BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Sep 11 - 04:31 PM

September 2011 awaits our industry and reporting!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: SINSULL
Date: 01 Sep 11 - 09:09 AM

ServPro, Tink. Black mold is a bitch. Bleach does not kill it. And it is too dangerous to mess with.
So sorry you have that mess to deal with. My basement flooded a few years back when the power went out and the pump shut down mid-Nor'easter. A disgusting mess especialoly when three kitty litters overturned and sloshed everywhere.
Yuck.
And despite my best efforts black mold set in in the walls. Had to be removed.

Meantime, my decluttering efforts are paying off. I can actually see improvement. whoo whoo

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: katlaughing
Date: 31 Aug 11 - 11:34 PM

Wow, Tink, is that a pet snake?*bg* Those are some shots...I hope the clean up goes well and echo SRS about the mold, etc. We lived on a property in CT, a junior executive's house, which had "wetlands" all aruound it, including a pond. We had to wipe the walls down about once per month to keep up with the m&m. It was quite an experience for a lil' ol' gal from Wyomin'. Great pix of newspaper reading, btw!:-)

SRS, you are doing such great work for your friend. He's fortunate to have you as a friend. That's wonderful about the gold pieces!

For the first time all summer, that I can recall, even though it got in the 90s, I didn't feel so drained in the afternoon because it was overcast and had rained a bit the night before. OUr swamp coller is not adequate, so the house has been warming up to about 80/81 by afternoon when I retire to the bedroom with the a/c. Today, it only got to 77 and I was comfortable with just a fan as long as the swamp cooler was on high.

I did keep the dryer off, so the last load is only now getting dried. The other two loads are folded and in our bedroom waiting to be put away.

kat

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Aug 11 - 11:26 PM

There's nothing like a hurricane or tornado make a cleanup job a lot more complicated, is there? Tinker, good luck with all of that, and I hope the mold and fungus don't become a health issue.

Today I bid adieu to my boss of the last 15 years and his secretary who I have also worked with for the last 15 years. She retired, he is going back to teaching. After our lunch (it was great, and he and his wife brought their 6-week-old grandson who he slept through the entire meal!) I headed over to help my friend at his house.

There I cleaned up the kitchen - it was a godawful mess, I think they were giving up on dishes since they have to move, but unless you can clean it all you can't sort and pack and stage that part of the move, so I washed everything one from one end of the counter to the other, and then packed a couple of important "apartment starter boxes" for his kitchen. A couple of skillets, of deeper pans, of baking sheets, racks, utensils, and later we'll figure out what plates and dishes he wants to start with. As he is ready he can bring more stuff in from storage or sell it.

During a break he handed me a box of costume jewelry picked over by his sisters and aunt at the time of his mother's death - remarked that they left him all of the costume jewelry. I poked through it and set aside enough small gold pieces and chains that when we took it over to the gold exchange near his house he received enough for the first month's rent in an apartment - something that had really worried him. Needless to say, he was ecstatic at that part of my visit!

There are several friends who will be helping tomorrow, and I have work to finish up for a coworker, so I'll be there in the afternoon if it isn't too hot so the dogs can stay out. I don't want the dogs in the house alone (and Zeke came down for a few days while his family attend to chemo then a few days with their son at his time-share.)

Whew. Time to kick back. It's still really hot, low 100s, so a shower is next on my list of things to do for me.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: Tinker
Date: 31 Aug 11 - 10:54 PM

Okay here's what I started with on Sunday....

Soggy Sunday views

By Monday the waters were sinking fast even though the pumps (and all other electric) were still out of comission.

Monday -- no power, but elbow grease


Tommorrow I'll add a few views of how far I've gotten. This actually makes me feel better .... I've made a pretty big dent.

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: katlaughing
Date: 31 Aug 11 - 06:13 PM

Tink, you might find THIS helpful.

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: Tinker
Date: 31 Aug 11 - 02:29 PM

Okay I am going to check in here at least until I finish cleaning up from Hurricane Irene. Sixteen inches of water in the basement when you prepped for 12 is still a mess. I'm losing steam (I started preparing a week ago and it's been full steam since)

I just found out it will be a week before I can get my hot water heater and furnace looked at I'm on standbye for a cancellation. Because of my boys autoimmune issues everything has to be cleaned to prevent molding....so I'm getting silt off of basement floors and bleaching them today. Luckily the dryer was under less water (finished area on platform and started right up) so I can at least clean up the few things that did get wet. Later today I'll take a break and post a few photos....

