Lila,

I'm sorry. Fleas are awful. Hopefully the pet stuff will kill them all.

Enjoying grandkids is good though.

Mr. kitty was chasing a mouse in the living room this morning. It got away. I set a trap, but need to set more.

Camp was fun and is over now. I am wiped out.

I was supposed to have Bean two days next week, but as of right now he has a temp of 103 and is waiting for covid results. They called his doc, and he is happily playing in his sandbox eating popsicles. (Doc said Tylenol and popsicles.) they sent video so I won't worry.

hello friends,

I had a long week, very busy. Today I had off. I had to take my car n for an oil change, tire rotation and minor repair. They are telling me it needs another $1k in work soon, but that is making me wonder how much I could get for it if I sold it to the dealership and bought something smaller, newer, and cheaper. It is an suv so it takes a lot of gas and would be more expensive than a car. I dunno.

Enjoying my grandkids.

What I got done today:
- washed and dried 2 loads of clothing. Folded one.
- took out all the trash (it's trash day)
- picked up all the junk and trash in the family room, which dh has hoarded up. Took out one bag of trash from there.
-washed out my dog's ears. I still need to add ointment.
- let dog play while I did some poop scooping

I am working on other areas. Major problem, teen's cat has fleas. We have never in 25+ years had fleas on an animal here. It is an inside cat and there seem to be no fleas on the dogs. so don't know how he got them. Teen saw jumping bugs all over there room, caught one and the vet and pest control said fleas. Teen is gone for a week or two so it falls to me. I put flea control on the dogs and cat. A guy came and sprayed the wall edges around teens room. Now I have to wash ALL teen's laundry, bedding, towels everything and vacuum and clean their room. Also other rooms just in case, but they seem to be isolated to teen's room for the most part. But man, it s exhausting. So I am working on that as I am able.

What are you all up to?

Went to the recycling hub in the city.

Took 4 feed bags plus two plastic grocery bags of things that are hard to recycle plus a few random loose items. Most came out of my basement where they have been accumulating.

Last day of camp for me tomorrow.

Congratulations on becoming a mom and having it be your best day!

Btw my cat has a limp not a limo.

All is going well with mom. I'm grateful for that.

I hope you had a good visit with mom Tatoulia.

Today is my dd1's bday. 30 years ago I became a mom. One of the best choices I ever made!

Three more days of camp. House is a wreck. I've lost counters and half a couch. Things are spread out in the basement.

I picked up some racks by the side of the road yesterday that I *think* I am going to use at school, but I might keep them..

Much to do! Carry on!

Great use of the styrofoam, SubC.

I'm exhausted too. I have to see mom tonight. Haven't seen her since Saturday. My intern will be remote through the summer and part time instead of full time. I'm glad we will still have her.

I'm in my third load of laundry. Cat blankets. My poor old cat has some fur matting but she won't let me fix it. She is short-haired but with age, she's looking more unkempt. I know one of her back legs bother her. She fell a number of years ago and has had a limo. Now when I brush her that area hurts. And there's no getting at the tummy.

I'm working from home today, then back in office on Wednesday and Friday. We will probably get out early on Friday. If so, the announcement will be made on Thursday. And if they don't, we all will be devastated. My admin and I will likely be the only people in the office on Friday.

Tatoulia, will your intern be working remotely?

I'm sorry the subway scared you.

Lila, I'm glad you are getting lots of time with tot and mini tot.

How is the planning going?

The swelling is almost all gone from the hand and the break in the skin has closed, so the head is definitely worse now. It's healing though - because it itches.

I have reached the tired part of the week already. 4 more days. I like the job, but the logistics are hard.

Today we are building armatures for our paper mache sculptures and starting our fantasy costumes. I am taking in two grocery bags of styrofoam food containers that have been sitting in my basement because I can't recycle them. My boss said they would be good for the armatures.

Lila, when I drop off things to donate, I picture my house being lighter. I imagine it weighing less. It's a visual that works for me because it's not visibly noticeable that I got rid of things. But I imagine it weighing less. Now it's automatic. I get the automatic thought of lightness.

SubC glad you are keeping a good eye on the hand and head. Just as I'd expect from you!

