Ooh, finally get to taste some virtual SubC homemade ice cream! 🍨 Yum! 😋

At least this way it's calorie free. I have been back to monitoring the scale and it looks like tightening up on my food intake is helping to re-re-re-re-re-re-lose my weight that has come off and come back on umpteen times. 🙃

I just want to feel confident that it's going down nicely before I have to start living in jeans for the winter. All summer and into the often warmer than normal autumn I have managed to keep wearing shorts, and this year even sandals longer. I run warm anyway so I can do this down to 40 degrees with a hoodie and socks and shoes.

Lila, one thing that I do like so much about tubs of the same size is that the empties can be nested if you may need a few again but not right away.

I was at my storage unit last night briefly just to pick up my copy of Dune since the new movie has come out. Didn't do anything else, but maybe there'll be some mild weather days before the worst cold hits and I can just at least get things less strewn about, whether there's time to go through it in detail or not.

I'm ridiculously behind on many things, and in my crazy "pursuit" pattern. Like going to the library and feeling intrigued by many books and my mind just buzzing with ideas. ADHD dopamine cravings, I haz them. 🐝 Can't take Adderall or any of those, though, because of anxiety and some physical considerations.

Getting good sleep and having less stress would help too. Sleep is a little bit better, but morning always comes too soon. I did get the cat in my bed first time of the season last night, and he stayed almost the whole night. He is long haired so he gets too hot in the summer and prefers to sleep elsewhere.

As for less stress, well, I have no idea how to make that happen...

Lila, that is an amazing amount of progress!

Things were hung, things were sorted, items were chosen to leave, so many many decisions made! And you have a path! You should be incredibly proud of yourself!

ohhh good ideas for the tubs, SubC and CM. I just went and nested 3 tubs and put them on top of some things in the garage. I will take your ideas and move things from boxes into tubs, and then take the tubs I like least and fill them to donate. Good ideas.

I managed to consolidate the kids' books into one tub (donated extra and brought a few upstairs to read with grandchild).

I am really antsy to get this loveseat out of there so I can put the exercise machine down there. No one has asked for it yet. If it was not going to be rainy I would stick it outside so I can work. Maybe with a FREE sign on it out front. Son could take it to the dump for me on the weekend if no one wants it, but I worry DH will come home and be angry and want it back in the house. So better if it is gone before then. I just listed it free on a few more pages. It's in good shape so I hope someone wants it.

I will go into dd's room today and continue sorting her floor (piles of stuff). Hey, maybe I can use some of the empty tubs for that!

I hope everything is going well with you guys.

Thanks SubC. How is your day going?

I had to go out this morning and I did not have to dig through piles to find clothes to wear. That was nice.

I have a couple of bulky items that I want to try and sell. Generally I don't mind giving things away but these are worth more $$$, so that is something I need to try and do.

Last night in bed, I had the though to mail albums, photos, and other things I've held onto to my eldest son who lives across the country. This is the first time I ever thought I might want to give those to him. I am very obsessive about photos and have a big box of things from when he was a child. Suddenly I am thinking, I could clear up some space if I mailed him the big album, some things from that box (and take pics/toss the rest) and also his school and sports photos. It would free up a lot of space, really... all those photos in the cardboard holders. My only hesitation is that they could get lost in the mail. Hmmm. But I do feel ready.

Hot dog! It's a shiny new thread!

Hi everyone, I am going to TRY not to write a tome. (Can she do it?)

Puppy got spayed yesterday so naturally she is supposed to be calm and not run or jump or bother the stitches and she is doing all... also she has fleas 🙁 so that's a whole hairy project added to the plate this week. 1 dog dosed and 1 to go, and piles and piles of things that have to be washed now. Blurgh.

The H spent the evening in the ER yesterday. Same symptoms he was having when he got dx with pulmonary embolisms last spring, but this time they couldn't find anything wrong. Mystery! More insane emergency room stories.

