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July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability
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Subject: BS: July-2010-DeClutter & Accountability ☺ From: Stilly River Sage Date: 01 Jul 10 - 12:56 AM It's hot, some of us are moving pretty slowly (and one of us just got clobbered by hail today - or is Alice doing any of this de-clutter stuff?) Anyway, it's silly weather, heat, hail, floods, hurricanes, impacting our outdoor lives, and we're all trying to keep up the good work of cleaning out the extra stuff in our houses, as well as de-clutter our bodies of some excess calories we've accumulated. Let's make this a July to remember! Here's the last thread. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: July-2010-DeClutter & Accountability ☺ From: Liz the Squeak Date: 01 Jul 10 - 02:38 AM Already? Oy vey! The space I made in the computer room has been filled with the latest project but it's slow going on the transposing because my hands are very swollen - it's like trying to type with sausages and it's all half the speed it normally is. Haven't stepped on the scales for a month so don't know how that is going.... Dining room is still fairly clear but there's a quilting project being laid out there for next week. Could be interesting, because the choir committee has to meet there on Wednesday! LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: July-2010-DeClutter & Accountability ☺ From: VirginiaTam Date: 01 Jul 10 - 02:58 AM pant pant pant.... sitting on the sofa 7:30 am and the heat is taking it out of me.. too hot to think much less work. even typing this is too much. |
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Subject: RE: BS: July-2010-DeClutter & Accountability ☺ From: AllisonA(Animaterra) Date: 01 Jul 10 - 08:04 AM Meanwhile, here in northern New England... the heat went on on last night. So I fired up the wood stove! It's been in the 40s (F) overnight! In June!! Now that it's July, it's supposed to get warmer, slowly, gradually. Today I'm determined to dig the post holes for my anti-woodchuck fence, but I suspect that the babies have been eaten, as there have been no signs of them for over a week, and the lettuce is growing back. We have some very clever predators out there- I lost 2 cats last summer! And I made another small dent in the office last night. |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability ☺ From: LilyFestre Date: 01 Jul 10 - 10:50 AM Allison, if you can figure out a fence that keeps out the woodchucks, can you send me a photo of it? We have a groundhog problem this year too....he gets under the fence and burrows under the electric fence...Pete has taken to shooting at him. First with his pistol (too far to do that really) and now the shotgun is out and sitting by the door...shells are close by and if Pete gets his way, the groundhog is going to be worm food soon! Wow...July already! My goals for this month are to get a decent amount of stuff ready for the yard sale mid month, to go to yoga once a week (Have a sitter for one day, may ask a neighbor to sit for a second day). In all the cancer news I see lately they are highly recommending that people who have or had cancer get as much exercise in as they can.....kind of a no brainer if you ask me because cancer cannot live in oxygenated blood. God bless those people who can still manage exercise while going through treatment! I'm also walking more just around the house or when shopping....no walking up the road here....too many gas drilling truck traffic (they speed and kick up so much dust that body would choke to death if they were out walking) plus we had bear tracks...mama and baby ones...not too long ago and I'm not going to tempt fate with that! I went grocery shopping yesterday and the only processed foods I purchased were peanut butter (I don't like the natural kind), salad dressing and sugar free pistachio pudding for a salad I'm taking to a picnic this weekend...everything else is fresh food...whole food....good for us food. Aside from me wanting to lose weight and be more healthy, Pete woke up with heartburn the other night and scared me half to death as he was holding his chest. Yep. Time to get back on track. I did NOT go through chemo so he could have a heart attack and die on me and I told him so!!! :p For today, I am going to clean out my living room of anything that we don't use or want anymore and set it aside to be tagged for the yard sale. This, of course, depends entirely on Jeremiah and how much he lets me get done. He was up at 2:30am until 4:00am. God bless Daddy for getting up with the baby as I didn't hear a thing. Laundry is in the dryer, other loads that have been stacked in our room have been put away. Dishes are done. Table cleared. Bottles made. Just about ready to make salad for later tonight. Have a great day everybody! Michelle |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability ☺ From: Stilly River Sage Date: 01 Jul 10 - 11:59 AM I'm reading Enchanted April, the novel from which the film was made. Mrs Fisher, in contemplation of her house and how she lives, is (as Melersh speculates in the film) a woman of means, but she lives in an older less prosperous looking neighborhood (solid, yes, but not overtly wealthy) to avoid spending money, even though she could. And she reflects that her home was "furninshed by the dead" or similar words. That she inherited everything. That's certainly the case with much of what is here. Interesting observation. And I need to keep sorting and culling and selling. More rain in the forecast today. I'm going to have to arrange