OK, I get it now.

It's all pulled out so you can do a fashion show and your DH tells you his opinion.

YEA! WTG! for making the cheese!

Good thing is that once you get your wardrobe down to exactly what looks good on you, you can keep it workable by using the one in-one out rule.

You will know better what looks good for your frame and complexion.

I know I can't wear shades of brown. I look hideous in browns.

Anyways, good luck with your project.
If you get frustrated, walk away, take a break and come back to it in a little bit.

This is really a GREAT plan. 😀

So here is the thing, I don't have maybes and keeps. I have entire categories of clothing that won't go back in the closet - like, sweaters. And socks.

I wasn't trying to decide, I was trying to get them together so that I could ask dh to help me. I thought, if I see all the skirts, then I can grab my favorite and try to make an outfit and ask what he thinks, and then switch out the top or whatever and then when I have an outfit he likes, that's a keep, and I move on to the next skirt...

At some point he starts saying things like "I like that one better than the brown one. You should keep that and get rid of the brown one." Sometimes I argue, rarely I win. Sometimes he says "well then get rid of both of them."

I made some cheese.

Good Afternoon Everyone

Hi Tatoulia
Yes, I understood about your private nutritionist and am relieved that you will be seeing a nutritionist who specializes in diets for specific health issues.

How nice that you can wash your shoes!
WAY TO GO! finding more items to let go.
Your cleaning ladies are so blessed by you.

Sorry about Miss Kitties little mishap.

Hi Subclinical
Here is my suggestion for the clothing overflow.

Place the "maybes" in a plastic bin or sturdy plastic bag and store it away from the bedroom.
Live with all your absolutely keeping clothes only in there.
After 3 to 6 months or longer revisit the stored items and see how you feel about them now.

I have done this at times with some of my clothes and the time spent without them in my life really helps me to make decisions about them.

Most end up being donated and maybe one or two at the most are kept.

The safest place around here to safely store these things was out in the trunk of one of the derelict vehicles in the yard. 🙁

Oh SubC I know the overwhelmed and buried feeling. It is all too familiar. Just breathe, drink water, and keep going. You'll want those clothes off your bed. I know it's tough. I know how hard this is.

I was just in my drawers and found more stuff for my ladies including jewelry and a good bra. Two more belts. I just have to keep plowing. I need fewer things to trip me up.

The hospital just called and I have an appt with the nutritionist in two weeks. My private one was for weight loss and mindfulness and meditation and breaking the binge cycle and emotional eating patterns. Now time to work more closely with menus and figuring out a renal diet, if that's where I'll be ending up. I'm pretty excited. Again, they found the blood abnormalities and I've decided to take this as Step 2 of weight loss and living a cleaner, clearer life. Anything to make this happen. I'm so excited about all of this.

SubC breathe. We are standing by your side and helping you make decisions. Cheering you on and shoring you up!!

Oh. I actually figured you were working with your regular nutritionist. I just wanted to give you a quick snack list. I am no good at all at meal plans.

Dh and I are doing a challenge to eat 50 different fruits and vegetables this month. He is winning, even though he had hotdogs with the guys last night and I had sweet potatoes. He just eats more.

No one comes to my house except amazon. I can't even order pizza. I could do that box thing except I can't print out a label.

I am overwhelmed ladies. I still haven't made any cheese. I started trying to clean out my closet, well, really just clean up my closet - clean up the floor and fold things and put like with like. I ended up emptying it one shelf at a time - "ok, i'll Just take everything off this shelf and then find all the sweatshirts and fold them and put them here...."

I got to the point where the closet looks good (except that the floor is really dirty) but the bed is completely covered with stuff. I can't even figure out how it was all in there. I literally need to get rid of half the stuff in my closet and I am not ready to do that.

And I don't know where I am going to put all this stuff so we can sleep.

I did find one dress with a jacket, one purse, one coin purse, two headbands and a shawl to get rid of.

I also found the black dress pants I have wanted to wear three times and every time I looked in my closet and thought "oh, I must have gotten rid of those. I wonder why. Guess I had a good reason..." apparently the reason was that I carried them up the stairs in a pile of sweaters and stuffed them in the back of the closet.