Good and bad news with my sister. Good news is she got the monoclonal antibodies treatment and said she felt like a wilted flower who got a good watering... brought her back to life. Bad news is all three staff in that class are + and now two of the kids. There's been almost NO spread within the schools, but in this classroom full of kids with disabilities, there's now an outbreak. After all three teachers tested + they did not shut down the classroom or consider anyone in there a close contact. Then two of the kids got it or already had it and continued to spread it because they weren't quarantining people the way they should have. The boy my sister works with is in a wheelchair and she has to do transfers and toileting and feeding assist. It's a medical environment with none of the safety protocols of a medical environment. My niece and her bf are + too. I forget if I said that.

Now that rant made my post too long. Lol

So anyway, subC, you listen to me and listen good. You are one friggin awesome person, friend and mentor. Youve had a positive impact on me in the short time we've known each other so you be nice to my friend subC !

Lila, great job on the bins and the donations. I was just gonna chime in and say screw that box spring because it's a future "if/when" and it's a very large thing. If it can fit in a match box or shoe box I think it's a little more forgiving of scrutiny, but large objects ?show no mercy! But I blinked and you already got the job done! Nicely done! I'm impressed and taking notes...

COVID boosters scheduled for weds,thurs, fri for the three of us...

Wow! Lila, sending the photos to your son sounds like a marvelous idea! Yes! Mail them unless you'll see him at the holidays and you can give them to him. If you have an extra duffel bag, you could put them in the duffel bag and he'll be ready for the plane!

Great thought process!

Good morning!

Thanks road. I have a shiny new thread with good things on it!

Yesterday I dropped off my mixed recycling, the bags at the grocery store, and a small bag of trash, so my house is better today. I even ran the dishwasher last night.

I love your long newsy posts!

I am so sorry about your sister's classroom. That is my worst nightmare. I have a medically fragile diabetic student and when my Dh accuses me of being overly cautious I tell him that my decisions are formed by the need to know I have done everything possible to keep that child safe. The thought of her being in the hospital because I wanted to eat out.. No thank you.

I hope the fleas die quickly.

Lila, you are doing a fantastic job! It sounds like the tubs would be very useful in you DD's room. Go for it! Divide and conquer!

I hope your loveseat goes quickly! You are clearing out so many big things, it must be making a difference! I am proud of you for letting go of the dishes.

CM, I know that feeling all too well. Everything gets out of control and your brain tells "something new! Something different! Distract me!"

Can you pull focus and attack some small area in your room that has been neglected and will give you that "new" hit? If you can create just one area - make one shelf or one drawer perfect, create a small, flat, clear area to work on your computer, even find a new, unused notebook and a consistent place to keep it and start journaling your ideas so they stop spinning in your head. anything that feels like a point of order and control from which to confront the chaos. Just don't add anything from outside of the house.

Hi tatoulia! Don't be a stranger!

I have a whole page of good things in my journal from yesterday (I double spaced so they will jump out) still struggling with getting my school stuff in order. Today is the end of the first quarter! It is flying by!

SubC, was just reading through some of your posts. I am glad you are journaling again! And great job double spacing your accomplishments!

Today I went to visit my friends in my dinosaur costume. Then I went to boyfriend's and handed out candy in my dinosaur costume. I became fairly comfortable in it. I may try to wash it and see if I can donate it. I was surprised how happy I was in it and not self conscious at all.

Now I'm home and showered. I will need to clean out underneath my kitchen sink so I am prepared for the installation of the new disposal.

I've done quite a bit this weekend. I did stop at the grocery store in my way home from being a dinosaur and bought what I needed. I left some of it in the cat and BF will drive it down to me, too heavy to carry. And I carried a lot of heavy groceries for my mother yesterday.

I hope I can get my new laptop to work tomorrow. The screen is pretty small, I may have to bite the bullet and have the company send me a monitor. I don't want one but I'm not sure I'll be able to see this monitor. I've only sued the computer at the office so far. (I got it on Thursday)

So I'll go clear out under my kitchen sink. It's pretty organized since my friend did it when she was here and only my cleaners go in there. So it should be pretty okay.

haha, thanks Road, I appreciate the encouragement!

