a dozen or so ornaments on the tree so far. I sorted one box of ornaments and found 3 to send to my son. I have a second box to sort as well. I will write a little note explaining what year they are from and why they are special. It is hard to let them go but I did keep several others that he made when he was little.

I finished dusting the blind. Moved a few tins and a box of Christmas stuff to the other room. Helped kid make lunch.

Oh and I searched with a flashlight but couldn't find the tree plug but my son found it. so the tree is plugged back in.

Resting and then will do a bit more.

Oh, I also sorted a little pile of receipts and papers from my purse that I had tossed in my room. I threw out most of that. Preventative work!

hi friends.

I am really struggling today emotionally. I think I need to sit down with my planner and block out time to just be home and do home things. I am starting to feel burned out.

I went through ornament box #2, found one more to send to my son, hung a couple and put the box in the back room. I put garland and some plastic cute things on the mantle for grandd to play with. Oh.... it just dawned on me why I am so emotional. The ornaments. I always got kids a special ornament each year, plus a family one to signify some special thing that year. Plus the pets each got one. I just handled over 30 years worth of ornaments. That is a HUGE amount of memories... good, bad, and bittersweet. Each child's first Christmas... the ones from my first marriage, the ones of pets who have passed on. LOT of emotions and I think that is why I feel like crying. I know for most people the ornaments bring happiness. That was the goal. But I'm so lonely. I don't have anyone sharing the memories.

Anyway. I got burned out on xmas. So I went into my bedroom and decided to clean off the wide dresser which has been a disaster area for 5+ years. Loaded with dust, all kinds of jewelry strewn around, some rocks, piles of albums and 2 jewelry boxes. omg the dust. I took a box of Swiffer dry refills and got most of the thick layer off. Then I opened a window and got the canned air, and blew dust off several things including all my college and high school graduation tassels and put them in a drawer. Wiped and blew off a ton of jewelry and put it away. Found several items to put in the donation box. Wiped off the super dusty albums - but they really need to be taken outside and air blown. I did not use any polish or cloth on the dresser yet, but it is a lot, a lot better than it was.

Now I am an emotional wreck but also feel like I just want to throw everything away. I need to just sit down and decompress and work on my planner. I find that soothing.

You are not a bad person.

SubC you need to take time for yourself. You are carrying a heavy load of emotions. Your husband is, too. You are each setting up some problematic situations. Make peace. Spend the holidays differently this year. Make peace with your choice and his choice. You have too much going on, as does he, for you two to be arguing. Spending the holidays apart sounds awful but seriously, you both need something different out of the holidays this year. Hug each other and accept it. You'll both be fine and stronger for it.

Sending you both peace and calm. You are a team.

one tired Lila here... just checking in tonight before bed.

Road, wow, you inspire me. You are doing great! It feels so hard but isnt it so nice when something gets done?? Celebrate.

you guys - I will talk more tomorrow. But I am sad because I have gotten so little done, someone in my life disappointed me, someone else died (I was not close to her but still). And someone I used to be friends with, I tried to reconnect and got her a xmas present and called to ask if I could drop it by and I didn't even get a sentence out before she said bye and hung up. I don't know why she suddenly hates me. And now I have this nicely packaged gift that I spend hours agonizing over to get her something really meaningful, and it's sitting on my kitchen table. I would have just left it but it would have frozen overnight. I think I will go leave it on her porch in the morning and just text her "I left a package on your porch" and then just let it die. But it's sad.

