We're going through some 100+ temp days but hopefully only a few before it changes. It's oppressive, the air is thick to breathe, and a person can't help but sweat. I hate the feel of sweating. So I've been indoors a lot.

Also, it's like the dopamine has been sucked out of my system and it's ridiculously hard to initiate any task whatsoever. But today I feel a little more energetic than yesterday which was the first day the heat shot up so high. I Googled foods that give you dopamine and one was watermelon. That sounds very appealing. Roommate is leaving tomorrow morning to visit family for the weekend. I might procure us a watermelon if I can manage to get to the store at a time when it isn't bedlam.

Some of this week was taken up with our hunt for a new phone for roommate - I was along in a tech advisory capacity. We did find a good one, it had to be ordered but it arrived quickly, yesterday, and she has it mostly set up. When I am ready to get a new phone, which won't be too much longer, I may get the same model, because it looks like a good value for the price and it will have loads more memory than my current one which is pretty much at capacity, and doesn't hold a charge as well as it should. I need to start backing up my photos and stuff so that I won't be pressed for time when I do make the switch, even though like I said, it won't be right away.

I have some ideas for things to accomplish while roommate is away, but I don't even want to say just yet what those are, for fear I will jinx the little dopamine receptors and they will scurry back into their caves. One must coax them gently out with warm milk, poetry, and unicorn tears. Or at least watermelon.

Ok! I was feeling discouraged, but then I got an email that is making me feel bette4 and more motivated.

There is a really cool place that will take a lot of hard to recycle items, but it is in the city, over an hour drive, and in a difficult area to navigate. It is also open only limited hours that are not great for me, so I've managed to get there twice. Meanwhile, I have a large recycling center set up in my basement.

The email was to tell me that there is now a satellite drop off on the first Saturday of every month (this Saturday!) in a large town only 27 minutes from me. So, I am going to really focus on getting everything together, filling my car, and dropping off on Saturday!

The other thing that is good is that the big center in the city has a "shopping area" where you can help yourself to useful items to reuse. So far I have resisted that, but it is hard. I am definitely not ready to make good choices in their "shopping area". The satellite drop does not have a shopping area.

Good morning.

Terrible air quality again today. I wore my Covid mask to class last night. My eyes were sore by the time I got home.

Sometimes I think about how hard I try to avoid waste and recycle things and how little all my efforts compare to one building burning to the ground. It seems like that might help me accept that a few bags of trash are not going to make much difference to the planet, but all it actually does is make me feel sad and hopeless and ineffective.

It's supposed to rain tomorrow, so hopefully that will clean some of this smoke out of the air. I am going to stay home and probably work in the studio again. Hopefully making things this time though.

I have been working in the studio today because the air quality is too bad to be outside. I haven't actually been making anything, just doing a lot of cleaning up, sorting, and organizing. Generated a little trash and a bag of recycling. Also broke a few things. I don't actually care that much right now, I just need a stronger sense of order and control.

This is really just a first pass - for example, I'm trying to get all the glaze jars together in one area. Later I'll sort them by color and then figure out which ones are still usable and which ones need to be rebatched. And then I will rebatch them one color at a time for months.. (Because it takes 5 minutes, and then 5 minutes tomorrow, and then 5 minutes the next time you go out. and then in a few weeks or months, depending on how often you walk by and shake/stir, you have a jar of usable glaze and a bunch of containers to reuse or recycle. And otherwise you have a very large bag of "hazardous waste" (that is actually safe to use by 5 y.o.s - eyeroll!)

I did find a really significant amount of floor space today. I feel good about that.

It's noon here —so do I say good morning or good afternoon?

I was sick all night. Something in my dinner did not sit right. I was up and in the bathroom during the night and then this AM I started to add vomit to the mix. No fun. I'm now washing towels I used to clean up the mess. I may end up having to take the towels to the animal shelter if they are stained. I just wiped down the bathroom and I have showered. I think I need to change my sheets, too, just to be extra clean. The sheets will be changed again tomorrow when the cleaners are here but that's okay. Two days in a row of clean sheets would make me very happy, to be honest.