Hello CM, road, Becky, and all others.

I ended up doing quite a bit of walking today. Some of it unexpected. A friend who is sick with covid (very sick, fever, etc but thankfully no lung involvement) ran out of tests, so I brought her four and some groceries she needed. I did take the subway to her house and then walked home. The subway was filled with animals. Not real animals, just people misbehaving and a tad scary. Actually the people alone were some of the scarier ones. Oh well.

I'm home and showered.

I did work today meaning my job. My worst employee quit (thankfully) so I'm doing some of her work til the replacement is hired. The job hasn't posted yet. Hopefully I'll find someone. I did a little shopping and visited with BF. I did not see mom. I was going to go over and then at 8 PM I found out my friend needed tests and juice and oatmeal. So here it is 10:50 PM and I'm just out of the shower.

Off to bed. I have to go into office tmr. Not happy about going in on a Monday but my intern leaves this week and a friend in another dept (who worked with her on a project) suggested we have dinner. My intern will stay on for the summer but she's moving home so we will be on opposite coasts.

Ouch SubC, I hope that all heals up quickly. The hand definitely sounds worse. I hope you get full function back soon - no infection!!

Tatoulia, nice work getting things out of your space. And spending time with mom is good... hopefully not frustrating.

I did church and got nothing else done but I count holding the miniTot good times! And I brought Tot over for awhile to play last night. I will go see them shortly as well.

I will remember what you guys said and embrace the great day I had yesterday. I have considered if it is something I could re-create. I had a lot of fresh fruit and half a grilled cheese for dinner the night before. Hmmm, will try that again perhaps?? Although I am avoiding dairy for the most part. Maybe fruit tonight.

I am going to prepare 3 more clothing items to return. I have those plus 2 other things and will take it all and return it tomorrow. I will drop off a box to donate as well. Good to clear some space. Maybe I can find a thing or two to throw in the donate box tonight before I have my son put it in my car.

I will also work on my planner today and sort out my week. I NEED to stop working so much and focus on home and my health and family, but the only way I manage to do that is with planning. I need to pick my 'days off' for this week and respect them by not letting more obligations in. I got 2 'days off' last week for the first time in ages, so am going to try and do that each week of the summer. If I can get 3 days off, or a couple half days, that would also help.

Will go over and check on the weight loss thread as well and update there.

Good almost afternoon.

Tatoulia, I love linen, but it wrinkles so!

Slept in and started the day with my hardest/most important chores - the naughty goat got double breakfast to keep her still on the stand longer and I still didn't get her milked completely out. She has twins on her during the day though, so it should be alright.

Watered the trees dsil moved for me yesterday and disbudded the last baby goat. I'm glad she was a single because she got my last dose of tetanus vaccine and the animal pharmacy isn't open evenings or weekends.

My hand is swollen and sore and discolored and hurts when I move it, but definitely not infected. Head is much better - a little sore and a little itchy. It was a pretty deep slice, but clean. The hand was more of a direct hit.

Lila, I agree about just appreciating the good say. In my experience I have really good days and then I am down for a while. One of my goals is to make the good days a little more frequent.

Hi road and Becky and cm!

I'm going to pick some beans and then have lunch.

SubC I how are you today? That sounds really painful and very scary. I'm glad you are up to date on tetanus. I get mine on the 0s starting in 1990: so I know when I'm due. I really hope your finger isn't getting infected. Sounds like you have the forehead under control and I hope that holds true today.

SubC good job at the garage sale and for getting your jams. I love your time with Bean. So fulfilling for all of us (me included).

Lila, embrace the productivity! Don't lament that you aren't like that every day! Just embrace the truly productive day!

Yesterday I did mom's groceries (I took my car), dropped two bags off at goodwill (I swear I feel lighter), made lunch at 4 PM and fell asleep. I went back to mom's around 7 just to hang out. Then back here. So not a super productive day but I was good with it. I also washed my linen clothes yesterday and hung them in the bathroom to dry. I feel like I rediscovered linen this year. So much cooler. So easy to wear.

I'm doing a load of delicates now and having my first cup of coffee. Going to be another hot day but not super terrible.

What are you doing today?