Tillie & SubC, thank you. My dr is having a nutritionist contact me. I'm not contacting my private pay nutritionist because she is a mind/meditation/food connection and I just need someone to give me a food plan.

I've been working on a few things today in my drawers. I was looking for a necklace then found a belt I can give to the ladies. Then I decided that I had a bracelet they'd like. It is such a pleasure to curate stuff for them. I feel like I'm shopping for them!

Kitty just barfed on the summer sheet I had put out for her. So it's in the washer. I also tossed in my chalk all-birds since they are looking a little dirty. Have you washed your Allbirds yet Joan? I remembered to take the lining out. I wasn't sure about the shoelaces so I took them out too.

Good Morning Everybody

Hi Tatoulia
I think you should contact a nutritionist if you must restrict certain foods because you need to keep a balanced diet too.
The hospital in Reno has one who will give people printed pamphlets for specific diet plans.

Have a wonderful & lovely walk this evening. 🙂

Yes, many thrift shops have received a ton of stuff because of Marie Kondo and other more minimalist movements like that Swedish method I've been using.
Now it is yard sale season and thrift shops will be getting even more donations when people donate the stuff that didn't sell.

The salvation army in Reno decided "poor" people were only good enough to have nasty dirty torn & worn out clothes and all nice & expensive things were sold online to the "rich" people.
I could not believe the condition of the clothes they had hanging on the racks, disgraceful.
But St. Vincent's believed that even "poor" people deserved to have nice things.

Hi Subclinical
That is upsetting about that chair.
Someone would have been happy to buy it for a few bucks.

Do you have D.A.V. or M.S. charities who will come to the house and pick up donations?
That's who my neighbor friends would call after their down sizing yard sales and I would add any of my donations to their pile.

My favorite book is a signed copy of "Digging Out".
If your Dh would read it too, it could really help you.

No special plans for today.
Just the usual tidying up type stuff.
Going to be HOT today and my body is not ready for the heat after being cold for so long. ;P

My dad has high potassium.

Here: http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/Nutrition/PotassiumHandout.pdf

I haven't started making cheese yet. Been puttering and doing laundry.

And reading. One of the books I got from the library was "digging out". I feel like I am ready for dh to help me, but he is horrible at helping, so I am hoping that it will help me ask him for the kind of help I need.

Good morning! Thank you all for the good wishes and warm thoughts! I will call on you, SubC in the days to come. I think I need to avoid potassium and sodium. I'm okay on the sodium except for eating out. I was at a nice dinner recently and I asked the waiter if my food could be made with no added salt, and he said, we make everything fresh, we can make it with no salt at all, which was terrific.

The twist here is I have to keep my potassium intake low. So that eliminates the raisins, dried apricots and prunes I've been using as a substitute for sweets. I also am not clear what vegetables I can eat. Any tips (easy, tip of your head) will be greatly appreciated.

I'm actually very happy about this. Treating it as a wake up call to lose more weight! and the weather is perfect and it's at a time when BF has vowed to drive less and walk more.

I've enjoyed reading your comments regarding goodwill. Our main one is jam packed yet organized. The one in S Boston is run by a manager who looks up china and other things and charges consignment shop prices, which is ridiculous. I've seen him there, back when I still was treasure hunting, and he was obnoxious. It's like he's deciding what poor people can deserve and if the sweater has a slightly fancy label, well, they dont deserve to wear it so it has a $15 price tag instead of the usual 2 or 3. Really obnoxious. I like the old Filenes Basement appeal of the main Boston one. Now I just donate and never buy. If I need new cat dishes, I'll go looking for nice vintage ones. But until then, we are all set. You'll recall I donated a nice set of her dishes as well as random dishes. We are much happier with the fewer cat dishes.

I have a few things to take to consignment this weekend. Maybe mom would enjoy a trip out to the shop. I've heard that places are overloaded due to Marie Kondo. Time will tell.