my day based upon a shopping list and getting set for when it dries out and I can mow and transplant (time for fall planting already). Down to just one paycheck now. That is a no-frills shopping list! SRS |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability ☺ From: Stilly River Sage Date: 02 Jul 10 - 01:13 AM Looks like the only way to get a long holiday weekend is to take a couple of days off. I may work a few hours tomorrow then take the afternoon off. And probably Monday also, since probably no one else is going to be working at work anyway. SRS |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability ☺ From: maire-aine Date: 02 Jul 10 - 08:56 AM Started cleaning out the garage. Swept half and moved some stuff to the clean side, so I can sweep the other half. M |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability ☺ From: Stilly River Sage Date: 02 Jul 10 - 11:07 AM Got chased out of the garden (great weeding after several days of rain) by the cicada-killer wasps. They've finished digging their holes (and leaving big fluffy piles of dirt in the process) and now they're courting. This is the time of year when gardeners must go into the garden with sissors and a bucket for picking and cutting to take into the house. Mostly peppers today, one eggplant is ready but I'll give it one more day then give it to the neighbors. She's feeding three these days since her grown son is at home, so one more day's growth will add that extra serving. :) I must de-paper my office. I am tired of shuffling through as I look for stuff. Time to punch some sheets and add them to the notebook and shred a lot more. I brought a couple of books in to my computer desk describe and list on eBay - I find that they each have a slot in the back cover for a large folded map, but neither one has the map, so the value just went way down (unless I found the maps somewhere, but those are the most fragile and scarce part of the whole thing). I'll still list them and see what happens. These days I'm realizing just how large all of my recipes are. And so often it is just me here for days and days. So I'm going to be making some very small lasagna casseroles to freeze. I have to go through the freezer and discard some really old frozen stuff that will only taste like the freezer now. It's also time to start slicing and freezing peppers again. SRS |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Joe Offer Date: 02 Jul 10 - 03:54 PM I've cut the ☺ character from the thread title and deleted messages regarding trace problems. In general, we don't allow anything but ordinary characters in thread titles - they may be cute, but they cause us lots of problems. Let me know if this doesn't solve the trace problem, but it seems to work OK for me. Wizzy, your user name is problematic, too - I'd suggest (but not require) that you change it to only normal characters, no spaces. People tell me they have trouble trying to send personal messages to you. Thanks. -Joe- |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: LilyFestre Date: 02 Jul 10 - 05:33 PM Got in some walking today as Jeremiah and I went to Toys R Us with Nana! He got a new jumpy seat activity center...looks like FUN...now if Mommy would just go put it together! Also, I'm working on various salads for picnics on the 3rd and 4th! Michelle |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Stilly River Sage Date: 02 Jul 10 - 05:40 PM Aw, my smiley face is gone? It's the first time I've ever made anything other than letters and characters appear in a title, so I was really proud of myself! :) Today I have taken care of the question of charitable donations for tax purposes. I was driving home from shopping and saw an estate sale sign. I pulled in, and because the front room was crowded, I turned a corner into the first quiet room to look and found a table stacked with old playbills going back to the mid-1950s. I called work and described this collection. I was going to have to wait for someone to call me back, so executive decision and I bought them all (about 100 pounds of paper) for $35. I can't just dump paper on Special Collections, so what I'll do is sort these playbills by size and year, and count them. I'll do a few searches on playbills on eBay to establish a general value (to list them at $1 each for X number of specific types). I have to write a letter saying I'm donating them and listing the categories at least, and I'll provide information about where I found them. I went next door and spoke to the woman who had been her neighbor for 32 years and she had the son's business card. I just got off the phone with him. It turns out this woman's second husband (she was widowed twice) was a founding member of this popular theater in town. I have the obituary and information for the family, and while I was clear that there are never any promises about things being processed at all, let alone promptly, I thought this tied in with things already going in the collection and that they will be glad to have these in our special collections, and if they have more of the same stuff they'd like to donate, they can do it in their mother's name, because I'm going to make sure her name is on the collection. It's so hard to sell this stuff, but $35 was a pittance, yet I couldn't buy it to donate if it wasn't going for that pittance. I also picked up a clump of the old heavier gauge wire tomato cages (you can never have too many of those!) and a kitchen scale for use here. I'll start on these programs this weekend. It's a good time of year to do this - by the time it gets into the system at my university and they send an acknolwedgement, it will