BS: De-cluttering November; sustain momentum

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering November; sustain momentum
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Nov 08 - 10:15 AM

Oh, look! Google ads are for a "House cleaning checklist" and "We Clean For You."

I have an extra day until my big cooking thing, so I'm still puttering. I did pick up buttermilk to make a nice brunch (my son won't be up till late) of pancakes and bacon today, and I'll continue to move stuff, put stuff away, and hopefully build a stack of stuff to go to Goodwill that I'll put in the pickup so we're not tripping over it in here. I have to make veggie broth this afternoon for tonight's brining of the bird. Everything else happens kind of all at once tomorrow, in slow motion.

I wonder if the neighbors will notice or care if I mow my back yard today? Not a typical sound one might here on Thanksgiving, but I need to mulch the leaves and it is supposed to rain tomorrow.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering November; sustain momentum
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 27 Nov 08 - 12:08 PM

Tom just came in, resting his hand on my shoulder and repeated what he had just heard on the radio --

"Remember, guests come first for the conversation, second for the food, land if they get bored with those, they'll look around to see if your house is clean."

Which reminds me, I really need to clear off the table and empty a chair before Jeri gets here.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering November; sustain momentum
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 27 Nov 08 - 12:10 PM

That's restED not restING -- wish I could fix my typos.

(Better yet, wish I could proofread my own posts BEFORE I hit Submit.)

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering November; sustain momentum
From: CamiSu
Date: 27 Nov 08 - 01:13 PM

I understand Linn-- particularly if it is one that makes sense to the spellchecker. I heard the quote too but I was sure Land was not there! (bg)

Gotta go to Orford where the rest of my family has gathered.

Cami

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering November; sustain momentum
From: Penny S.
Date: 27 Nov 08 - 02:09 PM

Cleared some more space in the storage unit, by putting some stuff in with the University things, and stacking the rest more neatly. Found some more stuff for shredding. The bin men took away a whole binfull of paper, cans and plastic bottles.

Then the day turned to waste. Yesterday I found that my digital TV set top box had gone berserk with the numbering. This was to do with the Freeview system having changed. This morning I phoned the makers, and was told that they have no plans to upgrade the software. So I researched things on the internet and went off to Currys for a twin tuner box. They had to process the purchase with paper because their machines were down. Then the thing proved not to connect to the VHS. Went to buy new leads - paperwork again. Still no joy. Took the things back and they found the dockets, wrote cancelled on them, as they didn't have one to change. Then I had a phone call from the card company to check the purchase. Back to the shop to check what they had done. Turned out that they had rung to authorise the transaction, but of course it hadn't gone through, so looked odd. Total waste.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering November; sustain momentum
From: wysiwyg
Date: 27 Nov 08 - 02:20 PM

Oops, backslid... BUT cool learning--

This time of year, crazy-busy church stuff. (Progressively crazier Advent/Crimmiss/February, brief respite, then Lent-Easter nuts again till summer.) So-- I had to break into the new-nighties stash due to laundry pile-up. BUT, as I put away the just-laundered items, the summery colors go RIGHT into the stash-zone, and the newer, worn-once items go into the "wear now" zone. Thus! I will stop wearing to death the summery colors, go back to the limited number of wear-now items that encourage more frequent laundering, and have the summery colors to look forward to when it warms back up. Rotate the nighties-- never thought of it!

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering November; sustain momentum
From: LilyFestre
Date: 27 Nov 08 - 02:58 PM

Recently sold my Nana's house. I got rid of most everything but there are still some boxes of antiques that I haven't put away. These boxes are at the house and the boxes of everything else currently resides in a storage building. Today, the shadow box is going up as well as a photograph of my Nana as a child...it's a large oval photo in a very old frame....it's kind of nice to have her in this house with me. :)

In other decluttering news, the piano is coming out of the music room and out into the music room where I think I will play it more often. The fiddle's been out more lately too. My students are busy learning new Christmas music and since I have a piano in my classroom, I play the music and we work on the words..it's kind of pushed me to get my music back out...I had to tuck it away for awhile. Now it's calling so I'm going to put it where it's more easily accessible. DH just got himself a guitar rack to do the same thing....no more hassles with the cases..if he feels like playing his acoustic, there it is. If he wants electric, there it is. If he wants his 12 string, there it is. Lap steel? Same thing. Anyway, it's all part of the decluttering.
   
    I have a few days off for the Thanksgiving holiday and part of these days off will involve getting ready for a home study for our upcoming adoption. I have been making plans for the nursery....currently my office....so lots of decluttering will be going on in there as well this week. I'm actually looking forward to it!!!

