Strange Species...
... Not feeling good about this one .....
I vaguely remember seeing some twilight zone episode about astronauts crashing, being treated well and then discovering they were in an intergalactic zoo!

Indoor pot. Ok if one has the proper "thumb" for indoor flora. (Someone we know doesn't. 🙂 )

LR I read your name and post and haven't read anything g else--you are staying with a strange species. How wonderful. Been missing you.

I'll read everyone else's posts soon--was just so glad to see LR's name!

Hi Roxie 🙂
So very sorry I made you homesick. 🙁
But I am so grateful that you are where you are right now, getting the care and attention you need during your recovery. (((HUGS)))
Thank you for your kind and supportive words. 😀

Hi LR2014 🙂
THANK YOU!!!! so much for giving us this delightful update!!! 😀
Love the way you wrote it! 😀
Take care & don't be a stranger. (((HUGS)))

Dave 🙂
I was thinking that Roxie needs one of those potted bulbs that is just about to bloom to keep on her night stand where she can see it upon waking every morning. 😀

I thought I'd better officially check in here before you all think I've fallen off the face of the earth or something. Hi, everyone! Looking forward to reading your posts later and seeing what's going on with all of you.

Well, it's been quite a number of weeks now since I moved out of my apartment and started staying with some friends of mine (temporarily). It's been hard to get used to the concept of a plumbing system that actually works like it's supposed to work (which is the type of plumbing system my friends have here), but I'm trying. There are also other odd concepts to get used to. For example, these friends have the odd idea that "things" should have a home. Nothing of theirs stays out of place for very long. But wait . . . there's more! Related to that notion seems to be the idea that tabletops and countertops and floor space should be clear! A faint voice echoes in my memory: "The natural state of a tabletop is clear. The natural state of a countertop is clear." Where did I hear that concept once upon a time????) Floors get mopped, even when they don't look dirty! And in the midst of all this orderliness and cleanliness, my friends seem to be calm and serene. They even have fun and relaxing activities on a very regular basis.

I'll try to keep you posted as I observe more about this unusual way of life.

Hugs to everyone!

R,

Remember you are at the source of -- DARK CHOCOLATE.

Roxie,
Why don't you ask your brother if you could plant a spring bulb of your choice in an auspicious spot in his yard? I bet the two of you could work something out.

Although I am living where I need to be at this time, and it is fine, I am today missing my own house after I read Tillie's mention of daffodils. I wonder when/if I'll ever go back there. I've been here since November.

Tat, coffee clinks followed by hugs for everyone.

Just went out into my garden sanctuary area and.....
A Daffodil bloom has opened half way!!!
Should completely open before noon today!!!
AND the Grape Hyacinth have also started to bloom!!!
And the Apricot Tree is blooming too!!! 😀

Hi Dave 🙂
Thank you.
I love your plan for the dresser space.
WAY TO GO!!!
Good Luck and Best Wishes with round 2. (((HUGS)))

I know how hard this journey has been/still is for you.
I am so very proud of you for all the progress you have made. 😀

Tillie,

I don't do well trying to read and absorb long posts-sorry in advance for the length of this.

I have not thought of good way to acknowledge your posts. two things came to my mind reading the earlier ones. this is not the place for any extended discussion-but I continue to marvel at the complexities of human relationships. And I see how serious an issue the "incoming control" is for you. I suspect I owe you some apology for the frivolity of some things I've said over the months-but I'm still way too self centered to give you good words.

Maybe this will work instead. There is, at the foot of the basement stairs, a dresser of the old kind you put a wash bowl and pitcher on. (Yes it is clutter where it is.) Last year, or the year before-sometime, I was using for a staging area for my laundry basket when I did laundry. Then the broken hanging travel bag showed up. So Mr Dave says, "I can get the luggage shop to fix this." OOPs, there goes the staging area. Then 3 books I wanted to save but wasn't quite willing to put on a shelf. Then the Singer Sewing machine accessory box. "That is a valuable antique which someone will pay big bucks for." :). Then the big cardboard box which I wanted to save to put something in. and then the cardboard shoeboxes and trays to "organize" in the junk room. These are all very special and valuable items, not anything like the "junk" a normal hoarder would save. :).