Okay off to a meeting. I had to do my early AM meeting in a camera-off situation.

Good morning.

I'm having a hard time getting started today. It's an early day for Dh at work, and his alarm went off in the middle of my dream.

I did finish that last inch of papers yesterday.

I brought more stuff up from the basement, but I am starting to have an overwhelming number of categories. I need to start filing or use fewer categories and "none of the above" I'm starting to run into some hard stuff.

My dishwasher door is broken - it doesn't lower itself slowly any more, it is eitherlatched or drops hard if you don't lower it by hand. I put a box on the floor so it won't fall on my foot. Dh has now put the repair on his short list, which means I need to get the scullery clean enough for him to work in. More pressure than I want right now.

I feel like I should have more time and energy by now to accomplish lots of things - school has been out for a month. The goat and I are walking.

Yay for the record player! Peter and the Wolf was a favorite of mine!

No argument on 90% is good enough! I hear you and agree. For me, I need that extra 10%. I need to finish it. Because now that I live in an orderly house, that 10% is clutter and noise. And there I was tonight, telling myself to put all the cat food cans away. Not just all but five. And not only fold and put away the pjs, but get all the socks in their space too. So I'll work on finishing things because that's where I fall down.

Had a work dinner tonight. Very fun evening.

Dh bought me a record player!

It is self contained in a little blue 1950s retro case with silver corners. I have two cases of records I saved from my childhood and now I can 1) see if they are even still usable (I'm a little scared) and 2) hopefully share them with Bean!

Also, I'm remembering how much I loved the listening center in my preschool. I would put the padded headphones on, shut the whole room out, and listen to the grasshopper and the ant - over and over. I can still feel the headphones and see the record turning. Yeah. I'm pretty sure that was an early sign of autism.

Now where am I going to put my listening center...

I'm going to play devil's advocate. Sometimes 90% is enough.

Obviously I don't want to leave that last inch of papers on my table for weeks, but this is not Lila's bathroom. This is a bathroom used by another adult and a teenager, each of whom is capable of wiping with Lysol. If wiping the bathroom down would give Lila a sense of satisfaction, great! But if not, she has plenty to do and this may just be a case of "done is good enough." And move on.

I second that what Tatoulia said about doing the last part of a job - because boy, do I struggle with the same thing! It's like I get past the absolute worst part of the work to where it's sort of done, and my brain says "That's enough, no more."

Let us all pledge to be accountable to finish all the way. Maybe at first we won't be perfect at it but keep building the habit, find incentives to keep ourselves going, whatever it takes.

Have not read all the posts. Came on here because I wanted to comment on Lila's post. Great job cleaning the bathroom! As I read it, I thought, I hope they throw out some of the bottles of stuff. Too much. Should have been tossed years ago. I know it will stress out SubC, and me to an extent, that the bottles weren't recycled but desperate times call for desperate measures. When dealing with a hoard, you need to do what you can and not get hung up on some of the other stuff. That will come with time.

Two other comments. One, teen will appreciate it. Whether they express the appreciation is a different matter and you need to know in your heart that you are a good mom and you did for them what any good mom would do. I'm here to say you did a good job and I'm thrilled you and son worked together.

Second comment comes from my own experience. I know you are tired and have other things to do but please finish the job with the final swipe with Lysol. I tend to do things almost and I have to tell myself, no finish. I'll make my bed but not fold the thing by the bottom or tell myself that I'll come back. I literally say to myself, put that final spoon in the dishwasher now. So if you can't finish it or ask son to help. I fight against this every day.

Coffee clinks!

Good morning!

I did not finish my drawer yesterday. A friend called and offered me some flowers she was digging out. They are exactly what I wanted to finish off my new flower bed, so I went over and picked them up. And, drum roll.. I brought them straight home and planted them!

I finally got the last of the pussy willows planted yesterday too, so there are no plants languishing in my house or yard.

CM, I hope you get your machine fixed. I understand how roadblocks like that can derail everything.

