BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Oct 08 - 10:22 PM

November.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Oct 08 - 10:02 PM

I had only a few trick-or-treaters, despite the warm and clear weather, and a Friday night to boot. Odd. I've been cleaning the kitchen as I am available to head to the door. It's 9pm now, and sometimes the big kids are still out, but I'll let the dogs out of the garage into the back yard again (the kids in costumes can scare them).

Time for a new thread?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 31 Oct 08 - 07:33 PM

Wow, you are all really busy and getting lots done! My last day of the month has seen NO decluttering! It's Rog's b-day, plus Morgan had a party at his preschool, so I played dress-up, went in costume, then we ran a bunch of errands, and came home to carve out two pumpkins. It was loads of fun! My novel-writing starts at the moment after the stroke of midnight, tonight, and we have a wedding party to go to tomorrow at our daughter's and new son-in-law's, so I don't know if I'll get much done at all this next month. See ya, soon, anyway!!{g}

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maeve
Date: 31 Oct 08 - 07:21 PM

We have used this last day of October for the following:

Pulled all of the red and green cabbage from the garden, cleaned each one, and packed them into crates for storage in the cellar.
Built a protective produce storage bin for veggies down cellar. Replaced plastic over the windows in the attached shed.Cleared all the potted plants off of the farm stand. Chased next door's ginger cat away from our bantams, who hollered for help just in time. Moved all the potted apple trees near the cellar entrance for eventual winter storage. Hauled another cart of produce trimmings and culls for composting. Scattered fish meal over the garlic-bed-to-be. Weeded.

Cleared the top of the Melodian (organ type) that stands where our dining table would be if we had one. Cleared the top of a bookcase. Sorted out a bag and a box of various unnecessary items for tomorrow's trip to recycling. Closed the last storm windows. Washed two loads of laundry. Traded an uncomfortable chair for a comfy used wing chair.

See you all next month!

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Oct 08 - 06:47 PM

Yoo Hoo! I finally took the time to figure out how to open my microwave case and find the route through to the burned out light bulb. Now we can see our food cooking again--hopefully with fewer boil-overs. :)

It's time again for a new thread, isn't it? We need to try to maintain our level of de-clutter at this time of year, that may be as much as any can manage. But think about it, as you get ready for the holidays, those things that you don't use when you unpack holiday stuff--do you need it? That's the question I'll be asking myself.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Oct 08 - 10:40 AM

He complains that the head shape isn't quite right, but thought I was silly to want to make the trunk longer. One he interprets as style (I didn't want it to be a long trunk) but the other is a biological error ("the angle on the head is wrong, it's too rounded") like someone is going to notice that and call him on it.
:-/

I might get more or better shots another day; meanwhile, in the photo with his head down you can see one of my tasks around here--I need to finish cutting the tile in the hall then put in the grout. I got that shot at that angle when he wasn't really wanting to pose by telling him he should try to scare the cat with the mask. The cat laid on the floor and couldn't care less the whole time.

I need to work on a yard tripping-hazard today before it's time for the kiddos to come trip on it as they trick-or-treat.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maire-aine
Date: 31 Oct 08 - 10:12 AM

You will post a picture of the finished critter, won't you Maggie???

M

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: mouldy
Date: 31 Oct 08 - 05:15 AM

I can now see a little more of my kitchen table, but it'll soon be covered again when the construct and paint starts on the stuff I have to make for the little craft fair I said I would do this year!
I had decided to stop doing much until after I move (whenever and wherever that will be) and I have outed a lot of stock, and also my main work desk.
I found it difficult to concentrate after Ian died, and to be honest, I have had many other things on my mind, not least of which is how to plough my way through this house! I still haven't got the wardrobe up, because it's to heavy for me to manage. Once that's up, the small bedroom can be emptied!

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Oct 08 - 12:43 AM

Instead of working on my usual stuff this evening I stitched together the skin on a mastodon. During the week my son built the framework out of cardboard, wire, and papier mache (sp?) and he painted the tusks with a can of primer this evening. (Remember when I de-cluttered my paint into the kitchen cupboards? It was a breeze to find it!) We had stopped by JoAnn fabrics on the way home and picked up a 1/2 yard (but about 80" wide) of brown pile to simulate the hairy hide. I worked out a pattern with newspaper, then started cutting and hand-stitching. No way you can sew a mastodon hide on a sewing machine, it just won't work!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: MAG
Date: 30 Oct 08 - 11:26 PM

Thanks about the gasket, SRS -- I'll measure mine at work tomorrow and see if it is 3 inches.

Congrats on the weight loss, BG -- I know how satisfying itis.

Just got home from telling scary at a Middle School -- very satisfying. It is such a gas to have those 7th grade boys in the palm of your hand. they don't believe you can, until you do.

Tomorrow nights, the YMCA spooktacular.

Then Saturday night I'll go to a movie or something completely different.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maire-aine
Date: 30 Oct 08 - 08:32 PM

De-cluttering has had a small delay, since I brought home the last of the stuff from the office, and it's on the dining room table.

Tonight was my "retirement" party at the local pub, and now I have only one more day to work. But, and this came totally out of the blue, they asked me if I would stay on as a consultant one or two days a week. So I agreed to give it a try. This is going to be interesting.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: mouldy
Date: 30 Oct 08 - 09:29 AM

You lucky person to lose weight!
Is there any relation between Micca visiting, and you coming down with a cold...?

Going to get stuck into the kitchen again shortly.

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: freda underhill
Date: 30 Oct 08 - 07:46 AM

yes, it's a real achievement BG - fantastic!

freda

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 29 Oct 08 - 11:53 PM

That is really neat, Linn! Congrats!

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Oct 08 - 11:34 PM

I feel like I've lost ground in the kitchen this week. I did get the dishes washed today, but that's about it. And now my son is building some kind of big cardboard/papier mache/wire (taken from one of my tomato cages he dismantled) monstrosity in the living room.

Congratulations, Linn. I'm off of the sugar and sweets, which helps, but need to work at losing some weight to get into my better clothes.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 29 Oct 08 - 07:57 PM

The REALLY good news is evidently I've de-cluttered some excess body weight -- thanks to a very active job where I'm on my feet and/or running around all the time. And not snacking. And there's no place to stop for a snack until I'm almost home so why bother. Heck of a lot better than being a sedentary computer jockey snacking on company-supplied junk food

Oh, and my current job doesn't really pay enough to buy groceries... ;-)

But between getting some weight off my poor knees (and hips, etc.) and working out with weights again thanks to the physical therapy earlier this year, I'm not only in a lot better shape than I've been in a long time, but clothes that I love now FIT again!

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Becca72
Date: 29 Oct 08 - 12:50 PM

I was on vacation last week and was able to take 4, count 'em 4, trash bags full of stuff to Goodwill that has been cluttering up my closet. Now if I can just get the place sandblasted clean before a friend visits in 2 weeks I'll be golden.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 29 Oct 08 - 10:58 AM

Merry Christmas, Linn!:-)

Susan:-)

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 29 Oct 08 - 08:57 AM

I don't know where this month has gone!

Seems like it was just the Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival. Then we had Micca as a houseguest and I came down with a hideous cold, all the while getting my optech certification (that's an additional certificate to hang on the wall -- but at least it's at work) and, oh, I don't know what else.

Have discovered recently that all those clothes I DIDN'T de-clutter are now fitting properly and I can start wearing them again. Good thing, too, because my new job requires a different wardrobe from the computer jockey position of the last way too many years.

And I'm SERIOUSLY started to de-clutter the handwritten transcriptions of tapes and turn them into proper J-cards so everything can be stowed in an orderly fashion and found when I need them.

Still need to pull out one more stack of magazines before calling the guy who buys old magazines. Need to spiffify the house just a wee bit more before calling the guy who buys LPs. Need to get the laptop successfully plugged into the modem so we can upload some pictures to eBay (which hasn't been accepting them from my older Mac) and sell some more stuff. Need to contact the guy who was interested in the lead type and seems to have forgotten us.

Oh, and I started yesterday "de-cluttering" the accumulation of Christmas cards by getting them addressed and ready to send out the day after Thanksgiving. Dammit! I'm CELEBRATING Christmas this year, which was snatched from me last year thanks to my arm breakage and surgery.

Onward! Ever onward!

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: freda underhill
Date: 29 Oct 08 - 08:52 AM

I've been watching this thread and got inspired Sunday. I packed three bags full of clothes, some old badges (anti uranium, etc)shoes, some earrings and books, and took them to a friend's place. she works with women coming out of prison and will pass them all on.

this was a good move, because, when I unpacked and moved back into home earlier this year, I just put some things out of sight in various cupboards. this was the beginning of sorting and clearing away the stuff in cupboards!!

thaqnks SRS and all for the determined commitment to ..





decluttering!

freda

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: mouldy
Date: 29 Oct 08 - 07:19 AM

De-gack includes doing the "nasty sticky" bits. I also use it to refer to what I have to do to my carpets after the animals have been around!

Got some of it done, (but unfortunately started on the cupboard full of cook books). Ages later I managed to offload a few onto my friend, and have bagged up all the little cuttings and bits of paper that you save, along with the notebook I have had for years. This winter's boredom task is to sort through the lot and write them all down in a new index book. I also have several old handwritten books that are years old, with housework tips too. It will take a long time, but at least for now they are not falling all over the cupboard.
I also reorganised part of the work top and made soup, and a fish cobbler.
This morning I have put 16 more apple heads into the machine. I also may attempt to put up the flat pack wardrobe, now that my son in law isn't able to come today and help. Luckily I have a massage booked for later this afternoon, so she can sort me out if I get damaged!

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 29 Oct 08 - 06:13 AM

I have finally done it.. I have finally moved enough stuff off the floor in here so that I can get the vacuum cleaner in... it's incredible! The carpet is a solid blue, rather than the speckled pattern I thought it had become!

Just wish the vacuum cleaner wasn't so noisy...

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 01:10 PM

decluttering every spare moment

Good catch. We do all need to declutter every spare moment-- of "must-do" thoughts, that is! :~)

Declut a Moment Today.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maire-aine
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 12:53 PM

I've copied all the essential files from my old laptop to the new one, and I'm about one third done with the song lyrics. The old 'puder has been temperamental lately, so it's best that I get this done soon. I'll go shopping for a new printer next week.

For several years, I've been clipping/printing articles on a lot of subjects (mostly things like social security, healthcare, the war) and stashing them in boxes; I've got 4 (those big copy-paper size) that are nearly full. Anyway, I went thru them and pulled out everything I had on health care, since that's what I want to focus on in "retirement".

Only 3 more days to work! Then you'll hear all kinds of cleaning/de-cluttering results from me.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 12:23 PM

My mom had one of those! I *think* I may have one, too.

I dug into the crate of books I brought back to the office, this morning. I have a pile for ebay and a pile for my Biblio store. Next I will photograph or scan the ones I haven't already done; then list in a day or two, I hope.

I just realised, I have to do this in moderation; I was starting to feel as though I HAD to be doing something about decluttering every spare moment. Whew! Backing down from that!

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 12:10 PM

Here it is. You remember that must-have list that included the sewing seam gauge? Here it is, and I think my mother gave it to me when I was about 10.

Anyway, get out your sticky gasket and measure it and let me know if this will work. It's yours if you need it.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: MAG
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 11:23 AM

First real frost last night, so the last of the basil is gone. Tomatoes went last week.

My SAD light arrived yesterday but I won't have time to assemble it until next weekend. Some scary story commitments for this week.

I TRIED Wal-Mart for the gasket, Kat; and Home Depot, and Shop-Ko, and even Rex. Ths town is just too small. Nobody stocks them because there is not, they say, enough call. I do not know what brand my blender is; it actually does not say on it. I was carrying wround the old (gummy) gasket to match it. I'll have to take it to Portland with me in 2 weeks to try again.

Outside kittens (not really kittens anymore) are wanting IN. Not quite ready to do that to Scamp yet, plus they are still not very tame. I'll fix up a box for them on the patio.

Spaymobile will be about 10 miles away next week; I'll try to get the 2 females over then.
Brrr!

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 10:16 AM

Virtual de-cluttering today, moving more work along to give myself space for other work.

I didn't list the suit yet, but maybe today. I pulled the plastic drop cloth off of the eggplants again--didn't quite frost out there, but it is close. I'm hoping we'll get to the weekend and pick the last of the fruits off of these three very large eggplant plants. Then we can cook up a storm and preserve as much of this as possible.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 10:13 AM

Hey, we're making new organizing jargon.

de-gack (Andrea's)

decluts, re-cluttering, recluts (mine)

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 10:01 AM

Gee, I picked up that chainlink right on time-- for a SPRING project that is. Sucha pretty fall day yesterday.... prolly the last one. (I also nabbed a few good pieces of faux furniture to disassemble and remake for a DVR-holding box/shelf atop the Sallie-sourced, pretty TV cabinet. (It's all particle board, of course, but good dense, heavy stuff with a really nice veneer.) The pink stuff ("wintry mix") is landing today. Wihout having even seen the forecast, I was already securing all the goodies out of the rain-blow line on the front porch last night, and setting up a few small projects. I must be getting a good weather nose to go with my silvering hair.

Hardi rewarded me with a cordless Dremel for knocking off the dogs' toenails. Be nice for jewelry, too-- I have some old huge, clunky earrings I think will make good pendants for those essential parish and dioscesan dressup occasions. Cheap enough to practice/learn Dremeling.... it's nice for calluses, too! :~) The charger sits in the charging zone we made last year, in our kitchen.

Anyway that same protected porch landing where I stowed the furniture bits is gonna make a GREAT occasional dog-grooming stand (and get me out there for fresh air)! I'll have to collect up their brushes and find a nice container for them..... As soon as I bring in and disassemble those little cabinets... and once the chainlink is out of the van, we can fill it up with the season's driveway cinders. (In bins.) Friday, on Hardi's day off. It will make a nice drive to fetch 'em.

But it is great to be flipping the purposes of the two porches this old house provides: I used to think the front one oughtta be the company porch, but no one ever wants to use it for more than 5 minutes-- it's always either too cold or too sunny-hot! The back porch is MUCH better for private sitting, grilling, etc.!!! And it already has the more-accessible steps. So the chainlink will be unloaded to the FRONT porch, where tallish hedges screen the storage from the road and where there's a step I can back the van up to as an unloading dock, and where there's a large, open area just waiting for a pile of chainlink-project-to-come. It'll be easy for Hardi to fetch it back off the porch with his little John Deere, too, in the spring.


The obsolete ski machine left the property today. Our road is too fast for people to pull over, and it didn't look enough like what it really was-- so it never left the "free pickup" zone. But the town's having Free Cleanup Week, and he was inspired to load up the ski machine once I'd unloaded the cabinets we took off someone else's Free Pickup Zone! :~) It's gone offa MY yard, and it will get more attention in town, is all I care! :~)

Well, I guess MY day will be spent filling up the winter emergency water supply jugs. Got 10 gallons of washwater already stowed-- now it's on to the filtered drinking water. The rest of the winter weatherizing is pretty much done for the year, also nicely timed by us both as get-up-and-stretch activities while we've been crazy-busy with church and MIL activities-- that cycle where we normally alternate between doing too much on our feet and collapsing in recovery. This year, my sun-bulbs got going early enough to keep us both moving.... damn the arthritis, it really IS better to keep moving!

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: mouldy
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 05:33 AM

Plan A - de-gack the kitchen and clear the decks so that I can get on with some craft work, and carve some more heads.

Plan B - whatever I salve my conscience with after plan A fails!

Plan C - what usually happens

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 10:39 PM

MAG

I have to call the blender company about a new gasket. Th

Earlier this year I bought a set of new gaskets for my Osterizer blender (from the 1970s or 80s) on eBay for about $1 a piece. Three of them will last a couple of lifetimes. What kind of blender so you have, what does the gasket measure? I got the blender at a garage sale and use it for making baba ganoush and hummus, etc. It doesn't get used often, but it is exactly the right tool for those dishes.

After I bought them, someone told me that Wal-mart probably also has them. Oh, well.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maeve
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 08:12 PM

My husband spent this beautiful day balanced on the ridge of the roof making repairs again, after a gale blew through and several new leaks appeared inside.

I spent the day repairing the damage to the farm stand and the potted apple trees and perennials that were trapped in and under the fallen stand.

The dehydrator is full of cranberries drying. I canned three pint jars of pear sauce, made freezer soup, signed up for a local food co-op, and cared for the chickens.

I haven't tested the new used grain mill yet. I was compelled to take a migraine-fighting nap from about 3:30 until 7:45. Flashing lights on Saturday plus the change in air pressure hit hard.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: MAG
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 07:49 PM

I just vented on the accountability thread about my fruitless day.

Had to call the shredder vac company (Black & Decker) about the problem of the shredder bag not coming off and consequently tearing from being in the way. The person said I would get a new bag, but the bag is not SUPPOSED to come off once you screw it on. You are supposed to dump the shreds into a barrow or bucket and not take the bag off. So how am I supposed to get a new bag ON??? She hung up.

I have to call the blender company about a new gasket. Th

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 04:53 PM

Handed off two parcels to the mail carrier, one for eBay and one for a Mudcatter who I've meant to mail this disk to forever. I found it in the clutter on my desk and put it in the mail immediately.