I was at a thrift store yesterday. I bought 5-6 towel type bathmats. I have no place to put them, but they need to be in the area where that dresser is. I don't care to have a discussion about why I bought the mats. (Although to you I will say I need a poop of the day showcase to avoid usage of the shovel later.) I guess this sort of smacks of the roof story you just posted-now that I think of it. I just went down and vacuumed the containers, piling random "junque" in each of the trays and putting things back on the shelf. The box is in a pile of boxes to use for cleanout stuff. The luggage is in a togo area. It will be about a month before it actually goes, but there is a specific plan. The white tablecloth is in the laundry and the other stuff is on the floor at the moment. In about 3 hours, the dresser space will be covered with a clean white tablecloth. There will be a pile of the bathmats and other rag towels on it. I will probably do some "sliding to the side" on occaision (sp) to set an inbound/outbound laundry basket there. We'll see how I do in round 2 at restricting it to those 2 items.

Scooter is the destroyer of all cardboard boxes.
He tears at them with his fancy sharp claws and rips them to shreds with his sharp pointy teeth.
These two boxes will be history in a few short days.
I swear that cat is half weasel/badger/wolverine. 😀

Scooter sleep in a box, no way ever.

in the wild wet wood and all places were alike to him.

Hey Scooter,
As my role model, I hope you are not one of the cats sleeping in boxes. I have a problem with tight spaces.

D (and 😀 )

H Dave 🙂
Scooter says "HI" too.

Here is more of the back story....
After I decluttered and cleaned the main room (kitchen area, living room area and dining
room area) I wanted to make some improvements, like paint the ceiling and walls.
But I couldn't paint because the roof was leaking, had been leaking for years causing the sheet rock to become saturated and the plaster to fall down in places.
I couldn't repair that damage because it was still an ongoing problem.
Every time I asked about the new roof we desperately needed he would always say "I'll get to it".
He refused to let me call a contractor to do the work because he said "I refuse to pay someone to do a job that I can do myself".
I knew exactly the locations to place the buckets to collect the rain water in the established leak locations but soon other new leaks started happening.
This went on for too many years but finally one leak got his attention.
This new leak started over his computer desk, threatening to destroy his elaborate computer set up.
That week he bought the roof shingles, asked me to pick out the color, I chose a pretty medium brown shade.
The next week he shingled the roof.
Then I was able to fix the ceiling in the main room.
After that was done I bought a gallon of ceiling paint and painted.
For the walls I went through his massive paint can collection, choosing the cans with still viable shades of white paint.
Most cans were 1/3 or 1/4 full so I emptied them all together into a bucket.
Then I took a can of very dark green paint and slowly added some green little by little to get a lovely pastel green color.
For the tiny kitchen area I bought a can of satin gloss enamel in pastel lavender.
Then I reinstalled the kitchen ceiling light fixture that had become so saturated from the roof leaks that one day it fell off the ceiling, hanging only by the electrical wires as water cascaded through it.
😀

Yeah,

Tatoutlia has no possibility of Death Valley Scotty coming to the rescue in case of breakdown!
🙂

Good Morning 🙂

Hi Dave 🙂
FANTASTIC!!! WAY TO GO!!! for letting the jars go!!!
I know how hard this has been for you but you did it any way! (((hugs)))

Hi Tatoulia 🙂
Your "new" birthday dinner plans sound great! 😀
I'm so happy you got your car all taken care of and I don't have to worry about it breaking down, stranding you along some dark and lonely road. (((hugs)))

Ps to Tillie: Oh cats in boxes! So sweet! My cat isn't a box cat but my boyfriend's cat (a giant tabby) can fit himself in ANY sized box. Smaller the better!!!

