My goal remains pretty consistent, which is to reduce! I cleared out one shelf of a kitchen cabinet today while breeding my coffee. Since trash is tonight, I'll have it out of my house and a kitchen shelf with room. How's that? Reduce, reduce, reduce.

I'm also actively working on "no rest stops." Sometimes when I'm taking something out of one place to put it back, I let it sit in a rest stop area. No more. I've been working on that with some pretty awesome results. So no dishes resting in sink, no bedroom item sitting on the hallway table to take a break, etc. I take a mental pause to put back in its final destination

Lila any goals? We can cheer you on AND we can relate to falling down a bit. CM! What are you thinking?

SubC in my book you should get your vaccine along with the other teachers. We need you to be safe!

Okay I'm on my way to go find whole cloves. Wish me luck.

CM,

I hope you will get good news about your handyman today.

Tatoulia, I am sorry to hear there is more covid at mom's. Have they said anything about when people might get vaccinated?

Our governor said we should start vaccinating teachers in mid January, but I think that might be over ambitious, because the health care workers I know had their shots pushed back a week. Also, since I don't work in an official "school" I'm not sure if I'm a "teacher".

Alligator clamps are for clamping together things - they look like giant metal clothespins if the clothespins were flat on both sides of the spring, and they have rubber tips to protect whatever you are clamping. They will go in the shop.

Today is the last day of December. Since Tillie isn't here, I will ask - does anyone have any goals for January? I didn't finish my December goals, but I did ok. I did get the laundry put away and not make new laundry piles, and I did clear the piles out of the den and great room. I didn't do the scullery or dining porch, but they are both better.

I tend to think of my year more in the solar quarters and cross quarters than by month, so there are 8 seasons. This is the hardest one because of the daylight (or rather lack thereof) it starts with solstice and all the celebrations, which I am slowly learning to just let myself relax and enjoy, and ends on February 4. It's a season of beginnings and planning and preparation.

So, that is where my focus will be - laying the groundwork for a successful year by organizing and preparing my home, ordering things I need for the farm, and clearing out old unneeded stuff. I will try to finish the scullery. I will also try to prepare my body by doing yoga and riding the bike and taking walks outside so that I don't feel so exhausted in the spring.

But today, I will work on "paperwork" - seed order, chick order, lesson plans, class proposals, maybe even evaluations - they are due late this year because we started late, but I don't want them to sneak up on me.

Cm that is terrible news and a terrible worry. I'm so sorry. Will be praying for all. I'm so, so sorry.

SubC thanks for the encouragement and praise! Oh I love having my ladies here. So I'm super clean for tomorrow's dinner. I'll miss our usual of eating at 11 and ringing in the new year and people-watching from our excellent seat at the restaurant. But, we'll be safe and here and eating tasty food,

The woman at mom's tonight would've let me up but there are new COVID cases so I didn't go in, I now have all of the tips distributed at mom's. We reached 12 people this year. Not bad. One of the aides helped me to identify who would get tips. So those are all out. They aren't supposed to accept tips but most of them will anyway. There is a way to donate and then they are split evenly amongst all staff but I also have private pay aides. And this is a fairly poor resident population so my $300 wouldn't go very far. Went much farther this way, where most people got 20 and a few got more. I can't tip everyone.

I count my shower as an accomplishment too, SubC. I didn't wash my hair.

BF's office had an inspection today and the officer cried when she found out that Tigger is no longer with us.

SubC I cannot imagine who spilled the coffee. I shall assume it was some sort of invisible resident of your home.

Okay wha are alligator clips?

Love you Tillie! Lila stop by when you can!

Still waiting to hear from handyman the results of his 2nd Covid test today as the first one was inconclusive.

Tatoulia - you have a clean house with extra space!
🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻

I wanted to put a unicorn with balloons exploding out of it's head, but the internet wouldn't let me.

CM, I am sorry that Murphy likes you so much. Very sad for your handyman too. Such a rough situation all around.

I didn't clean the fountain today. I had a hard time because it got overcast and rained.

