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July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: wysiwyg Date: 12 Jul 10 - 07:52 PM New 18" puddle installed under the screen/shade canopy within Dog World. Amazing how cooling it is! Waterproof MP3 player with tunes and audbook.... Sadie digging a cool dent nearby to get into and chill out too... Reaping the rewards of a heck of a lot of hard work to make that spot exist-- me, Hardi, others.... thanks, menzes. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Stilly River Sage Date: 12 Jul 10 - 07:36 PM I told a friend about that site that advises on the distances and viewing angles for the bigger televisions, and he did a sort of mental forehead slap. Seems he realized why he's not enjoying his as much as he thought because he has things poorly placed (same make and model, bought a few months before I bought mine- we compared research notes, it's a great choice, that 42" Vizio from Sam's Club). I have a pile of papers by my desk and am sorting out the issue of the beds being short in my son's assigned dorm. It's supposed to be a nice one, but older and the beds are more or less built in and they're standard length twin mattresses. This means I'm sending a 75" kid to sleep on a 74" bed. I'm going to follow the procedure to request a transfer to a room with a longer bed, but ONLY if it keeps him in one of the Honors College dorms. And the trouble is that the other two HC dorms are more expensive than this. So we'll pay more for the longer bed if he gets it. I suppose he could take a pad and sleep on the floor and put it up on the bunk every night, but I think that would get old fast! ;-D I have to get the doctor's office to write a letter saying he should sleep on a bed that is long enough for him (yeah, I know, but this is what we have to do for the ADA folks - who knew being tall is a disability?) and when it comes down to it, they need to ask my son if whatever accommodation they reach is what he wants after he sees the room that has been assigned to him now. Once he settles in he probably won't want to move, so unless they can settle this before he gets there, I think whatever is set up will remain for the school year. SRS |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: LilyFestre Date: 12 Jul 10 - 11:21 AM Dishes done. Laundry in the dryer. Living room rearranged and cleaned. Time for a break! Michelle |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Eiseley Date: 12 Jul 10 - 10:33 AM I've also been trying to have less leftovers---either freezing the portions or making less. It really helps on fridge space. The boys would rather just pull out a piece of fruit anyway, instead of having a big, hot meal. Today I'll be picking up the lawnmower from Mr. Mower. It's new to me because I still think my push mower works just fine. But the neighbors just bought a new fancy one and gave me their old one. So I took it to the tune-up place and it'll come back all ready to work. Maybe with this gas-powered one, my oldest son will be ready to work also. Off to work. Walking, of course. Eiseley |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Stilly River Sage Date: 12 Jul 10 - 10:19 AM Andrea, I'm downsizing my cooking this summer, figuring out how to make my standard recipes in smaller portions, or to freeze the rest. I have a lot of those same kinds of pots and pans that don't get much use. There is an attractive chrome wire cart in my kitchen that most of them sit on, so it passes as a kind of modern art piece most of the time, unless I need something from it to cook. I hear the neighbor mowing, but I'm going to wait at least another day. The grass will be taller, but it will hopefully be dryer. Makes a big difference when pushing the mower through it. SRS |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: mouldy Date: 12 Jul 10 - 04:21 AM I have an incentive to get all I can prepped for sale (except yon floory thing!) as 2 of the houses I am interested in have had their prices reduced by quite a lot! I'm much more sanguine about the floor now. Better get it done than have a sale fail if/when a survey picked it up. The house will still go up next month, no matter what. It may just be a few days later than I had intended. I think today is to be a more boxing up and throwing out day. However, I am going to kick things off by giving the kitchen a good going over. I want to store a lot of the bigger pans that hardly ever get used these days, but which I daren't actually get rid of, because every now and then I get to cook for more than one or two! May have to go and get more storage crates... Andrea |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 Jul 10 - 11:40 PM I made pizza dough and have three crusts partially baked, cooled, and now bagged in the freezer. That's three meals ready to go sometime in the next few weeks! The chicken is in the fridge, a plate set