Oh Tillie.

I was hoping something would be better with the "working" and the bag going away. Sounds like he was just churning.

I'm glad you have your space heaters though.

Tatoulia, i'm Glad your mom is ok. And wonderful fireplace! Hopefully soon the construction will be over and you will have a nice fall way to op n your windows and get a little fresh air in.

Yesterday I gathered up a second bag of trash and dropped it at the grocery store. I was going to buy bananas for a snack, but they had some chocolates I really like on clearance, so I bought those instead. Some of the trash was things I had saved hoping I could reuse, but I decided that pile was getting too big and bit the bullet.

Today is my birthday. I'm 50.

I now get the senior discount at goodwill!

Also I got a card from my mom (and dad, but she signs his name) with a check that will pay for my next class, and a really nice note.

I slept in, and the turkeys came right up to the window this morning. Then something happened, and they suddenly started running around in a circle, popping up in the air, and making turkey noises. It was fun to watch. They all settled down and marched back into the woods.

There is a big juried craft fair a little bit of a drive from here this afternoon that dh has agreed to accompany me to since it is my birthday. I love craft fairs. I very rarely buy anything, so I am not a great customer, but I enjoy talking to other artisans and it primes my creative pump. Also potters almost always share ideas and techniques freely, so I often learn things. I do buy things sometimes. October is the start of the Christmas shopping/making season.

After the craft fair, dh is taking me out to dinner, and we have a concert tonight. Full day!

Hello

Lit the burn barrel this morning now there is room for ALL the campaign BS and ALL the solicitations for supplemental insurance or burial schemes etc. since in December I turn 65.
How rude!
Washed dishes, cleaned kitchen and did 1 load of laundry.

Went into the garage to fetch my space heaters.
It is a whole lot worse in there than it was before.
The foot path is only 8 inches wide at most and covered with garbage.
The stacks/piles lining the path are bigger & fatter with things poking dangerously out.
It's not a straight path and zigzags back & forth through/past stacks & big heavy things.
I had to raise the heaters up shoulder high to make my way out carrying them.
I am not a large woman and I kept banging my legs, hips and arms on the stuff.
It was extremely difficult to get the heaters out of the place I store them because he has heaped up stacks of boxes, bins and other heavy stuff right up to the yellow & black "KEEP CLEAR" tape I strung.
My back hurts and I'm sure I'm black & blue with bruises now.
This is also the space I have to store my cat trap and kennels/cages & other cat related items that I need right at hand but not in the house 24/7.
Anyways, I got my space heaters. >:(

Good Morning Everyone

Since it has rained the last few days it's safe for me to light the burn barrel without causing a wildfire.
It is supposed to rain some more later today and tomorrow too.
Need to get out into the garage to get the space heaters.
I only brought in 2 before and they are not the ones I use to warm whole areas, just take the chill off smaller spaces for the cats.
Have a dental appt. Monday for just a cleaning.
Normally by now I would be stressing out but I'm not. 😉
Want Steven to get the car serviced before Winter.
Oil change, antifreeze, etc. and other maintenance so it's all good to go.
I tell him this is not for me but for him should he be in the hospital in Reno again and I'd need to be driving in blizzards.
Seems he's always hospitalized in the snowy seasons, 3 times now.

Anybody wanting to do an October challenge?
Mine is working on cleaning up my part of the yard, gardening type stuff & general tidying it up and rearranging. 😉

Hello Subclinical 🙂
Happy you didn't push yourself into over doing swimming.
You have been doing fantastic with your thoughtful acquiring.
You are bringing home a few but very nice things, things of beauty and things that are useful for you. 🙂
YEA! the bunny's bad haircut is growing out and fleas are all gone!

"Sigh of relief" Tatoulia
Panic attacks are so terrifying.
Very, very happy your Mom is alright, nothing drastic.
YEA! that the "sausagy" smelling man set up the fireplace heater!
Sorry but that had me laughing out loud. ;D
Steven cooks his own food and sometimes he really reeks of garlic for days.
Just keep spraying the Febreeze. (((hug)))

This evening I handed Steven another bag of meat from the fridge freezer to thaw and see if he is brave enough to cook and eat this weekend.
He accepted the bag from me without any negativity.
At this rate we will be through all the 2016 meat by the end of the month.

Good work, SubC. I would love to see your pottery some day. I'm impressed with your swimming!

