That's quite a list SubC. And I have to say, there have been many times I came here and said there is nothing left to get rid of in my bedroom - but I have let over 100 things go out of there (donate or trash) in about a month. So sometimes our perspective shifts, and we look at things we thought we could never part with, and suddenly it is fine to get rid of. So I think your goal is possible.

I am still sick, stayed home. I did go down to the freezer this morning and took another bag of old food out to the trash bin. And then I sorted a bit in my upstairs freezer (on top of the fridge) and tossed out several things. I found a nice piece of salmon I took out to make for my dinner tonight.

I am very tired, but am going to try to vacuum with the smaller stick vac today because there is dog hair everywhere. I think I mentioned that my youngest Son is moving out this month. He has been absent a lot more than usual anyway. He was the one who vacuumed and walked the dog and took the trash out, so I am going to have to be more on top of that. He also would carry things up and down stairs for me, and sometimes clean up the dog poo. I will be doing all of it myself now. So I am thinking about whether I need any heavy things moved. But, TotsDad will still be downstairs for a few more months, so I can ask him to carry things. (He works a lot and has kids so I won't really ask him to do any of the other things Son was doing). I am just going to have to get more energy, time, and motivation to do it all.

It is an easygoing day. Will check in later.

Lila, I'm sorry you are still sick.

Maybe not having to move stuff around as much will give you more time and energy for the dog.

Will your son be leaving an empty room?

I hope you enjoyed your salmon. I snacked my way home in the car after swimming because I was very hungry - carrots, apples, almonds, walnuts, dried green beans and then a little humus on pita chips to top it off when I got home. Handful of Christmas candy for a chaser.

Idid my list - including unloading and loading and firing the school kiln, but i didn't take any trash. I decided the cans weren't full enough to be worth the extra time to collect it.

I also finally properly repotted my plant from the pot Buddy broke.

Coffee is set up for the morning, and (herbal) tea is in my hand. It's not late, but I'm very tired, so probably won't accomplish anything else today.

Good morning!

I slept late. I do not want to make a plan for today. Every time I think about it, it is just a long list of things I don't want to do (and have to do anyway)

I have to help Dh pick up his car today.
I will have to get gas when we do that, so I should take a bag of trash.
Dh and I have a date tonight - that is a good thing
And the two other time sensitive things for this weekend are my evaluations, which I hate, and homework for my class on Monday - which I actually want to do, but I need to drive to the city studio to use their equipment. So that is a big chunk of time.

Bleh.

I'm trying to think of something I can do that will be quick and give me a lift.

What are you guys doing today?

Hello everyone! Happy New Year! And thank you all for the lovely words.

I've been making some progress with the mess in here. For starters, I took all of my shredding to work. It had piled up for a few weeks and I got that to the office on Friday. They allow me put it in the commercial locked shredding bin.

I also put away most of the Christmas things I'd brought out. I do need to tackle the wreaths hung on my front windows but only after I buy more insulation foam strips for my rickety old windows.

I bought very little while overseas so nothing to deal with upon my return home. I do have a poster I need to frame but there's a nice story behind it. I ended up by accident getting invited to an artist's chalet and there's more to it but essentially I love her work, didn't realize that she goes to the same small church tucked away in the alps that I go to, and then another coincidence occurred the next day when I ran into a gallery owner I'd met the year before and I mentioned a poster he had in his window so he called the artist and she invited me to her chalet so I could get one of her posters. She's in her 90s now and still able to work to some extent. She already had the poster wrapped and she's very modest so I didn't ask her to sign it. My BF was able to communicate with her in French so that was very sweet. Magical.

Essentially I'm starting to feel better about getting rid of more stuff. It's hard and it hurts. I'm now looking at my beautiful glassware and trying to decide what to do. Might take some to BF next year but then it can become a burden while traveling, esp if we are riding trains or switching hotels. I'll figure something out. It needs to be done.

Sending you all much love and much encouragement.

Good morning!

Tatoulia, it is good to hear from you!

Will you and your boyfriend be nomads after you retire? Do you have a plan to eventually settle? Will you store things somewhere for that time or just get what you need when you can no longer travel?

I'm glad you had a good trip.

