I bicycled for what must have been a total of about 30 miles. Then I decided that I would go to the games event instead of doing computer maintenance. This time I remembered to mention my housing predicament, and I got a tentative offer from a gamer friend; unfortunately he lives another 30 miles further away from what I consider civilization. Still, it might be a good stopgap solution (if necessary) while I'm looking for something more appropriate to my needs.

Well, he capped the water supply going to my washing machine and will have to return next week with whatever is needed to complete repairs. At least I have running water in the house!

Oh dear, I am awaiting the plumber again because another pipe has burst. Sigh. I will have to get serious about getting new doors to the utility shed and a better system so I can get it warmed up in these freezes. Of course, that means I have to manage to finally get the raccoons out of there.

Hello everyone. Another day of frozen fog. Did get up to 27 degrees yesterday. I went to Bend yesterday, hoping it would be sunny, it was snowing, so came home, don't have stud tires on this year, so was sliding.
This morning I went through current pile of papers, paid all bills, filled out health questionnaire, and read stuff I need to know from mail. I opened an envelope from Costco, thinking it was my renewal notice from a month ago, which I already paid. It was actually a $80 refund check, and I almost tossed it. Hooray for the extra $$$$. I am tired of the rotten weather. Everyday they say it will burn off, but no, continues to be foggy, have to cancel flights into the area, no visability.
Today I am supposed to go to a class at 4pm, that I have skipped for months, if I want to be in it, I have to go today. When it is this cold, really don't want to go out.
Thanks Tillie for the support, so happy I can help you in any way.
Today I made a list of my "dreams" of things I would like to have done here by construction people, like new roof on garage, roof would have skylight and a roof deck, add more deck on to current deck, garden area on new lower deck in raised boxes.

Good morning 🙂

Had a GREAT day yesterday. Slept in today.
Have laundry hanging out on the line and plan to cook food today & freeze it so I have easy ready to microwave real food meals to eat for a couple of weeks.
Waiting for the bread dough to rise now.

YEA! Karl 😀
WAY TO GO!

Diane,
just by posting here you are really helping me and many others. (((hugs))) 😀

Hi Barb 🙂
To help your hands there is a lotion type product that you apply to your hands to make a barrier against harshness without the restrictiveness of gloves. 🙂

Hi Dianne 🙂
Hope you still have sun shiney days. 😀

Hello everybody and SusanL and Roxie 😀

After I finish cooking I will clean the kitchen and remove all evidence in there that I cooked today. 😀
Hope you are all doing well and have sunshine today. 🙂

It was 9 degrees at noon. The gusty wind is making the windchill much colder than that. My furnace is valiantly chugging away to keep up. The temperature is supposed to drop again. How much colder can it get? I don't hate winter so much as I hate this bitter cold and howling wind. It is relentless.
The sun glinting off the recent snow is beautiful, but I am not venturing out yet. I do need to go to the feed store for dog food. I would like to buy the huge bag, but it is a struggle for me to get it out of the car, into the house and emptied into the bin. I am a small person with limited lifting power.
I am plugging away slowly at the clutter. The coldness slows me down.
I did work for two and a half hours yesterday, but one of the dogs undid part of it by getting into the trash bag while I was in another room. At 5:30, I realized that I was hungry and had forgotten to eat all day.
When I had other mouths to feed I did a very good job of planning and cooking nutritious meals and serving them on time. I enjoyed feeding others. I need to learn to care for myself as much as I did them.
Today I will keep plugging away, even though hibernating seems a more tempting choice.

Eight weeks after the move, and I finally was able to start my #2 desktop computer! Yay! Still no networking, so there wasn't much I could do with it other than some simple maintenance. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to do the same with my #1 desktop, which is the one that has all the important files on it.

Hey Barb,

Roxie, great idea to repay my friend. A casserole is always welcome in the cold. 🙂

Thanks for all the nice comments Roxie, sounds fun Barb and Tillie.
Socked in with frozen fog again today, sure would like to report feeling internally happy in the sunshine, like Tillie. So this morning got dishes caught up, bleached sanitized sink and area around it, cleaned stove, did feel better.
Lately I have heard over and over, people are happiest when doing things for others. So of course I jumped to criticizing my self for just decluttering day after day, with little thought of others except on this web site. I know I have always been selfish but hearing of all the good works others are doing makes me feel bad. Looking back I worked at difficult jobs helping others in many ways beyond job description, and volunteered and humane society. So need to give myself a break. I took a shower and washed and curled hair, so that was my self care today, plus boiled some eggs. Off to the store, brrrrr.

Hi all.
It is 2 degrees outside. I can cope with winter, but not these dangerously cold days.
I am really struggling today. The mess and chaos is overwhelming. I am going to work for two hours and then treat myself to a manicure and pedicure. (Thanks for the idea, Tillie.) The cold and housework are really hard on the hands. I can't work in gloves---too restrictive.

Good for you, Tillie! Enjoy your spa day.

