It makes me very glad we don't rely on credit. It's going to be very inconvenient because ten buisiness days is the rest of November. We normally do Christmas shopping thanksgiving week while dh is off, I have a lot of groceries to buy for thanksgiving, and I don't like to carry a lot of cash.

Also, I normally put everything I can on the cc because the 1% back is like a 1/2% raise.

We don't know who did it. There is a small part of me that thinks it might have been one of my students. (The when, what, and where of the charges are circumstantial and she had opportunity.) I hope not, but otoh, I have been very worried about her for a while now and it is better than some of the other things I have been afraid she was going to do for money.

OH!
How horrible Subclinical...
Do you have any idea when/where/who did this?
You must feel so violated (((HUGS))).
At least you can still access cash to get through the next week.

Tillie, I should have stocked up with you.

Someone stole our cc info. So the card is cancelled and we don't get a new one for ten business days. Now dh has to go to the bank and get me money so I can buy food and gas.

Hello 🙂

Went grocery shopping and am all stocked up now.
So in case the registration tags don't come before the end of this month I will be ok without a car.
Also got the cats two, new to them, cardboard boxes!
Got some "cranberry" bagels. I hope they are good.
Will find out eventually. 😀

Tatoulia THANK YOU!
I was wondering about that....
And I figured that souls do weigh a lot but actually contain no calories.
ROTFLMAO 😀
WTG! for having the scan done. (((HUGS)))

Hi Subclinical 🙂
I am not surprised.
One time I had around 2 dozen dairy cows standing in my front yard.
Mooing at me looking out at them.
I have had to wrangle sheep, horses, pigs, chickens and peacocks that managed to escape from neighbors pens & corrals.
Once I was chasing down a baby cow to get him off the road and he finally laid down and rolled back under the fence. ?
Happy your staging area is under control and you have a solid plan for the stuff.
Once I made Steven a staging area, he buried it under a large amount of stuff and it became just another part of the landscape.

Hi Anonymoniker 🙂
Feel better real soon (((HUGS)))
When dealing with dusty stuff...
Mist it down with some water to help keep the dust from rising into the air.
Any old spray bottle should work.
If there is any rodent droppings in the area where the dusty stuff has been stored
make a mixture of 50/50 water & bleach and spray that to help keep the dust down and also diseases like hantavirus.

Have my grocery list made out but keep checking to make sure I don't forget anything.
Have 2 large empty water bottles in the car to fill tomorrow at the water depot & still have 5 already filled & stored in the pump house.
So, sometime tomorrow I will go into town and stock up.
Last Tuesday I applied for my new drivers license and it arrived today in the mail.
YEA!
Suppose it would take longer if it were one of those I.D.s that allow you to fly or enter federal court buildings.
I don't have anywhere to fly to and now I won't ever get called on again to do federal jury duty.
When I got a summons for federal jury duty that meant that I had to drive 150 miles round trip to Reno every day.
Fortunately the people understood why I did not want to do that and they let me go.

Soul eater. Good God. SOUP eater. Honestly.

Back from the ultrasound--will have results tomorrow. Not worried.

Cold, raw, rainy, so I'm having some delicious carrot ginger soup. So yummy. From a box!!! I've turned into a soul eater because it really holds me and the calories are negligible--this is 120 per 8 oz serving and I measured it out to make sure correct serving size. Some of my other favorites are as low as 90 a serving!

Did my laundry --sheets, darks, pjs. Will do kitty blankets on Wednesday when I'm home.

Need to go do some work then take garbage out.

Anony--get well soon! Rest and drink water! You poor thing! I'm so pleased with the progress you are making and I'm proud of your efforts with your colleague. Ugh the drama with the ex. That certainly makes it impossible to enjoy his company! Keep up the good work--AFTER you have taken care of yourself.

SubC, my only staging area right now is Christmas gifts. I don't buy a lot but they sure take up room! I have them all in a box right now so at least they aren't aggravating me.

Tillie--I'm doing my laundry too. And of course we don't want to disturb the cats. They need their sleep!!

