Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 20 Apr 10 - 06:33 AM

New double bed has arrived for the spare room so people don't have to sleep on the giant air bed! Last of the washing has been done and on the line drying after our trip to a very sunny Scarborough last week.

I find it hard to declutter books too Liz. I've got a few boxes put away that I can't bring myself to send to the charity shop. All the duplicates were given away when we moved into this house nearly 2 years ago now.

The easter egg stash is slowly going down but got another boost from various family members at the weekend.

Must have done a fair amount of walking over the weekend without realising it as although I have lost 2 lbs this week I have lost an inch on my waist.

Veggie tubs patch is looking good although we are still covering everything up to protect from frost at the moment.

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: mouldy
Date: 20 Apr 10 - 09:06 AM

I've lost 2 of the 3lbs I put back on last week, I'm pleased to say.

I have transferred the fruit and veg from the chest freezer, and added 3 bags of mixed from the supermarket. It's full to bursting already! Luckily there is a little room left in the other now.

I have a choice this afternoon, seeing as it is fine. Do I start and remove the cobbles that turned my pond into a pebble pool, and try to resurrect the pump; or do I get the wire brush onto my rusty gates and then paint them for the first time in 20 years? I know I said I was going to do my salt dough cutters, but I have just eaten a double Mars Bar, and am full of the need to work it off!

Andrea

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: wysiwyg
Date: 20 Apr 10 - 11:05 AM

Got a line in tdy's email for some free FreeCycle plants. Next montage will show plantings, plus the temp grooming station we erected ydy.

~S~

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: LilyFestre
Date: 20 Apr 10 - 11:12 AM

Normal chores in process.....lots of dishes as I didn't do any this weekend or yesterday. Two loads of laundry washed, just about to put a third in. Downstairs swept, front porch and walkway swept too. I can almost see the entire surface of my kitchen table. All living room chair covers have been swapped out for fresh ones, carpet and soon I'll dust. My plan was to work downstairs this morning and upstairs this afternoon. Chemo on Thursday which means next week I won't be able to do squat. I want to have the house clean when I leave....still will need dusting and sweeping when I return but overall it should be in decent shape. That way I can rest peacefully and let the pain meds take care of me without worrying what a disaster area my house is in or how much Pete will have to do when he gets home from work.
   
Of course all this is being done in spurts with rest in between as needed. My side is still bothering me so when I sit, I have heat on it.

If I get everything finished that I want, I have a few flower pots for the window sills that need some dirt and seeds to be planted. I also have some rooted catnip from a neighbor that needs to be planted today.

Onward!

Michelle

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: katlaughing
Date: 20 Apr 10 - 07:06 PM

Remember, ice and pain use the same pathways and cold will trump pain every time, so...maybe ice it off and on, too. Heat will increase blood flow and any possible inflammation.

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 21 Apr 10 - 02:59 AM

Last night I did a 4 mile brisk walk, an hours body pump class followed by an hours body step class. Feel quite achey this morning but it's all good!

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: mouldy
Date: 21 Apr 10 - 10:37 AM

Well yesterday I removed all the cobbles from the pond, and bagged them up, then I wire-brushed and washed down the gates. Today I have installed a new pump and got the cascade working beautifully. If I didn't have such a nagging headache and achy back from yesterday, I'd feel really great! Maybe tomorrow will be gates day.

Now I notice I need 3 new double glazed panes in the kitchen windows, dammit!

Andrea

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Apr 10 - 10:50 AM

I have several double-glazed windows that need replacing. But they're way down the list as far as affordability.

Sinus still aching, but diminishing. Lovely day, I wish I had time to mow. Maybe this evening.

I'm doing a little freelance work on the weekend, so I'll have to pace myself. Kitchen and dining rooms are clean, laundry is caught up.

SRS

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: katlaughing
Date: 21 Apr 10 - 12:15 PM

Do good intentions count?:-)

I have done the laundry the past two days, even put some of it away! Rog did his usual sweeping and changing of litter boxes. We did move the old trunk out of the LR, to live under the end of our bed. It is full of heirlooms and was only a catchall pseudo coffee table in the LR. In its place is the mini-trampoline, until I decide a better pace for it. The docs don't want me bouncing on it, but I can walk on it, no matter the weather and it feels good.

