BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009

Subject: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 02:42 AM

It's the First of June, midsummer is a scant 3 weeks away, and those Declutter bugs should be bursting out of their cupboards about now!

Anyone else putting away winter stuff? Isn't it time you went over all the stuff you didn't use this winter and see if it can't be donated, decluttered or downright dumped?!

I'm starting by making 3 new pairs of trousers today and dumping those I'm no longer able to wear (mainly because I've worn them so thin you could read a newspaper through the seat!) and putting winter jumpers and coats into vacuum bags to save space. Then there's the blanket that I'm giving a new lease of life to, by using it as the batting in a quilt I'm making.

But the most important bit of decluttering... take 10 or 20 minutes out of each day to just sit and declutter your brain; sit by a pond, lie in the sun, snuggle up to a best beloved or just ponder with a favourite iced drink of your choice and be still.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here!
From: mouldy
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 05:44 AM

I couldn't agree more. Now is the time to recharge and clutter the cobwebs out of your mind.

I am starting to see the spare room as a decorating project rather than a de-cluttering project, so it must be progress!

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 08:11 AM

I'm decluttering the computer today... running a much needed de-frag and deleting a whole heap of unrequired garbage...

Thank the deities for external hard drives and backups!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 04:07 PM

We were going to let the other one run a while and not update every month. Ask someone to put the year in it so we can tell it apart from the rest, and is this going to run for more than just June?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here!
From: wysiwyg
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 05:29 PM

Opened the camper last week. Everything looks good, no cluttrer in THERE!

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 06:21 PM

Ah.. I dunno, no-one tells me nuffink around here... mutter mutter, mumble mumble...


LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 06:32 PM

Still, the last one was over 200 posts and taking a while to load, so I consider this a de-clutter.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 07:02 PM

I guess I'll have to get something de-cluttered then.

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 02 Jun 09 - 03:04 AM

We could run it til autumn... September time? Need to declutter the freezer some time this weekend... lots of icecreams in there that have definately been there a while. Trouble is, I'm too mean to throw them all away without at least testing some of them!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here!
From: mouldy
Date: 02 Jun 09 - 04:34 AM

In the next couple of weeks I have to start going through the mountains of camping equipment in the shed to sort what I need for my 2+ weeks in Scotland in July. No amenities except for a tap at the gate and a dump point for the porta-potti, so all sorts of ephemera has to go along too!

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 02 Jun 09 - 05:55 AM

Ephemera.. that's a new word for toilet paper!

We could do with sorting our camping stuff out, but Manitas will insist on 'keep it, it might be useful' whilst disposing of the stuff we actually use...

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here!
From: freda underhill
Date: 02 Jun 09 - 07:49 AM

thanks for decluttering this dreadfully overburdened thread, LtS.

I have been remarkably silent on decluttering threads in recent months, a guilty silence you could say, because












I've been accumulating clutter.




Not meaningful clutter.

Not good things waiting to find their place.

No.

Useless, pathetic bits of shambley clutter. odds and ends, and not even very odd ends, which would be interesting. crappy bits of stuff, and pieces of nothing much.

But, at least now I've confessed it. And hope follows.. On the weekend I found a beautiful, large, wooden storage cupboard for CDs (fits 600) and DVDs (a few hundred). All I have to do is pay it off, find room for it in my living room, and take all the CDs out of my stained glass cabinet, where I can never find anything when I want it, and reorganise all my CDs into the new wooden cupboard. I can then move my art gear into the stained glass cabinet (by the back door!)

and, while this is good, it's not a summery sort of good, it's a wintery good, down here in Oz. I still have a jacket in a box somewhere that I haven't found since the renovations.

:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here!
From: LilyFestre
Date: 02 Jun 09 - 10:38 AM

The floors have been swept, laundry has been done, dishes are done, the bread is rising and some dusting has been completed. Our annual yard sale is coming up next month so I'm setting a goal of one bag of yard sale stuff is packed up every day. One bag. I can do one bag. I'm talking a shopping bag. Easy. And...if know myself, I'll start with the one bag and it will easily lead to others. Today I am parting with Mikasa plate settings that are beautiful but I never use them. They are OUTTA HERE!!!! I have other china that has more sentimental meaning if I want to have a fancy dinner. Pretty takes up space and is of no use (lord...if that isn't the truth about SO many things). Don't misunderstand me, I'm keeping plenty of my pretty, useless stuff...but those place settings aren't one of them!!!!

