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Post by NewLifeToday on Aug 28, 2020 16:04:20 GMT -5
Hi CC. Congrats on doing some serious thinking. I'm turtling along. Cleaned the toilet bowl and the toilet seat and lid. Wiped out the freezer. Washed some pots, pans, and food prep things on the same day as food prep. Just adding one more thing to the day is improving my maintenance habits, and expanding the areas of maintenance. Am thinking about some shelves and better file storage of some kind....
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Post by creativechaos on Aug 28, 2020 21:42:30 GMT -5
i love the idea of turtling along, NewLifeToday - great job on the all important maintenance tasks you did today while slowly adding on to your maintenance habits! file storage is so individual... i just do alphebetized file drawers but i think they can be simplified... too many categories can be more generalized. i hope you find the right shelves if you add those. do you have in mind what you want to put on them, how many or how big, and where they would go?
i'm turtling along too i hope. i did something awful to my shoulder and i don't even know what! that same arm has been in acute pain for months... so all my big plans of a lot of physical actions were not accomplished, but i have started and i know where to start and what is first. i'm doing small actions - picking up one thing at a time and making fast decisions and putting into appropriate boxes. the goal is to clear off the bamboo loveseat and get it out of here. it doesn't even have proper cushions... and it is just a pile collector for mountains of things. i never sit in it. that puts me one step closer to creating something i DO want. hoping to have it out of here by end of weekend.
I see the chiropractor at 4:45 Sat and i may be good for nothing after that but at least i have a goal - even if not met on time i have a direction that seems to be a beginning place for my sliding puzzle - as Unswamping calls it - and i will be moving toward it.
all that thinking and brain dumping did some good.
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Post by NewLifeToday on Aug 29, 2020 5:05:59 GMT -5
Hi CC. I'm sorry your shoulder and arm hurt. I hope the chiropractor helps you a lot. Thanks for your kind encouragement. Yes, I'm getting more specific about figuring out the sizes and kinds of storage. Turtle steps. Another round of dishes. Almost caught up again!
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Post by creativechaos on Aug 29, 2020 15:08:30 GMT -5
NewLifeToday, thank so much. it's really a mystery what's going on with that arm and shoulder but i have some inkling that is it posture and too much computer-time related, and also over-use in gardening. It's my dominant and "mouse" hand. thank you for your good healing wishes.
Hooray for getting more specific about storage your storage and how much, where. NewLifeToday; i have the opposite of you - too many shelves and every flat space piled. but some people have NO shelves... where else can the stuff go but on the floor?
i have seen clean house shows where the people thought they had a hoarding problem because stuff was all over the floor - but to me what they had was a "too little storage" problem. they had no closets or lousy closets and they had almost no furniture or shelves. i think we need SOME of each of those things. a house without any storage is problematic unless someone is a total minimalist... and even they have stuff that needs storing. that is something i will be dealing with for years, while trying to whittle down things so i don't need to have a storage warehouse with wall to ceiling shelves and no room for living. You are doing great with turtling along and building good habits of maintenance!
i am having thoughts on that loveseat that i will probably talk about on my blog. i see the chiro at 4:45 and i have to go out again but hope to have a couple hrs here to work on Mount Loveseat project. (there's stuff UNDER it too). more later!
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Post by mylittlescholar on Aug 30, 2020 10:11:12 GMT -5
I'm so glad you started a mold thread, creativechaos! I've been cleaning out the pantry in the guest room, and there was a big bin of "clean" camping towels and rags that were pretty smelly. I've been washing them.
After the (professional) clean up from the "invisible" smoke damage from the wildfire, I was astonished at how much it cleared up my thinking! Just getting a few HEPA filters made a difference. Expensive but sooo worth it!
I had a repetitive stress injury in my shoulder from my mouse at work. ouch ouch ouch! the ergonomic specialist who came to my work space to help me out spent 30 minutes adjusting my chair, computer, monitor, etc. he opened up a ream of paper to adjust the height. just a millimeter can make so much difference. My DF started to have a lot of shoulder pain when he changed his chair to a non-office one at home, and had a hard time believing me when I said I though that was the cause. He was about to have surgery for it!
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Post by NewLifeToday on Sept 1, 2020 7:56:17 GMT -5
I, too, find an ergonomic chair and computer set up helps a lot. And keeping my knees softly bent, not stiff, when I am standing at the sink. I am surprised at how much "gunk" the HEPA filters trap. When I change the filters, they are quite dark. I don't smoke, nor use candles, nor any scented things. It is just particles in the air. The ionizers make the particles of "gunk" fall to the floor or onto a surface. Wiping that off helps keep the air cleaner, too. I am in the "too little storage" group. Trying to keep purchases, such as furniture, minimal, but still have PEEP. --- A spring rod which I am using for a curtain rod fell this morning. I think it needs replacing. I moved everything, and got the ladder, and put the rod back up. Cleaned part of the floor after that. I feel more snail speed than turtle speed today. I am trying to work up to turtle.