Lila, yay for the stroller being picked up! And excellent job on the bathroom! It was really nice of you to give them a reset. And really awesome job on the products! Now, every time a product is requested, do a quick sweep to see if it is needed or something less desirable needs to leave before it goes on the shopping list (example - teen requests shampoo, there are 4 shampoos. if teen does not find any of them acceptable and son is not using them, they leave the bathroom!

I dusted my bedroom yesterday. Except my dresser. My dresser is still buried under a stuff drift.

SubC, when I first read your line about singers of that era were notorious for tension problems, I got a mental image of a rock star who was uptight and caused trouble. The tabloid fodder type. What can I say, my mind takes some strange twists and turns.

The funny thing is, my Singer sewing machine has behaved quite well all the time I've had it; that's why this all came as a sudden surprise. It's a 5830C, if by any chance you are familiar with those. The sewing on the jumpers finished late in the afternoon, after numerous back and forth with finding another one, needing a button sewn on, etc., and my cousin just made it on the uniform exchange deadline. I guess she will find out if they sold later.

I'd needed a nap this afternoon after the tiring (yet satisfying - it is going to be much easier for them, and less allergenic) carpet ripping at the bunny shelter house yesterday. I was sleepy when I got up and wondered if I'd have trouble staying awake in church. Did all right there, came home, was getting ready to make chicken and noodles then crash. Then got a text from my cousin about one of the unexpected jumpers that still needed some work. Since my machine has decided to misbehave again I ended up borrowing roommate's. Alas, no nap, though, so I hope to go to bed earlier tonight.

Must get my sewing machine in shape if possible, or if not figure out what to do, because I have already gone longer than I ever meant to without working on sewing projects. Still have those knit shorts needing pockets - remember them? And the crafts such as doll clothes, and most likely some sort of assembly of quilt components still; even if my church doesn't need them I'll find a different charity. Having the machine out of commission has made me realize I took it for granted. Won't do that again.

My cousin has still been working at my grandma's house off and on. It is sad that my aunts ended up with so much out of control. It gets harder the older a person gets and the more health and mobility problems they have. I look at the hoarding and/or clutter issues on that side of the family and I do wonder if there is that genetic factor involved, the Chromosome 14 thing - and if so, what the implications are for me. And that isn't even the side of the family with the ADHD and autism. Yikes. Double whammy much? I really need to keep my eyes on the prize and not slack off or I will pay dearly. I've hated how it got before I decided to make changes, and I've been gobsmacked by how hard it can be to reckon with it all even when I am desirous of a different way of living.

SubC, I hate sorting papers. I want to keep everything remotely useful or nostalgic. I need to do it sometime, or it will be impossible to find anything.

Tatoulia, I hope you feel okay now!

Someone did pick up the stroller I put in the yard, so that's one more big item gone.

I worked, then went to lunch with a friend. Then came home. Teen is off doing something for a few days and has been complaining about the "gross disgusting bathroom" they have to use downstairs. I reminded them that I never use that bathroom, so they and Son should come up with a plan to alternate cleaning it. Or work together. But Teen has been so depressed and stressed out that I decided to surprise them by cleaning it while they are away.

omg it was so much work. It was not really "gross" as there was not pee everywhere or anything, but it was messy and dusty and needed a good scrub. I got Son to help me - he scrubbed the inside of the shower and wiped down the toilet and took the trash and laundry out of there. I sorted dozens of bottles of cleaners and personal care products, wiped out shelves and organized, scrubbed the sink, and swiffered the floor. It took us TWO HOURS. It is a small bathroom too. It is so much better.

It really needs another once-over with a mopping with lysol cleaner, but that can wait.

I threw out a while trash bag full of very old or never-going-to-be-used bottles of stuff. Like a soap everyone hates, aerosol hair spray for 10 years ago, bottles of cleaner with next to nothing left in them. I consolidated like bottles to make more space. Now instead of every surface being covered with stuff, it is nice and neat. I hope Teen appreciates it, but if they don't, I am still happy we did it.

And that is my task for the day.

Goid afternoon!