I still intend to get the office cleaned up, the books gone through, and a bunch of other stuff. Biggest declutter soon will be our son getting his own place asap.:-)

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: mouldy
Date: 21 Apr 10 - 03:25 PM

Erm - excuse me, Kat, m'dear - I suspect your mind may have been elsewhere lately, yes? I think all excuses are acceptable at the moment! By the way, I HAVEN'T put the laundry away, and I have NO excuse!

And it's 4 panels need replacing. I wouldn't normally bother (although one of them is ruining my view of the garden) but I want to market this place in a couple of months. ("Speculate to accumulate...speculate to accumulate...). There's a local glazing company that will probably be able to do it, although the panels are old spec.

At least the headache is a little better now.

Andrea

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: katlaughing
Date: 21 Apr 10 - 05:13 PM

Oh, ah, thanks, Andrea, ya mean I am only a human bean and not SuperWoMom?**lol** My Morgan doesn't understand excuses, though. He came over ready to help clean today (I made no mention of such...it's purely his own doing!) So, after lunch, we opened the bottom drawer of the four-drawer filing in which I have been pitching things for at least two years, actually longer. He loves to shred, so we took one, only one! accordion file holder and emptied it. Two full trash bags later, we'd emptied the shredder so many times and used it so long, it was hot and needed a break. BUT, we got the one whole file folder emptied, contents shredded! Trooper that he is, he was ready for the next file folder when I said, "No, not today, that's enough!":-) It does feel good to have done that, at least AND I found last year's tax return I'd been looking for!

With Rog in my ear at lunchtime, telling me not to let my son get started (pity party-sobbing, which is healing to a point,) and pacing myself, I'll make it, esp. as I am Morgan's Project. He told me he was here to cheer me up!

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Apr 10 - 08:21 PM

Shredding the file contents can be a big deal, and for a kid, there's the charm of seeing the build up of shreds to show you've been busy.

Mowing tonight for a while.

SRS

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Apr 10 - 12:33 AM

Taking tomorrow off, if I can, to work in the yard. I have to get some gardens in and to move some iris, so I can keep the colors looking good. The dusky bearded iris are plentiful, but I'd like to propagate more of the white and bright white and yellow ones that are mixed in. That means I need to move them now, while I can find them. :)

SRS

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: mouldy
Date: 22 Apr 10 - 04:56 AM

I recently shredded a load of Ian's old papers, only to find out the following day that they would have been very useful. It had taken me ages to get round to doing it, and it was only because the file cabinet fell over when I moved it, and spewed its contents, that I decided to get sorted!

Hopefully my gates will be "Hammerited" this afternoon.

Andrea

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: wysiwyg
Date: 22 Apr 10 - 05:29 AM

I got tol'able reports back on 2 of the three tests, and made some progress in the journey to better manage my health care in this complex, rural healthcare setting. I also learned another valuable set of info about the current national system, and how that system is adapting to "new" healthcare "improvements" to continue to suck as much money as possible out of my pocket. :~)

A big one yet to get back. Calendar auto-set to do them over again in TWO years-- NOT ONE.

===

Plan is to get garden soil (bulk) Friday, plus another ag panel to complete dividing DW. Tomorrow (actually today-- I hear the birdies) I'll set a spell gazing at the garden space to plan the layout for the all-container-garden that will be chair-accessible for self, and friends old and new.

===

I'm engaged in a major declut/reorg/re-marketing plan of the parish website. Tres busee'. Made it blink today.

~S~

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: mouldy
Date: 22 Apr 10 - 09:22 AM

First coated top bit of driveway gates - wrought metal is bloody fiddly. Constant nagging headache now, a continuation of the beggar that's been bothering me all week, so I am off to go lie down for a bit. It was the lifting of the bags of rocks what done it - my neck is all tense now.

Andrea

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 22 Apr 10 - 10:05 AM

Downeaster sold out yesterday, so Tom's appointment in Boston had to be rescheduled.

But...

It was a glorious day so I took advantage of it to rake all the leaves out of the raised bed on the driveway side of the house, hand comb the leaves from the holding bed and part of the bank (succulents), tidied the edges of the woodpile and did yet more raking and schlepping of leaves.