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Jun 09 - 01:37 PM

I've decluttered my personal page of a thread I didn't get a lot of chance to enjoy, too many poachers trying to change the subject. Susan Boyle will have to fend for herself.

Meeting at work today in which a new mucky-muck from the administration office basically has the intention of taking over everything I do for the institution. I wasn't able to get there for the first 30 minutes of this career affecting meeting--the heavens intervened and poured so much rain and lightning at school bus time that I couldn't leave my son in the weather so I took him to school. By the time I got to the meeting they had covered most of my job. I still have a job, but I will have to make it clear to these folks that I plan to continue doing it, I'm not handing my editing, design, and printing press oversight over to their new editors. It has been my experience that they don't proof-read closely, and they won't recognize the errors they've built in if they do as they ahve suggested and take everything and produce the finished product with no more department input. I will not go for that, or I'll spend all of my time correcting their errors. I've learned this job from the ground up and I suspect a lot of these folks are short-timers--they're here in the newest fad of "branding" going on. They're in place so the departments that don't have someone like me will have more uniform and professionally prepared print and web documents. Theses folks don't have the library insider knowledge so unless the university is defaulting to lite everything, little meaningful content in the printed word, they need to just back off and let me do my job.

Hmmmph.

Off of my soap box.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Jun 09 - 03:12 PM

Shoulda run that through spell check. . .

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Jun 09 - 05:04 PM

It looks like it's going to be one of those weeks.

I've been fighting with the power company. I paid the friggin' bill 3 times last month! Their web site keeps changing. For years I had my bank account information saved there and every month I went in and initiated the payment (I don't have them automatically deduct it). In April my saved information wasn't there so I had to redo it, and I paid the bill. Over this last month my payment wasn't going anywhere, but I can't open their record for my bank account to see if there is a problem. They want to charge a $50 penalty for this, and I'm telling them I'll change companies first. We are at a standoff right now.

I think I need to go visit Janie's quarrelsome thread.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: MAG
Date: 03 Jun 09 - 03:49 PM

Did I say I declutterd a large trash can full of berry brambles, buttercups, and quack grass on Sunday?

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: maire-aine
Date: 03 Jun 09 - 04:27 PM

The landscapers have finished, and the year looks wonderful. The ended up hauling away 2.5 truckfuls of trees/branches/weeds/grapevines. They edged all around the yard, but left all the hostas around the garage & driveway. They cleaned up the area behind the garage & trimmed the rosebush.

They dug up and saved some of the sun-loving perenials, added some new plants, and re-planted them in the new raised flowerbed. On the shady side, we saved a few of those plants, replaced the (very rocky) dirt with new topsoil, and replanted that. Then they mulched everything.

I took before pictures, and I'll take the after pictures tomorrow-- I'll give them some time to recover.

If any of you can suggest a place to post photos, PM me.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: katlaughing
Date: 03 Jun 09 - 04:36 PM

Maryanne, just sent you a PM about myopera.com

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Jun 09 - 07:05 PM

I really like Photobucket. I have several accounts over there to sort out the photos I post for different reasons.

WELL IT IS OFFICIAL. The house is a gawdawful mess. I think being at the end of the school year has something to do with it. Tomorrow is the last day. My semester already ended, but until the Boy is out of school, we are in chaos.

I think I'll take Friday off to work around here. We've had really heavy thunderstorms the last 24 hours, and maybe by Friday I can get out and do some work without sinking in the mud around the garden or into soft turf. And in the meantime, I'll alternately list stuff on eBay and work around the house.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: katlaughing
Date: 03 Jun 09 - 11:55 PM

It's going around. My brother was saying tonight his house just seems stale, messy, cluttered and just yucky. I laughed and told him about this thread and how I felt the same way about my house! Ugh...maybe on the weekend we'll get more done. I have decided one and for all to sell the treadmill as soon as Rog helps me clean it of dust etc. That will be a major decluttering!