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: katlaughing
Date: 31 Aug 11 - 12:10 PM

It sounds as though you have a wonderful library, Penny.

I've got five books wrapped and ready to mailed to Mudcatters, plus a box with about 12 books in it to go to my son. I think I will have the library truck empty by the weekend and will be able to move it out.

One load of laundry done and in dryer, one in the wash and one mre to go. This is early release day for Morgan and it is supposed to get to 96 today, so won't get much done in the afternoon.

I observed a special exercise class for people on O2 at the life center, yesterday. I think it and one other will be doable for me, so will start next week on Tues. and Thurs. Two hours in the morning. It's a salt water, heated pool with a hot tub adjacent! My docs and I agree the exercise machines at where I've been going have been hard on my different parts, aggravating old injuries and/or bringing up new ones. I continue with qi gong as it suits with no pain or injuries after.

I'd quit losing weight after my brother's b-day party, but am back on track, now. His move is over which helps! Don't need any more of that stress!

kat

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: Penny S.
Date: 31 Aug 11 - 02:57 AM

Thanks for the backup, SRS! It halps to know there are others who think as I do.

Yesterday I went over the river (Thames) to Essex where the guy doing our accounts has his office, and tried to do some shopping that needed to be there (the crossing costs £3), but there wasn't much to do that made sense of the journey.

I also did some more book sorting in my study. I have historical resources sorted out in chronological order up to the 18th century, and am now adding in religious history as well, which involves quite a bit of juggling.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Aug 11 - 12:00 AM

What a day. Finished a banner, the image wasn't as clear as I hoped, but it was there. Moved stuff from Dean's house to my garage for a garage sale.

Lots more, but I'm bushed!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: mouldy
Date: 30 Aug 11 - 05:26 PM

We call 'em reins over here. Wonderful things!

No builders today. matbe tomorrow....


Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Aug 11 - 09:18 AM

Michelle, I found some cute chest harnesses that zip up the back with long cords at Sears (yes, you could call it a baby leash) that gave my kids the freedom to walk on the ground on their own but I had the straps in case I had to pull them out of harms way, or wanted to be sure they stayed on the path. They were happier walking than being carried, and I could give them a little freedom (within the range of the harness) to meander. Here it is. Sears doesn't seem to have it in stock any more. Amazon might.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: LilyFestre
Date: 29 Aug 11 - 11:57 PM

Went for a walk with my beautiful baby boy today. He can do a quarter of a mile all by himself!!! :) Walking WITH him instead of him in the stroller is much more interesting and now that I know he can do small distances, we'll be going more often!

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 29 Aug 11 - 10:21 PM

Finally figured out how to reduce number of emails!!!!! There were over 900 yesterday as I had not been on since Friday night. Just deleting quickly took several hours. Enough!!!!! Cannot find the important ones. So I cancelled a whole group. Should get it down to a manageable #.

There is decluttering and there is throwing away a couple dumpsters full of history books! A story told by a friend, and we were just as upset. "No one" wanted them??

Running two households is challenging. Forgetting to bring back - foods that might spoil. Forgetting to take stuff for breakfast, at least. But I do remember to turn off the hot water heater. Even if I go back down in a couple days, the water is still warm. And it only takes 3 hours to be hot enough for a hot bath.

And I am still sorting out what i have and what I need in pottery supplies. another trip to the supply house tomorrow. A new circuit breaker for the kiln as the old one failed and the kiln load did not fire. R installed it but I did not have time to re-fire it yet.

The storm brought down two not very big branches in our yard No damage! No loss of power.

Still working on info for SPCA. Just need to do a final edit and google translate. Then work on a press release on how to keep critters out of homes, garbage, etc.

Terrific fun meeting with a "raccoon couple" from NYS on Saturday. They came up into Quebec and we talked non-stop for over two hours before they had to get back to their critters. We had gotten to know the wife on line - on raccoon rehab sites - over the last few months. Next time in their territory.

Fall is here. Tomatoes are finally producing. Finally refinishing the 100 year old front door (removed) in this nice cool weather.

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: wysiwyg
Date: 29 Aug 11 - 10:08 PM

Been decluttering and not sharing.

We both arrived home from a long and great vacay to hot-n-heavy work projects going "live," in Harid's case as he arrived and in mine a week before we arrived (TBTG for laptops!). We're back over a week and I have not begun to unpack, BUT the work items were exactly as I needed to find them and altho the office looks a mess, it is really just crowded-- not cluttered-- and I just need Adrian to add a few shelves. And I need to unpack the work stuff still in the van more than the vacay stuff-- except for the electric cooler I sent to my office to replace the mini-fridge a power surge seems to have taken out...

