|
Post by dtesposito on Jun 4, 2014 16:24:04 GMT -5
Dieverdog, it would be great to have your inspection be the catalyst to keep going, and finally get things to where you want them. Rather than saying...inspection is over and now I can relax! Ohblondie, I think you made a wise decision to have the party somewhere else, you can't get everything done in time with your husband unable to help. And good for you for hiring someone for the heavy work. You have a busy weekend coming up! I think I'm finished with the hardware/household category--and once again, I don't think I did what I set out to do--decide on reasonable storage and make things fit. Instead, I went through everything again, got rid of a lot, and ended up with stuff I want to keep in a certain number of places. I still have hardware/household in 1 cupboard, 1 small file drawer and two toolboxes in the DR, 2 drawers and a cabinet in the kitchen, and a cupboard and 2 drawers in the bathroom. One of the drawers in the bathroom is half empty, so if I find some additional stuff there's still room for it. I guess the good thing is that I cleared the overflow away--there's nothing under the DR table except the toolboxes, which seems to be a reasonable place to store them. There are now no household items in my bedroom closet and the hardware stuff especially is neatly organized and FITS where it is, instead of having to be stuffed back in any time I need to close a drawer. So, I'll consider it done, I guess. There are a few household items that haven't actually left yet, they're in the donation piles--but the hardware stuff was discarded or taken over to my senior client's house in a shopping bag so that it can go to the same rummage sale that she's taking her stuff to. Since I vowed to work on paper I'm going to do some of my paper files next, but I don't want to finish the whole category--it'll have more of a visual impact if I work on one of the other remaining categories first. Diane
|
|
|
Post by ohblondie on Jun 7, 2014 10:39:42 GMT -5
Sometimes it pays to ask for help. My minister knows that my hubby was in the hospit al all weeek and he is concerned I am buckling under the pressure. He asked if there was anything he could do to help. I jokingly mentioned he could help stain the deck. He puased and said he could. I quickly said that my daughter woiuld likely do it- once we hired someone to powerwash the deck. Well he has a powerwasher and offered to let me use it!!!! so tomorrow at church I will get the power washer. that save me some bucks.
Door has arrived. I have no idea when they plan on putting it in. It is supposed to rain ALL next week. UGH.
Had to cancel the pool opening as the return line has a crack and hubby needs to fix it before it can be opened.
We did take some time and sat outside last night. We got a propane fire pit so we sat on the deck and had a lovely fire. it was a little chilly so I wrapped up on a blanket. it was nice!!! It was depressing looking at the half finished projects on the deck......but at least they were started. My son dug out a bush that was threatening my lilacs and bundled the branches and took them to the curb. little by little we are getting done.
i hired a kid to help me move the woodpile and get part of the yard cleaned up. he comes tomorrow, My goal is to have yardwork done by tomorrow. Anything to avoid dealing with the inside!!!!!
|
|
|
Post by ellen on Jun 10, 2014 11:44:55 GMT -5
Diane, I want to join you....have worked "alongside" of you in Dice Game and I have been away from this forum for a little while and I want to get back at it. I have two summer goals. I want to clean out the "other house" and I want to clean up the trash that my husband has piled in various spots around the place. I think I will work on the trash first....not that there isn't plenty of trash in the other house. I also need to clean out my emails. I am terrible about that. I was off line for two months and more piled up and I ended up with over.....drum roll.....12,000. That is just crazy. The thing is...some days I don't feel like communicating with anyone. Well, sadly, a lot of days I don't feel like it. Well, come to think of it, I don't know if that is sad or not. I have always liked to just have time to myself...but I sure am not making very good use of it. Today started off crazy and hectic....and I decided that I would just lay back the rest of the day. I wanted to do some cooking, but I should be able to work on a goal and cook too. For goodness sakes, I used to be a whiz at multi-tasking. Any more I feel like if I have done "one" thing...that is it for the day. But, obviously, some days I am not getting in even that one thing. My daughter came out to see me yesterday. I said, "The house looks like "carp". The yard looks like "carp". But, don't the horses look nice." While I was offline for two months, I didn't work on my usual list. Instead, I wrote down everything that I did, as I did it. It is sort of like when you want to work up a budget, you write down every penny you spend...to see where your money goes. I got a good picture of where my time goes. Mostly taking care of animals. And this is a busy time of year for me, since I rehab wildlife. And every year I end up raising kittens on the bottle because people bring them to my rehab partner and she passes them on to me. I always take them, because she doesn't really like cats and she isn't good at raising them. I don't need more cats, but kittens are the easiest animals to raise. I am also raising a baby raccoon. Well, my dog is raising it. That's a long story...but the dog adopted the raccoon. She had puppies before I got her, but that was a year ago in March, and she was able to come back to her milk, and is raising this baby raccoon. Actually, it has been a big help to me...I have raised about 15 baby possums this year, so far. Some have been released and the rest will be ready to go by the end of the month. My best friend from high school, invited me to go riding with her