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: mouldy
Date: 04 Jun 09 - 04:28 AM

Managed to offload the old electric train set to a collector/dealer last night thanks to an ad in the local parish mag. Plumber is here at the mo and has managed to de-gunk a load of rust out of the heating system.

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: LilyFestre
Date: 04 Jun 09 - 10:47 AM

Ah yes.

Life is good and I have been brave.

Today, I faced the deep, dark depths of.......wait for it.....my purse!!! ****GASP****** Oh the horror of it all!!!! I dug way down into every tiny pocket and crevice...emptied the entire bag!!!

WHOA. How is it that we (or maybe it's just me) collect SO MUCH stuff in our purses & wallets?

I had purchased a special purse for ease of use when I would be hauling around an infant and all his gear...and this little bag...it was sweet! It had really LONG adjustable straps so I could wear it as a sling, it had TWO pockets on the outside, conveniently sized to carry a baby bottle or a mommy bottle and the inside had decent compartments to keep things in (somewhat of an) order...also, it was long enough to hold a few diapers easily. I didn't find it a baby department or baby catalog, but rather from an outfitters shop...NICE! Anyway, I really DID purchase this to make life a little more easy for when the baby arrived so today I have cleaned it out and am tucking it aside for the day when our child does arrive.

While I was emptying out the bag, I decided it was time to streamline my wallet as well. Ahhhhhhh. This is MUCH better.

Yes, de-cluttering is good....very, very good!

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Jun 09 - 12:28 PM

It took me quite a few tries to find a wallet I could work with, and one day in O'Hare Airport on my way to New York I was passing by Wilson Leather and I spotted it, and not bad, in the $20 - $25 range. A snapping small tri-fold woman's wallet with the right configuration of slots inside, a bill holder, and a zippered coin holder. But I put my coins in a separate coin purse and put various cards lumped together in the zipper coin holder (library, Sam's Club, memberships, etc.). The cards that go in the card slots inside are the four I used most often or need to find without any fuss (debit, insurance, credit). It has a pocket so my driver's license is visible, and in front of that a little zipper where I keep a couple of dollar coins and a spare house and truck key. I rarely carry a check book any more, so that's why I was able to downsize so efficiently.

I do have to be sure my coin purse isn't too full or it sinks to the bottom and is difficult to find.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 04 Jun 09 - 04:34 PM

That's it... decluttered the garden of the last of the plants to pot. The snails have decluttered one of my pots of the lobelia (they like the fleshy leaves - they've not touched the hairy leaved verbena) and they were starting on the marigolds so they've been moved.

Hopefully in a couple of weeks, I can sit and enjoy the flowers.

The house is still fairly cluttered but at least I made 3 pairs of trousers and have the quilt pieced ready to do.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: wysiwyg
Date: 04 Jun 09 - 06:28 PM

We just cluttered up our workout room with a lovely weight-lifting-bar rack (safety and storage--just for Hardi for now, to go with his bench) and a triceps lifting bar for me. My program shifts now to weights as we take up the summer aerobic activities outside-- yay, things we can do together; I love it when our programs "intersect" like that as they do, these days, more and more.

Faulkner is quite amused at the grunting that goes with weights BTW, and can't decide: "Does my man need a face lick when he does that.... or.... maybe not?" :~)

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: wysiwyg
Date: 04 Jun 09 - 06:29 PM

Oh and summer sleeping-attic re-config is well underway as it usually is just AFTER the days are hot enuf for AC-- early this year, a welcome development. Major muscle work on this project for both of us.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: LilyFestre
Date: 04 Jun 09 - 06:41 PM

Today I cleaned out the kayak gear box that tends to live in the back of my Subaru until mid-October or so. I am participating in a 10 mile paddle on the Chemung River in the Elmira, NY area this weekend with a bunch of friends so my goal was to get everything organized and cleaned up a bit. Pockets of the PFD have been emptied from last year's stash of must-haves, the first aid kit has been restocked and bubbles have been restocked (yes...BUBBLES!!! YAY!). I removed a few hats that I don't wear (I have one I almost always wear and another for rougher, wetter, weather) and did some condensing of Otter boxes, dry bags and such.
    On of my friends is borrowing one of our kayaks so I wanted to be extra sure that all we in good, clean (read: no fish guts), working order!!!