be near the end of the year. I can't take a deduction for a donation until I have the dated acknowledgement. SRS |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: katlaughing Date: 02 Jul 10 - 07:29 PM What a wonderful thing to do, SRS. Good for you! |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Stilly River Sage Date: 02 Jul 10 - 07:40 PM It's really amazing, everyone who has been through Fort Worth for those programs. I've looked at some more of them, and I did a simple eBay search on "1958 playbill." They run from $1.99 to $50 (I didn't specify where). I think I'll be able to take a really wonderful collection to a place where it will get used, and supplement what they have already. I'll talk to the person who oversees these first to be sure this is a good fit. There are museums and other universities in town that may also have this stuff also, but I'll give my university first crack. I'm clearing off the dining room table to get these boxes off the floor. And that means finishing filing the college stuff on the table, so this really is a good transition. I still need to have less furniture in that room. I'll see what next can go on Craig's List (as loony as that place is). I also want a curtain over the lower sash on my office window. Maybe I'll do that tonight. Won't take long, once I choose the fabric. Just rod pockets on top and hems all around. SRS |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Stilly River Sage Date: 03 Jul 10 - 12:06 AM No curtain tonight. I'm tired. Had a nice glass of wine with dinner, am now sleepy. No alarm set tomorrow! :) |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: LilyFestre Date: 03 Jul 10 - 01:24 AM After months of chemo and now settled into a routine with the baby, it's time for Mommy to go back to Weight Watchers and get back in the groove of getting smaller! YAY. WW is at 8am. I had better get to sleep! Goodnight friends! Michelle |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: wysiwyg Date: 03 Jul 10 - 09:17 AM Thanks, Joe. Re: PMs-- Oh, I'm not that hard to find. That little PM thingie next to my membername works fine for me. :~) ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Stilly River Sage Date: 03 Jul 10 - 08:07 PM I did some eBay research for my neighbor across the street, and will report to him what his little antique overnight case might price at, and I did some eBay research for me. Without the maps, the Stanley books have relatively little value. But there are book sellers out there with just one or the other volume to sell, and some of them have the maps. I found one completed sale with the maps on one book and someone got it for $10! I've set up a search, and I'll watch, and if I can snag the maps then I'll see about selling this set complete. The maps will have to be from the same edition. Looks like now is my opportunity to mow. It's overcast right now, but last night's rain finally dried on the lawn, so I'll be able to push the mower without too much difficulty. My neighbors on both sides have mowed, so mine looks unruly. Catch you all later! SRS |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: LilyFestre Date: 04 Jul 10 - 12:49 AM 12:4am Had a nice picnic with my family today, went to WW and then pretty much just hung out and played with Jeremiah. It is now quite late. For the last 2 hours Jeremiah and I have been snuggling and playing quietly. He's had a bottle and has clean britches on but is wide awake. I have put him in his swing in hopes of it rocking him to sleep. He is fussing with alternate spans of quiet and then he wakes himself up and fusses a little more. I'll bet he's totally asleep in 10 minutes. Apparently sitting with Mommy tonight is just too much fun...he just grins and grins at me...cooing, playing with my fingers, more smiles.....no sleep, at least not tonight. Tomorrow I am takng him to a church picnic and am excited for him to meet some dear friends. :) I'm hoping to go early so we can go for a walk around the park before the picnic. He's almost asleep....I love that swing. ;) Michelle |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: ragdall Date: 04 Jul 10 - 02:13 AM After teaching on call for over 35 years I decided to hang up my chalk at the end of June. I'll no longer be able to procrastinate using the excuse that I can't start something because I may get called in to work. I'm trying to convince myself that I can get rid of a lot of things that are crowding us out of our home, including teaching materials that I'll never use again, and my first Macintosh computer which still works well but is not compatible with anything made in the last decade. I have no trouble giving away things, if someone else will use them, but I haven't been able to make myself toss something that is "still working" into the rubbish bin. Can anyone share a philosophy with me that might make it easier for me to do that? My son's suggestion that I smash my computer with a sledge hammer appalled me. I could probably achieve the same result by giving it to his two older children, "Seek" and "Destroy" for their use. I have a plan to box up all usable teaching materials and make a gift of them to our youngest son who will be starting his first full time teaching contract in September. My suggestion will be that he offer any that he doesn't want to the the teachers at his school and anything that's left over, allow the students to take home if they want it. I'm hoping to start sorting things Monday into piles for recycle, thrift shop, teaching materials for son, and utter rubbish. (Unless I can find an excuse to continue procrastinating. ☺ ) rags |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Stilly River Sage Date: 04 Jul 10 - 12:56 PM I hate it when these posts don't stick! I was able to go through the history and find this for a second try: ragdall: one word. eBay. Amazing what people out there still want that is working. And because I share the same idea, I go to the trouble to describe and pack things that will often not sell for much just because someone else has bothered to look for it and can use it. This is a slow way to outsource the clutter, though. It sounds like you have a good solution for your stuff, giving them to your son. For everyone else, this might be useful: I was listening to a local call-in show on Friday and someone had called about where to give away fabric scraps, and an elementary school art teacher called in and said she loved it when people donated things like that for her. Because it was summer break, she and the program host discussed it a bit an decided the best option was to call your area school, leave a message for the art teacher(s) and when they call you back, tell them what you have. I am sure there are teachers in your area who would want the stuff you want to get rid of. I had some oddball things I used to collect for a friend who was a middle school art teacher. She sent home art projects if they needed more time to finish them to turn them in on time, and would use the little Kodak film canisters to put in paint or other wet materials they would need, just enough to finish. I also included the pharmacy pill bottles with the labels peeled off and rinsed so they were free of crumbs of whatever had been in it. Been picking stuff in the garden, puttering a bit. I took a page of eBay research and a nice large eggplant to the neighbors across the street. I've made progress on the dining room table, it's looking better. Not ready to unload the playbills yet, though. SRS |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: katlaughing Date: 04 Jul 10 - 01:16 PM We took several small packages to the post office, yesterday, reducing the clutter on my desk and the little table by the front door. We also went out to the storage shed, looking for a specific VHS tape, which we didn't find, but reorganized things a bit and started a take-to-the-dump pile which includes two large trunks which are rusted out and of no use to anyone. This morning, I had Rog set up a card table in the living room, to act as a "staging" area for loading up boxes of stuff to go. Right now, it has a large box on it in which I've put our oldest daughter's artwork from high school; some really beautiful works, along with other prints etc. which we will send out to her next payday. I will probably finish filling it, today, tape it up and have it ready to go, then I can start in on boxing books as we go through them. I also filled a box and had Rog put it in the car, yesterday, along with a smaller one, to go to Goodwill. We culled our kitchen cupboards. Rog never closes them and they've really looked a mess, lately. Now, I won't mind so much if he leaves them open and someone comes over...the dishes one esp. looks much neater, now. Happy 4th! |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Stilly River Sage Date: 04 Jul 10 - 01:49 PM Kat, do you find yourself drawn to the photos of nice kitchens in publications like Martha Stewart Living? All of those matching pieces, efficiently stacked, hung, nested, whatever? I haven't the courage (yet) to take the cupboards down from my cabinets here, and it does make the room look busier that way, but it is interesting when the everyday objects almost display like art. Having a staging area is such an efficient way to work on stuff. We all know that the trick is to finish the work and take the little table back down (and then don't you feel like you've really accomplished something!) I'll using my dining room table as staging for those playbills, they're pretty heavy for a card table (though I have one of those - an antique from my great aunt's house, one of the old ones with a leather top). The trick will be to get rid of these boxes and get some better ones to store them in. I'm going to defrost a bird and barbecue a chicken this evening. I expect to be here by myself, but if anyone comes by, I'll have the start to a nice festive holiday meal. SRS |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: LilyFestre Date: 04 Jul 10 - 10:09 PM Went to the annual church picnic today and think I did fairly well with the food....it was a bring a dish to pass kind of thing with the church providing hamburgers and hotdogs. I filled my plate with watermelon, beans, two jello salads I KNOW were sugar free because I know who made them and a paper cup full of an amazing fresh fruit salad. In the end, I ate only about 3/4's of it because Jeremiah was a little fussy and needed his lunch too. It was too darn hot to do much else. :p Wish my pool was ready...would have loved to go for a swim this afternoon! I didn't do one chore today. Not one. HAPPY 4th of July to ME! LOL Michelle |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Eiseley Date: 04 Jul 10 - 10:49 PM Finally I'm back on a computer. My beloved sons downloaded some terrible viruses that corrupted the system. Thankfully I had just backed everything up, but the computer is still at the doctor getting its stomach pumped. I was complaining about it to a friend and he suggested I borrow a laptop from work. What a good idea! But the past weeks of diligent decluttering showed me how much time I spend on the electronic "toy" when it's available. Hors d'oeuvres with the neighbors tonight, and now some fresh potato salad before I watch