Hello everyone !

Tillie thank you for the insight into your situation, past and present. Very helpful to me. Diane, WOW. Very good work! Dave , we did not get our promised snow here today, and I guess it went to your house instead.

My sister decided yesterday not to come due to threats of snowstorm, and I agreed with her (although I was disappointed). I didn't want her driving so much (5hours round trip) with the way the weatherman was talking. We will celebrate my birthday next week, although I won't be able to take day off. We decided she could spend the day with mom, and then the three of us will go for dinner. Mom will be pleased all around-- I think it's been a decade since she's seen my sister and I eat a meal together. The weather should be much improved and I like the whole idea!

I still took day off and took care of car maintenance. Car was at dealership nearly the whole day and I spent part of day at dealership and then got ride to boyfriend's office, where I read my kindle while he worked. It was a nice, peaceful day and I did exactly what I felt like doing. I'm reading a memoir of someone who grew up in squalor and it's a good read. She is nice and respectful toward her parents and put a lot of effort into protecting them while she was growing up. I'm not done with book yet. It's well-written--meaning she's not preachy or dramatic. It's also not written in a cutesy way; she's done a good job of relaying her story and her experiences-- working a lot since she had no place to sleep, showering at a friend's house because their pipes were leaking and they'd turned off their water supply, etc. sometimes angry or resentful but largely protective of her parents. She doesn't belabor anything. I'm enjoying the book--she easily could've turned her story into something dramatic and she didn't.

Car is driving great and I'm very pleased that I took the time to just get everything done. I want it to run for another few years so then I can give it to someone. And then either go car-free or get something less practical. I had to switch to a practical car about six years ago in order to comfortably cart my family around.

So I had a great day. When car was finished my boyfriend took me to dealership and we had a sandwich and I came home and napped. Tiny cat is next to me now and life is good.

Tillie,
Thank you for weather analysis advice. I am so discombobulated from the concept of dosing the vehicle with Benadryl that I am unable to properly think about weather issues.

I still have some concern about how my neighbor directly across the fence behind me and I will be able to clearly talk about the same snow storm, but since we only talk 2-3 times a year (mostly when I am dropping tree branches on the wrong side of the fence) I can let that issue rest right now.

Diane,
This is NOT Carte Blanche to save every TV tray for the next 2 months. However.....

If you have some kitchen cabinets that have some narrow drawers in them, you might be able to lay the end flanges of the tray across the width of the drawer and make a little sliding tray on the top of the drawer.

Mrs Dave found a 4 drawer base cabinet at a thrift store that was in decent shape and brought it home. It is a bit of a problem because it has a 3" filler built onto one side so it takes more room than is good for our space, but we have set it on the floor next to our cabinets. I have laid some oversize tv dinner trays (Maybe Stouffer-not sure) across the top of some of them and it works very nicely.

I did have to discard some assorted plastic trays along with the bottles on Tuesday. The recycle truck didn't come until around noon on Wed-I about went out 2 or 3 times Wed morning to reclaim some "valuable" jars, but did not. I did settle on keeping a 2 channel cookie tray of fairly sturdy plastic for the computer area. Not sure that can be permanent either but I will be hunting for a place to put it down at least for awhile in a little bit (2 days of new dishes and plastic to wash).

Good morning 🙂

Hi Diane 🙂
Hoping you got in some groceries and have restocked that freezer. 😀
WAY TO GO!!! for taking care of all that household maintenance and fixing yourself a great breakfast too! 😀
Wishing you a fun day today at work. (((hugs)))

Hi Dave 🙂
I think when it comes to snow it all depends on the perspective of the person observing it fall.
It showed it's self to you falling to the left, where it then landed, presenting a sinister, AKA left-handed, tendency. LOL ;D

The cats have had their breakfast.
Today I want to get outside and either play or do some yard work.