Mom had chest pain last night and called me. She's generally not scared and she generally calls me after she has had an ambulance called. So it was weird to hear her so upset and struggling to breathe. She wanted me to just talk to her but instead I ran over. The aide was with her when I got there and then I rode in the ambulance to the hospital. She actually was fine. No signs of heart attack, no emboli, just some unexplained pain then a solid panic attack. She hadn't had any sleep the night before which may explain it. She spent the night at the hospital while they did the work-up. I was going to work from home today but just too exhausted to I went to the hospital to be with her, ran some errands, took care of some cleaning at her house. So it's a big relief to have her home. I ordered her dinner for her before I left.

Her doctor arranged for an ambulance to take her home tonight and I thought that was really nice. It took some pressure off of me.

My fireplace installation went very smoothly and it looks very nice. It will give us some nice heat while we work from home this winter. And it runs without heat too so it's very cozy.

Garbage out. Dishwasher running. The guy who did the installation smelled a little sausage-y. And the smell lingers despite my spraying febreeze. Hopefully by AM I won't smell it anymore.

I'm glad bunny is flea-free!

WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM ANONY AND CM. And everyone else.

Hi Tatoulia,

I don't understand what happened with your mom, but I am glad she is home and hope she feels better.

Bunny is free flea and her fur looks good now (they "groomed" her with scissors)

I brought home a book and a finished piece of pottery to keep today. Dh liked the pottery.

I swam 1400 yards. I wanted to do 1600, but I got tired and reminded myself that I look better not good.;)

Thank you for lifting me up.

Very relieved that she's home and you are home too.
Hope the fireplace installation/assembly goes smoothly and you & Miss Kitty can enjoy the comfort it brings.
Take it easy and don't stay up too late. (((hug)))

Mom home. Was a long day. I'm glad she's home. I took the day off and ran errands and sat with her and now fireplace guy is here.

Just checking in
(((hug)))

Good Morning Everyone

Hi Tatoulia 🙂
Been holding you and your mom close to my heart.
(((hugs)))

Very good thinking about the clothing and your changing sizes.
Poor Miss Kitty, life is so unfair ;(

Hi Subclinical 🙂
So, how is the Bunny doing?
Have all the fleas gone? 🙂
I still have not ventured out into the garage/carport areas so I don't know if Steven made any visible progress.
But I did see him carry/drag out a large black trash bag to the truck, so "something" has been taken to the dump.

So far so good...
So far the most pain from the injection has been from removing the Band-Aid.
The woman before me had 3 little boys. The two older ones were brave and didn't fuss at all but the littlest one cried.
So when the nurse was putting the Band-Aid on my arm I asked "should I cry now?"
She told me I could cry if I wanted to, it's alright to cry. LOL ;D

Mom still in hospital. Will get back to you later

WTG Tillie!!!! You did it! Glad it was a positive expert! Your arm may hurt tomorrow. One year I got my flu and my tetanus shots in the same day. One in each arm. I carried on like a baby the next day since both arms hurt.

Ice cream! For you, not me. I reached 20 lbs down today. Plus the ten I did (and kept off) over the past year. Tried on more clothes today. Two dresses I bought for fall are already a bit big. But I am not buying any more clothes. When I'm down another ten I'll get more clothes. But not til then. I need to be either down another size or in a completely different season. Since I can't wear wool, I can't really change my clothes from autumn to winter but I can accessorize differently. So it may be spring before I have to buy clothes.

Fireplace assembly tomorrow night! Congratulations to the kitty! She is not getting her bed.

Oh mom just called and she needs an ambit. Ttyl. Say a prayer. She's very, very dear.

Good Evening 😀

Hi Subclinical 🙂
Happy to hear you are looking a little better.
Good luck with the chipping away there. ;D

Hi Tatoulia 🙂
Miss Kitty is going to love sitting in front of the new heater!

Well, just returned home. 5:25pm
I DID IT!
Driving there it was cloudy overcast.
The wait for the flu shot was less than 15 minutes.
Got outside and it was very dark, raging winds, rain and bolts of lightning lighting up the sky.
Very impressive.
She was very kind and not spooky.
Said it takes about two weeks for full immunity to kick in so until then I will continue my overly obsessive hand washing and breath holding.

Cheering you on, SubC! Believe it or not, you sound better! Good work today! You are helping me to limit packaging and trash!

Guy will put fireplace together tmr night. That's good.

Still trying to get some work finished here. So much to close out the quarter.

I cannot believe that Monday is indigenous peoples day. Time flies.

