HI 😀

I have really been enjoying my alone time this week.
He was home underfoot since sometime in November.
He likes to create drama and also creates lots of dirt.
Been so nice quiet and peaceful here this week.
I have been able to set out my projects without having him run through and destroy everything.
Sure, he still comes home every evening but that's ok. I can deal with that. 😉

The rehab center received too much food for them to store or use. The guy who manages the facility brought a truck load of excess food over to the community center to give away for free.
My hoarder loves to hoard food and free food is even better. 🙁
Last evening he came home with a flat of 8 one pound packages of fresh mushrooms, 2 five pound bags of tangerines and a large frozen leg of lamb. 🙁
Heavy sigh, head held down, slowly shaking side to side.

Anyways, I give up on him right now and am back to doing whatever I can to improve my self and my situation.
Today I am making the appointment for an eye test and I will get new glasses. 😀
Since I have to wear glasses to drive, my license says so, this is all part of my big plan to parlay some derelict vehicles into one running vehicle for me so I can escape. lol 😉

So, what are your big plans?
We all need dreams. Dreams are nothing more than wishes and a wish is just a dream we wish to come true.

the puppy song

Oh, Roxie,
We are all thinking of you today I am sure and hoping you get your water situation fixed permanently. How discouraging to spend so much money on repairs and still not have hot water. Hang in there. We are sending good thoughts your way.
Today it is 20 degrees out and snow is gently falling. This is a winter day that I can cope with.
Yesterday I got working in the house and did not get out. Today I do need to go to the post office, bank and grocery store. And I will drop off that box of mismatched glassware for them to sell at the thrift store. I dare not stay to shop. I am really doing well in disciplining myself not to bring more stuff home.
The rules of making sure there is a place for something before I bring it home and purging at least one thing from the house in exchange for the new item is helping.
I know most of us hold our breaths at Christmas. Well meaning relatives try to give us more tchatchkes that we don't need.
This year I told my brother's and sister's families that all I wanted was new updated pictures of them for my family picture wall. Not professional pictures---just candid ones. Did they listen? No. I got more "stuff". No pictures.
I can download some of their pictures for my wall from their Facebook pages. But I do wish they would hear me.
The best to you all--Tillie,Diane, Dianne, Dave, Mrs. Dave,Roxie, Karl, and anyone else I may have forgotten. Checking in here has kept me sane during the bad weather.

Hello, and thank you all for your concern. Barb, Diane, Dianne, Tillie, Sandy, Dave, Karl, et al., best wishes. Hope I didn't leave anyone out. Today is a foggy mind day.

Be of good courage. Remember to say your gratitudes.

Good morning 🙂

How's it going today?
Yesterday I finished altering a blouse. 🙂
Then I got side tracked and did some sorting and purging.
For the last month I have been slowly gathering up stuff and setting it aside to donate.
Was so pleased with myself for making a big pile.
Well, he got into the stuff and by the time he finished there was only a handful of stuff left to go to donation. 🙁
Sent off for a copy of my birth certificate and it arrived. Never had a real copy before and it is distressing to find the name I grew up with is not really my name. 🙁
Next major To-Do on my list for this year is to get new eye glasses.
Finally got him to locate where he put the house deed and pink slips for all the vehicles.
He found all vehicle titles except the one for a dodge truck, he is still looking for that.
I now have all these important papers safely stored in the wall safe. 😀 TA-DA!
I would like to sell all the derelict vehicles and put the money toward getting me a dependable working vehicle to gain back my independence.
But I don't think he will let me sell them. 🙁
Today I plan to do some more sewing after I finish doing the usual daily tidy ups.

WAY TO GO!!!! everybody for everything big or little you have accomplished! 😀
Stay warm, be content and smile today. 😀

The outside temperature is now up to 13 degrees and the wind has died down to almost nothing. That means that finally my furnace can keep the house at a toasty 68 degrees. I have done very little in the way of cleaning the past two days. It has just been too cold. I have spent most of my time huddled under a blanket with my critters trying to stay warm.
I have never functioned well in the cold. My brain begins to turn to mush and I have difficulty making good decisions. My body slows down and becomes clumsy. I just have to hunker down and wait until it becomes warm enough for me to function again.
Today I will:
1. Tidy up my kitchen.
2. Do a load of laundry
3. Remove 3 bags of clutter from the living room
And since I am now able to get out of the house (thanks to a kind neighbor with a heavy duty snowblower who blasted out the dam at the end of my drive) I will go to the post office to mail a certified letter, go to the bank, restock milk and other necessities at the grocery store, and drop off one box of donated items at the thrift store.
Have a good day all!