the beloved sons light their hoarded fireworks. Eiseley |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Stilly River Sage Date: 04 Jul 10 - 11:34 PM The dogs are clean and are tucked away in the hall bathroom while the fireworks noise carries on outside. They bark at birds and coyotes and people and cars and it's just a bark, but the fireworks make them nervous. They need their heartworm stuff today, and so had to have baths. I am switching back to Revolution after this. Much easier, and they each get the same sized dose, so I buy less at a time. I hope you all had a nice fourth of July! SRS |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: ragdall Date: 05 Jul 10 - 02:15 AM Stilly River Sage, What a fantastic find those playbills were and a bonus getting history to go with them. I'm glad that you mentioned the film canisters (which, since digital cameras took over, are no longer common). I have two boxes of them that I was going to throw in the trash. Now I'll have an excuse to hang on to them until September in case an art teacher might want them. Do you ever wonder if the neatly stacked, colour co-ordinated dishes in cupboards ever get used? Maybe those are the show pieces, the dishes they really use are hidden out of sight, possibly waiting in the sink to be washed? |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Liz the Squeak Date: 05 Jul 10 - 08:40 AM Oh don't... I have a pile of stuff I should be doing instead of being up here but I'm up here to print off flyers about a missing kitty... trouble is, the printer is playing up and even though it's a new cartridge, it's coming out striped so it looks like I've lost a zebra. Even the colour (which the machine swears is full) is only coming out yellow so it looks like hazard tape... can't get a decent flyer sorted to put up round the neighbourhood to help find lost kitty. LTS |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Catherine Jayne Date: 05 Jul 10 - 10:03 AM Hope Raven kitty comes home soon Liz. (((hugs))) |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: LilyFestre Date: 05 Jul 10 - 01:42 PM Here Raven kitty....kitty kitty kitty kitty...........I'm hoping your kitty comes home soon too. Dishes and floors done here. It's HOT today and since we have the luxury of laying low today, that's what we are doing! Michelle |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Stilly River Sage Date: 06 Jul 10 - 12:05 AM The kitchen was clean earlier, but now there is a modest amount in the sink from tonight's dinner. Laundry isn't at critical mass yet. The dogs got baths yesterday and their heart worm medicine this evening. That is a challenge - the type they've been getting goes on the skin of their upper back/neck, and then they're not supposed to be together for 30 minutes to avoid any licking the spot and getting it through mouth. You know how difficult it is to keep two constant companions apart? Separate rooms? No, at least one barks and whines. One in the kennel, one outside? Nope. Same problem. So I finally put them each on short leashes and brought them in my office, one dog on each side of the chair. Back to work tomorrow. SRS |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: wysiwyg Date: 06 Jul 10 - 11:14 AM SRS, we have that each month with the cats-- Frontline. Their chief joy (after kibbles) is endlessly washing each other, so we have to keep them separate for 24 hours each time. Not fun, with all the comings and goings in this house. It is so hot here that ydy when we got into the van to go get ice cream, it did not really seem hot in the closed van when I went to open it up to air out. I guess it was-- it's just a reflection of how hot I had gotten. 90 degrees in the shady back porch. Days like this are the days I am most grateful for the organizing work I have gotten done, so I can just enjoy my functional home. Any cleaning done ydy was up in the AC attic! We did finally get the screen room and sprinkler set up ydy in Dog World. That water is COLD! ~Susam |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Stilly River Sage Date: 06 Jul 10 - 11:17 AM One good thing about having a house with a guest room and a couple of extra beds (futon) around the house is that when the kids have guests, they can put them in a room on a bed. Sometimes my son's friends end up sleeping on the couch in his room (it is a fold out bed, but they usually don't clear up around it enough to open the bed, so they just sleep on the sofa cushions). Last night, the guest ended up in the front room on the futon, and when I glanced into my son's room, there was no one on his bed, just stuff. So I looked next door and there he was on the guest room bed (it was his sister's room, but she has moved out to attend college), asleep on top of the wool blanket left on it from last winter. I would have removed it if I knew someone wanted to sleep in there. I have bread rising, and I expect when it has baked enough to fill the house with hot-baked-bread ions, they'll get up. :) It's hot and muggy and my lawn has grown so fast. My next door neighbor mowed this morning, so I'll make a point to try to do it this evening--I mowed the front on Saturday, and that's what I'll mow today. The back yard is getting really tall, but the dogs like it that way so I won't rush to mow (though it is a lot more work when it's tall). A week of rain really perked things up. Now it's really hot again, and still quite humid. Ugg. It's the season of the electric whining whir of the cicada, and the June bugs exploded in population with the rain. I found some new things to list on eBay (old things, actually, that I hadn't thought about