on the 4th of July weekend. We are going to camp and ride on a large ranch. She has never quit riding...I haven't ridden in 20 years, but I bought a new horse last winter. I haven't had time to ride her yet. Well, I had my right knee replaced, so I couldn't. It has been so darned hot, riding is about the lowest priority I have. I am not looking forward to this ride either...but I hope once I get there, I will have more enthusiasm. If not, her camper is air conditioned and we will hang out and visit...maybe ride in the late evenings. So, I think I will work on the outside junk today. I am going to make a goal of five bags to bag up. Last fall I hired someone to help me do this. She worked every day for about a week and I can't tell that she did anything. Mostly piled up more junk. And wasted time doing things that don't interest me at all...like raking leaves. I don't care a thing in the world about raking leaves. On my priority list, that would be the last thing. Actually, I never rake leaves. The big tree she was raking around is a giant live oak. The soil here is awful. I leave the leaves lay to enrich the soil and act as sort of a mulch. So after that, I told her I didn't need her any more....and I haven't gotten back to that job since then. Well, okay...it is almost noon here and hotter than blazes but it is in the shade and I am going to go see if I can pick up five bags.
|
|
|
Post by ellen on Jun 10, 2014 14:23:02 GMT -5
It is two hours later and I have gotten four bags out, but have done other things too. I am going to do at least another bag, but also have to top off all the water for the animals. And do a partial water change on the koi tank. I have decided to add another goal. I am going to pot at least one waterlily a day. My friend has a shop where she sells antiques and collectibles. She has a pond there, and I gave her a waterlily for it, and she gets a lot of requests for waterlilies, and I sell every one I take to her. I charge $20 for a potted waterlily...all that a person has to do is plunk it down into their pond. Some are miniatures and you can grow them in a tub...so just about every body has room for a watergarden of some size...if they want one. Twenty dollars is cheaper than the watergarden nurseries sell them for...much, much cheaper, and I have about 30 different varieties...which is a fraction of the 200 I used to have in my collection! Anyway, she can usually sell at least one a day for me, so that is $20 or more, and that really helps out, especially since my big time goal is some new fencing for this place...my yard and pasture. A few days ago, I potted up about half a dozen. After raising waterlilies for 45 years, I am at the stage where I hate potting them, but I can manage one a day. Okay, I have cooled off a little and had a glass of lemonade. Going to go finish up.
|
|
|
Post by dtesposito on Jun 10, 2014 18:39:54 GMT -5
Ohblondie, how is your husband doing? Can you use the powerwasher yourself or do you have to wait for him to be well enough to use it? Or will your minister be coming over to wash your deck? Ellen, I'm so glad to see you posting again! And with summer goals! So what is in the "other house" that needs to be cleaned out? Is it right near your current house or is it a distance away? I have been working a little on different categories of my goal, I'm currently back to working on fiction books. I had started, then I realized that I had a huge unsorted pile of books in my LR, and that I might as well get any additional books out of that pile that I was going to keep, otherwise I'd have to re-sort/decide all over again later what I had room for. Unfortunately I found MANY nonfiction books to keep, plus 1 & 1/2 boxes of fiction. But, the remainder of that pile is all in neat looking boxes now, instead of being in a sprawling, dusty pile that I hit into every time I walked past it. I'm probably 2/3 finished with the fiction books. So far in June I'm trying to spend 10 minutes on my paper files most days, so that I can be slowly shredding anything I find that needs it. And, I went through my small entryway closet to straighten it up, and found a few clothing items that I could get rid of. Throwing myself into my summer goal caused a little problem, I messed up my apartment and mainly, kept piling up all the stuff I'm going to get rid of in my living room. I tried to register for Freecycle but my email provider wouldn't deliver the emails, so after a frustrating week of trying to figure out what was going on, I created another email account elsewhere to deal with just Freecycle messages. That was so annoying that I didn't even look at the site again for a week, but now I'm ready to tackle it again. I tested the email again today and it seems to be working, so I made a couple of posts to get rid of stuff. If I could get rid of the piles in this room I would get fresh energy, I know. And yes, I know all about amnesty and throwing things away, but I've only gotten this far because of the idea of being able to get the stuff to people who want it, so I'm going to go with that for now. There are thousands of people who use Freecycle with no problems, I have to be able to figure it out! Since I started this summer goal I've had a really interesting reaction to my messes--they're just driving me crazy. I look at places in my apartment where I have a backlog of stuff, or something that has been sitting a while with no decision as to what to do with it, and I'm just disgusted with myself. This is good--I'm really feeling SICK of being close to having a decent apartment, but not quite being able to get there. I'm ready to let more stuff go. Diane
|
|
|
Post by canna on Jun 10, 2014 19:05:10 GMT -5
detesposito
I use freecycle. Like it. Takes some practice starting/posting/receiving but when you get in it's easy. Got rid of things on Freecycle: Lots of books. Just got rid of some old cookbooks yesterday. Got a few nice boxes of - candles - from it too, after posting on the "Wanted" section.