A gift of belated-birthday cash came from a friend--I broke my spade fork this weekend and I've been wanting to get a flat of flowers for a few pots beside the door, so this is great timing!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 04:35 PM

My Shadow cat has survived for the last 8 or more years with no fangs, she also had gum disease. I suspect with her, it was a product of her time on the streets as a stray.

Finished the Christmas stockings, passed them on to the twins - who are gorgeous and thriving, born 4 weeks early, they're now 6 weeks old and starting to look like little humans, rather than red and yellow tortoises - and promptly got an order for two more... so no more decluttering for me this week!

Mind you, if I did declutter this room, I'd find more cloth for patchwork Christmas stockings!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: MAG
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 02:19 PM

I couldn't agree more with the cordless power drill. Amazing how much more you USE a drill when you don't have to fool with a cord.

Today I need to find a place to fix my chain saw; cleaning the chain and putting it back on are beyond me. Also the sucking-up leaf shredder which I liked better than the big one you dump leaves in to. You take it where the leaves are; eliminates raking into a bucket, etc. Unfortunately the bag won't come off; it's stuck.

Finished cleaning the carport; what a difference. Found stuff I haven't seen in years.

Shook out all the (size 16) clothes in the tub where I found cat crap; I'll try washing them with odormute and see if they are salvageable. 20 more pounds and they will fit.

My inside kitty is sick. His proliferating gum disease is probably acting up. All he's got left are his fangs and I hate for him to lose those too. If a vet bill fixes him up, it will be worth it.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: mouldy
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 01:54 PM

Hey, I think I have all of that stuff except the hole punch!

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 11:31 AM

This article may not stay online for long, so I'll put it here. It's excerpted from a book that sounds handy for those of us who like to putter.

10 can't-do-without tool tips from The Salvage Studio

Amy Duncan, Lisa Hilderbrand and Beth Evans-Ramos founders of the Salvage Studio, promote their philosophy of repurposing in a new book, The Salvage Studio. Here's an excerpt gleaning 10 useful tools from the 199 pages of project ideas in this lusciously illustrated book.

Lineman's pliers: These have a larger "nose" than needle-nose pliers, providing more area to grab, hold and grip. They are great for pulling stubborn nails out of wood or closing up an S hook.

Sewing seam gauge: This small sewing tool is perfect for measuring in small increments. With the adjustable slide, you can accurately measure distances without a second thought -- was that 1 3/8 or 1 7/8?

Small ball-peen hammer: The smaller shape and lighter heft are ideal when working in tight spots, such as when flattering brass brads on paper projects. The small, rounded head also provides an easy way to give that "hammered" look to metal projects.

Multipurpose rotary tools: Tools such as the Dremel are wonderful creatures. They pack the wallop of the bigger tools (electric drill, power sander) but are so much easier to use, and their small size makes them ideal for small hands. The metal cutting disc is especially handy. This attachment makes short work of trimming screws that are too long, removing rusty links, or disassembling any metal piece for reconstruction into a new project.

Rubber mallet: Useful for encouraging objects to go in the direction you want without leaving dent marks.

Phone books: Most can be divided into several sections to make very functional work surfaces for drilling and pounding.

Round-nose pliers: Good for bending wire and beautiful loops and swoops without marring the wire or leaving irregular, harsh edges.

Metal hand punch: Our favorite one resembles a heavy-duty paper punch and comes with seven punch sizes from Harbor Freight Tools, a national chain. Costing less than $20, this tool is easy to use and punches through heavy pieces of metal, leaving a clean hole. We fondly refer to ours as "Big Earl."

Good scissors: This is the pair you hide from your friends and family members. You don't want anyone cutting duct tape with these! Buying good scissors is like buying knives for the kitchen -- any knife will cut most things, but your favorite cuts everything. Have a separate pair for fabric or ribbon that is not used for paper. Cutting paper dulls the blade, and dull scissors will fray fabric and ribbon ends when you cut them.

Cordless drill: Spend a little extra to get one with decent power and an extra battery pack. Don't wait until you're in your 50s (like Beth) to discover power tools!

Inside "The Salvage Studio"

The book, which lists at $21.95, is available at online book retailers and at the Salvage Studio in at 650 Edmonds Way, Edmonds. Find a list of workshops at www.thesalvagestudio.com.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 10:00 AM

My son this morning happily took one of my mangled cardboard boxes (had meant to use it for eBay shipping but it was too big, so it was in the garage). He is building a mask--don't ask me what kind, I don't know, but I think it is intended the scare the bejeesus out of little kids on Halloween. I keep telling him he's not to go trick-or-treating, so he keeps his plans close to his vest (Friday nights he spends at his Dad's house, and Dad is less strict, but he's 6'2", 16, and he needs to do something other than scare kids on the street. Plus big kids out there can become targets of other big kids.)

I've been working in the yard some this weekend, but I've also whittled away several stacks of stuff in the house. I'll keep at that this week, I think. If I can haul a few buckets of rocks a day up from the creek then I can finish this part of the path this week.

Shipping an eBay box today. What are people planning to do with these little televisions that will be obsolete come February? There is still a good market for them out there. They must be adapted for something else. It's amazing what you can sell on eBay, based on the interesting things people are doing in their spare time or as a way to support themselves. That is one thing I like about it--if you can figure out how to describe it clearly, the chances are good someone else wants it.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maeve
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 06:52 AM

Finished drying the last of our tomatoes on Saturday. We also hauled away the five boxes of unneeded canning jars to the village recycling center/swap shop. I found a bathroom rack there that has now been reshaped and repurposed to hang at the back of the kitchen sink, so the handsoap, sponge, scrubbers, etc are neat, clean, and dry. I like having them available and not making a slimy mess around the sink.

Saturday afternoon I drove to Sinsull's house concert, with one small detour to pick up Freecycle artist's canvas and stretcher frames to use when I get my paints unpacked this winter. After I arrived home (after a wonderful concert and Sinsull's hospitality of a room for the night) I rested for an hour or so before driving downeast for an hour or so. There I paid a tiny price for a great manual grain grinder.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: mouldy
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 05:58 AM

Grabbed some cooking apples off my tree and played at drying some slices down. Hey presto, this morning I have 2 small tubs of apple!

The weather looks to be set fine for a few days, so I am hoping that I can get some more jungle removed from my little garden.

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 01:27 AM

After a weekend of frantic tidying, I had an empty table in the front room today (after we'd cleared the detritus from the session away) so I decluttered the craft cupboard of its fat quarters (quilters will know what I mean... for others, it's a bundle of cotton fabric squares 50cm in size, matched for patchworking) and made a pair of Christmas stockings as gifts for a certain set of twins born not so long ago...

Now my brain is decluttered from that, I've got a whole half term ahead of me to make a serious effort in this room, taking us nicely to the end of October and a whole new set of goals.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Oct 08 - 11:26 PM

The suit jacket is filled out with that funky stuffed shirt of mine inside it. It has a built in acetate tie that matches the lining so you don't even see the hanger.

I'll list it tomorrow. It'll take a little while to put together the html part of it (I design a table in FrontPage then cut and paste it into the eBay ad) and I don't want it to start too late, it is less likely to have bids at the end if it ends at an odd time.

I sold another little television today. With everything switching to HD early next year, I figure the folks who know how to convert these or who have another use for the standard receivers are the ones who are grabbing them up. This was my emergency TV for weather situations, but I'll get a battery operated new one one of these days, with HD so it works past Feb. 2009.

I dug a new section of garden out front this afternoon and laid down a bag of sand and a wagon full of rocks to see now far sand and rocks will go if I build a little "trail head" on the corner of my yard that leads into areas where we always walk. I have to haul more rocks up from the creek and I'll get more sand and expand this work. I'm going to put irises and poppy seeds in one side of the path and mulch on the other. I'd love to get rid of all of the Bermuda grass in this segment of the yard.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Oct 08 - 07:20 PM

Went through the three boxes of books in the LR. One stack goes to my son, one milk crate back to the office, two boxes left for the library. NOW I can quit fretting over whether I am doing the right thing or not!

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Oct 08 - 04:57 PM

Those sound like great ideas, ladies! I have a very nice satin brocade dress I've been trying to figure out how to show to its best and also a winter coat to sell on ebay. I'll have to try those tricks.

We did the last of the tomatoes, today. Five more layers dehydrating as I type. Then we can put that appliance away and get that clutter out of the living room.

Ya know those books I've been talking about? My Biblio bookstore comes up in a google search and my friend thinks I should try some of them on ebay, still, so I think I am going to go through them and cull a few for the store and ebay. See what happens. All the time they've been sitting there, they could have been listed at least. IF I do that, I will have Rog bring them back to the office, so it will be less clutter in the LR, more in the office. *Sigh*:-)

Rog swept today and I mopped the whole house! Plus a bunch of other domestic stuff I listed on the accountability thread. Not much in the way of decluttering but it's all good.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 26 Oct 08 - 01:26 PM

Yup. Smoke anbd mirrors. Remmeber that the camera will add 5 pounds and snug in the waist, etc., accordingly-- to compensate for that.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Oct 08 - 12:31 PM

I took a short-sleeved blouse I haven't worn in ages and stitched it onto a wooden hangar at the neckline, then sewed the sleeves closed. I used fabric to line along the top closures, then filled it with crumpled newspaper and stitched the bottom closed. It looks very good, and I'll suspend, like I think you're saying, a skirt/pants hanger inside this so the pants hang below it. I really wanted to show the extremely fitted waist of this 1940s suit that my mother had tailor-made for her when she lived in Japan. I think she had it made on a trip to China (Hong Kong comes to mind). No one in our family can wear it, we're too tall and not that slim any more. It needs to go to someone who can use it before the wool deteriorates (it's in great shape now).

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 26 Oct 08 - 12:03 PM

I made a photography "hanger" by padding a pole held by a pants hanger to be the shoulder, then suspending another skirt hanger from it (on string) at the correct height. I can add a shell or blouse under the jacket hung on the padded pole, which drapes over the skirt underneath. The whole ensemble then hangs up on an over-door hook against a white backdrop (door) under a good light.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Oct 08 - 11:25 AM

When my kids were little we would put up a tent in the back yard for sleepovers. I think we even set it up in the living room a few times. :)

I'm in the process of creating a temporary dress form to hang some eBay clothes on. If it works I'll photograph it and post it.

Just looked it up--until 2006 it would have been this weekend. As of 2007, the time change is the first Sunday in November.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 26 Oct 08 - 11:09 AM

The really lovely thing about Freecycle (if you run IT instead of letting it run you) is that you can FC OUT what has become clutter, and FC IN what you need. When it becomes clutter, you can OUT it right back out again. (It doesn't ever have to feel permanent unless you seriously adopt it.)

This has been a particularly good FC week. IN with a couple dozen 5-gal plastic pots (landscaper type), and a chainlink fence-set I'll pick up tomorrow. OUT with a ski exerciser replaced with a better one. I could never have afforded the pots, the fencing, or the ski machine. We CAN afford the dirt, the seeds, a litle fence hardware, and the electricitry to run and heat the ski-er. And the gas to go fetch.

Tomorrow's trip to get the fencing will be a fun ride for Sadie (pets fav things-type) through bootiful fall foliage-- scenery I know well but seldom get to see. A good long ride, with car tunes.

The chain link will become the new dog world, and the fencing now in place will become a long, horizontal trellis for a privacy screen to create the new, private back yard. I plan to plant tomatoes and peas that will climb the old fence material, and we'll eat the fence when it's ripe and when it's too cold to go sit in the yard anyhow. :~) I'll have to go out in the new, private backyard thus formed, regularly, to water the fence. Poor me! :~) We'll pop up our camper back there, too, for midweek sleepouts. Hardi's mom may come stay over, too, in the summer.

Yes, life is miserable! :~)

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Oct 08 - 10:53 AM

I had started changing the clocks, because at my son's guitar lesson last week we looked at the calendar to see if the clocks changed yet. I think last year it changed in October. The wall calendar there said it was today. But a friend just said he hadn't heard anything and his automatic clocks hadn't changed. My atomic clocks set themselves back to the old time, and I went looking for another calendar and it says the time change is next Sunday.

So which is correct? I'd better go check out a few more sites. I thought people were being remarkably quiet about it this weekend.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Oct 08 - 11:18 PM

Well, we surprised ourselves this morning. Slept in a bit, got up, not feeling rushed at all. Had breakfast, made a grocery list, checked email, etc. After, I asked Rog what he wanted to do first. It was still chilly outside (it was supposed to be an outside work day) so we took the air conditioned out of our bedroom window from inside, put in the storm window, then Rog took it out to the shed. After I told him sometime I really wanted him to take down the living room blinds. They are old Hunter Douglas metal Venetian blind and were filthy with dust and dirt caked on. Well, lo and behold, he took them down, I washed them in the shower and kitchen sink; one is about 4.5' wide with two shorter ones to the side, about 20" wide. They looked so much cleaner, I had to wash the windows! Didn't do them outside, but they already look better. In between all of that, he sliced me up a bunch more tomatoes on his special, electric deli slicer and I dried 5 more racks. They really reduce down. I only got 3 freezer bags from that batch and i didn't even fill the bags, but I know they are going to taste so good this winter and I won't use but a couple each time probably.

We then went to the shoe store and grocery store, brought all of the groceries home and put them away. All in all it felt like a very productive day!

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Oct 08 - 11:13 PM

Interesting and complex day.

I dug part of a new bed for some irises my neighbor gave me (blue--I only had a couple of those and I lost track of them last time I dug up the bed they had been in). I'll also put some of Janie's poppy seeds (from North Carolina) in there and see what happens in the spring. Should be wonderful.

Filing and tossing and shredding papers. You know how sometimes you find a pocket of stuff that just needs to go away? Old mementos, whatever. A slim pack of those went up in smoke in the grill this evening. Nice.

I've been filing papers that I kept from scholarly pursuits. I have a drawer where those things are supposed to go once they are in a computer database, but now I'm just filing alphabetically and will put them in the database another day. It's time to get this paper off of my workspace.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Oct 08 - 11:25 AM

That's fast, Andrea, isn't it? Much quicker than drying in the house or a warm cupboard, wherever you did it before (except the oven). Please post a photo of these beauties!

Liz, you pushed the page to the right with that @@@ thing of yours.

I'm updating and defragging my son's computer this morning. And he has a large hard drive that is partitioned oddly that I'll take out the second partition (by lumping them together). We set it up a while back and I didn't have time to sort out the partitions at the time. He still isn't using all of what he has, but I might as well make the entire thing available.

No frost last night, and it's a lovely day for working outside today. I suspect it will be a day of in and out.

I have a feeling of accomplishment for getting all of those chores run and bills paid yesterday. More yard work, and I bought some cheap beer to put in bowls to drown more snails around the yard. They've been getting into the new chard in the front of the house.

SRS

It was her cat what pushed it. I pushed back.
el joe clone:-)

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: mouldy
Date: 25 Oct 08 - 04:48 AM

First batch of heads out of the machine. I dipped them in lemon juice and water, and they have stayed pale. Only being the five shelf model, I can only get one tray of them in. However, as they go down, I should be able to get more in. as it is, I can get 16 or 20 on a tray, so at my rate of usage I will have ample with a couple of trays' worth.

There are some real gargoyles among them!