for a while, but that I should relist). And I'm finishing up earning a few more dollars at Mahalo this month, and then I can cash in again. Every little bit helps! For the most part, my week looks like same ol' same ol'. Hot, muggy, buggy summer. Welcome to North Texas. SRS |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: LilyFestre Date: 06 Jul 10 - 01:10 PM Another scorcher here today. While the baby napped, I did dishes, swept, folded a load of laundry and washed another. Right now I have macaroni cooking on the stove for salad later tonight. Yard sale has been delayed to the end of the month for which I am thankful. Jeremiah will have his first few hours away from me as Nana is coming to babysit while I go to yoga. Pete's car isn't working so he has my car and she is going to let me take her car...I am most grateful as I miss my yoga!!!! Michelle |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: katlaughing Date: 06 Jul 10 - 04:17 PM Yesterday, Rog and I finally started sorting through the books. Started in the living room and cleared two shelves. When we were done, we had a lot more to sell/give away/donate than we had to keep, so we are making progress. When we get the other two shelves done, then we'll start on the ones in the office THEN the bins and bins from the storage shed. I have already promised three special ones to a friend. I have a lot to sell, but have to decide where. I may open my bookstore again at biblio and/or amazon or may put some of them on ebay. I heard of another long time ebayer who just quit. Here's what they said: After 10 years, 100% positive feedback, three 5.0 DSRs and one 4.9, and as perfect a customer service record as possible, I have closed my eBay store. Higher fees all around, complex rules and regulations, and tanking sales due to poor eBay promotion, have killed my online business. eBay has proven time and time again that they have nothing but contempt for their sellers. What started as a brilliant idea of an online trading marketplace has turned into a corporate monster existing only for the benefit of the shareholders. I suspect that I will not get a call or an email, no "thank you" for the thousands and thousands of dollars in fees I have paid over the years, and I don't expect anyone to ask me to stay. eBay is a heartless, greedy giant. Goodbye, eBay, it was a good ride for a while. I guess nothing lasts forever. I guess if I had that volume of sales and steady I might feel the same way. My friend who also quit told me there were 109 million auctions on ebay at the moment when he sent me that and about 5 million on the next closest site. He hopes to never sell online, again. But, he also lives in Austin and has a long established reputation for the specialties he sells. I am not sure what the answer is. I do know I need to make more than just the cost of shipping, so we'll see after I do some more research. SRS, what did you think of their classifieds? Thanks, kat |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: GUEST Date: 07 Jul 10 - 04:29 AM Not a Guest, really, just Andrea sans cookies el joe clone
Hi everyone! |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: maeve Date: 07 Jul 10 - 06:45 AM That last post at 07 Jul 10 - 04:29 AM belongs to Andrea, whose cookie has been decluttered...please don't remove it. |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: maire-aine Date: 07 Jul 10 - 08:49 PM Almost 10 days without rain & 5 days in the upper-90s-- just too hot to do much. I've been watering on alternate days & running the AC both day and night (hardly ever do that) so the utility bills will be thru the roof. We just had a tiny sprinkle of rain (you could've counted the drops, I think) and all that did was make it steamy-er. Be careful out there... Maryanne |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: LilyFestre Date: 07 Jul 10 - 08:55 PM We used to sell flies and fly rods on eBay but it got so that there are SO MANY auctions and people selling goods made overseas for pennies that we can't compete with...heck, we can't get the materials even at wholesale prices. Sometimes people just want cheap and in that case, they get what they pay for. We moved to a fly fishing oriented site that has their own auctions and fair a little better. No work done today other than shopping for formua, wipes, diapers and stuff to make a bazillion whoopie pies for the Relay for Life (that's my job for tomorrow). It's too hot here to do much of anything....did wash the car today while I was out for $1.00! Best price around! Michelle |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Stilly River Sage Date: 07 Jul 10 - 11:04 PM I don't do enough volume on eBay to make the fees a problem - I'm selling things I inherited, didn't buy, so it's probably easier than trying to make a profit on something I bought to sell. Kat, I wasn't able to list on the eBay classifieds, so I never gave it a try. They have the same set of selling rules as eBay itself (but it took me quite a while to find out what they were). So I couldn't list that bear skin. I did some mowing today, and we had rain just now. Almost every day for the last 10 days. The grass is going to need mowing 2x a week for a while, and the back was quite a monster today. I'm doing it early or late to stay out of the direct sun for prolonged periods for the time being. I've sold books on Amazon. They don't expire like eBay sales do (or at least, not nearly as quickly). SRS |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: GUEST,LilyFestre Date: 07 Jul 10 - 11:48 PM Rain. We desparately need some of that in these parts! Michelle |