Lila, I'm pretty sure I have literally thousands of books. When Dh and I moved states over 30 years ago, the movers estimated half a truck. I kept pointing out that we had a lot of books and books pack up, not down (one of the things I remembered from my parent's move when I was 7). They did not listen to me and we nearly filled the truck - which they had scheduled to pick up another partial load and then drop that load on the way to our house. They also finished packing the morning after they had planned to leave in the afternoon .

Most of my books are children's fiction. I love books with beautiful illustrations. Bean and I are both very into Jan Brett at the moment. He is learning to knit.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed your rolls.

We have early finished emptying the refrigerator and I will be going to the grocery store tomorrow. Dh made a long list. We argued about some of the things on it, but in the end I will get it all. I need to find a way to buy fresh herbs that does not involve plastic clam shells.

Today will be the official end of the holidays with the tree coming down. I'm a little sad about it, but it is made easier knowing Bean is looking forward to the project.

This will be a week of going places and actually removing things from the house. Tonight my pottery classes start back up at the city studio. I will drive the boys home before class and take a bag of trash with me to drop at the gas station. Dd took my trash last Monday, and I think I have collected two more plastic grocery bags since then.

The mixed recycling pile is huge between Christmas with visitors and cleaning out. I last dropped that on Dec 17 and I am pretty sure it will completely fill the back of my car when I take it on Wednesday. I've also got three bags for school and a significant donate pile.

Ok, much to do before the boys arrive!

Good morning!

Today is a tasks and errands day.

Once again I am getting off to a very slow start.

I started my pottery class last night, and while I think it will be a good class, I came home too charged up to sleep and got to bed late. I need to come up with a "wind down" routine that will let me stay alert driving home, but then do my chores and get to be as quickly as possible.

Bean was a big help with the tree yesterday. He even vacuumed up the needles.

Oh! And I just remembered that Buddy was a big help too. He broke my orchid pot. It's ok, because I have another pot that will work that is empty. I need to add that to the tally later.

I'm having a really hard time getting started today - it is so dark even though it is nearly 8!

My brain says "do yoga, do chores, start your tasks!"
And my body says "sit on the couch and drink coffee."
You know who is winning..

I will come back later. I am going to need a stern talking to if I waste this day.

Ok, I'm back.
And I'm tired.

I did the things that were "non-negotiable" and I deep cleaned the inside of my fridge. It was so empty I had to seize the chance.

I did not do the freezer however. It is still too full.

So, besides the fridge, I did yoga, turned in my class proposals for next year, organized my school expenses and submitted receipts, washed and dried the tree skirt, sorted through the pile of free pumpkins to give the ones starting to go to the chickens before they rot and stain the floor, (put the boxes containing the rest on a sheet of plastic), dropped a plastic grocery bag of trash, returned my overdue library books, went to the bank, and got groceries.

I added a free reusable wine bag to my possessions when I got groceries, so that cancels out the broken pot. I use them to store pint jars in groups in my chest freezer. I remember being short.

I have a lot more I want to squeeze into the three hours or so left of my evening, but for now I'm having dinner and some tea.

Hello all. It's Epiphany (gregorian)for a few more minutes, anyway. A day of dogwalking, laundry, going to work, dogwalking and going to the store.
you all have been so busy! it's great to read your posts. thank you! I am trying to repair my sleep schedule by not staying up past midnight, so i'll say goodnight and post more later.

Good morning!

Happy belated Epiphany Messi.

I didn't get much done last night, but the mixed recycling is loaded in my car for drop off. Plus the old glasses that go to the donation bin at the front of the fitness center.

I have rough lesson plans, but need to get my stuff together. (Literally and figuratively)

Today's goals (stretch in parentheses):
Yoga and chores
Gather lesson plan materials/swim bag/(girlscout box/snacks)
Drop recycling
Remember to take school stuff from car
Teach
(Order brushes, load kiln)
(Drop off Girl Scout box)
Swim
Chores
(Make list for Thursday)
Set up coffee
Get to bed at a reasonable hour

Anything else is bonus.

hi guys, so nice to read all your posts! Hi SubC, Messi, Tatoulia! I am sick this morning. I must have caught it from TotsFam, mainly a cold but I feel pretty ragged. I just placed an online order for some soups, juice, fruit, tea etc to help me feel better. It really is not a good time to be sick, when I just had nearly 2 weeks off. But, my next event starts next week so I have to do all the prep from home and hope I am better enough by Monday.