Wishing everyone a lovely day. I'm grateful for having you in my life. Beautiful day here and I'm looking forward to my walk tonight!!

Tatoulia, I took am glad you are home resting with dr. Kitty.

"No damage to my heart" is good, but sounds like it must have been scary. Be a good rester and I hope you get the food thing figured out. If you have cooking or substitution challenges and you want to share them, I might be able to help. Dh went through two years of elimination diet testing and sometimes I had to get really creative.

I don't think the goodwill here understands economics. When your product is free and your main cost is labor and overhead, you want to fill the floor space as much as you reasonably can and price stuff to keep it moving quickly!

The woman before me brought in a black office chair - it was clean, had five working wheels, and was not bent, but the vinyl was peeling on one upper corner about the size of a cracker. They decided not to put it out. So what are they going to do? Put it in the dumpster and pay to have it hauled away? Slap a $5 sticker on that thing and some student will snap it up and decorate it with duct tape!

They used to have coupons and punch cards and more half off days. There were always lines at the checkout. Even when they had all 5 open. Half off days were crazy crowded. Then they got rid of the punch cards, followed by the coupons. They started noticing that people were waiting to buy stuff on half price days, so they started having only one a month. People were shopping less. The new manager opened the floor up with fewer items and it looks like a sparse tjmax in there now. The parking lot is always nearly empty and they don't even staff the registers - you just ring the bell and wait if you want to check out.

Anyway, I shouldn't complain, because this is probably a good thing for me - it reduces temptation.

Today I am going to stay home, nest, and make cheese.

Happy you are back home cuddling your own kitty and sleeping in your own bed.
(((HUGS)))

Good luck figuring out your diet.

Even though it's nothing weight related, eating properly and getting in good exercise makes you more able to overcome so many health obstacles.

Hi Subclinical
WAY TO GO!!!
You got a LOT done today!

YEA!!! for the toilet paper!

I have noticed that the thrift shops here change management and their prices go way up.
Then the merchandise just sits on the shelves forever.
The stores change their policies and 1/2 off sale days.
The volunteer workers quit.
People no longer donate to them.
Then the new manager is either fired or they figure it out that people don't like the way they are managing the shop and then they change everything back.

Right now the food bank thrift here has ridiculously high prices on everything except the clothes.
They have new volunteers.
Even on 1/2 off sale day the stuff is still priced too high.
The merchandise is just sitting on the shelves.
Soon they will change back when they see they are not making any money.

Home. The immediate problem is solved. Next three days will be crucial for me to just take it easy.

I will write more later. Keep up the good work! I have a small black cat right next to me and we are so happy together. BF met me after I was released and we met for a salad and the doctor called with some additional results and we have a plan for the next three days. Meanwhile I need to figure out what to be eating and how to be eating it.

Blood a little wonky. No heart damage. We will see what the next few days bring. I honestly see all of this as a step in the right direction. I have at least 20 lbs to lose and although nine of this is weight-related, I'm taking it as a wake-up call anyway.

I finished the stalls, took a shower, and went on an expedition into town.

I made the house payment, I dropped a big bag of styrofoam peanuts off at UPS for reuse,

While walking down the sidewlk to UPS, I spotted a coworker in the window of a tutoring place (her summer job apparently) and popped in to say hello (she hasn't finished her evaluations yet, but she showed me an adorable video of her baby)

I returned three library books and checked out nine.

I had filled the entire back of my car with stuff for goodwill (previously set aside stuff - but it filled a whole big canvas rolling cart - plus one little bookshelf.) And I dropped all that off. I went inside and bought nothing.

Apparently our goodwill is under new management. The prices have gotten too high, and based on the way they picked over the donations from the woman before me, they will throw half my stuff away, but I cannot think about that, and I don't know where the store dumpster is and I will not find out.

But I will take the rest of the stuff that I didn't get into the car to st. Vincent depaul's - even though it is a longer drive to a place I wouldn't usually go. There is a nice little walkable downtown nearby for window shopping and a good cup of coffee, and it is not too far from where I get my mammogram - which I need to schedule.

And I got five bags of groceries, including toilet paper.