What I did since my last post:
got the tree straightened (tonight)
cleaned off the ceiling fan (MEGA dust, omg)

That's it. Tomorrow is my 'day off' so I hope to get things done around the house like decorating. I have bought no xmas presents yet,

Greetings,

Tatoulia, good tip on the linens inventory. Right now that storage area is in the master so I tend not to think about it til seasons change and we need to trade up blankets and stuff... also why I want to store stuff for my bed in here. I shudder to think what the state of my bed linens were in when my room was totally out of control. I think I probably kept putting clean sheets on the section of the bed that was still accessible... but oh yeah, better not to think too much about that. But ironically, even though I lived like that, I still Think I have a higher standard of cleanliness than the H. Delusional perhaps... probably... anyway, 2 or 3 sets seems right. A blanket and a comforter per bed... what the heck is filling up that storage space? It must be 5x4x4! Luggage, pillows, blankets, sheets, ??? A future project for sure. I have actually cleaned that out several times in the last 20 years, but not for a few.

Towel wise, we are in a good place. Maybe 10 bath towels for the three of us, tons of wash cloths but we go through a lot for my son. We could actually use more hand towels... the surplus is probably old pillows, comforters, blankets and sheets that never got thrown away...

Thanks for considering my son's feelings. I think I was thinking more of them not being able to get good results but you're right, he really would be fearful of that whole situation and the whole sensory nightmare of the moving table and loud noises and whatever goes on visually. Yee gads. Unfortunately, I managed to blow off Rescheduling the MRI until kind of late in the day. Then when I finally go through *45 minutes later* she informed me that since it involves anesthesia now she's not even the right department. And of course that department is now closed. Other potential land mines involve a discrepancy between orders - the original For brain (which has now been superseded) called for with and without contrast. The updated one which includes cervical spine and brain Only calls for contrast which I think is an oversight. Also it Can't be scheduled without the neurosurgeons office correcting that first if it does in face need to be corrected... then there's the issue of getting a medical release from the doctor who ordered the referrals that got all thus started to begin with... and I haven't even gotten to insurance preauthorizations Or The possibility of tacking on lab work while under anesthesia yet. I am hoping my BF is available tomorrow to sort all this out for me or At least hold my hand or something,,,

Tatoulia, I love hearing about your house cleaning. You can tell you've been through a long process and have found the sweet spot for what really clicks. It gives me hope!

SubC, yes! The trash. So glad that part is almost done. Tonight the H called in a terrible mood and I must say I rushed right out to the hall and scooped up the remaining garbage that still has to be sorted and dumped it all in a laundry basket, I hated doing that but had to be done, then I ran in his room and grabbed up the clothes that were still in there and had to dump half of them on my floor and the other half on my bed, then I moved the pile of paperwork that was on his chair to my bed. Earlier in the day I was so sure I'd get all these clothes put away but in the end it was a huge disaster, now I have a basket of clean clothes, a basket of garbage to be sorted through, 2 loads of clean clothes on the floor (which has me twitchy) and important paperwork covering a chair and falling off the printer. Ack so frustrating... but I managed to avoid a fight with him. Then I went down and made dinner. I am not sure how this humph dumpty gets put back together tomorrow but I need to find a way. There's just too much stuff. Bbblllluuuugh.

I apologize again for these long winded posts, I said I was going to start journaling again which is really what this is but I haven't started doing that yet,

Good points... I did at least start tHe process of rescheduling the appointment, and I started the process of getting him registered for winter/spring Rec activities. A few days late but I am still finding things available. Hasn't done much of anything since pre pandemic... one of the things I was trying to fix is getting him more to do socially/recreationally and this checks that box. Also visited my brother after school and he wanted to show us his bathroom after he cleaned it. He's vacuumed his rug and organized a lot of the boxes and antiques he got from my parents and basically shoveled a lot of the worst of the mess into the garbage. He doesn't have a hoarding situation but has an extreme cleaning situation. Honestly, it was so much better in there than a few months ago I was pretty happpy about it. It it smelled so bad I couldn't believe it...and I started having a asthma attack and didn't have an inhaler or anything,,, and we had to go. Still, what a great development.

Lila, Thanks for your encouragement. You inspired me to kick it into gear,

As for your thoughtful gift and confounding Hangup - I am really sorry. It must be so confusing, I hope you are able to get to the bottom of it and can get it resolved with your friend. I have seen my sister do something similar to people before and sometimes there's just no good answer and you have to just accept that something is going on with them that's beyond your relationship.