I don't know if I will feel well enough to do any decluttering today, but maybe some very light working on it. I am sitting with my electric blanket staring at the tv for now.

Lila, I hope you feel better soon! There is a lot of yuk going around in my area but so far I've avoided it. I hope yours is short-lived.

Talking to myself today.

I know Lila is working..

Helped Dh with a few things and carried some pottery I made out to my studio. There is too much stashed in the basement and I need to make some more thoughtful decisions about what to keep.

I also did a deep dive on a small bookshelf I uncovered. I removed all the books and dusted/wiped down the outside. I also got bogged down in looking at them and letting my thoughts wander - some of them are literature from when my grandparents were in high school and college. My one grandmother neatly printed her name in the front of her new book and that was it. The other apparently acquired her books from another girl who seems to have been her roommate, or shared them, which seems unlikely as my grandmother wrote, annotated, doodled and made note of assignments throughout her books. There are only a couple of my grandfather's books, which makes sense, because from what I know of his financial situation, anything that he didn't need would have been resold if possible.

I did find seven books i can let go.

I also wiped down the bookshelf thoroughly and am now waiting to be sure it is completely dry before returning the books.

lol Lila! My boys called me on FaceTime, and stopped me from posting, and then when I hung up and hit reply, your post showed up!

Enjoy your extra time off and your orange rolls!

hi again SubC! lol, well I am glad you are here to chat! Nice work on the books. Funny thing, last week my son came into the living room and said, "Mom! Why do you have ALLLL these books?? Do you actually read them?" I had to laugh - he has forgotten that the living room used to have 3 tall bookshelves and one medium height but long/wide bookshelves all FULL of books with more piled on top, plus the shelves and piled in my bedroom and downstairs! Now, there are 2 built in tall bookshelves in the living room and the bottom 3 shelves of each are empty or have a few kids' books that I don't mind if the kids use/damage when I am not home.

I said yes, I got rid of most of my books and what is left is: one shelf of special children's books, one shelf of the Harry Potter series and a few others, one shelf of school yearbooks and cookbooks, and one of photo albums and reference volumes! I doubt I would get rid of any of them, but I WILL give the yearbooks to my kids once they are in their own homes (I mailed my oldest his, and two of my kids are going to buy a house this year).

Anyway! The orange rolls are done and look amazing! Waiting for them to cool slightly to frost them.

Okay, I am going to spend at least 10 minutes on my bedroom right now. Catch you later!

Oh Lila, I am so sorry about your cake! That is horrible.

Dh fixed my clock! It has been running for two hours (the works are out of the case) if it is still running tomorrow, he will put it back in the case. He says I have to put it somewhere where I will remember to wind it.

I am up to four items out today. One of them is a doll my grandmother gave my daughter. She doesn't want it anymore. I think it is creepy. My mom agreed that it was creepy and I should donate it. (I called her.) She said she is sorry that she and her family gave me so much stuff and taught me to hold on to everything, and that she needs to work on her own house. She said I can call her any time I want for help with the basement. She also blessed passing on the box of Girl Scout stuff I have in the basement that was hers. I called our council and they invited me to drop it off, they have a historian who will go through it and make best use of it. It is a twenty minute detour after work, so I will do that next week. I will count the box as 1 after I drop it off.

I started to make the food I want for dinner, because I remembered it takes a long time - longer than I remembered. I will have to make it tomorrow because I don't want to eat dinner after 7pm. Dh bought himself a tool with some Christmas money that arrived today and he is out in the woods working. I might ask him if he wants to take me out to dinner tonight. Or we can have leftover pasta or soup.

What a great conversation with your daughter, SubC! That is a real blessing.

I have made the miniature version of the cake I made yesterday, enough for my son and his girlfriend to each have some. He requested a special cake, and I had enough ingredients left and time to make this small one. I hope it turns out and he enjoys it. It is in the oven.