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 25 Oct 08 - 03:00 AM

Carrots will stand a frosting, some even say it makes them taste sweeter as it starts to break down the enzymes (a bit like freezing fruit before making jam from it). Oregano is a bit more delicate and will need bringing indoors. Peppers I'm not so sure about.. they don't seem to mind being in the fridge but when they touch the back where it's iced, they go mushy. I'd be tempted to bring them in too.

~~~@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@;''''''''''./.   om
Now if only I could
declutterthiscat from my keybourard I'd be happyl

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Oct 08 - 12:13 AM

I always try to make my drives efficient, and even if gas has dropped $1 a gallon in the last 12 days, I still need to be careful. I drove a loop of 10 miles this afternoon and got gas, dropped off a box at the post office (when that scanner is repaired I'll be busy converting my slides to digital images), dropped of recycling (our village doesn't collect recyclables but Fort Worth, that surrounds us, does), dropped off Goodwill stuff, ran by a couple of stores for groceries (olive oil has gone way up!), and had a feeling of accomplishment when I got home. That scanner is a long story, but now that it has been shipped, I can relax a little. I needed to send it out for repair during the warranty period, and I've accomplished that.

I picked a dozen eggplants in the garden, with a lot of smaller ones still on the plants; we may have frost tonight. That garden is near the house so it might not be affected, but I have a tarp to go put over the plants before I go to bed.

eBay is perking along. I recently listed a couple of things that have watchers; one of them I listed very low (.99) and have had 1 in 10 of viewers click on "watch this auction" though no one has bid yet; everyone bids last, no one wants to bid first, but hopefully there will be enough bidding to take it up to where I want it to sell.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 24 Oct 08 - 07:42 PM

Ah, that makes sense, Susan.

I may have to rethink this decluttering. Morgan was looking around the living room, where the tall bookshelves are loaded with books, a flute, various knick-knacks, stones, photos etc. and said, "I wish I had this house!" As we discussed it, he meant he liked it better than his house because of all my *things*, esp. the clock on the wall which tick-tocks and has to be hand-wound. I told him that was interesting because I'd been thinking I ought to get rid of a lot of it because it's so cluttery and dusty. At that he offered to help me dust! His mom says he does a good job with a feather duster so we have a date to dust!:-) (She doesn't decorate. She told her husband to have at it; it's something he does in his own space.:-)

Of course, Morgan has no idea of what all is in the storage shed, the storage travel trailer and the storage old panel van!

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Oct 08 - 01:58 PM

I realized this morning that I hadn't emptied out a folder where I stick bills for quite a while. I pay all of them online, so when the paper version comes (some send a notice via email, others I still get on paper) I stuff it in this file and it was getting fat. I paid current bills then filed everything, including the past bills that were already paid. I have a 12-pocket expanding file that I've started using. Everything goes in the month it was paid and only a few documents go in the file cabinet (insurance documents, tax deductible documents, etc.)

Shredded a lot, put a lot in the recycle bin.

Frost alert for Saturday morning, so I'll go pick all of the big eggplant and get a blanket out to put over the top of the plants to keep the rest of them from freezing. Do carrots and onions freeze? Oregano? Peppers? Maybe I'll cover them all. A plastic tarp might be enough.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 24 Oct 08 - 01:39 PM

Riiiighhhht..... but this is a subtle shift. See, we NEVER have unplanned company here, so we always clean up for them. This hockey thing is a could-happen-anytime thing. Not "forced" entertaining but people living close enough by that we could say, "Hey, come on over," and not worry about it. If I am always expecting wanted company, it will tremendously change how I see our space and how I treat it.

~No longer "The Slob's Housewalk"'s star homemaker

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 24 Oct 08 - 12:42 PM

Oh company always gets things spiffy around here. We used to joke that we cleaned up before the cleaning lady came! Now she's not coming any more, I have to find other ways to motivate my Rog.:-)

Unplanned small decluttering job...just "happened" ..I cleaned out one shelf of a glass-door unit in the bathroom, which sits over the tank and is tall. Also cleaned out the basket which holds my hairbrush and misc. on the top of the tank, and used the funnel to consolidate all of the leftover lotion into one bottle. Looks neater in there now and only took a few minutes.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 24 Oct 08 - 12:37 PM

This is SUCH a minor "chore" I cannot believe I didn't do it until today:

The old CPU was so heavy! And sat in a tight space. Getting at the back-- yyyrrrcchhhh! Well, today I moved the 4-port USB hub from the front of the new CPU to the back, which allowed me to hook up the second of my 2 external HDs. And viola! All my bookmarks, email addresses, etc. etc. ....... The ext HDs now sit on top of the CPU, clearing a spot they had been taking up that needs a new printer put there, and keeping me from cluttering up the CPU top. Of course the hub has 2 slots still open, and peeks out accessibly from between the 2 HDs. And I have better access now to the two front USB slots. The new CPU is a featherweight, and the HDs are even the same flat black housing!


Hardi spotted a VERY nice, tall (used) TV cabinet last Friday that has swallowed almost all the VHS tapes clutting the DR, and still has a nice drawer for the few DVDs we have. Yesterday we moved the DVR and DVD/VHS player to that cabinet too; that sent the former TV base-table to the DR where it awaits further decor/practicalities. Now we just need a wooden box to house the DVR.


PSSSST,

HOT TIP:

We're anticipating some friends joining us to watch hockey; amazing how that happy expectation helps me finish up the messy parts of these little jobs! :~)

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 24 Oct 08 - 12:02 PM

For weeks, now, I have had three boxes of books sitting beside the front door, waiting for me to finish going through the rest of the books before I call some charity to come pick them up (plus I've been thinking maybe I should sell them all online, but don't have the time for the tediousness of entering the details and photos.)

Last night I realised I was feeling scattered again due to too many things calling to me to get them done! So, I decided I will call for the books to be picked up. The rest can go out the door when I get them done. In the meantime that will be some clutter out of the LR.

We are supposed to clean up outside this weekend, plus put up plastic on some of the windows. Going to do what we can to keep the heating costs down this winter. I think we'll even use an electric heater under my desk. If we do that I won't have to turn up the heat in the whole house as I've done in the past. I wish we had a thermostat in each room, with its own heat source.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Oct 08 - 11:27 AM

Might as well keep these numbers tidy.

200

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Oct 08 - 09:56 AM

Gotta pick a bunch of eggplants and do something with them. I haven't picked them all week so I know I have a few approaching grocery store size.

It's the last weekend of the month and also time (in most of the U.S.) for Standard Time to kick in. I'll use this occasion to change the batteries in all of my smoke detectors (when I moved in here I had a couple and when I had a financial windfall a couple of winters ago I put in a smoke detector in each bedroom and the hall and they're the electric/DC variety. When one goes off they all go off and are deafening). It's time for the clock change so I have my batteries and will do it on Sunday.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Oct 08 - 10:51 PM

MAG--I know that frustration of cats who can't stick with the plan as far as elimination.

And yes, rooms are clean then get messy again before the are back to clean. This de-cluttering IS a dynamic process, after all. And we all have more or less acknowledged using the Chinese puzzle plan to clear out our houses, so it has to be moved around somewhere different with each move of the square.

I do feel like I've made progress this month. Stuff put away, stuff recycled, stuff to the Goodwill (tomorrow), stuff filed, shredded, and re-purposed. And about $200 through eBay by the end of the month.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: MAG
Date: 23 Oct 08 - 08:57 PM

My carport is actually looking less like a trashheap and more like normal storage space. Unfortunately I threw my neck out and mpw have an appointment with yet another physical therapist (mixed results from same).

Thought I had the lr under control but somehow it is full of clutter again.

Discovered a bunch of cat crap in the spare/store room. snarl snarl snarl ... clean box AND the great outdoors are not enough ... on the + side, he is actually making friends with the kittens. More headway than me, actually.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 23 Oct 08 - 06:44 PM

Failed again... no lentils so no soup... thus kitchen is still full of boxes.

Ho hum... it'll soon be November!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maeve
Date: 23 Oct 08 - 04:51 PM

Andrea- I have a vague recollection of using lemon juice on my apple head dolls to prevent that darkening effect. Some I treated; others I let find their own varied tones.

Maggie- I'm drying halved paste-type tomatoes. I'll probably use many of them in soups and casseroles. They just take up too much space in my freezer. Likewise, I hope to dry some apple slices for pies and cobblers. I'll experiment this year and see what is most useful in a dried form. Some dried foods still benefit from freezing or refrigeration, so I still have some research to do.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Oct 08 - 08:10 AM

It sounds like you have a plan, Andrea! Make back the cost of this dehydrator with your sales at the fair.

Let me ask a question. I've always liked some dehydrated fruit like apricots and craisins, but what all are you dehydrating and how will you use it? Cooking, baking, in soup to reconstitute, grinding for powder, etc? When I was a kid my mother used to buy bags of dehydrated apples slices that we would soak in water then would make into pies. Is this like what you're doing?

It's COLD this morning. Down to 40. I didn't have to go cover the garden but I'll keep an eye on the forecast and make a point to pick a few more eggplant for a last hurrah in the kitchen this weekend. I'll be back in regular funds tomorrow and I'll go pick up some half-pint jars and see about making a batch or three of a couple of recipes I've been given. I can always use this as gifts this year (caponeta, if I'm spelling it right, is best when it is in the jar for a month before opening). Spread it on crusty bread and you have a great appetizer or light lunch. :)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: mouldy
Date: 23 Oct 08 - 04:42 AM

Going to call the dehydrator people today and see if they have any I can see. If they stock them I could perhaps take one with me (bending the credit card again!). T'would come in handy as I have my one fair this year in 3 weeks, and I had wanted to try and make some tree ornaments - sort of geriatric fairy/angel heads! I tried one lot in the airing cupboard, but the hot water tank is so well insulated that it doesn't get warm enough. I've always used my oven before, but it turns them darker than I would like.
It would also come in handy for some salt dough projects where you add bits into it which would be damaged by too much heat, and it would be faster than a warm windowsill!

It's grey (but breezy) today, and my bedding is in the wash. Now if I can just get it out and dry before the forecast rain arrives....

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Oct 08 - 12:44 AM

That one was so cute. Kind of charming. :)

Doogs and toads on the de-clutter thread tonight.

My doogs are smelling almost back to normal now. Not like pee-yew much any more.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 10:07 PM

Maggie, I wish you had edit privileges. You're welcome to fix my yptos.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 05:27 PM

You guys are so funny today!

I just got in from a fascinating talk by David Pogue. The guy who writes tech reviews for the New York Times. Great ideas on how to streamline technology around here by making a few targeted improvements.

Susan wrote   
A spoonful of doog-for-you honey and a spoonfuil of good-for-you tahini
Poor doog! Is honey as sticky as peanut butter on their tongues?   

And Kat wrote
I am doing laundry toady;
I don't wash mine, as a rule; I leave them out in the garden and if they want to clean up they stay in the rain when it happens. :-D

I'm bushed, and have to take another antihistamine. A friend at the conference this morning came through after I was asked to pick up about 30 table arrangements of flowers at a store in Fort Worth and take them to the university for a half-hour drive with them surrounding me in the pickup. A couple of minutes on the road and I knew I was allergic. :-/ She had a sudafed handy and it turned my morning around.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maeve
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 04:15 PM

Having de-cluttered our computer of excess cookies, I forgot to sign back in. It was I who just posted as GUEST. Sorry!

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 04:12 PM

Five boxes of un-needed canning and storage jars are sorted out and ready to go to the swap shop, along with two big boxes of cardboard to recycle. The jelly and wide-mouth jars we're keeping now fit into the cabinet in the attic over the kitchen.

Thinking about the apple head doll/dehydrator... If I cut slots in a few of my excess corks, I bet I could use them as spacers; allowing larger items to fit in the trays for drying. Or maybe spring clothespins would be more easily adjusted as well as more stable? Continuing to think outside of the parallelogram, I wonder if my spare dehydrator could be used as a dryer for the painted ornaments and miniature landscape brooches I plan to make? Hmmm...Thank you for the ideas!

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 02:32 PM

That's a neat idea for a dehydrator for apple head dolls, Andrea. The one I bought would not take anything that thick.

I am doing laundry toady; just got the bills off my desk - all paid (for once!) and filed away.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 02:27 PM

There's a special shirt-front-with-collar that helps cut down on the huge cost of the clergy shirts-- they go over a regular shirt. Pron. RABbee, sp. rabbat. Always appreciated at gift time. Those parish suppers and midnight plumbing emergencies are hell on the haberdashery.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: mouldy
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 02:05 PM

Correction - it's an Excalibur

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: mouldy
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 01:59 PM

Have found a marketer of dehydrators only about 20 miles away from here, near York. I emailed them this afternoon and they sent me details of one with drawers that can be left out, to create a bigger gap. Not compact, but it will do the trick - for a price! I think it's an Excelsior: it's American, anyway.

Our Rector is always spilling his dinner down his shirts (so he says) and gets through a lot. He wears both black and grey. Peter (my man who "does") also has blue. Looks very good with chinos and sandals! (The guy smokes cheroots as well!)

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 12:30 PM

Clergy-family life can be so amusing: I do not know if the galvanized, labeled box that turened up today in my laundry room is a Dearly Departed I knew, (as labeled), or the container she reposed in, on her way to our columbarium. Maybe it's a box I can repurpose. It would make SUCH a nice chairside canister for dog treats!

Then there are the black clergy shirts. (Hardi got a bump up the ladder and has to go Purple.) I sure hope they fit the to-be-ordained friend who is "flying up" Sunday-- her dear hubby bought her some VERY nice custom, wonderful-fabric ladies' clergy shirts, but they will turn out to need supplementation for some of the grubbier aspects of the Life. !

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 11:17 AM

Again, decluts slops over into weight-loss. Me, I became a chocolatier this AM.

No peanut butter on hand for the oatmeal (new-from-Sallie countertop canisters drying now and groceries to fetch in a bit), but some old cocoa powder to finish up. Bitter, not sweetened. A spoonful of doog-for-you honey and a spoonfuil of good-for-you tahini into the skim-milky oatmeal with cocoa powder was quick, and surprisingly GOOD.

Best face it, fellow life-changers. The real culprit holding back change isn't calories or clutter. It's Mudcat Addiction, and I kid you not.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maire-aine
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 10:42 AM

I think I have an iron somewhere in the back of the cabinet under the sink. I haven't used it in 4 or 5 years-- don't even know if it still works. Something like a cotton hanky I would just spread flat on the glass top of the diningroom table, and it would dry nearly wrinklefree.

M

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maeve
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 10:17 AM

In the category of "Unanticipated Rewards for De-cluttering the Freezer" I offer the following:

Homemade shortbread dough- decluttered by pressing into a small pie plate and baking....then eating with a cup of tea.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 09:24 AM

I'm going to keep my eyes open next at the Sallies for a leaf press-- my son had one once as a science-project type thing, for pressing leaves. It was the right size and had butterfly bolts in the corners for the contents, plus carboard for between leaves. I'm sure Hardi could make me one to size in about 2 seconds-- because I (for one!) am NOT going to (A) iron any damn yankies or (B) let them pile up until ironed. The just need a mini-clothes-press, and I say a really good one for the interim would simply be under my chair cushion....

There's the upside of stroke-brain for ya-- near-instant visualization of the above options. Now if only it would furnish the de-clut options as quickly.... must try.... rehab, dontcha know.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 08:38 AM

That makes good sense. I have one of those big monster freezers--having never had one before and always having to give away my garden produce after my side-by-side filled, I adore it! It isn't energy star, but it cost $30 at an estate sale. The difference between this and a new one is what I'll pay for electricity for quite a while. I love it. It needs to be defrosted so next spring I'll do it before I get into the gardening season again. I'd hate to try to use a freezer half the size for my gardening--this one is perfect and I try to leave a shelf relatively empty so I can slide trays in to freeze things individually (chunks of squash, blueberries, etc.) and then bag them and put them on another shelf later.

I'm learning to do the canning now, and this summer did a few jars of tomato related stuff. Next year, look out world!

Supposed to rain today, but not a problem and good for the garden.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maeve
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 08:22 AM

Apple dool headss? LOL Doll heads, of course. Sorry about that.

I wonder if one could use something like a flat bamboo steamer on the dehydrator. That would offer enough room and the lid would still fit on top. With our current house I'd be inclined to use a drying rack either suspended over the wood or coal stove or one with legs to hold it above the surface. This works for drying sliced apples and herbs.

The need for more freezer space is one reason we bought the dehydrator last summer at a neighbor's yard sale. Another reason is that we deliberately use a variety of methods for fod preservation. Say the frozen food spoils as a result of a power failure; we'll still likely have our dried stores, root cellar items, and foods preserved in jars.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: mouldy
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 07:44 AM

Thanks Maeve, but 1 1/2 wouldn't be enough headroom unless you can run it with fewer trays and therefore more space. However, given my lack of freezer room now, I may need to start drying stuff for storage...

Freezer is duly downsized and is very full! The old one is on the yard, dripping cobwebs. Friend's husband has gone off with two large, bulging carrier bags. Now I have to reorganise the garage a bit more so that I can store more logs in it, and get the bikes back into an accessible place.

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maeve
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 07:21 AM

Andrea- Our dehydrator has about 1 1/2 clearance between each stacked tray. I like your idea to dry applehead dool heads there, though.

I froze about 15 pounds of Red Russian kale yesterday and about 3 pounds of Bright Lights chard mixed with the winter green miniata. Then, after cutting the last ripened Juliet grape tomatoes, arranged them in our dehydrator for drying. Juliet is more like a miniature paste tomato, so should be a good candidate for this method. The current batch of pasta sauce is reducing in the slow-cooker. Outside, the rain is pouring down as the cold wind blows.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: mouldy
