Hi Subclinical

YEA!!! WTG!!!!
For being brave and taking the pictures!
Having a photo is the best way for you to see how things have changed.

I like how you have containerized and shelved your items.
You are creating order out of chaos.
It is in a limited space where you have created boundary lines for it.

I seriously believe that a person with hoarding tendencies needs a space of their own to store things.
Everybody should have a limited space of their own to do with what they choose.

I am so very, very sorry to hear how your Aunt was injured.
She deserves better that that ((((HUGS))))

I try to stay away from all the hoard here but sometimes I have to venture through it and so often I am injured or my clothes are torn.

Mostly I am out there to retrieve a cat, one like Jack.

Hi Tatoulia

Those shrimp will be a delicious addition to any dish.

Yes, I miss Diane too. 🙁
She was so happy to have her freezer for frozen fruit to make her smoothies.

Have fun at that festival.
Probably very little will be there you could eat.

That tale of the man living at the office would be good bones for a movie.
LOL ;D

Thank you
Yes my brother did come down my road and stood out there hoping I would allow him onto my property.
I didn't & he eventually got the message and left.

Haven't done much of anything today.
Steven is going shopping at the thrift shop and might visit yard sales too. >:(

I haven't done much today because there really isn't much for me to do.
All my chores are done, house is neat & tidy.

Steven has done none, nada, zilch to clean up his mess.

Tatoulia, youbare living on the wrong coast.

So, I finished that rack. And I took before pictures. Technically, they are during pictures, but I have never been brave enough to take before pictures before.

And I FaceTimed my mom, and I showed her the rack and told her "this is what contained mental illness looks like." She didn't laugh.

She says my cousin (the one who is like a good sister) is planning to spend the next week with my aunt and uncle "helping them downsize". My uncle is also a hoarder. Except he is in denial that he has a problem. My aunt struggles to keep clear space in the house. She fell last year and was hospitalized. She tripped over something that should not have been there and hit her head on something that should not have been there and knocked herself out cold and needed stitches.

My uncle and my mom own property together and he has hoarded the buildings. He keeps everything clean and in good repair, but he is constantly paying people to move stuff from building to building so things can be fixed or cleaned. He can afford it. My mom wants to sell the property, but he always has reasons for why this is a bad time. He manages everything and never gives my mom bills. Sometimes he even gives her checks for "rent". Mom worries because she knows my cousin doesn't have money and there are expenses that her brother is paying (property taxes, power, water, repairs...)

I should call my cousin.

So Tillie I'm so sorry about your siblings and I admire your strength. I seem to recall that once your brother passed by and you refused to see him. And I'm glad you did.

SubC I cannot thank you enough for the description of the room! Perfect! And well done!

Tillie your mention of the freezer reminds me of Diane and how much I miss her. When I first got in here, she had just purchased the extra freezer. Oh how I miss her so.

I went to visit BF and there's a festival at his church so we will go to that in the afternoon. I then went for a walk and watched a bit of the parade. It is an absolutely beautiful day here. Sunny, cool breeze. Lovely.

In my perfect world it would be in 50s every night if not colder. In the day time never warmer than 70, 72.

I bought a big bag of frozen wild caught shrimp. I can take our and defrost portions to add to salads or sandwiches. The shrimp are raw, so I'll gave to defrost then cook, which is only a few minutes.

Will relax, take another walk then shower and get ready for our time today.

Tillie we have tons of space at work. Probably more than we need. The office is fresh and nice and well-maintained. I tend to stay on my floor or the one directly above me. The space is so beautiful and bright and clean.

Going to read a bit then head back out there.

Good Morning Everybody

HI CRITICALMASS
Shouting so you can hear me. 😉

Hi Subclinical
GREAT! job there!
Sounds like a very good setup for storage and easy enough to access now.

Relieved your dollhouse pieces are in a safe place where they won't be getting damaged or lost.

WAY TO GO! For a clear hallway!

Hi Tatoulia
I knew you had a sister.
I had two sisters who are hideous, substance abusers with less morals than an alley cat who have always been physically and mentally abusive to me.
My two brothers are even worse.
My whole family always hated me so I evicted them all from my life decades ago.