~♡~Good Morning!~♡~
I have a horrible flu bug, which is rare for me. Yesterday i got about half of my staging area table cleared, but the dust from it was too much, since i already was sick, so i just made the decisions as to where to put the stuff, once i feel better! That is the biggest part of it for me! 😀
SubC, i think i may just replace my filthy, old plastic drawers & put the old ones in my storage trailer. That could help a lot getting my living space cleaned up. There is a lot that i do need to keep, but doesnt need to be in my immediate living space. These old plastic drawers have old cat spray soaked on the outside, etc., which doesnt clean very well.
My ex lasted 11 days this time before having a hissy fit & bailing on me. I have far less patients for bs now that im in the throes of ~The Hormone Crash of 2017~ ha ha
The intro workshop for learning to build earthbag buildings is later this week. I hope im feeling better by then. I have a few new sites as options picked, that will let me stay closer to my cats, simplify the project as just a bedroom, and eliminate the ground crack & transformer box being too close!!
My friend/worker has been like a dream! We have so much fun, yet get lots done , too! Im happy about it!
~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~

I can't believe this but one of the goats STILL managed to find a way out of the fence.

Doing a little dishes and laundry, firing the kiln.

I realized I never typed to anony, just thought - I clean the plastic drawers by taking them apart, washing them in the utility sink, and running them through the dishwasher (which is what makes it super slow- I pretty much have to be caught up on dishes.

I find a staging area very helpful. I have to be honest though, I do not clean it off right away. Mine is currently my dining room table and it still has Halloween stuff on it because I have not sent pictures to the kids, even though I did put away the (4, down from 5!) bins of Halloween stuff I am keeping.

But I will not use it for anything else for more than a week and when I clear it off it will be into boxes for the kids and goodwill, so nothing will get shuffled and reshuffled, and nothing else is going to go out there with the Halloween stuff. I simply have the luxury of being able to leave the job and come back later.

Good Morning Everybody 🙂
"CLINK!"

Hi Subclinical 🙂
WAY TO GO! for fence mending and using what was already on hand! 😀
WONDERFUL! that you can find what you need in the almost organized studio.

Hi Tatoulia 🙂
I am ready to start making this a good week. 😉

After I post this I will start the laundry.
My plan for today is to clean my room.
Vacuum around the edges and under the dressers.
Dust, wipe off and polish the furnishings & things.
Unfortunately, my room is the cat's favorite room and this will greatly distress them and make them have to take naps elsewhere in the house.
LOL ;P
I always put off doing my room for too long just because of the cats.

So much fun bring friends with all of you!

Glad you got some good outdoors work done, SubC and Tillie! I am jealous of your outdoor space! Good to hear that the studio is in greatly improved shape SubC!

Are we ready for a good week? I hope so!!

Oops, I overcompensated by turning tillie into tatoulia! Sorry.

Hi Joan!

Tatoulia, that is wonderful about the consignment store! And your dress friend.

Tatoulia, I am sorry about the bills. Maybe Steven is improving? Not suggesting you count on it, but it would be nice. Anyway, enjoy it for now and I hope the car registration turns out ok too.

I have been really focusing on getting ready for a big pottery sale that starts Friday. I have my whole week planned out and so far it is going pretty well. The studio is the most organized it has ever been - which does not mean it is organized, but it does mean i can find most of what I am looking for quickly.

So far I have needed to open only one of the three jars of glaze that I bought, but I still have glazing to do tomorrow, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

Dh fixed the fences today (I helped for a couple of hours) using materials we had on hand. No more escaped goats and a slightly reduced stash of "useful stuff" (ideally the "useful stuff" stash will slowly get smaller through use until some day our kids can throw it all in a cardboard box when we die. This plan requires us to live a long time, so I like it.)

