I slept-in, had breakfast, and vacuumed. The beds are made, cats fed, boxes cleaned, and dishes washed. Time to bug out and have some fall fun. Got my compass & maps and headed into the Mayan corn maze with 6 miles of pathways.

Hope y'all get out and have some fun with the family and friends this weekend!

Mind♥Body♥Spirit♥

Tillie - I am so sorry & hope you are OK - email me if you want to chat off-line.

How are you doing today (Saturday)?

Sorry Tillie! ((HUGS!))

Been one of "those" days. 🙁

Woke up to a sad phone call. Fortunately, everything looks like it will be alright.

Hope everybody had a great day today 🙂

Hey Cory,

Thanks for the info. I'll call my aunt today and tell her. All of us would love to meet you too. And if my uncle gets picked for the show and you get picked to help him, then I'll be sure to bring Cory and Matt up to Michigan with me so that they can meet you too. 🙂

MayMay,
That is great news about your uncle because it means that they are willing to clean up! The downside is that we are going to be done filming the end of nex month so it must get submitted right now to even have a chance at making it in time. Also, here is what they are looking for in order to be considered and it doesn't sound like he has them all:
1) A Crisis
2) A Severe Hoard
3) Strong Support Characters
If he has all of these, then they will consider him for the show. Good luck and I would love to meet the family and friends 🙂

Friday 9/21

@flopz -yup, school, school, and more school 🙂 I used to dream about school, intern & externships for most of eight years 🙂 Good Luck & you can get through this semester! 🙂

===
*already did morning maintenance*

Leaving for work when I am done writing, here - have a great and productive day -everyone! 🙂
===
PS: The fur-baby is doing much better, he has gastroenteritis; his tummy was inflamed which is why it would not empty - emptying, now 🙂
===

Hey Cory,

OMG! My uncle from Michigan called me this morning with some really AWESOME news. My aunt is thinking about signing him up to be on 'HOARDERS'! I'm so excited I've been on the phone with relatives and friends all day today. I don't know how A&E picks who gets to be on the show but I really hope they pick my uncle. Plus my uncle is also really excited about it. 🙂

His hoard isn't as bad as some of the other hoards that I've seen on the show but it's still pretty bad. Most of it is outside and in the garage.

If they do pick my uncle to be on the tv show I really hope they will pick You to be the cleaning specialist that helps him. I think you guys would get along really well. Plus every female in my family and all of my friends have a crush on you. 🙂

Hi All,
Tillie, I would say for your plans going out the window you had a very productive day AND motivated him in the process to do a little of his own pitching in. Great job!

It is so incredible to see so many people connecting on this site and getting an outlet for both sides of this disorder. I love that people can now communicate with others about something so complex, so confusing, and so physically and mentally exhausting. Everyone is really stepping up to help others and I want to thank you all for that and especially to Tillie for coming up with the Daily Chat which has really increased peoples posts and ability to find answers. You all rock!

Cory

Today I am doing school, school and more school, but after I manage to finish all the homework for tomorrow I am going to clear my desk back off so it looks like an inviting work space as well as I am planning to do a load of dishes.

The main reason I am writing on this message board today however, is so that I can say a very quick hello to everyone as well as to wish everyone a wonderful day 🙂

Good morning :/

Yesterday's plans all went out the window.
He had a doctor appointment and returned home before noon.

Rather than waste this opportunity I decided it was a great time for us to do something about the bad smell oozing out from his bedroom.

He had a lot of food, dirty dishes and dirty laundry mixed in with all the general rubble.

I think the worst smell was coming from the bag of slimy, leaky, moldy "grapes?" I unearthed.

I put a sink full of dishes to soak while I started working on the 6 loads of laundry.

He was very pleasant during all this and then he went out in the carport and filled a big trash can from that area. 😀

His bedroom still has clutter, dust and cobwebs but it is no longer a biohazard disaster site and it doesn't stink any more.

