Good Morning Everybody
Still morning here...

Hi Tatoulia
Keep up the important work of self health and having fun times. 😀

Hi Subclinical
Thanks for the explanation of 27,478 steps.

I always try to advise laying out similar items and deciding (rating them) which are the best and which are the least favorite.
It always helps to see what you are keeping as you let others go.
When we just focus on what is leaving we can sometimes start to feel deprived and then start to cling onto items that no longer serve us.

A nice clean tidy arrangement of all the "keepers" can help us feel confident with our cast-off decisions.

WAY TO GO! for finding some things to donate while organizing the basement!

Easy access through areas and ease in moving needed things through areas is very important.
That is something Steven has never accomplished here and it makes life more difficult than it needs to be and even dangerous.

Good luck figuring out an arrangement that allows you to keep that space and keep the walkway straight and clear. 😉

Went out early and watered flowers.
I have Poppies blooming in the catnip.
I did not plant Poppies. LOL

Jack was wanting extra pettings & lovins this morning at breakfast.

Planning to grocery shop tomorrow morning so today I hosed off the car.
Lots of tree stuff falls on it, it gets very dusty and birds poop on it. 😛

Sorry I've been absent. Working on health and also doing some fun evening activities.

Yay for kitty making it to, and more importantly from, the vet! SubC I hope dh is feeling better. There was a lot to read from everyone. CM way to go in the storage unit!

I'll pop back in later. Cleaners couldn't make it in time on Monday and they are slated for today. I purposefully haven't made my bed.

CriticalMass, that is fantastic that you are feeling motivated to tackle your storage area!

I bet that as you keep shifting things into the clear bins, you find more stuff that can go. That is what is happening with me, I didn't set out to clean anything out of my basement, just to rearrange, but it seems like I am finding something every day to let go of.

I found a picture frame last night. I had to call my mom and get her to "say grace over it" as we put it, but she was fine with me letting it go. I'm going to see her in July, and I was fully prepared to take it with me and give it to her.

I found an essay online called "From Hoarder to Minimalist in 27,478 Insanely Hard Steps" (obviously she is mocking the "seven easy steps" "10 easy steps" etc self help articles, but also, it is true.) Her "cliff notes" version was "step 1, get rid of something....step 27,478, get rid of something."

One of the suggestions she makes in her essay is to actually lay out items in a row to measure the items you are judging against. Her particular measurement standards are not what i'm looking for, but I find the idea very helpful. My favorite dress was hanging in the laundry room drying this week, and every time I walked by it, I smiled. It is comfortable, it is machine washable, it has pockets, I love the colors, I love the print, I love the fabric, and dh says it looks good on me.

So I should wear this dress every day. 😉

But seriously, I should be judging everything else in my closet against this dress.

I shifted stuff around in the basement last night. I accidentally made a space that I like having as a space, but dh path is blocked again, (there is A clear path through the room, it is just not the specific arrow straight path in the specific location that is dh one request for this room) and if I move the furniture so that it is not interfering with the path, I will have to close up the space OR move the furniture out of the room, and I don't know where else it can go, and I am sad.

There is a reason for the path. If the path is not there, items such as the big ladder for putting up Christmas decorations cannot be moved from upstairs to the workshop without taking them outside, walking halfway around the house, and negotiating the exterior stairway into the basement. The outside steps can be icy, or covered in snow, and sometimes (often!) it rains.

I am also starting to come to grips with the idea that everything that is currently in the basement cannot stay in the basement unless I want to have a giant pile of stuff filling up half of a room forever. The rest of the house is full, so any item that comes upstairs is going to have to replace an item that is already here.

I KNOW this, but I am not ready to accept it.

Hi CriticalMass

Yeah, that's Twinkle's problem.
Something about his gums rejecting his teeth. (?)
His brother Marty developed the same problem.

WAY TO GO!
For digging into the storage unit!

That's sorta like getting your feet wet before you dive in.

See, you need to go through it and find if there are any other things you do not want people to find if you die. ;D

That's one of the things "The Gentle Art Of Swedish Cleaning" addresses.

Hi,

Lots of news

Yesterday I went to do an errand and stopped on the way home at my storage unit. I'd wanted to get my small stash of 4th of July fabric in hopes I could make some doll clothes with it. I also thought I'd just drop off those clear tubs but not get involved in a big project.