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Post by NewLifeToday on Sept 1, 2020 17:32:25 GMT -5
Stayed at snail's pace today: Amnesty on some expensive food in jars. Tossed. Hand laundry. Caught up on dishes. Kept to my low carb food plan. Some research and a few chores for family. Hope to go into a higher gear at turtle pace tomorrow.
Best wishes to all for success, whatever speed you are moving in.
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Post by creativechaos on Sept 1, 2020 19:13:29 GMT -5
you must be a very fast moving snail, NewLifeToday - i'd say you got a LOT done! yay for tossing food you won't use, catching up on dishes, keeping to your low carb food plan, putting spring rod back up and cleaning part of the floor. that is a good day if you ask me!
thank you, NewLifeToday and mylittlescholar for writing about computer ergonomics; i think this is about 80 percent of my problem. i have a lovely office chair i got for 20 bucks. all leather and metal frame. it is SO heavy. and it is made for a much bigger person than i. i generally sit on the edge of it.it is very hard to wheel the thing around with all this clutter and no hard thingy that those things are supposed to be on - i can't afford one of those! it has arm rests and i don't like them much. i can feel that i am not facing straight ahead and my mouse arm goes to the right when it should be straight ahead. plus my wrists are at the sharp edge of my desk and not padded, which i believe is cutting off some circulation. i should get rid of the chair. i don't have the money for a new office chair and i don't like the ones that are all plastic and synthetic fabric - i get electric shocks from syntnetic materials in winter, including plastic! but i know i don't have good ergonomics here at the computer. i will discuss with both doctor and PT. i'm going to start looking into ergonomics - thank you both for mentioning this.
regarding HEPA filters; i bet after one day the amount of nicotine it would get from the downstairs smokers would break the bank... i feel the apt complex upper level mgrs should pay for this but they refuse to help me and no one can control these smokers under me. sigh.
well, I DID IT!!! i went onto chatzy and with their help and cheering and some good fun laughing and ruckus, i somehow finished clearing the loveseat and wrangled the damm thing OUT of here to in front of the dumpster! took some doing, had to move things around like a tardis situation. the bamboo frame is sooo pretty. i had some pangs but really... it had to go. i took some photos. it had no back cushions. i used a lot of throw pillows - now i will have to go through THEM - harder yet. i love them all and they are all special and beautiful. will have to choose or find uses for some more, elsewhere.
the seat cushions to the loveseat had fabric covers that were thin and shredding. i covered with several layers of fabric and a nice rayon velvet patchwork throw. those fabrics were shaken out and folded up. no bad smells! the cushios, i stripped off the fraying fabric and discovered that they were thick foam... for now they are set aside to see if i have any use for them. one is in very good shape. the other could maybe go. i also saved the zippers - they were still good. i wish i could cut the foam thickness in half to about 3" thick; then i would have several uses for it: 1) line the cat beds i have so kitty has more soft comfort to lie on. 2) pad the stool i am going to reupholster - it has no padding. then kitty will have another stool he can use to get up on the bed or a chair when he can't jump or pull himself up. what he really probably needs is for me to make a few poufs.
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Post by sidestep on Sept 2, 2020 4:36:03 GMT -5
creativechaos, wrangling the loveseat out the door & down to the dumpster! Fantastic job! ~~~ ~~~
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Post by NewLifeToday on Sept 2, 2020 6:15:24 GMT -5
CC, congrats on the loveseat success! I would have had pangs, too, as I find bamboo furniture very attractive. Oh, well, we move on to freedom! Thank you for your kind words about my steps. It is, indeed, nice to do things which show visible results. On computer and chair set up: I am currently using a folding lawn chair and a rolling metal cart. I have a laptop. I use a wired keyboard and set it on a lap desk on my lap. I can roll the cart and tilt the screen how I wish. I can put something under the laptop or take it out to take pressure off my body, if I am straining. If you don't have money for expensive HEPA filter air purifiers, an easy DIY method is to buy a furnace HEPA filter and attach it to a fan. There are youtube videos on various methods, and the pros and cons of some of the methods. Any air filter is better than no air filter, just as any water filter is better than no water filter, in my opinion.
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Post by phoenixcat on Sept 2, 2020 11:56:33 GMT -5
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Post by mouseanne on Sept 2, 2020 12:40:17 GMT -5
You can cut foam with an electric knife. If you don't have one, would a friend lend you one?
What came to my mind...you mentioned kitty stairs. If you cut one in half horizontally, but at an angle from top corner to bottom corner, looking at it from the end it would look like this:
.. ....... ............ .................. ...................... ...........................