Husband is coming home late tonight and I feel desperate to get this loveseat out of here. Even if I could move it to the garage while I try to give it away... but there isn't room. Praying that someone who needs it will show up today! I posted it in more areas. But the bed, mattress, box springs went out the door yesterday and that makes me happy.

I took everything to the donation place. I do have one large box half full to donate, that needs to get filled and put in the car. I am determined to get the family room finished today. I had meetings this morning and more tonight so I have about 4 hours now to get it done. I can't do a lot at a stretch so I am resting now. Then will go down, see if there is anything else that can be consolidated, find places for the remaining tubs. Donate what I can. And try to make enough room for the exercise machine to get put down there. I know if it isnt moved before he gets back he will balk and say not to put it in that room, so it needs to get moved. But ugh there is just so little space unless that loveseat goes!

Wish me luck!

Hi all,

I am almost caught up but not quite.

I've been spinning and busy and realized I haven't checked in for a few days and after reading the posts also realize how much it helps to check in more often.

Lila, so much of what you describe is exactly what I have experienced and other stuff is still what I'm actively dealing with. I had seen a lot of great recommendations for the book "buried in treasures" so I bought it awhile ago. It's a workbook format and very flexible. You can read any chapter and it will sound familiar to you ? it has helped me so much. You were asking "why" about some things and this really helps you understand the whys ? and once you understand why, you see things differently. Like how there might be multiple pieces of furniture you'll eventually only want one of ? and right now all the multiples are full of things, and you had plans to acquire more. I'm at the stage where I've pretty much stopped acquiring too much stuff but because I've been living like this for a long time I'm still used to seeing certain things too crowded... like the fridge. So I've played around with only using certain shelves, etc. to try to train my brain to see something different as "enough." As Tatoulia said, it's building muscle. A few months ago we had some discussion about "guarding your space" as in when you clear something out the tendency is going to be to fill it again and the challenge is to hold on to the space. I was really at a low point when I found this group and with a lot of help and wisdom from these women managed to get the worst of the mess cleaned up and have gradually been dealing with clearing the excess stuff out of my room and in the process getting used to the open/empty areas again. It's still crammed by any one else's standards, but compared to what it was it's a huge improvement.

One specific practical example of deciding what stays in your bedroom vs. what goes is only keeping clothes that currently fit, that are in season, that you would not hesitate to wear, that you can wear right now as-is with no repairs. All else is a good candidate for storage bin within the bedroom if not removal. You can keep the donate/toss/sell sorting a separate project if it helps you make a path to the closet. You can also target things that don't go in a bedroom like anything hardware or food-related. Or if it's a potential project (like the frames). Maybe you read in bed or have boxes of books in there - you could decide how many you would like to have on the night stand - like 3 or 8? It's up to you - and everything else gets boxed up for another book sorting day? If there's no where to move the bins to right now and they have to stay in the bedroom, maybe they could be lined up along one wall? I wish I could come over there and help you and someone could come here and do the same for me in my room. 😏😆

Reading about the storms in New England - Tatoulia, I hope you're ok!

Lila, that will teach me to try to respond to posts before having read the very latest... you've leap frogged right on over the pond. Nicely done. And fwiw, yes, hearing about your exes and the empty space and emptiness ... of course it's related. 100%. And the acquisition is the depressed brain chemistry demanding dopamine and all those other good things. When you boil it all down it's pretty simple I guess. Or simple explaining it... fixing the causes and digging out is more complicated at least for me. You seem pretty good at taking action though... I'd say you have some pretty useful skills. I zoned in on what you said about your son breaking things... My son has Down syndrome and goes through phases where he's very destructive. It's probably been more of a challenge dealing with the ocd tendencies and compulsively moving things around the house in the rooms where I've tried to maintain order... e.g., the bamboo kitchen utensils got relocated to the bathroom drawers, the lamps must go on top of an antique book as a coaster, and all the meticulously organized binders mom works so hard to establish must be disemboweled on a regular basis... These "quirks" eventually led to basement, bathroom closet, master, and guest bedroom/office (my room) being locked with luggage combo locks. I can't blame my hoarding on him but his behaviors definitely increase the chaos... and my internal chaos increases his internal chaos etc etc. so anyway... all this to say I. Hear you mama.