But when I got there I found myself going ahead and swapping out several of the opaque tubs for the nice new clear ones! It just sort of happened. Occasionally my ADD works in my favor that way.

And this morning I ended up going by there again, and stopping to get my glass beads, and doing some more putting stuff in nice tubs and stacking them neatly. This is seeming less intimidating, and quite satisfying.

It may be less fun when I get to the books, but I'm not to the books yet so I'm not going to worry about them.

I'll go back more this week and comb through for things to donate to the church sale. Maybe even some books, LOL!

One thing I found was kind of cringeworthy - I thought I'd already gone through most of the "If I die, I don't want anybody to find this." I knew I still had some journals but I thought I'd purged the ones about the darkest times and the most embarrassing secrets of my life, years ago before my hysterectomy surgery. But I found some that apparently slipped through the net, and I was like Hoo boy, glad I caught this, but it's not going to be fun going through it. I did go through some of it last night. There will be a shredding party. I am thinking of putting some of it in highly disguised form in one of my novels, it would make good character development if I can distance it emotionally and change details, etc. If I don't think I can, then it will just get shredded as is.

Glad Twinkles got some vet care - is he having that weird ailment where they reabsorb their teeth? My roommate's girl kitty has that. She is managing okay at the moment, but she had lost some weight last year. Hasn't put it all back on but looks better. She is the one more likely to do scarf and barf, and maybe that has something to do with her teeth.

The times we wish they could speak our language and tell us what they need... we would worry less.

I'm at the library and I'd better get home and put my girl bunny back in her cage and get the boy out for his run.

Hi Subclinical
Thank you
Yes, at 12 1/2 pounds he is boney.
He's gotten over the "going to the Vet" mood (snit) and come out from under the bed.
LOL ;D

YEA! for the filter and two pair of boots off to donation!
Very glad you won't be keeping around footwear that would hurt you.

Fresh donuts
such a tasty treat.

Bet it was so nice hiking by the stream. 🙂

Glad to hear the good news about twinkles! Mr. kitty is only a medium sized cat, so when I saw his weight loss, I was very worried. That would be almost 1/4 of my cat!

I'm glad Steven took him and will pay the vet bills too.

Dh and I had a nice time. I got donuts at the market, and we went for a hike near a stream on the way home. He told me about the hike and so I started to put on the hiking boots i've had since we were married, but haven't worn in years (usually I hike in sneakers) they were really stiff and I laughed about it, and he said "those are dead. Get rid of them." So I brought the "hand me up" boots my Dd gave me where she outgrew them in high school. They were ok, but they crowded my toes a little and would not have been good for all day. So, that is two pairs of hiking boots leaving.

Dh has gone to play golf with people from work, so I started back on my basement, and I found a replacement coffee filter that does not fit the coffee maker we have now. So that can go too.

Twinkles has returned from the Vet alive!

His mouth issues are back, something he inherited from his parents.
Has an August appointment to get dental work done.
Also received a steroid shot to help his mouth.
He also has pink eye so I have ointment for him.

He lost 2 1/4 pounds since he was last at the Vet.
Now he will feel like eating more food and gain back some weight.
He is a large cat and should weigh 14 to 16 pounds.

Good Morning

Hi Subclinical
Have fun at the market.

Think I should go to town some time this week.
Didn't go anywhere last week.
Running out of food now.

Been keeping busy doing lots of little things around here.

Steven finally agreed to take Twinkles to the doctor.
He has an appointment today at 11:20.
He's been losing weight and being extra whiney.
I would have taken him myself but whenever I do Steven gets angry about the bill I paid but when Steven takes them and pays the bill he doesn't B*%$! at me about it or say mean things to the cat.
So I make him schedule appointments & pay the bills. :p

Dh felt better yesterday evening and went out for some food and made dinner.

We aren't going to the shelf store today because today is going downtown to the market day.

Also he spent a lot of yesterday curled up on the couch surging the web and sketching and decided he is going to build his own custom stereo shelf out of mostly wood he already has in his shop, so I think he probably won't get interested in the other shelf again until after that is done.

Good Afternoon Everybody
So much to catch up on! 😀

Hi Subclinical
WAY TO GO!
You have been making some great progress!
Organizing, straightening, recycling, rehoming, repurposing, finding space in new under used places and donating.