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering November; sustain momentum
From: LilyFestre
Date: 27 Nov 08 - 05:43 PM

Just finished packing up 9 bags of clothes that are far too large for me these days. I've had them sitting on top of my hope chest in our bedroom for over a year now. The pile is so high that it blocked sunlight from one of the windows. Now the clothes are all packed up and will be given to a favorite charity tomorrow. Having actually having to look for these sized clothing, I know they are hard to find and I remember how excited I would get to find them at Sal's or other places. I'm hoping that same excitement I experienced in finding many of the things I have bagged up, will be passed on to someone else. There are even brand new things packed up in there, price tags still on them, but if they don't fit, they don't fit, right? They are no longer of use to me. It feels good to get that all out of the way. I also packed up 2 bag fulls of shoes. It seems that as I have moved down the scale, my feet have gotten smaller. Man, this feels good.

Antiques to be unpacked in a bit.

Michelle :)

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering November; sustain momentum
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Nov 08 - 12:53 AM

Time to brine the turkey. The big meal is tomorrow here. Had to talk a friend into coming over, he was going to cook a turkey at his house on his own tomorrow. He's often here for the holiday, but was thinking of passing. He called here for an obscure ingredient--methinks he needed someone to tell him we really do want him to come over this year. His mother died last summer--he needs to get in with a group of old friends this holiday, of all holidays.

I've counted up and packed away a bunch of brochures and maps that have been on the dining room table for ages. I'll take them to work and donate them to the Special Collections next week. I've rearranged the room and will set the table early so it looks great when people arrive.

The kids are in the living room doing "old home week" tonight--in this instance, they're watching an old VCR tape of Peter Pan with Mary Martin. I hear gales of laughter coming from the front room. OOoo--the pirate music just played. . .

I'd better take my brochures out to the truck or they'll end up back in the clutter again.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering November; sustain momentum
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Nov 08 - 12:50 PM

Rearranging the dining room, moving out some bulky furniture. It's beginning to look nice.

I did manage to get a surprising amount of this stuff actually put away and not just set aside, but now comes the "just move it out of the way" stage.

Alas. Maybe next year it will all be like clockwork.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering November; sustain momentum
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Nov 08 - 10:19 PM

Less than 4,000 words to go in decluttering the novel from my head; my stuffed-up head cold head, the one which couldn't breathe at all last night so also didn't sleep. Much better, today and thank goodness I have been able to write. I have until midnight Sunday night to get to the 50,000 goal. I am just to the part where my grandparents get hitched.:-)

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering November; sustain momentum
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Nov 08 - 01:07 AM

GO, Kat, GO!! Yessss! The finish is in SIGHT!!!!

I moved stuff out of my dining room to try to make room for everyone at the table. It didn't quite work, but I'm not going to move stuff back in, I'm going to see what I can do with what is in there, and I'll consolidate some of the stuff in trunks around here and maybe sell a couple of trunks.

3,999 doesn't lend itself to a catchy song (99 bottles of beer on the wall, for example) so I'll just urge you to unclutter as fast as your delicate little fingers can scramble across the keyboard. :)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering November; sustain momentum
From: maire-aine
Date: 29 Nov 08 - 10:05 PM

Got lots done today. Found a box of Toby mugs that I had misplaced. Also found a page of song lyrics that I know I had printed out; the page has the URL too, so I can retrieve an electronic copy. I mailed off my Secret Santa present. Whew! Made a pot of beef-noodle soup and used up the last of a bag of apples to make apple crisp. The (artificial) tree is up, but not decorated yet. I need to get new lights. The wreaths and swags & "kissing balls" are all hung, and and some decorations on the mantel.

I think my plans for working part-time have been derailed by year-end budget squeeze. Not looking at any work until February at the earliest, if that. Oh, well. More time for music.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering November; sustain momentum
From: katlaughing
Date: 29 Nov 08 - 10:30 PM

Thanks, Maggie! I did it!!

I think it was about 230p my time. I called Rog in to watch while I typed in the last two words and the word count went to 50,000! I had to add a few more as I had some footnotes which will eventually be edited out or incorporated in the text, but anyway nanowrimo's official counter didn't count them, so I actually wound up with an "official" count of 50,157. I've got loads to add, research and move around and change, but it sure feels good to have done it, esp. after all these years of saying I was going to get my dad's book done.

Hmmmm...I just checked, it was four years ago, to the day that my dad passed on. That brings a few tears.