Hmmm, my drawing was shorter than I thought it would be, picture it stretched out as wide as the cushions are deep (from the front edge of the loveseat seat to the back edge, against the back of the loveseat) Then put it on top of the un-cut one, make a fabric cover for them, so they're pretty, your kitty would have a ramp to the bed. The short end would be 6", the back end would be 12".
Just my mind jumping to the next idea.
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Post by creativechaos on Sept 2, 2020 13:52:22 GMT -5
thanks, sidestep, NewLifeToday, and phoenixcat! I put the loveseat frame on the street behind the dumpster so more people driving by could see it. I even took pictures of it - I loved that thing so much. As of this morning, nobody took it. Garbage truck comes tomorrow morning. I REALLY don't want to see this beautiful sturdy bamboo frame crushed and dumped in the landfill! What to do??
yeah i know. i'm pathetic. save your breath. i'm probably an Animist, spiritually so I feel *responsible* for that thing - this has been my hardest release so far. I know i can't bring it back up here. I just want it to have another life as a pretty and useful thing!
I have an appointment at the Exchange on Friday to bring them more stuff. I may call to see if they'll take it! If so, i'll put it up on the grass near the dumpster so trash guys don't take it tomorrow, then i can load it up if need be on Friday. it will mean some wrangling. but honestly, there must be SOME resourceful people besides me? maybe i should put the cushions out there too to entice them> Or... do most people just view anything requiring work or fixing up as trash? I wouldn't have made it in this life without being able to "make do," without being able to do some basic fixes and been ok with milk crate shelving and fabric over the fronts to block the mess and keep out the dust! - - No wonder this country is going down the tubes... no one knows how to do or fix things anymore or imagine what something could become with a little ingenuity. What happens if cheap imports should go away? (and i wish they would, especially from China!) Anyone who has watched the video "The Story of Stuff" is in for a rude awakening of what these new things really "cost" - I won't support this kind of throw-away economy - it goes against my values.
mouseanne, i thought of "kitty stairs" - and yours is an ingenious idea (nice drawing!) but they take up so much floor space - a commodity i don't have much of presently. but if he keeps getting more lame i may have to resort to that. if so i would make them out of foam cubes i think... and buy new. i don't know anyone here in the "ghetto" who has an electric knife but i do have a fine serrated knife and a good bread knife if i should want to attempt cutting the foam..
The kicker is that all the STUFf that was on the loveseat is still there taking up real estate... but i am seeing tiny signs that stuff is going out of here. it's not going to be a big visual difference overnight and i am ok with that.
ADDENDUM; I just changed the name of this thread because if it's one thing it's consistently NOT, it's a listzilla thread! But lists are welcome
ADDENDUM TWO: Thankfully, SOMEONE TOOK IT! Thank you Universe! i hope they enjoy it. it was beautiful and it deserved a new life with someone else.
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Post by mylittlescholar on Sept 5, 2020 20:28:56 GMT -5
I love that someone took the loveseat! yay!
there was something you posted on your blog (I think?) that I wanted to respond to, and I thought the backsliders thread was the most appropriate place... because its about a form of backslide, I think. it was when you were talking about the rebound effect.
I am in the midst of this in spades, right now, up at the house. The end of day four, and I have barely started. what I realized is that this is my *pattern.* and that this is the first time I have recognized it as such (as it is the second or third time trying to work up here).
and I know for me, if I think I am going to "change the pattern, this time," I am doomed. DOOMED, I SAY! DOOMED!
I ain't gonna change this pattern where I "live my life." that change has to happen elsewhere. or another way to say this, one of my favorite guru's taught that change was 90% actively NOT changing, i.e. acceptance, and 10% trying to change. Maybe its akin to the First Step "We admitted we were powerless..." Maybe its the entry into self-forgiveness, into stopping the push, which so often causes rebound, and gets us further behind than where we started. Maybe its like the "Diets don't work" approach, in which you are allowed to carry around a pillowcase of M&Ms until you stop fearing the deprivation. Maybe its slowing down enough so the swirl settles and the glass clears a bit.
There are so many merry-go-rounds that I am tired of. Last night, lying in bed, I was reflecting on the core angsts in my life are all self-inflicted, so to speak, could all be labeled as addictions or compulsions, and while I feel so out of control, they are ultimately in my own realm of control.
Part of the optimism I felt when I woke up today was I had the experience or rememberance or whatever it was that I can quit smoking. I am actually smoking the last (whole) one in my pack right now. I'm gonna toss all the butts I've saved (I rarely smoke a whole one) when I hit create post. Yes, there is a 24-hour store 20 mins away if I relapse. But there is also help available to me 24/7 if I want it.
PS cigarette smoke is hard on HEPA filters, but they do last more than a day!
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Post by NewLifeToday on Sept 6, 2020 9:15:31 GMT -5
CC, best wishes to you for a lovely Sunday. I hope the space in your home where the loveseat is a happy space now.
Today's plan includes doing something in addition to my usual chores. The "Today, one more thing" plan.
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