WAY TO GO!!! Tatoulia!!! 😀
How wonderful that it didn't even hurt to pass up the china!
Your thought processes are spot on!
Nice buy on the pearls. ;D
I discovered that with pearls, unless the clasp is from a high end jeweler, people tend to price them around the same price as the overly produced newer "real" pearls and there are some wonderful bargains to be found.
Says she who has a lovely matched, strung & knotted pearl choker now. 😉
Your new dress sounds beautiful.
HAPPY DANCING for the beneficiary of your dresses!
Wonderful that she is enjoying them already. 😀
Keep up the great progress of filling and dropping off your donation bags.

Steven really helped me today by working for hours gathering up all the leaves off the grass and around the lilac hedge and bagging them up.
First time he has ever done that...
I have always had to do all the yardwork all by myself.
He also has been pleasant, not snarky.
I am confused but grateful. :/

Very big moment today. Took mom to the consignment store. They had the set (serving 12 Plus the serving dishes) of the dishes I have wanted for years, at about $1 a dish (fantastic price) and I passed. I have no room and I have mom's beautiful china. If they'd had a serving platter, only, I would have bought it. But I have no need for and no room for china. I didn't even feel a twinge of pain. I couldn't use them for every day as they are most definitely not dishwasher safe.

What a great feeling. Mom found something lovely for my BF for Christmas and I got a small gift for an overseas friend's husband. Oh and pearls which were incredibly underpriced and which are a perfect length for the velvet dress I've picked up for the holidays. I have other pearls but nothing this length. I am not sure why they were priced the way they were because they are real pearls and the shape & color of each pearl was perfectly matched. Well, not for me to decide.

Oh other big news: I saw the woman whom I gave the dresses to. She was wearing one (it looked beautiful on her) and she told me that every piece that was in the bag was perfect for her. That made me happy--none of the dresses were very old since they were recent purchases to accommodate me when I put on extra weight. I had carefully chosen what to give to her vs to goodwill.

I took a bag to car today with goodwill purchases. I will need to start another bag asap to keep everything moving in the right direction.

Oops! I was empathizing too much! That was me, Tatouia. Identity crisis over. FOR NOW,

Love you, Joan,

Dearest Tat (((HUGS)))
Thank you.
So sad that you know so personally what it's like.
Steven's computer is all set up with security apps to do all the bill paying online, but he refuses to allow me access to the passwords or I could check and make sure the bills get paid on time.
If he dies first I am going to face a huge mess trying to straighten it all out.
I am making out a shopping list and listing all the necessities even though right now I am set.
But who knows how long it will take to get the car tags and I don't want to be caught short.
Nice thing about almond milk is the "use by" date is always months away from when I buy it so I can stock up on that and not worry about it going off.

Hi Joan 😀

P.S. Steven just returned home from where ever? he goes Sunday mornings so I asked him again about the tags.
He told me he paid them online last night right after I nagged him again about it.
Said they should be here in 7 to 10 days but I know better than to take any chances that he's not lying, Tuesday I will still stock up.
Plus he brought me a peace offering of locally harvested pine nuts and when he brings gifts I become especially suspicious. ;P

Tat, are you hsving an identity crisis?

Did you just post as Tillie?

Oh gosh, it's like a page out my life. My brother has improved but your situation isn't so far back in my past. I feel the anxiety.

It's like he knows best and any attempt to even talk is met with an abrupt meanness that is out of proportion to what you've said. Then when it all blows up is up to you/me to fix. And then I get to listen for the next five years how I've handled something poorly. This all could be avoided, but for their inability to take small steps to keep it together. Small steps. Everything is done on line, for crying out loud, so what's the big deal?

I think it was a few weeks ago when I was getting brother's Medicare renewed and he wouldn't give me the simplest of information which would have allowed me to do on line. So I got to fill it paperwork, get his signature, then go to work on a weekend to scan it in so I could fax. All that in my end, For if he'd just given me a mail a month earlier me had given me the one tiniest piece of information,,,,but I live by his rules. And living by his rules means inconveniencing me a lot and aggravating me a lot. And by not causing another scene of having him get violent. AND there's no tough love that I can do because it's still up to me to make sure he has a place to live and insurance and food so I can't play the very valid method of, well, let him go s month or two without XYZ and see if he gets better. There's zero learning from experience.