P.s. Tatoulia, the image of you in the dinosaur costume made me very happy.

P.p.s. ? I just got my laundry. It was a whole unpleasant exchange with the H which I didn't appreciate but will spare you all. But anyway, I got the laundry.

Just checking in...

Got booster vax today. 0 side effects this time other than barely perceptible stiff bicep. I'll take it!

Little self care tonight... found my bag of cosmetics I've piled up from a subscription to whatever the hell that thing was. I just did it for a year and it was nice but I don't really do make up so ... but now I have a stash and my mantra is going to be consume consume consume til it's all gone. I'm sick of finding shoeboxes of dried up toiletries that never got used. So I moisturized everything and did some eye serum... I'm still a total mess but now my hands smell good.

Finished printing out another ancestors record... (about 4 hours!) I sat down and did some more paperwork including using my daily schedule worksheet which always helps me with productivity. Am starting to feel like I'm actually gaining ground on this room. I cleaned the floor again and got all the laundry out. I took out the bedroom, bathroom and kitchen garbage. I started rewriting my master list pages that disappeared... and posted a bunch more stuff on my door. I finished clearing off the front third of the desk all the way across. Now the standing desk is worse but my goal is to start using the desk for paperwork instead of my bed. I sorted through some paperwork in the process (from the desk) but not much hit the garbage this time. I called my sons drs office to deal with a repellent <?- (major exaggeration) situation. It was a little awkward but I got the job done and smoothed some feathers... I have at least 4,927 of those tasks still to do but one thing at a time. I kind of feel like I was spinning my wheels and now the vehicle is actually moving forward. I even put back all the binders and paper that goes along with printing that genealogy record. There's once again a place to put them and I put them there. The H walked by and again made a comment about the floor space. It really annoys me when he does that but I think I should feel that it's his dorky way of being supportive (but it still annoys me) .

Tomorrow I may take another stab at getting to a store for some lamps... I'm nodding off so I better quit.

Good morning!

Somehow it became November.

I was on vacation all weekend with my kids and Bean. We went to a beach house by Lake Michigan and it was cold but delightful. The drive was very long. Mr. Kitty is glad we are home.

Lila, I support mailing the pictures. I would send them insured - I realize you can't replace them with money, but I think the p.o. is more careful with insured mail.

Tatoulua, I hope your computer works out well.

I think I would love being a dinosaur and handing out candy.

I am not journaling as much as I would like, but I am working on it.

Road, good job on the laundry! It must be very difficult to live with rooms locked up like that.

We have a possible frost overnight tonight, and an almost certain one tomorrow night, so Bean and I will need to pick all the things from the garden today. I have a couple I want to try to pot up and bring inside as well.

I brought souvenirs home from vacation - a sticker for finishing a hike (not sure where I plan to stick it) and a few little rocks that I plan to put in my fountain - the fountain is from my grandparents' beach house and my cousin and I used to put pretty shells we found in it. I split the shells with my cousin, so there is room.

hello again. So dh came home and loveseat is still there. Unfortunately no one took it. The rest of the room is pretty good though. He is already piling things on the loveseat, so I guess if someone answers my ad and wants it, I will just move it all off and get that thing out of there and put the exercise machine down there without any discussion. If he wants somewhere to put his suitcases he can clean his room.

So I moved two empty tubs into my bedroom so I can work on that area next. Today I went in there, folded a few summer shirts and put them away and then got totally frozen. I just stood there looking at everything and muttering "I can't do this, I don't know how to start, I don't know how to do this." It is unbelievable to me that I have, over the past year, already taken out tub after tub and box after box of things from my bedroom to donate or move to the garage, and several bags of junk to the trash, and YET it is still a disaster. I cannot see much of the floor.

Please help with any and all suggestions. You all have helped me before (remember urging me to get the weights out of there, and to donate those cute fruit plates?) So please give any ideas or encouragement.