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Jun 09 - 12:35 AM

Taking tomorrow off to work on the house. I'm not even doing the dishes tonight, I'll wait till morning.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: GUEST,LTS pretending to work
Date: 05 Jun 09 - 07:29 AM

Don't blame you Stilly, I intend to do something very similar with my desk here in about 2 hours!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Jun 09 - 11:06 AM

It's beautiful but going to be a hot one. I cleaned the kitchen, and will go mow this morning. My son, now out of school for the summer, just came in and asked what there is to eat. We're going to have to work on this. At 17 he's like the big "baby" bird out nudging the smaller mom in the yard trying to get her to stuff bugs down his throat. Know what I mean?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Jun 09 - 02:43 PM

Didn't get out in time to mow before it was too hot. I'll mow this evening, but I'm still puttering in the yard. Just did the second repair on the soaker hose (the first one split) and I'm trimming the shrubs to give easier access to some parts of the yard.

I need to de-clutter in the garage this afternoon, and also, to rearrange the shelves beside the driveway door. It has been functioning very well, but now I need to have a few of the bottles and tape for bug removal or treatment where I can pick them up easily. If they're ready it is easier to get out when I'm thinking of it to do the work. Otherwise I'm liable to be distracted by something else. Out of sight, out of mind, as they say. So, the shelves are due for a tune-up.

Finally, there is a spot in the new garden that is imply mulch over paper, put down to kill grass around the roots of the now-removed redbud. I'm going to put a pretty blue ceramic pot over there and start some portulaca in it. A nice accent of color and at the same time, a great attractor of bees to the garden. I'm going to put some alyssum in around the beans for the same reason.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: katlaughing
Date: 06 Jun 09 - 01:04 AM

I love your description of your son being the baby bird, Maggie.:-) Morgan seems like that almost all of the time...he always want to eat over here, mostly I think because he likes my from-scratch oatmeal and the time we have to take for each meal; never rushed at Mama's.

He was over today and wanted to earn some money, so he vacuumed, watered outside, and emptied a couple of trash cans for me. I did a couple of loads of laundry.

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 06 Jun 09 - 06:38 AM

Kat, you could make a small fortune loaning this boy out to various Mudcatters who need that little bit of assistance to get their asses in gear!

Am sewing the quilt together today... it's going pretty well if only I didn't keep getting interrupted.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Jun 09 - 12:55 PM

And Kat, he's small enough, you could probably get away with dropping him in the mail, book rate.   :)

Hot this weekend and I have to mow the back, so I'm pacing myself. Mowed a bit, now in to cool off. While I'm in I'll be picking up around the house. I've cleared up several kitchen counters so far.

My seed de-clutter didn't work in the pots outside, few of the really old seeds have sprouted, so I'll run through some more recent ones or may go buy some. But I'm doing a lot of seed versus established plant gardening this year.

Ewwww--I have Wait Wait Don't Tell Me on. A question on the last quiz included one in which IL gov' Blagojevich was proud that his wife ate a tarantula on a "reality" show. Oh! Poor spider!

Sweat dripping as I sit here cooling off. Time to make a big tankard of iced tea and keep it nearby as I work. I brewed a nice mix this weekend--green tea and lemon balm.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: katlaughing
Date: 06 Jun 09 - 10:48 PM

I can see it now...granny caught pimping out her house-cleaning five year grandson - child services moves in on her!**bg**


I managed to clear off the table by the front door as we are going to move it to make room for the treadmill. I want it by the front door, so it is ready to go out the door when I sell it. So, I now have a pile of CDs by the computer which I am loading into it, then they will be ready for Great Alphabetising Scheme which will see them all loaded into the changer, dust and hands-free! I figure it's a good way to store them if nothing else, though I do use it pretty often as a music source in the LR and Kitchen.