YES stock up on whatever you can. Make yr soups and your dinners. Make sure have TP and paper towels and cat sand and cat food. This is what we cope with. Yr rant is certainly justified. I stand by your side. I understand very well what you are going through. Protect yourself. Protect the cats. I understand. I truly do. I have two dry shoulders should you need to cry. And I have a deep well of compassion with your name on it.

Good Morning Everybody 🙂
Iced chai masala "CLINK!"

Hi Tatoulia 🙂
WAY TO GO!!!!!
For "smart" shopping!
Happy you now have nice, warm new things. 😉
YEA!!!! for a dish free sink!
Have a wonderful time out today with your Mom.
YEA! WTG! for scheduling that test! (((hugs)))

Hi Subclinical 🙂
How are all your projects coming along? 🙂

Warning, rant coming...
Well, super depressed, anxious and upset.
Steven insists that he handle all the bill paying so that he can control all the money and spend it all on his shopping for more clutter.
He has not taken care of the car registration and the tag expires end of this month.
His desk is a massive mountain of mail, bills and invoices, etc.
This stuff shifts & slides and gets coffee spilled on it and the cat vomits on it and it's all covered with dust&dirt&grit and cat hair.
He always does this kind of negligence and then has to hustle and pay late fees and causes so much unnecessary grief and anxiety.
Anyways, my plan is to get to the grocery store before the end of the month and stock up just in case I no longer have use of the car for a while.
Just hope he has remembered to pay the Discover bill this month.
I always ask him if he has taken care of this bill or that bill and he always snappishly answers "yes!"
But he lies all the time. >:(
So, along with all the physical squalor here we also have a lot of financial squalor too.
This kind of thing keeps me from sleeping and messes with my stomach & intestines and makes me a nervous wreck.
Rant over...

Thank you all for being here. You are the only people in the world that I can tell this stuff too.
(((((HUGS)))))

Ps Tillie my ultrasound is Monday at 3

Happy Sunday!

The zinc/vitamin C combined with sleep, sleep, sleep put me where I need to be! All better today!

Tillie I channeled you yesterday! I got rid of (donated) a lot of my gloves, mittens and scarves last year. When I went to buy more yesterday, I had to have you sitting in my shoulder. The first place had gloves and I bought one pair. I started to buy a scarf that was going to be ok but had a lot of problems. It looked cheap, was too long, and essentially seemed like something I wouldn't wear. So I put it back. Second store had a great scarf, two pair of gloves I really liked and a fantastic pair of mittens. I ended up with scarf, one pair gloves and the mittens. I wanted that other pair because they were beautiful and made in Italy etc but decided they'd never be warm so what am I doing? Back they went.

This may seem like a lot of gloves and mittens but I tend to leave them places and I walk quite a bit. Last year I purged when I decided I was sick of my coat and so I donated most everything. I'm good with the purchases.

Anony, keep up the good work! Yay on having a staging area! Tillie's right, seeing stuff out in the open is a fresh set of eyes. I'm glad you are keeping your limits with BF. As to my relationship, I know how lucky I am. He grew up overseas with several older sisters. He is kind and polite. He works a ton of hours, which gives me the proper space for myself. We are both old souls, so that helps too. He's easy to be with, and I'm working on being easier. having things we enjoy doing together--antiquing, theatre, lectures, symphony, etc helps. He's the type with a million friends and admirers and although I'm more outgoing, I probably only have five people I consider friends. It works, and I hope it continues, but who knows what the future holds. When we first started dating he felt badly if I went to theatre or symphony or movies alone, now he completely understands how much I enjoy doing those things alone.

No dishes in sink--so shocking!

I am going to get mom out today. She's so great.

Ttyl. Love you all so much.

Hello Everybody 🙂
Been running ever since I woke up this morning and have finally found a chance to sit for a while.

