Tatoulia, I googled your sponges - quite nice! I had never heard of them before.

Today is a going places day.

I have a teacher workshop this morning. - I am taking some of those plaster molds with me to try to give away to other teachers. Then I drop things at the reuse store (I will probably shop. It is impossible to resist the reuse store, but I will be careful in my buying. - I try to keep you guys in my pocket like jiminy cricket.) then I take things to my classroom and set up a bit for next year, then maybe I swim.

Hi Tatoulia

You find some of the most interesting sandwiches.
I love sandwiches.

YEA!!! for a super clean bed!
Borax is a great product and has so many different uses.
I have used it before to scrub terribly dirty walls before painting.
When I had a small child I used it all the time for laundry and other uses.
Back in the 1070s they had a promotion where you send in some box tops and they sent you a kit to assemble a 20 mule team.
It was not small and had quality parts like wood for the wagon.
The mules came already assembled.

Interesting...
Swedish sponge, I'll have to investigate that.
I think I wash cat dishes maybe 40 times a day.
Soon as the bowls are washed someone is nagging me for some canned food.
With Twinkle's mouth issues right now I feed him the soft canned food because he will eat more and not keep losing weight.

Been just pretty much doing nothing much since I got home.
It was hot and humid this afternoon.
There were a few rain drops, very few.
Feels good to have errands run and plenty of food in the pantry so there's no pressure to go out in the heat.

I love the bunny story! So sweet. I could picture it!

Great work today, SubC and Tillie. WOW what a successful day for you Tillie! And all before noon! Excellent work! Sub
C you are doing great!

I saw friend for dinner. I had the charred broccoli with chick peas sandwich. So delicious. Then I stopped at store to get a few things for mom and I picked up dinner for BF. Then I hung out with him for a bit then took a walk. Now I'm home and ready to jump in my super clean bed! Thin comforter washed up nicely. The borax makes such a difference. Gives a little of that Dried On The Line feel.

Cm how are you?

Tillie too late to do dishes as I use them. But I've started and it's going well. Once they are clean, I'll be able to do a clean as you go. ESP for my little friend. I'm using a Swedish sponge, something that makes me think of SubC. It's good for the environment, can be used for all sorts of things, and can be cleaned in the washer. Pretty nice thing to have. I give them now as gifts to people. They are terrific.

Thanks for the input on the Bosch brand. I think I will love it. I have no anxiety since I trust the company and their workers.

Hi Subclinical
That's a really cute little bunny tale. 😀
The other times she was just playing hard to get but that last time her real emotions came out.

Very glad you put "nap" om your list.
I do that kind of thing too.
I write "shower" on a lot of my lists to remind me to call it a day and spend some time resting and doing self care.

WAY TO GO! you did a lot today!
Get a good night's sleep since you missed nap time.

Tillie, I hope you have plenty of ice cream!

I also went to the grocery store and the bank. It must be grocery day. CM do you have groceries? I don't want to think about what would happen if you ran out of sno-cones.

I did not get home until 5:00 though. The next thing on my list for today is "nap", but it is too close to dinner time, so no nap for me. I have started putting it on my list so I at least consider it as an alternative to snacking and watching videos. Dh will be home in 45 minutes, so I will start cooking soon.

Tatoulia, Bosch makes good dishwashers!

I cleaned the last stall and around the bunny hutch this morning and my thighs are sore when I go up and down the stairs. I also got feed today, so I have been very busy. And I filled my gas tank and dropped off my trash.

Last night I left the bunny out in her run until almost dark. Usually she wants to stay out longer and holds very still when I come to get her like she hopes I won't see her, but last night as soon as I opened the lid, she ran over to me and sat up on her back legs to be picked up. I felt a little bad, like she was saying "mommy! You forgot me!" But it was also very cute.

Forgot to mention that with all that running around I did, I was back home before 12 noon.

