Sometimes I go in Kmart for something small and come out with a full cart of clothes. Just because they were pretty. And cheap. I haven't done that for months now so I knew the clothes were from last fall or summer.

If I had taken them out to see if I wanted some and get rid of older stuff it would have overwhelmed me with decisions. All I ever wear are t-shirts and jeans anyway.

But I had taken everything apart to vacuum the carpet runner, clean the wood edges, clean under the carpet and clean all the shelves separately. I tried to tell her that yes she had done a great job of organizing but it needed some deeper cleaning. So we sat down and got some more books put together the way she wanted them.

I dusted every book all over. There are well over 900. And we reset the shelves so they are only on one side of the hall. I think it will be easier for me to keep clean that way and it doesn't look so crowded, closing in on both sides.

A big, nice surprise ~ no pee, no poop, no dried mud, no dead insects, no bad things at all. Just a tremendous amount of dust bunnies.

I still have the middle of the upper back hall to work on. There are sheets in the packaging, more books (mine), cardboard boxes, shoes still in boxes. I'll hit that tomorrow.

Right now I'm not going to stress us with decisions about getting rid of too much. I was able to set aside a stack of extra copies Laura had and she said she could easily donate those. Laura has always wanted to have a private lending library. She got the idea from some guy in Sweden. I'm just at the tip of the iceberg with books. She reads to the dogs every night, calls it *Story Time*. I'm pretty sure once we get more clean and organized I could take Laura to a local school who would love a big book donation for kids. She can be very generous as long as she knows what she has given will be genuinely needed and appreciated.

I'm going to attack the rest of the upper back hall today. There are hundreds of books there. My live-in daughter is an avid reader. Although she is 33 her favorite books are Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Berenstain Bears and all animal stories. We ran out of room everywhere else so I got her some narrow shelving a few years ago and told her she could start building bookshelves in the hallway on one side. Meaning stacking them very carefully with the sturdy wood at intervals to keep a better balance.

So now books are stacked on both sides of the hall maybe 4 feet high and nothing has been cleaned there for about 1 1/2 years. I sure as hell hope no dogs decided to piss there!

The worst bedrooms are on either side of the hall with closed doors. There are level 4 hoards in there and I never wanted animals to get in there. They would get lost. So I have to get to another light fixture to get some light back there.

Got the ladder again and took apart another fixture on the back stairs landing. As with the other one since it hasn't worked in over a year it was hard to take apart. Put one light bulb in. I don't fill them anymore because I try to save a little money with less bulbs. For whatever that's worth.

Filled another little vacuum cleaner bag. Lots of fur, little cat nails as they shed them from scratching and sharpening on the stairs. Lots of bits of cat litter that we have all tracked all over the place. Dried bits of mud from the dogs. I need to find the goggles in the garage to wear when doing these things that cause little bits to fly up in my face.

The back stairs are now basically clean. The only thing that most people wouldn't leave there are a huge stack of clean fleece dog beds hanging on the railing. The laundry room is on one side of the staircase so it's easy to hang the clean beds there. Then I don't have to go to the basement to the dog room when I need something for the kitchen. The other side of the back staircase opens to the familyroom. So the dog beds don't look great but from that angle but that's the least of my concerns right now.

I hated to think of myself as a dirty hoarder. It's so easy to ignore whole areas and say to myself well I keep these things clean and that's important. But I am a dirty hoarder. That is so shameful for me to admit. But how can I not admit it when I am getting into the real dirt and debris? Well at least the animals are in good shape.

So rather than sit down and give up I started on the back staircase. Got off a ton of clothes that were at one time washed and folded. Threw the whole pile back into the laundry room.

Found a knife, more plastic hangers, a roller thing to get fur off and a warranty for the back door storm door. The German Shepherds already jammed that twice and I had to pay to have it fixed. Finally I just took out the window part and let them bodyslam the metal part all they want. So that warranty is useless now.

Moved a snow shovel from the landing back to the garage. Shouldn't have any more snow to shovel from the deck for awhile. 🙂

Those stairs weren't too bad. I'll get the little vacuum cleaner around there now and do the whole staircase ~ carpet runner with hardwood floors underneath so have to get those edges.

One thing I've been a little concerned about is posting exactly what I have to deal with here. I'm aware that I have much more space and resources and time than most people. I never want to flaunt that. So as I begin to talk about specifics in terms of rooms please know that I am the same as everyone else. Mental problems. fears, insecurities, shame, guilt ~ wealth doesn't fix that.

Started to vacuum and remembered none of the outlets in the bathrooms upstairs work. Had to find an extension cord to plug in downstairs and run upstairs to the little vacuum cleaner.

Kept shutting my eyes so debris wouldn't snap up and fly into my eyes. Filled 2 little vacuum bags. Dug out as much dried on poop as I could.

I got about 6 feet of hallway, carpet and wood floor edges clear. And about another 4 feet of half hallway. There's maybe 20 more feet to go? I don't know. The animals are so confused.

When that is clear (maybe tomorrow) I'll try to use carpet cleaner and see if I can find some hardwood floor cleaners.

I've got all the supplies and all the good intentions. Just never got around to it.

Got the fixture off and got one light bulb in. The fixture was so tight. I'm not sure I want to put it back on.

Thank God for that window that opened!

Found another bag of new clothes. 🙁

So that sounds like a reasonable reason to keep the shirt and try to salvage it. Which it seems I have.

Is that mentality decent or is it so classic hoarder that I am bad? Not really bad you know but is it ok to try and save some things if I really can do it without too much trouble?

I found some Christmas presents I wanted to give but had *lost*.

I found a bag of bags. I save plastic bags to put trash in. In my mind they don't make plastic like they used to. 🙂 And in our county we have to pay 5 cents for them now. I'll keep those.

I dug out new (from a year ago) cardboard moving boxes I had planned to use for storage. Moved them to the upper front hall. >:(

Found a big bag of really good plastic hangers that I didn't want to get rid of. But most of my clothes are in piles since all the hanging space is taken so what will I use these hangers for? They are too good to throw out. >:(

Got it! I will take them to the Salvation Army. I bet they can always use more hangers since they get donated clothes that need to be hung for sale.