Your office building is HUGE!
No wonder you work from home whenever you can.

WAY TO GO! Clean laundry & a freshly made bed!!!

Where ever you end up going today have a wonderful time.
Visiting orphan kitties would be so hard for me to leave them there.

It's COLDagain.
Had to get back out the space heater since it's 59 degrees inside here.
Yesterday it was cool and breezy.
So glad the freezer is gone from the pantry and I can now store the space heaters in there instead of trying to get them in the garage.
Now they are easily accessible when needed. 😀

So, there is a 14x17 rectangular room.

One short wall is a staircase and under stairs closet. The other short wall is one of the foundation walls. it has been broken and reinforced by being braced with steel beams that are now supporting the house. Measure out 30" from the surface of the beams. Install a rack that runs parallel to the wall and fill it with bins. (Leave a 3ft gap at each end of the rack so that it touches no walls and you can enter the 30" gap from either end) This uses a total of 5 feet of the room.

Go to the side of the rack that is away from the wall. Put bookshelves against the rack facing out into the room. You have now used 6 ft of the room. The room is now 14x11 and rectangular in the other direction - one wall is bookshelves instead of ugly patched concrete. There is an open "doorway" at each end of the bookshelves.

That is what I did.

Great work, SubC! Clearing the hallway!!!! I can't quite picture what you are describing. But that doesn't stop me from being thrilled. Yay on donations!

Three loads of laundry done! And my bed is made! So happy about this.

I'm going to go see BF and show him my new glasses. Then I don't know what I'll do. I have to walk. It's the Pride Parade today (I think). So downtown will be a bit of a zoo. I may cross the river instead, into Cambridge. Or I could go down to the cat shelter and visit with the cats. Time will tell.

Wow Tatoulia! You are rocking the laundry! And soon you will be getting up with me!

I'm sorry you don't have a good sister. I don't have a sister at all, but I have a cousin who is like a sister.

I cleared* the "hallway".

* by "cleared" I mean, made it empty, swept, and then decided that along with the step stool I would leave the chair with the busted cane that is nice to put the bins on instead of the floor, and also the pieces of my broken dollhouse which lean against the wall. There are beams against the surface of the wall and the dollhouse pieces fit mostly within the depth of the beams.

Now I am taking a break to eat a piece of fruit and drink some water.

The rack is clear of things I do not want on the rack, but there is still some space, so I have to decide what else I DO want on the rack and put it there.

I found two more orphan sheets to donate and an old mattress pad that is supposed to be folded up with the moving blankets on the shelf in dh shop.

SubC great plans for today!! Let us know if you need a break.

I woke up, naturally, today at 621. Actually that's the time I went into the kitchen. I am never ever up this early! I'm taking good care of myself and it is paying off!

I giggled a bit-last night when I write about leaving stuff to my brother and sister, I thought, do they know I have a sister? And I thought, Tillie probably knows. Sister is largely absent from our lives and has been since I was 14, which is essentially fine by me. She escalates things rather quickly and my mother would prefer it if she doesn't get involved in anything. She follows me on twitter so occasionally we tweet to each other but I'd rather not have much to do with her. She escalates things with lightening speed. If she does call my mother, then she immediately emails me by putting a lot of stress on me. And I'll say, you and mom need your own relationship, please don't involve me. And she'll say she understands while continuing on with her nonsense. My mother would also like the calls to stop but she is her daughter. Sister visits maybe once a year for about an hour, and then 1/2 into the visit she texts me to say she's at the end of her rope and how do I take it. And I text back, just turn on tv and watch a home decorating show and talk about what you like and what you don't like. But she won't. And she talks baby talk to mom in front of me, and about me, as though I'm the problem. So I just say, mom and I have a good time together or I enjoy mom's company. So sister is a little out there. I ignore it. But I'm happy to leave her some money. She is very poor, lives beneath the poverty line and somehow it's everyones fault but her own. She could just embrace it and enjoy it. In the past when mom's been in hospital for extended periods. sister will say, tell me what I can do, and I'll say, come see mom and give me a night off, and I send gas $ via PayPal (generally 100 which is much more than needed) and then she says she's busy, and then on twitter i see her out with her friends at a bakery, no doubt eating on my dime. But I stay silent, because to me it's only money and the fact that I fell for it is on me and not her. Crazy Town. mom sometimes says, don't call your sister. Let me die in peace.