I Did:
make the last mold for my students
Ride the exercise bike (my weight has hit my old high again)
Shower (you know it's a rough day because I need credit for showering.)
Putter in the basement and move a few things around and put a few small items in the recycling.

Meanwhile Dd came by and gifted us a box of alligator clamps that they were throwing out at work and returned another bin of outgrown baby clothes for me to store.

I also took all the cushions off the couch and washed them because some klutz who was not Dh or Mr. kitty dumped an entire mug of coffee on the couch this morning.

I also realized I should have called my seed order in today. now they will probably be closed until Monday. I will get it all ready, but I hate not being able to finish things when I am actually making progress.

Well, Murphy's Law is still in effect for roommate and I, and possibly more so for our handyman and his poor family member. That person now has Covid on top of stage 4 lung cancer. Handyman has gone for a Covid test. That escalated quickly, and we may need to take steps if we have been exposed.

Yesterday nothing happened on our work, we waited all day. But it may have been because of the new development in the situation with the sick person.

Both roommate and I have Type O blood which is supposed to make a person less likely to catch Covid. Statistically anyway. And we take vitamin D consistently, another possible thing in our favor.

Animal control checked at the place where those bunnies had been and the bunnies were gone. Our club leader fears they've been returned to the original breeder. We are dismayed and I can't speak for the others but I myself am just trying to put it out of my mind because it's too sad.

I'll update as soon as there's something to update.

That's funny about the baby's "cough". So sweet!

My cleaners just left and I am pleased as punch. I really want them every week. This is heavenly.

Okay back to work. We have tomorrow off. I cannot wait to sleep in. In my professionally made bed.

Oh! I have gotten rid of enough stuff that I will keep the comforter and pillows I bought for friend's visit. I may even try the pillows myself although, they aren't my prefered type of pillows.

Im working on a donation bag. Need to keep things moving here!

Okay back to work.

Hello everyone!!!.

Good morning!

Beautiful moon thus morning - always makes me think of Tillie.

CM, I am so relieved that the flags are there! Lol about the synchronized gophers. Dd manages construction projects and I'm pretty sure she has some subcontractors who use those.

Crossing my fingers for girl kitty and this'd poor bunnies.

Tatoulua, thank you for mentioning your laundry! It reminded me to take mine out and hang it before bed. Good job on the Christmas cards!

Lila, how did yesterday go?

I did all the thank you notes yesterday and made three molds - then I checked my notes and realized I actually need a 4th mold, so that is priority for today.

I also did some laundry (as mentioned) and wrote a scholarship recommendation for a former student.

I finally got up with my cousin and we had a nice long talk, and I also chatted on FaceTime with dd1 and mom. Dd1 was funny. They are very concerned because Bean keeps making this little coughing noise and they are afraid he is sick. It is vocal - like clearing his throat. I told them it is not a cough, and Dd said "but he does it all the time. He started doing it the other day and it is getting worse and worse." I told her "yes, when he does it, both of his parents stop what they are doing and focus all their attention on him - it is a very important noise, so he is practicing it."

Maybe I will wash the fountain today. It isn't supposed to rain until lunch time. Dh has all the rotten wood removed and most of the new bracing in, so he will start work on the floor today I think.

The school stuff that is still piled all over the dining porch would be another good point of attack. Or my seed order. I got two more seed catalogs in the mail yesterday.

Hi CM! Good to hear from you! That is good progress on the sewer line. Now for the next steps to start...

I feel terrible for those bunnies. Those poor things. I hope animal control can get to them ASAP. Please keep us posted.

Hello Tillie! We miss you and love you!

I am getting rid of more stuff and feeling great about it. I'm really quite happy.

I'm also happy to hear that our trash will be picked up on Friday, so that means that Thursday night before BF comes over i can take my trash out,

I am tired and for once would like to go to bed at a reasonable hour

Oh my goodness I just remembered I'm doing laundry.

I'll go deal with that now.