Good morning 😀

Been having a great time this morning.
Happy, just so internally happy today.
Have been doing the usual daily maintenance, not much to do today.
Planned a "me day" for today.
Going to do a moisturizing treatment to my dry straw like hair then shampoo it.
Planning to give myself a soothing and relaxing pedicure and manicure my hands.
Sort of a home spa day. 😀
And I plan to play today.
Will probably get outside since it is so unnaturally warm and sunny here.
Having "me days" are very important for all of us.
When we feel good about ourselves we can give more to all we do.
WIshing you all a great day. 🙂

Diane, now that you mention it, I need to do a grocery run again myself. Seems like I just went, but... As for Carol, it goes to show you that other people need us, too, sometimes. Or just like us.

So great seeing all of your posts. Today I got more done on back deck, more to do tomorrow. Chopped kindling, brought in firewood. Got a good fire going now. Cleaned up some branches from juniper trees that I had left where they fell, hoping they would dry out, all in one pile now. When I brought wood in, none fell off the cart now that I made a smooth gravel path, was happy I finished it this week.
Carol emailed and said she enjoyed every minute of our tea and walk Sunday. Was surprised and pleased. In no hurry to have company again, totally happy working around here by myself. No time to feel lonely or sad, so many projects to do. I do have to go to grocery store soon, almost out of food, didn't go last week when I said I was going. Will be fun, maybe tomorrow.

Good morning 🙂
Had problems with internet connection this morning but it seems to be working now. 😀

Hi Karl 🙂
Hope you had fun and got something useful in the exchange. 😀

Hi SusanL 🙂
So GREAT to hear from you! 😀
WAY TO GO!!! for all your clear and serene spaces! 😀

Hi Diane 🙂
YEA! for fixing things! Power tools make things soooo much easier to do. 😉

Hi Dianne 🙂
Wonderful to hear about your accomplishments and about your life. 😀
Stay warm.

Hi Roxie 🙂
WAY TO GO!
All those maintenance type tasks are so important.

I've been getting a lot of misc. etc. type stuff done this morning.
Trash can is out at the road. 😀
I want to play but am having to force myself to get some stuff done in here first.
Then I can play. 😀
Stay warm, find something to laugh about today. 😀

Haha Roxie, the tray for the fox made me think of a silver platter! No, the tray is simply a used, disposable cake pan. It gets filled with leftovers (a wildlife rehabilitator told me foxes can eat pretty much anything) and in really bad weather I add a good amount of dog food. I figured if he carried it off no big deal. But he graciously leaves it expecting it to be refilled the next night. 🙂

The bright sun on the snow is a HUGE mood lifter!

Tillie, Karl, SusanL, Diane and Dianne, so nice to wake up to some updates!

I was out shoveling snow several times today clearing the decks and just outside the garage. It's light and fluffy and has already built up again. But I'm glad I got so much done earlier. Even with drifting what's left won't be near as bad. We got about 12 inches. The snow will be here for quite awhile with bitter cold temps and another storm predicted for Monday.

Stay warm, everyone!

I worked on the back part of the deck today, nearly froze my fingers, really cold with the breeze. When Carol was here she looked out and saw that part of deck, and I realized it looks bad, so worked on it today. This morning worked on felted wool scarf, almost done. Had an ok day, frustrated with the stuff on deck. The gate opens in so took it off and want to fix it so it opens out, so have more room. Good thing is, I finally used my drill to take out the screws, have had it for years, just was not sure if I could use it, it was so easy to use, and so much easier than doing it by hand. Amazing how fear of new things stops me from doing things more easily.

Hosting bookclub tonight. It's unusual to have the house in good enough shape to feel ok about having the neighbor gals in.

Thanks all for your stories and encouragement. I am greatly inspired by reading what you are doing.

Tonight I'm getting together with a bunch of friends for a White Elephant Gift Swap -- nominally a way to get rid of unwanted Xmas gifts that might be useful for someone else, but really a chance to get rid of anything at all that might be someone else's treasure. (Some people buy new items to give away, which is acceptable though not really in the original spirit of the game.) I hope that whatever I end up with is something that can be used up (chocolates, soaps, etc.), rather than something to sit on a shelf.

Good morning 🙂

WAY TO GO! everybody for getting stuff done! 😀

Sort of took yesterday off. Did a bit of tidying up but mostly just did fun stuff.
Today there will be more needing to be tidied up but shouldn't take too long, then back to doing more fun stuff. 🙂
Clear skies but cold. Been warm enough in the afternoons to get outside with the cats and play for a few hours.
Tomorrow is trash pick up day here. Always nice to see anything go away. ;D

So, what are you up to today? 🙂

Egad, another strange day. Just woke up after falling asleep around 8:30 p.m.

How is everyone else? Please check in.