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 04:40 AM

In about 10 minutes I am about to peg out my washing and then shift the bikes out of the garage so that I can de-clutter my big freezer into one half the size, which is now on its third owner. Don't suppose it's all that eco-friendly, but it's probably newer, definitely half the size, and therefore going to be more efficient than the 13.5 cubic foot monster that's lurking there now!(I joined Weight Watchers on Monday, and it's a good excuse to "recycle" some of the contents to a friend whose husband is out of work).

I have a covered gazebo off my kitchen, and a year or so ago I strung some washing line under there. I can dry an average load as long as the rain doesn't blow sideways. If I need to hang sheets, I have to shift the table from underneath! I more often save them up for days when I can stretch them out more (saves on ironing!)

Kat - do these dehydrators hold whole apples? I quite fancy one for doing applehead dolls, but the ones I have seen pictures of don't really show how big the trays are.

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 12:15 AM

That's good about ebay, Maggie!

I got a big load of dishes done, extras included from the dehydrator, this morning; then off to a couple of stores to pick up detergent and take back some shirts I didn't like.

I also cleaned off the top of my dresser. It was buried....again.:-)

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 11:13 PM

Preparing for a busy day tomorrow. Got all of the laundry folded and put away, but I need to iron my hankies. I'll do a few for the rest of the week and leave the rest till the weekend. Tomorrow is very busy at work and I have to hit the ground running to pick up flowers for the banquet tables before I photograph sessions morning and early afternoon.

Right now I have to do a virtual de-clutter and download images from last week off of my camera memory card and recharge the battery for tomorrow's event.

The eBay de-clutter project has helped re-populate my bank account by about 150 smackers. It is work, but no one is paying me to do anything else in my spare time and it helped put gas in the truck and pay the phone bill. Every little bit helps!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 03:27 PM

They sound great. PM on the way.

I broke down and bought a couple of pairs of good-looking blue jeans in the size I am right now. I have pants that fit now, but they're more for yard work or very dressy. The jeans in my closet are too snug. I have some nice tops and a couple of women's sports jackets I can wear to dress up jeans, and I have several events coming up that I don't want to dress in a dress for. I'll be running around with a camera. There is a reason the photographer is a little scruffy, and it has to do with climbing around and having the ability to scramble around if necessary to get a shot. I'll compromise with the jacket over jeans.

Of course, I bought them at the thrift store. $11.25 for the two. I forgot about looking to see if there were any hankies. I'll make a point next time.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 01:53 PM

Maire-aine has good taste in hankies-- I love all the ones she sent me.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maire-aine
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 01:47 PM

Two are cotton batiste with little flowers embroidered on them. I think the others are cotton also (one has a printed design).

M

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 11:59 AM

Are they a very fine cotton, or is it more like a man's item? No problem with the J monogram. My great aunt Josephine was the source of a lot of the hankies I've used for ages that are on their last legs. Let me know what they cost and the postage. Do you do PayPal?

I love that site about clothes lines--I'll have to look into that more. I think I put photos up before--here is a closeup of the hardware I engineered for my lines. Here is the line with Poppy the catahoula in the foreground. You can see that I positioned the line strategically. Most of the line is near the fence so there isn't a lot of my laundry on view at any time. The yard has cyclone fencing around about the back 3/5 of the yard, but the only view in comes on this side you can see. The rest is woods and fields. I usually hang towels over on the far line nearest the end of the wood fence, so someone on the road across the creek and past the next door neighbor's yard sees towels. I have four lines and I usually hang underwear on a middle line with towels or sheets on either side so while they may hang at somewhat different heights due to stretching under weight, it tends to be lost in the mix and isn't visible from the road. There may have been underwear on the line when I took this photo, but it isn't apparent.

Those plastic bottles on the lines are where I store my extra clothespins. I poked holes in the bottom and cut an opening in the top and I cut the handle down low and slip it over the line. I could have taken the line down and slipped the end of the rope through, but I wanted to be able to move it anywhere if I want. I use these because the inexpensive "cloth" bags for clothespins deteriorate quickly in the sun. This allows me to recycle the plastic.

I have a plan to weatherise the lines. I will cover the cedar boards with plastic and staple or tape it into place. Before coiling the cords I'll wipe down each with a damp cloth and will gather all of the pins in their containers. I'll coil them in on one end, but depending on weather, I may set it up so I can stretch out one of them for occasional rug drying, etc. I think the only months I won't dry outside much are probably January and February.

Hanging clothes is a ritual I remember from my earliest childhood. Mom used lines like mine, multiple lines from metal poles, in our back yard in West Seattle. We had a clothes line at our cabin in the woods near the Canadian border at Lake Whatcom. We didn't have one in the house we moved to later in Everett because there wasn't one built, or she'd have probably continued to dry that way. In the Seattle house we also had lines in the basement from the unfinished ceiling. In that same house she used to hang up tomato plants to let them continue to ripen after the first frost.

Ah, the good old days!

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 11:15 AM

Not all warm places are flat, Susan!*bg*

Maggie, apparently it was a brief news item from earlier in July which they replayed as part of their fund-raising, as near as I can tell, BUT that did lead me to the Right to Dry website. Also, during the news snippet, they said Colorado has a law protecting my right to dry clothes out on a line!

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maire-aine
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 11:11 AM

Maggie, I found a few more cotton hankies. Do you mind if they have a "J" monogram? PM me with an address.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 10:53 AM

Thank you! :)

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 10:25 AM

At one of our favorite resale shops yesterday, they had two hankies. Boy were they in rotten shape, though! So I passed.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 10:10 AM

Another item out the door today--a rather clunky collector's plate that had been stashed in my Mom's sideboard for years and years. Going home again--it's from the Alberta Jubilee (1905 - 1955) and is headed back to AB. It's the kind of ugly plate that only a collector could love. :)

Today is the day to push a big writing project off of my desk. This is my self-imposed deadline. It will mark a measure of freedom when it is finished and has been an albatross around my neck for months. I'll breathe easier when it is finished.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 20 Oct 08 - 07:56 PM

Iz winter here fast. Nawth'en mountains. Subtract two months of the warm weather you flatlanders get-- the spring and fall we barely see/feel.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Oct 08 - 04:19 PM

I feel more connected with the world at large when I take my laundry out and listen to birds and squirrels and wind chimes as I hang my laundry. How can they deny her this pleasure? And the economy? This is a reason I really dislike the "neighborhood associations" put in place by builders when they design new sub-divisions. They're too restrictive and essentially taxation without representation. Send that link if you find it. Maybe I should write to her, offer moral support. :)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 20 Oct 08 - 02:32 PM

Maggie, I thought of you today when my local NPR announced an upcoming story about a woman who wants to have a clothesline which is against her neighbourhood's rules. I tried to find a link for it; it was just coming up some time today, but heck if i can find it!

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maire-aine
Date: 20 Oct 08 - 02:30 PM

I don't have enough sun in my front yard for many vegetables, but a few times I planted leaf lettuce around the top edge of my retaining wall. And some of my herbs are in the front yard this year.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Oct 08 - 01:51 PM

Oh, my! Snow flurries!

I will do the same thing with some of my oregano, pick it, give it a quick rinse and pat dry, then hang it up in bunches to dry. I have some garlic hanging from a door knob over my dryer now. I need to set up a peg board somewhere to put these various things--the laundry room isn't the best place (it isn't very big).

I love the idea of all of that produce in the cellar.

There was a great interview on Terry Gross' Fresh Air today with a fellow who advocates getting away from oil based fertilizers, back to a sun based garden, and putting veggies in the front yard. I've been shifting to that more all of the time, leaving the back for the dogs, but even back there I'm putting in a garden again next year. I have to figure out how to keep the dogs out, but that will be the easiest place to do my gray water experiments.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maeve
Date: 20 Oct 08 - 01:14 PM

Bagged up 200 pounds of organically grown potatoes in 5 and 20 pound bags. They'll go down cellar into the produce bin we're building from the tops of several greenhouse "benches" and some recycled lumber. Perhaps by next year we'll have built a makeshift root cellar with ventilation, and we can store carrots, sweet potatoes, and potatoes in one section with apples and pears in a separate area. My bulb forcing area is at the opposite end of the cellar so the ethylene gas produced by the apples in particular won't inhibit the potted bulbs from sprouting.

The bagging of the potatoes frees up floor space in both the dining room and kitchen, so the next stack to go will be the garden and greenhouse tools by the door. Snow flurries may hit midweek, so these things just have to be stored out of the kitchen. It's time to fire up the stove.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 20 Oct 08 - 12:27 PM

Back in New England, all we ever did, as did the historical farms, etc. was hang them upside down in bunches, Maryanne. They always dried quite nicely that way and looked pretty, esp. when tied up with some ribbon and bows. You can also spread them around on a wicker tray, which I did with the catnip this year, and just turn them over every day or so until they are dried. Things dry more easily out here in the low humidity, but I still had no trouble in CT and MA getting them to dry by hanging.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maire-aine
Date: 20 Oct 08 - 12:12 PM

I plan to harvest most of my herbs tonight. I plan to freeze them. I have never tried drying herbs. Has anybody here done it? How has it worked out? I'll probably try it with basil & sage. Thanks,

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Oct 08 - 11:42 AM

Whoa--sounds like winter is getting there early. I pulled out a fleece sweatshirt jacket that I sometimes put on when I get the paper.

I have a kitchen boom box I'm loaning to my next door neighbor for the cake walk at the Halloween festival down a city hall.

Early voting starts today. I think I'll do that at lunch and cross it off my list of "things that absolutely positively must be done!"
What a distinct pleasure this trip will be!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 20 Oct 08 - 10:47 AM

PS the boombox move was right on time-- dog-water pail is iced this morning.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: mouldy
Date: 20 Oct 08 - 10:44 AM

It's pudding!

Carpet is fitted, bed's set up again, chest of drawers is relocated from landing, and the new wardrobe and bedside tables (self assembly, and therefore cheap) have been ordered from Homebase, and will arrive Friday morning.

Having nicked back the mattress off Ruth's bed, I have to get myself a new one so that she can have my old one. But let's face it, she's not here all that much!

Have cleared room for Peter to get into the study, but he hasn't been. He did have to officiate at a funeral this morning (he's a deacon, remember) and he perhaps has had a call to do something more urgent this afternoon. However, the electrician has been round with his bill...

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 20 Oct 08 - 10:41 AM

Decluttering CDs now.

The AM dog-trot on the treadmill was COLD.... so into the main house came the good CD player, and the CDs ready to rip onto the new puder. The tape coverversions will have to be done in the main house, but that's OK-- I've sorted them by priority so that only a few need to come in and thaw/convert at a time.

The TM room will still be used (it's good to run in the cold), but the sitting around out there waiting on tapes is over till spring, and I may have them all done by then.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maire-aine
Date: 20 Oct 08 - 10:35 AM

The "pub" trivia quiz is run by the Gaelic League of Detroit and it is held the 3rd Sunday of the month. There are teams (usually club members & guests) of 4 or 5 players, and we get from 10 to 12 teams, altho we've had up to 18 teams some months. The quizmasters ask 100 general knowledge questions, ten rounds of ten questions each, altho there are usually a few specifically Irish questions thrown in. One round is always "the dreaded picture round" where you have to identify celebrities from a photo cut from a magazine.

It's really a whole lot of fun. Our team has been together for about 5 years. And there are several friendly rivalries among the teams. But it's all in good fun.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Oct 08 - 09:49 AM

Puds? That is an anagram for "spud" or potato over here, but you don't make one, you grow one. Maybe it is short for pudding?

I meant to ask, what kind of trivia quiz is this you're talking about? Is this your community's answer to Bingo or having a casino in town? :)

I have some unusual colors in rooms here in my house also. I let the kids select their colors, they went for darker hues of blue. I was aiming at a satin paint for the bedrooms but seem to have ended up with semi-gloss. I'm afraid I'll have to use a primer before I repaint these rooms one of these years. The kids aren't done with them yet (one still lives here for at least the next couple of years).

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: mouldy
Date: 20 Oct 08 - 04:36 AM

I couldn't agree more, Liz, and as soon as I am off the computer I am going to shovel the detritus of my book sorting session off the study floor.
(My "man who does" has got to be able to get at my gas boiler so that he can build me a cupboard round it).

The carpet fitter is due today, and once that's down I can start to drag some stuff out of the little bedroom prior to attacking that. I still think that, given my daughter, 10 years ago, painted ceiling and walls rich green, and the skirting black, I should sheet up what needs protecting and just go in with a spray gun of cream paint!

On the kitchen side of things, I de-cluttered part of the work surface of packets by making 2 big Christmas cakes. The 2 puds I'm going to make should take care of the rest.

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 20 Oct 08 - 04:04 AM

Our kitchen is being overrun with plastic boxes again... it's time to make soup for the freezer.

Decluttered the dining room of its guest yesterday, so now I have room to declutter the rest of it. Better do as the man from Maine says... 'The journey of a thousand miles begins with getting off your ass!'

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Oct 08 - 09:19 PM

Listed another item on eBay. Two sold, one has yet to be paid for. Stuff is slowly moving off of that table in the sun room.

I also assembled a group of things and I did a quick eBay check to see if they were selling. They're not, so they're going to Goodwill. It's a boxful right now, enough to make a trip past in the morning.

I was thinking about selling a Pampered Chef thing that I don't have room for on my kitchen counter (a turning caddy for wooden spoons and such) and when I looked at the photos of all of the others (that do seem to sell quite nicely, I saw a couple of photos of them being used for craft stuff.

Slaps forehead!

Of course! I promptly went in and filled it with all of the pens and colored pencils and scissors and other long narrow things my son uses at his computer desk for schoolwork. And he likes it! That doesn't happen often. He usually grumbles when I move things around. Now this was the best move of the afternoon!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maire-aine
Date: 19 Oct 08 - 08:54 PM

I spent a good part of the afternoon cleaning out my work laptop. I had a lot of personal stuff (newspaper articles & song lyrics, etc) on it. I don't mind if my boss sees the stuff, but I wanted to make sure that I had them copied to my home computer.

Spent the afternoon at the trivia quiz. We took first place, but the questions were really tough; we won with only 75 out of 100. And one of our regular team members was the quiz-master this month, so his questions were hard, and we had to answer questions without him on the team.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maeve
Date: 19 Oct 08 - 06:55 PM

Made applesauce while I cleaned in the kitchen:

Wash apples. Remove stems. Put apples -whole, with skins, cores and all-
into a big roasting pan. Cook in the oven at 350F until soft, flattening them with a potato masheras they cook. Put through food mill. Sweeten or not. Bottle. Refrigerate, serve, freeze, or process in pressure canner.

If you return the sauce to the oven (or crock pot, no lid) after removing skins, seeds, and cores with the food mill, you can cook it down to delicious apple butter. This works for pears, too.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: LilyFestre
Date: 19 Oct 08 - 05:43 PM

Decluttered my fridge this weekend making a big pot of vegetable soup and a large crock pot of beef stew. YUM!

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 19 Oct 08 - 03:46 PM

Thanks, gals! Great ideas for a novel, but this year I've got one in mind which is percolating in my brain. I never know until I actually sit down and do it, so who knows? It may very well be about all of us and decluttering. It's a lovely idea, regardless and I don't have to write a novel only in November, though I do work better with a deadline like that! It also allows me to fire my inner editor and just go for it. I am really happy with the way the first one, Prairie Child, turned out AND some readers' reviews of the ms. I plan to have it published by Jan. or Feb of next year, provided I can figure out all the formatting issues and putting it into pdf!

we bought a box of tomatoes this morning and have five layers in the dehydrator right now. Rog peeled all of the overripe ones and is cooking them for whatever kind of sauce he will make of them. I have swept, yes I have swept the house and picked up some small bits here and there, detritus from the past week. Also have been doing laundry about every other day. Rog will slice up the rest of the tomatoes and I will put them on to dry out tomorrow morning. It takes about 6-7 hours for each batch, so I don't like to start them too late in the day.

Maggie, decluttering the GOP. I like that!!!**bg**

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Oct 08 - 12:43 PM

I forgot to mention, those gadgets were $1 each and I'll donate my old ones today in a trip past the Goodwill trailer.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Oct 08 - 12:40 PM

Kat, you're working toward a great goal--de-cluttering the Republicans from the White House. Go for it!

At garage sales on Friday I picked up two kitchen gadgets. I found a stainless steel sieve that fits over the sink top and a stainless steel colander to replace my two now--one plastic, one rickety aluminum. The sieve was a bit stained and looked used, but after taking the green no-scratch scrubber to it it is polished and looks like new. Neither had any dents and they both cleaned up to look like new. Here they are.

It's time to put the furnishings back in the front room now that the cat pee smell seems to be gone. I'll put something over that corner so the cats can't reach it to re-mark it. That will help clear out the front hall.

It's also time to go report back to the "Thrifty Fun" folks about how well my skunk stink removal operation has gone. They were lifesavers so I think payback by reporting back is useful.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maeve
Date: 19 Oct 08 - 10:50 AM

Well let's see. TL has sold one of the several chainsaws he's selling to buy truck tires. That will pay for one tire. He put four pieces of farm equipment out for the neighbor who salvages metal for part of his living, and all four have been picked up.

I decluttered my calender of one of the three concerts scheduled there by performing in it last night. As a result I'm working at decluttering my brain of a migraine today, while returning to the kitchen adventures of tomatoes, apples, pears, and squash. Also on my short list is to clear out of the kitchen everything that doesn't belong there. We will need to fire up the wood/coal stove in there soon.