I get the notices of new posts on freecycle in my email. Local towns.
|
|
|
Post by ellen on Jun 10, 2014 22:17:15 GMT -5
Diane, the "other house" is a 24 x 36 building that we built when we bought this place to be storage until we could build a house. We moved from a place with a huge barn with loft and other outbuildings, and a house, to a piece of property with no improvements at all. What were we thinking?! Not thinking, evidently. Not that this isn't a beautiful piece of property, but to build everything from the ground up is a huge job, and we were already in our early 50's. Then, due to "a series of unfortunate events"...we moved into the building. We framed it up inside to be a small house. Hardly my dream home, but our daughter went away to college and we didn't need much and, too, we had no money. We lived in it about a dozen years and then had another house moved here and have been remodeling it. That is a huge job...and now we are closer to 70 than we are to 65! So, the "other house" is right here on the same property...just a few hundred feet from this one...so, at least that is handy.
Last winter we built a row of stalls down one side and we would like to turn it back into a barn...have a place to store hay and tools, etc. We plan to put another row of stalls down the other side. We lived in our last place...well, it a place we bought when we were first married, which was 1966, for 30 years. You can accumulate so much STUFF in 30 years.
The house we are living in now is about 2300 sq ft, and the biggest house I've ever lived in. For just two people...it seems big, although I know many people would probably consider it average. I don't know which is worse...having no room for STUFF or so much room that you can have too much STUFF.
I think having a couple of major goals is a great idea because otherwise I tend to barely scratch the surface of a job...if I keep going back to it and only working 15 or 20 minutes on it at a time. Then I get distracted, after a little while, and slack off. Tomorrow I am going to take a "before" picture. I have never posted "before" pics, and maybe that will help to reach my goal.
Anyway, I did get my five bags out and I potted a waterlily. I didn't go over to the other house...I got kind of a late start. I am going to see if I can't just knock this junk pile out in a couple of days. I work extremely slow, but actually, once I get started, I don't mind working and I kind of enjoy it. Why I can't motivate myself to get started more often....I don't know.
|
|
|
Post by OnTheMend on Jun 11, 2014 7:11:04 GMT -5
Dear Diane, you've been talking about the new messes bothering you for a quite some while now, so I am offering a gentle kick in the direction to your bottom, to take a day or two from your goals and do what you can to generally clean and tidy during that time. then after that, take few minutes regularly to ETE after working on your goals, so the messes don't pile up. Flylady had great rule of thumb to never pull out more than you can deal with in the time you plan to work on a project, be it 5 minutes or 3 hours.
|
|
|
Post by ohblondie on Jun 11, 2014 10:54:37 GMT -5
Hubby will supervise one of the kids as they powerwash the deck. Though they temived his dressing and he is down to a big bandaid.