Hope your Dh just needs one day to get back on his feet. Be terrible if his week off was spent feeling punky.

Wishing you both the best time looking for the exactly perfect shelf.

Hi CriticalMass
WAY TO GO!!!!!
For all you got done with the laundry!!!! 😀

Thinking about things is where it all begins.
First we think & brain storm for solutions then we can begin the work of putting our thoughts & plans into action.

Via Con Dios Chica 😉

Hi Tatoulia
YEA!!!! for cleaning ladies!!!
WOW! Just WOW! that the dresses are all & only the ones you currently wear!

Been very busy since early morning.
Feel very good about all I got done today.
Scrubbed & scoured the back porch, it was disgracefully filthy.
Had 2 loads of laundry on the line over night, brought it in and put it away this morning and then hung out 2 more wash loads I just did.
Been watering trees and doing a little yardwork too.
My coat is all clean and ready to put away until next Autumn.
Table cloths and couch quilt and some curtains and Scooter's quilt and blanket are all washed.

Well, dh woke up not feeling well this morning, so we stayed home.

More puttering.

I found a box of Dixie cups i'm going to take to my classroom, and an "antique" pretzel tin that went in the donate bin.

I discovered that the cool rolling bin I found that wouldn't actually roll under anything fits perfectly under the paper cutter table now that I stuck 1/2" blocks of wood under the table legs.

I talked to my cousin for an hour.

I'm hoping dh feels better tomorrow.

CM, I am really glad you are coming around more.

I like the dissertation on bins. You are thinking about how you are going to organize your stuff so that you can manage it better, and that is good.

Tatoulia, that is awesome about your dresses! I am happy that your cleaners are coming again too.

I have been working down in the basement again - still just sorting and organizing. Recycled a few bits of old brown wrapping paper.

But, here is an accomplishment:
I had plastic stacking shelves two deep and full in the guest room closet. They weren't one full one in front of another full one, they were like that so that I could turn rectangular boxes the deep way.

I have been moving things around in the house, and this morning I realized I had a clear space on a deep shelf deep enough for the three game boxes that didn't have a narrow direction. I carried the paper bag of hangers down to the basement, put my sewing machine on the floor next to the shelf, moved those three games, removed the front set of plastic shelves, turned the remaining games sideways, and STILL had enough room to bring the stack of puzzles up from the basement and put them on the shelf in the closet!

So, somehow my organizing and cleaning has opened up space equal to three 10" deep, 30" shelves! I still have too many games and puzzles, but if I can see them, I can get to making better choices.

The new room is very sparse and open. Not much furniture, and only a few little foot cube cubby shelves (three low ones behind the couch and four made into speaker stands by stacking them 2 high.) There is one wall that was planned to have a bookshelf, and we do not have the bookshelf. Also, dh stereo equipment is stacked on an old poor quality set of drawers.

So, dh told me last night that today we are going furniture shopping at the Amish furniture store that I love! Our goal is to find a nice bookshelf (possibly with doors on the bottom to put table cloths and a seasonal throw inside) and something for his stereo.

The top of the bookshelf will have a few books, some family pictures, and some of my favorite pottery - with space around it.

Quick hello. I haven't done anything around the house this weekend other than routine maintenance. I am focusing on health right now but clean house is part of my health.

Cleaners surprised me by asking me if I'd like them to come tomorrow YES. Answer is always yes.

So I walked to work, walked back home, took mom out for groceries, walked back home. Relaxed, watched the Tonys, took an intermission for a walk, picked up cat litter, showered, now ready for bed.

Cm I'm glad you are being thoughtful about the containers.

I will give the cleaners their large bag of clothes and bedspread. I should do another look at what I can give them. I finally have my dress rack completely clear with only dresses I currently wear.

Errata for previous post:

"free and clear"

not "fred and clear"

Turned off predictive text on this Android tablet because it was sluggish and annoying, but now I have to try and catch more typos.

Hi again!

I actually got most of those clothes from yesterday hung up/put away after all. Found a few that escaped getting into the laundry loads but no probs, I still have a load of towels to do so they can go with those.