Also grated zucchini so I can bake zucchini bread on Saturday, baked a loaf of beer bread (actually using seltzer because, can you believe it?, I didn't have any suitable beer on hand), and swept the house when Tom was out shopping for dinner. (He can't stand to see me do most housework -- like sweeping or vacuuming -- when he's around.)

Very accomplished day, though there's still so much to do.

And -- guess what? -- yesterday marked the arrival of that herald of New England springtime...BLACKFLIES!

Linn

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Apr 10 - 11:17 AM

Lots of gardening plans today, after calling to inquire about an insurance refund that has never arrived. Turns out they sent the check to my P.O. Box in early Feb, it was cashed in mid Feb, and this because the post office mis-delivered my check to another box, whose owner is not very honest. And I have my mail go to the P.O. Box for security? Geez. . .

Anyone get any packages yet?

SRS

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: wysiwyg
Date: 22 Apr 10 - 11:24 AM

The garden in progress typifies much of the pattern of my life-- I can see the outcome, but the externals on site at THIS point in time look like crap. I look back, though, and see--- all visions accomplished, and standing as role models (the visions, not me).

So I move forward toward the newer visions.

And I know that it will all get done, in its proper time and season.

A heartbeat thought for over a year now has been, "I already gave you everything you need. It's right here. Look again." And it's been true, every time.


TBTG,

~Susan

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: katlaughing
Date: 22 Apr 10 - 05:22 PM

More shredding done with Morgan, today.

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Apr 10 - 07:43 PM

It seems silly to go dig up flowers right when they're blooming, but that was the only way I could be sure to separate the irises that got mixed up in a couple of beds. I want to cultivate more of certain colors, but I'm told they tend to muddy together if you leave them in the same bed. I moved two white one's I hadn't seen before that I separated, and I have some two-tone white and yellow bearded iris I want to act as an accent to the dusky yellow ones. And then there is the bed full of blue. I had a few get out of that bag of bulbs last year and ended up with the yellow iris this spring. All is in place now so next year I can begin separating some and propagating more. Much more fun than simply buying new plants!

I also mowed the back, and that was one tough gooshy lawn. I think it took 1 1/2 hours to do the entire back. And I emptied a couple of bags of leaves at the spot of a new compost pile, and then spread out all of the weeds and dirt from today's gardening on top to hold them in place. Great timing for the rain now, to soak it and hold it all in place.

I need a nap.

SRS

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 22 Apr 10 - 08:56 PM

My package with the wonderful collection of stamps (on the exterior) arrived today, and, since I just got home from work (about 8:45) I opened it just minutes ago.

Yeehah! A new Roald Dahl ("Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life") to read! Thank you, Maggie! It looks like great fun (like his "Switch Bitch" which I recently read as a result of attempting to declutter some shelves).

And I actually have room for it ;-) here in the Schulz-Hall Not-So-Public Library since I'm currently reading a circa 1970 Pearl Buck that will be deaccessioned to the library sale as soon as I finish it tomorrow morning. (Unlike the Roald Dahl which I decided I "had" to keep in the permanent collection.)

What a really nice surprise! Thanks again.

Linn

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Apr 10 - 11:07 PM

You should have had that when you were waiting around in a hospital, I'm sorry it took so long to get to you.

Roald Dahl is my favorite short story writer. That particular collection has some real gems. The rat catcher stories are, well, you have to read them. And "Parson's Pleasure" is simply the best short story, my absolute favorite of all time. It keeps going and going after you finish the last words on the page. I love the way he writes so that you do a lot of the work, but get such pleasure from it.

Many of the characters are recurring, and you can read some of his short stories strung together like a novel. But they all stand alone as well.

I sent Michelle a collection of my favorite non-fiction essays. I chose these because they're short, some are very short, so if you're tired, pick one that is only a page long, read it, and then take a nap. For both of you, these are meant to entertain, but also, to share what really talented wordsmiths can do when they sit down in front of a typewriter.

SRS

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 23 Apr 10 - 05:51 AM

Morning workout done this morning...feel great!

Washing on line drying. Veggie plants all watered.

Paul has made a fantastic light fitting in the shape of an areoplane for Harry, will put up some pictures when he fits it tomorrow!