We took clothing, books, and stereo equipment to the swap shop when we dropped off the cans and bag of paper for recycling Saturday morning.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 19 Oct 08 - 10:17 AM

Or the stories/reveries attached to the things that are leaving, piecemeal. About how the main character learns to let go.

She could be a pastiche of all of us writing here.

Or the lady who runs the fictional thrift shop where each of our things ends up, and what she thinks are the stories attached.

Or-- :~) something even better that only YOU could think up.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 19 Oct 08 - 04:15 AM

So kill two birds with one stone and write a novel about someone who declutters their house and all the stories attached to the things they can't bear to part with... or if you do detective novels, declutter a body in the library!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 19 Oct 08 - 01:43 AM

I've done laundry and dishes this week and that is about it. I may have to bow out for awhile. I've signed on for two hour stints each morning the last week before the election, at the local Obama office and I got brave and signed onto NaNoWriMo for this year, which means I've committed myself to writing a 50,000 word novel in the month of November! BUT, I won't be able to stand writing non-stop, so maybe I'll get some sorting etc. done, too.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Oct 08 - 11:47 PM

Another pan of eggplant has been cooked and added to the freezer. I haven't added sauce and cheese yet, I'm letting this batch go with just the seasoned breadcrumb coating, to see if I can use it for other things later.

Potted plants are on their way to looking better, but not finished yet. My computer desk is looking a bit better, but not finished yet either.

Laundry has been folded and most of it put away. I have some ironing to do. The main washing done today was to bathe the dogs again. It was a three-stage process. I mixed more of the hydrogen peroxide/baking soda/dish detergent formula and worked that through their coats on the front ends of the dogs (the face, legs, and front are what got sprayed by the skunk) and I finished by covering their eyes with the towel and giving their muzzles a good spritz with the Nature's Miracle Skunk Odor Remover. We're to a point where I can smell it when I put my nose by their muzzles, but it is so much better than before, and clearly they are glad to have less stink about them.

A couple of eBay items sold, not for a lot, but they sold and they'll head out of the house early next week. Gotta get some more listed.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Oct 08 - 04:04 PM

Gorgeous day. Plants coming along. Time to bathe the dogs again and let them dry in the afternoon sunshine.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 18 Oct 08 - 03:23 PM

Some of the music resources are going over to our parish choir, now that they've gotten a little more adventuresome ever since singing with our raucous folkie band on a Saturday night. By genre, I'm sending individual members CDs to hear (and whatever sheet music I have to go along with it), for long-term loan.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Oct 08 - 11:11 AM

Moving a few more eBay items today, but it's a gorgeous day out so I think I'll shift gears and go clear out the potted plants that are past their prime, make a new mix of soil and compost for these pots, and put in some seeds. Although my gardening guru doesn't like using peat moss (it's "dead") it does act like the vermiculite in commercial potting soil to keep it from packing down too much, but it isn't nasty vermiculite.

I put more bowls of beer out last night so I need to see if more snails partied hearty and threw themselves into the bowl to drown their sorrows. And it's time to pick more eggplant.

I went to work yesterday with a bucket full of eggplant and peppers and it was very easy to give them away. I came around the corner to my office at one point and the second in charge at the library was poking in my bucket. She straighted up and said "never mind!" and I asked if she needed another eggplant (I brought her one a couple of days ago.) "Yes, you may remember that my brother is coming to town tonight and I have only one eggplant." Gave her another, and got out of there with four for my friend who cooks up dishes and cans them.

I'll do some of that cooking and canning myself this evening, I think.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Oct 08 - 03:15 PM

I heard a lot of barking modulated to say (in dog terms) "what is this human doing so close to my yard up on that ladder?" Amazing how you recognize their barks. Anyway, it was the cable guy next door and I picked his brain. I'm going to set up my house with cable Internet pretty soon, and he was able to give me useful answers. Time to move forward with that, I think.

I have to rewire my phones and redo some of my coaxial cable in the house. I don't want them fishing around in the walls, I want it all ready to just set up. They'll run a new wire from the pole, and it will be higher this time. I'm looking forward to it, one day soon.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 17 Oct 08 - 01:53 PM

Dug out toward more audiotapes to convert only to find, first, more CDs that'll find lots of new ripping space on the new 160GB HD. Good thing I already had a system to manage it all.

Hardi's new car stereo's MP3-player patch cord will be installed Monday. I can listen to these old favroites on my personal player while I wait for the work to be finished, and listen to the rest on his stereo all the way home (an hour each way).

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Oct 08 - 01:39 PM

I've been trying to get pieces of art out of the files and cupboard where I have it stored and onto the walls. One place to find nice little wooden frames is garage sales, and I picked up a few this morning for under $2.

In the kitchen I have a few plastic items that I've been meaning to replace with metal, and I did that, for $2. I found a stainless steel mesh sieve (12 - 14 inches across, 6 inches wide, 4 inches deep) that has extension sides to fit across the sink. I had a cheap plastic version that kept breaking out pieces. This one needed a scrub with a scratchless pad and it's like new and on my sink (I am guessing that I'm not the only one who doesn't want to put my clean veggies down in the sink when I'm cooking--I want them to drain and stay up out of the way of the sink I'm using for other stuff.) I also found a stainless steel colander. I'll get rid of the plastic and the aluminum ones. I don't like using aluminum directly with food (I know the hazard aspect has been debunked, but still. . .) and the plastic is probably going to be re-purposed in the the craft room.

Also picked up a spec piece to sell on eBay, an old meat grinder but I've done a search and I'm not sure. It is missing one piece, but it looks great. I'll see what I can do. Other stuff listed has watchers or is selling, and I stopped by the library recycle bin and picked up a bunch of cardboard mailers.

I decluttered the living room cabinet this morning where I keep the TV and stereo and all of the connected entertainment stuff. I cancelled DishNetwork a while back so I took the receiver box out and reattached the cables to the new HD converter box and now my VCR/DVR works very nicely with the TV and I can record again. The VCR even sets its own clock from the HD receiver. How nice! I was spoiled by the DVR (in the other room, not disconnected yet) and have to go back to old fashioned VCR tapes for a while. I think I'll probably get a receiver card on the computer and record digitally and burn DVDs that way in the near future.

Re skunks: My dogs are so very happy to see people, and their coats are soft, but they still stink. Imagine Charles Schultz's Peanuts character PigPen giving off skunk instead of dust. :-/

I've been thinking about what I told you about no-till beds. I'd like to put in some raised beds here, if I can find an affordable way to build the frames and buy the dirt. You could lay newspaper on the bottom of a raised bed area and put fill it with soil and amendments down and not break up the soil beneath.

Lovely weekend coming up. Lots to do. One goal is to rearrange the living room so that there is a comfortable seating area with chairs and reading lamps in front of the fireplace.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 16 Oct 08 - 10:56 PM

Thank you all!

Maggie, getting rid of odor is decluttering your senses! A worthy pursuit!

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Oct 08 - 10:29 PM

I would pass on using any commercial fertilizer--find an organic one if you're going to add to it, but the compost and soil amendments in the spring or if you do finally till it (lava sand, green sand, earthworm castings, those sorts of amendments) are great and don't upset the chemical balance of the soil.

Actually one of the best ones around is corn gluten meal, but I would wait until this holiday season (approximately) and distribute it on top. It is great for killing pre-emergent weeds that come up from seed first in the fall and overwinter to start with a big growth spurt in the spring. The corn gluten kills this stuff in the fall. If you wait until spring the same corn gluten meal acts like a powerful fertilizer. So right before the really cold temperatures set in, I might give your bed a shot (assuming this is the right timing for Colorado).

I wish I could say I've de-cluttered, but I haven't. I've been so swamped, and the dog business did not help.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: MAG
Date: 16 Oct 08 - 09:29 PM

Before her Alzheimers got too bad my mother kept trying to give oneof us -- any one of us -- her silver tea service.

No takers; we all had to clean (detarnish) the *&^%$ thing too often as kids, and since "it was Mom's" you can't really get rid of it.

Knocked over a pile of pots & pans that were on top of the 'frig -- a clue/hint from somewhere.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Sorcha
Date: 16 Oct 08 - 08:08 PM

Well, I WAS happily de cluttered...then my much loved MiL sent MORE glass ware for me to deal with. What the girls don't want may just go to a new home in a charity shop. I don't DO glass.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maeve
Date: 16 Oct 08 - 07:53 PM

SRS is right.

And if you throw some 10-10-10 fertilizer in under the newspaper, wet the newspaper, put on even a few more inches of compost than she described and water the whole area regularly, the ground underneath can soften up as the pile breaks down and earthworms (where present) do their tunneling and mixing magic. Dry grass clippings can be used in place of the fertilizer. The idea is to jumpstart the heat and moisture of a working compost pile.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 16 Oct 08 - 06:14 PM

I decluttered a huge spider from my sofa this evening.. does that count?

She went out the front door alive, but not necessarily intact, she would not co-operate with the 'glass and card' trick and insisted on getting all of her feet under the rim of the glass. Sorry, but she was a big ol' bitch.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Oct 08 - 01:20 PM

One of the "no till" approaches to gardening is to identify the area (mow it short if need be) then wet it down. From there you lay down thick layers of paper (I think the Dirt Doctor says have it be at least six sheets deep) and overlap the edges a little. Then lay down 6 inches of compost and mulch. Water it in. The blanket of stuff blocks out light, snuffs seeds that might try to get started.

Next spring you would decide how to space your bedding plants and dig carefully down into the layers into each spot and turn over enough of the spot to break up the dirt below before putting in your bedding plants (this won't do anything to soften it, just kill off the plants on the surface). I have done this with limited success a couple of times, and I think it would have been better if I'd been better at follow-through on keeping plants from encroaching around the edge of the new bed.

I often time do around the edge of the house this way, pull the weeds out, lay down paper, then put mulch on top.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 16 Oct 08 - 11:00 AM

Maggie, you mean I could lay down newspapers in my flower garden, now, and smother out weeds for next spring?

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Oct 08 - 10:25 AM

I poured beer in a couple of shallow bowls in the garden last night and de-cluttered it of a couple of dozen snails. My son was impressed when we headed out to school this morning. He's the one who pointed out they were on the sidewalk during yesterday's rain. If they're on the move it's time to nail them.

It's shifting into cooler nights, time to get have some more covers ready for beds. I have to wash a lot of towels that are piled in the corner after all of the dog baths--I'll be bringing each dog in and giving them a good scrub in the tub now that the worst spreadable part of the smell is off of them.

I've listed a funky collectible plate from 1955 on eBay. The kind of thing you see in the thrift stores, but it is old enough, made at an identifiable Canadian pottery for the Alberta Jubilee, that I thought I'd try it. I have several watchers. Who knew?

The kitchen and dining room have gotten pretty messy again. I haven't taken my bagged newspapers to recycle because I think I'll be using them to lay down on turf soon to establish a new garden area for spring. It's too late to "solarize" because sun through plastic won't cook my sod, but newspaper under compost under plastic might smother out weeds. Or maybe skip the plastic part. Time to take those bags out to the garage to make more room in the house.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: LilyFestre
Date: 15 Oct 08 - 05:43 PM

Well, the house I was working on is now empty (except for some fencing that we'll pick up with the trailer). It's an odd feeling as well as one of accomplishment. The deed was signed over this morning and that project is now done. We have another HUGE project in the wings however, this time, of a more happy nature. :)

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 15 Oct 08 - 03:59 PM

I m"isread it like this:

I managed to clear off my desk, and yet again, I couldn't stand it!"

:~)

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 15 Oct 08 - 01:56 PM

I managed to clear off my desk, yet again, as I couldn't stand it! I will wash dishes and clean up some clutter before my gal comes to clean floors, tomorrow. Sadly, tomorrow will be her last day as we have decided to cut back on expenses.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 15 Oct 08 - 11:44 AM

Working on the puder corner; it's a little messed up with the installation of a new puder. Still working on getting peripherals hooked up/placed/working. One item per day is about all I can manage so they come in order of importance/do-ability. The printer appears not to be getting power-- the power plug on the back seems not to be working. Other things plugged into the same outlet strip are working. The power light WAS coming on before the puder-swap (but printer not working then either), so I'm clueless. May try the older printer I think I have a cable for. Friends are getting tired of printing things for me! :~)

Also continuing to dig out from post-MIL stuff. Hope to have the LR couch re-wrapped against cat fur and dust, today; have some wash running that will complete the fabric parts needed.

Posted a few good, new clues on daily scheduling intentions on a bulletin board I made last year: I laminated a piece of blank, colored paper that sits over and behind the TV. Tasks/appointments go up there on Post-Its. I may forget to look at it, but Hardi notices anything new and asks me about it.

Sadie is overdue for a toe-clip, and she's to big for me to do without teaching her a lot of bad habits in the process. She got sore on the treadmill the other day because they really need to be clipped, so I made an appointment today for the vet to trim them up.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: MAG
Date: 15 Oct 08 - 05:09 AM

Odormute was formulatedfor stuff like skunks. It works great on pet boo-boos, too.

I have discovered that taking pics of the clutter makes it much easier for me to see how bad it is ...

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: mouldy
Date: 15 Oct 08 - 04:23 AM

SRS - It's morris dancers!

Have started on the books again. There are so many I want to keep. However I am trying to be sensible, and I feel a trip to a charity shop may be made this afternoon. Also have come across a few more Ian-related bits and bobs, including all his certificates, and also copies of the biography I wrote for use by the vicar at his funeral. (Work had to stop for a while.)
I have also started to sort out the hall cupboard, and move some of the musical stuff to there, rather than just stacked up in the living room. I mean, once the vinyl albums have somehow been moved (but I don't know where to yet) I will actually have room for my new glide-rocker and maybe also the Christmas tree.

Was discussing the kitchen floor damp problem with my "man who does" (aka Rev. Peter Hibbs) and he said it might be condensation under the vinyl flooring. So I pulled up a piece for us to look, and it ripped. Hey ho, I was going to get some new stuff sometime...
At least the decorating will be finished in a day or so in the bigger spare bedroom, and I can get round to the business of finding a cheap bit of carpet.

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 15 Oct 08 - 03:46 AM

Or a trip to the riverside with a washboard and a bottle of Cilit Bang!?

Decluttered my crate, had words with the Limpit, am now working gently on the box combining.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 15 Oct 08 - 12:16 AM

Maggie, I wonder if Oust or Febreeze would help?

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Oct 08 - 12:15 AM

I have eight round feet I've been working intensely with over the last 24 hours. They, like their attached noses, bodies, muzzles, and ears, stink like skunk.

Just got in from hearing Juan Williams (of NPR) speak. Amazing talk, well worth the time spent coming and going and convincing my son to go also.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: LilyFestre
Date: 14 Oct 08 - 08:02 PM

I'll be rid of 5,000 square feet and all that it entails by tomorrow at this time.

Man. I'm exhausted.

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 14 Oct 08 - 11:06 AM

At least on the pickup you can drive with the windows down and their heads out of them!

Failed in all but the 'resting' part of my days plan today. Back is still painful but I've gone a whole day without painkillers and managed to catch up on some sleep.

I notice that Limpit has sorted some of her crate into mine... Harumph... there will be words!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Oct 08 - 09:48 AM

Tomato juice is one home remedy. I'm also finding that people have used Downy fabric softener, mint toothpaste, Scope mouthwash, Skin So Soft, but I don't know if they work really work or just mask smell. I've knocked the smell down by a couple of levels of magnitude, but we have several to go. And of course it is on both dogs, though not as bad on the catahoula.

I can only imagine what my pickup smells like with them sleeping in the garage. So much for having it clean and shiny, if it smells like a skunk I've lost ground.

I'm waiting on a call from the vet with suggestions for smell removal, and I'll ask if I need any eye ointment. Her eyes must be smarting, there is a little discharge.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 14 Oct 08 - 04:47 AM

Have a search for what Sinsull did to Seamus after he got skunked... I think tomatoes were involved - or is that for sunburn?

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Oct 08 - 04:17 AM

A couple of steps forward, a couple of steps back. . .

The dogs killed a skunk in the back yard tonight. The pit got hit with spray the worst, right in the muzzle. I've been bathing dogs with peroxide, baking soda and dish soap, then after a shampoo, a rise of vinegar. It isn't quite as strong, but more baths are in the offing.

Darn.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 14 Oct 08 - 03:24 AM

A day off today so it's crate sorting. When I tidy, I shove everything into collapsible crates, so that all the stuff I need to sort is in one place. Having decluttered and sorted the sitting room, I now have 3 crates to sort (but 2 of those belong to Limpit) which is todays' job.

Enjoy!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 13 Oct 08 - 08:34 PM

I declutted the coaxial cables threatening to take over the LR. Hardi will do a better job soon I hope, with a few more extension cables, but at least Faulkner can lie down now without getting stuck in a bowl of black and white spaghetti.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maire-aine
Date: 13 Oct 08 - 06:39 PM

I finally tackled the guest room today (took this as a vacation day). I've been bringing home books and manuals from the office, and just piling them up in there. I finally organized it all. Now I can walk around in the room.

I also filed away a whole year's worth of bank statements, etc. Plus I threw out 3 grocery bags full of magazines, etc. I'll take them to the recyling center some time during the week.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 13 Oct 08 - 12:12 PM

Did a look-through the cassette tape stash while Sadie and Faulkner jogged on the treadmill, while the 3 pieces of the LR couch cover dehaired in the dryer, and while workout music recorded in another room.