SubC, smaller bins or boxes are nice. I'm paying attention to size as I pick out my new clear tubs. Generally not going above the 56 Quart:

Dimensions (Overall): 23.0 inches (L) x 16.25 inches (W) x 12.38 inches (H)

I get them at Target or Dollar General, Sterilite brand, and they're more squared off. The same brand ones at Walmart now have more curved sides, which grates my OCD soul because of the waste of space, LOL. 😅

Those Target ones also come in a 28 qt. half the depth, and in sweater box and shoe box. Plain white lids to gratify the would-be minimalist in me. There are also larger ones which MIGHT be useful for artworks, and there are heavy duty ones with latching handles.

Anyhoo... apologies for the boring dissertation on storage boxes - but the bottom line is I'm thinking in terms of the smallest size box that can be deployed for a thing/group of things. So that later, when moving, no one including me suffers physical injury lifting many heavy overstuffed tubs. Big ones only for large lightweight stuff, and as few of those as possible.

OK. Enough on boxes for now, I promise.

I do have books, and the thing is, my quirky books I will keep. May have mentioned this before bug our new library now charges 3 bucks a pop for Interlibrary Loan. I tend to need it for books on obscure subjects (like flaky old 70s-90s UFO books) for my novel and blog writing research, new books I hear about and want to read right away but don't want to shell out for new hardcovers, etc.

I don't like the terms and conditions on commercial ebooks, where you pay but still don't own the book fred and clear.

I get free ebooks and PDFs from sites like Gutenberg Project, Baen (science fiction), and various places. But it still is harder to remember to finish them. I downloaded a classic called Varney the Vampire from Gutenberg over 5 years ago, got about halfway, and still need to finish it! This could be our new running joke, like the badger: "CM, finish Varney the Vampire!" I was enjoying it, just got distracted.

This has been kind of a meandery post, and I'll wrap up now, since I go to my 96 year old early tomorrow. I have to be alert, because if her mind is fuzzy she speaks way more Spanish, and my 3 years of it in high school is barely adequate. I even Googled what I realized were some idiomatic expressions the other day - which was helpful. It's a challenge!

Dh took me to a play. My friend was in it and she won an award! We went out to eat to celebrate!

Her husband brought me mulberry jam and he wants some of my extra canning jars.

Found a purse to put in the donate bin while I was getting ready.

Hello Everyone

Hi Tatoulia
That's so good that they got you replacement Kindles.
You just needed to learn to not treat that first one like a paperback.
Lots of people sit on their laptops. :/

Got lots & lots of tiny little things done today.

Good morning!

I'm at office. Doing a little work. Walked down. Will walk back.

Tillie my first kind died in an unfortunate accident where I fell asleep and for some reason I put my elbow on the screen as I was getting out of bed. Very sad. I believe at the time that the costs was 199, and for 50 they sent me a new one. I also bought a hard jacket for it. The second one for some reason just gave out, and the woman on the phone said, let me send you a new one. No charge. I forget what happened to that one but the 4th one the guy was being a real jerk in the phone to me about the whole situation and I was asking if he could just send me an old one (at this point there were two more versions out) and I was frankly surprised by his tone and manner. So I asked to speak with someone else (anybody else) and he said, well I'm offering you X amount off a newer version and the next person won't. The next person in the phone, I just said, I love my kindle. I love it so much. It's my favorite thing and I love it. And the man said, I'll send you an old second generation, no charge, just please send the broken one back and we'll be good. And that answered that. And it's been 100% great. That was a long time ago.

I was good with actual books. I would bring paperbacks on vacation (esp when traveling overseas) so I could just leave them behind and not bring back.
Back to work. Enjoy your day!! Say hello to Jack for me.

Good Morning Everybody

Hi Subclinical
Yes, I remember you mentioned that some are shoebox size.
That way small items are getting sorted out (like with like) and not getting lost in a bigger bin with other types of things.

Those are very good goals you have set for yourself.
Good luck finishing the closet this month and getting the basement under control! 😀

Hi Tatoulia
YEA!!! There was great food that you could eat at the church festival!
If I had to choose only one type of food to eat for the rest of my life I would choose Mediterranean.

Your Kindle always having unfortunate accidents makes me want to know if you where always loosing paper books here & there too before you switched to the Kindle? 😉

When it warms up a bit outside I plan to water the flowers & grass.
Will putter around in here tidying up.