Tatoulia, I hope you had a good lunch with your brother and feel better today.

I have been sorting through school papers - lesson plans, resources, ideas, records, notes, forms, pictures, dating back from this past year to prepandemic for an hour and a half. I am recycling about half of it. Currently I am only sorting into 3 piles - recycling, pottery class related, not pottery class related. I am hoping to get all the "pottery class related" into a plastic drawer that is 9"x12"x7.5" tall. - from this round, but there are more papers in the basement. I only brought up one "stack" (actually, it was the drawer, which was sitting on a table because it was too full to go back in the frame and then got more stuff stacked on top.) I relabeled the drawer, took everything out of it, and started it with the pottery class things from this year I had stacked on the table on the porch.

I am hoping to put the drawer back in the frame before I go to bed, but I had to take a break. I've been working for an hour and a half and can't stand it any more.

Hi everyone! Good to read your posts! We went to the hazardous waste day today and took electronics including old cords as well as shredding. Then we went to goodwill and I got rid of a
Lot, including my mother's giant suitcase that she used for years and years and years. I also got rid of clothes and a framed print from the 80s that was in various offices of mine over the years. I cannot remember where I first got it. I'd forgotten all about it it is lovely and I hope someone is excited to find it at goodwill. We were going to take the things for the cat shelter (blankets, towels, cat bed) but I started to feel very sick in the car and we skipped it. The cat donations are in the trunk of BF's car. I just fell terrible all of a sudden.

I came home and slept in the AC. Then I got up and visited mom, then a quick trip to the grocery store. Came home, showered, did two loads of laundry.

I am ready for bed. Taking my brother for lunch tmr.

Lila, you had time to do something. Something is better than nothing. And honestly it sounds like you did quite a lot.

And you found the toys in time to make use of them before the kids outgrow them!

I decluttered two aggressive roosters. Enough said and enough for one day!

Thank you SubC!! Sounds good! In fact it sounds like pizza is in our future as well!

I am hot and tired. I waited too long to go in the garage and search for things and it got hot in there. But I managed to find a box of toddler toys and dress-up clothes/jewelry from when my kids were little, and brought it in the house for the grandkids to play with tonight. Some need a washing as they were a bit dusty, but I think the kids will like them. I also found a box of cute clothing and pulled out a dress, a few shorts and shirts, and some pjs for Tot and Acorn to wear. (Believe it or not, I sorted these boxes several times, had 2 yard sales and donated a bunch, but still have stuff left. At this point is is getting used by grandkids and then donated).

I also put an old stroller out on the driveway with a "free" sign. It is heavy. If no one takes it, it is getting put in the car tonight to be donated.

I could have put a whole box or two together to donate, but it was just too hot.

Now I feel worn out and wish I had some ice cream to cool down! Drinking ice water... thinking about cleaning and cooking and decluttering more.

Lila, here is my pizza crust, you just smoosh it flat on the pan, no stretching/tossing:

3c flour
1 packet or 2T yeast
Pinch of salt
1.5* c warm water

Mix dry stuff together, *add water slowly until you have a dough that sticks together well but isn't sticky.

Knead for 2 minutes on a floured surface
Let rise 2 hours
Flatten and cook at 500F for about ten minutes or until done (if you leave it thicker, it takes a little longer.

You can brush it with butter and garlic before baking.

Good morning SubC, and all,

Another day off. Two in a row feels like absolute luxury! Fall is my busiest season, so I hope to do more of this 2-day rest over the summer. SubC, a time of rest and ease is what makes us able to work later. I had many weeks of no progress on the house, but now I am ready. You will be too.

I had my coffee while reading on the back deck with my dog, who was watching squirrels. Then I went through the fruit drawer in the fridge and picked out an orange and 4-5 Clementines that looked past their prime, and I juiced them all. It made a nice small glass of fresh juice, which I greatly enjoyed!

Now I have pulled up some recipes online so I can make something new for dinner from all the produce I have, before it goes bad. I invited Tot and Acorn and parents over for dinner, but did not hear back yet. I will make it anyway if they don't come, so Son and I can have it and leftovers for the week.

