| Tillie | Posted: 27 January 2019 - 09:48 AM |
Due to Godzilla Badger attack... LOL 😀 | |
Replies (1770)
| Tatoulia | Posted: 19 March 2019 - 08:06 PM |
Wow, Tillie! 70F! SubC you are doing great! Do not doubt yourself! CM how sweet you spent time with your elderly friend. I'm not surprised you are a bit discombobulated! Big interruption of your routine last week! It took me quite a bit of time to recover from friend's visit so i understand completely! I do hope you can get to storage soon. I think it's been a while and you'll be looking at it with fresh eyes! Love the nuns and buns event! I have scheduled the payments for my credit cards for Monday. I'll probably still get a final bill at some point but they are set up and ready to go. I will feel great relief. I need to put the visa away. I can't have it with me. I've proven that. I'm home after a long day at office. Tillie I'm going to need a spending diet starting now. I shall challenge myself to no spending for 30 days. This is crucial that I do this. This is very important. I appreciate everyone's support. I need to simplify my life, as Tillie said. You each have gotten me through so much. How lucky am I? Immeasurably lucky. I'm going to take the visa out of my wallet. I will carry my am ex only and it has a tiny, 300 limit, that I pay off each month. They reduced me from 4500 a long time ago and I'm on their side. Meanwhile my already disgustingly high discover card just raised my limit another 3 or 4 thousand. I don't have the card and will never access that again. I haven't charged in it in so long, and I'm paying huge interest that won't go away. If Am Ex wants to raise above 300, I will decline. I need this mental exercise and thank you SubC for suggesting I poke around the internet for some strength. Very good suggestion. | |
| CriticalMass | Posted: 19 March 2019 - 12:47 PM |
Hi again, Would you believe I'm still winding down from the discombobulation that was last week? I went to the library a couple times to download research information for my writing on the oh-so-much-faster computers there. Yesterday I stayed with my 96-year-old friend because her companion didn't work out. Wouldn't be surprised if I get asked for tomorrow, but maybe not. I'll be there evenings next week too; that's been planned for awhile. Friday of this week the bunny group takes rabbits to visit retired sisters at the convent care wing - Nuns and Buns! 😁 That leaves Thursday as the only day in which I don't have to be anywhere - so far. Things can always change. Depending on the weather, I'd like to go start purging and organizing the storage unit, and/or get to the gym. Laundry needs doing too. Maybe laundry tomorrow afternoon. I could use a nap too. Yesterday I was so sleepy I was blanking out. And two mornings in a row I've had awful nightmares. It's hard to find balance in this crazy life. Still adjusting to the time change since last week was cram packed. And sometimes it can take me a couple weeks even under better conditions. Gradually I'll be back in a more complete sense of the word. | |
| Tillie | Posted: 19 March 2019 - 12:30 PM |
Good Morning Everybody Hi Tatoulia Hi Subclinical Unfortunately, we will always have those daily/weekly little maintenance tasks to get out of the way. Have the clothesline all filled with assorted laundry this morning. I have seriously neglected doing any kind of housework since I have been outside doing yardwork. | |
| Subclinical | Posted: 19 March 2019 - 07:38 AM |
Tatoulia, I don't know about anyone else, but for me, reading about how other people are working on making good spending/saving decisions helps me remember to look at mine and make choices in line with my values. The spending ties into the hoarding significantly, because I need to remember not to buy things for Justin just because they are a good deal. In the long term, I end up spending less and being happier if I simply plan for my needs enough to buy most things once I do need them or when I know I will soon need them, and look for a good price on what I really want then - like the sheets. I am getting a slow start today because yesterday was kind of exhausting and my brain is reminding me "we are on BREAK!" Someday maybe I will be caught up and under control enough that "break" means a week when I actually sleep in a little and just do whatever I feel like doing with no list or schedule. | |
| Tatoulia | Posted: 19 March 2019 - 07:11 AM |