It was cold out there in the workout room; I sat under a 100-watt bulb and had dressed warm.... Too bad the tape I was converting out there did't convert, I don't think-- I have a boxful of cheap recorders and I think THIS was the one that froze up on me LAST time I used it. This time I'll let the battery run down and see if it auto-saves the recording-- which is why I'd spent so long doing all that other stuff-- I had also, I thought, been converting a looooong gospel compilation tape Giac had sent me.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Oct 08 - 10:16 AM

What does that mean, "a local morris side." Morris dancing, or Morris minor cars, or something else?

I've de-cluttered my sinuses with my neti pot this morning and a dose of Allegra and a side of motrin. Ragweed is still with us.

I have a slide and film scanner that operated briefly when I bought it used but now it doesn't work. I bought it via eBay and was I was able to buy a warranty for it, so last night I went in and printed up the repair stuff for the place I have to send it. I have to pay for the repair and the warranty folks will repay (up to the value of the item). I want to have this back and working so I can start some scanning over the holidays.

I'd love to also get to some of my sewing projects again one of these days. I can't quite reach most of them yet.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: mouldy
Date: 13 Oct 08 - 04:22 AM

Got to get the rest of the broken glass out of Ruth's car, as it's off to be serviced in 2 days.

Just got back from my weekend looking at a possible relocation village in Northumberland - magic! And there appears to be a local morris side.

It's given me a bit more impetus to push the work on the house forward a bit. The spare room's being worked on as I write. If the weather holds today i will get out and do more garden de-cluttering today. Have got a load of logs arriving this week, and so I need to make sure I have room.

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 13 Oct 08 - 03:53 AM

Well, that's it. The front room carpet is finished and cleaner. I won't say it's totally clean because it's a dark green carpet that gets a lot of wear, but it's better than it was. Plus it's fluffier.

Now I have my own carpet washer, it will get done at annually again, if not more often. Manitas is eyeing up the washer for using in the bathroom (it does carpet and hard floors) and the bathroom is in need of a little sprucing.

I still have a lot of sorting to do but it's ovbious that a lot has been done. Now if only I could get my act together today and do it, but I've strained a muscle in my back and bending isn't helping. Probably neither was vacuuming and washing the carpet over three days, but there we go... it had to happen. Today is resting day.

I'm trying to reduce my sewing stuff downstairs to one big box; stuff I'm actually working on, stuff I need to work on and the recent magazines. I think the one from 2005 can come up here to join the other back issues. Which probably indicates how long ago it was that I sorted the magazine rack....

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Oct 08 - 06:27 PM

Ride that wave! We've all been there at one time or another, but it is the sort of impulse that, like someone-or-other said, we usually "sit back until it passes."

Good work, all, with the autumn momentum.

My truck hasn't looked this shiny and pretty in a long time and it is now clean inside and out.

I've begun scrubbing in the kitchen and I have some papers to file or shred in the corner filing cabinet (the bills get filed there, and this is the paperwork I would grab if I have to rescue stuff in the house in a hurry). While I work I'll watch one of my NetFlix films and have it ready to go back on Tuesday. I need to do a faster turnaround on those to make it pay for itself better.

I'm thinking about painting my kitchen cabinets. There is a lot of custom woodwork in the house, and these match the cabinets in the bathrooms and living room. These get the most use and the finish shows it. If I freshen up the look with white enamel, the rest won't suffer (these cabinets do meet the wainscotting in one corner, and that and the living room walls are all a sort of pecan colored varnished wood). I could even paint the wainscotting in the dining area, I suppose. Hmmm.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maire-aine
Date: 12 Oct 08 - 06:23 PM

I got a lot of cleaning done upstairs, esp. in my bedroom. I moved all of the furniture and vacuumed behind everything, incl. the bed and dresser. Even my stuffed animals got vacuumed. This should help me breathe easier, too.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: LilyFestre
Date: 12 Oct 08 - 05:27 PM

Ahhhh yes!!!!!! The house is just about done...I am PSYCHED!!!! It's been a lot of work but it's been so worth it. It gives me a positive nudge to hoe out and get rid of so much more. I don't want or need all this stuff...I just don't.

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 12 Oct 08 - 01:00 PM

The church hosted a member's annual Bereavement Camp for kids. Showed her the stash of hankies a tad late, but they're there for next year and out of my house/carry bag.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Oct 08 - 12:16 PM

This morning I've gone through my eBay room to find things that were previously listed but didn't sell. Those add up after a while.

I've relisted a couple that were still in the "unsold" page at eBay and tweaked an ad for one I listed last spring (a porcelain serving bowl). Recently I've raised prices and listed them with free shipping. It's bizarre, I'll get the same amount for the sale after shipping, and the listing price is higher, but people go for it. So this dish that was listed close to what the china replacement companies charge the first time is now several dollars under their price and with the conspicuous "free shipping" orange thing on the auction photo.

I separated the potted "ornamental" chard (several colors) and planted it yesterday, and today I'll go add a couple of rows of onions and carrots in that side garden. I have broccoli to start from seed also and I think I'll pull out the last of the cantaloupe, shovel in more compost, and put the broccoli in that general area. I expect the eggplant to last until the first frost and I'm nurturing it still. (Yesterday our village mayor walked past and I asked if they like eggplant and they do, so right there I poked around the shrubs and cut two beautiful 12oz fruits and handed them over. He was so impressed at the shiny beauty of the fresh fruit, and said they'd probably eat it that evening. I don't think this constitutes a bribe!)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 12 Oct 08 - 10:43 AM

A busy, warm, beautiful Fall weekend.


1. The FreeCycled-in ski-exerciser (that was replaced with a much better one Hardi was recently given) went to the roadside yesterday, because I didn't FreeCycle it out quick enough. Hardi was so disappointed to see it still leaning against a tree when we came back from church last night! In this part of the country, if you want it gone like that (no curbs here), you have to put a FREE sign on it and put it next to the driveway mouth so people can pull over to get it safely, I explained.

This one is not in good enough shape to Freecycle it, actually.


2. The back porch (where it had been waiting for me to deal with it) is becoming quite a nice sitting porch/camper stand-in.


3. Hardi also moved the camper to its winter position out of the way of the John Deere snowplow soon to come out for the winter.


3. He also got the "last" mowing of the lawn done, making way for his winter X-country ski track. This included knocking out the treelets I hadn't marked to save, and leaving the ones I did mark. A real back yard is shaping up-- with mature, canopied shade trees now to be augmented with the treelets that sprang up and a "privacy trellis" I'll cobble up in the spring out of cow panels and climbing container plants until I can get some of the local crown vetch established there. Maybe a few caged tomaters and green peppers.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: LilyFestre
Date: 12 Oct 08 - 08:49 AM

I cleaned out my car yesterday (this has become a weekly habit as I tend to leave things at the end of the day when I am tired) and also cleaned out my fridge. It looks SO much better now and it's all organized! YEAH! Today is the final day for cleaning out my Nana's house. Big things will go like chain-link fencing panels, wooden fencing and any remaining things I don't trust the movers with. I moved 70% of the boxes into storage myself. The remaining boxes are either heavy and loaded with books or they are leftover in the attic. I decided I did enough and they could do the rest. Initially I had called to see how much it would be for them to do just the attic (which is already sorted and packed) but as it turns out, I have to pay them for a minimum of 4 hours whether they are working or not....soooo....they can easily get the rest out and delivered in 4 hours. Very nice!
    I expect to sign closing papers this week, ahead of schedule.
Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 12 Oct 08 - 02:42 AM

I'm in a state of shock. I knew our front room carpet hadn't been properly cleaned for a couple of years (the carpet washer I used to borrow got 'lost' in a divorce), only lightly steamed over which didn't exactly remove much dirt as 'set' the rest in, but I was totally gobsmacked at the colour of the dirty water tank in my new carpet washer. Yes, I finally bit the bullet and bought my own. It's a pretty sage green and I can't believe how sad I am for gettng so excited over its arrival!

Anniehoo.... the front room carpet has been mostly cleaned and in my grandmothers' pet phrase ''ee can see where I've been you'. Whilst waiting for the bits to dry, Limpit and I decluttered the rest of the room with the result that the toy cupboard is empty and the dustbin is full. Regretably, none of it was in much of a state to gift on, and what there was has been reclaimed by said Limpit or snuck back into the cupboard!

I rediscovered a few 'treasures' and disposed of a lot of junk... I may even have a clear table top by the end of today, which is good because the fruit bowl is under it at the moment and I'm missing my daily plums.

It's also much warmer because there isn't a pile of boxes and a table full of junk blocking the radiator! Mind you, the cats are not happy, the radiator is under the window and they used to love sitting on the table (in anything ON it) in the warm and looking out.

I'm sure this cleaning fit will not last til I've finished this room, it tends to fizzle out about 3/4s round - so there's enough to do to make it daunting but not enough so I can leave it. Ho hum... but I do so love my new carpet washer :D !

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Oct 08 - 11:40 PM

Is that salt cheaper than cat litter? I keep bags of sand and cat litter in the back of my vehicle. You can also scatter some of it under the wheels if necessary to get out of where you are stuck.

My pickup is now cleaned up inside. Trash picked up, vacuumed all around, and windows all washed. Also washed down plastic surfaces. My cloth shopping bags have been bundled together and the blanket in its original zipper bag from the store is under the back seat next to the portable air compressor. When it gets colder I'll add the down sleeping bag that I always put in the truck in winter. Even in Texas it can get very cold for a long time and I keep some emergency stuff handy. I'll put fresh water bottles out there also.

I'll wash it tomorrow.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Sorcha
Date: 11 Oct 08 - 09:12 PM

MAG....if you live in snow/ice country keep some weight in the trunk/boot of the car! The cheapest is a few bags of 'water softener salt'. Helps hold the rear axle down (and stop sliding) when the roads are slick.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: MAG
Date: 11 Oct 08 - 09:02 PM

Electrician has been here and gone; what I thought might be a big problem was a very little problem. He also fixed a swag lamp in the corner that hasn't worked for ages. He ALSO said my electric baseboard heaters are as efficient as anything else electric I could buy, and electric is cheaper right now than oil or gas -- so my dream of cutting my very high heat bills is dead.

I got some weatherproof shelving for the carport, made a first stab at tossing ruined cardboard boxes, and think that is actually a doable project.

Gotta get tons of stuff I haul around out of the car; it wastes gas.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Oct 08 - 01:15 PM

I've left that kind of stuff out at the curb--surprising what people pick up. And old fence slats--folks with wood-burning stoves like those for kindling.

A neighbor has a spinet piano he wants to sell for a reasonable (low) price. My big old antique heirloom needs to be refurbished and I don't play it much. I'm thinking of buying my neighbor's piano, getting it tuned and having it here to play because I miss that. I've been planning to save to restore my piano. Maybe I should just play my piano and save my cash, but there are a couple of broken hammers (it is an 1885 Weber upright rosewood veneer with a birds-eye maple sounding board, is gorgeous and sounded great when it could be tuned and was bought new by my family from Connecticut).

The down-side--they're smokers and it will smell like cigarettes, inside and out. I could clean and polish it, but the inside will still give off that smell. And that is a big downside.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Charmion
Date: 11 Oct 08 - 11:21 AM

Ta da dump, ta da dump, ta da dump, dump, dump ...

Bits of construction leftovers -- GONZO!

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Oct 08 - 12:41 AM

Exactly, Sorcha--I had lots of my Dad's files to go through, and the staples will eventually take out a shredder if you don't tear that corner off of the pages first. I think I got the last batch of his stuff earlier in the summer, but I did find a couple of estate administrator checkbooks recently.

I've made a list of things to do that don't cost any money, and I'll see how far I can get down that list over this weekend. It's a personal challenge.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Sorcha
Date: 10 Oct 08 - 05:11 PM

Hey, shredding IS fun! I get to shred every day at work! LOL. When mom died, I had BOXES of confidential clien files to shred, not to mention all her Personal records. I spent hours, no days, at the cop shop with the BIG shredder doing it! Had a blast. Only PITA part was having to take the staples out of all the check books.....

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 10 Oct 08 - 04:30 PM

Well! I emptied one bag before I left for lunch. Some of it is sitting on my table as I need to find homes for it. The rest went in the trash and/or shredder.

Then, Morgan and I came home and he asked to shred, so...we just went through the other two bags I had and shredded almost everything with a small amount going into the trash. I don't know what I was doing a year ago in July, but there were a bunch of bills I had not opened!

So, as soon as I get the other stuff put away that will help with the clutter in my office which had come from the recent closet clean-out.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 10 Oct 08 - 12:08 PM

I am committing to going through one bag of papers in the office, right now, before my regular Friday lunch date with my grandson.:-)

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Oct 08 - 12:01 PM

Liz, great minds think alike, though I simply called it "Fall Cleaning" when I commented on it to my son this morning. Somehow all of the dust kittens have turned into pumas and all of the windows need washing and the floors have suddenly gotten very gritty and . . . you get the drift.

Since I'm running on fumes until Tuesday (child support is late because Monday is a bank holiday) I'll make a list of all of the things I need to do around here that don't cost a thing. The above mentioned items, plus washing the truck, washing the dogs, doing laundry, repairs around the house, etc.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 10 Oct 08 - 06:49 AM

Having a major fit today... the front room is undergoing a thorough spring (it is in the southern hemisphere) clean. I'm awaiting delivery of a new carpet washer so I need to have the room clear for that and I'm taking the opportunity to declutter a whole heap of crap out of the room. Lots of it is Limpit's old toys so we'll either gift it on, recycle or dispose of it.

Trouble is, having cleaned the windows and the net curtain, we can see how scruffy the rest of the room is and I'm now contemplating a week off over half term and redecorating...

Don't tell Manitas, he doesn't approve of me decorating things, somehow it always takes a few years longer than I anticipate!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Oct 08 - 09:39 PM

"where" we went into some detail.

Got a few good ratings added to my feedback on eBay this week. The dulcimer guy was ecstatic--as well he should be. It was like buying the case and getting the instrument free.

Must attack paper stacks. It's creeping back in again.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Oct 08 - 05:18 PM

I've been fighting the smell in the corner of the front room ever since at least one of the cats decided he didn't like his new clean litter and would spend a day peeing on the carpet instead. I've cleaned and sprayed and it is getting better, but the room is blocked so consequently no one can easily use that room. Go back through the thread from last month were we went into some detail in the debate of how to make it stop stinking.

I think you need a larger hankie, Susan. Those look like crocodile tears from here . . . ;-)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 09 Oct 08 - 05:08 PM

Ya know I luv ya, hankie-waving babes, but we drove RIGHT past a Salivation Army I am SURE was calling out to me this afternoon. One we regularly shop, too.

Why? Because (A) I don't know where they keep their hankies and (B) cash was short and (C) winter weather will be here soon enough to prompt walking those long aisles indoors!

Forgive me! :~)


Let me just daintily dab up my tears of guilt with a fresh hankie.... ew, not the snotrag!!!

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Charmion
Date: 09 Oct 08 - 01:55 PM

Two gig bags I don't use -- guitar and banjo -- went to the silent auction at the Getaway -- and sold, hooray! Unfortunately, I couldn't resist an enamelled steel cup with the Pusser's Rum trademark on it ... but that can go in the camping box.

Dratted Bill the tomcat pissed on the new rug in the study that Edmund just sent from Afghanistan. It's a good thing I just learned about a carpet-cleaning company that specializes in Orientals, but I really resent the expense. That cat is *so* lucky he's cute; he'd make a really terrific hat, and winter is coming.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Oct 08 - 11:27 AM

I unplugged my computer stuff and moved my desk (it rolls) and replugged in everything. I've swept and rearranged and it looks interesting. This isn't the final position, I need to do some work to take out chipped tile so the desk is situated to move out of the way for that work. I've put a chair and an attractive LED and acrylic lamp over near the window. I can make it glow interesting colors behind that blind. :)

Mailed off a couple of books that have been here for ages. It was a book editing job from ages ago that never actually took off. I think it is time to make another pass through the scholarly books. Also, I have a couple listed online that haven't moved so I need to take them down and think about how to sell them elsewhere.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Oct 08 - 11:25 PM

I moved some more paper out of the office today, but nothing stunning, just slow and steady. I also cleared out one of the kaput cantaloupe vines in the garden by the driveway and brought in a couple more fruits. Most of them are huge, all will ripen simultaneously. The peppers are still producing and the eggplants are as beautiful as ever. Every few days I have to take time to cut up and freeze garden stuff; it looks like tomorrow might be one of those days. That'll clear the fridge a little.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 08 Oct 08 - 08:03 PM

Oh. I didn't know there were two kinds! In SE CT it is rampant, climbing up trees along the highways, choking them out, etc. Now, I am learning something new, again, on Mudcat. I love it. click here for more on duelling bittersweets!

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maire-aine
Date: 08 Oct 08 - 07:32 PM

Maeve has it right. There is a domestic variety that is native to Michigan, and I would make sure that's what I get. And the Japanese variety is banned in the state. Also, there are regulations about what you can sell or not. If it's grown on your own property, you can cut it for your own use.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maeve
Date: 08 Oct 08 - 07:26 PM

FYI The Japanese bittersweet is the invasive problem plant; quite a thug. Our native bittersweet is much less of a problem.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Oct 08 - 04:49 PM

I don't know bittersweet. Why would it be illegal to grow if she can buy it at the farmer's market? Most noxious weeds don't find their way to the marketplace in the same place they're considered a pest.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 08 Oct 08 - 04:27 PM

I don't do much except for a few cutouts in the windows, mostly for Morgan and the neighbourhood kids. We DO always get pumpkins and carve them. It's probably my fav. holiday and my kids have always been very creative carvers. I do have a cassette tape of scary music I sometimes put on, but we have so few trick-or-treaters it doesn't seem worth it.

Maryanne, make sure it's legal before you plant bittersweet! I would imagine it is illegal in some New England states. It was considered a BIG problem in CT, but I loved it. I made dream catchers using hoops made out of bittersweet. I also decorated with it...the berries are so pretty. Maybe I'll dig out my old photos and scan them in, of the last BIG Halloween decorate-the-house we did back in CT. It was a hoot! Ghosts coming out of the attic windows, the house itself looking haunted (it was)and run down with bricks missing from the chimney, etc.