Making room for a new housemate is always interesting, but this time around I had so little to move and I knew just where to put everything I moved as I cleared space for her convenience-- while marveling that 5 people used to happily share that one bathroom, or 35 one big-MudGather weekend, LOL.

I throw away a lot more stuff than I used to. Plastic bottles can now go after 2 uses, not 20, when time is of the essence.

The housecleaner is scheduled back for a date soon and I do not need to clean for her to clean, tho I will clean WITH her to get a big bang for our buck-- at least part of her time here.

It's great to have a friend in a room I worked so hard to prep for a mystery occupant. ALL the prep has paid off, suits her perfectly, and the room is still gaining a few planned improvements with Adrian expected here this week. I spent so little for the HUGE help Adrian has been! At the time more than a few people thought I was nuts. Developments have borne out every choice I made, as I was pretty sure they would.... I do not need to know what will happen to know my judgment is sound, even when I have no idea of the eventual outcome. Gray hairs on a wiser head, maybe. I remember needing to know outcomes, not so many years back. I'm sure Faith also plays a role there.

I do still have stuff to order, organize, and maximize, but I am tickled at where we are and to be able to finally have things running just about right about here.

And PT is GREAT!!! So is mountain scootering!

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Aug 11 - 09:11 PM

This morning I used the clothes dryer for the first time in many weeks. It actually looked like rain this morning (we felt a few drops of drizzle, no more) and I had to go out, so I used the hot box of air in the air conditioned house.

After taking care of things at work I swung by my friend's house. So much to do in so little time, but he has been making headway. We took a load of stuff to his storage locker today and I brought home yard items - concrete planters (5) and two concrete bird baths. They'll live at my house for now, but if he decides in the future he has a place for them, his name is on them. Tomorrow we'll do the same kind of thing - move whatever is ready when I get over there. He has a potential for garage sale stuff, but I can't make him see it. I think over Labor Day weekend he should put stuff in the front yard and sell some of it, we can take turns helping at the sale or continuing to move stuff to the locker. I told him he should plan to leave some things at my house indoors because with this heat he shouldn't be leaving food items (canned goods) and some of his cooking things in that locker or out of reach. He is including eBay items in the locker - if it is easy to describe, easy to ship, and easy to store, he can do that to at least break even on the cost of the locker until he can unload it.

Andrea, that kind of gut decluttering can come from so many places. I'm really leery of anything sweetened and of lettuce when I travel. No shredded lettuce on sandwiches (they use something to keep it from turning brown or wilting) and pre-sweetened things sometimes have nutrasweet. They have the same strong laxative effect on me - no fun.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: mouldy
Date: 29 Aug 11 - 04:56 PM

I'm still here, but nothing's been happening with the house for a while. This weekend has had a public holiday added to it, so I may see builders tomorrow. Some dressed stone has arrived, along with lintels, while I've been away at Whitby over the last week.

The only de-cluttering of late has been my innards yesterday (stomach bug) but I'm okay now. I'll probably get the washing out of the way tomorrow.

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Aug 11 - 11:54 AM

Kat, he isn't leaving anywhere except work in the library. All along he has taught at least one class as semester in the evening, and taught an archive class he'll continue with in the library. He's taking a year sabbatical the returning to teach history and continue with his writing and such. Not losing touch at all, but just not having this great guy right there in the library all of the time.

Moonglow picked up her new glasses today - I finally talked her into getting a new frame. I think she'd put new lenses in the old frames two more times after she got them new, and they were a bit wobbly. She's running around a bit down here, I'll get one more hug in before she heads back up to her house. We're all running errands these days and this week is just packed full of the increments that add up to big jobs getting finished.

Penny, when I was selling my father's house as I finished his estate I had 2 offers, one from a woman who grew up at that beach a few houses up and one from a realtor who wanted it as an investment to rent out. He made his bid contingent that he would top any other bid by $1,000 going up to $25,000 above what he originally bid. I accepted the woman's bid and got a call one day from someone at the real estate office who was there to settle disputes. The bidding realtor felt that the folks handling my sale might have convinced me to ignore his bid so they could collect a larger fee. I explained to the realtor intermediary that I understood perfectly well who had what listed but frankly when dividing his $1000 four ways when the estate was settled it wasn't worth it to me to upset the neighbors who had lived near dad for decades. They knew and liked the young woman and would prefer someone to live there, not have it become rental property. It was just that simple. You don't throw the neighbors under the bus when you sell your property if you can avoid it.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: Penny S.
Date: 29 Aug 11 - 03:20 AM

We've been having the sort of weather we get a few days after a hurricane over west of the pond! Wind and heavy rain, but not enough to bother about. I haven't done much in the garden though. I've emptied a couple of potato bags, and I'm not sure that the process of growing in them actually saves any money, from the number of tubers gathered.

