Good morning 🙂

The wind has finally quit blowing and then it sprinkled and washed some of that dust out of the air.
I am feeling much better and more positive today.

Have lots of dust to clean up in here. Then we will all be able to breathe a lot better.

I will get to go out and enjoy my blooming lilac hedge today! 😀

My To-Dos...
Cat stuff
Vacuum, vacuum, vacuum
Sweep sand dunes off porches
Get outside in the fresh air & sunshine

TTYL 😀

Dianne thanks for sharing your life challenges with us on message board, sounds like you are being overwhelmed with responsibilities and a bit critical of yourself, take good care of yourself.
Yes Tillie, I had a great time at the Craft faire, met a friend there and we were both inspired to start creating again. Then to Costco, bought more than I should have since I haven't been in over a month, got home and thought, "you really messed up" then said, lets make this a challenge to find a home for all items, it took some rearranging, but mission accoplished, didn't want to mess ;up my clean kitchen with excess, so now all tucked away. I did buy a few craft items after being inspired at craft faire, didn't really need items, so was struggling "failure" thoughts" then I said lets just put these items with similar items, they will fit in their new home. Don't relish the idea of shopping again any time soon, it is truly my drug of choice.
Started on pile of clothes and crafts at end of living room,---finally----made progress, not finished, just took a break. It is definitely not as bad as I thought while procrastinating. This week is free debris pick up in my city so my focus this week will be to maintain progress I have made and look for items for debris pickup in yard and garage. It can be as much as would fit in a pickup bed, so should be able to find lots of stuff to unload. See you at 5, hugs

Mary-Ohio 🙂
Sorry that you have to take that not working advil. 🙁

Buying nothing is a success. WTG! 😀

This morning JAVA popped up to tell me there is a new update to install and I have installed it.
Went to the chatroom site and it appears to be working fine. We'll see how it does when I am not all alone in there. 😉

Dianne,
(((HUGS)))
Let go of the guilt and be gentle with yourself.

Please allow the repairman in to fix that air conditioner.
Without it it will soon be too hot to do anything inside.
Do not worry about what some stranger thinks.
We know how hard you are working to get things straight and we know how very difficult this is when doing it all on your own.

Yes, chat does move very quickly. By the time it's over I am exhausted just from trying to keep up.
We all honestly do not mind when someone is a slow typer. But we do tend to chat a bit while waiting for the posts.

I really like this messageboard.
Here we can take our time and share our emotions too.
Sharing like this helps. We are not alone.

(((HUGS)))

Kind of down here too. I got a lot done yesterday, overdid it actually, and as that goes am overtired today.

take good care everybody 🙂

Physically doing ok. New regulations in our state mandate drug testing for drug levels. Insurance won't pay the $600 and doctor won't prescribe without them. So been taking Advil not working as we'll.
haven't been shopping so thought I would browse. Went to three of my favorite stores and boughtNOTHING. Success or depression.
Hubby leaving for out of country for a month. Hoped to declutter while he was gone. Life getting in the way. Went house hunting with son and DIL and saw nice staged homes and a very clen but clutterd. That started to motivate but right now depression sinking my mind. Not acting on other thoughts at all but really debated purpose for holding on to things and life. Hope Java works tonight. Helping to support others helps me.

Diane,
Hope to hear that you had a wonderful time yesterday. 😀

Hello everybody,

I must shake this terrible depression.
He has not done any decluttering AND he brought home MORE stuff yesterday.

I can't do the things I was planning to do around here because his stuff is in the way.

Anyways...
Today I will give the cats food & fresh water.
Scrub, scour, sanitize & refill the litter boxes.

Cook food.
I have this idea and ingredients all ready & now just need to assemble the dish & bake it.

Washed all his clothes in his hamper last night. They are still out on the clothes line.

The grocery store was completely out of many of the food items that are a staple of my diet. Like almond milk. We only have one grocery store now in the small town that I live near.
Oh well 🙁

The wind was blowing about 30mph yesterday so the house is totally covered with thick dust.
I will wait to see if it will be windy again today before I bother to undust this place.

This is Sunday so remember the ONLINE SUPPORT GROUP is tonight at 5:00pm PST.

OK everybody lets get some "happy" today. 😀

MayMay
Quit making excuses and clean your closet!