Hi Subclinical

When I had a cherry tree the Robins would always eat just the pretty blush off each & every cherry.
One day I was finding cherries and eating them before the Robins but the Robins declared war on me, trying to chase me away.

WOOHOO! for getting the stalls cleaned!

Have the goats been behaving and not escaping from the meadow?

Garden fresh beets are always the best.
Guess it was just too tempting for whatever ate them.

Thinking about you Tatoulia

HELLO CRITICALMASS!!! ;D

Oh dear tatoulia! I am sorry you are in the hospital, but glad it makes you feel better. I hope that they decide whatever it is is not a big deal.

I beat the birds to some of my pie cherries. I will need to pick every day until they are done. I wouldn't mind sharing with the birds, if they would eat half the cherries instead of half of every cherry.

Same with the beets - I could share, but nature is greedy!

Right now I am on break from cleaning stalls.

Oh! Tatoulia
Hate that you are in the hospital but very glad you are in there.
You must be worrying yourself sick.
Wishing you the fastest and best recovery ever.

You are a lot healthier than you were before.
Getting lots of healthy walking in and your weight has come down. (((HUG)))

Hi Subclinical
Someone ate all the beets!
That's depressing.
Being almost out of toilet paper is an emergency.
Good luck getting that taken care of!
WTG! for all you got done yesterday, especially happy bunny got to get out.

Having impressive plans in our heads is where it all begins.

Going to be in the 80s here again today.
Will water the trees.
Need to make some lemonade, have Meyers lemons.
A few dishes need washing.
I don't know what he did to the bathroom floor late last night but have to wash it because it's all tacky feeling on my slippers.

In the hospital. Feel better just being here. I brought my kindle because something told me this AM I'd end up here.

Wow, SubC! You did great things on your day at home!!!

I too am pleased to see BF reducing our carbon footprint.

I have to leave for work now and I'm a bit distracted since the hospital called just after 10 PM last night. Abnormality in my blood. Was told not to take certain meds today or to eat certain foods. Will hear from my doctor soon, I hope. I did tell BF although normally I like to keep things from him. It was just late and I thought about getting in touch with you all but decided ultimately to discuss with him. I'm sure it will be fine. But I'm still going to be distracted til we can fix this.

Most of the foods I'll have to ignore are in my favor, meaning it will give me a medical reason (other than weight loss) to resist temptation.

Tatoulia, i'm glad things went well at the doctor's.

Hearing about you and your boyfriend walking and using public transit makes me so happy! The one thing I really don't like about where I live us how much I have to drive.

Yesterday I stayed home. I feel like I didn't do much. Remade the second guest bed, stripped, washed and remade my bed, washed the table cloth (it went in with the sheets), did some vacuuming, ran a load of dishes, and got the rabbit out for a hop because part of the yard was finally dry enough.

Tillie, I have been jealous of your yard because mine has been so wet and I have done so little in it. Something ate all my beets.

Today I have to go to town because we are almost out of toilet paper. I have big impressive plans in my head, but we'll see what I actually get done.

WTG for taking such good care of your plants!!! I am sure they will reward you.

All went well at the doctor. He's so nice and so sincere. I took subway part of the way then walked the rest. I walked all of the way home, BF met up with me and we got a salad. Now I'm home, having just taken the garbage and recycling out.

Always something. I'm going to read a bit and then see what I feel like doing. I was going to cook tonight but now I've eaten.

Will write more later. Keep up the good work!!!

Good Afternoon Everyone

Hi Tatoulia
OOOOHHHH I love pretty table cloths.
They can make an area so festive.

Good luck at the Dr. today.

Poor Miss Kitty, LOL ;D
Scooter still has his tiny dragon quilt and miniscule flannel blanket with a duckie embroidered on it.

WTG! to BF for walking & taking the train!!!

Did 3 loads of laundry first thing this morning.
Then went out and watered in all that fertilizer I spread yesterday.
Laundry is all dry, folded and put away already.
83 degrees right now on the back porch at 2:15pm.
Thinking about what I want to do now. (?)