Good Afternoon Everybody

Hi Tatoulia
Without a dishwasher it is best to wash dishes as you go.
Takes a few seconds to wash up a lunch plate and glass.
But it makes such a huge difference at the end of the day to not have a heap of dishes to wash.

YEA! for getting the order in!
Solid plan using the card and paying it off in two payments.

Don't let others in the walking challenge make you feel like you have to compete with them.
You walk for your own self and only when you are up to it.

Have a pleasant dinner with your friend. 🙂

I went into town!!!
Paid the property tax bill, 437.00 for the year.
Filled 4 water bottles.
Stopped by 2 thrift shops.
Bought a Winter weight shirt (2.00) at one shop and 2 yards of decorative trim (25 cents) at the other shop.
Then went grocery shopping.
Bought lots of food for me and the cats.
Resisted temptations left & right, stuck to the list.
Got some mint chocolate chip ice cream, ice cream was on my list. 😉
Now I have enough provisions here to get us through the next two weeks.

Hello everyone! Tillie I suspect you are out shopping. I ordered my dishwasher, a Bosch. It will be delivered and installed on Wednesday. So that means I'll have to change the day my cleaners come here.

My laundry is done and I'm now washing dishes. I need to put new sheets on the bed. I'm meeting a friend for dinner at 6. I have my windows open and ceiling fan on.

I am eager to get rid of more things.

Hello everyone!

I need to do a grocery shopping. I couldn't do a thing over the weekend. I was going to go after dinner with friends Monday night (I did end up going and I was glad for it) but it was pouring rain with lots of lightning so I got a ride home from one of my friends.

Someone at the walking challenge at work said she was shocked to see that 1) she was up higher in the rankings and that 2) I'd slid to #7 and that she was shocked. I told her with the weather, I just can't do anything. I took the train to work yesterday because of torrential rains but I did walk home and I did take the long way home. I'm home today and meeting a friend for dinner tonight and will walk both ways with maybe a stop at the store.

So I haven't been doing much of anything. I need to wash my dishes today. I'll start with taking out the ones in my dishwasher. I've chosen my new dishwasher from a local place, Yale Electric. I've bought most of my light fixtures there and my mother had them do her entire kitchen at her last condo. They are local and good and have their own installers, which is very important to me. Using Sears or Home Depo was always a crap shoot because they used contract workers, and the service level varied. Once Sears sent me a broken appliance, and then I had to go through hoops and other obstacles to get a new appliance. And it was a hassle. Of course I'm not sure if Sears still exists but I don't expect anything better from Home Depot.

I'll call Yale in a bit to finalize it. BF offered me $$ but I'll put on my emergency credit card and will pay it off over the next two paychecks. I just had to finish paying that other condo assessment and my property taxes so I'm a little tight right now. But I'm comfortable with using the credit card for this.

Doing laundry. Going to wash my thin white comforter today. It's a bit dingy right now.

BF says he thinks I'll have the ladies come in to do my dishes but I'm trying to avoid that.

Good Morning Everyone

Hi Subclinical
YEA! for another good weather day there!

WTG! for taking advantage of the days.
You must have really worked hard to be exercise sore.

Reusable packaging...
I just wish everything was not so overly packaged.
Seems like when I come home from the grocery store, I end up filling half a grocery bag up with packaging.

Unfortunately, I can not find any use for most all of it.
Online purchases are overly packaged too.
Paper, bubble wrap, a too big box for a small item all for something that could have been put in an envelope.

Had a good night's sleep last night.
Going to town today.
Will stock up on food for me & the cats, enough to last us two weeks.
By then maybe the worst of the heat will be over with. 🙂

Tillie, i'm Glad you got a nap. Grief is exhausting.

Yesterday I got two stalls and the run-in cleaned. I also put away the things I brought from dd's house, picked blackberries, and did some dishes.

More dishes today (they piled up a bit) and more stalls because we are having a miraculous second day that I am home with nice weather!