Nice work Lila!

I ran over something- Rock? Metal? No idea. With the lawnmower and threw it and sliced my hand and my forehead.

Hand is just below the lowest knuckle of the index finger, which is swelling and becoming useless, and forehead needed two butterfly bandages and will most likely scar. Milking should be fun tomorrow and cheese making is cancelled. (I'm utd on tetanus shots.)

I insisted on Dh taking me to an event in a nearby town anyway, and he insisted I wear a hat. We ran into a couple we knew from long ago - our 14 y.o. had a huge crush on their 13 y.o. And theirs seemed at least interested back - and then they promptly moved to another continent for a job. We caught up a bit and exchanged numbers (they are in the country until November.) I told the child in question we ran into them and the response was "it's not too late for me to get a divorce." Sadly, the crush is living in yet another foreign country and engaged, so my child agreed it would be wise to hang on to their spouse.

Very tired now. Also achey. Going to try to sleep.

hi SubC! Sounds like a nice day, with the tunnel and the bread etc, yum! I went to see the Tots and had a nice visit but forgot to take over a couple of things, so only stayed an hour. I will go back in a bit and take my big girl Tot out for ice cream.

Also, I got the curtains out of the dryer damp and hung them back up myself! I have never done it alone before. There are 4 floor length, heavy panels and they have like a dozen tiny alligator clips per panel on the rod to attach. But I got up there and did it! It looks nice and smells very fresh in my living room.

I dusted a bit but have not gotten it all done yet. I did clean the windows and the windowsills and rods before I hung the curtains. There is still much to do and I will try and dust a bit before I go back over.

I wish I had energy like I had this morning every day! I would have a clean house in no time!

Happy Saturday!

Lila, I am impressed with all you are doing!

Good job on the grill!

You have given yourself all that space! Plus, you will bless someone who really wants that grill but doesn't have it in their budget to buy it new, or you will bless someone who could have bought it new, but won't now, so you will save all the materials of creating and shipping another one.

This morning I did a little work in the garden. Then I went out to the feed store. I stopped at two yard sales and a Saturday market that I passed. At the first garage sale I bought a $10 lodge cast iron skillet that retails for at least $50. It is rusty but shouldn't be hard to clean up. It came with an extra lid. At the second one I spent $1 on a nylon tunnel for Bean. He has already gotten $1 worth of fun out of it. At the market I bought 4 half pints of jam. I am feeling very rich right now with my fancy jams!

Bean arrived when I got back. We have played and made hot bread. I made biscuits without him while he napped. And cleaned up some dishes. He should be up any minute.

hi all! Happy Saturday!

I did not get much done yesterday because I went over to my son's house to prep for them coming home from the hospital. I picked up their house and washed dishes and brought in some groceries. Then spent time with the 2tots which was a joy. Time well spent.

I did clean out the cabinet under the kitchen sink because dh put an onion in there who knows when and it went bad. omg the smell! So I pulled everything out, tossed a few jars (we save empty jars but I needed space) and put things back neatly.

You will be proud of me: there was a george forman grill in that cabinet for, I kid you not, 15-20 years!! Someone gave it to me and I never used it, not once. I always thought I would. I finally put it in the donate box. I am proud of myself, it's a big thing! Now stuff is not crammed in there, and there was even space to store a couple items that have been living on the counter.

Today I woke up with great energy. It is only 11am and so far I have:

-washed, dried, and folded one load of clothes
-loaded and run the dishwasher
-found the branch trimmers and went outside and trimmed hanging branches and trimmed the roses, and pulled a few weeds. All went into the recycle yard waste bin.
-Took down the curtains from the front living room window, washed them, and they are in the dryer
-Took down the curtains from the side living room window, and they are in the washer
-went outside with my dog, let him run around, and I picked up 75% of the doog poo in the dog area yard

I just made a vegan pizza and ate a few small pieces, and am sipping an iced coffee. Goals for today include putting my clothes away, cleaning the two big living room windows and sills and curtain rods, vacuuming the dust webs above there and then re-hanging the curtains. That is the hardest part for me (re-hanging, they are on clips) so I hope my son will get out of bed and help with this.