Two loads of laundry already today!!! One more to go and need to put clean sheets on the bed.

Wow! That guy really messed up his life!

When I was in college, I had a friend who got a commuter locker in the student union and a campus P.O. Box and had "enough friends who were good enough friends" to let him sleep on their floor one or two nights a month.

Tatoulia, did I know you have a sister?

My work has a coffee maker, a microwave, and a mini fridge. Coffee not included. Running water on a different floor.

Dh is playing golf with his friends this morning. My goal is to finish filling the hard to reach rack and completely clear the walkway between it and the wall. - The rack basically creates a hallway at one end of a room in the basement - you go "into" the hallway and there is enough space to pull the bins off the rack, place them on the floor between the rack and the wall, and open them. My new bookshelves are now the "wall" on the back of the racks, so from the room, you just see bookshelves. I don't want to store anything in the hallway space except maybe the step stool I use to reach the top rack.

I like the edited phrase better, too. It seems easier on the ears, and the heart.

It was a giant shock that someone had been living in our office. I mean, he worked for us, but still. Apparently our wellness rooms have chairs that recline into a bed. They also have small fridges for breast milk, so the women don't have to put in our larger fridges. Our offices are well equipped with coffee and tea and fridges and dishwashers and TVs and vending machines, etc. we have showers, too, and although I've never been In the showers nor would I know where to find them, they are apparently very nice. The story goes that they would occasionally find something belonging to the guy in one particular wellness room. And I don't know exactly what happened or how it happened or who knew what or didn't know what, but he was caught living at the office. And they fired him. I'm not sure what else was going on because someone else was fired the same day. And they didn't get severance packages the way most people do. And then HR kept finding his clothes and other stuff around the office including stuff from a second job, and when they sent the first package of stuff to his house his wife called and said, don't send any more of his stuff here, send it to his girlfriend's house and then the girlfriend called and said, don't send his stuff here. YIKES. It was fantastic gossip. Really Grade A.

We are a big company and I just don't leave my spot enough to know what's going on. As I mentioned, I don't even sit in my department. I have a pretty empty area here I like to sit. I am able to sit just about anywhere but I gravitate to two different spots. There's a window seat I'm fond of and then there's a seat that is fairly isolated. I know my mgr didn't like that I refused to sit in our department but I tried it exactly twice and couldn't stand it. Now he's used to it and doesn't bring it up.

Oh! Big legal news! I signed my updated Will today! Now I have made sure that BF inherits my house, and everything else. I'm feeling at peace knowing that if anything happens, he's all set. He gets it all. At work he's also my insurance beneficiary and I split my pension between BF, brother and sister. I have another account that goes solely to brother. My mother asked that I leave something to brother and sister and so that's how I did it. If BF doesn't outlive me, it all goes to one of my girlfriends. She's super rich and doesn't need the money and I don't care. She's a great friend even if I haven't seen her in a few years. She's on my safe deposit boxes as a co-owner and she can have whatever's in there as far as I'm concerned. I only cared about my apartment and making sure BF gets it.

So I've wrapped that worry up!
Goodnight dear friends!

HaHaHaHaHaHaHa

I love that Swedish chef!

A whole week of doing stuff.
Driving around but being home at night.
Sounds like this could be a fun and relaxing vacation.

I think a wellness room would have a nice bathroom.
Maybe a mini fridge?
Plus evidently it was not being well used by the other employees so he'd have privacy.

A back pack with a few toiletries and some changes of clothing and he'd be on time to work every day.

Tatoulia, that sounds like a good day. I like your work.

I have to wonder though, what is in a wellness room that a guy could live there? I guess it wouldn't have to be much, I lived in my car for a while, but I am still trying to envision it.