I'm working through the accounts for the flats for the accountant tomorrow - I was hoping it was the last year last year, but no. And I was hoping I'd found a buyer without going to an agent, but it turned out she wanted it to let out rather than live their herself, and I had already decided that as far as possible I would not sell to someone who wanted to do that. Lettings have led to trouble for my neighbours who just want it to be their home, close off the option for people who want to set up a home of their own, and leave all the work of running the company to a few people. It will cost me money to do it the other way, and take more time, but I can't really collude in something I think is wrong. Back to the accounts... but I'll hang the washing out first.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: katlaughing
Date: 29 Aug 11 - 12:41 AM

Will he be teaching in the same area, so you can keep in touch, maybe lunch once in a while or so? Good to hear the interim person is okay. Fifteen years is a long time to have a wonderful boss and working relationship, as well as friend.

For once, all summer, the weather was wonderful this morning. We all went over to my brother's at 8a and the kids started loading up all the heavy stuff, except the piano. We had dark overcast sky with low-throated rumbling above the clouds all morning, far off lightning, then just as we got the last bit for the day done, it rained a bit. Not a lot, but enough that Luna came in wet with her beautiful white "socks" all muddy. She had so much fun all I could do was laugh. You're right, SRS, I feel much more calm with a dog in the house, again, even though she isn't the watch dog type. I know she will alert me,regardless.

Rog had a side job up on the mtn, he had to go do, so the "movers" were Morgan and his parents and my brother. There's more, but it is manageable with him doing it himself, possibly in my car since it is bigger. I'll be glad when he is completely done and out of the old place.

I've kept up the laundry and Rog put away the clean dishes, but that is about it. I have been steadily sending books out to request from the paperbackswap.com site. Also, will be sending out a box of classics to my son this week. Five of them are from a set my parents had. He's in the mood for reading such so they will have a good home. I am thinking of listing a few others, old, some newer, in a thread on Mudcat, "Free to Good Home." Nothing really special, but maybe someone might see something they'd like to read and I can pass it on. My goal is to empty the library truck/cart which will open up space in the DR where I have my desk.

Last weekend, we moved an old wingback chair, which sinks in on one side of the seat, to the odl office out of our bedroom and put an upholstered arm chair in our bedroom which Rog uses as a clothes horse. The wingback is too heavy and right in front of the window I open for the cats, but I do like it. May have to figure a way to scoot it over, yet still have access to other things in the near space.

SRS, when I was a girl, I used to draw out a rough diagram of my bedroom and where each piece of furniture would go and rearrange it about every 1-2 months. Part of it depended on the season and part on just liking that change. I kept that up as an adult, though not as much as I've grown older and more dependent on others to help. Now that Morgan is older, though, he has become a BIG help. He loves moving stuff around.:-) He was a trooper, today, did a great job and earned $10 + lunch from us and his parents gave him a surprise "bonus" for doing such a good job. It was neat to watch the three of them working as a family unit helping family.

My daughter in CT said they haven't had too much rain, but lots and lots of wind. 91% of her town is without power. She was lucky, hers didn't go off until about an hour ago. Her beau is stuck in Essex where he works at least until sometime tomorrow, maybe longer depending on when the roads get opened. There are so many little roads which will be covered with downed trees. My thoughts go out to all who are in the dark and to the crews who are out there working to bring back some light.

G'night, all.

kat

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Aug 11 - 12:00 AM

Well it's still me, talking to myself, but I don't like to see the thread drop off the page. Hopefully everyone is either having such a great time with family or so busy with decluttering that they're not sharing.

I fixed a pleasant dinner, including pulling one of my very large home-grown Irish potatoes out of the bin to cut up and fry. That will last me about three meals. I love the idea of growing my own and having them keep so nicely. I know people around the world do this, but it's new to me. My next harvest, sweet potatoes, will have to "cure" for a week or two, drying out in a fairly humid setting (according to the web sites I looked at) and then can go in a bin. Last year I had four Irish potato plants; next year I can probably use my own seed potatoes and I'll grow twice that number. I've been reading about how to start my own sweet potato slips from this year's crop, so there is quite a continuity as you learn how to grow, preserve, and sprout or seed the next crop from what you save.