TTFN

Sort of just coasting at the moment. Chilly rainy mucky day here.

Earlier things were hopping off and on. Had to confine kitty girl for follow up urine sample to take to vet. Roommate awaiting results. We hope kitty is cured. Poor girl was so relieved to get out of prison aka the back room.

The last couple days things have begun to get in motion again the sewer line done but always there are delays and glitches. Our handyman had a grandbaby born and another family member had a health condition relapse which will be terminal, so he's been tied up, but he did better keeping us posted via text.

The city guy did actually get the yard flagged at long last, yesterday. And our guy did nail down the shingles on the roof, and cleaned the gutters. Now we're just waiting on the bobcat, backhoe, team of synchronized trained gophers, or whatever from the rental place so the digging up of the yard for sewer work can commence. The equipment rental place has its own various delays, though. Sigh.

Roommate may have chance to sell her old car, handyman knows a couple people interested. So there was a scramble to get stuff out of it.

The prospective multi rabbit rescue operation hit a wall as the gentleman stopped returning our gal's calls. She's trying to go through animal control now. Weather forecast is for some cold nastiness in the central US tomorrow but it may remain liquid precipitation here. Still not nice for a neglected, underfed bunch of young bunnies in a makeshift pen who've had to live on a pile of their poop for months. 😥

Lila, I think you will devise strategies as you go, and the process will take shape as you see what works best for each area you face in your home and with your fitness goals and so on. This is a good time to concentrate on inside projects. Hope Tillie is back soon as she will undoubtedly have tips for surviving and thriving when not all the others in your household are able or willing to get on board with decluttering.

Hi SubC and Tatoulia, I skimmed the posts for now but at least I know what you're up to in general.

Weather should be better here by a week or so from now, and dare I hope more of the loose ends will be tied up by then. I'd hoped to do more on my stuff but all the stopping and starting and waiting for work on the house is a hindrance.

Hello everyone! SubC I am taking note of your health tips!

You are accomplishing quite a bit! It is getting colder by the hour here. I've made a good dent in my work and in my house. I got rid of a lot of Christmas cards this year and I've made a second bag (of cards) to donate. I was able to clean out one complete bin of Christmas cards this year! And now I'm shredding the ones I received from people. No need to hang on to them.

I'm getting through a lot here and I feel good. In other news, I'm in my pjs and haven't had lunch.

Good afternoon!

Lila, I gave been thinking of you.

I did yoga and chores, ran the dishwasher, spent a few minutes sorting and tidying in the basement, rode the bike and showered, and spent some time working on molds I need to finish for the kids in one of my classes. I have the first one nearly finished and drying for it's final trim, and the second one slumped on the mold and firming up in front of the woodstove. I need to make three.

Dh is removing the external door from between the house and the addition. Once he has cleaned out all the rotted wood from back before we started rehabbing the house he will reinforce the doorway and frame it in and then we will have to decide what cosmetic finish we want to use - drywall or wood - in the opening.

Next year when we have everyone here for Christmas there will be a beautiful open space and the great room won't get too hot from the woodstove and all the people.

I did have to empty my fountain and take it apart and move it so he can work without danger of damaging it. This would be a good opportunity to was the fountain and the shells, but I'm not sure I'm up for it.

It is sunny as promised here, but barely above freezing.

At the moment I'm more motivated to do thank you notes than the needed barn work.

Good morning friends!

Lila, you had three successes yesterday!
You did not buy anything - big!
You chose a motivational outfit.
You made a plan.

Today - try not to go to the online shopping. If you want to - come here instead. Tell us about it. Read people's stories.

Or go "shop" one of your bins - see if you can find something you like more than something you have out. Maybe the thing that is out is ready to go. Maybe there is nothing in the box you want enough to make space for it right now and something from there can go. Maybe you just churn, but you don't buy anything online, so win!

If it is just too cold to be outside - walk your stairs. Set a goal for how many times you will go up and down them and just do it.

Are you watching tv with commercials? Exercise during the commercials. Maybe just start by standing up during the commercials, then add stretches, then walk in place....