SubC those are great goals!!!!

I love my kindle. I have the second generation kindle, no back lighting, it's like reading on paper. I love it because it holds so many books and doesn't take up any room. I got rid of 20 boxes of books. Yup, 20 boxes. When I first started here that's what I did. I had to make room for mom's wedding china and other things and I got rid of books. It hurt so bad. I had them three deep on my shelves in my closet (I have California closets and specially had them made to hold tons of books. I had books everywhere. My bookshelves in what I used to call my library were stuffed with books. Bedroom: cluttered with books.

I am grateful that I took to the kindle with no trouble at all. I understand the need for the heft and feel of a book, but my goodness, I am grateful for the kindle. One funny side effect: I never know what I'm reading. I know the subject, naturally, but not the title. Because I'm not carrying my book around or looking at the cover.

I know I'm lucky to feel this way. It is not for everyone, and I don't try to push it on people. It helped me a lot when I was getting rid of books. It helped me to know it would be okay and the books could still be my friends. Oddly enough, my mother, a champion book lover/hoarder loves her kindle too.

Due to some unfortunate accidents I am on kindle #4. The last go round it was difficult to get the old school ones I like. I'm being more careful to not be a bonehead.

Now back to Jack: I love him. I'm glad he's yours, Tillie.

Hello hello!

Cm great to hear from you! Congratulations on doing all of that laundry!!! I know it was a huge task and you did it!!!!! WTG!

Tillie you took care of dear Jack. You are so wonderful and kind and lovely. On behalf of cats everywhere, thank you.

SubC you are doing great! And I'm glad you cleared the aisle.

The church festival was great and the food was fantastic! Very delicious. There was American Food (that's what the sign said) and Mediterranean Food. So delicious. We got a plate to go for Mom and she was so happy with it.

After I left mom's I went for a walk then came home. Then I walked up to see BF and he went on a nice walk with me. I think he's worried about my health. Now I'm home and ready for bed. But first had to check in with you all.

Goodnight, see you tomorrow. And Diane, wherever you are, and however your house looks, I love you lots. And I miss you.

CriticalMass!

Tillie, you shouted and she came!

Great job on the laundry CM! I am wishing you great luck also with the storage area and the rummage sale.

I tried an ebook this year. I do not like them. I will request the real thing and wait for interlibrary loan if I have to. My Dad loves ebooks though, but that is because he is visually impaired and can make the print huge. Large print books are big and heavy and still require him to use magnifying lenses.

We will both keep on. I do want to mention that the bins are many different sizes. Some of them are shoebox sized. All the ones belonging to my kids are big ones though. So, that is hopeful.

I am setting two goals - by the end of June I will finish my closet. And by the end of summer, everything in the basement will be sorted and organized. Without buying more bins or other containers. Even if I have to put stuff in paper grocery bags until I clear out bin space.

Hi CriticalMass

Great to see you today.. 🙂

WAY TO GO! working on the laundry and hanging some in the closet even!

That's the problem with plans
things come up and all our plans get delayed.

Good luck filling your tub with donations for the church rummage sale.

Hope the cooler dryer weather holds for you and you get to work in storage.
Clear bins are so much better than the opaque ones, no need to label everything.

Really wishing you at least a little bit of time to do your crafts, writing or other fun leisure activities.

Hi Subclinical
WTG! for putting things in a donation bin!

Good that you moved the box that could get wet.
That was helpful Dh pointed that out.

I know that things get shifted around and temporarily get put in aisles.
YEA! for moving them out of the path! 🙂

Very glad to know you are limiting yourself on the number of bins and are not going to get any more.

Limits...
we all need limits.
It keeps us from allowing things to get out of hand.
Things like our weight, alcohol consumption, speeding, what we will put up with from other people, how much work we will do in one day, how much stuff we will keep, etc.

I made a candle today and really didn't do anything else.

I'm here! It's been longer than I meant to be gone...I was elderly lady sitting this past week, picking up more time than usual as her daughter had a trip out of town.

My roommate went for an overnight (she's on the road home now) to where her mom lives. I spent today doing all the laundry I had piled up for way too long during the time my friend was in the hospital. It changed from cold end-of-winter to spring/summer during those weeks, and the clothes are the evidence! But now they are clean. And I'm tired... and I need to call my friend to catch up on how things are going.

