Karl I like your method of alternating tasks. It's also great that you get physical activity and good times with friends. Congratulations for asking them for help with the cleaning!

Today's picnic was awesome, despite the threat of rain; I got in an hour of bicycling exercise to get there and another hour getting back, played croquet, and managed to avoid overeating despite the abundance of food. Perhaps the day was even a net weight loss, which would be unusual for a pot luck event.

When I got home, I immediately dished up a helping of ice cream -- and then set a 15m timer to do some cleaning/sorting while it softened. After that "reward", I dealt with the day's email. (It really seems to help when I alternate between cleanup tasks and other tasks.) Then a second 15-minute session, followed by some more internet activity, and composing what turned out to be a difficult message to a mailing list I'm on, asking for friends to come over and help next weekend. Now I'm going to take a shower, then do a third 15-minute session before going to bed.

Yes, this is a great community. Good you got some rest.
I had a good day, much more relaxed than past week. I cleaned the kitchen, did dishes, then was motivated to finally make soup with surviving vegetables, black eyed peas, and all kids of other things, took a long time to make but will last for days and it is so delicious. I havent been eating well, so was great to make something that tastes wonderful and is good for me. I did lots of odds and ends, did some paperwork that is due this week, didn't go anywhere as usual, just enjoyed the rain and clouds, which motivated me to work inside.

So wonderful to read all the posts here! 😀

Today turned out to be windy, cloudy with a good chance for rain.
Made him take care of the kitten so that I could get the rest/sleep I need.
And I really needed it. 😀

Thank you all for posting. What a lovely little community we have here. 🙂

OMGsh!!! So I just scrolled a bit, okay, a looong bit and this Message Board is awesome!!! You all ROCK!!! Ohhh, how I'd like to address and give kudos to each and everyone of you but that will sooo keep me away from my next "attack session"! Okay, okay, I am OFF this laptop but will do my best to turn it on daily just to be here! (((hugs))) and happy dance *twirling twirling*

Good morning!!! I think this is where I am to post *ahem* daily??? Well, it is great to be back and as things are slowing down in my household I am reclaiming "Me Time" to get back to my decluttering. My friend was over early and we finished planting an Iris bed complete with his Mother's who recently passed away and several we picked-up nearby at an Iris Festival in Yucaipa, CA. We put it right outside the craft room, aka The KraftyKorner, door and it is adding sooo much positivity already. Well, I am off to finish putting away the remnants of a few piles from last night ... who knew jewelry and beads piled on dresser could get soooooo dusty??? *wiggles nose* .... I have taken allergy medicine and will wear a mask this time. tee hee HAVE A GLORIOUS DAY!!! Please remember all who've served on this Memorial Day!!! ;-D

Karl -- AWESOME!!!!
I was looking for your post today & got so excited when I saw it & read about your PROGRESS 🙂 30 minutes is great! (Better than the day before, right?)

Roxie -- Loved reading about all the things you accomplished today 🙂 You did ALOT -- Definitely Rockin' the Progress!!!

I am in my kitchen today too. My goal is scrubbing clean my grimy stovetop -- I'm doing it right after this post & will update you all later.

Dianne -- I can really relate to what you posted today... I, also, isolate when my thought patterns bring me down into a dark place; when I get overwhelmed by anxiety & the onslaught of "Past Mistakes"[my interpretation] that often surface --flooding me with unpleasant memories & emotions-- when I start going through older piles.

I say this because I want you to know (or remind you;) that you are not alone. And, you are wonderful just for being you -- honestly 🙂 Your post today alone is evidence that you are working on things & moving forward.

Please be gentle on yourself and know that we are all here rootin' for ya!

Also, I just realized there's an AnneL, & maybe another Ann or Anne -- all here before I came along a couple of weeks ago...

Should I add an initial to the end of my name, ie: "AnneW"-?- so as not to confuse folks?

Thank you Roxie, for your concern and welcome back. {{{hugs}}} I'm ok, just sometimes go thru down times where I am very self-critical and tend to isolate. Part of the whole mental mess.

Wherever you are, enjoy your day all, and remember to send grateful thoughts to all the brave men and women who have protected our freedoms. If you can thank one in person even better. 🙂

MayMay, what's with the fire truck? LOL

Diane, you are inspirational.

Karl, keep on!

Yesterday I ran the dishwasher, broke down more cardboard boxes to recycle, hand did a sink of other dishes, put away the cat food into the cabinets (new concept for me), wiped down the countertops. Not much but it is forward motion.