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering November; sustain momentum
From: katlaughing
Date: 29 Nov 08 - 10:30 PM

Actually did some real decluttering, too!

The rest of the day I knew I needed some physical exercise, so we went out and got rid of some more of the trash and boxes of my sisters' stuff which had been ruined by weather out of the driveway. We also covered the rest of it better, I hope. It looks better, at least. Also moved all of the furniture back into the living room and decided to leave one table out there which had been in the tiny office and bugged me. We put it by the front door to catch purses, mail, etc. and moved the sewing cabinet which had been there, back to the office. It looks better, too!

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering November; sustain momentum
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Nov 08 - 09:54 AM

Congratulations on reaching your goal, kat. Such meaningful timing, too.

We've continued to clear out. Clothing, books, and who knows what else went to the swap shop in the village yesterday. Laundry and outside work today, with messy weather arriving by tonight.

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering November; sustain momentum
From: maeve
Date: 30 Nov 08 - 10:03 AM

Decluttered my cookie as well. Sorry about that.

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering November; sustain momentum
From: wysiwyg
Date: 30 Nov 08 - 10:17 AM

!!!KAT!!!


The FC guy who took Hardi's bike offered an item I had JUST decided I HAD to have: double bed sheets. We picked them up Friday night and I went through the whole lot as soon as I got up yesterday AM. It turned out to include blankets, table linens, and some other stuff-- 4 HUGE bags in total. It took a mere hour to go through it all to grab the all-cotton items, and 3 of those bags went to the thrift shop the same night I culled them (the bags were in the house less than 24 hours). The culls are pretty, matched sets with a low poly count-- someone will LOVE them, I am sure.


The 1 smallish bagful I kept are exactly the colors and fabrics I wanted, are in great condition, have been washed to get the years worth of fabric softener perfume and feel out of them, and have already been sent upstairs to their intended beds. The matching pillow cases that I probably didn't "need"-- can NOT believe I have really accumulated "enough" of THAT desperately-wanted category (all beds have 9-12 pillows)-- will replace a few Sallie cases that are not all-cotton, or are about to shred, etc., which will be torn up for rags.

Cottonnnnnnn.....

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering November; sustain momentum
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Nov 08 - 06:30 PM

This is what I tried desperately to post yesterday:

Good for you, Kat! Now you have tomorrow to yourself, not the computer, if you want it.

I've been pulling together things to list on eBay, some of it sent by a friend for test runs. And some listed just because it's in my way to get to other stuff I need to do.

My kitchen/dining room is the big news--I've pushed a lot of things out of the room for our dinner last night and this morning when I brought a couple back in I was very selective. There is now a lot of room in the middle and it looks much better and larger. I tried to achieve this look for the big dinner, but it didn't quite work, we were still too crowded and a couple of us ate at smaller tables nearby. But now I think I could actually make the tables work the way I wanted. I've also moved the microwave and some other small appliances to get rid of some of the surfaces they were sitting on.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering November; sustain momentum
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Nov 08 - 11:20 PM

Thanks, gals! Today felt kind of strange, but good. I am ready to get to editing, but have to focus on gifts which have to do with some of the things I've been working on; can't say in case my sister comes in here and reads this!:-)

Maggie, are you going to start a new thread tonight?

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering November; sustain momentum
From: CamiSu
Date: 01 Dec 08 - 12:20 AM

Oh good heavens--it's December.

Congratulations Kat!

I have sent back all the family that was here. Getting Ben and his classmate to school was fine. Getting back was rather exciting. I91 was very slippery, and very crowded! May have had something to do with the fact that we were all going about 35 MPH so were all on the highway for longer. I broke loose once, and was definitely thanking my heavenly Father-Mother when I was back going straight and sticking to the road again. I had cars on 3 sides (and a grassy median strip on the 4th) so it was a bit scary.

Now off to bed!

Cami

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering November; sustain momentum
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Dec 08 - 08:47 AM

Here's the next one!

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering November; sustain momentum
From: wysiwyg
Date: 01 Dec 08 - 09:40 AM

She decluttered her family?!?! :~)

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering November; sustain momentum
From: CamiSu
Date: 01 Dec 08 - 11:04 AM

She decluttered her family?!?! :~)

I wouldn't call it that. Well...at least not where my kids are concerned. I could deal with them closer all the time. Mom...well I can manage 3 days of constantly together. Don't see enough of the brothers that were there, but they had things to do. BUt my youngest DID leave his room in pretty much the same condition he got it in! Amazing!

CamiSu