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: Manitas_at_home
Date: 23 Apr 10 - 06:18 AM

Really LTS on the sofa....

Not a lot done around here since the garden was cleared earlier this week... been to work, been busy with committee meetings and choir and quilting by hand. REally should sort my fabric stashes out and try to keep a lid on the dining room clutter. Sorting books to weed has just resulted in me re-reading a series from the beginning so that's a no-go-er..... humph.

STill, the garden looks great! Haven't been on the scales for a while... should see how that's going. The forced inactivity of the last 3 months has made my trousers a bit tight, along with the side effects of certain medications. However, I'm feeling a great deal better so I may start the yoga again soon, once I get my sleep pattern back to something that doesn't include waking at 2.30am.

LTS

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 23 Apr 10 - 08:19 AM

Roald Dahl IS an absolute delight. Woke up earlier than I'd wanted this morning and finished "Mandala" by Pearl Buck and grabbed your gift. Only had time to read the first story and get part way into "Parson's Pleasure" -- cut short by having to get my body together and head to work.

The Press Room session will be cut short tonight because of Jazzmouth, so I'll be able to get home a little earlier and read a bit longer.

Thanks again! I think short stories are often much better crafted than novels.

Linn

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Apr 10 - 05:39 PM

Working at home part of the day, and heading to campus for an evening meeting, and doing some freelance work over there on Sunday.

I have tomorrow to make another big push in the garden before the work on Sunday. I hope the weather stays nice, though I could use another rain before I put out the beneficial nematodes (otherwise I have to water and then spray them). I missed the opportunity yesterday because I ran out of time and it hadn't rained enough yet. There's another chance of rain in the weekend.

Also if it rains, maybe I'll sit down and list more eBay stuff.

SRS

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: katlaughing
Date: 23 Apr 10 - 06:35 PM

Small steps, here. I got two books packaged up, ready to send to my sis. Also, I am going to close up the tins' package promised to Animaterra and get it out, tomorrow, ya hear that 2Ls?!*bg* ("'bout time she sez." I am just now going to write a letter to put in a package with a children's book I wrote for Morgan which an artist friend is going to illustrate. That will clear a bit off my desk, at least.

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: wysiwyg
Date: 23 Apr 10 - 09:05 PM

OK, I know this is not the gardening thread, but for me this is an activity-level thing first, so for now it's here:

Boughtt jiffy/peat-thingie starter mini-greenhouses to fit the avail. sunny window space for starting seeds. Bought seed, half off on sale at Home Depot. Mater varieties, sweet peppers, herbs, 2 diff carrots, beans, climbing peas, anad as Giac called them, "flars."

Dirt for the Earthboxes (Google THEM!) we were given last week via FreeCycle wait till the sprouts "earn" their dirt (another paycheck away at least anyway). I have pots galore from a previous year's FC to move the sprouts from starter-world to hardening world to Earthboxes.

AND we got el cheapo plumbing parts to fix the uncomfy handlebars on the scooter. I scootered Home Dept at 5 MPH. Slow eh-- not when you have no windshield and it doesn't all HURT--- for the first time.

The hdwe we bought, I installed right in the aisle for a test run around the store, to the loo, to checkout, to the car. The szs picked fit thru ADA doors perfectly (right into the loo).

FUNFUNFUN!!! Mark he date. This was GOOD DAY. No skunks, now! :~)

~S~

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: Eiseley
Date: 24 Apr 10 - 12:06 AM

I must have recycled a cubic foot of paper today from my desk. But now it is clean! The laundry is also all folded and I took an entire trunkful of clothes to the thrift store (and asked for a receipt, thank you, Stilly).

How do you folks learn to keep the kitchen clean? There must be a fundamental psyche shift I haven't figured out yet.

Tomorrow is the town's Environmental Fair and I will take the book wagon and give a free book to every child who attends. This is one of my favorite parts of my job---matching children with books. A boy scout organized a book drive and donated 500+ books for me to give away. Wonderful. And how does this fit in with the environmental theme? Well, think of how many resources are saved when people check books out of the library instead of buying them. Also, the books we give away find good homes and are a way to cycle them back into use.