This is the most I have gotten done in ages. I do want to get things moved back into the room tomorrow, so need to finish dusting and cleaning the living room.

What are you cleaning and decluttering today?

Hello everyone, Happy Saturday!

Congratulations on the new grand tot, Lila! I do like the idea of deciding what goes back into the room. Now is a good time. See what you can do, if it becomes overwhelming then stop. But why not reassess? You could gain some space!

I am making a goodwill run today. I have a bag of stuff to go.

I have the kettle on and so will enjoy some freshly brewed coffee in a few minutes.

I'm going to make a list. It's been helping me lately.

Hooray for the grand tot!

I strongly support deep cleaning the rest of the room and only putting back things you really want!

Becky, you have been through a lot lately!

In my regular teaching job I have ages 5-18. For camp, 5-12.

First week of camp is over. We had a great day today with an ice cream party and an art show. After camp we had a staff meeting to discuss the week and rough out plans for next week. It started with "beer's in the fridge" and included "so what do you guys want me to get you (supplies) for next week?" I came home happy and less tired than any Friday in the last year of my regular job.

Ran a load of wash. Working on the dishes.

Dd has to work tomorrow, so dsil is bringing the Bean out here. He is missing his respite care days.

hi all! Well I definately skipped the party, and have been busy, as my new little tot was born! Healthy and happy and a great experience! They are coming home today so I will be busy holding my new little grandtot many days!

The carpet cleaners came and so I had to move all the furniture except big stuff to the dining room and it is mostly still there. I would like to clean it all before putting things back. Everything is exceptionally dusty.

Road, you did great! I feel the same way about doing things just so I can come and tell you all about it. This group is a motivator and I am happy you're all here.

Before the totarrival I did get one corner of the kitchen counter cleaned. I even moved all the appliances and scrubbed the edges of the counter with a toothbrush. I cleaned the crock pot, blender and other things on the counter in that corner. Yes the rest of the kitchen is a disaster, but there is one very clean corner. lol.

Today I plan to dust the living room before putting furniture back in. I think I will wash the drapes... they are covered in dust and dog hair. It's a big job taking them down and putting them back up. I will do one window at a time.

As I put items back I will decide if I REALLY want to put them back, or donate them.

Thank you for all the support you guys!

Good morning subclinical,

Thank you for the sweet comment

About lemonade. I try to be positive,

Yet I'm accually guite overwhelmed.

Taking a break after selling my beloved mountain
Property.
Adjusting to single hood after leaving a abusive
Man.
Need to get a job. Thinking about going back
To a pet care business.

Good job at the camp.I love children. What
Ages do you work with?

My baby's are 10 weeks.Main Coons are amazing.
Like raising baby tigers! They are simply
Magical,so charming,and smart.

I'm not a breeder. But ended up with
Kittens.

I used to have big gardens years ago.

Now I have a bunch of house plants.

This house is my big downfall. Just want to
Get a dumpster,and throw it all out.

So happy to have found this website
At last.

Becky

Good morning!

Becky, will you put some of your ricks out as decorations on the counters when they are clean?

When you say you have three kittens and you get calls - are you a breeder for the Maine coon cats? I had a friend years ago who really wanted one, but they were so expensive.

Tatoulia, I am glad you are finding peace. You are one of the most "make lemonade" people I know!

Last day of the first week of camp today - so halfway through.
The beans are starting to come in in the garden, so there is a lot of blanching and dehydrating in my future. The beets are overdue to pick. I may cube and freeze some for stews this year.

I have such a list for my weekend - including that if I work on the basement I can take a trip to the big recycling center after work on Thursday. It is only a 15 minute trip from work, and then no longer to home than from work to home, so it would be very sensible to get that done. But then there is the garden, and the stalls, and the cheese making, and the house is such a mess..

Thanks SubC for the correction! I appreciate it and you are right! Many years ago, I would've been in my thirties, and I tracked down two of my teachers to thank them. I had been a very confused teen and they tried really hard with me.

Becky, keep working on getting the stuff out of your house! The kitty cats will appreciate it! I'm so glad you are here.

I did my sheets and also a load of darks. Just a little pick me up. I had to fold the sheets and the darks are hung up.