Well, I better close,

Hope tomorrow is a better day for everyone who had a tough day today. Xoxo

Good morning!

Lila, you have done sooo much! Your living room project was amazing! Periods of growth are often followed by periods of rest. That is ok and healthy. Remember what the room looked like a month ago? You would not even have thought about dusting the ceiling fan.

Truly, you inspire me. I am sorry about your friend.

Road, all that medical stuff sounds overwhelming! I am still trying to find the time and energy for a walk in flu shot. I'm glad you have your friend to help.

I am also glad you share your journal with us. 🙂

Sorry about the scoop and dump for your Dh, but it is only a small set back. I think I would try to put the clean clothes away first. And hey - the garbage is now in a basket, so you can carry it to another room. Maybe hang out with your son while you sort some of it?

Nice that your brother is making progress too. Are you encouraging each other?

I had a pretty good day at school yesterday and a nice short visit with Bean between teaching and studenting. Dd got home from work and called him and said "look, mommy brought you a present!" She had four different business cards she got at work with pictures of heavy equipment on them. He was so excited - he yelled "truck! Truck!" And brought them to show me and his Daddy.

His purchased present from me arrived in the mail yesterday, so that is done. I have a cat sippy cup, two toys (one used), two books, and some hand me down teaching materials (laminated animal pictures) to give him. I might pull a hat out of the dress ups because he's really into hats right now, but probably I will just put three or four out on Monday this week.

I learned some new things in my class (by which I mean things didn't turn out the way I wanted, but oh well, I did learn from it.) I brought home 7 more pieces of "finished" pottery but some are slated for rework or departure. I am hoping to get my act together for the spring sale.

I got an invitation to a party at the pottery studio last night. I want to go and it is after my classes end in December, so I will. It will either be while Dh is gone or right after he gets back. (He will be home before Christmas and the visits from the kids, he will just be gone for a long weekend at the start of my break). I don't mind the time alone (kind of look forward to it) I just feel badly about him going alone.

The party invitation was interesting, because I opened it and My reaction was "oh, I want to go to that, when is it? Oh good, I can." It is the first simple, uncomplicated positive response I have had to an event in almost two years. (Well, not counting when dd called and said "we're bringing the baby home, you can come over.")

Ok, I should work on making it through today - lots to do. (Oh, the school kiln seems to be ok and I will be loading a real firing tonight!)

I just realized I got distracted and forgot to tell you guys about my dehoarding progress yesterday - lol!

I emptied the scullery sink. I planted my feet in front of it with the trash can and recycling bag next to me on one side, and the open dishwasher and a drying space on the other and I told myself "your feet do not move from this spot until every single thing in this sink is in one of those four destinations." I gave myself permission to throw away anything that was just too gross or too much effort. And I did it! I ended up with one full plastic grocery bag of trash and one 2/3 full paper grocery bag of recycling, and dishes in the dishwasher or air drying. When I left for school I started the dishwasher and took the recycling and trash and disposed of them.

This weekend I plan to try to reclaim some of my counter. I have lost it again.

SubC, what a good strategy! You did great with that. I will try your method on other things. Also, what is it with our lost counters?? ugh.

Road you are doing amazing too.

I am so glad we can all encourage each other and share our progress.

So - I called a mutual friend of the angry friend and he told me she has neurological issues and maybe dementia starting and is generally angry. And yes angry at me in particular but for no clear reason. I told him I had bought her a Christmas present but am hesitant to call or go over. I said I would just run over there and quietly put it on her front porch by the door and leave without being noticed. I honestly just wanted that present gone from my table... it was making me sad. He said when I had left it to text him and he would call her and mention "I think someone left something on your porch" so it isn't left out there all night. So that is done, and I am moving on. I did the best I could.

I went and got myself a matcha latte on the way home, tried to pick up a prescription that wasn't ready. Now am home thinking about what, if anything, to work on. I am very unmotivated at the moment but maybe I can make one goal. Coming here really helps me with that.