I need to restart my exercise program. I also need a shower. I am telling you this because now I know I will exercise and shower, because how can I tell you to exercise and not do it myself?

I felt a little better about my house when I went to bed last night. I also cleaned out a stall yesterday and laid down a base layer for my spring herb garden.

I'm not sure what I will do today - but I will report back. I'll try to check in often because, Lila, I know it is hardest at the beginning.

Btw, are you willing to share a little more about your child on the spectrum? Do you think they will one day move out, or are they likely to live with you? If you will always be together, how they function is going to impact the kind of home you have and you have to be realistic about that. (Maybe you keep ONE setting of the pretty dishes somewhere out of the way and use it to serve yourself an attractive, healthy meal at a time you arrange to eat alone...)

Hi Tatoulia, Hi CM, Hi Tillie, Hi Emily!

Put on a coat then add a scarf. The scarf will hide the fact you can't close your coat. I'm huge right now from all the baking I did at the start of the pandemic. Yes! Take a walk! And just work on something tmr. See if there is a Red Cross or other donation site. I don't blame you for being upset about your goodwill.

Thank you for the replies and the great tips guys! It feels good to tell my problem somewhere. I've been kind of ashamed of it.

I regret the dishes already. They look nice in my head but WHEN? Probably in a few years. I don't know.

It would help if I found a place I feel good about donating to. I hate our local Goodwill, they are ridiculous and the staff just grabs your box of stuff and literally DUMPS it all into a giant box to sort. I have watched them DUMP glass and fragile items I donated as well as things I had sorted, like army men or legos, they jump DUMP them and it gives me so much anxiety!!!! I need to find a place that appreciates it.

I know just the thing for the outfit I want to wear. It is a pretty grey blouse with flowers and I LOVE it but it is just too snug in the arms, and I can button it but it pulls - you know that feeling like you want to safety pin it shut because you just know a button is going to pop off or there will be an embarrassing gap between buttons? But it is CLOSE to fitting. I will try that on each day and make it my goal shirt. I need to get out a pair of jeans I can't button but want to wear, too.

I got so emotional this morning I felt paralyzed, and instead of doing all the things on my to do list for today I just sat and shopped online (did not buy anything but came close). And watched tv and ate. I got nothing done and feel bad about it. I guess tomorrow is a fresh day and I will do better.

Goals for tomorrow:
Put 3 things in the donate box
Find a better place to donate
Eat healthy, maybe take a walk... I don't think I have a coat that fits though 🙁

Hello ladies!

Way to go SubC! You and your husband did great work today! I am so proud of you! Great work!

Lila you are here and I'm pretty excited! Post as much as you need or want to. It's a good place to come even if you are the only one posting at that particular time.

I live in Boston proper in a city apartment. I have a corporate job and work from home right now. I live alone and am in my 50s. My hoarding comes from a few places but mainly I like treasures. And books. And more treasures. Also, I used to like to be everyone's go to. So if something were on sale, say a bunch of cute erasers or so me note pads or this thing or that thing, I'd buy one for me and several others. Then I realized that I am not a store for people. People really depended on me to have an extra flower pot or this thing or that thing. And I've eliminated, with help from people here, that habit. I now buy one or even more likely, I buy none. I got rid of 20 boxes of books and now rely on my kindle. I still have plenty of books and I should deal with them again sometime. I make choices and some are hard and some are easy. I still have too much stuff, mind you. But I took many bags to goodwill on Sunday and that was a relief.

I got rid of cute dishes and great dishes and even dishes and things I was keeping out of guilt. And I still work on it all the time. Tatoulia is a name I made up and means nothing. It's a name I sometimes call my cat.

So I've been on here, I think, since around 2013. And you won't believe the progress I've made. I now have cleaners come in every two weeks to clean my house. And it's great. I had them last week and actually they are coming again this week because I feel like being pampered.