I would like to make garlic bread, but don't want to go to the store. Is there a quick and easy substitute that is homemade? I have flour and basics. I am imagining something easy like a flat loaf or a pan bread or foccacia type thing I can mix up, bake, and slice. If anyone has a recipe I'd love to have it!

I will be working on the hoard today and looking forward to having a full box to put in the car for donation. How about everyone else?

Good morning!

You know CM, singers of that era are notorious for tension problems. I have one too. Drives me nuts.

Lila, you are doing an amazing job making progress.

I keep feeling like such a slacker. I have to remind myself that I am currently in a "healing" stage. It helps to look at my goat. After a month, she is finally standing up on her own and taking wobbly steps across the stall to the food without being led. I tell myself I am the same as that goat. I am also recovering (and still dealing with setbacks) and if I can be happy that she is now able to take care of her own basic needs, I should be able to feel that way about me as well.

It is dreary and overcast here and going to be hot later. My family is all gone home. A good day to rest. Chores and maybe a bit of light garden work this morning, and an hour or so of housework to do, and then we'll see.

hi again all. Hi CM, I didn't mean to ignore you before! I hope you get the sewing machine figured out. I have one in my closet that I rarely use. But they do come in handy once in awhile.

I had a really great day. Even after the stuff I listed on my morning post, I got more done!

- I did 3 loads of laundry and now all my clothes are clean and most of them put away.
- I sorted out clothes in my room and found 5 items that I need to return (Teen often does not like it once it gets here). I got them matched up with their packaging and invoices, went online and started returns, packaged them up and they are stacked neatly for me to take to the 2 return places on Monday. Money coming back in!
- I folded up 3 shirts Teen was iffy about and took them to the storage room and put them in their clothing bin. Which had been dug through with clothes rumpled and on various pieces of furniture. I folded them all and put them back into the bin.
- I hung up/put away the rest of my clothes
- I put one tank top in the donation box. Hey, it's a start.

Then I went out and got some tamales for Son and I to enjoy together for dinner.

What a great productive day! I might still put some things in the donate box, and then will update the Daily Tally before I go to bed. I hope you all are enjoying your day too!

Wow. I got the jumpers sewn - and right toward the end the machine started messing up again. I've had this Singer machine since the early 90s - bought it as a trade in of my $15 garage sale Singer (which probably had metal gears instead of plastic, and maybe I should've pursued repairing it, but that ship has sailed). Anyway, the current one has been a good little workhorse for many years.

At the same time, I'm not sure if I want to pursue repairs because maybe I wouldn't mind getting a newer machine - some of them have decorative stitches and features I'd like - but anything would probably need to be secondhand or at least not too expensive to buy new. I've gone to the specialty sewing machine shops and basically you can spend as much money as you feel like in them on sewing, quilting, and/or embroidery machines and furniture, accessories, etc. That would be for when I win that lottery or marry that millionaire.

I think what I'll do right now is do what I can with this one to clean it, which I'm sure it needs - can probably find a website or video showing how to DIY that. And get some scrap fabric and just play around with adjustments over and over, and see if I can get any consistency. If that doesn't yield success, then I will start looking around. I will do this poco a poco, sensibly.

It's disappointing, though, to get this machine out after all these months expecting it to work because it was working fine before as far as I knew, and have it have so many problems. So much of my life is like that, things get neglected and entropy sets in. But we'll see, it did work for awhile so maybe it just needs more TLC.

Good afternoon. Stealing a few minutes while Bean naps. His parents went home this morning. I'll take him back to them later.

CM, I'm glad you are getting reacclimated to driving places. And I hope all the sewing gets straightened out.

Tatoulia, I'm sorry the donation trailer was closed. Good for you getting rid of the clothes though!

Lila, I hate being on hold! I'm really impressed with the progress you ar3 making. Just keep moving forward.

Bean and I went to the library this morning and turned in our decorated puzzle pieces and checked out some books. We are now 1/3 of the way to our t-shirts.