I do have to go to the feed store - because I am out of feed, and the grocery store - because I am out of soap to wash clothes.

I am a little sore today, but not "overdid it" sore, just "exercise" sore.

Someone on my other bb started a "reduce your trash" challenge, and I think I may have gone a little crazy on their thread.

Someone talked about "reusing" packaging, or giving it to someone who could reuse it, and I asked how much "reusable" packaging we really needed to supply everyone on the planet, because I have 5 overflowing boxes of it in my basement.

Good Evening Everyone

Had an hour long nap this afternoon.
Feeling so much better.
Got the watering all done.
While I was hosing all the dust off the car it rained a little, very little.
But I thoroughly enjoyed being out in it.

Have the car rinsed, my shopping list all made up and my empty water bottles in the car.
Just took a beautifully refreshing shower.
All ready to go into town tomorrow and buy some food.
Hoping I get a good night's sleep tonight.

Hello Everybody
Thank you

Hi Subclinical
Hope your weather was pleasant and the stall cleaning went easy.

Hi Tatoulia

Hi CriticalMass

Well, as expected, hardly slept last night.
Got up and watched the sunrise.
Had a severe headache and neck pain but been medicating with aspirin and lots of tea and the pain has eased up.

Overcast day here and I actually had a few raindrops.
Been watering the trees.
With the high temps I have to water more often right now.

I just had a glass of instant breakfast in almond milk and two graham crackers.

Tillie,

I will be praying for the family of the little boy.

Praying.

Oh Tillie.

I am going to continue the other conversation for people who follow directions.

I'm glad you have a plan to get food.

My dsil is not as bad as Steven. If you look at the photos that go from 1-9, he is about a 4 or 5 in "his" areas, and a 2 in areas that are shared (although Dd things the garage should be shared, and he thinks it is his.) Dd can't go in his room (office/art studio) without knocking something over, but I can. The kitchen is a zero.

He is a very clean hoarder though. No dirty clothes, no food or other organic material (except bark, for some reason he is storing shredded bark in containers in the garage.) One of the reasons he "has no time" is because he is constantly moving things to clean. They have two inside cats and a dog and their house is cleaner than mine.

The weather is supposed to be very pleasant today, so I will begin by cleaning stalls.

I am going to write something here that I do NOT want anybody to read.
Please, please, please stop reading now!

At the end of my road is a street.
A little two year old boy who's family lives on that street went missing this evening.
All the Sheriff's deputies, the volunteer fire department personnel, search & rescue and people who heard about it all come out and searched for him.
I was out there searching with my flashlight along with them.
There are irrigation ditches that periodically run, to water people's crops.
Tonight the ditch was running.
The rushing water had carried him far down the road.
They were attempting CPR.
We searched for him for over two hours before he was found so I do not have any hope they were able to save him.
I feel so all alone here all alone but for two cats.
If you did disobey and read this, please say a prayer for the tiny child, his parents/family and for all the people who searched so hard to find him.
We are all so heartbroken...

Hi Subclinical

That's a great plan, to wait and see what inspires you to get into.
Enjoy your alone time too, eat something cool and light, maybe some music.

I think metallurgy in a small ceramics kiln would destroy the kiln.
Very glad you are keeping her things safe for her.
She may as well put up the hose holder herself since it's just sitting around there.
I have taken abandoned things that were just sitting there and put them to use around here.
Steven had 5 ceiling fans, new in original boxes.
I needed a ceiling fan so I took one and installed it.
Enjoying it as I type. 😀

Thinking one day this week I'll head to the grocery store in the evening.
Stays light out till late this time of year.
That way it will be cooler and still light out when I leave the store to come home.
Plus, if I buy ice cream it won't totally melt before I get it in my freezer.
I'll use the insulated tote bag too. ;D

Good job with the t-shirts and the litter boxes CM. You and badger had a busy day. I love the sno-cone picture.