I now have two cardboard boxes.
One in the living room area and one in the dining room area.
I hate card board boxes but for now I will keep these two boxes and their contents.
In each box is a cat. Cats love to sit, play and sleep in boxes.
😀

TTYL 🙂

I looked out the window this morning. It was snowing. The snow was falling from right to left. I thought OHO! SINISTER snow, because it was landing on the left.

But then I realized I did not really know. Maybe it was DEXTROUS snow because it was starting on the right.

So, Inquiring minds want to know, Does where it starts or where it lands, in relation to viewing point, determine whether the snow is SINISTER or DEXTROUS?

🙂

Thanks Tillie, what a challenge at your house, and thanks for going back to the basics
Well it finally happened, did not go outside even for morning coffee!!! Spent 45 minutes washing dishes, etc in kitchen, then lo and behold, cleaned other areas and vacuumed, not perfect, but so much better. It has heled so much to get connected to this site again. When I stay away, start to get off track. After 3&1/2 hours of work in here this morning, I thought this is how I attack bushes, trees, painting, things that are not urgent, time to go back to basics. Washed and hung dirty sheets, load 3 is now in washer. I cooked chicken breasts that I thawed a few days ago, cooked red potatoes too, good or should I say great breakfast for a change. Washed those dishes too. I was thinking I have enough food for tomorrow so could wait to shop, truth is I will be tired after work and will come straight home, so really would be pleased if I got my butt in car today. If I wait until Friday, it will be too busy, so here I am talking myself into going. I loved to go shopping, now it is scary, not trusting I will only buy what I need. Out to yard for my tea break, and self talk to go get groceries.

Years ago people asked me...
after the de cluttering and clean up, how do you maintain the home so it doesn't get back to the way it was before.
It was requested of me that I post daily the tasks that I do to maintain my home.
It is also important to maintain the cleared and cleaned areas as a person digs out to keep from having them be re cluttered.
When my entire tiny house was filled with a massive hoard, I could not clean or cook. It was impossible.
Once I removed all his clutter from the main living areas cleaning became easy again.
I did not throw out anything, just boxed/bagged and labeled where in the house it came from and moved it to the garage, his bedroom or the carport, depending on what the stuff was and where it should be kept.
The main room here is the kitchen area, living room area and dining room area combined.
14 feet by 20 feet.
Very small.
There is a small bathroom, small pantry, small hallway and a small room the size of a walk in closet that I have also decluttered, cleaned and now maintain.
I have made a garden sanctuary right outside the front door that I love tending to.
His bedroom, the 4 car garage, 3 car carport and the surrounding acre of land is completely cluttered.
We were at level 5 due to the septic system not being maintained do to being inaccessible, causing a pool of sewage to develop. This went on for several years.
Right now the areas I have made into my "no clutter zones" are at level 0 but the rest of our home hovers between level 3 in areas to level 5 in some areas but mostly a strong level 4 throughout.
These areas are his to do with as he pleases.
We have rats, deer mice/hantavirus, millions of spiders/scorpions, snakes, hornets/wasps, mosquito larva growing in standing water/West Nile virus, ants and all sorts of other creatures living here.
There is a lot of structural damage caused and being caused by the hoard and things that should be fixed are not being fixed so things are deteriorating rapidly.

So yes, I do what I can here to maintain the best that I can so we can have some quality to our lives.

What am I doing today 🙂
Today I am cleaning the bathroom, sweeping the floors, vacuuming and scrubbing/scouring and sanitizing the litter boxes.
Then I plan to work on my sewing projects.

Have a GREAT day everybody. 🙂

Good morning 🙂

Hi Diane 🙂
The dress is very simple.
A bodice with short loose/flowing sleeves and a full skirt.
A style as comfortable as a muu muu but not as informal, suitable enough to wear away from the house.
WTG! for all you are doing! 😀
YES! get some food. Fill the freezer with smoothie berries. 😀
Planning on getting outside and working/playing tomorrow.
The frigidly cold breeze should be gone by then.
My Apricot tree started blooming yesterday.