I've cleared out more of the stuff in my sun room. I think my friend may not have to store stuff here, but just the same, it's time to work on that room. And if he has to come spend a few days, I want it to be an inviting space. My garage is looking a lot better also.

Busy week coming up. Might be cause for a blue funk - my boss of the last 15 years is leaving the library to go back to teaching. He was simply the best boss in the world so this is a huge shift for all of us, and I was one who reported directly to him. The person appointed in the interim is also good, I have no fears there, but I'll miss my old boss terribly since he's also one of my best friends. So it may be a rough week.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 11:20 AM

I have arranged with my friend to go over to help on Tuesday evening. He'll have someone there with a pickup today and Monday, so on Tuesday I'll swing by after work and deliver another load of boxed stuff to the storage unit. Pacing himself is going to make this job move along. The higher heat is with us thru Monday, but by Tuesday it's supposed to be only up to 104^o. Isn't that pathetic? "Only 104^o."

Today I must tweak the living room placement of things. I like the space as it appears now, but I think I can make it look better.

Load of laundry washed overnight, I'll hang them on the line in a few minutes. I have another load to put in this evening. Sparing the electric bill by doing that overnight is my continual goal - I may keep it up after the heat breaks because it's just good practice.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 01:48 AM

It's pretty remarkable when hurricanes move in - I've seen that leading edge, a rounded "shelf" of clouds move over an area several times living here in Texas.

Tonight I stuck with moving things around in the house. I rearranged my living room, putting the television on the raised hearth (it looks good) and moving the leather and rocker chairs in front of it. I've never had my sofa against the wall, but I moved it over to take a look and it makes for plenty of room for a coffee table and lots of clearance over to the dining room table on the other side of the room.

I also rearranged my bedroom. It's one of those Chinese puzzle affairs - you must move things in such a way to leave space for other things so you can finally move objects to where you want them. I took out a small table and vacuumed lots of dust in the process. It looks better, and Kat, this is what I was talking about a while back when we discussed sleeping comfortably. Just like you wanted to have a dog in the house to be more comfortable, I find that if I can sleep on my right side (as I prefer) and can see the bedroom door, I rest easier. It just took finally deciding to do it. The house always feels more interesting after moving stuff so I should do it more often.

Stay dry, everyone!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: LilyFestre
Date: 27 Aug 11 - 08:04 PM

Skies have gone from beautiful pinkish gray to a dark gray in the matter of about 2 minutes...big dark clouds rolling in...everything is very still....

Stay safe everybody!

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Aug 11 - 08:02 PM

Dropped off my bag of recycling at the depot nearby, and they have a covered concrete "swap shop" area where I left my shop vac. The Goodwill isn't likely to want it - it doesn't have a hose and needs a new filter, but it works and has tools. Someone can use it. And that clears one little space in my garage. It is so hot out that I'm working indoors this afternoon and evening, but I'm going to see about driving over to help my friend do some packing tomorrow.

Watching web cams in NYC - the charging bull below Wall Street is in the rain in the dark, very little traffic now, but lots of people in the rain at Times Square. They must be nuts - it's raining a lot harder now. There are various cams out there (if you search in Google you might find it useful to add "-sex" without the quotes to remove the live XXX cams that come to the top of the search.) I can feel the storm, almost, even though it is so hot and dry here.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: LilyFestre
Date: 27 Aug 11 - 06:31 PM

Down over a pound this week which I am ecstatic about. I haven't been doing a great job and was fully expecting about a 6 pound gain. I was wrong! YAY!

I had plans to attend an oncology camp for women this weekend and just as I was making one final trip into the house to make sure I had everything, the phone rang. Camp was canceled due to Hurricane Irene. It seems the camp sits back on 5 miles of gravel roads and they were concerned about the road washing out and downed trees. I will be able to attend another camp they are having in October...can't wait to go!!!

I haven't done much decluttering this weekend...just the most very basic of chores.

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: SINSULL
Date: 27 Aug 11 - 02:45 PM

Does anyone else accumulate bags of clean clothing in the laundry area and lose track of what's in them.? I just went through three huge bags and found summer clothes I can wear and tons of stained and ragged stuff I held for wearing around the house. Trashed it! Another empty corner.

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Aug 11 - 02:11 PM

Back to the top.

Garage is looking better. Lots of mouse activity evident so after sweeping a particularly dense area of droppings I came in and used the neti pot to clear out my sinuses. The dogs catch mice and rats, but no point in making a supply for them to hunt. I'll try to keep the corners a little less tempting for the rodent population.