The bins are on racks - open uprights and wire, not shelves, so if they are big bins, they are just one high, but the little bins fit as many as six. I don't want to have to unstack six bins to see what is in there.

Tillie, I like your new edited phrase much better. Now I envision the Swedish chef from the muppets following you about cheering "Bork Bork Bork Bork!"

Dh just told me he took the whole week off next week and we are going to do stuff! Like, driving places stuff. He promised I will be home every night for the goats, but if I am quiet, you will know why.

Laughing out loud!
A guy living in the wellness room!!! 😀

Great that you had a lovely time out with the girls.
Very nice the place had a good salad too.

We are all extremely happy you are feeling well.

Good luck and best wishes for your weekend plans.
Nothing strenuous, if you get tired rest.
If you want a nap then take a nap.

I have been back to doing "The Gentle Art Of Swedish Cleaning".
Very slowly pulling out things that I have been contemplating releasing.
Setting them aside, out where I will see them.
Thinking some more.
My life has changed, I no longer need, do or want this in my space, so I can & will simplify.
Looking in the cabinets at what I am definitely keeping.
Making good solid decisions, no regrets, and letting them go.

Great work, SubC. Could you store the bins "label in" or label on top instead of sides, so they are anonymous while on the shelves? Just a thought.

WTG with all you've been doing. I agree you need to label the bins, otherwise your mind is still cluttered. WTG getting rid of a puppet (.i am afraid of puppets).

Good girlfriend time tonight. A group of seven went out. I had a greens and grains salad and it was delicious. I stopped and bought raspberries on the way home. I also got a good walk in after dinner. Now I'm showered and sitting quietly with my best girl as I wait to take my blood pressure. I asked my office to get scales and blood pressure machines for our wellness rooms and they agreed. Actually they have scales in two of the rooms. I never use the wellness rooms so wasn't sure if the situation. I'll now have to find where they are. I don't know if we have one or two wellness rooms on each floor. They once discovered that one of our employees was living in a wellness room. He'd been there for 7 months. Super odd.

I look forward to seeing what I can accomplish this weekend. I feel good and strong.

YEA! Subclinical!

It makes so much sense to have your bins labeled.

Since those shelves are your designated spaces to store things
it's your area/space and doesn't matter what anyone else thinks you should or should not have stored there.

Once you get things all sorted out and organized like with like it will be so much easier to make decisions as to keep/toss/donate/recycle or relocate to a better area.

Make sure the labels for the kid's stuff are large and stand out from the rest because that's not you who owns the things.
You are just fulfilling a parental obligation.

Good luck getting the floor a little more clear. 🙂

I found a lacing card set (donate box) and three small balls of yarn (school box) to get rid of.

I am labeling the bins. This is a big deal. This is brave. Previously I have left all of the bins unlabeled and just tried to color code things and keep a mental map of where I put them.

I was afraid that dh would go in the basement and see the labels and get angry and argue with me "why do we have three bins of baby toys?!"

But I decided - I have three storage racks. If the storage racks are full of bins, they are full. He doesn't get to argue about what they are full of. They are mine. He said I could have them. If the bins are labelled, it is easier for me to deal with them. I can "see" what is in there without opening them. I can find things more easily. I free up mental storage space, and I can be more realistic about how much there is of different items.

And what I decide is worth keeping in my bins is up to me. I am not going to be embarrassed about my labels. (Well, I might, but I am going to get over it.)

Some of the bins have things in them that belong to my children that I have agreed to store for a while. I labelled those bins with the child's name. Those bins are in the hard to reach storage rack. Things like yarn are in the out in the open storage rack. Holiday stuff is in the less open but not hard to get to rack.

The basement is still a mess. The floor is still covered, but the racks still have space.

WAY TO GO!

Every little bit counts. 😀

New glasses are good!

I puttered around in the basement this morning. I sorted through three bins of puppets and found one puppet to give up.

Very small steps.

Good Morning Everybody

Hi Tatoulia
YEA!!! for new glasses!