Also today I:
- loaded the dishwasher and it is running
- hand washed the rest of the dishes
- put the pans back in the stove drawer
- finished washing out the inside of the stove and the filter on the bottom of the microwave
- adding 2 things to the tally

We are having a party tonight and I just want to go to bed, but, will join in. I need to wrap 2 presents, clean off the dining room table, and make myself something to eat.

Lila, I hope you are enjoying the party.

The conversation was with my mother - her mother gave the doll to my daughter and it ended up back at my house. The Girl Scout stuff also belonged to my mother.

Dh took me out for veggie pad Thai!

oh I see! Yes, still very good to have your Mom's understanding and support!

Party in 2 hours...

I got the dining room table cleared off and dumped the pine needles out of the tree stand.
- swept up the needles from the stairs and entryway
- swept off the front porch
- made taco meat out of tofu and had 3 small tacos for lunch
- moved the medical records for Teen and my youngest son down to a cabinet in the storage space downstairs
- washed a load of clothes which are in the dryer

Small bits, a little at a time.

I will be very glad when today is done. We have had all the Eves and holidays, a wedding, and 2 birthdays in the last 2 weeks and I am SO done. I just need a normal day. I start back to work on Sunday.

Lila and SubC - you have really gotten the new year off to a running start!

SubC - congratulations on things out and the considerate way you checked with in about sensitive items. Yay about your clock and a good dinner.

Lila - I am so sorry about the cake mess. What a lot of cleaning and repair, especially aggravating when under the duress of putting a celebration together! I admire how you persisted and generously made the mini cake AND continued to clean and organize. You have had a bonanza of things going on these past weeks. I hope you get to relax a little today.

On New Year's Eve, I tried to go to a friend's house early, but the driving was too bad. I turned around and and I did a little cleaning and swept out dirt and threw out dirty water at midnight.

New Year's Day I took a morning walk with dogs. We saw a great horned owl, which always seems auspicious. Then I went to work and walked dogs after. Friday evening after work I took my friend's kids to see a movie. Not too much on the house yet, just dishes and laundry.

Good morning!

Messi, that sounds like a nice start to the year.

Laundry and dishes are hard. I still don't keep up.

Lila, your holiday season is really busy!

The year my uncle got married, my grandmother did Christmas Eve with church and Christmas day for family and friends. On the 27th she hosted a birthday party for her future dil, on the 28th she put on the rehearsal dinner. The 29th was the wedding. The 30th she held a brunch for the out of town relatives, and the 31st she hosted a New Year's Eve party. I wasn't born yet, but I think she was crazy!

I also always thought my aunt was crazy to have her wedding two days after her birthday when that was two days after Christmas.

Now we have a Christmas Eve baby. When Bean went up for the children's moment at the Christmas Eve service, the minister asked "whose birthday are we celebrating tonight?" And I was afraid he would say "Birdy's!"

Anyway, I hope you are getting to rest today and enjoy the last day of your vacation.

I am still hanging around the house with Dh and working on the basement. I think I will take a break and remake the beds, put away laundry, catch up on dishes, that sort of thing. I also need to do some work for school. (My classroom budget records are a mess and my worksheet for what I want to teach next year is due on Tuesday.)

Tatoulia, how is your year going?
CM, we miss you!

hi guys! So nice to see you messi, the owl is what stands out to me because I love birds! That is cool. SubC, yeah, it has been too busy for me, busier than usual because of the wedding and a new girlfriend in the picture and more people than usual. I am hoping at some point one of my kids will be in a home where they can be the holiday host sometimes!

Well this morning I got overly ambitious and now I am wiped out before noon! But in a good way because I got things done.

- washed the dog!! omg what a fiasco, she hates it, getting her in the tub was a whole job in itself, then she got her medicated shampoo that had to be rubbed to the skin and then wait 10 minutes. Then rinse, then get conditioner all over her and try to put cleaner in her ears (mainly a fail), let it sit a minute, rinse it... then let her drip in the tub and noticed the toilet is leaking a ton because I leaned on the tank and then seal opened or something. Turned the water off, cleaned it up, started toweling off the dog and let her out of there, toweled her some more. omg so tired, still need to clean hair out of the drain, clean the tub, and have TotsDad look at the toilet leak.
- stripped my sheets off my bed and put them in the wash, luckily, before I washed the dog!
- made breakfast bread for TotsFam
- cleaned up a bit

It is sunny out but cold. I should/would like to walk the foster dog, but we will see if it warms up a couple degrees and if I can recover in a bit. Or I may just take her in the yard to play and run around a bit instead.