Very beautiful day here. We had a few minutes of rain but otherwise cool and sunny and breezy. So pleasant.

I'll gather up my recycling and clean kitty's litter box soon. May stop by mom's. I cannot tell you the peace that has washed over me, knowing that she's losing her marbles and not just lying. It's changed a lot for me. She was a bit of liar to start with. Now that I know her lies are her attempt to make sense of things in her own brain, I'm good with it. She's doing what she can.

Good morning guys. Great hearing about

Your days. So I'm using my love for rock as a inspiration to clear kitchen counters.

I have agate,crystals,fool's gold specimens etc.

I can enjoy them if they are all boxed up.

Need to get more shelving. My true loves are my
Animals,Art projects,my rock.

Also removing stuff that should not be in the house. A ladder,boards,tree root system.buckets
Of roofing nails.Im not working now. But
Want to get back to pet sitting.But with
A big truck. The gas charge will be tricky.

I'm in Colorado. I have 3 kittens,main coon mixes.
A amazing breed. I am usually swamped with calls.

You guys are amazing. Love the sight.

Becky

Oh my, no tatoulia! Done properly the job is hard work, but the life is not hard! A pizza delivery person's life is hard. Working on a road crew is a hard life. That was not the takeaway from that at all! I wish teaching paid well enough that more teachers had a choice about working for pay in the summer. I wish more schools would just let teachers teach and not inflict so much administrative nonsense on them. I wish everybody had small classes like I've so that they could focus on their students better. but it is not a hard life! I love my job, and In july and august i will be in charge of my own time for 57 consecutive days!

One day last spring, I told some of my students that I was going to have to leave on time (they tend to linger after school) because I had a summer job interview, and one of them asked "what's a summer job for a teacher?" Another one snapped back with "the thing that puts food on the table all summer." The first one said "no, I mean, like, what do you do?" I told them "my garden puts food on the table all summer. But I'm interviewing for a camp job."

One of our English teachers tends bar on weekends. She ended up moving into her friend's basement during covid. She is amazing and would make more money in public school, but she won't leave our program. We have so much more freedom and joy than a "real" school.

At one point two of my kids were double majoring in education and something else (neither became a teacher after graduation, but both married teachers) my youngest was still at home and would clearly not be following her father's career path. Dh complained "how did we end up with two teachers and no (his better respected, better paid job)?" The youngest proceeded to do impressions of how each of us came home from work. - basically I made my job look fun, and he made his look awful.

(Ironically, the youngest did not major in education, but coaches and teaches swimming as her second job.)

Camp should be easy today - lots of finishing things.
House is a mess.

Quick check in. Road, great work! Lila, I'm exhausted these days, too. I wake up and get up but my brain isn't awake. Very weird feeling. Hello CM and Becky!
SubC a teacher's life is hard, to be sure.

I was at office today and stayed fairly late. Did a quick stop at mom's to see how clean her space is (cleaners came today). Now I'm showered and ready for bed. I do love my clean sheets nights. My house is very clean. I never would have gotten to this point without your help and some help from friends.

Road good job on the sorting out and discarding! I'm glad you're getting some "normal".

Heat advisory again today - and a horrible storm on the drive home so I couldn't roll the windows down to cool the car. The heat really wears me out.

Hi Becky, hi CM, Hi Tatoulia!

Hi "actually Lila" - lol!

I do get vacations, but not paid.

My regular job ended May/June - classes were out the last week of May and evaluations were due June 10.

I had a week "off" to catch up with stuff around the farm, and then my camp job started the 20th. That goes through July 1, and then I don't plan to get paid again until school responsibilities officially start Aug 28, but I'll spend time doing planning and prep and I have work to do on my classroom over the summer.

We are going to take an actual vacation this summer in July as my Dad has rented a beach house for a week and invited all of my family and my brother's family. (I have the one brother and no sisters)

Hi all,

This am was the first "normal" day for quite awhile. I just started doing some work outside and thought of you all and kept doing stuff JUST so I could come here and tell you all about it.

- three broken hose in the garbage.
- tested another hose
- sorted through a huge pile of yard & garden stuff the H pulled out yesterday. Stacked up a HUGE pile of plant containers - everything not in great shape and not dark brown/black.