Today I told my boyfriend about how my boss told me that if I don't have my closet and room clean by the time I leave for Hawaii then him and a bunch of his firefighter buddies are going to come in and clean it while I'm gone, and my boyfriend totally agreed with my boss.

Even though after he told me that he agrees with my boss, he also said that he kind of hopes that I won't have my closet and room clean before I leave for Hawaii; because he thinks that if I don't clean my closet and room and the firefighters do, then my closet and room will finally really get cleaned.

Dianne, hope you enjoy putting things back in order today, so great you are able to take the time today to put your progress back on track. You have made so much progress, and have to deal with other things during the week, just don't want you to feel discouraged, you really are doing great.
Tillie, so happy lilacs are blooming, mine have buds but have had temps in mid 20's at night so not sure if they will bloom, I am hopeful. I can visualize your your hubby out there moving his junk and you cleaning deck, hope you don't wear yourself out.
I am in slow motion today after my 3 week marathon of cleaning. Going to Spring art fair, supposed to rain this afternoon, so need to go soon to avoid bad weather, wind is picking up.
Yesterday finally took paint in to recycle, went to bank, took stuff to thrift store and went to a class on communication, and bought some groceries.
Tomorrow at 5 is what I am looking forward to as well as reading this board daily.

Good morning 🙂

Yesterday afternoon my lilac bushes started to bloom! 😀

My To-Dos for today...
feed & water cats
scoop litter boxes

Try to motivate my hoarder to move his stuff away from the back porch.

That porch needs a good scrubbing after the winter and I want to hose it down.
All his stuff will get wet.
Hope the fear of it getting all wet motivates him to move it, preferably to a thrift shop or the dump.

Planning to wash windows and screens this coming week and want to tackle that porch then to.
Unless we are still getting snow and rain. ;P

It's Saturday! YEAH! 😀

Hi Dianne 🙂

That happens to all of us.
Outside forces taking up all our time and our home maintenance being neglected.

Clean when you can and remember that even doing just 5, 10 or 15 minutes of maintenance here & there will help.

Decluttering is very hard work and takes all our physical & mental energy.
That is why it is important to schedule in days or times for catching up on maintenance.

We also need to be kind to ourselves, we can't all be perfect like the people in the magazines and those mothers in situation comedies from the 1950s. 🙂

I'm a little discouraged today and I haven't even started.

Have a good day everyone.

Sounds like everybody had a busy day. 😀

MayMay,
They will keep what they want and toss what they don't like. You may not like the results. 😉
Clean your closet! Pretend you are helping out a hoarder clean her closet.

Diane,
My house gets dirty very quickly. The "man" is a very dirty messy person who does not tidy up after himself at all and can trash a room in minutes.
Plus my house is very small.
The main room consists of the kitchen, living room and dining room.
This room measures 33 feet by 16 feet.
When any one area is messy the whole place looks messy.
Also, I live in the desert where the wind blows a lot and our road is dirt. So dust and sand are constantly getting in here and that makes the place very dirty.
Then there are the cats. They shed and vomit and their toys get scattered all around.
I grow cat mint (cat nip) and they beg for fresh sprigs of leaves and that gets scattered all over the floor and beds.
When I have any of my items out like my sewing box or papers or whatever, I have to put them away when I'm finished because anything left out looks like clutter.
When I am unable to do my daily maintenance this place goes to heck very quickly. 😀

Dianne,
Sleep well. 🙂

I just got home from work and am really really tired. So I think I am just going to go to bed now. 🙂

Tomorrow I am supposed to start cleaning my level 3 hoarded walk-in closet; but now I'm kind of thinking about not cleaning it. Because today my boss told me that if I don't have my closet and bedroom clean by the time that I am supposed to leave for Hawaii, then him and a bunch of his firefighter buddies are going to come in and clean it while I'm in Hawaii. And I'm not going to lie; the thought of a bunch of firefighters cleaning my bedroom and closet while I'm gone is kind of sexy. Lol. 🙂

A little complaining here...

Tomorrow is another day. 🙂

diane,
It sounds like you got your decluttering muscles nice and strong...
It gets easier as time goes on. 🙂 Great job!
Keep up the good work 🙂

I can't wait until next week or so to get a call for an interview. I hope all goes well.