We also played with the ducks and some blocks and plastic bear counters and a fire truck and ate a lot of fruit.

It's very rainy, and I am tempted to take a nap too, but somebody needs to clean up our toys. And I have dried oregano to strip and put away.

I had to take my sewing machine to the place near here where I'd gone last year to evening sewing sessions. The top thread kept breaking. The nice lady helped run through some troubleshooting. Hopefully I can finish the school jumpers for my cousin. I want to be able to do favors for people but I have such an instant recoil about deadlines. And part of that is because so often something unexpected goes wrong. The other part is that I know what a track record for procrastination I have. Anyway, I'm going to sit down now and get started.

Found a few donation items the other day while semi organizing my area of the pantry. A few plastic snack plates and a humorous coffee mug. I'll start a box. And quickly make a point to take it to the thrift shop - carrying things too long in my van has been a problem. That was one of the drawbacks of saving things for upcoming garage sales. I've learned some things this year about what strategies are perhaps not as well suited for my situation.

Thoughts and prayers, SubC. I'm sorry to hear it.

I had a very long long work day yesterday and was thrilled to get a text last night cancelling the one meeting I was pushed into having tonight, on my day off. I am thankful that was moved and I wasn't the one to back out. Now I have today and tomorrow to rest and get things done around the house.

I feel great this morning - had coffee on the deck while reading. Tasks done so far:

- gathered trash from the 4 corners of my house, plus bagged the downstairs bathroom trash, plus grabbed 3 small empty boxes and put it all in the bin.
- pulled some weeds from my driveway
- sorted clothes for laundry, put away, return, and donate
- called to refill prescriptions
- gathered 6 items to put in the trash bin. I picked out 4 old, icky looking, partly shredded dog toys and threw those out. I don't know why it is so hard for me to throw out toys my pup still likes even if they are icky.

I was so happy that while I was out last night, Son loaded and ran the dishwasher and hand washed the rest of the pans etc. What a great kid he is. Teen surprisingly went to an event with their cousin last night a few hours away and will probably be gone through the weekend! So I have some real quiet, peaceful time here.

I have been on hold with a government agency for 39 minutes, but will try to just carry the phone around with me on speaker so I can talk to who I need to before the weekend. But I do wish they would pick up!

Glad your daughter is there with you.

I took a very large bag to my car and drove to goodwill. Unfortunately, the trailer at goodwill was not open. I will go this weekend. I will also need to take towels, blankets to the cat shelter. And I learned that my car inspection sticker is July not June. So BF can take after the 1st for me.

Washed sheets, towels, jeans.

It felt really good to get rid of clothes. Feels good to be losing weight.

Okay I need to water the flower boxes and call it a night. All dried laundry is folded and put away. The jeans are hanging to dry.

Thanks for the love.

Dd and dsil came here for the night. I'm glad to have her under my roof so I can worry a little less. She is sleeping.

Bean and I picked blueberries at my friend's house this afternoon.

Also (on the stuff front) the large planter I ordered came in the mail.

I know exactly where it will go, so that's ok, right?

For you, SubC...

There are no words
But you are in my heart
Thinking of you
And your family
In this difficult time

My condolences , SubC. We are here if you wish to talk. Also here if you need to just sit quietly.

Cm I'm glad you are staying firm on the bunny stuff! And yes, get the sewing machine up and running so you can do little satisfying tasks!

Congratulations on working on the house odors, Lila! My place is a little stinky because this kitty is a little smellier. I also learned, when changing over her microchip to my name, that she is actually 16. They had the records under her chip number. A far cry from the 12 they first told me at then shelter, and the 14 or 15 I estimated based in her medical records. Bf mentioned that I still would have adopted her; which is absolutely true. I have more respect for her now.

I have a big bag of clothes to go to goodwill. I'm thinking of leaving here at 5 and just driving over before they close at six. Traffic will be a bear but I really want these things out. Plus I am having the car inspected soon. I think the sticker is up next week. I cannot remember if it is a June or July sticker. BF will take for me since this is a task I absolutely despise.

That's the news from here!