Good evening all. Thanks Tillie, yep, been debating about eye exam, in my head today, your reply helped. Bottom line, just get it done.
Fog was to burn off by 2pm, nope, frozen fog all day, I stayed inside except to bring wood in. Only got up to 28 degrees for a high today, was 59 yesterday. So today, I made soup. Took the sewing machine foot pedal apart, I broke it last month and it wouldn't work. After I cleaned innards,patched it up and put back together, decided to clean inside of machine and check it all out. I had taken front and bottom off before but never the top, so as you might imagine, plenty of crud. Believe it or not, it works now. This is my old singer I bought in 1966, and have hauled it to all my moves, California, Montana, Minnesota, California again, and back to Oregon. So glad it works again, my old friend Singer. Today I worked in the craft room for a couple of hours. It was fun for awhile then noticed I started to churn, so quit and started working on sewing machine. Now done for the day. Feels like I didn't get much done, but I did, have a pot of soup for proof!!!!!! Fog again tomorrow, may drive south until I find sunshine. I actually enjoyed the bad weather so I had a reason to do stuff in here.

Has anyone heard from poster MayMay? She was so active and lighthearted. She didn't seem to be a hoarder but was always a cheerleader and supportive of everyone. She just disappeared from the site.

Yesterday I put away all the clean dishes, bagged up bins of recycle materials and put in fresh bags, and bagged up two garbage containers, and ran some empty boxes (not corrugated) to the garbage bin, too. I have lots more to do.

Hugs all round

I've been stalling for over 3 hours.

Off to garage.
Visualization, door bottom weatherstrip being replaced without repairman being wounded in action.

Also cutting a little more wood for dumpster.

Good morning 🙂
Cats kept me up all last night bickering about I don't know what.
Anyways....lol

Great to see so much activity all over the board!

Hi Roxie :
Yes, MLK holiday here and schools and post offices are all closed.
WAY TO GO! for getting out and getting your prescriptions!
Great to hear from you. 😀

Hi Barb 🙂
Good luck at the dentist! 😀
Great little game you play by beating the washing machine.
I like to do those kind of challenges too.

Hi Diane 🙂
Those weekly tasks sound like very good goals.
Very do-able too.
If using a different doctor will prevent you from getting the eye exam then use the old doctor for the test.
If you have worries about any serious medical conditions with your eyes that you need followed up on then the same old doctor would be better since he knows your case.
But for just an eye test for new glasses is something that any opthamologist can do for you.
About guilt for not buying glasses from the old doctor, I have done that too.
But these days people have to count all their pennies and the doctors know this too. Their higher prices are because they have to pay high overhead for the building and pay the optician who orders the new glasses and fits them to your face when they come in.
The big box stores do greater volumn and can afford to have the lower prices.
Also the big box stores have guarantees so if the new glasses are not right for you you are covered, not out the money.
Most important point is that you update your prescription however you feel most comfortable.
But don't let guilt make you spend more than necessary.
I have been very happy with my last pair of glasses from walmart and know I could not have afforded to get new ones at the opthamologist's office. 😀

Last night's chat was a lot of fun, I really enjoyed all your company. 😀
Just hanging around today, nothing much planned.
Have a GREAT Monday everybody. 🙂

Woke up to frozen fog, hey weatherman, what happened to the sunshine you predicted all week? Must admit, I am happy to relax a little today. I have been on overdrive for weeks, and really want to just do a little maintenance today, dishes, make soup.
I have already forgotten my goals from chat. Tillie to the rescue. Were these the only ones?
1. Make appt. for eye exam
2. finish insulation
3. short sessions in craft room, organizing
Reason I don't want to make eye appt. Have gone to the same guy for years, think it may be time to go to big box store for exam and glasses so cheaper. Worry big box doc won't do good job. Old doc was $62 for years then went up to $170 for exam. Glasses were well over $300 there so last few pairs were from Costco after got Rx from him. Difficult to go to him, then not get glasses from him. Feel guilty because he does such a good job with my difficult eye exam, then think he deserves my money for overpriced glasses.

Good morning, all.
Roxie, today is the Martin Luther King holiday celebrated some places and not in others. Our local university suspends classes so that students may perform a day of service. Unfortunately, this year, the city decided to suspend bus service, so many students will be unable to get to their assignments.
We had another snow yesterday and my faithful young friends showed up to shovel me out again.
Tillie, I am so glad that you were able to get new glasses. I'm glad you got a reduced price. Glasses are so expensive!
I have a dentist appointment this afternoon just to get my teeth cleaned. I hope they use the sonic cleaner. It is faster and seems to do a better job.
I fell backward this weekend and let the dishes pile up. But it won't take me long to get them knocked out and get the kitchen clean again. Monday is also laundry day. I am so fortunate to have a washer and dryer in my home so I can do laundry while I continue to declutter. A new little game I have with myself is to fill one bag and get it out before the laundry is ready to hang and put away.
I hate setting deadlines and chafe against them. But without the deadlines, I procrastinate.
Have a good week everyone and don't forget to check in here on your breaks.