I need to vacuum again and do some finishing touches on my bedroom. It is not really "done" but it is remarkably uncluttered. I need to clean off my desk a bit and put some clothes away. There are two things on the floor taking up space which need to be hung on walls. I need help for that, then my floor will be 90% or more cleared aside from furniture!

Back later to update what else I get done and hope to add to the daily tally and get the box of donations into my car.

update -

- I vacuumed, emptied it and put it away. I even vacuumed the dog beds.
- Dried the sheets and made the bed.
- Washed the dog's blanket, dried it and put it back on her bed.

I tried to work on that wardrobe in my room, which is hard b/c it is a time capsule. But I did manage to make room in there by putting some things away where they belong, donating one item and reorganizing. I have not put anything in there in the newly empty shelf yet, but I plan to finish clearing stuff off the dressers and desk and some of it can go in there. Things are really shaping up.

Tomorrow I will try to finish it.

Good morning!

Lila, I'm so proud of you for what you are accomplishing with your bedroom!

I didn't post last night because I was tired. But I had a pretty good day yesterday.

I did yoga. I remade the guest beds (I like to keep them made up with clean sheets because people have a tendency to crash here.)
I put away two baskets of laundry and two bins of Christmas stuff.
I cooked the meal I wanted to cook that takes a long time - plenty of leftovers!
I worked on dishes and the counter of doom for half an hour while I listened to podcasts.
I kept both wood stoves going so the house was warm and toasty with less power use.
I ran a load of wash.
I found two things to add to the donate pile. And - I found $20! It was a deposit someone gave me on a goat a long time ago. I tucked it in the back of a drawer and then forgot where it was and finally decided I must have spent it. I recycled the note it was wrapped in since the goat was also picked up and the balance paid years ago. (I did not find the sticky labels I was looking for when I found the money)

Today I have a bunch of "desk work" to take care of, but I hope to make more progress on decorations and the basement as well.

When it warms up later I need to dig out the barn door (it gets mud in the track and then the mud freezes and expands and the door won't open.) The goats have been stuck inside for days. - they probably don't mind since it is warmer inside and I give them hay, but I mind.

Hello again, it's (close enough to) time for elevenses.

My morning is going well.

Chores done
Yoga done
Breakfast eaten
Vitamin taken
Teeth brushed
And the house is cleaner than it was when I woke up.

I even drank a glass of water after yoga - which is one of the healthy habits I want to start this year.

I in addition, I have put away a basket of laundry, started a new load, repaired 4 things that have been sitting around waiting to be glued for various lengths of time, and added two items to the donate pile.

And now I have had a snack. So back to work.

SubC, you are doing great! I love reading all your progress. And so cool to find cash!

I stayed home today instead of working as this is the last day I could flex that. I will be working a lot starting tomorrow.

I had some thawed frozen bread dough in the fridge to be used (we had monkey bread yesterday) so I spent a good amount of time making orange rolls (lke cinnamon rolls, but the filling is butter, sugar, orange zest and a sprinkle of fresh orange juice). They are rising and then will bake and I will make a frosting/glaze for them with the rest of the oj.

Back later!

Closing in on lunch time here. I have a feeling I'm going to be posting a lot for a while.

Did chores, carried an empty shelf out to the studio loft, packed up one bin of Christmas decorations, found two items to let go (one Christmas, one not) plus another handful of craft stuff.

Also found my Mickey Mouse clock from when I was a kid. It has not worked in decades. Dh is trying to fix it for me!

The dishwasher and washing machine are running.