One more huge project and then the semester is over and I'll be halfway to my master's degree. I really want to spend the weekend writing in the sun, but instead I'll work hard on the project and go to the fair. The time to play (write) will come soon enough.

Eiseley

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Apr 10 - 12:44 AM

The kitchen is the heart of the house. It's a challenge, and if you read posts from many months back, you'd see the pattern: sometimes it starts with cleaning one drawer. And the next day cleaning another. Or going through a cupboard and recycling all of the Chinese take-out plastic tubs and lids, then cleaning the drawer where the plastic wrap and twist ties live.

I have a kitchen/dining area combined, and have settled with a small table in the dining area, and book shelves (I have a collection of cookbooks, a few I bought myself, and most of them from my mother over the years, and a few sent after her death). I have a Hoosier kitchen (kitchen queen) in one corner, and an upright 1970s avocado green freezer in the other. These two areas look good, mostly because I forced myself to take almost everything off of the counters. I can work so easily there now, and I force myself to wash the dishes as I use them, if I have time. I'm a recently reformed character, though. It hasn't always been this way.

The rest of the house is a work in progress. :)

SRS

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 24 Apr 10 - 02:28 AM

I have woken today with an urge to paint the back door which sorely needs it - but I know that with all the chores I didn't do yesterday due to an incredibly stiff neck and sinus headache, that it won't happen.

Still, I thought about doing it, and that's something!

LTS

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: maeve
Date: 24 Apr 10 - 03:02 AM

Liz- What color/colour?

m

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: katlaughing
Date: 24 Apr 10 - 04:18 AM

Morgan comes with his own paint and brushes, LtS. You should see my backdoor...he really wen to town about two years ago at four yrs. old. It may actually need a real painting now.:-)

Eisely, I was going to say who said we had clean kitchens?!**bg** Mine is always a mess because my Rog does all of the cooking and also has his home office, i.e. computer and various broadcast engineer's parts spilling over every surface. It looks like his kitchen did when I met him...a very sloppy bachelor's apt. We do get it cleaned up, somewhat, every weekend, but it never lasts.:-)

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: LilyFestre
Date: 24 Apr 10 - 07:16 AM

For once in my life, I cleaned out the car completely when I got home from chemo....no lingering bags in the car and just about everything has been put away. YAY!

No books have arrived here just yet but you can bet I am keeping my eyes peeled for the mail carrier this morning!!! THANK YOU!!!!

It's the perfect time for a package of books to arrive too as leg pain will arrive in full force in a day or two which means lots of chair or bed time for me....great reading time!!!

Michelle who is off to an early morning weigh in!

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: Eiseley
Date: 24 Apr 10 - 08:34 AM

Thank you for your encouragement. And yes, I will read the back posts. That actually doesn't even seem daunting :). I woke up with good ideas about how to finish my big school project, so I'll jump into that assignment with a will!

Eiseley

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 24 Apr 10 - 12:23 PM

you think I am going to clean house when it is this beautiful outside?



HaHaHahahahahahahahahahahahah!


as if!

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: wysiwyg
Date: 24 Apr 10 - 01:49 PM

48 peat pellets seeded and mini-greenhoused. Joint effort. Next-- the mower deck-- joint effort.

This is all 2 weeks behind.... hurry hurry but relax, relax, FUNFUNFUN

Paradigm: Farmer (not gardener).

~S~

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Apr 10 - 02:26 PM

Virginia, you got my number! I've been outside all day so far, and expect that to continue.

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Apr 10 - 11:44 PM

My garden isn't completed, but tomorrow I'll be able to put plants in one side of it. I'll have to water with a sprinkler till I finish and can re-position my soaker hoses.

The house is still looking pretty good, but that's because I haven't been in it all day. :)

As far as accountability, I've put in a couple of heavy days of yard work and mowing. The calories burned are off the chart. And the dogs and I went for a nice walk this evening.

SRS

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 25 Apr 10 - 02:13 AM

The door is green and will be repainted in that colour if I can find the right shade.

Today is the AGM at church so nothing will be done on the decluttering front today. I did actually sit down yesterday and do some mending - I feel virtuous and justified...