While scouting the neighborhood, I encountered some free furniture, perhaps left over from a yard sale. I stopped to look it over, but of course I didn't stake a claim -- no way to transport it, and no place to put it.

Out playing games today, probably again tomorrow. I won't have enough time to go do more work at the storage unit, but maybe I can do some home organizing while I'm between events.

Dianne,
I am with you on the need for mind changing.

I had been saying I'm a hoarder, but not as bad as those ones on TV. I got to thinking about that a few weeks ago and decided that may not be a useful way of thinking, so I started just saying I'm a hoarder. Now I am so focused on decisions I am unable to make that I am using the hoarder thing as an excuse rather than as an identification of something that needs to change in my life.

Ooops! That was from Dave to Diane.

Shopping list Good!

Just remember to get everything on it.
I just returned from the store, where I didn't have a list, not sure if I got everything or not.
But Sunday nite I went to the store for milk and some other things, with a list. I came home with the pie and cookies that were not on the list, but I forgot the milk, which was. I did remember that at the last minute today.

Hi everybody 🙂

Not ignoring you all, just having a hard time concentrating today.
WONDERFUL to read all your posts and how you cheer each other on and give words of wisdom and confort each other. 😀

Got the house all cleaned yesterday and today only had to do a little usual maintenance.
Been pulling out all my fun projects and trying to formulate plans for tackling them.
Some great sewing projects are coming together very nicely. 😀

I read this link and found it motivating.
Lots of swear words but if you read it make sure to read page 2, that's the part I liked.

LINK

Noon here, I better get dressed now.
Today I will do one thing to completion.
Join me.
Do just one thing, big or small, hard or easy, fun or frustrating. ;D

Hi Dianne,
How I wish I could be there with you to help you with your daughter's room. Together, we could begin to tackle the clutter and I think I would enjoy talking with you and getting to know you better while we worked.
Carl Jung said that shame is soul-eating. I know what he means. I struggle with the shame of my clutter everyday. And I know that many others out there, whether they are living with a clutterer or are the clutterer themselves, do also.
I have a new book and I am reading sections of it on my breaks to encourage me and keep me moving along. It is called The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown. Here is what she has said about shame:
"Shame corrodes the very part of us that believes we are capable of change...If we share our shame story with the wrong person, they can easily become one more piece of flying debris in an already dangerous storm." BUT "If we can share our story with someone who responds with empathy and understanding, shame can't survive."
Please know, Dianne, that you have friends here with whom you can share your story.

Hi Dianne, such a difficult place to be in. When I started on craft room, I could not enter room at all. Tillie told me to pull 1 pile of bin out at a time and deal with it. Now after months there is floor to walk on. The time never seemed to come that I wanted to do it, just did it a little at a time.
Today I have done nothing except read on computer and print off a $10 off coupon, for Home Depot to buy more insulation. Now going to grocery store and pet store to buy more pet food, will run out before Sunday. Cloudy days are not as much fun for sure. I made a shopping list, trying all kinds of new behaviors.
Hope it warms up for you in cold weather, that you have heat and hot water. Life keeps throwing us curves, builds character they say, at least we have a place here to share and get support

Congrats for all the great work starts in 2014 so far!!

HURRAY for EVERYONE's victories of the day. I pray for warmth and courage and rest for each one of you.

I made another trip to garage with more empty containers. Felt like I should leave in here to put stuff in, took out anyway, was the right thing to do. Dog kept barking at doggie door so finally took him for a walk. After going for a walk, felt much better. Worked on path in yard the rest of the day. Max enjoyed chasing birds again, ran like a crazed dog, and is sleeping now. Still enjoying him. His parents are in Hawaii and both are ill with bad colds, coughing. Makes me happy to be home. Supposed to start getting snow so will go to grocery store tomnorrow. Not much in frig. Had soup again today, so happy I made it, will have it tomorrow too.

I had a tentative plan to bicycle back to my old home area -- about 12 miles each way -- with the primary goal being to pick up some free bread at the Salvation Army distribution center. I figure it's not worth spending $4 on bus fare to get food that would cost less than that in the store, and be fresher besides; and I'm curious to see how I'll feel after covering that distance.

I then decided to postpone that plan for a day when I can get up a bit earlier. Today's replacement plan was to do some bicycling closer to home, including a stop at a place that my brother told me about which might be a better place to live. (I scouted out the neighborhood but didn't actually stop at the home itself; I didn't have the address with me.) On the way back, I stopped at the bank and deposited $15 worth of loose change -- that's one less bit of clutter at home.