Cleared off a bunch of other small things lying about the house...detritus of the past few weeks of my not doing much. Nice to get some of it out of the way.

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Jun 09 - 11:13 AM

Kat, good luck on alphabetizing your CDs. If ever a project sounded like herding cats, that one does. Do you go by artist, by song, and if there are more than one artist, default to whom? ;-D

My organizing isn't perfect but not bad. It took opening only three boxes in the office closet to find the little metal things you use to put the mini christmas lights along a garden border or cement path, etc. I used them once but decided they were a tripping hazard so haven't used them again, but I didn't toss them either. I have a project in mind in the garden.

It's getting hot out there these days. I'll do more stuff in the house this afternoon, I do predict. I was going to head over to the Scottish Festival on campus today, but I have work to do here and no money to spend over there. That kind of settles it.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Jun 09 - 01:09 PM

The dogs enjoyed a morning ramble through our woods and across the boulevard to the prairie. I picked up a couple of seed heads (milkweed and yucca). A friend up the street wants to attract butterflies--the native milkweed will do it! The yucca I'm going to toss in the dry back end of the yard and see if they come up.

Been rearranging a piece of back porch (patio) clutter. There was a concrete cinder block wall around the house when I moved in. If I'd thought about it, I'd have had the guys leave the wall here and reuse the blocks. There was one section that was kind of handy next to the door that we left, but I've moved it since. Now I'm struggling (got a big piece of cardboard to slide under it, but with little effect) to move about 20 feet where I'll use it to prop up the various brass fittings I use at the faucet. I'm using one hose (cheap PVC) for the yard and a better rubber one for the dogs. And sometimes I just want access to water without a hose, so I have one of those four-spigot brass things to use back there. All of this can weigh down a spigot, so the little chunk of wall (about 7 cinder blocks total, still mortared together) will serve right there.

For this afternoon, there are a number of possibilities. It's a beautiful but very hot day, so any outside stuff will be brief. I can finish clearing up in front of my porch--that's in the shade in the afternoon. I can see already that this will be lovely. I need at least two more stepping stones and another bag of decomposed granite and I'm finished.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: katlaughing
Date: 07 Jun 09 - 07:21 PM

Good question, SRS. I had thought I'd do it according to artist, but now that I think about it, a lot of them I know by the CD title, not the artist. Hmmmm...first thing I'll take them out and put them in the storage box I bought with the alphabet index cards and see how they feel in various ways, then I'll know how to put them in the changer. I had done a sort of grouping when I first loaded it, i.e. Mudcatters one after another, then Native American, classical, etc. I didn't code them each like I should have, though. Ya know it might be easier if I just remember how to code them by groups, genre, etc. and leave them in whatever order as the player will play whatever I tell it to. Hmmmm...thanks, I think!**bg**

We did the dishes, laundry and Rog moved the treadmill for me, while I moved the table. I also straightened up with Morgan's slight help. He wasn't really having it, today.:-)Anyway things look better.

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Jun 09 - 09:55 PM

Oops--I said there was a wall around the house, but there wasn't. There was a low wall around the patio in the back, meant to keep water from the creek from coming in, I think. The insurance company didn't buy it as a way to reduce flood insurance, so I took it down.

Got a lot finished today. The wall section (only 4 cinder blocks, not 7, but still heavy) is in place and the hoses are efficient. I finished putting in stepping stones, sand, decomposed gravel and even some mulch to finish off the area in front of the front porch. I've literally buried the "bad dirt" filled with bits from the old roof under several inches of good dirt, sand, etc. I hope that if it rains it won't all wash away but will spread into the garden in front of this space I worked on, and gradually build a slope so it drains better. I have photos to process and maybe I'll get one posted later.

A couple of loads of laundry were washed then dried on the line out back this weekend. I got some weeding and trimming and planting done in the veggie gardens (put in seeds for corn and coriander), and I'll be cleaning out the fridge tonight because tomorrow is trash day.

Of course the house is still messy, but it's better than it was. To many little things to catalog, but I suspect I'll keep moving around doing various things until I crash. My son is out of school now, so I have to set some limits or he'd stay up all night (disturbing my sleep and burning the lights and running the computer) and sleep all day (wasting perfectly good daylight!)

