BS: Dec-2010 Declutter & Accountability YES!

Subject: RE: BS: Dec-2010 Declutter & Accountability YES!
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 29 Dec 10 - 05:08 PM

Dropped Rob at work, stopped in a dressmaking shop to find out where I might obtain a zipper for ski jacket, nice chat with woman, replenished supply of Romano, stopped at Home Depot to look for a new cheery plant - after New Year's said the nice clerk, nothing in cheery yellow, not even a special african violet to go in my beautiful A. v. planter recovered from the chaos last week.

Succeeded at the Sally Ann in obtaining a 9 inch square pan; mine disappeared some time ago and I really wanted one. Also a cute leather pair of tiny new red leather moccasins for new grand-nephew, a lovely blue pansy ring made by a potter (signed!) in BC and two books, including a Peterson's bird guide.

OK, what did I get rid of? The big bag for the thrift shop has things added to it almost daily and will leave after the holidays. Two wooden chairs are marked for the friend we visited last night who has none! only stools, very hard on the back on a long evening.

Sorted two more boxes in the shed. Washed big basket of fresh Quebec cranberries in prep for making sauce for freezer and for tomorrow's gathering. Since I defrosted the freezer and Rob put the frig interior together properly, it actually works! Before I realized that, stuff I was keeping in the non-freezing part of the freezer FROZE! But it is a nice change anyway. The freezer freezes and the frig refrigerates!

But now we have to get rid of the mouse who DOES get into the frig!??? Loves lettuce and .... I found mouse poison in the shed left over from rat infested place I lived on Whidbey. put it under the frig and hope.... I hate to do it but I will. My auto mechanic on Whidbey showed me a photo of what the rats could do my vehicle - hundreds of dollars in damage! He found rat manure inside the engine compartment. Hence, the poison.

Forgot I was thinking of a walk along the canal this aft. It was warm enough but by the time I got home and had lunch.... Good weather to last another few days so I'll try again.

Subject: RE: BS: Dec-2010 Declutter & Accountability YES!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Dec 10 - 06:32 PM

I've been meaning to get out to walk, but today the sinuses and allergies caught up with me. Maybe this evening if the headache goes away, because it is supposed to stay fairly warm through tomorrow.

A friend spent the night last night and we watched several movies; this morning we worked on her new computer (I showed her how to make folders for her photos in Windows Explorer - she loves this - I know I've tried to show her this before, but this time it stuck). She lost her handbag somehow and we concluded that it must be locked in the car. AAA came and opened it, but no bag. We finally got smart and I called her cell phone and we found her purse on the bedpost in the guest room. It was a dark small bag hanging against the dark wood and was virtually invisible. Funny, and lucky that no more trouble was involved than this.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Dec-2010 Declutter & Accountability YES!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Dec 10 - 01:35 AM

Got out for a little while this evening and picked up the BluRay writer that was on sale for $60 less than usual. The sale brought it into the realm of affordable, and I also found a small spool of BD disks on sale at 40% of the original price. They hold 25GB instead of the usual 4.something GB of a regular DVD (the double layer ones are about 9GB). This will be for backup of things on the computer.

So, I came home opened up the computer, plugged in a couple of things, slid in the new drive, then started looking at the software disk that came with it. I ended up installing about half of the features, then uninstalling half of I'd installed. I may take the rest out also, since the software that comes with these things are usually "value added" for people who don't have all of the software I'm already using. And it's pushy, all wanting to queue up in the auto start menu. That slows the computer. I booted several out of the start menu. (There's a wonderful little program that Bill D told me about, called WinPatrol, that is good for this kind of thing.)

That's it for the computer purchases for now. It is complete, up to the size and speed and specs I wanted, and the total for this comes out at about $1100 if you include the software I bought at work to use with it. It would have cost a couple hundred more if I'd had all of these features added at HP, and a lot more than that if I'd bought the software through them. Being able to get under the hood can be very satisfying!

I'm going to be scanning a lot of stuff and going to be adding a lot of audio files to this computer, getting started on those projects to do with my parents and grandparents that I've planned for a while.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Dec-2010 Declutter & Accountability YES!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Dec 10 - 11:46 AM

This morning it took at least 45 minutes to clean up the kitchen after piling the dishes and pots for a couple of days. I'm eating healthy again, I made myself a smoothie of a couple of very ripe bananas, strawberries, and a couple of dollops of plain yogurt. I still have a fridge full of food, but I'm gradually using this up in a healthy way. (I'm giving it away or feeding other people here.) I'm down to the last 2 or 3 spirals on that ham now.

This morning is overcast and humid and it is warmer outside than in. We've had enough rain in the last week that there are a couple of inches standing in a bucket outside the back door. I have a few errands to do to wrap up the year, but nothing extremely pressing. I'll probably work on the center path into the keyhole garden this afternoon. It isn't very big, but it will make a big difference in how that project looks.

It has been amazing to read about how fast maeve's house is going up. She hands-down wins the award for most productive couple of weeks over the holiday season!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Dec-2010 Declutter & Accountability YES!
From: SINSULL
Date: 30 Dec 10 - 11:56 AM

For the first time since Christmas Eve I washed the dishes. Ran out of forks and didn't have a choice. Now I'll go back to flopping around and being pathetic.
SINS

Subject: RE: BS: Dec-2010 Declutter & Accountability YES!
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 30 Dec 10 - 12:47 PM

I'm waiting for Rob to install the new toilet seat so I can use it. The antique one split and dumped me about 5 am - not funny at the time. It took two trips; the first one was broken when we took it out of the packaging. The second is more expensive but has metal fittings and looks rather like the old one. HE wanted to glue it back together....

I got the recycling out, cooked the cranberries, will add honey and orange juice. We might make it to the gathering. Seems others have nothing to do but get there. Rob still has things necessary to do and we have an hours drive. Doubt we will make "mid-afternoon".

Yesterday, I rearranged the plants and got the big one front and centre, ready to go to its upstairs home - higher ceiling - on this mild day. Maybe tomorrow; it is a two person job.

Subject: RE: BS: Dec-2010 Declutter & Accountability YES!
From: mouldy
Date: 30 Dec 10 - 12:54 PM

Freya's gone home with her mum, and the toys are more or less tidied away. She's left me with her cold, so I just spent a few hours wallowing on the sofa. I think I may go to bed early with paracetamol and Vicks!

I have to be well enough to be a "nun" called Morticia in a murder mystery party tomorrow night! The mind boggled, and then hit the fancy dress store in alnwick this morning!

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: Dec-2010 Declutter & Accountability YES!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Dec 10 - 01:32 PM

Next month's thread (getting a jump on the new year).