I apologize for not replying a few days ago to people's questions and supportive comments about my daughter's sleepover. In answer to Diane's question, I think $15 an hour is a very good price for a cleaning service. I paid $30 an hour for the cleaner I used. I imagine it depends on where in the country you live, and I think that cleaners charge less when you have them come over regularly. A major cleaning job like mine will cost more. The kitchen floor needed a deep scrub. Now we are waiting out the polar vortex, meaning the terrible cold that has descended on much of the nation from the North Pole. Schools were closed today and will be closed tomorrow. Roxie, have you gotten the hot water heater working yet? I would hire a plumber to come over. They can re-light the pilot for you if that is what you need. I am thinking of you in this situation and hoping you are able to get this fixed. Tillie, it is so sweet that you are thinking of the bunny in your garden. I think I will go curl up with the cats now. They are happy to be inside where it is warm. Temps have fallen to -8 degrees outside, and with the wind chill it's even colder.

Diane,
That is part of Mrs Dave's stress from yesterday too. I see 3 cans of gold spray paint that she intended to use for some craft project. There is a sweatshirt she was going to make something from. Some bags of batting for both pillows and a quilt. She let go of some "maybe" projects and is experiencing that disappointment.

You are both doing better than me at the moment in regard to letting go of some future ideas.

Yes Roxie, try to see if light is out, it tells you the steps to turn off, turn on, hold button and light, some have reset button. When I dug into my water heater finally it was pretty simple. Also supposed to drain crap out of it in summer. If it is over 10 years old may need to be replaced, that is what I read but mine is about 15 and is still good.
Dave have to say you motivated me to do difficult work today. Went into the cold garage and stacked all the empty bins, tubs, totes, racks in one place then went into craft room and took 4 loads of empty bins, totes, boxes and racks out and put with other stuff.
Tillie I feel so unsettled after doing this, like my stomach sank and burns. I would think it would feel good to have them all in one place and see how much I have tossed. Truth is it made me really sad, that so much of my life had been in those containers, and there is still so much more to deal with. I was keeping them in craft room to fill with craft stuff that is stacked so was a real sense of loss to take them out there, no longer to stuff them with the stuff on the floor, but instead let go of much of the stuff from the floor and closet. I have done enough for now, need to regain my composure.
Did dishes, cleaned counter and stove and microwave this morning. Change is unsettling for me. I really appreciate the support on here. And Dave I threw away a bunch of stuff in bottom of bins in garage, including some halloween craft kits still in bags, bought them years ago, cute stuff, but wanted to see how I would feel throwing away something perfectly good. Part of my anxiety. Donations of holiday stuff isn't appreciated at this time of year, so tossed, amnesty.

Roxie,
I'm sorry that is not a fun situation.

I don't have a gas heater, so don't know proper approach to dealing with it. Your comments about pilot light and outside do lead to one thought-if the laundry shed is drafty, maybe a wind gust did blow it out. Do you "neighbor" much and if so is there a neighbor person that might know about them (water heater pilot lights) you could ask for help to take a look?

Oh, dear, oh dear, no hot water. I've looked at my gas tank water heater which is in the cold laundry shed outdoors. I don't know if the pilot light is out or what is the matter. I've been researching instructions online and it looks like I have to remove two covers to get to the pilot light area.

We had quite a blizzard yesterday. Today the outside temperature is minus 13 and dropping. Wind gusts are 25 to 30 miles per hour. The entire state of Indiana is shut down. Major highways are closed due to black ice and whiteouts caused by blowing and drifting snow.
My plans to blitz clean today are somewhat on hold. I am spending part of the day under a blanket cuddled with two dogs and a cat. My new furnace is having difficulty keeping up. I have cleared areas around all the floor vents, but I know that if there were fewer piles of clutter, heating would be much more efficient. My home sits at the end of a T road. When the west wind roars up the street off the prairie, the only thing to stop it in a quarter of a mile is my house.
I am fortunate. I have power and plenty of food. I'll just have to hunker down for the next few days until this is over.

Mrs Dave asked me to remove "box mountain" today.

(Tillie, she has, in a way done what you have done. She created a clean dresser top in the living room which is verboten for Mr. Dave. She put a couple of christmas trees on it. "Box Mountain" was put on an empty shelf beside it (stacked quite high for shock value for Mr. Dave). )

D and T, what is quite humbling is that she told me that what I did last week helping her with that one box ("tub") was what inspired her to the work this weekend. She filled about a third of our recycle dumpster with assorted papers that did not need to be shredded and were no longer necessary for her life, put some things in outbound, and; with not all of the boxes being full, was able to combine the contents of 8 boxes and 1 tub into 3 storage tubs. I see a few things on the discard pile that I know were quite hard for her to let go of.