Hi Anonymoniker 🙂
A staging area is a great way to sort.
Moving the stuff away from where it has been sitting helps us to see it differently.
Helps to make those keep/toss decisions easier.
One rule of the staging area is that it must be cleared off after every session. No leaving the stuff to pile up there.
So try not to bring out any more than you can sort through in the time you have to do this.
Good Luck! with all your home improvement plans! 😀

Hi Tatoulia 🙂
Happy you had a fun day but so sorry you are now sick.
Take care, rest and feel 100% better soon.
(((HUGS)))
WAY TO GO! for putting things straight into the dish washer!
Wish I had a dish washer if for nothing else a place to hide dirty dishes rather than beside my sink. LOL

Beautiful day here today.
Sunny, few clouds, gentle tiny breeze.
Swept all the leaves off the porch & walkway.
Did 2 loads of laundry and they smell heavenly after drying on the line in the Autumn air.

~♡~Greetings to all!!!~♡~
Tillie, you are an awesome counselor for folks! And that 'one in/one out' is what i had to do on my boat for all those years & is why moving on to 50 acres allowed me to 'catch up on accumulating'.
Tatoulia, i think im in love with your boyfriend...ha ha ;D And i am, perhaps foolishly, seeing my ex again, BUT this time my way! I absolutely feel differently, partly the crashing from hormone replacement therapy. Im far clearer, less intimidated & i will not expect anything of him...just enjoy our time together. I am going to try him being a part of my life & i am giving up NOTHING for him! I need to try it my way & if it doesnt work i will walk away.
SubC, ive tried to think how to clean/spruce up the plastic drawers i got when rodents kept climbing into the back of my conventional drawers. They dont clean easily, so something like you described sounds interesting?!
Ive had my wonderful worker/friend here this past week helping with the new garden fence & figuring out the best way to cover the trailer walls with plastic. We got lots done AND had fun! 😀 She suggested i use the juicing table under the back awning as a 'staging area.' Ive heard yall use that term & had to google what it means. Im going to try that with the stuff in the house. Ill just pick up everything in one spot & carry it out there on that table & see how that works? I may clear it off today?! Also, im now thinking of building an earthbag bedroom closer to my trailer. That way itd solve the transformer box & crack through my land site issue, plus id stay nearer to my precious cats, plus itd be a smaller, simpler building project! 😀 There is an intro workshop next week on the building process! 😀 ~♡~Love to all!!!~♡~

Good morning everyone!

I had a good day yesterday/-went out for lunch and dinner. Much more social than I usually am and it was great fun. Woke up with a sore thrust so I just took some zinc and C tablets that a friend brought me from overseas. First time taking them. Having peppermint tea then heading out to see brother.

Well here's a victory: for the entire week, I haven't kept even one dish or spoon in my sink. I have placed directly in dishwasher. Seems so simple. I don't know why I've been giving my dishes a random layover in my sink

Hope everyone has a great day. I need to sip my tea, stay warm and not overdo.

Good Morning Everyone 🙂

Hi Tatoulia 🙂
Thanks for dropping by and I hope you have a great day at work! 😀

Hi Subclinical 🙂
I really like that you post your purchases & acquisitions here.
I like to post mine too.
It does help to keep us honest as to what we are buying and why we are getting it.
With all your teaching and other endeavors you do need to get more than the usual daily type of items.
I like how you have a solid plan to use these supplies and know that you have a limited amount of space to store things.

Being honest here...
even people who do not have any issues with hoarding tend to over buy spur of the moment sale items.
At thrift shops I see the pretty shiny things and am tempted by them.
The vast majority of households in the United States are over filled with impulse "SALE" items too good to pass up.
That's why shops are always having "SALES", to sell the merchandise, and Americans are buying it all.
It is VERY hard to overcome the impulse to buy that has been installed into us ever since we were babies exposed to the advertisements.
The ads are designed by psychologists to work on us in a deeper level. They make us feel inferior if we do not buy. They promise us happiness, love and acceptance if we do buy.
This is why we all must evaluate every purchase.
If you go into the typical/average tidy house and look in the cupboards and closets and storage areas you would be amazed at the amount of stuff there is crammed in there.
Plus the millions of storage units in this country are all packed tight with all the excess that wouldn't fit inside the house.
Most all impulse buys due to the psychology of the advertisements...