Things got out of control for me in about 2007. My apartment was cluttered and filthy. And I couldn't have anyone over. Oddly, I always changed my sheets once a week and made my bed daily. Now I can have anyone over except COVID-19 issue. A year ago my sister spent the night (she had never seen it cluttered so she had no idea what I was going through) and she said she'd never been in a cleaner house. I did not tell my sister that I have cleaning ladies. Last week a friend stayed here for two nights (the first I've had a friend inside since March) and she said she'd never seen a cleaner bathroom and commented how there isn't a speck of dust behind my toilet and nothing under the radiator, let me clarify: her cat was in my bathroom so she noticed from the cat walking behind the toilet, etc. I did tell my friend I have cleaners. so having cleaners has paid off for me.

Where to start? Anywhere! .Since getting your bedroom back would help you, how about you go in there with a bag and take care of the trash first. Start a bag of trash. Are you able to sleep in your bedroom? Because changing your sheets and making your bed will make you feel really good. I have to make my bed each day. But you might have stuff on it that would make it hard to make it.

So, between what I have said and what SubC has said, what do you think is a good place to start?

Oh and we support each other even when we backslide and do stupid stuff. We are supportive no matter what. Good group here. And if you ask us to badger you, we pull out our fictional badger. We are all trying for peace and comfort.

Are you on Instagram? Because sometimes I post pictures of my house on Instagram.

Okay, I got three bags of garbage out tonight and two bags of recycling. We didn't have a pick up on Friday and it's been a long week! Plus I had two cats here which meant two litter boxes. All set now!

Ok, here is my trick for losing the weight - pick out your very favorite outfit one size down. Try it on every morning. Try it on every evening. Try it on when you don't feel like exercising. Try it on when you are tempted to snack... when it fits, start wearing it and get rid of the larger clothes. Even if the smaller clothes are tight - wear them. You won't eat as much if your clothes are smooshing you.

We do not want to deny you your fancy dishes, but the first step to managing the stuff is stopping the inflow.

Most of us find it easier to put off or avoid acquiring something than to get rid of something. Especially now with covid, there is extra motivation to just not go places where you can get stuff - don't check the online sites.

For a long time I confessed every single thing I brought into my house here. If I saved a pencil from the yard at work, I made myself come on here and type out "I brought home one pencil." I'm not sure when I stopped doing it, but I recently noticed that I had stopped and that it made it easier to slide things in, so I am trying to start again.

When do you think you will be able to use the pretty dishes?

As for clearing things out - start anywhere - you can try to pick the easiest category and just get rid of one thing the first day - line up something you know you have too many of and get rid of your least favorite, grab one bin and sort through... whatever gets you started.

One thing that helps me is having a good place to take things - recycling has expanded in my area, and that has been huge. The place I sent my stuff today helps needy families in the local community. Maybe I can't afford to make as much of a financial donation as I might wish, but I can give up my extra stuff!

I also cancelled my trash service. I can throw away a little bag of food package trash when I get gasoline or in my classroom trash can (I asked - my boss said "if the classroom trash isn't full" - I don't make that much trash! Sometimes I hide my classroom waste basket so the janitor won't change the bag for almost nothing.) having to think "what will I do with this when I am done with it?" slows me down.

If none of that works for you, keep coming back anyway. Share what you are struggling with and everyone will try to help. Make ANY progress and we will cheer for you.

Wow, congrats, Subclinical! You got rid of a lot! Way to go... I want to be you someday!

As for the ten pounds, it's pretty high priority, actually. 9 or 10. Two reasons: one is health (the Covid 15 turned into the covid 40 and my blood pressure is up) and the other is I literally have one pair of jeans that fits and about 4 shirts. I would have to buy more clothes if I don't lose it... but I have plenty in the next 3 sizes down. I have a goal to drop that 10 this month.

I did not get rid of anything today. In fact, I saw someone giving away a pretty set of dishes and went and got them for free. Now there is another box in my garage... sigh. But they are so pretty and cheerful. My child is autistic and broke 90% of my dishes so we are using paper plates right now. The pretty plates in the garage give me hope.