🙂

Good morning Dave and gals. Hi Tillie, wanted to see if I could get on here early enough to say "thanks" before your morning hello---and I did. I read your post last night and enjoyed it so much. Also, wanted to ask you to describe your new dress. I want to make some simple A line dresses. Not moo-moo age yet, but getting close.
Finally put clean sheets on last night and showered and washed hair, as long as I was still doing yard work, smelled like smoke, so shower made it final, no more yard work. Time to make some progress in here and finally go grocery shopping, have not gone in a month, my poor little freezer and refrigerator/freezer are bare.
Dishes are soaking, one load of laundry hung, and now will set timer and really do dishes. Work tomorrow so want clean living area, to come home to, and good food to eat.'hugs
Tillie we are both going to have days in the 60's this week, lets really enjoy them

Good evening 🙂

Hi Roxie 🙂
Keeping meds close at hand is practical and understandable.
I have a large family of quail living in my garden. They travel out and about to scratch up food during the day.
Every evening they return home to sleep in a large cedar right outside my window.
They are used to seeing and hearing us inside and listening to their gentle chatter during the night is soothing.

Hi Dave 🙂
Thank you.
WAY TO GO! getting the jars to the recycling!
Good luck for how you feel tomorrow. 😀
Thanks for the laughs today.
My Hoarder ( who by the way is alright with me calling him My Hoarder/Mr. Hoarder. Actually said "if I'm not your hoarder then who's hoarder would I be?")
Anyway, National geographic is something he has actually given away.
His complete collection dated back to 1956. Before he was even born.
He gave it to a little boy Scout but only after I asked the boy's mother if she was ok with having a whole room taken over with magazines. 🙂

Hi Diane 🙂
WAY TO GO!!!
For all you got done and for your wonderful insights.
Thank you for all the support you give to me. 🙂

Spent today sewing a dress for this Summer.
Now I have to wait for it to warm up so I can wear it.
Visited with my neighbor friend for a while.
Get to baby sit her beasties and house later this month when they take an anniversary vacation trip. 😀

So very nice to catch up with you all tonight!
Thank you (((hugs))) 🙂

Dave you and I were writing at the same time, brilliant minds in tune.
You made me smile ear to ear again!!! Serious socks.
So proud of you for recycling jars, you do have enough jars, area is full, good you let go and tomorrow you will be fine, reminding yourself you have enough, hooray

Well, another burn and trim day in the yard, had to remind myself of OCD and it is time to stop and realize it is good enough, and no more for now.
Roxie, fun reading your post, and visualize the cars. Good reminder to take better care of ourselves so we can be more loving to others, less need to prove I am right when feeling good. Drama is so disturbing, and I used to thrive on it.
Tat, has the snow melted yet? You have had a really difficult winter, so happy your sister is in your life. It is ok to not work on clutter this week, you have done so much good.
Dave happy you are able to keep kitchen clean and are looking at bright side of washing a pan 3 times a day. I threw away a microwave dish last night for practice. It was so odd, like I was emotionally attached to it and knew I would never use it again, but wanted to keep it. Forgot about it today until I read your bottle story, I could relate so much on keeping good containers.
When I was out chopping, thought about what a big business storage has become and the hours it takes to store all of our crap, and find it again. I have gotten perfect storage racks, containers etc., when it dawned on me the more perfect, would be to get rid of more stuff.
Tillie, you are so kind and thoughtful and encouraging. Thought of you when I was practicing productive avoidance, trimming---. Then you said "it is good enough", your words of wisdom are in my head, even though it takes awhile to hear them. Thank you Tillie for all the time you take to include all of us in your posts, means so much.

"My socks can cover all the feet in a village."