Tatoulia, I hope you get a new dishwasher quickly.

Tillie, be careful if the heat, but don't run out of food or we will have to send badger to ride shotgun.

I don't know how much I helped my Dd. I think mostly she got to vent. I did agree that she should just go ahead and put up the hose holder her dh got to put up on the side of the house, and my car is full of empty bins, glaze chemicals, and the test kiln dh uncle gave her, which I told her is simply on loan until her space availability changes. She can always come use it here. Her dh wanted to keep it to experiment with metalurgy, but it is not really the right piece of equipment for that, and it is hers.

Tomorrow I am staying home all day and I don't have to cook dinner (dh is eating out with his golf buddies) I haven't decided yet what to get into, but I am determined to make progress somewhere.

Good Afternoon Everybody
Cool glass of water "CLINK!"

Hi CriticalMass
You have been very busy!
WAY TO GO!.

YEA! for clean bunny litter boxes!
The bunnies thank you too.

That was excellent reasoning about those Tshirts.
Dollar a bag, take the ones that you want and donate the majority to another store.
I've done that too when the thrift shop bundles up items and I want some of the things but not all of them.

Good luck to you & your roommate with the crazy schedule.
Stay out of the heat and stay well hydrated. (((hug)))

Hi Tatoulia
Sorry the friendship has run it's course.
But grateful the breakup is mutual, short and sweet.

It is perfectly acceptable to cancel/change dinner plans.
Sometimes it is better to bow out or you pay for it later.

The hot weather warning here is still in effect.
I'll keep watching & waiting for an improvement before I venture into town.
The cats have put themselves on pause finally.
They both have become terrible nags.
Loudly demanding canned food or snax at random times.
Getting right in front of me and not moving out of my way so I would have to trip over them or step right on them.
Giving in to their demands is just making them do it even more. 😛

oops - forgot to finish the 2nd paragraph of previous post:

And this morning I cleaned out both of the bunnies' individual litterboxes! *happy dance*

Badger is earning the sno cones - I got the new battery installed in my tablet. It is going to save me SO many headaches.

Just got done washing the thrift store T-shirts and a few pieces of my own laundry. And this morning

Tatoulia, I hope you get the cool weather soon. My FB friend in Pawtucket RI has been telling of the heat but I guess they have gotten at least some promising clouds. Anyway, do scale back your exercise sensibly when it's so horribly hot. Saturday when I arrived at the library I questioned whether it had been foolish to go out and I even considered turning right around and heading home! I did go on inside and took time to get water, use the restroom, and mosey about cooling off before sitting down at the computer.

I'm going to print out the new novel pages I wrote - may write some more before I do, too!

Great work, CM! The badger certainly earned her sno-cone! Well done! And great solution for the t-shirts

Tillie I believe the dishwasher and I will part ways. We're glad to the friendship, etc, but the dishwasher has changed and it's best for us to move along. I'll shop this weekend for one.

Wry humid here. I have dinner plans tonight and for reasons that are nebulous, I don't feel like going.

I'll write more later.

Keep up the good work!!

Haha, Tillie, we cross-posted!

Badger's Sno Cone pic is up on Instagram but I was attempting to put it up here too. I'll give it one more try.

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Hi

Badger Day on Friday was pretty successful! My roommate got her car thing straightened out, even if the person she dealt with was grumpy.

I got my talk with the Y personnel about security issues, so I think I'm satisfied. I'm always aware of my surroundings as much as I can be, have read crime prevention tips, etc. It's just that there really hadn't been anything like what happened there this year, so you come to trust a place is doing well. Then all of a sudden two crimes in a short space of time.

With the first one, they obviously made a mistake in hiring for the children's program, which may or may not have been preventable. It was the second incident, the person from some other entity that uses the facilities, out in the whole place where I would be, that was of direct concern to me - not that I'm not horrified about the other thing involving someone's child.