Ah well, here I am cluttering up this thread!

kat

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maire-aine
Date: 08 Oct 08 - 02:23 PM

Haven't really decorated the house for fall before. Seldom buy a pumpkin to carve as a jack-o-lantern, because I don't want the mess. I have a few old candles in the shape of pilgrims and turkeys (from the fifties at least) and a cornucopia-shaped basket that I sometimes fill with plastic fruit.

If I find an autumn-colored wreath that I really like, I'll buy it for the front door. But I seldom go to craft fairs, and the stuff in the garden center is all from China, so I won't buy that.

One of the vendors at the farmers' market had bunches of bittersweet, but they wanted $9 for just a few branches, so I passed on that. I'm considering planting my own next spring.

One year (I guess I was around 10), my Dad planted gourds, then built this rack for them. He carved about a dozen like j-o-ls, and lit them with a Christmas light in the back of each. What an imagination! He was a kid at heart.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Oct 08 - 12:31 PM

I have a couple of watchers, and I've thought of some more things to list over at eBay. Of course, thinking of things is one thing, doing it is another. I think this marketplace will shift, it's hard to guess what will sell, so I'll keep offering up a range and see what works.

More and more often when we need to find something it is easy around here. Last night my son needed some cables, and while I still have them in three or four places, at least I was able to point them out and he looked for the right one.

Do any of you decorate the house for the fall holidays? Do you have stuff you pull out every year, or do you use consumables, things that are purchased, used, and tossed or eaten (like pumpkins)? I'm thinking the shift to not storing pumpkins and turkeys and such but picking up new consumable things each year is one way to avoid some of the stuff stored in the house.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Oct 08 - 11:13 PM

Shredded, recycled, and rearranged some stuff in my office.

It looks messier again because stuff has been pulled out to determine its disposition--find a better home or toss it.

I have a work surface between two tall bookcases. It consists of 2 two-drawer file cabinets with a gap that a shredder sits in. Across the top I have a 4' board that is supposed to be a staging area for whatever my current projects are. But since I rearranged in here the last spring it has had homeless items stacked on it. I made inroads there this evening.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Oct 08 - 09:21 PM

Listening to the debate right now, so while I listen I'll sort papers around the house.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 07 Oct 08 - 11:19 AM

oops, **bg**

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 07 Oct 08 - 10:48 AM

him, Susan**bg** My Son, Colin, is my first-born and yeah, I'll bet they would!

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 07 Oct 08 - 10:32 AM

Kat, good thing you didn't, or they'd send a shipping crate to take her.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 07 Oct 08 - 12:17 AM

Well, I got a huge pile of papers off my desk and in the mail to the hospital to prove to them we don't have oodles of money and they should be a little forgiving in their pursuit of bigger payments from us! I was going to send a note that my first-born wouldn't fit in the envelope but I decided I should be nice.:-)

Nothing else done, really. I did get a new electric dehydrator and did some tomatoes in a trial run, yesterday. Worked a treat, though I can see it would take several days of filling the trays to get enough for the winter, so I may be very busy over the next couple of weeks. They tasted delicious! I may even buy three more trays as it is expandable.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: MAG
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 09:33 PM

Two bags of bags to the humane society thrift shop, as well as one outfit. (Picked up one book and one small pot, however.)

Two large basketsful of brush into the trashcan. Now kicking back w/ a book which is supposed to be fantasy, but so far is historical fiction (Susan Schwartz, *Shards of Empire*)

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maire-aine
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 07:43 PM

I serve it with any kind of meat, but you could also pour it over cream cheese and use it as a dip on crackers.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 07:40 PM

What do you eat this with? It sounds wonderful! Kind of Middle Eastern or Indian.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maire-aine
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 07:34 PM

Here's the chutney recipe. I must have gotten it from a magazine at some point, but I don't remember which one.

Gingered Apple Chutney

6 medium-sized onions, peeled & quartered
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 lb golden raisins
8 lbs tart-firm apples, pared, cored & cut into 1" chunks (I used Cortlands this time)
1 lb dried currants
1 lb crystallized ginger, coarsely chopped (bought at Williams-Sonoma)
1 T grated orange rind
1 t grated lemon rind
2 quarts cider vinegar
2 lbs light brown sugar
1 T dry mustard
1 T Salt
¼ t cayenne pepper (optional, but not for me)

Put onions, garlic & raisins through a food chopper fitted with a coarse blade. Combine with all remaining ingredients in a large, very heavy enamel or stainless steel kettle. Set uncovered over a moderately high heat & bring to a rolling boil. Lower heat slightly, so mixture boils gently, then cook uncovered for 4½ to 5 hours, until very thick, glossy & dark. Watch the kettle closely toward the end and stir frequently, to prevent mixture from sticking & burning.

About ½ hour before chutney is done, wash & rinse 8 pint preserving jars & their closures. Immerse jars in a kettle of simmering water until needed; set closures in a pan of simmering water, turn off heat & let stand in the hot water until needed.

Ladle hot chutney into hot jars, filling to within ¼" of the top. Run a thin-blade spatula or knife around the inside edge of jars to release trapped air bubbles. Wipe jar rims & seal.

Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath (212°F). Remove jars from water bath & cool to room temperature (not in a draft). Check seals, then label & store on a cool, dark, dry shelf. Makes 8 pints.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 07:32 PM

Happy Dance!       Happy Dance!    Yesss!

The great big box is gone and the package was picked up by the UPS guy who was there at the UPS Store loading his truck when I arrived.

I'm not convinced the smell is completely gone in my living room carpet, I'm going to give it another spritz of the nature's miracle (with orange oil) again and plan to move a couple of pieces in there later in the week. Also rearrange the room since we don't have to have the TV attached to the coaxial cable coming from the attic and the satellite dish.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 04:00 PM

Whew. I went into sticker shock when I saw the shipping price of the huge box. So I went out at lunch and got two much closer to the actual diameter (but too short) and cobbled them together into one longer box. Almost half as much to ship it. It goes out this afternoon when I pick up my son, and I'll work this evening to cover the couple of hours spent fooling with this box (Flex time is excellent for just this kind of day!)

Later on I'll flatten out the big box and store it in the garage. I had a variety of other pieces of boxes and cardboard to use in the package and those will also get flattened.

I cancelled the Dish Network a while back and I realized this weekend that the black box is still hooked up to everything in the living room. I'll extract it from the AV area and see what I can do about re-connecting the bits (Cable box, DVD, VCR, TV, CD player, receiver, turntable, were all hooked together). Maybe this is the time to move around the cabinet and make it so I can reach the parts more easily in the future (everyone hold up your hand who has ever had to untangle wires to turn every device around and then peer at the plugs with a flashlight to read what they are all for).

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 03:52 PM

Izzat with dumplings? (Ew.) :~)

SRS, just before I got to the Antique Show, as the hankiest dealer told me, she'd sold the BAG of hankies she had there for TWO BUCKS. I told her to remember me for next year-- and I have some pull there. :~) If I get a copy of the program I'll be able to get her address and phone and she can let me know sooner than then. We can split the bounty.

I passed up a whole box of $5 hankies. Oh, they were gorgeous and a lot of them brand new. But this de-clut thing involves setting SOME limits.

Who else wants hankies, BTW? (No snot rags though.)

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 02:02 PM

Reminds me of the children's book, Snot Stew!

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 01:09 PM

I've decided to treat myself: the personal hankies get tossed into the regular load of whites and washed twice, rinsed four times, no dryer sheets, then folded and set back where needed. But I've decided that when the supply is sufficient (LOL, dangerdanger!) I'll send them, washed like that, along to the cleaners with the regular drycleaning stuff for a nice pressing and folding.

Our close friend Ed has a very funny story about hankies. He likes to keep the staff at the facilities he "visits" (he's and Edith are living at home for the moment) laughing. bless him. One staff member asked him one day, "What's that nasty thing hanging outta your pocket, old man?" I can't describe this just in words.... people here are real kidders.... but he replied with a grin, "Snot rag!" She pretended to be scandalized, and shouted back, "Hankie!!!" He responded, "Not after it's been used!"

Now they run this routine every time they pass in a hallway, abbareviated-- just picking up where they left off: "Snot Rag!" "Hankie!" "Snot Rag!" "Hankie!"

He told me the story so that when someone with authority eventually misunderstands and thinks it's an Alzheimers conversation, and locks him up, I can spring him. Because I know the true story and he knows I will ferret him out if he goes missing!

One thing Ed and I have richly in common is our love of accuracy in speech. I keep forgetting to tell him I have a stash of these now-- think I'll call him and see how he's doing.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: mouldy
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 12:49 PM

I got loads of hankies - one or two of them I had when I was in my teens. Then I inherited my mum's, bought some new ones, and I also have all of Ian's - for the REALLY big sniffly sessions.

...and some of Ian's were inherited from my dad!

Still waiting to hear from the bloody electrician.

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 12:02 PM

An art teacher I had, jewellery design and bronze-casting, once used all of her old hankies to make an art installation. She suspended thin wires from the ceiling, made a square, attached to them, of thin rods, then hung the hankies, sewn together, across the rods and over the edges, so that they hung like a tablecloth and made it look as though there was a table under them. It was supposed to represent the dining table she'd played under as a child while displaying the old hankies and their histories. It was rather interesting, even if she was a pretentious person, at times. In the darkened art gallery with spotlights highlighting it, one could imagine hiding under it and i loved seeing all of the details of the hankies. I've a bunch of them, too.:-)

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 11:18 AM

That sounds about the range I would expect, a buck or two per hankie. Thanks for the offer--let me know what you find and we can see if it is worth making the round trip by mail. And that is a good idea to check antique shops. (My drawer supply is down and I have to wash them again in the next load of laundry).

I hung my laundry out to dry yesterday and probably got the last line dried load for a while. We have rain predicted for all day today and I'm not sure how long it will stick around. I went out to retrieve it and realized that the loud barking from the catahoula earlier in the evening had had a meaning--she was telling on the pit bull who had found a sock on the ground. They have been so good about leaving the hanging laundry alone, but apparently if it hits the ground, that's different. I think this must have been stuck in the corner of a bottom fitted sheet and dropped out in the breeze.

It was so funny--I picked up the mangled sock and looked at the dogs. Poppy, the catahoula, was just sitting there looking friendly and virtuous. Cinnamon, the Am. Staffordshire Terrier hit her belly about 15 feet out and did the cutest commando crawl over to me, wagging and gamboling and transmitting the message "aren't I just the cutest thing you've ever seen and you aren't REALLY going to hold it against me that I played with that sock and you still love me, don't you?" wag wag and she crawled around. It was such a hoot. Talk about giving herself away with her body language. I did my "bad dog" voice and wagged the sock at her so she moved away, and before I fed them I dropped the sock on the porch. She saw it and stayed away until I picked it up and tucked it away. I didn't want to confuse the good food behavior with the little laundry problem, but she knows this wasn't what she was supposed to do (but I bet she was a cutie as she tore up that sock--such doggie glee at finding a new toy!)

Aren't I like the classic parent, hiding my amusement by a hand covering my mouth so I don't give mixed signals.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 09:41 AM

SRS,

Yeah, the great thing about our thrift shop is that I can ask them to hold things long enough to check "wantability." (In fact I could mail them to you just for you to look at, and then put them right back in the shop if neither of us wanted them.)

But the ones I got at the Antique Show were $2 each, so do look around your local antique and vintage shops. I asked each dealer as I bought these if any of them were of value or historical significance such as that using them would be inappropriate, and they were happy to answer that question. So DO look around.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 12:29 AM

Maryanne,

Congratulations on the chutney! Will you tell us your recipe? It sounds like a great thing to make. And congratulations on the jars pinging! I'm just getting into that, but when I made jelly for the first time this summer, that was the music to my ears to know I'd done it right. I've done a few other things, with tomatoes, since. Salsa, canned tomatoes, etc. It's hard work, no doubt about it. No cost savings either, if you were paid for your time. But it is so satisfying.

By the way--vinyl is making a comeback. You may want to search a few of the record shops or look for articles about recordings once again being issued on vinyl before you toss yours.

Susan, please do! keep me in mind if you see more vintage hankies. Nothing synthetic, just linen or cotton, the very fine ones only. I'm not looking for the men's hankies big enough to use as a sling or a bandanna. :) Let me know the cost--I can probably use as many as you find, but I like to wash them about once a month, then iron them and fold them for my dresser drawer. I have a basket on my dresser so every evening I empty my keys from my pocket and drop my hankie in the muslin-lined basket. (They get washed in a special delicate garment bag with other stuff on a gentle setting).

Today I sold the hammered dulcimer and case on eBay at a bargain basement price, but I'm tired of looking at that huge box in my living room and it will still put some much needed cash in my PayPal account. That gets moved out tomorrow--yaaaaa! It's such a space hog.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maire-aine
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 07:44 PM

The chutney is done, altho I've still got a lot of dishes to wash. But for now, I've opened a bottle of wine, and while I type, I'm listening to the pleasant ping of my jars. There goes another one. I got 9 pints, 7 half-pints (to give as gifts) and the rest went filled a quart jar that's going into the refrigerator to use now.

And, the best part is that it de-clutters the diningroom table (there goes another one) completely, because that was my staging area for ingredients, jars and utensils.

Plus I had time to go thru a boxful of vinyl albums to see what I've copied (to cassettes and now CDs). More were copied than I remembered. One of these days, I'll post a list in case anybody wants them.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: LilyFestre
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 06:04 PM

Today I cleaned out my car of all kayak gear. The season is coming to a close. I did, however, store it where if we should have a nice day, I can grab my paddles, PFD and kayak and hit the water without an issue.

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: MAG
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 06:01 PM

Nah, I can't eat the balckberries because the seeds do awful things in my gut. Jelly is out; I'm sugar free. If I could put them through a juicer I could use the juice, but you've got to be careful with blackberry juice. It eats some kinds of plastic.

LR rug looks much nicer. Now I have to keep it that way until after Friday.

Decluttering along to the radio.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 04:50 PM

SRS,

Waiting for a ride to a funeral today, I took a closer look at the just-acquired hankies today; two are white Irish Linen (brand new but old); four are white cotton (two new and two used gently) with colorful embroidery-floss lace edges; two are cream cotton with lace edging; 1 was a bride's for-show-only hankie, totally synthetic, not getting near MY nose (save it for a traveling altar linen), and 1 was a fragile cream cotton with cream tatted edging coming off from too many launderings. (That one's probably valuable.)

That's in addition to the several maire-anne sent me that are cotton batiste varieties with embroidered accents and a few others I can't describe without diving into the laundry pile.

Anyway I'll keep my eye out at our parish thrift shop. I already have a nice assortment of vintage tatted doilies from there, and I can ask the folks who volunteer there to send hankies my way, and I'll share.

I forgot to leave the church stash at the church, because they came home in my jumper pocket.... I hope they go back, promptly!

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maire-aine
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 02:21 PM

My apple-ginger chutney is cooking now. I remembered why I only make this stuff every 10 years or so-- coring/peeling/chopping a peck of apples takes a long time. My hands are going to be so stiff tomorrow. What I need is an apprentice (ha-ha). It starts out in 2 kettles (I don't have one big enough for the whole thing), and it needs to cook down by 1/3 to 1/2 before I can it. Because it has so much sugar in it, I have to be nearby to stir it every so often. That means I have to stay home, so I may get some de-cluttering done upstairs. I saved enough apples to make apple crisp later in the week. Whoever started the "big meals" thread will be responsible for any weight gain I experience.

Maryanne.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 12:21 PM

Maybe you could freeze them or make jelly? Blackberries are such a wonderful fruit. Perhaps you could hire children to pick them (kids big enough to avoid hurting themselves but young enough to think it's a treat to work for a modest payment--are there such children these days?)

Gut-wise, the blackberries are better for you than the bacon (says a fan of BLTs in season, with home-grown tomatoes).

Headache is receeding--I'm headed out to plant my chard (found pots for decorative use at Home Depot, but I'm going to eat it), plant bulbs, and plant a mum for the fall doorway pot.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: MAG
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 12:08 PM

Getting "help" in today to do the rug shampoo -- Just couldn't manage it by myself.

Chowing down on the bacon tomato sandwiches. Sometimes there's basil, sometimes not.

Tripped and banged myself up pretty good whacking down the blackberry tangle. My gut doesn'tseem to let me eat them anymore, so they need to go bye bye. Except I tripped and fell right in. I DESERVED that sick day, gd it!

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 11:47 AM

I would love to find a stack of vintage hankies. Most of mine are on their last legs.

Sinus headache is raging today--allergies and changing weather (rain tomorrow, apparently, so the barometric pressure must be registering in my nasal cavities). Today is lovely, though, so I will dose up and get some yard work done.

I've cleared stuff from the floor in my office. I need to move my desk until I can replace the broken tile under my chair, since wheel keeps rolling into that groove. I tried chipping it out but I did a good job putting down this tile--I'll have to get a sharper chisel and give it another try.

Looking around for more eBay stuff.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 10:32 AM

I may have re-clutted today. We had our annual parish Antique Show yesterday, and to support the dealers and have some more of a good thing I've been enjoying of late, I bought 10-20 nice hankies. I go to a LOT of funerals and it occurred to me that these would be great when someone needs an eye-mop! Giveaways!

They were used and vintage, but they came beautifully pressed..... Gosh, now I'm gonna have to find a place at church to stash 'em, cuz once I get them home they'll get all cat-hairy and cluttery.... I know! There's a shelf in my autoharp playing stand and I can tuck a few in my pocket each time I show up early for a funeral! Or wedding.....