Kitty is sleeping next to me so naturally I feel peaceful. I still can't believe she's mine. 13 years into it and I still can't believe my good fortune to have a little kitty.

I hope bunny enjoys the autumn weather!

We are expecting some humidity tmr.

Tillie, did you get your shot?

How did the Steven mini clean up turn out btw?

Tatoulia, I hope you get your fireplace together.

I had a good school day. L says I am looking better, but not all better, so don't push it.

I took to school a jar and a plastic syringe to never bring home.
I dropped off a grocery plastic bag of trash.

I brought home deli meat in my reusable container for dh, carrots in a plastic bag, three loose apples, and half a cheese pizza in a cardboard box (also for dh)

The bunny is getting a little fall evening weather in her outdoor run.

I am trying to chip at the backlog of dishes and laundry.

Good work, Tillie! I did some laundry today and I also ran much-needed errands: post office, hardware store, pharmacy and a quick dip into Whole Foods. I really need to get to a regular grocery store.

I'm tired. Trying to find someone to do put my fireplace together.

Good Morning Everyone 🙂

It is raining this morning!
Been so long since we got rain the cats are all acting nervous and weird. ;P
My plans for today are to putter around until 4:30pm.
Then I will go get the shot since it's offered from 5:00pm to 8:00pm.
I guess after hours so the space is available.
Laundry is all caught up so I don't have any that I can't wash anyways because it's raining.
YEA!!! 😀
A few dishes to wash later after I have dirtied a few more.
There are some new movies out on Netflix to check out.

Wishing everyone a happy day. 🙂

Good Evening

YEA! for cake Tatoulia!
WAY TO GO! for having your home visitor ready with just a little wiping!
So happy you finally have your pillows.
But what about Miss Kitty's bed? Will that ever happen? LOL ;D
Sounds like a soap opera...

Hi Subclinical 🙂
WAY TO GO!!! for making dinner and washing ALL those dishes!
Glad you have your new calendar, I already got mine too.
Yea! for getting groceries. Hope you have been eating well and enough. (((hugs)))

Thank you both for the encouragement. 😉
Hospitals don't bother me, I was a surgical assistant and worked in both the ER and OR and in our surgical office.
I have spent time over the years here in the ER at this hospital with Steven and neighbors.
I would drive while the neighbor would hold their crying bleeding child.
But the flu shots are being given in "the physicians" building, a place I have never been before and have no idea where I'm going or the best way to escape.
Whenever Steven was hospitalized (3 times) he was always in a hospital in Reno where I used to work so no problem, except I had to drive all the way to Reno where there is a lot of traffic.

With my agoraphobia there are some places that I feel safe.
Some familiar thrift shops, the bank, the grocery store, home.
Other places that are not familiar are hard to go to, they are scary.
I am also afraid to go to some people's houses even though I am not afraid of the person.
I never was this way before until that thing with my son happened.
I never had night terrors until then too.
I'm working on it, I'm much better than I was. 🙂
Years ago Steven made me my first computer in the hopes that I would start talking to people again.
It worked.

Tomorrow I will be brave and go get my free flu shot! 😀

Tillie, you can be brave!

When I was a kid I loved the hospital because I thought it belonged to my grandfather. All the other doctors and all the nurses knew him and knew who I was. When I went to get my tonsils out I was a little celebrity and kept wandering out of my room to find him or some other doctor I knew.

Don't Iike them any more. Deleted the transition.

Tatoulia, I am so glad you have your pillows and they are making you happy.

I made dinner. I think I cleaned more dishes Than I created.

I brought home a new calendar for next year. And groceries.

Yes I ate the wedding cake and it was so tender and so delicious! I danced a lot too so we are even on that.

Tillie I need you to go to the hospital tomorrow and get your shot. You can do this. I am odd. I like the hospital. I really like hospitals. I like the hustle and bustle and everything about them. I spent the night in the hospital the same week as the marathon bombing and I had called BF before the ambulance was called. He met me at the hospital and then came back a few hours later and then came back at around 11:30 PM. By then I was all settled in and he looked at me and said, you are having a blast. And then one of my nurses I knew from all the times I had been at the hospital with my brother. So that was good to catch up with him. So yes, essentially I love being there. So please just go tomorrow night and tell me all about it!!!

That said I don't like emergency room waiting rooms so I'm not completely crazy.