Any other decluttering going on this weekend?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Aug 11 - 09:48 AM

I'm working on consolidating stuff in my garage this morning (after I check email and drink my cuppa tea!). Zeke and Susie were out so early that I was only heading out the back gate when they walked up the drive, so she came in for tea and the dogs played, then had breakfast together (such fun, to sit and wait for me to point at the food!)

Susie is a retired art teacher who makes jewelry, including gorgeous glass pieces. I pulled out my beads and findings this morning - she is going to inspire me to finally start doing some of this work - I showed her some of the combinations I have in mind and she liked them (carnelian and turquoise, for example, or carnelian and jade).

The garage will get more thorough attention this morning. I usually juggle what is already in there, but I'll pull out everything on one side and put things back the way they need to go to be more efficient with the space. You know how some low thing on the floor can tie up all of the space above it - I have a flat box of rocks that my brother collected in college - I love them, he may want them back one of these days - they're all going into a 10-gallon gardening tub today to take less space. That's an example. They could go outside also, but I don't want to lose track of them.

Back in for lunch, air, whatever later. I'll hopefully be moving some of my friend's stuff today, getting that started for him.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Aug 11 - 10:07 PM

Didn't feel anything on this side of the Rockies, SRS. I hadn't even heard of it until you mentioned it. This week has been very busy and we've still got the next few days filled with helping my brother move. No relief from the heat for another week or so and then it will still be high 80s, but I won't complain. That's lots better than high 90s and 100!Poor Morgan came home at 350p too hot to play with the dog. No a/c in the classroom and their fan didn't work. It was about 96-98 today.

Take care all.

kat

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Aug 11 - 03:01 PM

Just don't let anyone see you step out onto your porch and pitch everything into the wind!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: SINSULL
Date: 26 Aug 11 - 02:08 PM

HMMMMM If I have a yard sale on Saturday and the storm blows everything away, am I obligated to chase it all down or can I just go back inside to my clean house?

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Aug 11 - 12:56 PM

Talking to myself today. Andrea, what's up with the rock work at your house? How are you able to use your various spaces while it's in limbo? Post photos, please!

Kat, I heard about an earthquake in Colorado earlier this week. Did you feel it?

Penny, are the cats staying out of the garden? Maryanne, are you still canning? Liz, are you sewing up a storm or pruning shrubs to be able to see your tits in the garden? :)

September is just around the corner. And so is Secret Santa. Oh, my!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Aug 11 - 10:57 AM

Well now it is Friday and I definitely have a huge list of things to do today and over the weekend.

I spent time last night looking for old high school classmates - I reminded them who I was, in case they needed it - it's nice that after 39 years one is remembered! I have a few new ones in my facebook friends now and will watch to see if there is a reunion next year.

While the hurricane marches up the east coast drenching everything in sight we're hearing stories on NPR about people in Texas selling their dessicated livestock and going out of business. Now is the time to buy beef and put it in the freezer because next year there won't be as much available.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Aug 11 - 07:16 PM

Have moved most of my flattened corrugated boxes into my son's room - for now on the bed, but soon, in a spot of their own under the window, I think. I'll evict a plant table (bought at a garage sale at a late friend's house last year), a dresser I'm going to convert into a buffet, the computer hutch, and the table in there. Might leave my shelves as mailing center until last - lots of piddly stuff to move on those shelves.

Doesn't this feel like it should be a Friday?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Aug 11 - 12:02 PM

Working my way through a stack of papers on my office's secondary desk (where the laptop lives and charges.) And last time I headed to the kitchen for another cuppa tea I rearranged the fridge a bit, discarded a couple of things way past the shelf date.

Little steps as I listen to occasional thunder. No rain, but at least the presence of clouds means the day might not get quite so hot.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Aug 11 - 09:46 AM

Get home before the nasty weather hits the east coast, Michelle! How far inland will the storm wander, do you suppose? We in North Texas are hoping for a deep-penetrating tropical storm one day soon, but your mileage may vary. :)

Cleaned up the main clutter and put away clothes in my son's room. Ready to start moving in my eBay boxes and other stuff in so I can empty the sun room. It begins later today. It's also the first day of the semester, so it will be a juggling act.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: LilyFestre
Date: 24 Aug 11 - 09:24 PM

Lots of walking around in Ithaca, NY today. I found a new thrift shop that was F~A~B~U~L~O~U~S!!! Picked up some fall clothes for Jeremiah. :) Tomorrow, a new consignment shop has opened up in the area and I'm going to check it out! My Wee One is growing like CRAZY!!!! :)

Night all.