I'm grateful you wear hats, Tillie! I am extremely fair skinned and I have no tolerance for heat.

It has been nice walking with BF. He's now seeing the world through my eyes and it's great fun. It is making perfect sense to him that I don't want a car anymore. He's also taking the subway-something i have never see him do before. He had surprised me at the office recently (he'd taken a cab downtown for an appt ) and after we had lunch he was going to take a cab and instead I said, hop the T and you'll be home in 20 minutes. Now he's hooked. He had to go someplace on Sunday AM (before I was awake) and he said to himself, I bet she'd walk, so he walked the three miles! It is hysterical because he has always been a car person. We did drive yesterday to run some big errands like groceries for mom. But then he dropped me at mom's and I walked the malls for exercise.

The cat blanket is in the dryer. I'm doing my towels now. I have made room in the closet for the cat blanket. I also put out a piece of tissue paper to ease the cat's pain in not having the blanket. She's on it now.

I have the dr this afternoon. I put in for a few hours off. Sometimes I just come home and work some more but it is heavenly weather. Bright and cool. I might wear my new hat.

I have added a freshly dry cleaned table cloth to the donation bag. I used to use this cloth at Christmas Eve at my brother's, so we can say goodbye to that. I have several lovely embroidered table cloths including one my mother got in Switzerland and it matches her china so beautifully. The other tablecloths are from BF, he got them in France for me and they are so lovely.

Ok back to work!!!!

Hi Tatoulia

I have 5 straw hats and wear them a lot!
I tie pretty little silk scarves around them.
So many people here are always having patches of skin cancer removed from their faces.
The sun is more intense here at a high altitude 4300 ft. and in the snow it's amplified even more.
Sun screen, hats, wearing a long sleeve cotton blouse over sun dresses, parasols/umbrellas and then stay in the shade as much as possible.

Sounds very nice having BF talk walks with you.
A great way to hang out.

My Granma died in 1985 and I still talk to her, ask her opinion on things and like to think she would approve of the way I keep my house and live my life.

WTG SubC! Weight off your shoulders and right into your wallet!!!! Great work!!!!!

Tillie I'm glad you had some sunshine and beautiful weather! The kitties must be so cute outside!!!

We had a beautiful day and I took mom shopping for a straw hat. She held up really well during the process and I found a beautiful one for myself. I'd gotten rid of all of mine sometime ago and I'm glad to have a pretty dress hat. This way, I will be able to eat outside with friends. I'll also wear it to and from work. Right now I've been wearing a baseball type hat because I can keep it in my purse. New hat was inexpensive yet very striking on. I've been told I have a hat face, and I can agree that I can wear hats pretty well.

Afterward BF and I ran some errands and grabbed a burger together. We are having a very good time together lately. He's joining me on some of my walks and it is a very pleasant experience for both of us. I did mom's grocery shopping tonight and dropped off, then walked around the Prudential Mall and Copley Place for exercise. Just home and showered and washed my hair.

Tillie you are spot on! I'd forgotten about the 20 20 rule. Sounds perfect to me!

I could list reasons to keep the bedspread but I'd be digging deep to do it. I just needed to reason with myself. And it's a good reminder that I wasted money on something I didn't need. And probably didn't even want. I try to capture the Sunday Afternoons at Grandma's House and white bedspreads or thin worn white quilts give me that peace. We have the thin worn white quilt. All the peace can flow from it.

Thank you so much. You are all so precious to me.

YEA!!!! IT'S OFFICIALLY JUNE!

WAY TO GO! Subclinical!
And the cherry on top is you earned the bonus too.

GREAT job straightening & cleaning and generally tidying up and finding things to donate too.

So true, it is so much easier to declutter/thin the herd when things are assembled and organized into "like with like" groups.

It's good to see all what you have in a category.
Really helps to identify the keepers from the rest.

I got all showered & cleaned up and took care of the daily tasks, cat related mostly.
Now I have the rest of the day to relax.

It's June!

All of the evalyations are turned in and I will get paid tomorrow. And I was early, so I get my bonus.