SubC you are battling anemia and you need to treat yourself gently. Congratulations on the weight loss! Two pounds is great! I will weigh myself tomorrow AM. Hoping for some progress!

It was fun only having to do a little wiping up before the pillow lady came. I am so impressed with her work!

Tillie I'm glad you are happy with the garden changes and a giant WTG to get the vacuuming done!

Re: challenges. Sometimes I'm better at them and sometimes I forget all about them. Part of being human.

Hi Subclinical 🙂
I am relieved that the iron therapy is having a positive effect.

The thing about these challenges is we don't put any stress on doing them every day or even regularly.
We all have good intentions to work diligently on our challenges but accept that life has a way of spoiling all our good intentions. LOL

Good luck with your weight loss goals for 2018.
When I did my "No Sugar" challenge I lost 6 pounds by doing nothing more than avoiding sugar.
Weight loss was not my goal, just want to be healthy and they say sugar does so much more damage than getting us fat.
Now I have been allowing myself to resume eating chocolate daily. ;D

It has been very gently sprinkling, more of a damp misting.
I have been watering trees and when that's done I will water the lilacs.
I vacuumed!
Moved stuff around and got under places too, even the couch.
Did cat chores & swept too.
Evaluated the garden areas I need to undo/redo and it is successfully coming along.
Still waiting for things to finish up and go dormant for Winter.
Already it is so much easier for me to keep up with the little bit of gardening I will be keeping.
"Sigh of relief!"

Tomorrow at 5:00pm is when I can report to the county hospital for a flu shot and so far I intend to do just that.
Strange place, strange people but there is no reason why I can't do this. ;P

Hi,

I'm reading, but i'm Struggling to post. A lot going on and very little of it related to the hoarding (except as it's all related...)

Having more good days now that i've been taking the iron for a week and a half. Working on executive function (good decision making) with mixed success.

Not totally keeping up with the exercise program, but trying to be gentle with myself and holding my two pound weight loss. (If I lose two pounds a month it will be a successful year!)

I like the challenges, they help, but then if no one posts about them for a couple of days I forget them.

Good Morning

Hi Subclinical 🙂

Hi CriticalMass 🙂
What a hectic week you have had!
Sincere condolences for the bunny (((HUG)))
It's like life conspires to keep you from having the free time to finish the quilt or do any other enjoyable pastimes.
WAY TO GO! getting things out from under the sink and the back plumbing access!
Wishing you peace and a much less stressful October.

Hi Tatoulia 🙂
YEA!!! HAPPY DANCE!!! 😀
So happy she finally showed up and you have the results you had hoped for.
Did you eat wedding cake?
I always do. 😉

Was awake at 3am yesterday and couldn't get back to sleep so I got up.
So of course I was exhausted by 3pm and dozed off to sleep every time I would sit down.
But in the morning I got to watch the sunrise and it was spectacular!
All vivid raspberry and orange and fuchsia.
The sunrise this morning was very pretty too but not as intense.
Weather forecast today says it might rain. No rain yet just cloudy.
Got all laundry done yesterday and watered flowers & grass.
Plan for today is to water trees & lilac hedge.
Today I willvacuum. Yes, I will do that.
So much more needs to be done but at least it will be vacuumed. ;P

Hi I'm back. I still haven't slept. Pillow lady did an incredible job on my pillows and she hung my shade and fixed something else for me too. She did a great job and I'm very, very happy.

Goodnight all.

CM you have had so much going on! You had a lot of hard situations to weather. Good for you to look at the positive side! I would've cried a lot about the bunny, too. Losing a beloved animal dredges up a lot of sadness.

I am so sorry that the new vanity already looks old. That is a pity. I'm so sorry about that.

I am so tired from the wedding reception. And pillow lady comes tonight. I just sent out a feeler but I wish I hadn't. I sent a text asking if she wants to move to tomorrow. I haven't heard from her so now I'm the flake in the relationship.

Happy October - hope it is a good one for all.

SubC, been meaning to say I get it now about your friend. Thanks for explaining. I'm an introvert; that plus the ADD plus possibly being a bit on the autism spectrum though not diagnosable (I'm subclinical, LOL!) - all of the above makes me not want to "people" in real life a lot of the time.

So sometimes I mistakenly attribute bad motives to others, even as I feel really put out if they attribute bad motives to me when they're not there. Lately my friends have all been going through as much stress as I have, so we're all kind of hair-trigger. So much potential for misunderstanding, complications, possibly even drama. Which then adds to stress and potential to snap at people, a vicious circle. Sigh.