Maymay one of my least favorite things is washing dogs, good for you to take on washing 2 dogs. What else do you have planned for the day?

hello everyone. Tillie when you do your tasks regularly, is it really a mess today or just a few things out of order. You took needed days off, hopefully you won't work too hard today.
Today I did 3 loads of laundry including rugs. Cleaned the floor in front of washer and dryer before putting rug back. Did dishes, felted sweaters that have been sitting there for over a month. Cleaned dog food out of recliner that the mice hid there, it has months since I discovered but thought it was too disgusting to deal with. When I cleaned it out today, I laughed, it is like a declutterer has taken over my body since being on this website. I am grateful every for what you are teaching me. Thank you to each of you. Hugs

Good morning everybody 😀

My big orange tabby does not let me brush him so he gets hairballs this time of year.
This morning he threw up in my slipper. 🙁

Oh well... lol

The kitchen is a mess.
The floors need sweeping.

My plans for today are to do all the cat tasks and if I have any energy left I will tidy up around here.

Wishing everyone a pleasant and happy day. 🙂

Right now I am getting ready to give Cory and Matt a bath.

They just came in from outside, where it is raining; and now they are soaking wet and covered in mud.

Great job cleaning the kitchen diane. 🙂

Hi Tillie, happy to hear you are feeling better and that you are taking another day to make sure you stay well.
Thanks for info on cleaning under appliances. Today I did the other side of the kitchen, it was really filthy, had no idea how bad it was, but there was no counter available to make food so decided to clean it, took all day to clean counters, shelves and appliances. Didn't clean out all cabinets. Did clean dirt off doors of cabinets. Amazing how long it takes to clean areas thoroughly. I really didn't know how dirty the area was, looks so clean now, and fewer germs for sure. I have a bucket of stuff I still have to go through that were in kitchen that didn't belong there, like sunglasses, pens, mirrors, you name it---going through the small stuff and making decisions is difficult for me still.
Rewarded myself with being in the yard for 2 hours. Tomorrow I hope to finally take paint to recycle etc. Really felt it necessary to clean all of kitchen and get rid of a few million germs. It is so encouraging knowing this message board is here to do my report for the day. Thanks to you all.

Good morning 🙂

Slept like a rock last night, didn't even hear it rain.

Stomach ache and head ache are all gone now. 😀

After the cats are all taken care of I plan to still take it easier today.

I have some mending to do.
Then I need to make my grocery shopping list.
Grocery shopping only every two weeks is great for saving money on impulse buys but takes a lot of thought to make sure I do get what I need to last the two weeks.

TTYL 😀

Tillie, so happy to read you had a great day. Thanks everyone for the well wishes today, it was a tough day dealing with certifiable squalor, and now that it is clean, I feel so much better about it. Cory I didn't know others had dirt under refrig. And yes, tomorrow will be fun day since today didn't go as planned.
This uncluttering feels like a full time job that will never end but every day I look at my nice living room and can see floor, it reminds me I am making progress and can maintain it. Every day I wake up with hope now, thanks to all of you. Tomorrow I will do todays list start in living room then some fun, take paint to recycle etc.

Hi! My April weekends into the first weekend of May are tied up with our local outdoor play, Ramona Pageant. It is in it's 90th Season and we are very proud to be a part of it. I am trying the Message Board since I cannot do Sunday evenings but honestly am googly eyed. I mentioned last Tuesday I would be in chat now and tomorrow since there were School and City Board meetings last night *exhale* buuut I forgot a lecture at the museum tomorrow. Sooo I am only in chat now *crickets* ................ WHAT AM I GETTING DONE? Hardly anything! ;-( Rarely home, again! Defending space as best as possible! Okay, I'm going to send this errrr post this aaaaand see what happens. (sure wish my teenager was home to tell me how to do all this tee hee) 😉

HI Everybody 😀

Spent most of the day outside enjoying my garden and watching all the birds gathering up bits of stuff to build their nests.
Did not do any chores, work or tasks.
Maybe I got a little too much sunshine, my nose is pink. lol

Hello Cory

I didn't forget about you either 😉

Hey Cory,

YAY! I always love it when I'm able to make a sexy man blush. 😉

Diane,
sounds like you raised the bar by getting under the fridge..
Great job! Not everybody gets to do that. What a great way to help reduce allergies.
Great job! Keep up the good work 🙂