Hi Diane 🙂
Yes, the empty bins & boxes all in one out of the way location.
GREAT! that you got some sleep.
Makes all the difference. 😀

Morning Tillie, we posted at same time again. Glad bunnie got carrots. Dog slept last night and is still sleeping. He clocked 10-15 miles running at full speed chasing birds yesterday , so really needed the sleep, thank goodness, I feel so much better when I get sleep.
It is cloudy here today, but will be in 40's so can be outside part of day.
Tillie do you remember what my goals are this week, did not write down and forgot. I remember maintenance, and to start donation bag. Oh yeah, as I type, I remember organize all empty bins in garage, then from bedroom to garage, all in same place. anything else
Tillie thanks for all the support and humor, makes a huge difference.

Dave, I am so impressed with your honesty. Most addicts are self centered and and selfish, and in denial of this. Your honesty is so refreshing. By being honest, you will be able to look at your bags as the funny useless things that they are. A lot of my shopping and hoard were/are for "others". being the selfish person I am, plans to make something for others, makes me think I am generous, while the stuff sits in a pile. Also gave me permission to buy more stuff.
My virtual viewing of you sees what we have in common and know the pain you go through making decisions to do things differently. I know the paralysis of indecision, the excitement of rescuing from outgoing, and the thrill of walking through stores. Controlling all this stuff is a full time job, what if there is something better to do with our time? I want better times for you and all of us. Just for today, lets take a risk and throw something away we would normally keep, and congratulate ourselves.

Good morning everybody 😀

Doing some laundry right now.
Tomorrow the weather is supposed to turn to rain or snow.
Today I will do some good thourough house cleaning.
Bathroom, floors, everything will be wiped clean.
Have a fresh new bag in the vacuum and I plan to fill it with all the dust & dirt I can find to suck up. 😀

Late last night I turned the front light on to look out at all the work I had done in the garden.
Saw a cotton tail bunny sitting there looking sad that I had removed all the nice protective hiding places.
I have put out some more carrots to try & make it up to him.

So, what are Ya'll up to today? 🙂

Hi Dave 🙂
You crack me up. 😀 lol
Don't worry I don't virtually hit
I just virtually sigh as I roll my eyes. 😉

WTG! for getting the bags into the recycle bag.
Now just do NOT go get them back out.
And you are right about the selfishness of hoarding. My hoarder loves the feeling of
"all this stuff is mine mine mine & don't you dare try to take any of it away from me."

P.S. I bet his plastic bag collection is bigger than yours, and he would never share any of it. 😀

Karl, re shopping.
Been reflecting, this is best I can come up with for you. As a hoarder, I am a very selfish person. It is all about me. Other people exist to buy, admire, appreciate, provide etc etc MY stuff. absolutely NO WAY I am going to provide ( or at least enjoy providing ) stuff for THEM.

Example. Although I am capable of doing this, I'd better not because Diane and Tillier are watching. If I do it, they will, virtually, severely beat me about the head and shoulders. So Mrs Dave finishes off a bag of Quaker Rice cakes. Hey! great bag for my plastic bag collection. Within a day, Mr Dave is back in a box of "old" stuff for some reason, boxes includes part of a collection (not hoard 🙂 )of plastic bags-lo and behold, there is at least a 10 year old Quaker Rice Cake bag. I bet I am the only person on my block with a bag collection like this! Now, I could give the two bags to a marketing student to use for a project paper about analyzing the marketing psychology or cultural reasons for the changes in package design. But I don't care if the marketing student gets an F because they can't come up with a paper idea. I am all into personal possession and control of the items. That attitude extends to everything I touch. Since I don't get to keep and control the item, there is a different effect in shopping for someone else. My experience and what I have to deal with. Results for others may vary.

(D and T -- 2 rice cake bags in recycle bag with torn plastic bags. Many "good" plastic bags were kept-folded neatly in an empty tissue box for household use.) (we won't talk about the copier paper box half full of "good" plastic bags. I'll find something else to discard this week to make you happy with me.)

Roxie, the envelope turns red when there are more than ten messages.

Up very late last night, slept in some, going to try to get a couple of local errands done in the next hour. I'll be here for the chat session today. I still need to go back to the techie thread, too.