aside (also in the fridge) for my son who wasn't sure when he'd roll in. I told him I wasn't leaving the bird out till he got home, it would spoil. He's a bit of a free agent, may have to nail one foot to the floor one of these days. I used my basil and oregano in some focaccia (sp?) bread, and also hung some up to dry. I used some of my rosemary and thyme in the chicken that I roasted. I have a friend (same one I mentioned earlier) who talks about spending a small fortune buying enough bunches of basil to make his beloved pesto, and I'm growing it by the bushel here. I wish I could reasonably ship some to him, but it isn't practical. Moved a trunk from the front room to the bedroom (will stack a couple of others on top of it - the one I moved is on a little dolly I built so it rolls nicely on casters.) And I moved two trunks from the big living room to the front room. It's looking better around here! Tons of corn meal on the kitchen floor, and for some reason, a lot of dog hair. All swept up, fridge looking better, and all of the stuff not wanted, floor and fridge, in the trash and down at the curb. Monday tomorrow. Work. Pttttthh. SRS |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: LilyFestre Date: 11 Jul 10 - 10:32 PM I am following the Simply Filling part of WW this week and today was a great day...only used 5 points. I'm all proud of myself! LOL Michelle |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: maire-aine Date: 11 Jul 10 - 08:02 PM After supper tonight, I cleaned the stove top and the countertop around the sink. Tomorrow I plan to tackle the kitchen floor. M |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 Jul 10 - 05:14 PM Right now we would owe money on the phone, with this plan. I do trust this friend, but I see the camel's nose (the younger man) coming under the tent. I think I'm going to speak to the younger man, and tell him that if he doesn't leave that phone strictly to my friend then I'll have to drop it from the plan. I'm sure he's using it because he lost his own or couldn't pay to add minutes. I wouldn't be too upset to throw this kid and his friends under the bus. They're moochers and it has been too easy for them to not lift a finger to help. Or at least, it goes in spurts. If the revolving girlfriend didn't move into the house, and the layabout cousin. . . I've made progress (again/still/more) in the living room. The original cabinet felt too high for the TV, another too low. I brought in my lovely library table that had been parked in the front room and it looks perfect. I need to move furniture out of the room so it isn't too packed full. I did some research and found this site with information about optimal distances for different types and sizes of televisions. To make the most of the HDMI, you should be somewhere between 1.5 and 2x the distance from the set as the set is wide. So a 42" set is best from about 5' to 7' away. The older CRT sets are actually better at a greater distance because of the type of screen. Kat, Morgan sounds like he's going to be some teacher's pride and joy next school year! And the "good points" he's talking about are things he should be eating now anyway! It is the perfect time for him to learn about good eating, rather than have to break hard-wired life-long bad habits when he grows up and tries to stay healthy. SRS |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: LilyFestre Date: 11 Jul 10 - 04:15 PM SRS, I'd recommend a Trac phone for your friend. It's a prepaid phone with no monthly fees. No way to go over the limit and relatively inexpensive. I'm with Kat on this one. Save yourself the hassle (and possibly the friendship) and cancel the phone. You were clear in your expectations of what was ok and what was not. Michelle |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: katlaughing Date: 11 Jul 10 - 04:05 PM Thanks, Michelle. It's usually so spontaneous, I don't know if I could get him on camera or not. We have done a video with storyboard before, so maybe I'll see what we can do. we sorted and put away laundry from the past 2-3 weeks. I also washed all of our shopping bags as they were ALL getting very grungy looking. I swept a couple of days ago, but it needs more doing now. Moved an old wooden card catalogue full of cassette tapes from our bedroom to my poor old desk in the old office as it is the only space left to catch odd bits until we get done in the LR going through all of the books, etc. I listed some more paperbacks on the swap site and have already had two requests, so this week, I will have sent off five packages of a book each. Still have a sink full of dishes to wash and the bathroom, but not sure either of us will get to them, today. Rog took me for a lovely ride, yesterday, and another today, so we're feeling rather lazy. SRS, I learned the hard way, sometimes there is nothing we can do when a person continues allowing certain things to