My plans for today are to get back to the plans that I had for yesterday.

Have a great day everyone 🙂

Good morning 🙂

My To-Do list for today...

ME TIME!

Taking the day off from everything
maybe give myself a nice relaxing & much needed pedicure.
might even take a nap after lunch

Have a great day everyone 😀

Sheryl,

If you do nothing today other than take care of the fur babies and take a nap that's more than enough.
((HUGS)))

Thank you Tillie and MayMay ... I am both hopeful and concerned; we are leaving for his third x-ray @10:30a.m. to see if his stomach is emptying into his intestines (he is not vomiting). He's been getting IV fluids and meds to relax his tummy 🙁 Poor baby.

Anyway -

Maintenance continues:
-Day three off work to care for ill cat
-Made the bed
-Cleaned bathroom
-Cleaned litter boxes
-Did the breakfast dishes and wiped down the counters.

...Vet...

When I get home from vet:

-Settle the baby back in, wash his crate & stroller, wash towels, put scan medical records

-Lunch

-Vacuum
-Dust
-Catch up on more scanning (have about 20 papers to scan (in addition to today's medical for the cat)
-Check e-mail
-Start dinner
...this is the plan so far, but I'll probably take a nap after vacuuming & dusting 🙂

Hope you all have a great day!

Hey Sheryl,

I'm so sorry to hear about your fur-baby. 🙁

I hope your fur-baby feels better soon.

(((hugs)))

Oh! Sheryl 🙁

Take it easy on yourself, I know how stressful this can be 24/7 till they are all back to normal again.
Hope things are straightened out soon and without much fuss.

(((Sheryl))) (((Furbaby)))

@MayMay - so glad you take good care of your fur-babies 🙂

@Tillie - Slow down a bit, I am getting exhausted just reading your lists 😉

Yesterday: Work, laundry (start to finish), take-out dinner, dishes, trash-out, beds made and not much more. One of the fur-babies wasn't feeling well, then perked up, and around 8:30 had a high temperature so off to our county's emergency vet clinic - got home after midnight.

Today: Sleep, much-needed sleep and self-care, and care of the fur-babies. The not-feeling-too-well fur-baby was doing better until he ate, and is now trying to hide. So, another x-ray, this time at his regular doctor - his stomach is not emptying into his intestines. X-rays last night did not detect a blockage; i.e., string, fuzz, fur-ball.

Using my sick-days for the fur-baby.

I just finished giving Matt and Cory a bath. They were outside playing for like 5 hours this morning and when they finally wanted to come inside they were filthy. I have no idea what they were doing out there but when they finally came in they were all sticky and covered in dirt and Cory had a pine cone stuck to his head. It was hilarious. lol. 🙂

Good morning 🙂

My To-Do list for today...
tidy up the bathroom
sweep & vacuum the floors
water everything outside
put new shelf paper on the shelves in the bathroom cupboard
sweep the porches
start alterations on a dress

Have a great day everyone! 😀

Hi Bonnie 🙂
Thank you 😉

Now is the time to get back to it!
Along with general housekeeping maintenance spend some time on another decluttering task.
Set a timer for 5-10 or 15 minutes and work on a small area till the timer "dings".
It is amazing how much you can get done in only a short amount of time.
Then reset the timer and tackle some more space.
So many areas can be cleared from a sitting position so grab a chair, sit down and clear everything within your reach.

You can do this! 😀

Good Morning All!!

Did nothing yesterday because after my work marathon my entire body hurt. Hope today will be a better day. Hope to continue clearing the floor in my bedroom.

Tillie, you are my idol!!! I wish I could be as productive as you!!!!

Maybe what I finally figured out can help someone else in the future...

Yesterday I did some major clean out in an incredibly bad mess.
Years worth of long abandoned clutter in a carport with a leaky roof.
There were cardboard boxes that just crumbled when I touched them, ancient dried leaves that had blown in, some dead birds and rodents, bags and bottles of chemicals like old used motor oil and brick hard bags of stucco and cement along with some stuff who's bags had deteriorated to the point that I could not tell what was in them.