Goal for the day: get the lights on the Christmas tree.

Maybe I will feel better once I do that and start putting other decorations out. Frankly I think my pets will mess up anything I do (young new dog and 1 yr kitten) so am not putting out too much this year.

I also noticed when I loved furniture for the tree that one corner of the room is supremely dusty. I missed one edge of a cabinet and did not vacuum that corner, and when I put the blind down on that window it was very dusty. I will try to do that as well.

Yes... living room is so, so much better. I can hardly believe I got it done! Of course now it needs dusted again to keep on top of it.

Evening update:

My son and I did get the lights on the Christmas tree. It looks nice! Has a star on top. I was going to put the tree skirt on, but the dog would probably drag it around so I left it off for now. Son vacuumed up pine needles and that dusty corner. I wiped the one dusty side of the cabinet and then I tried to vacuum the dusty blinds, but it sucked the blinds down out of that bar across the top and my son had to fix it so it is only half dusted. I guess I will use a dust cloth and gently finish it.

I also got out the nativity pieces and put them on the cabinet. They are not set up yet, but they're out.

I ran errands too. And watched a movie with my kid. I am going to try and do a few productive things online tonight, but tired so done with any cleaning etc.

Thanks, SubC,
Yeah, I am so lucky my friend is willing and able to help. I got through the part of the process that was easy, then called her and she patiently walked me through the rest of it. Then after another hour or two I was able to make the first couple steps after that. Will have to pick it up again tomorrow or Monday. Not happy we now have another delay getting these images, but this will be a more complete picture and she validated my reasoning for going with the anesthesia. Her son has had to get some MRI s and she knows my son well and what he can and cannot toleratE so her perspective was Appreciated. My other close friend is someone I need to remember to turn to in cases like this also. She's got a PhD in psych and also has a so w Down syndrome and knows my son well and is also pretty knowledgeable about neurology issues. No reason I haven't leaned on her other than just not thinking that clearly, she would have been very helpful I'm sure. Very lucky to have good friends. Pandemic threw me into a much more isolated situation like most people but I'm trying to consciously push myself to get back to my former self...

Was able to get more stuff out of the H's room and bit by bit work my way out of the newly created post clean up mess. So my paperwork Is still mixed up but is consolidated in one place again, I have the basket of garbage to go through, a basket of new dirty clothes, a pile of clean linens, a pile of clean folded shorts, pajama pants and jeans, tee shirts are folded in the drawer, as are undies and bras. More socks sorted and put away. And now I'm down to 1-2 cubic feet of clean laundry pile on the bed. Nothing under the bed, nothing in the floor in the closet or walk way except maybe 1 cubic foot of stuff from cleaning out under the bed. So that's not too bad actually. The only thing left in the Hs room is a stack of three wire baskets.

So I'm feeling pretty good that I worked my way through all that and the set back was only temporary as you say. Previously it would have probably just overwhelmed me and never gotten dealt with.

Yeah, my brother and I are defn, encouraging each other. I think the main thing is just accountability. It motivates me to share what I'm doing. Probably neither of us is looking for the other one to nag. I know it's helping him too because he's making progress and wants to share his progress with me, so it's all good.

Glad you got in a visit with the Bean. He sounds like such a sweetie. Sounds interesting about the party invitation. Even though the world is still upside down to some degree, it is nice when we can turn a corner and catch hold of a chance to enjoy Some normal life like a party... Nothing,Ike that seems natural anymore. We have to try to lean into the "good stuff" when it comes by.

Omg I just read what you wrote about the scullery!!! That's amazing! Way to go! I'm with you on the giving permission to toss the really challenging stuff. That can help you get through those walls for sure. Also great that you did the follow through of getting it gone. That's amazing and I'm sure you feel great about it.

Hello everyone! Wow! You are amazing! Great progress!

I have started wrapping some gifts. SubC they look really cute with the white tissue paper! I'm very happy.