happen in their lives. Were I you, I'd have the phone turned off and save myself a lot of grief and money. Just my opinion, fwiw. |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: maire-aine Date: 11 Jul 10 - 03:41 PM Braved the sun & heat (it's in the 80s & humid again), to go to the Royal Oak Outdoor Art Fair. Didn't buy anything (so I get some decluttering points, right?) but at least I walked around some. I have the sprinkler on the garden, but I'm hoping for some real rain overnight. Read in today's church bulletin that they'll be having a rummage sale the first weekend in August, so I'll be able to take some of the stuff that I've been accumulating out on the front porch. Maryanne |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 Jul 10 - 02:05 PM Pondering a development. I added a friend to my family cell phone plan because he needed a reliable phone. Years ago he dropped his cell phone because a young man who lived with he and his late partner, kind of an unofficially adopted son, had used his phone so much that he ended up wasting all of his minutes telling the young man's friends who called that it was his phone. He's had financial problems, and the young man keeps bringing in friends who are down and out, and they are a huge drain on my friend's ability to pay bills, etc. I told him the phone was for him alone, not to let the young guy use it, and it has been that way for more than a year. But I called my friend today and the young guy, who is at his few hours a week job, had the phone. And the house phone is out because the bill didn't get paid. My friend hasn't managed to lower to boom on these kids. Young adults, with no impulse to do for themselves. I need to make it clear that I won't let their slumming leech into my home by that phone being in the wrong hands. If this young man, who has been in trouble with the law, calls people who don't have that number programmed in their phones, MY NAME shows up on caller ID. It is for all intents and purposes my phone. I want my friend to have it, and I want these young slugs to stop taking advantage of him. My friend has other friends who have tried to influence the course of behavior there, and just caused bad blood. What to do. SRS |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: LilyFestre Date: 11 Jul 10 - 01:26 PM Walked a TON during the 24 hour period from Friday morning til Saturday morning during the Relay For Life! I'm a little sore (leg/hip sockets) but it will pass...besides, I had so much fun that I don't much care!!! Today I put laundry away, emptied the dishwasher, filled and ran the dishwasher, got veggies ready for the day (shelled peas, peeled carrots, cut up cabbage), made breakfast, got dinner fixings ready so all I have to do is turn on the stove (going out later today) when we get home....soon will find something to make for lunch. I went to WW this week and a good friend decided she was ready to join...so we went together. I stayed for the orientation after the meeting...it was a good refresher course for me and now I'm all psyched about the program. The challenge this week is to fill at least half your plate with fruits and veggies at each meal. I'm going to try and do that!! Pete and I are going to the lake later today. He and Jeremiah will fish while I kayak...I can't wait! It'll be my first trip out since last year!!!!!!!!!!! So, in addition to kayaking, I'll be cleaning out my boat and do all the pre-hit-the-water checks on everything. :) It's also my first time since March that I haven't had a chemo treatment every 3 weeks...it's week 4 now and my energy should start to come back (as well as my hair!) Kat....I would LOVE to see a video of Morgan doing a WW commercial...he sounds too cute!!! I love that he's helping you along...how sweet is that? Michelle |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: maire-aine Date: 11 Jul 10 - 12:34 PM I, too, spent some time cleaning out the refrigerator & the freezer. Cleaned up/cut up/cooked a bag of green beans, and washed up a bunch of fresh spinach. Got rid of some soup that had been in there too long (shoulda froze it). Spent 3 hours last night and an hour this morning working on family research, trying to track down my maternal great-grandmother. Last month I got a letter from a (new?) second cousin, and prompted me to pull out my research notes. It's been 10 years since I worked on it the last time, and there's so much more available on the web since then. Maryanne |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 Jul 10 - 12:25 PM Made more progress this morning in the kitchen and living room, plus I pulled the sheets off of the guest room bed (not the same as the bed in the front room where my son's friend slept, but I got those sheets a couple of days ago). Everything will be made up fresh for the next time we have visitors. Or my son decides to relocate from his room for a night. :) Cleaning