Still raining...... still no date to put the door in.
|
|
|
Post by ellen on Jun 11, 2014 11:11:59 GMT -5
Good morning. I am going to work on my pile of junk again today...hoping for at least 5 more bags. I will also pot another waterlily...more if I feel up to it. I took a picture this morning of the junk pile. And look at this beautiful tree that it is around! This beautiful tree would take three people to reach around the trunk. But this mess is what you see when you drive up to my house! Okay. It's hot...have lots to do, so going to get out there and get started.
|
|
|
Post by ellen on Jun 11, 2014 16:56:47 GMT -5
I bagged 8 bags today, but they weren't all big garbage bags. A couple were 50# horse feed bags and some 24# cat or dog food bags. Plus an old plastic tote that I filled. Piled up some wood that I will burn tonight, along with all of the papers. Heck, you can't even tell that I have made any progress. Mainly because I worked on paper and cans. A lot of that, you can't see in the picture. A friend works in the kitchen of a children's home, and she brings me left over food from the coolers. It isn't scraps off of plates...it is food that they cooked too much and didn't serve. She brings it for the wildlife, so I end up with a lot of those aluminum foil pans. I picked up a bunch of those. Also have multiple pet carriers that animals arrive here in...most are old, but I have hated to throw them away...but I am getting rid of about 30 of them. Just keeping enough to carry two or three cats to the vet when I need to have some of them spayed. I potted a waterlily and set up two more tanks to grow out lilies in. Also did a "tadpole rescue". A puddle was drying up and it had a bunch of tadpoles in it, so I caught them all and divided them among my lily tanks. Not sure what kind of frogs they are. Not toads and not tree frogs. Very small little frogs...whatever they are. I hate to see things like that die. Now I am cooling off and going to fix supper. Got to feed my bottle kitten first...Stinky Butt Monkey Face.
|
|
|
Post by dtesposito on Jun 11, 2014 18:46:59 GMT -5
Ellen, I loved your tadpole story--I have a fondness for frogs! (Well, okay, I have a fondness for all animals, but I really do love frogs!) I'll look forward to hearing how they turn out when they grow up.
I saved a big, scary looking bee or something from a puddle of water once. I'm nervous around stinging insects, and usually hurry in the other direction, but this one was upside down in a puddle and was struggling and I just couldn't leave it there. I found a big leaf and fished it out onto the sidewalk, where it sat for a few seconds drying off, and then started moving around. So THEN I hurried away, before it completely recovered.
You did good with 8 bags, even if the difference won't show up on a photo you know that's 8 bags of stuff gone. Since you are in such a rural area, I assume you have no trash pickup--do you have to take things to a dump if they can't be burned? I hope you didn't remove the carrier that that beautiful cat uses for lounging purposes!
Diane
|
|
|
Post by dtesposito on Jun 11, 2014 18:49:33 GMT -5
I am offering a gentle kick in the direction to your bottomOnTheMend, thank you for the gentle kick, you are right, I have been complaining about the mess for a while. And I will really and truly work on it... ...after I finish my fiction book project! I think what's holding me back is the messy donations, most of all. I need to make a special effort to get them out, no matter where they go. Diane
|
|
|
Post by sidestep on Jun 12, 2014 11:40:32 GMT -5
Hello Ms. Diane! I'm slinking back here to try again. I will re-start my Grid/Post-It System in an attempt to reclaim my kitchen. I do best when I give myself a deadline, even if I do slide out the goalposts! Therefore, I will shoot for by Sat. Aug 16th, with the understanding that I may extend the date if needed. I may even bring back my "Pile Reduction" thread to help motivate & track my progress. takeonestepatatime.proboards.com/post/427144/thread ~~ to everyone in attaining their goals! L.E.: To-be-done-by date changed to Sat.8/16.
|
|
|
Post by ohblondie on Jun 12, 2014 11:42:26 GMT -5
I bet if I asked my minister might feel guilty enough to help me! I would never take advantage of that though.....
Door going in next week.....supposedly - at least that is the story I am getting today......
Rainy week this week - I should be focusing on getting the kitchen ready. Last night I got a third LARGE bag of clothes ready to give to my friend. I am getting much better about giving her the new stuff with tags.....I donlt know why I insist on taking up valuable space with something new with a tag. What makes it so special? I will never wear it. So last night i decided to set it free..... well, all of them free........
There are days I come home all fired up to work and I get home and just stand there with my hands on my hips....wondering where to start.
THis was not on my summer goals list - but it as achievement regardless......I have made a significant dent to the books on the bookshelf. Enough of a dent that I can start consolidated the books to one less shelf! I hope to get through the hardcovers this summer/fall then attack the paperbacks.
I just spent three days at my management developement training. We discussed Emotional Intelligence and the Myers Briggs model as it relates to change. I have to get my notes as there was an intersting correlation between my type and hoarding.
My work desk ppears to have thrown up on itself. And what a oincidence....we just got the messy desk memo. (Please keep your desk clean and neat as we neer know when administration might walk thru...blah blah blah.) I hve been so flat out busy I have not had time to stop and clean my desk...
OK - back at it......
|
|