At Dollar tree I had to stop and think hard when I saw they had 15oz. cans of Le Sueur peas.
I wanted a lot of them...
Stopped and thought hard, got my breathing and heartrate under control.
Finally decided that 4 cans would be what I could use up before Spring and bought them even though
Le Sueur peas were not on my grocery list.

It's hard and a constant battle to resist the "SALES".
Not just for people who tend to hoard but for everyone.
Posting our non-necessity purchases here helps to keep us honest.
((((HUGS))))

Good morning--quick drive-by.

SubC I see now what you are using the doilies for--interesting idea re finding a way to reuse. Was just checking in that you weren't falling into my stupid pattern of buying the irresistible!

Late for work and I haven't dried my hair or put my makeup on. That's a pretty typical situation.

Keep up the good work everyone! Love to you, all the kitties and all the bunnies.

Oh tillie, your poor cat!

Tatoulia, you were not harsh at all?! Did I miss something? I can't store them at school because there isn't room at school and because only the mats are for my class. I'm afraid the other purchases might be single use, but I am going to do my best to reuse them, so I only bought one pack of each.

I bought one mat before Halloween for $1 and knew I wanted more, but I waited until they were 70% off. The kids can share, but one wasn't really enough - too much wait time.

If it goes to 90% off and there are still doilies and stencils, I might buy a few more packs - there are ten to a pack and I may only be able to glaze one dish with each.

I also bought a three pack of squeeze bulb cake decorators from the thrift store yesterday. The timing on those is perfect because we are about to do slip trailing in my class and a slip trailing bulb is $13. These should work fine (possibly better, I think the changeable tips give interesting possibilities, and they will be easier to clean) and were only $2 for all three.

And I bought three jars of glaze at the studio last week in colors I use a lot and am low on. I don't want to run out this weekend when I am trying to finish work for the sale.

So, that is all my non food for this week. I try to tell you guys everything to keep me honest.

Also, I have finally started washing those plastic drawer stacks I picked up. Very slowly.

Oh! I just had a thought! Maybe if I color the doilies and iron them in parchment paper the wax will soak in and make them reusable! I can do one and then if it works, I can get some of my kids to color the others and use them for class too.

WOW! WTG! Tatoulia 😀
And you even did the bathroom vanity and sink!!!
Happy the chairs will both be together somewhere where they are wanted and possibly even needed.
Definitely do get a new posh frock for the holidays!
No better way to celebrate your new figure. ;D

I hate letting the cats out unless it's a sunny day when I am outside with them.
One night my pretty tabby boy was eaten by a coyote.

Sale stuff is so very dangerously tempting.
Steven is always buying stuff that is a "good price, great deal".
If one item is a great price he will buy a case or more of it, usually every one there is on the shelf.
(He once bought 5 ceiling fans, once it was 8 large heavy patio umbrella stands, etc.)
Unfortunately, all that stuff just sits here and rots away because there is no use/need for any of it.
But we all must be realistic here...
There will always be sales and we all must go shopping periodically for necessary items.
There will always be that temptation.
The key is to resist the lure to buy unneeded things or too many of something we have a use for.
When confronted with a "SALE"
Stop, get your breathing and heart rate under control.
Walk to another area of the store and think long and hard about what you already have at home.
Ask yourself "do I need it?"
"What am I willing to let go of in exchange for it?"
The rule of One in/One Out.
ALWAYS give yourself time to think it over so it won't be an impulse spur of the moment purchase.
Remember your goals of having a more peaceful serene and welcoming home life with less random clutter.
Think about your bank account/credit card bill and whatever financial goals & plans you may have.

Well I rolled up & stored all 3 hoses.
Also polished my silver jewelry.
Made scrambled eggs for lunch.
Cats are all resting, Marty is feeling under the weather again, hope he perks up soon.
The house is so much more comfortable today since I covered the windows & am keeping the cold air out.