Lila,

I will come back to talk to you, but right now I just need to brag and catch the daylight.

Two quick questions though - how high a priority is that ten pounds? Higher than the mess in your house? How much time and effort is it worth? Scale of 1-10(top). And what kind of thing is least hard for you to let go of?

So, the truck just left. 5 grocery bags, one giant plastic bag, one box (canister set), hot plate, shelf, chair, little two drawer chest, and some stuff Dh got rid of that I didn't second guess.

Lots of praise for me.

I wrote an intro post this morning... hope you all will read it and hope to get to know you better! Now this is my first post asking for help.

I don't know where to start. My routine to "get motivated" is what I am doing right now: drinking coffee and I have Hoarders on the TV (which gives me enough anxiety that it pushes me to do SOMETHING - but not enough).

I am going to focus on my upstairs right now. Downstairs is where my hoarder husband has his room and family room completely piled up. I can't deal with that right now or the other rooms down there. It is a split entry house and main living area is upstairs. My daughter's bedroom is okay, and she handles that. The main bathroom is also okay, she handles that. My own bathroom is 2/3 decluttered and not a huge concern. Living room is mostly decluttered (because it was Christmas) and clean.

What is left that I need to do something about:
Off the living room is the dining room. Not too bad (due to Christmas) but there are 3 tubs of stuff under the table and by the hall. It is stuff that I am keeping but has no home. The catch-all counter is there as well, piled with stuff that has no home. Kitchen is not too bad but has very limited storage and all the cabinets are overly full.

Hallway has 2 closets. I sorted and cleaned one already. The coat closet is decluttered for the most part. Both closets are totally full though.

Extra bedroom is mostly full of tubs of clothes and kid's toys that I am keeping for my grandkids, mostly already gone through. That room is pretty full but I rarely go in there.

Finally, my bedroom, the worst spot. It is a pretty big room and 90% of the floor space is tubs and piles. A lot of it is dusty. All the tubs have been gone through but are things I want to keep (clothes, tools, old photos of family, etc). Then loose piles of papers and things I 'should' do something with. Clothes all over the place that I either wear or will wear if I lose 10 pounds. It's just a mess and I have no closet space or anything.

How do I figure out where to even begin with this?

Thanks.

Hi Lila!

Welcome!

I call myself Subclinical because I have a lot of manageable but not officially diagnosed issues that characterize depression, OCD, and autism. I've never felt a need to talk to anyone who would be qualified to make an official diagnosis.

And of course, I've got a whole constellation of hoarding issues.

I'm 52, one amazing and patient Dh, three grown and moved out kids, two kid in laws, two "extra" kids, one heartgrandson, and one blood grandson.

I live on a farm and teach part time.

I fully identify with your bedroom of boxes.

So friends, today Dh and I have been working on Boxing Day. I am not going to identify all the things because that leads to regret, but Dh is loading the truck as I decide and will drive it to donate this evening. It includes a shelf, a chair, a giant plastic bag of linens and four paper grocery bags of assorted so far.

He is proud of me.

There have also been some items claimed by my kids - I took pictures of a few things I thought they might want and messaged them.

Ok, back to work!

hello,

I am new on this thread and was invited from the other thread where I posted a month ago. I am overwhelmed and so frustrated. I thought I would just do an intro here first, then spend some time reading this thread. Then maybe I can start asking for help on specific things. I sure need it and regular people are too judgmental to ask. I think you all probably "get it" so I will try here. I will try and help you all, too. Would love a little intro on who is most active and your stories.

I am 51 and I have five kids. Four of them are adults, three of those have moved out and have their own families or lives but I see most of my kids regularly and the clutter has not gotten in the way of our relationships thank god. When they were young my house was always a wreck but I did keep in clean enough, and the main living areas clear enough that they always could have friends over and seem normal but "lived in." When people would come over, I always just rushed and threw all the clutter (and trash, even) into boxes or laundry baskets and shoved them into my bedroom. So it would look relatively normal (except for the kitchen "bar" counter which is always piled with papers and stuff). But my bedroom became and still is a storage unit and I hate that.