out the fridge. I ate three not too fabulous peaches, they were on the dry side and the skin wouldn't peel after blanching, but I hated to toss them. I used the vegetable peeler, then had to cut the fruit off of the stone, and I put huge dollops of vanilla yogurt over them to cover a multitude of deficiencies. Got rid of (oured down the drain, didn't eat!) some soup stock I should have frozen but didn't, and the little bowl of grease is in the trash to go to the curb tomorrow. Lots of little stuff I usually seem to forget got taken care of. It's finally a gorgeous day out, but I haven't been outside yet. There won't be anything in the garden to pick yet, it just doesn't produce as well when we have so much rain. Now give it a week and it will go gangbusters. But anyway, I'm waiting in hopes that if it was still humid this morning that the direct bright sunlight will heat up the air and dry it out. I want to walk outside into a hot dry day. Gotta get rid of the box the new television came in. It has been set up running long enough to know it's doing a great job. This box will go in the attic. I like having a large expanse of cardboard handy in case I need to slide something large across the floor. It's the best thing if you don't have those little white skid stick-on feet. Enough for now. Back to work. I have to move a filing cabinet out of my living room if I can find a good place where I'll still use it. SRS |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 Jul 10 - 02:43 AM Hours have passed as I worked on the living room and moved things, some of them a couple of times. I still need to move some things out, but I like the way parts of it are looking now. And I took out several pounds of dead roly polys along the edges of the room and a bunch of dust kittens. I invited the dogs in for a little visit, and they've been such good and patient girls (stuck in the garage with all of this rain) that I gave them a new treat this evening. Sometimes when I use an egg wash to dredge floured things before putting them in bread crumbs I have some left over, and they love to lick the bowl. Tonight I put two bowls and two eggs on the floor, then they sat, patiently, while I cracked an egg in each bowl. If you don't beat up the yoke it takes them a little longer to eat the egg, but the did enjoy it, and their coats and eyes will benefit from them as well. I'm finished for now. SRS |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Stilly River Sage Date: 10 Jul 10 - 07:10 PM Found the pattern for a broken platter (movers broke it and it has been in the bottom of a trunk until recently, way too late to file a claim). Am watching it. I had two like this, so it would be nice to replace it. Looks like rain again, and you can't tell I mowed three days ago. I'm going to wait till tomorrow to even think about it - the forecast looks promising. Liz, how are you feeling today? SRS |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Stilly River Sage Date: 10 Jul 10 - 05:05 PM I've just made a great discovery. I think the reason my veterinarians don't carry Revolution any more is because in Canada it isn't a prescription, it's OTC. And I can buy the amount I want for much less than my vets were charging. They want to sell the things that they have much larger markup on. I asked why one vet switched, and he just said there were "issues." Now I know what they were. I'd been playing that stupid game of "if you buy it from us, if your dog gets heartworm and you've been using it right, we'll treat the dog." But I missed a couple of months, and my dog got sick, and it cost a lot on top of overpaying for the Rx to begin with. Trying to push expensive meds out a week extra each month to make it last a little longer but be within compliance is stupid. You end up missing times that way. So now, I'm going to just get the heart worm test for each dog, and make sure I put this more affordable but just as effective treatment on them every month. I'd have paid $300 here for what is going to cost me $158 to buy from Canada. SRS |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: katlaughing Date: 10 Jul 10 - 04:50 PM Andrea, sorry to hear about the leak and your flooring, etc. All in divine order, right?:-) Maybe the delay will bring around just the right buyers at just the right time. SRS, I don't know about eBay. I have a lot of books and I don't think they do esp. well on there unless they are really rare and people get into the bidding. Right now I seem to be so busy with Morgan etc., I don't even know if I'll get to it until school starts up, again. I am working on a book synopsis and may start a thread for input, info, experience, etc. I've found two agents whom I am eager to propose to, but don't want to send anything until I get a good synopsis done. The book itself is ready. I've done free weights about three times this week, a small amt. of walking each