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Subject: post bereavement clearance From: GUEST,Philippa Date: 08 Jul 10 - 08:38 AM these declutter discussions are enormous (200 messages in a month ...) I have to deal with my own clutter but my family have to deal with my deceased father's clutter. I spent about 50 hrs in a week going through bags and boxes, throwing out newspapers and old stock market reports, organising books, photos, personal letters etc that were all mixed up together. I only got through a fraction of it before I left the country again. My brother and sister say it is just too much, they won't even try and we just have to accept that some things we may have wanted will be dumped. They say we won't know what we are missing. I have a question about professional house clearing. Will they actually go through mixed bags and try to save what they think may interest family and what may be valuable (letters from authors, etc) and/or of interest to archives. Do they give clothing and kitchen ware and so on to charity or do they just dump it? Do any of the charities such as Goodwill Industries actually offer their own house-clearing services. Location is New York City. |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Stilly River Sage Date: 08 Jul 10 - 12:05 PM Philippa, I have a friend in an apartment in Greenwich Village who is always on a low-level declutter task because, though he says his apartment is good sized for New York, it is still fairly small (one bedroom, some interesting halls with closets and shelves, tiny kitchen, nice living room). Is this the kind of space you're talking about, or are you dealing with a house in one of the burroughs? I'd say that housekeeping folks not only won't care about the papers or clothes or whatever, they'll just bundle it up and trash it. Or follow your directions to sort it so you can donate it. It took me a long time to go through my father's stuff. He was a packrat, but he also had a very important collection of stuff that I needed to preserve and go through slowly. I boxed up the stuff I needed to go through and put it in storage, along with personal items, furniture, etc, that I wanted, and had my siblings pick up the items they wanted. Then I tried to organize by type the remaining stuff and I had a few people who buy for antique shops, for collectible shops, and for just general thrift store sale, and offer me cash for what they wanted out of the lot. We discussed the price if something seemed way too low, and a couple of times I talked them into taking more than they wanted, so I could clear it out faster. There are a couple of schools of thought that apply to estates. You won't miss what you didn't know was there is one approach. And the "what if there are real gems in there that we should know about" is the other. And just a general unwillingness to discard the possessions of the parents because it seems disrespectful. I would suggest a compromise with the housekeeping folks. Hire one or two people and give them specific tasks that take care of the time consuming things that you or anyone would do about the same. Have them clean out the bathrooms, kitchen cupboards (cleaning as they go), clear out the linen closes, pack or sort, whatever, as they go and you oversee, choosing what they pack and what they set aside for donation or sale. While they work on this, you can do a rapid sort through the papers, with boxes for "keep" and "shred" (don't just throw that stuff out or you'll never hear the end of scams and identity theft of your Dad's information). You could ask the cleaners to help with this sorting also, and go through the results, and you could assign one of them the shredding job. If you hire housekeeping types to help with this, make sure they're bonded. My friend in Greenwich Village (who is one of my best friends - we email several times a day) has an attorney friend (just passed the NY bar a year or two ago) in New York City who has been looking for a job for a while. (I've met him, he's a nice guy, moved to NYC from Houston, TX, many years ago.) In addition to helping my friend with his computer fairly regularly and doing various other odd jobs for him, he has done a variety of jobs in the city, not just attorney work (he was down at Cherry Lane theater for a while, and has worked for several companies as a temp). The economy in the City is the reason he hasn't settled down full time. It's remarkable how many jobs vanish when sales go down. I think if you named a price and duration of the work he might be interested in a short term job because he's unemployed now (he most recently worked for the Census, and those are wrapping up now). You'd have to join Mudcat to send me a PM (personal message - see the "PM" next to each of our names, or spell out your email in a post here with "your address dot com" ). I'd think as an attorney, he'd have a much more trained eye at picking out the important papers in the mix. And I think if you offered him $25 - $50 an hour, you might get his interest. Or offer one flat fee for the job, and negotiate extensions if it looks like it will take longer. Who knew I'd be making a referral in our de-clutter thread, but if you've read through some of these maybe you've been able to take a measure of our characters and might want to jump on this recommendation toward the possibility of some help in this job. (You would, of course, keep track of what you pay him and this would be paid for out of the estate. I am guessing it would be up to him to file his own tax return and such, though you might want to keep a bit of a record of who each of you are just on general principles). SRS |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Stilly River Sage Date: 08 Jul 10 - 01:50 PM I forgot to mention earlier, I've lost a few pounds. I can feel it in some of my favorite summer capri pants, in particular. :) I did eat some ice cream over the July 4th weekend, but that was purely a holiday departure. I've been doing a good job of sticking to healthy stuff. And with all of the rain we're having these days, I'm having to mow a couple of times a week, so I'm getting more sustained exercise. I am mowing early or in the evening to avoid the direct sun exposure and because it is cooler. I have cleared the dining table and will probably unload those boxes of playbills this evening. It's funny, the friend in NYC I mentioned in the last post wrote this morning to say he'd had a dream in which someone gave him 300 old playbills from a NY theater. Now where did that suggestion come from, eh? I'll take photos of the whole set when I get a little farther and you'll be able to see the magic of these papers. I spoke with the archivist at work who covers this kind of material. She told me that they already had a set of some of them from another collection (and sent the inventories). When I started speculating that other libraries or museums would also like some of these she hastened to add "But don't disburse these until we've had a chance to look at them!" Good archivist there - first crack at an interesting new collection is a good thing! I told my boss (Dean of the Library, who used to be head of Special Collections) about that conversation and he thought that was funny. A good archivist is part packrat! SRS |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: LilyFestre Date: 08 Jul 10 - 02:48 PM I've made dozens of whoopie pies today for the Relay for Life, did laundry, cleaned the cooler out, stocked the fridge and am about to pack for the next 24 hours. Could somebody PLEASE TURN DOWN THE HEAT?!?!?!!? DAMN! Michelle |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Felipa Date: 08 Jul 10 - 02:51 PM hope to hear from you ~ Philippa |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: wysiwyg Date: 08 Jul 10 - 06:00 PM A few minor improvements today in the attic. The tiny AC up there is groaning, and my laptop's wireless modem does not pick up the connection from the router downstairs-- too much brick in the way. BUT there is always Le Flashe Key! ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Stilly River Sage Date: 09 Jul 10 - 12:27 AM Eggplant and chicken parmesan, made with eggplant from the garden. Cooked it late, will eat a little, save the rest for lunch tomorrow and maybe dinner on Saturday. The table is clear, the playbills are being stacked (but not sorted yet) upon it. One load of laundry finished, needs to be folded, another is drying. I wish I could hang it out, but doesn't look like this hurricane slopover is going to stop raining on us any time soon. SRS |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: mouldy Date: 09 Jul 10 - 05:14 AM Thanks for noticing I'd been de-cluttered! At the moment it's 10am and I am waiting for the arrival of the plumber to service the heating system. Last week he said he'd come early...bet he's been called out. I managed to get my side of the dreaded leylandii hedge cut back yesterday, and at the same time they swept all the accumulated dust off my drive, which was a bonus, and something I was going to have to do. I've been out this morning and trimmed the bay at the front, and regretfully poured weedkiller into the horseradish, which is not the thing you want to see in a front garden when you are trying to sell the house. The root goes so far you'd never get it out. I had never used it, anyway. So the jobs left to do are: chucking out, sorting out and boxing up things that are not needed at present; painting the 2 white window frames, and touching up other little bits of woodwork; general weed and tidy of the garden BEFORE I go to Scotland, so that I am not faced with a replica of the Borneo jungle when I get back; get a window cleaner in; generally clean, and tidy up. I managed to repair my carpet the other day. Luckily it's wool, and a Berber weave. I got a couple of loose loops from the edge of the piece in the under-stairs cupboard (aka "glory-hole") and patched it in with some extremely strong glue. I had bombarded the burn with carpet spot remover the day before, and so the singeing was paler. Now, unless you know where to look, you'd never notice. Now, after 36 hours, I am going to try the vacuum test! Andrea |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Catherine Jayne Date: 09 Jul 10 - 10:31 AM Got to sort out the spare room tonight as my brother is coming to visit on leave this weekend! Yay! Can't wait to see him, it's been 3 and a half months. Signed up a while ago to the Talk the Talk forum (part of Walk the Walk) and getting lots of advice from the people on there about power walking and the Walk the Walk Challenges, it's such a great and friendly forum. I've registered my interest for the Playtex London Moonwalk and the Edinburgh Moonwalk for next year. Hopefully I'll get a place. Got to start thinking of some fundraising ideas too apart from the sponsorship for walking 26.2 miles...twice! Harry's new bed has arrived so his toddler bed can go in the twins room. Probably won't get chance to put it together this weekend so he will have to wait till next weekend. Tomorrow I've got a LBT class and a Body Pump class, Sunday I've got a spinning class. Both days will be a 4 mile brisk walk although Sunday I might fit a run in too. |
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