WAY TO GO! for continuing to sort through your drawers, closets and cupboards.
I know that good feeling when things are all sorted out and neatly arranged inside those hidden away spaces.
Funny how that can make a whole room feel lighter.

Hi Subclinical
You are so right
one little thing at a time and those little things all start to add up.
Change is hard for anybody. That's why it's best to do it one little thing at a time.

Have no real plans for the day.
Should be doing some cleaning/dusting, weeding, etc.
When I get to dishwashing today I will empty and wipe out/dust one cupboard or drawer.

Good morning! I'm showered and need to get ready for work. I'm excited to be able to get rid of more things this weekend, or at least to make a bag for the cleaners. Spoke with dr this AM. we will continue to monitor the situation over the weekend.

I can pick up my new glasses today!!! They were ready yesterday but I didn't feel like going.

Thank you all for being supportive. I know I can count on you to shore me up and it's a great comfort.

Tatoulia, you are always SO positive! It is normal to be down about things sometimes. Especially when you are concerned about your health. We want to be here for the bad stuff too.

The eye thing sounds scary. I hope it is not as scary or unpleasant as it sounds to me. And if I had to check my blood pressure three times a day, my blood pressure would be sky high, because I would be freaking out about my blood pressure....

Salads and raspberries sound nice. I also really appreciate reading about your bf and the changes walking is making.

We got into this one little thing at a time, so, we know one little thing can make a difference!

I started a new thread about digging out.

Good Evening Everyone

Hi Tatoulia
That salad sounds delicious.

Good luck and I hope your eye is an easy fix.
Steven has had bleeds too.
You are NOT complaining too much.
You have an awful lot on your mind right now. (((HUG)))

Your BF is seeing the world from a different perspective.
Things are a lot different between walking and driving.
Walking is more connected.

WTG! working on your drawers!
Those little things all tend to add up.
So often, less is more.

Glad I got some stuff done today.
Felt so good to finally stow away that comforter.

Just took a shower and am sitting here in my bed and there is a very refreshing breeze blowing through the room.

Oh gosh 90F already. I am glad you can put away your comforter. I am basically eating salads and raspberry's and I had a bit of roast beef at lunch. I'm drinking my usual tins of water and walking even more than my usual.

SubC I'd love to learn about Digging Out. That would be terrific if you started a thread on it!! Or just did it here. Up to you!!!! I worked some more on my drawers today. It's hard to realize that even a tiny thing makes a difference. I think, but it's so small. But it's not. It's one more thing that I don't need.

Tillie it's so humid here I could die. And it's not even all that humid. I walked home with a friend from work then BF met me st the grocery store and I got a salad with raspberries and mandarin oranges and carrots. I'm looking forward to getting some meal plans for low sodium and low potassium.

Meanwhile I'm taking my blood pressure three times a day. I also have a bleed behind my eye that needs to be taken care of. It's a lot right now. I'm trying not to think about it.

I'm just out of the shower and still sweating. How can this be?

BF and I went for a walk again tonight, around 8 PM. Suddenly he's complaining about drivers with their cell phones out. He never seemed to notice it when he did it and I'd be yelling st him the whole time. I'm grateful for his new perspective. And I'm grateful to have him walk with me. It really is opening up our relationship nicely.

By the way it's 67F but it's bothering me. I have windows closed to keep the humidity out.

I think I'm complaining a lot tonight. I'm sorry. I don't like to be a grumbler.

I'll be talking to dr tmr and seeing what our next move is.

Trash out, clean kitty box.

Good Afternoon Everybody

Hi Joan
Good to hear your stomach is feeling so much better.

Hi Tatoulia
Hope you are well and resting up.
Are you finding enough to eat?

Hi Subclinical
YEA! for not jumbling the sorted stuff as you cleared the bed off.!

If you want to discuss "Digging Out" in depth I'm sure we would all benefit from it.