WTG EVERYONE! You too, Scooter, for getting some solid play time in! And let's not forget dh! He was a huge help! Tillie I bet the shower and clean sheets felt wonderful! Esp after all that good physically demanding work. SubC I am so impressed with how hard you worked and I am grateful you had the loving and helpful support of dh. You had a big day! And I'm so proud of you. I'm thinking the same thing about the car situation and I appreciate your input. Bf and I are also going around and around with it. He did say that if I get a new car, I can't let the whole world drive it and I even mentioned that I couldn't see even letting my overseas people take it. So we are working on it. I hope to come to the decision where I don't have a car anymore. Meanwhile I'm going to need to do some strong mental work on my debt. I need to get back into savings mode. I need to mentally put the brakes on spending as well as physically putting the breaks on. I used to be a very good saver, even while in school, and I need to get back to that point. Mentally. I'll try not to burden everyone here but I might need to talk about it more than I have been. If I don't make the mental change, then paying off my debt is all for naught. I know I can do this since until about 10 years ago, I always had enough $. Again everyone Great Work! | |
| Tillie | Posted: 18 March 2019 - 08:30 PM |
Hi Subclinical BIG (((HUG))) and WTG! for putting the sentimental item in the trash. You and DH did FANTASTIC! today! WTG! for washing the floor too today. Happy the first milking well fine. Got the clothesline grass all raked out. Today Scooter played for hours with a dove feather. | |
| Subclinical | Posted: 18 March 2019 - 07:06 PM |
Well, the milking went fine this morning. I am very grateful for my dishwasher. Especially when I have stainless steel pails to clean for milking! Tatoulia, I too was thinking about you renting a car. I wondered how much you pay for insurance and maintenance, plus the cost of buying a new car, and if it might not be cheaper just to rent when needed. Particularly when your bf drives you sometimes. Dh took most of the day off today (he worked from home from 6 to 9:30) and we worked in the studio barn together. He helped me make a really hard decision (I put a sentimental thing in the trash, and I cried) and we made a good sized pile of no longer needed outdoor toys for goodwill and filled half a trash can. I cleared enough of the studio floor to be worth getting the mop out, so it looks much better! Later we took down the old, huge, no longer used microwave from the old kitchen wall and took that and our old range to the habitat restore. While we were out, we found a light fixture we both liked and dh replaced the bare bulb in our entryway. | |
| Tillie | Posted: 18 March 2019 - 11:35 AM |
Good Morning Everyone Hi Subclinical Oohh, blackberry Happy you had an enjoyable weekend. Your sheet planning sounds very sound to me. JD told me was skipping his graduation ceremony one day when we met up at the fence. Hi Tatoulia YEA!!! for laundry and good luck at the Dr. You and Subclinical are so lucky to have dish washers. Today I will rake that bit of grass under the clothesline. | |
| Tatoulia | Posted: 18 March 2019 - 11:31 AM |
Three loads of laundry done and put away, except for the things I've hung in the bathroom to dry. Working hard and going to need to shower soon for dr appt. Cat just climbed in laptop so let the hilarity ensue! | |
| Tatoulia | Posted: 18 March 2019 - 09:09 AM |
Tillie! How wonderful that your garden is at a good, manageable and enjoyable size! Your planning and hard work are paying off! I hope your helper kitties were out there! SubC, I think your sheet plan is sound. Good number of sheets. I bet that is sad to see the students graduate, SubC and Tillie. Transitions are hard. I drove my car to grocery store yesterday and I'll drive it to dr this afternoon. I'd prefer to walk one way to or from dr but appt is in middle of the day and I can't take that much time today. It's sunny and cold. I realized as I got in my car yesterday that I did use it over my birthday. I'm thinking even further ahead and trying to decide if I should just go without a car for a while and decide if I want a new one. I think it would be a good idea to just live car free again and see where that takes me. I don't know. I just know that I don't want the car I have anymore. I didn't do what I'd said I'd do this weekend and I'm okay with it. | |
| Subclinical | Posted: 18 March 2019 - 05:31 AM |
Tillie, I am glad you have your right-sized garden so you can enjoy it! Last year I went to graduation, and it was ok. I got a little teary, but generally had a good time and celebrated with the kids. Then I got in my car, started driving home, and realized that I might literally never see those kids again. I cried all the way home. One of my favorite kids has already told me that he is skipping graduation and not coming to class the last week (which is after graduation) and never coming back to visit. He already has a job, and sometimes he doesn't bother to come to class "It's ok if you flunk me, I just have to pass English." Thank you for the reminder about the classroom last year - I had forgotten I did that, and it makes the job feel less daunting the room is a mess, but I haven't added much this year, so a lot of the work should be organizing