I was thinking of mowing the lawn when out of nowhere a storm started. Hmmm

I did one 15-minute session before dinner, and another after; I was hoping to get a third in, but that didn't work out this time. Let's see what I can get done Monday evening after I'm back from the picnic event.

Thanks for all the kind posts about what I got done this week. Today I only did a few things, tired after all the hours working this week. I did 3 loads of laundry, most is put away. I hung up clothes line over deck, it had fallen down months ago. was able to hang out blankets after a quick spin in dryer after wash. Changed everything on daybed. Took time to think of things I am grateful for. Joined in group tonight, was helpful. Tomorrow I plan to tidy up living room and kitchen and work on dining room, supposed to rain, so hopefully will be a good day to work inside, again. Thank goodness for bad weather for indoor cleaning. First nice day, I will be out in yard doing fun stuff, I have missed it with all that I have been doing. This week I am going to strive for a little more fun.

YEA Karl!!!
Thank you for posting! 😀
We are all looking forward to your next posts! 😀
You CAN do this! 😀

Not much progress here lately. Let's change that.

I'm currently in the Sunday chat support, and when it's over and I've eaten dinner, I'll make a point of setting that 15-minute timer for cleanup work, multiple times. (A single 15-minute session per day just isn't going to cut it, especially if I keep missing days when I'm too busy.)

Expect my next post here to report on my success.

OMG!!!!! THIS IS SO CRAZY!!!!! 😀

Right now I'm in a FIRE TRUCK with a bunch of firefighters on my way to see what my new clean bedroom and closet looks like. 😀

Thanks Dianne and Roxie. 🙂

Yes Roxie, Cory and Matt are my 2 dogs. They are named after Cory Chalmers and Matt Paxton. 🙂

Welcome back, MayMay! When you mentioned Cory and Matt, I about flipped... now I realize they must be your pets, not the Cory and Matt we all know about. hehehe

Diane, I am beyond impressed with what you are able to do. Your ingenuity and tenaciousness are wonderful to see.

Dianne, I've missed you. Are you okay? Good to have you back.

Everyone else, good to see you, too.

If anyone hears from KindredSpirit, please ask her to post so I can stop being concerned.

I ran a number of errands yesterday, including dropping donations off at the cat rescue thrift store, visiting the cat rescue, the library, picked up speakers for my computer, cat supplies, and replacement cookie sheets and cooling racks. I still can't figure out where to plug the speakers into the danged computer. So frustrating to lose my mind. 😀

I'm having a lot of trouble with lifting weights like boxes of cat litter. I'd like them under ten pounds, but only found one brand that lightweight. I'll have to cruise the internet to see what I can find. This is aggravating because in my 40s I was weightlifting, running, bicycling and doing aerobics. Now I can hardly walk half a block. grr

I spent a couple days doing some deep cleaning. I hate wearing gloves so my hands took a beating. Yesterday I did what my body wanted ~ naps, crackers, ginger ale.

Thank you all for being good online friends 🙂

MayMay BIG WELCOME HOME!!!! 🙂

Keep moving forward everyone 🙂

YAY! I'm finally back from Hawaii and away from my mom's crazy side of the family! 🙂

Right now it is 1:30am where I live; and I just got back from Hawaii. 🙂

I am so glad to be back!!!!! 🙂

When I arrived at my boyfriend's house, to pick up Matt and Cory, I literally jumped on my boyfriend when I first saw him; and then when Matt and Cory saw me, they immediately started jumping all over me. Lol. 🙂

I missed all of them so much while I was gone.

I'm so EXCITED for tomorrow night!!!!! 🙂

Because tomorrow night I will finally get to see what my new bedroom looks like. 🙂

How wonderful Diane!!! 😀

You have accomplished some very hard areas in your home! 😀

WAY TO GO!!! 😀

When your home is decluttered you can go back to the smaller trash service.
For now, enjoy all the freedom and amnesty the big can allows you. 😀

Have a nice bath/shower. Rest well tonight and tomorrow enjoy yourself. 🙂

A long day working in walkway. I took the door off where hotwater heater is and reached all over until I found the dryer hose, and was able to pull it out far enough to attach it to the vent in door. That water heater was not easy to balance while attaching the hose. I am so impressed that I was able to complete it. When I had new floor put in kitchen a few years ago, the guy said there was no path out to walkway, no hole had ever been done. I knew there had to be away to attach it, I figured it out. I had to move so much stuff just to get to water heater door. I then got up on a tall ladder and washed wall and the small bathroom window, which had never been cleaned since I lived here over 15 years, it was caked with dirt, it is so small just thought that is why bathroom is dark, surprise, daylight comes in now. Still dark, but really much better. I had to use a metal BBQ brush on cement floor to loosen up the dirt pack then swept, then vacuumed. I got about 1/2 done in 10 hours today, until I decided enough already. Put a tarp over the stuff that I still have to go through. My 95 gallon cart is now 3/4 ths full. I was second guessing myself about the big cart, what if I don't fill it, well now know it was a stroke of genius, since I got it yesterday and already 3/4 full. I am so pleased with myself and know that I need to take it easy tomorrow. I also did dishes, cleaned counters, washed hair brushes, first time in years, papers out to recycle, Now need to go take a shower in my clean bathroom, you can probably smell me from your house!!