LTS

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 25 Apr 10 - 07:23 AM

All laundry done

All curtains and two extra cushions for caravan done

Currently copying some CDs so we can keep a collection of music in car
soon to clean bathroom and master bedroom - it's cloudy out today

I will do some ironing today and some mid upcoming week when I have time off booked for Andie's deathiversary.

I hope to start laying out my wild woman coat project too and get in some instrument practice and maybe learn a couple more songs.

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: Old Vermin
Date: 25 Apr 10 - 07:26 AM

Shrubs cut back and brambles removed. Washed volcanic dust from cars' windows, again.

About thirty years ago, there was a called Mr Marshall who gardened on the same allotment site where I worked pretty hard at it, keeping going and moving fast. He, by contrast and being aged over eighty, moved very slowly and precisely.

One day, just for a laugh in his absence, I tried imitating his way. So much more got done with so much less fatigue.

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Apr 10 - 12:35 PM

That sounds wonderful! I've been moving more dirt this morning, and have been trying to be efficient, but I'm shaping this thing an the design is evolving as I see how it looks with each new load of dirt. The end result will hopefully be a bed I can reach into from the lower paths, but I'll have to put a lot of mulch down so after a rain or watering I don't sink down into it.

The cut iris in the kitchen have been very pretty, but they do smell like cat pee, so is not likely to be repeated. Until next year when I forget again. :)

SRS

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: Eiseley
Date: 25 Apr 10 - 02:23 PM

About Iris and remembering what color they are when they stop blooming:

My grandmother would write the color with a pen or a stick on the underside of the green leaves. When the flowers finished blooming, the name of the color would be etched into the leaf and she could move them later.

I still remember and wish I had a particularly beautiful deep peach one.

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: mouldy
Date: 25 Apr 10 - 05:32 PM

Having dented the plastic at a health and healing fair yesterday, I decided that today I would spend the morning at the Royal Horticultural Society's garden at Harlow Carr, near Harrogate, and perhaps track down a couple of unusual plants, have lunch, and go home to do some gardening/sorting out kind of stuff. That was what I intended when I set out at 9.15 this morning.

Well, I got to the turn off near Harrogate, and found I had got the chance to go to the Harrogate Spring Flower Show instead - never been before... I WOULD have been done by lunchtime, but I wanted to buy a specific rhubarb (Fenton's Special - merely for the name - it's my daughter's married name) and I had to wait until the display was dismantled at the end of the show. So, in the end, I got a blacksmith-made candlestick, a new hose attachment, a tablecloth, 2 lavenders, a Jerusalem artichoke, a Lemon Verbena, some pond plants, a chilli plant, 3 ferns, sore feet, aching back, AND a big pot of rhubarb!

Will somebody PLEASE padlock my purse!

Andrea

Andrea

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Apr 10 - 05:48 PM

What fun, Andrea!

Eisely, what a wise grandma!

We changed our sheets, last night, so today I did our regular laundry plus extra bedding. And, put it ALL away for a change. Our bedroom was really looking badly with clean clothes strewn every which way.

I swept the hallway into the LR, into the DR/Kitchen while Rog wielded the dustpan. Morgan came over and, after we got done walking at the park and watching him play on the swing sets, etc., he vacuumed the bathroom, then mopped it and the hallway. He also helped me scrub the bathroom sink and commode. He loves the way I do the sink. I read, years ago, about a blind woman who cleaned using her bare feet and hands, in order to *feel* the clenaliness. From then on, I have poured Ajax cleaning powder on my sink and faucets, then used my hands to scrub, though I will use a cloth, too. It's hard on the hands, but it is also very satisfying. Morgan loves it because it's messy! Rog also did the litter boxes and went to get a few things at the store. We both shared in getting the dishes done, though they are all his to put away IF he wants "Sarah - the cleaning girl" to wash up during the week. She's a picky broad, demanding empty drainers before washing so much as a spoon!

Anyway, my house is looking much nicer, though it is still in the "needs work" mode and probably always will be...still it's home.:-)

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: wysiwyg
Date: 25 Apr 10 - 10:14 PM

It was a very, VERY bad winter for me in many ways I have not shared at Mudcat. From the excessive number of fall funerals till the present, I have lost quite a bit of ground that had been hard enough to win to begin with.

Ah well, TBTG I still HAVE the muscles-- they just need to be brought back online and I know from past layoffs that it will only take about half as long as it feels like it will.