Got up and moving at 7:00am
Went out and lit the burn barrel then watered the flower garden.
Emptied and washed out the two litter boxes.
Since it was all up in the 90s yesterday I felt it was safe to finally wash my fiber filled comforter so I can store it away.
Did a bunch of tiny other tasks then I made myself some French toast at 11:30am.
Now I'm taking a break. WHEW!
The winds are picking up vigorously and there are high thin clouds forming because of all the humidity, but no rain in the forecast.

I ended up managing to stuff it all back in the closet. I did avoid jumbling the sorted out stuff, but I need to pull the stuffed things back out and try some more because they will get very wrinkled and are totally jumbled. I might fold all the sweaters on the guest bed for now. Because I think "Now" will come to deal with them this weekend.

Dh won't be available to help me until this weekend.

Joan, I am very glad to see you posting! Wonderful about the no stomach pain! I remember dh looking at me when we finally got his stuff figured out and saying "my stomach doesn't hurt." I was like that's good. And he said "no, you don't get it. My stomach always hurts. I can't remember my stomach not hurting." I couldn't imagine living like that.

Tatoulia, just eat some things that you like that are not on the high potassium list for now. Don't eat salt or processed food. That will get you through the next two weeks Then the nutritionist can help you make sure you are still getting everything you need in your diet.

Back on the clothes thing - I do not wear anything on the spectrum from tomato red to medium green. I do wear very dark bluish greens and christmassy reds. Mostly I am a wine/purple/blue/brown/black/white dresser with some pinks and turquoises. I like jewel tones and crayola colors. I have added some grey as my hair has changed. I have one dress that I know looks good on me - it is my renfest costume.

Tillie, digging out is really hard to read. I am on the section about forgiveness. I might start a different thread to all about it?

I started my post a while ago and didn't realize that Tillie and Joan had posted! Joan I took the soles and the laces out and they washed up nicely. They are now on my drying rack.

I am thrilled that your immunologist is finding new ways to help you and his other patients. And naturally I am smiling from ear to ear, just hearing from you. I wish I were nearby to do your laundry for you!

I feel fine, luckily.

I'm going to shower now and go to bed. Many thanks for helping me through everything. You are great friends.

Tillie my mother never liked brown, either. I'm a blue girl. I wear navy and a lot of blue. I don't wear black as it doesn't suit me. I wear a lot of white in the summer. White tops with blue skirts.

SubC I had forgotten about your clothing clean out method! Great to have your husband's input! And you are so brave to try on clothes to get an opinion! Yay there is cheese!

Tillie now that I know my stuff doesn't love me back, I'm enjoying looking at some items I've purchased over the years and just might try to sell at the consignment shop. And I do feel lucky to be able to give my things directly to the cleaning ladies. I love picking out their clothes!

I went for a walk tonight after visiting BF, then visiting mom, then back to BF's. I still don't know what to eat. If I could just concentrate it would fall into place for me. I'll go have some raspberries, which I picked up during my walk.

Hello everyone, Tillie, Tat, SubC, CM, - everyone I forgot.

Was just looking at the posts. Tat, sorry to hear you have medical issues, but glad you are getting expert care.

I have found that all of my medical issues connect in some way to my immune system. Also, I have had life-long trouble with my stomach, food, my gut, etc. etc. For years I have been seeing an "immunologist" = allergist. He is offbeat, so we get along well. He is now into "functional medicine".

I had my regular appt. with him just a week ago last Tuesday, and he was very excited about a new find of his from functional medicine called Biocidin. I bought some from him, and it is FANTASTIC. This stuff FIXES the gut, not to mention fixing all kinds of other stuff. My kidneys have been testing low for some time, and it is definitely helping my kidneys.

Of course, they do not make any claims about the product, but after 30 years of trying everything for my stomach, I know when I've hit pay dirt. First time in my life I've had NO stomach ache. They do not require a prescription to buy the products, but they will not provide assistance in using their products, and someone inexperienced in cleanses may need some advice. They will steer you to doctors that carry their product line if you consult them. Biocidin.com.

I can only do one load of laundry about every 2 or 3 months due to health issues. Not out walking yet, so no need to wash my Allbirds. Don't know about the laces, that is a good question.

Hope everyone is well otherwise.

8:42PM.