day, until today when I spent an hour walking whilst shopping. Also did some weed pulling which it feels really good to be able to do! Went off my points last week and gained .6 lbs, but I've lost it, now and should be back to what I was about 3 weeks ago by weigh-in which is Wed. Morgan was so cute, he's been bringing snacks everyday and wants to share, though he knows I only share fruit and the occasional granola bar. A couple of weeks ago, he brought a small sandwich bag with a few cheetos in it. I told him they were irresistible and I ate some, too much as they were so salty I noticed it that night. He remembered. Yesterday, he told me he didn't bring "any of the ear-ree-sis-ti-bulls" just snacks that had "good points." Weight Watchers could probably make a mint off him in adverts!:-) kat |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Stilly River Sage Date: 10 Jul 10 - 02:29 PM It looks like rain again today, and with it as wet as it is, the garden kind of shuts down. There isn't much to pick. I'm not going to bother to mow today, maybe it'll dry out some and I'll think about it tomorrow. Meanwhile, I am determined to move stuff around in here so it looks different. I really like my desk and filing cabinet where they are because I use them there, but they sure take up space. I'm thinking about alternative locations. Time to do some sweeping and mopping also. Can't think last time I mopped (with all of this tile, I usually just sweep or vacuum). I'll put a movie in the player and catch up on my NetFlix at the same time. I have a couple of movies here now that I've seen before but want to watch on a full-sized screen and without commercials. The recycling needs to be dropped off, so I probably need to empty the bags of topsoil and humate that are in the back of the truck right now. I can see that I'll be in and out some today - I should probably also see where I can store a couple of things in the garage. SRS |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: wysiwyg Date: 10 Jul 10 - 02:20 PM Eiseley, I had a similar experience aquajogging, which I've picked up again, if you want a partner. I can relate to that feeling of having gotten really fit. I miss bursting with it, don't you? ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Stilly River Sage Date: 09 Jul 10 - 05:14 PM I've talked back and forth with Philippa, and sent her information to my friend Tom (who might also help) to send to his friend Ray. Tom and Ray sound like their own dynamic duo, don't they? Comedy instead of ice cream, though. Anyway, when Tom saw what I was sending Ray, he said he'd love to help also, so she may get a couple of sets of really good eyes sorting those papers and books. Tom worked with me out at Ellis Island, that's where we met, and we always were poking around in abandoned rooms and buildings, hoping to find and rescue more papers that were clues to the Island's past uses. I can't think of a better paper detective to help filter (it sounds very interesting, but I'm not talking myself into going up there - I have plenty here to work on). What Philippa has to her advantage is the same thing in my collection of handbills - they constitute a collection with real value. Research and monetary both, and the best way to realize both is to donate them to an institution after doing some research and an appraisal (and photos to document the collection in general), and taking a tax deduction. And the best thing for her, is if the estate doesn't need the entire deduction, the heirs can inherit a share of the donatible deduction that is left over. I learned this when working on my father's estate. It didn't pay any income tax for the last year of his life because he had so many good clothes and shoes and household items that we donated to St. Vincent De Paul. I figure about 100 homeless men with size 11 feet got a new pair of walking shoes after Dad died. He was the Imelda Marcos of Puget Sound. SRS |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Manitas_at_home Date: 09 Jul 10 - 02:28 PM REally LTS on the sofa... can't be bothered to log out Stilly - one or two black bananas - make banana flapjacks. 2 black bananas, 2 tablespoons of honey, 1 tablespoon of butter and the cheap, dusty muesli (granola?) they sell usually as own brand. Melt the butter and honey together in a pan, mash in the bananas, add the muesli until it goes to a big, stiff dollop. Squash the dollop into a greased pan and bake at a moderate to high heat for 15-20 mins or until browning. Cut when warm but leave til cool to turn out, when they'll have firmed up a bit. The butter can be swapped for a lower fat alternative as long as it's not one of the ones that go icky when you cook with them. If you have vegans around, you can use sunflower or vegetable oil instead. The cheaper muesli works best as the dust absorbs the butter and honey and so they stick together better. You can add