Tillie and everyone,
I hope to get better soon, but bruising the bone does take quite some time to heal as it affects the muscles and range of motion too.

As annoying as it is I at least can go outside and breathe in some spring air. It's been cool at nite at low 40's and during day been in 50's. By Tues planning on temps to reach back into the 80's.

Today I plan on resting and icing also taking potassium and vitamin C to help heal better.

I also applied at a couple of hospitals to hopefully work as a houskeeper (janitor/cleaner).

Now just resting and icing knee which hurts due to bone brusing.

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying weather.

Saturday. Start of a three day weekend.

The weather here has been cool for over a week and the forecast is for highs in the 70s.
Great for doing things around the yard.

Want to get outside and do some weeding and other pleasant relaxing gardening activities.

He is finally getting slightly annoyed by my not enabling him so I will continue not doing stuff.

Off to feed the cats now.
Want to go to the grocery store and buy a watermelon or two today. 😀

Everybody plan to have some fun outside this weekend! 😀

Thank you Tillie, and happy you are feeling better. Happy Dance, great idea, I have been so serious with the cleaning, I will do the happy dance first thing in the morning.

Thank you Diane 🙂

Been sleeping most of today and am feeling a lot better now. 🙂

Tillie so sorry to hear about your infection. Hope you are drinking lots of water, did you get antibiotic? Glad you are resting and taking good care of yourself. Hugs to you.

Diane

FANTASTIC!
WAY TO GO!!!
WOO HOO!!!
HAPPY DANCE!!!

😀

Tillie so sorry to hear about your infection. Hope you are drinking lots of water, did you get antibiotic? Glad you are resting and taking good care of yourself. Hugs to you.

THE BATHROOM IS CLEAN AND REPAIRED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can you believe it? It several hours today, but it is finished, walls clean, cabinets cleaned and organized, mirrors cleaned, sink, toilet and tub cleaned, door cleaned, floor cleaned, took all week but it is done. The wall had separated where the tub wall and other wall meet. The dryer is on the other side, so the hot damp air buckled the wall. The dryer vent to the walkway is not cleared out so has been blowing into bathroom. I realized today, the lent and moisture have been the cause of alot of the packed filth I had to clean that took so long in the bathroom. I cut the bowed out wall, so I could force it to lie flat. I used a metal brace then nailed it down. It was awkward and doesn't look great, but it is done and the lent won't blow in now. I painted the area that I fixed. Tomorrow I will be back out in the walkway working on the hoard so I can get to dryer vent and fix that. My 95 gallon garbage can was delivered today and is already 1/2 full, and 2 bags of give aways. I cancelled my friends visit when I realized it would take all day to finish cleaning bathroom and repairing wall. tillie, you are right, it is like a puzzle that I cannot figure out, the odds and ends. After having so much anxiety yesterday, I was amazed how much easier it was to keep going today. I really think alot of the anxiety of having my friend over. I am giving myself permission to keep working on my own until I am more comfortable with So grateful I have you gals to go through this with.

Good morning,
Not yet noon here. 🙂
Still down with a kidney infection.
Got the cat stuff all taken care of.
Need to take a nap now.

Try to find your motivation Karl.
Great that you got some trash out!
You need to force yourself to do more 15 minute sessions daily to get some results there.

Diane 🙂
It is hard to start tackling those long neglected areas all on your own. You have been living with the piles for so long your brain sees them as a puzzle that is impossible to sort out.
Hoping your friend can help make some sense out of them for you. 😀

HI Anne 😀

Hi Lynn 🙂 Keep healing and find something to smile about today. 😀

Hi Roxie 🙂
I need lots of rest and sleep in order to feel better.
But....
living with a hoarder who has no consideration for me is extremely tiring.
He has dumped the kitten care all on my shoulders. He makes nasty messes and expects me to clean them up. He makes a lot of noise at night rattling around and keeps waking me up.
Then he gets annoyed with me for not wanting to do anything but sit here and cry.