My friend ?Emiko' came for dinner last night. We had quiche and fruit. She took some Christmas decorations home for her house (her parents were Buddhists). She coming back on Sunday and we will make my BF's gingerbread house together. She's going to write his business name in Japanese above the door. Also, the fabric for my dining chairs had arrived and maybe we will have time to recover the seats. I decided I wanted to upgrade from the fabric my artist friend had chosen. I'll need help on this because it's a stripe and I'm not very precise. So we shall see if she has time to do on Sunday or if we should pick a night where I can make her dinner. I would like to concentrate on the gingerbread house.

SubC great work on the scullery! Lila, I'm glad yo have your son to help you! And yay for the Christmas tree!

Lila, I'm sorry about your friend. She's clearly going through something and taking it out on you. You've done your part.

Okay off to bed. Bf and I stole a few hours tonight and went downtown. I hope it rains tonight. The salt pellets I put on the stairs with our dusting of snow are very slippery. The stairs are treacherous.

My goal tmr is to spend time with mom.

Good morning.

It is very windy here. We're getting the edge of the storm that hit Kentucky. I expect fresh trees down in the woods. We lost power earlier, but I had already made the coffee.

Lila,
Good job on your tree lights!

Your house will get less dusty as it gets less full. I'm sorry about your friend, but glad tgat itbusn't personal.

Road, you are making good progress on the medical. I'm glad you have your brother nearby too. It's nice to have someone who can appreciate the steps we take along the way. I have no one who could even notice my empty sink in the middle of the messy scullery. But I have you guys.

Tatoulia,
I can only imagine the day when I could just casually think about having someone over to recover chairs. I am grateful that you are still holding up the light at the end of the tunnel to guide us.

I got my first teacher present yesterday. It is a scented candle with a sparkly glitter Christmas ornament attached. I will write the child a thank you note and keep the fabric ribbon. Unless I figure out a way to pass on the whole gift (the ribbon keeps it together).

The kids are borrowing our truck this afternoon and leaving Bean here as collateral. I need to do some work in my home pottery studio this morning, and I have lesson planning to do sometime this weekend. The deadline for next year's class proposals is Tuesday. Whenever Dh gets up I'm going to do a little vacuuming and start the laundry. And today's goal is to find one linear foot of counter.

Road - laundry!

Lila, thanks so much for sharing your experience and suggestion about the distractions... I did talk to the technician a bit and shared my concerns but he didn't mention anything like that. I honestly don't see how he will do it but we will give it a shot.

I had a slower day today than yesterday. I was tired and in a lot of pain from the activity and the cold snap we had here. Talked to my brother quite a while then we visited him after school. I got the rest of the laundry down to the basement and did a load and started another. *** famous last words *** bagged up half a bag of garbage and consolidated the rest into one pile. It's slow going because I have to go through every scrap looking for things that might have gotten mixed in. Hopefully this is the last free form garbage pile I will have to sift through. All the rest of my stuff is in bins. I hope. I think. Got the stuff in the H's room down to a chair of clean clothes and 3 wire baskets with his unsorted socks on top. His contribution today was to come up stairs and say "oh gosh, that pile of garbage is still there?" I never expect him to be my cheerleader but ... to be fair he had a very long day. Left house at 7, taught all day, coached a game where they lost, then went to his PT. I did have food on the table for him and. Picked up the kitchen, fed the dogs, medicated the child, all the. Usual stuff. You know how you can be on your feet for two hours just walking around picking stuff up and cooking dinner, and letting the dogs in and letting the dogs out, etc. and it's like you didn't do anything. Sheesh.

Well, anyway... I guess what I m thinking right now is he can go suck a big ole rotten egg. That's the rated G version.

Glad to hear everyone's updates... you guys are literally THE BEST. SO THERE.

Good morning!

Hi Lila!

Sorry to hear that you have been sick. 🙁 It sounds like you have a good plan to reduce the decorations. I agree that cleaning off the surfaces is never ending. If only people would just stop bringing things into the house..