Had to ransack my bedroom to find all the clothes, though it's been such a mess I may have inadvertently helped it? LOL. You may recall I've wanted to move stuff so I could reach the closet - well, I did reach it. Hung up some clothing items that were washed some time ago and weren't able to be hung up at the time. With today's two laundry loads, this may all take more than one day to wrap up. I'll keep at it though.

The stuff in front of the closet in part contains my file boxes, which I've been meaning to straighten and restack neatly. And I think it'd be safe to get rid of health/Rx insurance statements more than - what, 2-3 years old? They are about 4-5 sheets of paper apiece and I've never had to look back at any of them.

Dolls, sewing/quilting project bags, writing notebooks, and other items also got caught in the small hurricane I made. This coming week is much less scheduled, though, so if I stay focused I'll accomplish what I've been wanting to for so long, which is to neaten up all that and put things back in their proper places.

In my van are transparent tubs I've bought, a few each month after payday. I need to start taking them over to the storage unit and transferring things out of opaque tubs like I've been meaning to. My church garage sale is this month, so keeping a donation box with me as I go through stuff there and here at the house will be a good idea. Maybe the opaque tubs themselves can go!

The weather has finally moved on from the rainy pattern and the river settled within its normal banks. If it doesn't get too hot too soon I can get enough storage stuff accomplished before hot weather hits. It's hard to have missed another spring (or fall) season; that happens too often. But it was for a worthy cause. I'll do my best to work around the delay factor.

Another thing going on is that the bunny club is having the fundraiser in August, so I must also dedicate some time to working on projects for that. Those bunnies are high maintenance! The shelter house is bursting at the seams with around 30 rabbits now. People are finding our group readily on Facebook - the ones who want to know if we can take in their rabbit(s)! Why aren't the adopters also finding us? Sigh.

Tatoulia, hope the diet changes are helping you feel well and energetic.

Joan, glad to hear you found another helpful healthy thing. Your determination is awesome to behold.

SubC, congrats on getting the evaluations done. Try not to get discouraged on the clutter cleaning. I feel that frequently, I have dreams almost every night about being in places like flea markets with tons and tons of stuff. It's depressing. But we must keep going. I love labeling too...

I'd like to read that "Digging Out" book, but I don't want to buy it. Our new city library has gone so much to digital material that they don't have it in book form. There is some sort of ebook service, I don't know if it'd be available that way. I'm kind of slow getting in the habit of reading ebooks - I've read some but I'm slower with them than with traditional paper books.

Tillie, I kind of had a feeling Jack would wrap paws around your heart. Keep on keeping on.

My cousin didn't answer the phone.

We moved a sweater, a shirt, and a dress from my closet to the donate bin. Earlier I tossed a graduation robe in there from the costume trunk.

Dh looked at the basement. He can't really tell that I did anything except that he likes where I put my big desk (the one I store things in/on, not the folding one where I actually work). It's ok, because I mostly moved stuff around.

He reminded me that I was supposed to keep his aisle (through the room to the workshop) clear and I moved the things I had shifted into it. He also showed me a corner that will be wet if the condensate pump on the hvac system fails, so I moved a box away from there.

When I showed my mom the room, she started trying to help me figure out where I could put more bins to store the stuff that was still a mess.

I said "Mom. I am not buying another bin." And she got her sympathetic voice out and asked "did he say you weren't allowed to?" I said "no. I said i'm not allowed to. I have 72 bins! If I clear out three a year I'll be done before i'm 80!"

sigh

He's your cat now.

You had to ask........

OK, I will tell you.

A few weeks ago Jack (you're not my cat) was severely injured.
He was all chewed up.
His front left leg was mauled all the way down.
His little toe, the one to the outside of the paw was dislocated and degloved.
Jack could not walk.
He asked me for help.
I did whatever I could think to do to help him.
Steven refused to pay for Veterinarian care for him.

Anyways...........
Jack is fine and doing very well now.
He is able to walk with only a slight limp at times.
He is happy and keeps flirting with me.
He lays down & rolls around, always keeping an eye on me to make sure I'm watching.
He keeps close and always smiles & winks when I see him.

But,
Jack is not your cat!

Why would you retrieve him? 😉