Gotta get that kid a job. I have my eye on one I hope he'll find suitable, we'll have to see what happens. I think a paycheck will go along way to convince him it's time.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Jun 09 - 11:00 AM

I'm starting from the baseline of a clean kitchen. Will fight my way outward from there later today.

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: katlaughing
Date: 08 Jun 09 - 11:38 AM

I am doing some computer work, today...stuff I've been putting off. While doing that, I am loading more CDs onto the harddrive.

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 08 Jun 09 - 01:15 PM

Quilt is 2/3rds done, finished 2 of the 4 baskets I need for 2 weeks time, but I want to line them with the green fabric I'm using on the quilt, but need to finish that before I dare cut anything out for the baskets.... if only I didn't have to go to work!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: wysiwyg
Date: 08 Jun 09 - 01:41 PM

Since hoarding and OCD have been mentioned in past clut-threads, I thought I'd plunk this quite here from an OCD self-help forum I came across, looking for something else:

....My mother has OCD Hoarding but it has gone undiagnosed as yet since she is lying to her doctors about it. I can easily recognize it. She obsessively buys things from QVC and Infomercials, rarely opens them except to get the 'receipt' out for filing. She has squandered her entire retirement fund by doing this in the last 5 years. She even has the body of her old cat, burried in a large pot with a plant.

.... oh... my... GOD...... Fluffy.... where are you..... I would never have looked THERE!

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Jun 09 - 09:41 PM

My last cat is under some daffodils in the front yard. Better, if you're a packrat, to not bury deceased pets IN the house.

Prickly heat this evening, and I wasn't working out in it much. I feel like I'm allergic to my skin. It's humid as hell and chance of thunderstorms overnight. I hate this feeling.

I have Moonglow on assignment, after I called the local DQ to ask when the owner will next be in and not getting a definite answer. I'd like to take my son over to meet the guy (the owner knows Moonglow--she worked out there off and on for a couple of years, even coming to town to work weekends in her first year at college). Mall work is all low-level and the staff can be snoopy, gossipy, whatever. I want my son to make an impression on the owner when he goes out to turn in the application. I am just Mom's Taxi in this, once he lands a job, but I'll try to stage-manage when they meet so the owner can get the best first impression. She will simply ask the guy when would be a good time for my son to go out and meet and turn in the application, that's all I need.

I don't think I'm nuts--it always helps to have connections and a face to place with the name, especially a responsible and (for 17) quite mature face. (I want this kid to get a job and have something to do during the day!)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: MAG
Date: 09 Jun 09 - 12:25 AM

Gone 2 days; kindling type wood 1 bundle decluttered to friend I stayed with, and we swapped herb starts from our gardens (I got lemon balm, after SRS raved about it, and gave woodruff).

Otherwise, nada.

Except decluttering my head.

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: wysiwyg
Date: 09 Jun 09 - 09:26 AM

On the attic-opening, we re-configured the beds last couple of weeks (used to be mainly the Mudcat Dorm), to make our own kingbed nicer and the double bed nicer, too-- adjusting the heights and, last night, adding a dust ruffle to the kingbed to improve it as a storage area (not out of sight/out of mind-- just harder to just kick stuff under there without thinking). The "MudDorm" still sleeps 5 or more, just not all in the single beds it used to hold. We added, also, a bedrail to the double in case of visitors with little ones.

The next project up there is a set of shelves to convert what had been large milk-crate linen storage into shelves across the crates, for more convenient and prettier linen storage-- the colors are so pretty that it will be nice to be able to see them stacked up on the shelves, interspersed with other supplies and stuff displayed nicely. And a rug that has outlived its downstairs usefulness will be sliced up to nicen up some of the bare plank floor (not a pretty plank either).

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[SQUEAM ALERT ON]

We're considering adding another portapotti up there, since we like the one in the camper so much. I found an "orange"-scented tank deodorizer that actually HAS no odor. I finally knocked over a pee bucket one night, not a very full one thank God, but I really don't care to do THAT again-- it's so hard to clean up in the dark when Hardi is fast asleep! (It didn't get knocked over up there.) The attic floor is so not-level.... the portapotti bases are square, DUH!