Back to the basement.

hi SubC! I will come check on you today! I have the day off and am also doing stuff, but not what I would have chosen to do. Last night I spent a lot of time making a cake just right for a birthday today. It was in a springform pan. As I was putting it into the oven, it fell apart. The latch just popped right open without me touching it. The batter went everywhere. All over the front, door, inside, drawer of the oven, the cabinets, everywhere. I was devastated. I had to go cry while the oven cooled down. I do not have time nor ingredients to redo it. My son had to come and take the door off the oven and put it in the shower, and I scooped up as much batter as I could and then he put the drawer in the shower. I was cleaning up this mess for 2 hours last night, as it got in all the holes and creases and seals. It was awful. I also had to unclog the bathtub which meant Son had to take the drain apart.

So this morning we pulled the stove out from the wall and I spent another 2 hours cleaning behind it, the sides, the floor, backsplash, inside the oven, then mopped the kitchen. Then son put it back together. It is still not totally done as the stove top needs another cleaning with the burned on stuff. It has been exhausting. I have enough ingredients to make a miniature cake that they wanted. Ddil is going to bake a cake for the rest of the family that is not as complicated.

I am glad it is over. I will go bake the mini cake now. See you again soon.

Lila, thanks for coming by! I was feeling lonely.

I don't think I can help you with the photos and files. Photos and emails are my downfall. But I hope you can free yourself from the old computers soon.

Good luck with your cake!

I don't feel like I have made very much progress in the basement, but a lot of what I have done involved small things and recycling or trash, or even just throwing things in the yard. I have not counted those things, or the craft supplies that I have put in the bag to take to the offsite craft storage (not very much in volume, but lots of little bits and pieces)

About the yard. I opened a box, and then I said out loud to Dh "I have a ginkgo tree. And I have a flower press. And I have a five year old grandson. So I do not need a box of pressed ginkgo leaves that are so old they have turned brown." Dh said "right." So the leaves are in the yard. There are a few other nature materials that are in the yard too.

I moved things around until I could open my filing cabinet. Then I refiled the files that I pulled out of the filing cabinet before I blocked it. I also pulled out a couple of old files that caught my eye, thinned them, and reduced the paper mass of the filing cabinet by about half an inch.

I found three things that could go in the donate pile.

You are getting to work right away, SubC! Good work. I understand saving leaves and such. Somewhere around here I have rose petals from the first flowers some guy gave me as a teenager! If I ever find them, I am going to set them free!

I am also looking at things, thinking, "what will one of my sons think of this item/do with this item if I die and they have to deal with it?" Most of the time, the answer is they would throw it out or donate it. Some things like old letters, papers, and diaries, I would NOT want them to find and read anyway. So I hope to let a lot of that go as I sort this year. I decided I would count something like a letter I have saved for years as 1 item out, since it is not really trash - it is something I have been saving that is taking up space.

I just went and emptied the vacuum which was full, into the dog poo bin, because both my trash cans outside are filled to overflowing. That is one thing that bothers me - when my adult kids who live here fill the trash cans so full, several days before trash day, that I cannot fit my own trash in it. We have had this discussion but they still do it and I am tired of mentioning it. I will ask my son if he can take a load to the dump this week to get caught up on all of that and leave space for me. Frankly I am really ready to live alone. I have never lived alone and was dreading it, but for the first time, I am ready and looking forward to it. Please remind me of this is I ever say I want to add a roommate or let someone move in with me.

Good afternoon for real this time.

Who is paying for the trash service? How many cans can you put out each week?

My mom saved letters from two men she thought about marrying (one match was ended by her potential future mil because of religious differences, and the other guy just kept saying "will you marry me when..." And my dad said "will you marry me now".) she told me where the letters were so I could burn them if anything happened to her. Then the first guy died and she reread his letters and threw them out because they made her sad. After that, she gave all the other letters BACK to the other guy at their 60th high school reunion. Apparently the second guy read the letters and sent her a note saying "thanks for returning my letters. It was interesting to revisit who I was over 50 years ago. No wonder you dumped me, I was a pretentious @$$."

I am up to five things. 4 in the donation bag and one in the recycling because it was a hard thing to let go of because it meant letting go of a project idea I was attached to, not just the object.

I continue to slowly add things to the recycling, trash, and craft thrift bags. And I have a bag to take to school.

I am also finding things that make me cry because they remind me of times I miss or people I have lost. But I have not given up.