rather than removing. Tatoulia, that is wonderful about your sink! I am doing better with dishes, but they are still a challenge. Everybody thinks I am crazy for not moving my dishwasher into my new kitchen, but I love having it in the "scullery." It is so nice to be able to scoop up all the dirty dishes and whisk them away and have my new kitchen be nice and clean in minutes! I did run the dishwasher last night. I am trying to run it every night. I start back up milking today, so it will be even more important. Yesterday I ran a load of dishes and a load of laundry. I ordered more sheets because the ones I bought are on even better sale now and dh said to just get enough to replace all the old sheets. I plan to purge down to one set on each bed, two extra sets (that fit any of three beds), and the one set of flannel that we almost never use but is sometimes nice to have. That is probably more than we need, but the two extra sets allow me to turn over guest beds quickly if I need to. It has happened, and I don't want to be trying to fit in washing a bunch of sheets on top of regular laundry and keeping up with the house during a busy work week because I have different guests leaving Monday and coming in the next Friday. Yesterday I worked on clearing blackberry canes that have overtaken my ornamental/fruit garden area. I just let it go last year. I can see a difference, but I am definitely feeling pressure to make as much progress as possible before they leaf out. I am seeing little green buds.... Dh and I spent most of the day going on a hike and out to dinner with really good friends (the husband refers to our kids as "my nieces and nephew") we met when their youngest and our youngest were a few months old. So far I have not done any of the extra stuff I planned to catch up on over break, but maybe today. | |
| Tillie | Posted: 17 March 2019 - 10:21 PM |
I have been thinking about my worries about getting my little garden/yard oasis all cleaned up and ready for Spring... I have done a lot of work to make it a more minimal more easily maintained area, and it is now. The areas that I still need to clean up and work on are very do-able! I am so happy I did this because I can still have a nice garden area and won't be getting depressed because I physically can't handle all the work. | |
| Tillie | Posted: 17 March 2019 - 05:46 PM |
Good Afternoon Everybody Hi Subclinical Good luck with the classroom decluttering. "Ida Wanna" sounds like the kind of friend who comes in handy at times but can cause a lot of trouble for me in the long run. ;D Last couple of high school graduation ceremonies I attended made me cry because I had known the kids for so long and didn't feel I was ready to let go just yet. Hi Tatoulia Very nice you are making tentative plans for the future after you are finished getting finances all squared away. Slept in this morning till 9:00am! After getting the little flower bed area all clean & tidy & all ready for Spring yesterday the rest of the yard looked so terrible. My plan for tomorrow is to rake the patch of grass I grow under my clothes line. It's 3:45pm now. | |
| Tatoulia | Posted: 17 March 2019 - 01:32 PM |
Sheets changed. Did some paper shredding. Going to see mom and get her more groceries. I'm walking so can do in drips and drabs. I haven't used my car in three weeks. Maybe I'll drive to dr tmr. | |
| Tatoulia | Posted: 17 March 2019 - 11:27 AM |
SubC! How sweet about your relationship with your students! Nine weeks does sound awfully quick. Tell Ida I say hello! She and Justin Case have played a big part in my life. Last night, after our super fun evening, I had the option to put the dishes into the dishwasher. It took me one minute. And today I woke up to an empty sink. It was a good feeling. I've enjoyed an empty sink for at least a year now. I haven't worked on my coffee table yet. I haven't even changed my sheets. I will do so now. I'm feeling no regrets, I did a lot yesterday, including catching up on my sleep. Tillie what's on tap for today? Thanks for the encouragement to see that elderly friend of mine. She's a shut-in and it turns out the drive is over 7 hours. But I have a plan. So if I can get things squared away and get new car, etc, then maybe I can make it happen in the fall. Likely will be in a year. If I'm successful in getting debt gone and starting to boost my savings, I'll do it. She and I correspond by mail only. We do not talk on the phone because I am not taking on any new patients, so to speak. Beautiful sunny and cold day here. | |
| Subclinical | Posted: 17 March 2019 - 08:25 AM |