I feel much lighter with that done!

I can't get involved in tatoula's bedspread because I will just think of reasons to keep it. The only things in my life that meet the 20/20 rule are eggs, milk, hay, and straw.

Tatoulia, i'm Glad your dryer got fixed. And I like your little reminder image. I have one in the notes section where I keep my todo lists that says "some days you drink all the coffee and do all the things. Other days you drink all the coffee and do none of the things. It's all about balance."

I found two CDs to get rid of. It sounds like I am doing nothing, but really, the house is better. Everything in the basement had gotten so out of order and I have better places to put some things now.

I realize that it's not just about places to put things and that I still need fewer things, but it's much easier to come back and make decisions when things are orderly and accessible.

Good Afternoon Everyone

About 2pm here.
Resting up.
Spent time outside spreading that composted manure around everywhere.
Washed up a little & changed my clothes.
Ate some lunch.
Soon I'll get in the shower & wash my hair.
So glad that task is done.
Beautiful day today. Cloudless blue skies. Hot when working out in the sun.
Last night we had another drenching downpour with lightning and thunder.
Scared Scooter when one huge lightning clap was right overhead.
Made me jump too.
So far it's been a good day. 😀

Good Morning Everybody

Hi Tatoulia
List one reason for keeping it.
I can list at least half a dozen for releasing it. 😉

YEA! dryer is fixed!!!

You appear to be moving more toward minimalism.
Why have two cat beds when there is only one cat.
Why have more couch blankets than the both of you need.
You want to completely evict Justin Case from your closets.
You seem to like the 20 20 rule.
If you can replace something within 20 minutes for 20 dollars, don't store it for Justin Case, let the store store it for him.

10:30 here...
Cats & I are going out to spread a little manure around in the garden.

Dryer's fixed! There goes that excuse.

Tillie, and really anyone, I know that I am happy with using my thin white quilt. I like the look of it and I use it year round. I know if I put on the white bedspread I might like it. It's a nice bedspread with only a year or two to its name. If I have something I like, use year round, and looks nice, do I need the second thing? ESP where the second thing is easily purchased from stores should I want one some day/month/year/decade into the future?

I'm thinking give to the cleaners. Straight. No putting on bed first. No need to complicate matters.

Thoughts?

Good morning! Almost afternoon here. We slept like little tiny angels last night.

Miss kitty's blanket has not been washed and put away. Last night when I went to do my sheets (normally I do Saturday AM but I was on a different schedule yesterday), I noticed that the dryer vent tube has become detached. I tried to fix it myself but I didn't have the correct supplies. I sent an email just to the owners who live here and one said he'd be able to fix it. So I put a note on the dryer telling people not to use it. Long-winded way to say, I haven't washed it. It hasn't been hot here so right now it's okay. If need be, I'll wash here and take to laundromat for drying.

My favorite tenants have moved out and we have new owners coming in. I am cordial but not close with anyone here. It's an easier way to live. Friendly, nice but that's it. Many years ago we were all friends here (I'm the only one left in the group) and we used to have Friday night dinner parties at my house. Either one of the women upstairs would cook down here or the man who lived directly under me would do the cooking. It was great fun.

In the meantime, I did find a spot for my comforter. I haven't yet put my white bedspread on to get my feel for keeping vs donating. I'm just so happy with my thin white quilt.

I'm looking forward to going over previously cleared drawers and cabinets that may have collected some clutter and clearing it out. I'm feeling immense joy at making these decisions.

Looking back at the winter, I had one blanket for kitty (which we shared) and one cat bed. No more two cat beds and multiple blankets. And we were both fine. And it worked out perfectly when the cleaner said, where did you get your cat bed, and I was able to go to my closet and pull out the clean one and say, here you go. And it was different. It wasn't my usual, let me keep this in case someone needs it some day, it was my not be ready to get rid of it and someone needing it. Big difference. Better thought-pattern.

Monday is trash night. I'd like to see if I can fill a bag. Either trash or donations. Trash could include something I'm not otherwise ready to deal with and that I pretend doesn't exist.