I've lived in my house for 24 years. I've cleared a lot out, had yard sales, donated tons so I don't know how I still have so much. The good part is I did a purge and yard sale this summer so I now have some space and empty rubbermaid tubs in my garage if I want to move things from my living space. It's not temperature controlled though so I don't put some things out there. Plus it's not easy to get to. So I have tubs of photos, tools, "special things" etc in the house, everywhere.

I am married but it's a broken marriage for years. Truth be told I posted about my hoarder husband on this forum a few years ago because I was so angry at him. He still hoards up his bedroom (separate from mine, downstairs), a storage room, half the garage and now his hoard has taken over the downstairs family room. It is just so depressing because he won't change or throw out ANYTHING. But, maybe I can fix my bedroom. That would make me feel better.

Thanks for having me.

Good morning!

I bought the truearth. Unscented. And I still like them!

If you get the "years supply" you get a discount and they come in a nice little corrugated box (in the US cardboard is recycled more efficiently than paper, but I will reuse it for kids to pack projects to take home) which takes up more space than the envelope, but never falls off the shelf and is super easy to get the sheets out of.

Right now they give you an extra 10% off with your first order if you give them your email, and they emailed me once. Also, they sent me an unannounced surprise gift with my order, but I don't know if they still do that.

I prefer Canada for their wage and environmental laws.

It's going to be cold and cloudy today, but I will try to do some outside stuff because later in the week it will rain.

Mr. kitty says hello.

Lovely to hear that the mulled wine, etc was a hit! Yay for new traditions!

That's sweet about the baby's footprints! I like the golf ball tradition and the dog's role in it.

What a relief to get my donations out. Then I actually drove to a grocery store and I stocked up on things. These things are still in my car. Cat food and juice and a big pack of toilet paper. They didn't have the cranberry juice I like. But still it was good to get my stuff.

SubC which laundry sheets did you buy? Do you still like them? I have two packs left of my year's worth and am looking to switch to truEarth because they are manufactured in Canada and not China. I've been using EarthBreeze and I adore them but was a bit disappointed that they were coming from China. I'm trying to buy a bit closer to home/carbon footprint/shipping/etc.

Washed my face, fed my cat. Fell asleep at 7 and now ready for bed.

Oh my Tatoulia,

What an odd way to run a business!

Maybe she is just overwhelmed by everything.

I'm glad you got your goodwill dropped off, and it is lovely that you will have your cleaning fairies for new years.

I also think it's great that you have such a nice, supportive and communicative work environment.

We had a really good time with the kids.

The cookies and the mulled wine were a hit, and we decided we should do them again next year - except inside the house by the woodstove, with my son and ddil!

Dd2 brought us a bottle of wine, a big candy bar, and a gift certificate for a pizza at our favorite place.

Dd1 and sil gave us a footprint plaque of Bean's feet (which I helped make - lol!) and a hand carved stirring stick dsil made of a piece of cherry from the farm, and some golf balls for dh. The golf balls are a tradition - DD's dog has been trained to find them. They live across from a golf course (not as fancy as it sounds) and dd and the dog pick the good lost balls up all year when they go for walks, and then wash them and fill a stocking with them for Dh.

Tonight I am going to just relax and tomorrow I will return to putting things in order. I have the whole week off.

Okay! I got all my bags to Goodwill! Very happy about that. I even dropped off the bag that had stuff I was going to consign. I'm nit going back to my consignment shop until,Ed's I need something. One of the women there has scolded me twice. I don't need it. The first time she asked me how I was holding up in the pandemic and I said that I've been doing well but it's been hard on my mother and she launched into soldiers in WWII and no one even knew if their loved ones were alive or dead. Again, she asked me. I didn't bring it up. Last time I said, I'm happy with my selection (referring to a ceramic delft pitcher I'd bought) and she said, oh no, this election is not over. Not by a long shot. You wait and see. (I'm not taking political sides; I just don't want to be scolded)

So I'm done with them. Would rather donate than sell something there.