Hi all! Yesterday I cleaned up the new room and worked a little in the studio and went out to a concert with dh. I also finally put the new sheets on the bed. Dh says I chose well. The studio work was mostly moving stuff around. I did trim a few pots, and I found one mold that can go in the trash and two that can go to school. I'm not sure the go to school ones help, because I need to declutter and organize my classroom too. I'm going in on Tuesday (we are on break) Tillie, I was laughing a little when you couldn't think of a reason to not clean your kitchen. I can almost always think of one, but when I can't, I just enlist my friend Ida. As in "Ida Wanna". She is very sympathetic. I have a big long list of things to finish during break (even though I am going in on two days) so we will see how that goes. I am freaking out a little that there are only 9 more weeks of school after break! Some of these kids are graduating! I'm not done with them yet! | |
| Tillie | Posted: 16 March 2019 - 05:35 PM |
Good Afternoon Everybody Hi Tatoulia YEA! for fetching and doing for your Mom & Kitty! So, you don't like all the crazy drunk partying on St. Pattie's day. Opened the door and let all the cats go out. I also lit the burn barrel. All the cats came inside long before I finished outside to take their naps. | |
| Tatoulia | Posted: 16 March 2019 - 05:07 PM |
Hello, hello! Having a wonderful day. Slept well and slept in. It's beautiful out: 45F and sunny. I opened my bedroom window (still open) to air out the room. Also opened a window in the back fir the kitty. So lovely. I did my relaxation/diet tapes and then did some grocery shopping for mom and me. Mom is our if foffee. I picked up some freshly baked Irish soda bread and some good Irish butter for her. I just dropped off her things and I changed the cat box while I was there. I'm having a very nice day. BF and I have plans tonight but I'm not a big fan of being out during St P Day. I'm leaving it up to him at this point. Our plans are going to be super fun but I'm good with moving them by a week. So now I'm going to read for a bit. So lovely and cool here. BF just stopped by for a minute to drop off some shoes I ordered and I gave him 1/2 a loaf of Irish Soda Bread. I could hear in his voice that he just wants to lay down for a bit. So we shall see what we end up doing. | |
| Tillie | Posted: 16 March 2019 - 11:04 AM |
Good Morning Anybody Sitting here drinking my tea while I wait for it to warm up enough to go outside. Have a plan of attack in my head of what I want to accomplish in the garden area. That's enough for one day! 😀 | |
| Tillie | Posted: 15 March 2019 - 10:50 PM |
Good Evening Hi Subclinical 20# of chicken feed! So wonderful that you can bring baby goats to school. Hi Tatoulia When I got out my new clothes line rope from the pantry I immediately wrote on my shopping list to buy another one. Happy you had lovely weather and enjoyed a long walk home. Finished cooking and was trying to find an excuse not to clean the kitchen. | |
| Tatoulia | Posted: 15 March 2019 - 07:51 PM |
Oh I love that little boy, SubC. What a sweet pea. Cm I am so impressed with all of your work with the bunies and chinchilla! Tillie what I would give for a set of white percale sheets, hung dry on the line. We had beautiful mild weather today. It rained on and off but honestly it's so lovely out. I walked the long way home. Tillie I bet you and the kitties will have a great time outside tmr! Glad you have a new clothesline at the ready! Love you all. | |
| Subclinical | Posted: 15 March 2019 - 07:41 PM |
Tillie, That does sound lovely! Cold and windy here, but no more rain. We got some hail and high winds - there were two trees down across my road, but the farm was fine. Worst thing was the water coming up in the barn, and the lid blew off the feed bin and the chickens ate about 20# of feed. The goats were a huge hit at school today, but the poor little things were so tired when we got home! Me too. I'm just spending the evening by the fire with dh and a glass of wine. I'll be productive tomorrow. Tatoulia, that is great progress with the mental shift! CM, do you have more time with the bunnies, or are you done? I think that would be fun for a short time, but not for a long time. Like it was fun to have goats running free in my classroom. One goat chewed (gently) on a little boy's chin, and he said "I bet we have the only classroom with face eating goats in the whole world!" | |
| Tillie | Posted: 15 March 2019 - 06:46 PM |
It's been the most beautiful day today. Had the corned beef cooking on the stove and ALL the cats were begging to go outside. Laundry dried nicely and is all folded & put away. Promised the cats that tomorrow we will all go back outside and I will work on the garden with them. | |
| Tillie | Posted: 15 March 2019 - 12:53 PM |
Good Morning Everybody! Hi Subclinical How wonderful about your English class! Baby goats going to school! My fingers have been crossed that you don't get any of that dangerous weather or flooding on the news. Hi CriticalMass I just love watching Chinchillas take their little dust baths. 😀 Hi Tatoulia You have been taking your time evaluating things and making good keep/toss/donate decisions, always keeping in mind the bigger picture, the vision of how you want your home to be. I so want you to travel the 5+ hours to visit your friend. The laundry is all out on the line and I am all caught up with it! | |