But I'm going to start going back, and I can always let my roommate or a friend know when I'm going, etc. and text them to check in if that helps me feel more at ease.

I also flew out with about an hour and a half left in the day and got my medical scans scheduled - on the same day, so that will be efficient.

I was tired by then! These were the days of 100+ at least when one factored in the heat index, and I was tired. (This week is better weather-wise.)

That left one more task: To drop off mine and roommate's donations at a thrift store. Which I did. I also did a bit of a naughty. I shopped. Didn't spend much but got 3 bags of T-shirts. They sell bags of about 6 shirts for a buck a bag. We had gotten some white ones awhile back to practice painting on for the bunny club craft sale at our fundraiser.

The ones I bought, though, were various colors - I've wanted some T-shirt fabric to make certain doll garments such as, well, T-shirts. And sweats, pullover dresses, and the like. It's expensive to buy yardage of that, and I don't need a lot for doll items.

Still, I had a bit of a "What have I done?!" moment sitting in the car opening the bags, examining the shirts. But I had an idea. I sorted through them, keeping only about 1/3 - the ones that weren't worn and pilling, duplicate colors, or hard to bring myself to cut up, like local sports team ones somebody who is a fan might want. I resolved to re-donate the 2/3 to a different thrift store! Heehee!

On Saturday I did just that. Before going out, I also cleaned the bunnies' playpen litterbox, then after dropping off the donation of T-shirts at the other store (I didn't buy a thing there!) I went to the library and worked on my novel. It was still exhaustingly hot outside, but the AC inside was fine. And I got quite a bit written. Was very pleased with that.

Yesterday I needed a nap, so I took one. Was hoping it would rain; a chance had been predicted, but it was one of those that fizzled out. However, the cool front was plenty to be thankful for.

The task is to install a new battery in my tablet. It is a long overdue task - I'd ordered one battery which didn't fit and it took me forever to return it. Thank goodness the return was accepted and I now have what I think is the correct battery. Which after I am done typing this I will go and (cross your fingers and toes) successfully install.

This week is going to be crazy, so you may or may not hear from me. My roommate's workplace has been gearing up most of the summer for this educational symposium thing Wednesday through Friday. It's a huge undertaking and they're short staffed. I've been praying it'll go smoothly, but it's going to be taxing on her. And I'm helping by doing extra stuff here especially Friday when she's going to have to get up at Zero Dark Thirty to be there for some early event.

But at any rate, Badger did certainly earn his Sno Cone!

Good Morning Everyone

HI CRITICALMASS

Hi Tatoulia
Yes it does get boring when we have to go into survival mode.
Laying low, hiding out from a danger.
Thinking about all the things we would/could be doing if it weren't so darned HOT out there.

Glad Miss Kitty is keeping hydrated.
Been nagging these two to try drinking more water.

Hope you and dishwasher can patch things up and live together peacefully from here on out. 😉

Hi Subclinical
YEA! for being organized and prepared with clean dry clothes & towels!

I can totally relate to your Dd's situation.
She has every right to keep the areas of her home clear, clean and safe, she lives there too.
Watching Steven, I think what a very sad existence it is to be a slave to a cluttered hoard of possessions.
Never any time for other activities, only forever just churning the hoard, day after day, year after year...

All my best wishes to her that he will come around soon (((HUG)))

I'm sure he won't mind you taking those kitty litter buckets because they seem to always keep coming into the house faster than they get used.

Need to go into town this week.
Need to fill water bottles, buy cat food and since I'll be at the store I would buy some fresh food for me.
Also have the property tax bill that starts to be due in August to pay.
But it's HOT out there....
Would go shopping at night except the oncoming car lights blind me.
Oh well, I'll hose off the car and get my list all ready and see if I can persuade myself to try for Wednesday or Thursday or maybe even Friday.

Tatoulia, i'm Sorry you were bored, but it's good to take care of yourself.