I will have so much garbage by the time tomorrow rolls around. Missing a pickup has been a problem.

So it's time to find more stuff to donate.

Hello everyone!

I understand your husband's fatigue, SubC. BF and I talk about it all the time about how now isn't the time to get lazy. I like how you put it with the bear! Thank you!

The bonfire sounds lovely!

Today I will hopefully get to goodwill. I have so much to donate and it would be a good feeling of relief. Just getting it done and out, making more room in my car for be next batch. In fact, I think I'll go make my breakfast now with a plan to leave for the car in 1-1/2 hours. Wish me well, I really want to do this.

Oh, I contacted my cleaners to ask them to come this week instead of waiting for the following week. Just to spruce it up for New Year's Eve. They will come on Wednesday.

A lot of changes at work and interesting discussion from Senior VP last week. There will be a role for me but in he meantime they are going to be inundating me with work while they make department changes. She wanted to make sure that I don't get frustrated that they can't just elevate me immediately. Their proposed ideas for reshaping my unit and aligning it with other units makes enormous sense and I appreciated the phone call. Two higher ups have contacted me on this and I'm grateful for all of it. So I expect to be swamped. So grateful to be home while working through it.

My ultimate goal is to make enough to have cleaners once a week.

SHOUT OUT TO TILLIE! love you so much!

Good morning

🎶 on the 288th day if corona, my true love said to me 🎶

"I am just sick of this."

He does not want to deal with any more socially distanced visiting from our kids, he has no interest in giant zoom calls with his family, he hates being home, and he does not want to hear one more conversation about masks.

I let him read all day and made cookies. I wisely did not point out that "you don't stop wrestling a bear when you're tired, you stop when the bear is tired."

So, today it will be in the 40's and we're having the bonfire we didn't have on solstice with mulled wine and cookies and two of our daughters and sil, and the baby we aren't allowed to hold because he spent Christmas with his daddy's family in a house.

CM, you are wise to recognize your limits and be realistic about your situation.

Tatoulua, I am glad you had such a good christmas. It's lovely to have a gift you will use and enjoy all the time.

Warm thoughts to Tillie, holding you in my heart.

And shout out to Emily and Tessa! Tessa, how did the inspection go? Crossing my fingers for you!

Hello everyone!

We had a great Christmas. I may have mentioned how BF loves to shop and buy gifts and this year he worked all day everyday. So I told him something that I really wanted for Christmas and would never buy for myself. He was relieved. So I got my Bose noise canceling headphones and I love them.

He kept apologizing for not having more gifts for me. I am thrilled with what I got. I am so happy with the headphones. . Will help me in multiple ways. Listening to music, relaxation tapes, answering work calls, using for zoom calls, etc.

This was by far the most relaxed Christmas Eve and Christmas we have ever had. We had no timetable, no rush. Didn't have to be somewhere with other people and getting things decorated, etc. So easy being just the two of us. We could talk or not talk. We generally have Christmas Eve at his house with mom and his neighbors. So on Christmas eve we left gifts for his neighbors and they had a package for me. We were able to run errands and just stay calm. Droooed off gifts at mom's, etc.

Yesterday was also really relaxed and calm. We had dinner here again and it was tasty. No rush. No nothing, so nice! We dropped off things for people, pies, cards, etc. so much fun. We saw mom from about 12 feet away.

So honestly, I had the best time in a long time.

I have tons of laundry to do. So I m doing it and feeling really good about it. Such a joy for me.

I realize I worded that wrong last night, LOL. We wouldn't have tried to take in all 13 of the rabbits, just 1 or 2 - it was one of those "Can several people in the club each take one or two?" type deals.

But I'm still glad not to have to try and squeeze in even one extra thing around this overstuffed house and schedule. I am happy to take some time to help the bunnies offsite, pet them and love them and play with them and all of that. But we recognize that we are already overwhelmed.