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Aug 11 - 07:51 PM

It's quite an education to learn about your family that way, Betty. It's more or less how I met many relatives, through their stuff, when some of my great aunts passed away.

On a much more modest scale, this afternoon I took a couple of frozen lasagna casseroles (in foil in glass baking dishes) out of the freezer, popped them out of the glass and wrapped them up tightly in plastic and they're awaiting a meal later this fall. I'll make a few more before this summer is finished. It's so delightful to put that hefty block of home-grown-homemade casserole away for later. I'll slip a couple of pieces of paper under the plastic to note when they were made and the ingredients.

We might get some rain this evening. There is a storm blowing through the region, though it looks like it'll pass south of me a bit. Humidity and no relief? We shall see.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: Bettynh
Date: 24 Aug 11 - 11:45 AM

It's probably passed time I jump into this thread. Declutter seems to be the theme of my life at present. I live in the house my grandfather owned and my father grew up in. It's a duplex, and as time passed, my mothes' mother and sister moved into the rental. When my (fathers' mother) grandmother moved to a nursing home, I moved in with my husband (now far away) and, eventually, twin boys. My (mothers' mother) grandmother died, my aunt moved out, and eventually, my parents moved back in. The attic, cellar, and garage are huge. NOBODY EVER THREW ANYRHING OF POSSIBLE USE AWAY. I suffered from the family disease of gathering stuff, too. I've been sorting and distributing STUFF for a couple years now, with yard sales every 3 weeks or so in good weather. It'll probably be another year or two before I actually see the end of it.

I like the yardsales. My son helps me set up on a Saturday morning and comes back to haul in whatever didn't sell at 1 PM promptly, I advertise on Craigslist and there's a group of people who know what this house is and come to look for bargains and interesting stuff. Peoplewatching is the fun of it, and seeing things go to people who actually want or need this stuff. I do my homework, and I realize it's a yardsale, so the quarter table is huge and various, and I usually make about $70 or so just on small items. Selling a paper-thin teacup for a quarter is ok when it makes an obviously thrifty Spanish housewife happy (I broke the saucer myself, sob).

Recemtly, it's been books and papers from the attic. OLD books and papers. Dad's letters from WW2 home, I'll keep and scan. I already scanned the letters from his parents. (Now to find the letters from my mother, I read them and "put them away"). A huge set of USA history, 1858, history of the world, 4 volumes,1865, and on and on. None are in great shape, but most are readable. They are listed on ebay for tens or hundreds of dollars, but I haven't paid to find out what they actually SOLD for. They're heavy, so dragging in and out for a yardsale is going to be a problem. Hmmmm. I've already sold off lots of greeting cards from the 20s on (my fathers' mother carefully put every card back in the envelope and kept them, who does that?).

So that's my life at present, sorting, lugging stuff, and thinking about family. Today a pair of young men appeared at the door, asking about the old books. The thing is, I had originally listed them on my last Craigslist yardsale ad, then deleted them when I found more books, and figured I'd list them later. That Craigslisting also had today's date, a typo. They found the listing on yardsale.com, a site I never used. Maybe yardsale.com just clones Crigslist entries? Why didn't they list my updates? That's a little bit disturbing. Anyway, they were very polite, not rich, and very excited to see 4 volumes of bound classical piano music from 1908. I sold to them for $30, and I'm happy to think the music might be actually played.

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: SINSULL
Date: 24 Aug 11 - 10:13 AM

Dorothy, thank you for the link. I will pass it on to Meg.For all their health problems her children are planning their lives - college, jobs, etc. And always happy. They are deeply religious (Catholic) and find support in their faith and church.

SRS, your friend is lucky to have you. Our local homeless shelter has doubled its clientelle - mostly dispossessed families and not all local. I feel so lucky to have a home a job and a family to fall back on if need be.

Started Weight Watchers on Monday. New program - all fresh fruits and veggies are free. Whoo Whoo.
SINS

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Aug 11 - 09:41 AM

So much to do, so little time. Isn't that typical? This morning Susie and Zeke came to the house - the dogs played in the back and we looked at the state of my rooms for moving stuff so Dean can park household items here. I think instead of moving things into the front room I'm going to move things into my son's room and leave the front room as a nice civilized area if we need it for my friend. I'll leave the bedroom clear enough for moving around and sleeping, but it might be useful to have that front room as a second office if he stays here for a little while. I think he's going to try to stay as close to his workplace as possible, so this is a backup plan.