We had an absolute deluge yesterday that finally broke our heatwave. the rain was coming down so hard that after I got my fair stuff to my car, I changed my clothes in the car in a parking lot I knew was full of other people in cars, because I could barely see the cars, let alone the people. I was happy that my "fair kit" with extra clothes and towels was still in the car.

But after the rain we were able to pick blackberries with our friends.

They took the jars and left behind pesto, jam, a zucchini (they helped us eat some of the ones from fair), and unfortunately a styrofoam cooler, which they left by accident but refused to come back for when we called 5 minutes after they left "oh keep it, we don't need it." It takes up half the space I cleared of jars, but I will keep it until I send it away with someone full of cheese or milk. I hate styrofoam!

This afternoon I have my class, and then I am going over to dd's House to see if I can help her. She has been reclaiming the spaces in her house that are supposed to be clear spaces this week while her dh is gone (she puts his stuff in his non-functional "office") she said "I just want to go through and throw all his crap out. I know that is wrong and not helpful, but I am drowning. And he complains that he doesn't have time to do anything, but he spends all his time dealing with this crap."

We are going to sort and organize a little, with an eye toward possibly reducing shared items that he has not shown attachment to and identifying a few selections that I can help her prepare to have a conversation about.

I am going to be bringing home some glaze ingredients that I have made space for in the studio, and some empty cat litter buckets for my classroom. He has said several times in the past that I can have them, but then he doesn't "get around to" giving them to me. I truly don't think he will mind.

I'm out now and running errands with BF. Very muggy but he has refreshed the AC in the car last week so it's very nice.

I will keep an eye on the weather. Can only take her out if it's ok. She will not last and neither will I! I do hope we will get to go.

Pausing the cats. My cat has paused all day. She's only eating her cereal and not her wet food. But she's drinking plenty.

What a boring weekend. I read and watched TV and stuff. I'll get back to walking as soon as it is ok to walk to the mall and not wilt.

I'll see how the dishwasher is doing. I hope it was just a misunderstanding 😀

Hi Everyone

Hi Tatoulia
About the exhibit...
Keep a close check on the local weather there and see when the heatwave will be lessening.
I heard that by next Saturday it should be "normal" Summertime temps again East of the Mississippi.
Then plan on taking Mom out to see the Toulouse Lautrec exhibit.

Wish I had a dish washer and hope yours keeps on working.

Kitties just love those sunbeams. ;D

The days heat is generating big gray clouds.
Doesn't rain, just blots out the sun and makes it muggy.
Before the drought we used to have lovely refreshing afternoon thunderstorms.
Wishing they would return.

Discovered Vudu has a lot of movies to watch for free, with commercials.
The commercials have been one 20 second spot about every 15 to 20 minutes apart.
Still think it would be a great option if I were able to pause the cats every now & then.

Just going on 5pm here right now.
Need to wait till at least 5:30pm before I start putting the sprinkler on to water the grass.
I just place the sprinkler on the lawn, go back inside, set the timer for 15 to 20 minutes and go back out and move the sprinkler to a new location, rinse & repeat.
Only 102 in the shade on the back porch right now.

That's terrific news about the cat mat!!! And so funny about trying to pause the cats! I've been in my pjs all day. I've read, I've slept, I've watched Hulu, I've slept some more and now I'm having coffee and a bagel.

It's almost 6 and the sun is streaming in the back, and my dear little friend is on the dining table, soaking up the sun.

The dishwasher was acting funky last night. I'm going to have to pay attention to it next time I run it.

Good for you for clearing out the wasps nests! You are so brave! Tillie I'd forgotten that you don't sweat. I sweat plenty for both of us! But seriously, what a dangerous condition to have. Really awful.

Soon I will shower and put my hair up. I do hope we go for groceries tonight.

My mother wants to see the Toulouse Lautrec exhibit and it leaves on the 2d. I'll try to get here there next weekend. Or even Thursday night if she has the strength.