Road, I'm sorry you are feeling criticized and unsupported. You cleared half a bag of trash! Good job!

Keep picking at it - even if it is only a little a day, and it will be gone soon. And don't forget the laundry!

The electrician came yesterday and my kiln is mostly fixed at school. It is on a long cycle to be sure it is dried completely, and hopefully I can get it fired for the kids this weekend, so that pressure is off at least.

I am not feeling like a very good teacher these days. I am just trying to get through these two weeks before break. I actually found myself giving myself a "pep talk" that went "well, you're still better than a sub, and the longest anybody has with you between now and break is seven hours. Some of that time will be good." Ug.

I dropped the recycling and a bag of trash (mostly diapers) yesterday. And I am mostly keeping up with the dishes.

Hey people,

SubC, everyone needs to reset once in awhile... and I think things are really hard for teachers with all that's been going on. Will you guys get two weeks off at Christmas? I hope you can figure out what's "enough" for the next couple weeks and won't feel crunched. That's not a good feeling.

Speaking of teaching pitfalls, The H just told me in the car today two kids on his b-ball team tested positive for COVID. It sounded like he was fretting they'd be out and not processing that he'd have been exposed. I asked him to mask up - we all masked up and rolled down the windows, etc. then I dropped him off to pick up his car and asked him to get tested on the way home. He picked up a quick test and it was negative. Asked him to figure out when he would have been exposed and he's like "I'm exposed all day every day!" And that's what he's feeling - just this constant state of exposure. Now we are really not that vulnerable anymore because we did get boosters, but my sister, my niece and her boyfriend all got it at the end of October and got pretty sick and they were all vaccinated (but not boostered yet)... well, anyway, the COVID saga continues. He did figure out that he hasn't seen them for 5 days so I think he's in the clear. The protocol says if you're vaxxed And get exposed to get tested after 5 days I think. And you don't have to Quarantine, just wear masks indoors. Well, that didn't work for my sister! Anyway, sounds like if you're freshly boosted you're in good shape. I hope. Are we having fun yet?

SO! Update on clearing... started putting away clean laundry, And general situating the new bedroom layout. my son tapped into the basement door which I forgot to lock and probably tore a bunch of stuff up down there *mineral spirits placeholder* BUT thoughtfully got all my stuff from the dryer and brought it all the way upstairs for me. He set it down by my bed then patted me on the head. What a charmer. So sweet I can hardly stand it. Then tonight just now I bagged up a very densely packed kitchen bag of trash. I'd say I got through half the pile on the landing... pulled out all the paperwork, socks and hair scrunches and pens and phone chargers, etc. etc. maybe half a cubic foot of that stuff and 2 or 3 cubic feet of trash so far. As I said, this will be the end of the nightmare in my bedroom so to speak. There will still be some dusty/dirty jobs cleaning but nothing else as bad as this so I'm really happy it's almost over. I have to figure out a little more clothing storage in here because I just have room for undies, socks and tee shirts in my dresser. It's a really pretty antique Birdseye maple high boy I guess? I can't remember. But it's kind of small scale. I have a top drawer of jewelry and odds and ends, and the biggest section stores baby keepsakes and stuff like that. Also I am a largish person so my clothes take up more room. Anyway, I need shelves for shirts, shorts, pants, and pajamas I guess. I'd like to have a designated space for sheets and blankets in here also. Right now we have them in this huge cabinet under the eaves and it's kind of like a bottomless pit... It's impossible to get to anything without injuring yourself. Fixing up the closet (repairing plaster, wallpapering, and new shelves or whatever) is on the agenda. In the meantime I may use bins on chairs or something. Old house so the closet is small - maybe 3x 4' with slanted ceiling... I think if I get shelves in the closet that should be enough space. I don't have any attachment to clothing. So I can sort through and have a reasonable amount. I just have trouble with the maintenance aspect of it... I think I have learned enough now that I should be able to keep it under control now. Other categories are another story. Lol.