My bedroom is about 22 by 14. Furniture, which all needs to stay, includes queen bed, 3 tall dressers, one wide dresser, a cabinet, 2 bookshelves. I cannot believe I have all of those and they are full... ugh! And have been sorted! I also have 2... no 3... of those plastic drawers filled with stuff.

Closet is full of clothes. I purged it already and put in a shoe rack to get it organized. Closet shelves are full. All shelves and tops of dressers are full. Also 2 nightstands I forgot... no, 3! All full.

Rocking chair covered with piles of clothes. Small folding table with lots of prescriptions. Many empty bins that have nowhere else to go. Boxes of books that have no home but I feel I need to keep. I pulled one bin out from under the bed, it is sitting in the middle of the floor with summer clothes piled on it. There are piles of clothes everywhere but I cant get to the closet. Dog toys, dog food samples, another bin of dog treats. A huge stack of blankets (I gave some away but these are the ones I kept for cold weather, company etc but they have no home). Bins of photographs. A box of framed art that I am keeping (I donated many). The floor is just strewn with small bins, piles of books and shoes, dog toys, random items. There is no space left in the garage or any storage areas to move any of this stuff. It is stressing me out. And there are boxes of glass items in there because my autistic kid started throwing and breaking things again.

I cant walk to the closet or the window or the dressers. I can't handle this!

Good Monday morning and Happy November! If I sound cheerful I'm faking it.

SubC - so glad you got a get away. We're you on the Wisconsin side or the michigan side? I'll bet the trees were beautiful.

I ended up getting zonked from the booster shot. Totally fine first 24 hours and then kind of low grade fluish from Thursday evening through last night, so maybe it's something else. My son got his on Friday and wanted to stay home today which isn't typical so he's not feeling right either. But then again he was kind of out of it since last weds. He was telling me some stuff the other night that really spooked me - saying he was sick, die, like Eric, sign for "same" Eric, who is my brother in law who died last year... He has really limited language but has had some psychic experiences over the years and so it's nerve wracking. We never got in to see the neurologist after he had his seizure over the summer and now I'm convinced he has a brain tumor. The medical stuff is my most substantial category of dysfunction. I've just been lucky that he's had relatively few health issues. But when he does it's a challenge. I have a ton of health problems I can never get to the bottom of, partly because drs suck and partly because I suck. My friend was on her way over to help schedule the neurology appt. when she fell and dislocated her shoulder. I had to ask the H to help me last night which he said he would but I will pay for it (in toxic relationship currency)... send me good juju to get this done so I can get this kid's brain evaluated properly.

Ack! I'm totally freaked out now. Overwhelmed.

Ok I'm changing the topic Now. I went through all the laundry, tossed some undies and socks. Anything that has a hole or looks stretched out or is ugly, gets tossed. I still probably have 5 loads worth of laundry that is still lurking under my bed or in the basement, but enough of it is back in circulation to start to get a sense for what I have and what I need. I have at least 2 dozen undies, probably 3. I have at least 3 dozen pr. Socks, probably 4. This is particularly ridiculous because I only wear socks nov-feb. I guess I have about 8 pr shorts which is plenty but they're all falling apart at the same time. I've been shopping for replacements but no luck. Jeans... I have about 5 ? Defn need a few more. I have tons of tee shirts ( I mainly wear jeans or shorts, tees and sandals.) but they are stacking up on the Too-worn-out side of the scale now too. I'm pretty cheap so the way I've been buying is clearance racks at kohl's and target and thrift shops. But I no longer frequent thrift shops for obvious reasons. Clothing is not a hoarding category for me. Sometimes the mess gets so out of control that I lose track of things but I have no emotional baggage with clothes. Well, I have emotional baggage with some of my sons old clothes, but not with mine. Had to qualify that one.

My son finally woke up and he was fairly cheerful so i feel better now.