| CriticalMass | Posted: 15 March 2019 - 10:28 AM |
Just a quick wave from the bunny house as I pause for a short breather between shifts of bunnies. 🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇 24 of them, and one chinchilla 🐭 - it's been a wild but fun ride this week. My roommate and I ended up doing morning and evening shifts as one of the two evening gals had to bail on account of asthma. But in the evenings we still had the other lady so three humans on that shift. Which is good because the evenings have more to do. Tillie, how you feel about cats is how I am about rabbits! I would of course have some of each if I had my own house. Right now getting to enjoy roommate's cats is a bonus. Much more to tell and I will want to catch up on y'all's goings-on. This afternoon I may want a nap! Don't know how the mother and daughter do this every day and have lives too. We desperately need a shelter building, funds, and volunteers to maintain it. | |
| Tatoulia | Posted: 15 March 2019 - 08:06 AM |
Baby goat day! Baby goat day!! Congratulations on the great response to your English class!!!! Let's reclaim our houses this weekend! I'll start with my coffee table. OK here's something that I've been thinking about: when kitty received a gift of a new bed, I didn't know what to do with the old bed, so I washed it and wrapped it and put it in my closet. We had discussed that here. When I gave it to cleaning fairie, I didn't think, oh thank goodness I kept it. Instead, I thought, I have a nice clean pet bed for her. So if I'd donated it back in January, I would not have thought, oh I knew I should've kept it. I've been very lucky that so far, five years in, I haven't had regrets for letting things go. I know I'm lucky. It still can be hard, but I've been comfortable with my choices. It's like something snapped in my brain. I dont need to buy/store/keep things so I can be all things to all people. This change has helped me so much. | |
| Subclinical | Posted: 15 March 2019 - 04:17 AM |
It is sweet that the boots made you think of me. 😉 Need to be quick. Yard is flooded, standing water in barn. But warm. Baby goats to school today. Stopped by dd's house with sil last night and got a bunch of clay and glazes and a few tools that came from dh's uncle (Dd has picked out what she wants) I have been humbled and blessed by the responses of parents to my English class this week, and It looks like it will fill with kids I am very fond of. I hope I can live up to their trust! My challenge for the weekend will be reclaiming my house. New sheets are still in the dryer. | |
| Tatoulia | Posted: 14 March 2019 - 10:14 PM |
The boots likely wouldn't be work boots. I didn't look at them. They were likely citified. I have a hard time when buying boots because I want tall snow boots. Want my legs warm and safe soles and waterproof, etc and they can be hard to find. I was lucky this year when I found a decent pair. The short ones, which have started leaking, will be easy to replace next year. I also have rain shoes. I die of heat in rain boots. Tillie thank you for the insight on the coffee table. I have two piles of stuff on the table. It has one drawer, in which I keep all of my house plans, drawings, paint chips, etc. I am tired. My sugar consumption tends to be pretty gross. I'm working on it. Need to continue to improve my nutrition. I had confided to someone elderly about my brother and today I recess very lively birthday card from her and she offered wonderful support. I don't remember exactly what I had written to her but I did say that I hoped God would forgive me and her letter was so loving and supportive. If I get a new car in the Fall I will drive to see her. I think it's a 5+ hour drive. I did it once before, so many years ago. | |
| Tillie | Posted: 14 March 2019 - 08:29 PM |
Hi Tatoulia Does Macy's carry the kind of boots you need to do farm work? OK! I keep an incense burner and a scented candle on it most all the time. It has a shelf underneath. Best to start by removing everything. I really should do a sugar challenge. | |
| Tatoulia | Posted: 14 March 2019 - 07:33 PM |
Tillie my mother, an asthmatic, lived with a cat. It's the only thing that makes life palatable. I understand completely! Just getting in. I had a work related event after hours then BD met me at Macy's and we spent some of my gift card. My salad today was so delicious. Thank goodness we get paid tmr. SubC you would not believe how many boots they had at Macy's. Okay I'm going to work on busting my sugar cravings now. I need a weekend challenge. Help me! I'm thinking I never quite get the coffee table where I want it. Meaning I never get everything off of it. | |