Tomorrow goal will be to get clothes out of the H's room, and clear all the garbage from the landing. And check the laundry!

Lastly, omg this is a tome. Took my son to the neurosurgeon today. No major concerns, they did indeed think it was a "monitoring" situation. We will now get MRI of head *and neck*. We had a discussion about the general anesthesia vs. sedation and he agreed he probably wouldn't be able to comply and would probably not get good results so we are going to go ahead with that but I may need to reschedule now. That's ok. Afterwards my son said he wanted to go to chilis so we did. I waited til he was fully engaged with his lunch and told him I was going to go to the bathroom. He had his iPhone in his pocket, his locator/tracker on his shoe, and the restaurant was filled with middle aged ladies having girls day lunches, so I ran to the bathroom, Looking back at him a couple times. Once I hit the restroom I started counting... 75 seconds and I had peed and washed up and I was back in eyeshot of him. It's so hard to have a bladder problem and know I can never leave him alone to go to the bathroom. So I was pretty happy he could do that.

Alright, I surrender! Enough enough enough of me. Haha.

Hope everyone is doing well tonight.

Wow! Thanks for the updates, ladies.

SubC, I'm glad the kiln is being fixed. I hope it is working again. Lila, I'm sorry about the UTI. So uncomfortable! You are doing so well! I am living vicariously though you!

Road, my heart melted when your son patted you on the head. Like Lila, you are doing a great job. I cannot believe how much stuff you've gotten through. A suggestion: take a look at how many towels and sheets you have. Probably two sets per bed is enough? I don't know if everyone has the same size bed or not. But think about cutting down in the number of sheets. Right now I have three sets of sheets which I know is too much. I really only need two. I have four bath towels and probably six hand towels for the bathroom. But let's not discuss the number of tea towels I have. Any way, you mentioned your linens and I just wanted to through out the idea of taking a look at what you have and what you need. But only think about it if it's helpful.

I do think that having your son anesthetized will be best. I haven't had an MRI but I do worry about your son's comfort. I don't want him to be afraid.

I started wrapping gifts tonight. I just need to plow through it. SubC, I had no wrapping paper left. So I'm using the burlap bags and the white tissue paper. I also have a spool of red and white cotton string, so that is looking pretty cute.

I'm working from home again tomorrow. We have a big department meeting and Id rather be here. The VPs will be in the office and I don't want to be sitting at my desk with my headphones on. Especially becomes sometimes there are interactive break out groups.

My house was cleaned today, as was mom's. So that's some nice news. I will have to take a look at how often I can afford this. I do know that I am not willing to go back to every other week for me. I love every week. My life is easy and clean.

SubC be good to yourself.

Good morning.

Tatoulia, yay for the wrapping with what you have!

Road - check the laundry. Good job on the trash!
mineral spirits?

No, we are not having fun. Yesterday one of my students from an anti-vax family and two of her best friends were missing from my class. Dh brother and sil have covid. Dh is trying to plan a last minute trip to visit his family and got mad at me because I asked how long they have been sick. His response "(bro) feels fine. He ran yesterday. I'm sure they got vaccinated."

Our parents live an hour and a half apart. He started out by trying to suggest ways we could visit both sets, but I won't go. I want very much to see my parents, but not badly enough to visit his as part of the cost. I don't know if that makes me a bad person, but I just can't. I am tired. I need a vacation. I only have two weeks and I will need to do some work for school during that time. Time with his parents is the opposite of a vacation.

I forgot to put the chain on the buck pen one night this week and the bucks got loose and rampaged through the barn, including all the things he piled in there from the garage. They knocked things over and climbed on them and chewed on them and pooped on them and right now I don't even want to go in my barn. If I had to let the farm sitter see that, I would cry. I don't have time to clean it up before he plans to go.

So I think he is going alone. That is kind of a big deal for us.

Gotta go - too much to do.