Over the weekend we went to my parents place for dinner. My son and husband and bro went to see a college fb game and then came over for dinner. I went early so I could go over some genealogy stuff with them. I gave them each some stuff to review and took back what they were finished with and gave them the next batch to review. My dad was a jerk a couple times. One of the issues was with the food delivery and plating things up. I think what happens is he gets nervous for some reason but isn't self aware enough to realize he's feeling anxious, and then he just starts spinning out on everyone. But mostly my mom. He wanted to make sure the food was hot so he was going to microwave everything after it arrived. I asked him not to do the chicken or the salmon (cause it would screw up the texture and overcook it) but naturally he did not hear any of that. He has a problem with boundaries. I think his only gauge for food is how temperature hot it is. He doesn't seem to register other aspects of a meal's quality which is curious.

They actually asked me to host thanksgiving which I was kind of planning on but we hadnt discussed. We don't have a working oven so that makes turkey challenging but they suggested they bring a ham and pies, and the rest of us can divvy up the rest which makes it very manageable. I am chuckling thinking how my dad is going to handle Having a small microwave or toaster oven to reheat the ham... I better start getting organized... gotta finish cleaning out that fridge I guess!

Update on my sisters crew... at least three kids in that classroom got it. I don't think the classroom was ever closed down. How they ever got a sub to come in and cover a room with a COVID outbreak is beyond me. Unless they lied. They probably lied. Also just heard that one of the other staff had just come home from taking care of her parents who had COVID. There is a protocol for how to act after you've been exposed but she blew that right off and proceeded to cause an outbreak. Is there going to be any disciplinary action taken? No cause the school will try to keep it quiet. Will there be any criminal action taken? No, but there friggin should be. Endangering all those people and their families and all those kids with medical issues. Omg. What is wrong with people.

Well anyhoo. I managed to end my lengthy post in a fit of fury!

Hate to leave it there but I actually have to run. I will come back. Later and try to be Susie sunshine again.

Tired, overwhelmed, over scheduled , and worried about Tatoulia.

Lila, you can do this. The most important thing is to just start somewhere. Anywhere.

How are you doing on the inflow? Have you managed to stop it or slow it to essentials? For example - don't buy dog food until you are out of dog food samples. Don't buy dog treats until you are out if those, don't buy any more dog toys. The dog will slowly help you clear space.

Nest your empty bins as much as possible. Is there an awkwardly sized one that can be the next donation box?

You say your closet is sorted and full, but you can't get to it - so you are not wearing the clothes in your closet? The goal is to keep clothes that you wear in your closet. When you get to it, you may want to purge some more items. Or purge items so that you can reach those clothes in your closet and wear them.

Can you hang some of the art? If there is nowhere to hang it, realistically what do you think will happen to it? Do you see a new hanging place being made, or will it be in a box forever?

It's fall, can you fold a blanket on the foot of each bed?

Unfortunately if all the clothes space is full and you still have clothes everywhere, you only have four options - donate some of the clothes that are not put away, donate some of the clothes that are put away to make space for the piled clothes, donate something that is less important than clothes to make space for the piled clothes, or decide you are actually happier living in a pile of clothes than you would be if some of them were gone. It sounds like you have come to the place where you realize you can't pick the 4th option, so you will have to chose one of the other three.

Yes, clothes cost money. But that money is already spent. Do you wish you had spent it on something that would make your life easier and more organized instead of on clothes? Guess what - if you get rid of the clothes, it will be as if you did! The money will still be gone, but instead of clothes, you will have an easier and more organized life!

Good afternoon merry sunshine. 😉

Way to go on purging sick's and underwear!

I am sad for those who are in dysfunctional relationships. I always hope they can be fixed, or that if they are not fixable, people can move on. Life is too short to spend it making yourself or someone else miserable.

My living room is trashed. 🙂

Bean is napping.

I had 20 minutes warning that the basement seal guys were coming this morning. I shoved everything out of the way. They are done now, but they said to keep children and pets out of the basement for 24 hours. I do not feel good about that. My pantry is down there. Also, since they just sealed the basement - isn't it going to be venting up through the house?

Ok I have no spare time, so I need to go use this nap to do something useful.