I wore jeans and a long sleeve blouse. Gloves and a face mask. Had my hair tightly braided down my back.

Right after I decided that I had had enough I came inside showered & shampooed and put on all clean clothes.

I started getting very itchy and it just would not stop so I took another shower and shampooed again.
This did not stop the itching.

I kept looking at my skin to see if I had a rash but there was nothing to see.

I took a benadryl and the itching finally stopped and I could sleep.

Showered again this morning and NOW I can see a slight rash on my skin.

No telling just what I was exposed to that caused it but I am writing this post in the hope that others will be very careful when dealing with long standing hoards of unknown substances.

Good morning 🙂

I have been up & busy since early.
Got the laundry all done & hung out on the line.
Did cat chores.

Taking it easier today after all the work I did yesterday.
Need to make some more lemonade and thinking about making another batch of cookies LOL 😀

It is a beautiful, quiet morning here and I am just enjoying it.

Don't forget to enjoy all the little pleasures in life.

Have a great day everybody! 🙂

Hi Carol,
I know Goodwill Industries has a bookstore in Upland on Foothill near Benson. You can contact them to see if they would arrange a pick up of all the books but they won't want telephone books of any books that are not in at least decent condition. The bookstore sells almost all the books for under $2.00. Here is their info.

1760 West Foothill Boulevard Upland, CA 91786
(909) 204-4462

Cory Chalmers
1-800-HOARDERS.com

Good morning,

Soon as I finish drinking my tea and reading stuff on the internet I plan to go on the war path.
Need to clear off my patio table, AGAIN!
Going to grab a big trash can and start filling it with all sorts of HIS obvious trash/gabage laying all around the yard, carport and back porch!!!
This should make him nervous enough to start doing this task himself so nothing "good" gets tossed out.
Wish me luck 😉

Hello Carol, 🙂

I would call the disabled American Veterins organization and ask them if they know any resources to help.

http://www.dav.org/

Good luck.

I am planning to take my nabor (73 navy nam vet never married, SEVERE hoarder) to church with me and my husband. He needs WAY more help than I (a recovering hoarder) can POSSIBLY give! Questions: 1) Is there ANYONE who would haul away (free) a room full of telephone books, and/or other books?
We are in the Inland Empire of So Cali if ANYONE lives nearby and knows the answer. HELP!
2) What should I do next?
Thanks for any or all responses!

Bonnie,

Sit down and RELAX every minute you can!
Sometimes life gets in the way of cleaning and it's alright as long as you get back to it when things settle down.

Take care. 🙂

Ok, I have to confess I did nothing in the house yesterday or today - HOWEVER, I have a valid excuse - I hope. Yesterday I worked 14 hours and today I worked 13.25 for those of you keeping track that is is almost 37 hours in 3 days AND I am standing on my feet 99 44/100% of the time. AMD I will be back at work at 5am tomorrow. I will be back on track next week I promise!!!! If I dont make the chat tomorrow it is becuae I will be unconscious!!!!!!

Hey Tillie. 🙂

I'm actually the same way when it comes to going out in public too. 🙂 Especially at the grocery store. I hate going to the grocery store because it's always crowded there. Another reason I hate going out in public is because I'm always scared of running into someone that I don't want to run into; like my crazy ex boyfriend. I can't wait until I move to NYC. Once I move there I'll never have to worry about running into someone that I don't want to run into ever again. 🙂

Once I move to NYC I'm going to go out and party all the time. Every night will be a PARTY! 🙂

Even though I don't like going out in public that much I will be going to the mall today with some friends. 🙂 Then tomorrow I am going to clean out my closet. It actually is really messy in there. I am not a hoarder but I will admit that right now my closet does look like a level one hoard. 😉