Oh ladies, major developments are afoot. I launched a major offensive on my room. cleared off the bed, stripped the mattress, managed to move the mattress and box spring to hallway and now I am **CLEANING OUT THE CRAP UNDER THE BED***

Can you believe it? Omg. I also thought about and wrote a thank you note in the same 5 minutes! I also did something very practical. fixed the storm windows in the master. Of course now I'm regressing and making Mac and cheese for breakfast which will probably make me sleepy and I won't get anything else done all day haha.

Will check back in later and let you know how it went! Oh, and I decided to put a cut off time at noon so I don't my usual thing of "oh my god I'm out of time and everything is still exploded all over the 2nd floor."

Back again. well I did it! Or started it. got the bed cleared off and rotated and put on risers. Took two attempts so I will be in some bonus pain later. got all the crap pushed out from under. Did a very superficial wipe down of floor and baseboards, moved nightstand into new position and lamp set up. now the bed in the master is covered with stuff that was on my bed and the hallway floor is covered with stuff that was under the bed. Looks worse but it's definitely progress. Big accomplishment so I will force myself to acknowledge that. I'm headed back up now to hang something for a curtain and start cleaning up. I did find many pairs of reading glasses, hair clips, about 1 load of laundry, some toiletries and a ton of garbage. This wasn't as gross as the walk way area had been but it was a little more volume than I thought it would be. Need to get an air filter running in there.

Wow! Wow! Wow! I'm inspired. Was going to lay down. Now putting on music and going to wrap those presents! You are amazing, Road. Also, listen to our teacher. SubC knows how to grade

About the hand soap: I use bar soaps. I do not like soft soap. I buy my soap different places. Sometimes I get Carress. In shower in summer I like Dial. I also treat myself to Caswell Massey and there are a number of Etsy sellers I like. I use one bar in bath, one by bathroom sink and one in kitchen. If I have guests over, I either put out a fresh bar or soap (saving my regular one in a container). If I have contractors over, I have one bottle of soft soap I put out.

Okay queue the music. I've got to Look Alive!

Okay I started pulling out Christmas stuff. Now to put it away. Have more than I'll be using this year but really not too much. I got rid of a lot last year. I'm good with what I have left. But still not using it all this year.

I did three loads of laundry today, two of which I still need to fold.

All garbage and recycling is out. Warm windy and rainy tonight. BF needed to run errands and so I ran them with him. I live even our few moments in the car together. I brought my kindle and read in the parking lot while he did his errands.

Ran the dishwasher a bit early tonight.

Road, you are doing BIG STUFF and I am so proud of you.

Goodnight, dear friends. Very windy now and I just want to hop in shower. I can hear the garbage in the alley rolling around.

Ok, here ends my whirlwind post parade... Got some clean sheets and blankets on the bed, fixed up the window so it was sealed better and hung a better makeshift curtain... H got most of the laundry to the basement, garbage is mostly consolidated on the landing... the nightstand, bed and floor are cluttery again but Had to be done. Joints are on fire and my legs are sort of numb... but I know I'll be in a better place moving forward cause I got this done today. Like last summer when I did the other section, I am seeing things I didn't see before... most notably, the condition of the walls. Scuffed, cracked, dinged, dented, dingy... defn. In need of repair and freshening up. But not gonna happen this time. Funny this summer the H was probably thinking this could be done over a weekend or week at most and here it is 6 months later... Bedroom phase 4 of 9 complete... (of part 1 of 3.)

Thanks for the encouragement. Hope everyone has a nice evening.

You made me chuckle, Road. You have a great way with words. And you are amazing! Wowie! I'm so glad we have each other.

I folded the laundry and put away. I have showered and washed my hair. I put a towel over my pillow since I don't feel like drying my hair. I'll use the flat iron tomorrow to smooth out any hair bumps.

I'm in bed and can hear the wind. I have my electric fireplace on for the kitty. I have the ceiling fan on for me. Going in to office tmr.