Just think of all the places in church I can "store" things-- an whole, untapped space resource!


Yours Backslidingly,

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maire-aine
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 09:41 AM

I shredded all of the dead branches in the yard yesterday. We had our first brush with frost Friday night-- not a killing frost yet, though. Even the basil plants took it in stride. But the day turned into a beautiful afternoon & evening. Went out to a friend's house for a dinner & music session, which turned out to be great. Just the right mix of tunes and songs.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 04:14 AM

Failing miserably this month... although I did move one box and put all the old ink cartridges into a bag to take to the refill/recycle shop... that's something!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 11:40 PM

Kat, I'm sorry to see you have to go through that. After a burglary here we had to do a lot of changing of account numbers, and it isn't easy or quick. An incompetent credit union person (slow, seems to have lost the info on her desk) didn't help.

Today was a day for those chores that take a few more steps. Not difficult, just tedious. Like taking the step stool, screw driver and dish towel with me to change the halogen porch light. And the step ladder back to the bedroom so after I ironed the curtains I could hang them (after a cat peed on them last week. . . grrr). I did my shopping list run, a loop of stops with a specific task at each place and no extra cash for anything not on the list. I hope I'll build up my buffer starting this month after paying off the credit cards, but it takes a few weeks to get past the regular bills to have some extra from child support to put in savings.

I'm not making any plans regarding my tax return next year. It's an invitation to something in the house or vehicle to break. And amazingly, it always about equals the amount of the tax return. So no plans, we will just see what happens when that time comes. (Which is sooner than we all are thinking--not quite three months until 2009. And just a little over 4 weeks until Nov. 4--so much to look forward to!)

I'm finished for the evening. I'm going to read a book for a while--I've been trying to make time to read the seventh Harry Potter book for several weeks. Maybe tonight before I fall asleep.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 11:21 PM

We have no carpet and I love it. It's so easy to see the wads and just suck them up or sweep them away. Less allergies that way, too.

Rog slept the whole day away. I have a pile of papers on my desk which will disappear Monday when I deliver them. Our personal info, including bank acct. number were sold by a now former employee of Countrywide where our mortgage is, so I've been dealing with getting a new acct. number on our bank acct. etc. They didn't tell me I would lose online access to all of our statements and we've had the acct. since 1993! I finally got the last two years sent to me by a link, so I've been printing them out as they are only available for a month. No more paying any bills online or via phone. I will be using our bank's bill pay feature which does not include sharing any of our personal acct. numbers, etc. when those checks go out. So, come Monday my desk will look a lot better!

Tomorrow, we will get the usual chores done and I might get a couple of things on ebay. I spent the morning running around doing errands with Morgan's help.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 10:10 PM

Well, we have low-pile and no-pile carpet.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 06:15 PM

Pushing more stuff out on eBay. Slow and steady, an odd mix. But trying to keep things listed.

I have one of those carpet sweeper things. It doesn't do a very good job, except that when the wad of cat hair rolls off of the brush back onto the rug I can reach down and pick it up in one place.

Darned allergies have slowed me down a lot this week.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 12:03 PM

Duh!

Those home organizers LIED!

It is NOT necessary to spend 15, or even 5, minutes cleaning up my crap every day! Nononono!

All we have to do is pick up one item whenever we get up, take it where it goes (along with anything else you pass that also goes there), put it where it belongs, and do the same on your way back to wherever you were when you started.

If we just do that every time we get up, it all gets done.

Honest to God. My MIL could come over any time now. ANY time.

Our privacy is no longer a function of, "Wait, we gotta clean up first." As of today!

Oh, and a Bissell carpet sweeper (like waitresse use) is a handy no-vac cleanup tool, too, till the next Accusucking. (Shop vac)

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 11:49 AM

I have a plumbing line that I need to have roto-rootered soon, but I didn't do it during the summer because I didn't want the plumber trashing my garden. I understand perfectly about reaching that window!

It's another allergy day, and it is getting quite warm again, but I need to do some outside work. My scheduled activities for the weekend were rescheduled, so my time is more my own. So far I've paid bills--it's one way to eliminate unnecessary spending, to see the state of the account. Time to do work with items available around the house that have already been paid for. Those planks I want for out front will have to wait a bit longer.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: mouldy
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 03:18 AM

Maeve, I love tools as well. But I have to ask myself how many pairs of pliers , spanners, socket sets, drill bits etc I actually need! I too have a chainsaw, but so far have got other people to use it as I am scared to! My chimney brush head is redundant, as I have a 5" flue pipe now attached to the stove, but the poles are still drain rodders, so I'll keep them. I need to get myself a ratchet pruner for getting at high branches.
The thing that is rattling me just now is that I have mislaid my new axe and my lump hammer. Given the amount of clutter in the garage and the shed, I hope they'll turn up once I start to clear out. We already chucked a skip-full out of the garage last year, but there's all sorts that could go.

Incidentally, after de-cluttering the garden area down the side of the garage, last week, I discovered that there was hardly any putty holding the glass into the window frame - couldn't get close enough before!

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 12:42 AM

I've been picking up in my office here at the house; I cleared out a cubby in some shelving of materials that needed to be filed with related items elsewhere. I have my empty square like in the Chinese puzzle. Now I have to rearrange the rest of it in and out of the cubbies.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 04:06 PM

... and if I stop off at the puder every time I get ONE thing put away I will get done someday.....

Couple of things went out to the do-everything van, one thing came in that I'd kept forgetting to bring.

Found the grocery money too, at last. Good thing-- I ordered $200 of filet mignon to pick up Monday! Was supposed to be today-- they switched it, thank goodness! (Got a bulk price)

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 02:59 PM

I seem to be cleaning up my living room. Didn't mean to do it; wasn't in the day's plan; couldn't help myself; somebody made me do it-- no, really, it's just that the kitchen (planned task) is Too Awful to tackle today so I'm letting that one sneak up on me-- putting away what I can as I breeze through it on the way to More Urgent Stashes.

(Can we talk about decluttering the stinky cat pan???!!??)

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 10:39 AM

Busy day today--I'll leave here in a few minutes and won't be back until about 10pm. The weekend will be a trip to the museum with an old friend and the rest is lawn work and housework. Hopefully a trip to Goodwill to drop off stuff during part of that.

I drove past signs for several estate sales and kept on going this morning. I would love to reach a point where I can pick up estate sale items and sell them on eBay, but I'm not there yet.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: MAG
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 09:59 AM

There were summer clothes I could not find all summer. I've got to get a better handle on all this.

Carport is a mess; guess I should put that on my list.

Two of the kittens will let me stroke them while they're eating, until they notice. Their mother appeared briefly two days ago; I hope she is not off having more kittens.

I gather from the catthread y'all are not enamored of simple names. For the sake of ease, "mine" have temporary names of White Nose, chin Spot, and Gray Face.

I suppose I should be more worried about the probably layoff come 1/1/09. My boss is such a witch I almost look forward to it. No money should cure that.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: freda underhill
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 09:06 AM

a very cold winter has just turned into a stinking hot spring. so this weekend I'll be getting out the summer things and putting away some of the winter things!

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maeve
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 08:57 AM

Andrea- I have my tools, my dad's tools, and those I share with my husband, who has his own. Between us we have the right handtool for most any job from stitchery to lumbering to basketry to carpentry to auto repair to weaving to gardening to leatherwork. We like tools. We've found quite a few as we've turned the soil and pruned the trees. Two or three hoes were still hanging in the trees. The power tools are handy, and I now have my own chainsaw.

The rains have stopped. Wonder if I can actually declutter some things directly outside to the drive? The swap shop is open in the morning.

Then back to the list...

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: mouldy
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 05:12 AM

I shifted my compost bin and cleared a lot of my little veggie patch. Still freezing beans as and when they become ready, but I have yet to get the cooking apples down - I don't do ladders!

Ruth's old room is ready for the attentions of the electrician. Still waiting for him to get back to me, after 2 days.

I am going to inherit my daughter's smaller chest freezer, so we may have to swap some of my stuff into her new bigger fridge/freezer, when it arrives. I will then be able to get at the garage a bit better and clear out a lot of rammel. I do have rather a lot of tools - mostly Ian's old ones, but also some rechargeable handy things that I have bought. (I passed the electric welder on to my son in law last year - there IS a limit!)

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maeve
Date: 02 Oct 08 - 04:10 PM

Yes, Maryanne. I can't manage my daily chores right now, never mind messing with the decluttering I dearly want and need to do.

Clean sheets on the bed, clean clothes to wear, something to eat; three basics I struggle with as I deal with:

Veggie harvest winding down but still busy.
Canning and freezing and drying
Apple and pear gleaning from unwanted fruit trees in the area
Making something for our larder from each
Clearing and finding winter storage for farm stand perennials & bulbs
Clearing and reorganizing the greenhouse
Clearing, adding amendments, tilling three veggie beds
Planting test plots of garlic and winter greens w/ season extenders
Clearing cellar for potted apple trees and late winter grafting
Stowing winter fuel as TL brings in what wood he can carry

Step by tiny step. Onward and upward.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 02 Oct 08 - 03:12 PM

Maryanne, don't feel badly, I am not getting much done right now, either!

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Oct 08 - 01:54 PM

Are you selling the rest of the contents with the house, is that the plan with the selective emptying of the house?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: LilyFestre
Date: 02 Oct 08 - 12:44 PM

I just finished packing up the rest of my Nana's house. I have moved numerous boxes down 2 flights of stairs and then into storage (after some serious sorting). The idea is to just get things out so we are ready when the closing date comes around. RidgePlucker and I will sort through the boxes this winter, say 10 boxes a weekend or so. The storage building is not far from our house and I pass it every single time I drive to work or back home. There are still boxes remaining in the attic....those will be moved by the movers this week (heavy and 3 flights of steps...nope, I'm not breaking my back to do that!).

Anyway, I am feeling a great sense of satisfaction in having it all sorted out and packed away...it's been a long time coming.

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: maire-aine
Date: 02 Oct 08 - 12:06 PM

You guys are doing so much, and I'm not getting anything done. Now that it's getting dark earlier, I'm not getting my usual "second wind" in the evening. Here's hoping it's just temporary.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Oct 08 - 11:25 PM

Another box out the door, but not the big one yet.

My next door neighbor's yard was selected as the Yard of the Month in our village and the sign went up this morning. I need to get out and mow my lawn so it doesn't look like the poor step-child lives next door. Circumstances may dictate more yard work than I had planned this month, but no harm done, I enjoy it.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 01 Oct 08 - 06:00 PM

I am reclaiming the workout/music room one tape, one CD, one small box at a time. Good thing it has sun-bulbs and entertainment with the doggies!

Did 2 more tapes today and brought in a few good items to put away where they actually belong-- that room can be such a catch-all when MIL is on the way! I decided that this year-- she arrives tomorrow-- she can sit and keep me company while I declut! BIG step.... she may die of it-- allergies. Oh well! She can sit out on the porch if it's too sneezy!

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: GUEST,LTS pretending to work
Date: 01 Oct 08 - 08:45 AM

Maybe send a couple of balls of knitting cotton yarn to Missis Morse with a pattern for socks and a Secret Santa address?!

We did a lot of vaccypacking in August, it's time to look into what we packed away now.. no sooner do we get it out of the way than it becomes necessary!

My goal for this month is to get my calendars finished and thus all the photographs scanned and packed away in a suitable container. THEN I'll be able to get to the sewing table to finish those shirts, the gown and 2 pairs of trousers that are clogging up the rest of the room.

THEN I'll have November to make the patchwork Christmas Stockings for a certain pair of babies who will be celebrating their first Christmas this year.

If only!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Sorcha
Date: 30 Sep 08 - 04:55 PM

Oh yea...I forgot that what is getting 'de cluttered' this month is my ROOF! I am getting new shingles!!! Finally! It has only taken a year. The roofers have been very good about keeping the mess picked up too.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Sorcha
Date: 30 Sep 08 - 04:54 PM

oh. Too bad. I LOVE my lambs wool socks.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Sep 08 - 03:39 PM

Thanks, folks. Can't do wool. Whatever I wear has to be 100% cotton and that is hard to find these days, esp. in socks! I expect I'll probably refurbish the old snug sack and see if I can make it easier to work with.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Sep 08 - 03:36 PM

Places like REI and North Face make a special half-length bag called a bivouac sac or a "bivvy bag." Meant to be slipped over your legs while your upper body is in your down parka, it is a small item to help you if you have to stay out overnight on a cold climb when you weren't planning to camp over.

That said, it is a lot of expense or trouble to go to--around here we all have found that flannel sleep pants are great, very comfortable with the usual jersey t-shirts we wear to sleep in. The local Macy's had some for sale in the men's department last year in the late fall that were quite thick, very nice. Add a pair of non-skid socks. You could re-assign a pair of regular socks and use fabric paint to add a non-skid pattern to the bottoms. That's what we did when the kids were little. Get the puff paint type, and wash them inside out to keep the paint in place longer.

This way, you're reusing, you're not adding to the clutter in your sock drawer. :)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Sorcha
Date: 30 Sep 08 - 03:30 PM

Kat, lambs wool socks. The best ones I've found are Connemara brand. Only 2 sizes, Lg and Sm (which is really more medium) Most men wear the Lg, and women the sm. NOT cheap tho.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 30 Sep 08 - 03:19 PM

I bought a really nice kid-size sleeping bag at Goodwill for exactly that issue while camping. I zip up just the lower portion to make a leg sack and pull it on while I'm sitting. The unzipped top half makes a nice front-robe. Because it's Goodwill, I don't worry about getting it dirty, full of pet hair, etc. It just happened to catch my eye because it had sort of an aquatic color scheme, but now I know to do it, I'm looking for a second one for the house. Maybe a third for upstairs, where I have a can't-sleep chair that sits in a cool, dark room that encourages the sleepies to return.

Kid bags are usually less thick, heavy, etc. than adult ones, so they roll up into a less bulky roll for storage when not in use, they launder and dry fast, etc. Now they do have a cotton-poly liner usually, so just get some cheap cotton flannel and pin in a liner or heck, if you get ambitious, tack it in with a few stitches.

My other camping fix is just a 6' length of flannel that wraps around head, or legs, or shoulders, or.....

For hockey I have a synthetic fleece lap blanket.... prices vary hugely, but the $5 ones I stitched into a big ole house poncho are as cushy as the small $45 one I bought at the game.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Sep 08 - 01:53 PM

Thanks, Maggie. I will do that. Maybe I'll move them to their own album first.:-)

I do have to figure out some strategies for keeping my lower limbs, mostly my feet, warm this winter so we can keep our heat turned down. I know I will be getting some legwarmers to keep my lower legs warm. I think I will probably have to put a small electric heater under my desk, for my feet, but that doesn't take care of them when I am in the living room. I do have an OLD snug-sack, remember them, but it's kind of ratty and I get tired of climbing in and out of it. So, any suggestions are welcome.:-)

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Charmion
Date: 30 Sep 08 - 01:47 PM

One thing I won't get rid of is the new duvet I bought last year in an orgy of acquisitiveness. Fuel prices have gone nuts, including natural gas, so the thermostat is set at 15 degrees Celsius and that's where it will stay -- at least until I see where the inevitable first bout of minus 25 takes us. Fortunately, the bedroom is on the leeward (and sunny) side of the house.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Sep 08 - 01:45 PM

Those are lovely! I hope you'll post a link to the Mudcat crafters thread.

I'm swamped at work, so if I can push some of this stuff off of my desk, I'll be happy this week. But come the weekend, I plan to work around the house.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Sep 08 - 01:37 PM

We don't change much out here; the winters are so mild and we really do not have that many clothes in the first place, plus we wear mostly the same things year-round.

I did get two more necklaces done and out the door: HERE.

Subject: RE: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: wysiwyg
Date: 30 Sep 08 - 12:08 PM

Some folks have dropped out...

I think they're just busy. They'll be back I am sure!

Outward! :~)

~Susan

Subject: BS: October Seasonal de-clutter BIG push
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Sep 08 - 11:27 AM

Sept. 2008

Aug. 2008

July 2008

June 2008

De-cluttering part 2

Kat's first de-cluttering "Heave-Ho!" thread

The seasons are changing, northern and southern hemisphere. As the earth/sun heating-cooling alignment takes place we all put some things away and take out others.

While you're doing this, look at everything else in that storage place. How many of those blankets zipped in a bag under the bed NEVER get used? How many of the sweaters on your shelf of warm stuff don't get worn any more? If you're clearing out your shorts and t-shirts to make room for those sweaters, how many of those t-shirts were not worn at all this summer?

Look around at the seasonal decorations. We have a flurry of activity coming up--decorating houses, yards, trees. I have too much stuff that I don't use. I need to either figure how to use it or pass it along.

It's late afternoon in the UK right now, so this isn't too big of a jump on the October thread. I've put links in for all of the earlier discussions because we've shared a lot of great ideas. We've been doing this for many months now. I can see a qualitative difference in my house and garage and yard, but those distinctions may still be lost of visitors who walk in and see my eBay stuff and my extra furniture and papers needing to be filed.

Some folks have dropped out; this may seem like a cause for some of us, but in today's world of excess, it is useful to keep one's eye on the ball and to learn to discriminate--how much of this stuff do we need, should we keep? What will we need later, what can we assume we might need that could become scarce? Should we be scared into keeping stuff we don't need because of that possible scarcity?

These are dangerous days for pack rats. The news might tempt some to hoard irrationally. Less is still more for the participants of this thread.

Onward!

SRS