This time, tho, there are other slippages bringing me nearer to early death than I would prefer to be; I wake each AM grateful for another one, TBTG, and hope I have many, many more-- but am also ready in case I do not.


So! To Hardi's excellent weight-room program for me (which we log there on paper), has been added all this month 3 days per week in the pool. Today that 1/2 hour of no-fun became "Oh we are getting back to work now," so I hurt all over, but in a GOOD way (except for Arthur's visits).

NOW it is program-workout worth logging-- 30 minutes ski/slow jog punctuated by 5 minutes fast jog, with a view to increasing the total SOON from 35 to 40 to 45 to 60, plus the 1/4 hour of Ai Chi stretches that keep range of motion (ROM) improving-- or at least not deteriorating as my geezer pals remind me! :~)

This week's FC includes a wonderfully thick, vinylized, folding camp mattress-- it will replace a thinner, not-folding one in the Boondocker's van-sleeping kit (as soon as it dries and is de-mildewed.)

After it dries and is sun-cured, what's a good mildewcide I can put into it and leave in it? It's cotton-poly fabric on one side, and about 4" of foam with car-upholstery type vinyl back and sides. Need a non-allergenic aroma to leave in it-- lemon juice maybe?

~Susan

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Apr 10 - 11:50 PM

Susan, that's one heckuva act to follow.

Kat, I read your post and decided "okay, if there's a clean kitchen in Colorado, there will be a clean kitchen in Texas also." I went in and washed the dishes before coming back to write this. I'll appreciate it in the morning.

I've been digging up the oldest compost pile and sifting it through my homemade compost sieve. Comes out real nice. I dumped three wheelbarrows full of it in the new raised garden area in the front, and I planted three of the tomatoes in one of those beds this evening. I'll sift and plant more tomorrow, but I still need to also move some earth for a couple of the incomplete raised beds. I'm using piles of dirt and compost that I've been meaning to use for a while. I have to go ahead and use the local stuff and not just run to the Home Depot and buy a few bags.

The laundry is finished and one load was dried on the clothes line. I put my son's clothes and the bath towels in the dryer this time, but next time I'll probably line dry then tumble for a few minutes to soften them up. The sheets line dried and they always smell so wonderful that way.

I did some freelance work this afternoon and I'm working on that more this evening. It takes longer to do the computer processing part of images than it takes to shoot the event, in my experience, and I have two events from the last three days that I have to process. I send shots to the local newspaper, and it dawned on me this afternoon as I was working in the garden when I got home (you can think about so many things when you're out puttering in the garden!) that I must be showing up online quite a bit now because they always give me a by-line on each photo. I tried sending them the line "Courtesy the UTA Library" but they want a photographer listed in the credit.

It feels like I got a lot accomplished this weekend. Part of that is that I shifted my HRT back to the compounded estrogen/testosterone formula I was using before my insurance company discontinued their online compounding. They said "there is a perfectly good pill available." Well, there isn't. I tried it for a while and it wasn't good, and it took a while to wean from it when they said last fall they couldn't sell it any more ("Oops! Our bad!") But the answer for the last few months (estrogen only) was weight gain and lack of energy. So, since last weekend I'm back on my old compound, and paying out of my pocket. I realized that I can save money by picking up 3 months at a time, and the insurance would have made me pay $25 a month for the pills. This way I pay $20 over that ($95 for 3 months) and get what I want, and I can already feel the difference. It's worth the few dollars more.

I'll try to make it an early evening. I feel like I'll sleep like a log. :)

SRS

Subject: RE: Apr '10 De-clutter(SpringCleaning! Accountability)
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 26 Apr 10 - 08:30 AM

Morning workout was done, feel a bit achey so probably didn't stretch enough. Yesterday I did a spinning class, 4 mile walk, then another 5 miles with Paul and the kids. Paul brought the weights in from the workshop for me so I can do some toning at home as well as the gym.

I planted carrots and spinach with Harry yesterday. The sprouts are coming up well as are the leeks, broccoli and cauliflower.

I'm watching the Walk the Walk website to see when the dates for next years London moonwalk are released so I can register early. Maybe one day I'll do the London Marathon but I've got alot of training to do if I do!