This am was the first "normal" day for quite awhile. I just started doing some work outside and thought of you all and kept doing stuff JUST so I could come here and tell you all about it.

- threw broken hose in the garbage.
- tested another hose
- ordered two new hoses and a wand
- sorted through a huge pile of yard & garden stuff the H pulled out yesterday. Stacked up a HUGE pile of plant containers to throw away - anything broken, not in great shape and not dark brown/black
- piled up three bags of gardening junk a friend abandoned at my house a few years ago
- sorted and consolidated a few more planting related things
- made a salad for brekkie, brewed some green tea
**cleaned out bottom of drawer of fridge again and the bottom /floor of the fridge. I felt very adult.
- the other day I bagged up a large bag to donate
- sorted through my "out of the house" bin & bagged up another big bag to donate
- challenged myself to find three books to donate and after talking myself out of several of them (on very weak grounds) I found three I could part with. Very proud of myself.
- accidentally ordered 2 of a new book so I started the return on that
- cleaned up the shelving unit on the back porch a bit.

I'm forgetting a couple things but that's it for now.

Hope to come back later!
-

hi all,

SubC do you get a summer vacation time? I am looking at my own calendar and wondering why everyone else who actually is employed where I volunteer gets weeks of vacation time, while I stay and work while everyone is gone, and then when they come back I keep right on working to support what is going on. Which means, in 4 years I have taken one week off, twice, in the whole time, plus the week I had covid and the week I was dealing with cancer. And I am a volunteer. I need to actually schedule myself a break in the summer but I have a lot going on.

I was so tired this morning I could barely drag out of bed. I think I will skip the party thing tonight and stay home. I actually went and got an energy drink on the way home because I can't afford to have another day wasted lying around. I HAVE to get some cleaning done. It is getting the the point of gross around here, and embarrassing.

So I am sipping the energy drink now, waiting for it to kick in (which it will since I haven't had one in months) and hope I can get the kitchen and living room clean. The bar/counter between them is another story entirely so I won't worry about that until I get the main areas done.

Goals:
wash all dishes
load dshwasher
put dshes away
wash down counters, stove, fridge, dishwasher, miicrowave
wipe down trash can
clean windows
dust living room
use stick vacuum to clean up dog hair, dust bunnes etc

I will let oyu know how it goes.

Very quick drive by - greetings to all and welcome to Becky.

Good morning

I got so wired from Al the new info
At meeting. Good stuff. Then I couldn't sleep.

Plus my daughter finaly reached out.

She keeps herself quite distanced. Which

Drives me crazy.

Tatoulia, Great job at the camp. I sure

Miss kids.I have a close girlfriend who

Is being passive,aggressive. I call,she doesn't.

So I am pulling back.

Have a nice day,Becky

Good morning.

The exhaustion has set in. I am struggling to wake up enough to drink my coffee so I can do the things.

Camp was better for me yesterday as far as interest because I ran the main project. It was labor intensive though. Today the other teacher (my boss) is running the projects. I think that will be fine too because I have less concern about process. I am pretty good at following instructions and I am pretty good at being in charge. I am apparently less good at being partly in charge of someone else's vision.

For next week my boss has hired a second assistant and I will be the only teacher. The second assistant has lots of ideas but no classroom management skills. (She helped out today) she works well with the kids, but only one at a time. Next week has less clay work and is less in my wheelhouse.

Yesterday was mostly exhausting because it was very full. Morning chores and a few attempts at keeping the house together, leave at 8, camp prep from 9-10, camp from 9-12:30 plus stuff ran into 15 minutes of my lunch, back from lunch to help set up at 1:10, camp 1:30-4, clean up and planning discussion to 4:30 - over to Bean's house for play and dinner, class I'm raking 6:30-9, home at 10, an hour of chores, shower, bed.

Today I just come straight home from camp and try to do some house/farm things.

Also, the ac in my car is not working again - so, definitely has a leak. Can't fix it until after camp. Temps in the 90s. No ac at camp either - the heat doesn't help with the tired.

Ok, coffee is kicking in, gotta get to work.