nuts, raisins, chocolate chips, anything you like. On the decluttering front.. managed to excavate a table or two and turn 3 fabric stash piles into one box of fabric and 2 project boxes - I LOVE the Really Useful Box company! Kitty returned at 2.30 this morning so I declared a day of Jubilee and snoozing. As for accountability... Today I had a deep and meaningful relationship with two gentlemen, Ben and Jerry... it is starting to show as there are a couple of pairs of trousers that are decidedly snug when sitting... so I really should get back on track... More sewing happening, another quilt for a friend's mother, in green and yellow (we know a song about that), which doesn't seem to want to make it to the machine, so I've so far made a quarter of the blocks by hand. Only another 28 to go. LTS |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Stilly River Sage Date: 09 Jul 10 - 01:07 PM I would like to redo some of the plumbing in this house, Andrea, but that would involve "breaking the slab." Not something one does lightly or inexpensively. But if one job comes up I'll add the other to it (I'd love to move where my washer and dryer are). I was able to clear four boxes of pamphlets off of the living room floor. The publications are now stacked all over my dining room table and the boxes are nested and ready to go out to the garage or get used to ship eBay stuff. When you do eBay, keeping a close eye on the number and size of boxes is important. They are all potential shipping boxes, but they get in the way if you keep all of them. I had some over-ripe bananas, not enough for banana bread, so I picked up another bunch of the discounted overripe bananas last night and made four small loaves this morning. A couple will go in the freezer and one may be a gift for my son's friend who, with his siblings, has a long drive to their home in West Texas tomorrow. Eiseley, I need to do more walking also. The dogs get kind of bored with the same ol' walk, so I'm thinking I'll load them in the truck and head over to an area park, just to give them a set of new sights and smells. We all benefit from the exercise. Susan, you may need to abandon your attic space during this heat wave. I would think that attic = oven these days. Kat, are you going to keep selling on eBay? I don't see a lot of other options. The only other one I think is big and reliable enough is Amazon, and there I don't think there is as much freedom to sell the really oddball things. Geez. It just started raining again. SRS |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: mouldy Date: 09 Jul 10 - 11:22 AM So-o-o.... The plumber has been, the boiler has been serviced (it fought back) and the plumber went to adjust the ball-valve on the header tank, which was constantly running. Now I know why my floors were so damp. I have a corroded heating pipe in the living room (we think), under the concrete floor, and what I thought was air in the system is the sound of the water coming out echoing back through the radiator. Great. So while I am away in a couple of weeks time, the plumber is going to come and dig up my floor to find the leak and its extent, and replace the pipe. It could be anywhere between the far dining room wall and the first radiator in the living room. My new carpet has to come up, and the damp proof membrane has to be disturbed. At least Peter has some left we can paint on again after. So, from getting my house on the market in 4 weeks, it looks like it's yet another delay - and further expense I wasn't wanting! I will be glad to get rid of this place now. Andrea |
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Subject: RE: July-2010-DeClutter & Exercise Accountability From: Eiseley Date: 09 Jul 10 - 11:06 AM Seven years ago I started running and became the fittest I had ever been. Then life happened and my pace gradually slowed and I not-so-gradually plumpened until I finally decided enough was enough. But I don't want to run this time. So, for the past few weeks I've been walking and walking and walking as much as possible. I have no idea if it is working weightwise, but I feel healthier, and that's good. I hope everyone has a great weekend! I'll be at the Farmers' Market giving out books and generally meeting people and being friendly. But not TOO friendly in case I attract nefarious folk. Eiseley |
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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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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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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 - 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: 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: Catherine Jayne Date: 05 Jul 10 - 10:03 AM Hope Raven kitty comes home soon Liz. (((hugs))) |
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