Last week is over; it was a doozy as I probably already said. Some of it may spill over into this week.

We had the air conditioner breakdown, the big plumbing job, the replacement of the bathroom vanity, installation of an exhaust vent in the bathroom. My roommate said the guys call them "fart fans." ROTFL!

Would that such things didn't entail all sorts of disruption to prepare for, endure, and put back to rights after the conclusion thereof.

I've probably mentioned some of what happened this past week. About 2 hours after AC repairs were finished (midday Wednesday) was when I discovered the water leak in the bathroom. My roommate had me get all her extra clothes which were stored in her office closet. That's where the door to the crawlspace is located to access the plumbing, and it's also right behind the bathroom plumbing, hence the leak going through the sheetrock.

It was a blessing in disguise though for her, because I pulled ALL the clothes out and discovered that place where the leak had made mold; So I piled the clothes on her bed. The pile went 2/3 of the way to the ceiling. She has been sleeping on the living room sofa.

Many items stored under the vanity were ruined. But I'm secretly glad because I felt like there was a lot of stuff under there that needed to be decluttered! Bathroom items NOT thrown away we each had to stash in our already jam packed cluttered rooms. My things I plan to go through and downsize more too.

We went to Lowe's that evening and she chose a new vanity & sink, which was installed Thursday. Repair guy said we needed an exhaust fan for the bathroom. That was scheduled for Saturday.

On Friday I saw on Facebook where our rabbit club's mascot rabbit, a big Flemish giant we'd only had for five months, had suddenly become ill and was dying. He passed in the late afternoon. At that point I literally stopped sewing and put my head down on the bundle of quilt and let my mind go blank. I cried, but my tears weren't there - just dry sobs. Talk about being on overload. I was struggling spiritually with blaming God vs. trusting that He felt my sadness along with me. And it wasn't just the bunny - friends and family are going through some serious difficulties and I was feeling all that as well.

Life goes on, somehow, though. The exhaust fan got installed Saturday. I had gone to a doll show across town while this was being done. It helped cheer me up. I bought two collectible Barbies at an extremely reasonable price, and was satisfied, not craving to buy many many dolls. And met some nice local ladies who like Barbies. Needed the diversion.

By the time I got home, my roommate had discovered a small puddle of water under the new vanity. Not a lot but we need to get it taken care of. Plus the new vanity got all scratched - don't know if one of the guys put sharp tools on it or what. It made me really sad because it was something shiny, beautiful, and uncluttered - for two days, then it starts to look crappy like everything else.

So we're still kind of in limbo. I keep trying to finish the binding on my quilt, it's getting down to the wire with all the interruptions. I have today free, and hope to make progress. If I could finish the whole thing I would be doing the happy dance.

Thanks for reading and caring.

Tillie I'm being quiet as a mouse. Keep us posted.

I didn't keep up with the September challenge. I do desperately need an October challenge. I'm going to give this some thought.

I am exhausted today. We got home from the wedding at 1:30 AM. I stayed awake during the long car ride home to support BF. He was fine. He had one glass of wine and then I ordered him a coffee before we left but I still like to stay awake to support him. Very nice wedding. The wedding was local and the reception was out of town. Beautiful day and night.

So I'm trying to pull it together right now but I want to go back to sleep. And I have pillows arriving tonight.

Happy October!

October already.
Where has the year gone?

Does anybody want to do a challenge for this month?
I would like to do more outside clean up type work now that it's cooler.
In a month I should be able to get a lot done even though I would be working in short easy strides.

Hello everyone on this lovely very last day of September 2018.

Hi Tatoulia 🙂
Yeah, some people really seem to work hard to never have any kind of a sense of humor.
That's sort of the reason I am always so terrified of encountering the random unknown human out there.
Seems so many go out of their way to be mean, nasty and argumentative when I have done nothing at all to provoke them.
What they don't realize is how fortunate they have been so far that I haven't gone off on them, yet.

Today I got ALL the litter boxes properly scrubbed out and back in place with fresh scoop-able litter.
Did a few little odds & ends, nothing much.

Shhhhhh....
Steven has been doing stuff out there.
I do not want to jinx it but it looks a lot like some sort of decluttering.
He has brought out a lot of small (I think empty)containers from the garage and is sifting through the carport stuff too.
The door to get into the garage can now be opened instead of just a small slit to squeeze through.
Shhhhhh.....