[SQUEAM ALERT OFF]
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For pickup later today is a Freecycled swimming pool filter and pool accessories. (Next year, the pool to go with them.)


A re-do of the dog yard is in the offing, with Freecycled chainlink. A local HS kid is going to make panels (like the large dog runs you see at WalMart, etc.), which will be erected to replace the current collection of fencing layers necessitated by getting larger and larger dogs after the first yard was set up for little Ruby-- we'd just added layers of taller fencing. These panels will be removable for the addition, before the next wet season, of gravel to keep the dust down. Back a truck right in and let IT do most of the work spreading it, then let the landlord's little Bobcat in to finish the job.

I think the panels will be made while we are away on vacay, since this young man also feeds the dogs when we are gone-- and then we can come back and direct the deployment of the panels when we see how many were made out of the available chainlink, peg them into place, move the doghouse, etc., add a sitting chair, and-- if there is enough money left from vacation expenses-- have the first load of gravel delivered the same day we take down the old fence. And THAT old fence has plans for it, as well.

BTW, all these separate dwellings we have on the one property-- they tend to stay decluttered. Especially from one season to the next as each area gets better storage furniture. Pro organizers say we should treat ourselves like guests. It's true!


The Wonderful Amazing Clothing Closet is still working well, and as weight loss continues and older clothes wear out, I'm actually throwing a few pieces away. Some of the more dearly-loved are being sliced up for a quilt-like framed project to add a little more color to the attic bedroom-- I don't quilt and some of the fabrics are too fragile anyway. They will be a visual reminder of what I have accomplished.


Here's a nice project for quilters tho-- a friend of mine took all her dad's clothing when he passed, and a sister quilted samples all up into a set of framed panels for family, with other mementoes stitched on such as medals, award ribbons, etc. Each panel is unique altho they all resemble each other somewhat, since each was made with each particular relationship in mind, and the hobbies each one esp. shared with him. The finished, framed panels were about 18 x 18-- framed to keep them forever, dust-free, but easily opened for tactile memories, too. They did not re-clean the clothes first-- they WERE clean in the closet-- but the dau's say they can still smell his aftershave on his soft, old wool and flannel and dress shirts, hunting jacket, etc.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: LilyFestre
Date: 09 Jun 09 - 02:34 PM

I have spent the last few hours working in my office. There is another nice pile ready to go to the yard sale which is next month (so I'll be more focused in the next few weeks to get this stuff out of my house!). In addition, I sorted out a few (very full) baskets of paperwork, some business, many cards and letters. I have to admit, when it comes to cards and letters, I keep them all. I love them!!! Today I took out the extra special ones (letters from my Love and Veronica, a video of my best friend who died 10 years ago, etc) and am taking them to the safety deposit box at the bank. When I die, whoever goes into my safety deposit box better not be looking for money or they will be sorely disappointed...it's all irreplaceable stuff that brings me great joy to hold and read. Anyway, that's all been sorted out...at least the ones that were in my office. I have a large plastic tote full of cards and notes in our bedroom closet too...but those were previously sorted.
    Ultimately my goal is to get my office condensed enough that we can move everything into Pete's office. We have opened up our adoption options a bit and one of the things we are open to is siblings...this means I need that extra space to be empty. It's slow going, but it's going and I'm quite happy with my progress!

Michelle

PS. My sweet, Ellie's cremated remains are in my office....in a metal box, inside a maroon velvet bag. She will be buried outside soon....most likely under the cherry tree. I know it sounds odd but really, I wasn't about to leave her outside all winter (where other animals may dig at the remains).

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: LilyFestre
Date: 09 Jun 09 - 02:34 PM

PS. Ellie is a cat...a beautiful, loving black cat. =^..^=

Subject: RE: BS: Midsummer De-Clutterbugs are here! 2009
From: katlaughing
Date: 09 Jun 09 - 03:27 PM

Just want you all to know: I am taking a week off from Mudcat and other internet environs. I will still be checking email. Have fun!

kat