On the financial decluttering end of thing, I've been entering my credit card receipts from the trip into Quicken. Ouch! It'll be my biggest goal this fall to pay these off as quickly as possible. This is my contribution to the kid to college enterprise.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: Penny S.
Date: 24 Aug 11 - 08:43 AM

ragdall, not seen the cat for a couple of days. And I have stapled some plastic trellis to the top of the gate and the fence and threaded it with twigs so it looks like an insecure obstacle. I don't know if it works or not, as I haven't seen anything trying it out, and no little footprints in the carrot bed. The cat may have been kept in, or given up after I glared at it on the green. Nor have I seen it next door, which is much easier to get into and also has a feeder. (Didn't see it there before, either.) It has had spells of being around with long gaps between.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: wysiwyg
Date: 24 Aug 11 - 08:32 AM

SRS, our friend is not a tenant, but thanks.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Aug 11 - 08:23 PM

Sounds like the range of that earthquake on the east coast was quite large - sounds like a wide shallow one versus a hard local deep one?

Good luck with the tenant, WysiwyG. I may be having a friend (or at least, his stuff) here for a while. I'll clear my sun room and make room in the garage for things not needing climate control. He's being foreclosed upon, they're selling his house on the courthouse steps on Sept. 6. I'll be bringing back stuff here every time I'm in town, and doing a lot next two weekends. This place isn't convenient for a commute, but it would be a safe place to stay in for a little while, catch his breath.

I'm decluttering the contents of a computer drive that is in an external enclosure; this was a backup copy of what is on the old computer and most of it is moved into this. It'll be nice to have that out of the way and reassign it to something else.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: LilyFestre
Date: 23 Aug 11 - 05:24 PM

With all this strange, extreme weather happening on the east coast, I'm doing some cooking ahead today. Why? I imagine we will be having some power outages in the near future. If not, I'll have extra food to freeze...no biggie there!

We will be able to cook on the grill but I HATE to handle meat if I can't wash my hands. It just makes me twitch. ;)

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: ragdall
Date: 23 Aug 11 - 04:31 PM

Penny,
Is the kitty still admiring your tits? S/he didn't have to see them to be attracted. They likely create a din that is music to a cat's eats. My neighbours' cat continues to cull the Pine Siskin flock of the slower, less alert, birds who glean seeds under the hanging feeders. I'm happy to see that the neighbours are letting her out at night now. I've been told that she is bringing home (dead) mice, which were probably also seed gleaners in my garden. Good kitty!

rags

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: wysiwyg
Date: 23 Aug 11 - 01:41 PM

A "non-trad" uni student pursuing a science degree plans to move into a room here-- Friday-- and I am READY. YAY! So is the house!!!

This person met ALL the criteria for sharing this wacky clergy-lifestyle and may, if it works for us all, be here for some time; she has just recently begun her academic program. A HUGE benefit to us is that we anticipate she will be able to house-sit and pet-sit when we need to be away overnight. She also fully supports our desire to keep this big-ole farmhouse livable!

There are some big, sudden health challenges for a Chicago-area family member; I will appreciate good thoughts and prayers as I will probably be less available than usual for a bit. (But we do still have some guest space, TBTG!)

I'm very thankful I've had these threads to keep me moving toward this LONGterm goal.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: LilyFestre
Date: 23 Aug 11 - 01:21 PM

My dryer is broke at the moment so I've been hanging everything on the line. I don't mind it really as the weather is still warm and I find it relaxing. However, the recent rain we've had slows me down a bit and things get backed up. I've put in a request for another line and am looking forward to when that happens!

I did some rearranging in the kitchen and am loving the extra space. It motivates me to continue working out there!

Another day at home for Jeremiah and I. He's learning his colors (not able to say them but can pick them out of a line up) and how to put toys IN the basket! :) We're having fun with that. When he's all done, we high five and he smiles the biggest smile...sooo proud of himself! Mommy is too!!!

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: August 2011 Declutter & exercise reports
From: katlaughing
Date: 23 Aug 11 - 12:58 PM

No M this morning, so I've done the dishes, swept the DR and kitchen and done 30 minutes of qi gong (that's first time in ages!) Sure felt good. One load of laundry dried and folded, put away, another to fold and one more to dry. SRS, we don't have timers on our washer and dryer, but I usually wash early in the morning, then we turn the dryer on just before we go to bed which is usually after 10/11p, so it *feels* as though we are helping the power grid.:-)