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BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports
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Subject: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 01 Nov 10 - 01:22 AM Busy time of year for all of us. Keeping track of the little (or big) successes is helpful, which is why we've been running these threads every month. It's a monthly thread because they get really long otherwise (for those who wondered and are dropping in to see what this is about). It's chat, of course, it's everyday lists, it's special lists, it's our keeping track of each other in our virtual neighborhood. It's Jerry's kitchen table, moved into the craft room or the living room or the garage, wherever we each determine we need to clear out some space, organize our stuff, or whittle down the stuff that has accumulated. I've sold several things on eBay the last few weeks, but in volume, it all probably wouldn't fill a milk crate. But it is progress (and has been nice to the PayPal and bank accounts!) And I've lost five pounds since I started working on it a month ago. As far as this month's title, Exercise is shorter than Accountability, but if we need to change it, I'm sure we can. I'm working on a spinoff in the next couple of days also. I've picked up another list of things to do, that of shuffling the Secret Santa names. We've all all be watching Liz struggle with health issues, and though she didn't say anything, I think the pressure of one more thing just didn't help (and she has had a bonkers computer). So I'm scrambling to pull this together this year, and will send out names late on Monday. Stragglers hopefully can be accommodated, but here's hoping the word gets out on Monday and everyone can hop on this bandwagon. If we all send small packages and use the packaging that gets it there fastest (like the priority packages we get here in the U.S.) then we should be okay, as late as it is. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 01 Nov 10 - 01:24 AM Here's the last thread. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 01 Nov 10 - 10:08 AM My fridge is cleaner after a flurry of cooking and tossing yesterday. I have a casserole for meals this week and maybe taking a dish of it to work for a couple of folks who love eggplant. The Secret Santa list is growing. This is going to be a low-tech operation; I'm saving names in the left-hand side of a two column table. I'll print out two copies of the list and cut up one of them. I'll work my way down the intact copy of the list, placing folks for the matchup, and tape them down once it all fits. I suspect this long thing is going to live taped to the closet door in my office for the next few months. :) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 01 Nov 10 - 01:09 PM Great thread-start, SRS. Don't spin off anything on my account. === Great lunch with new strong-woman-friend, found via FreeCycle. Many barters referenced in Oct. thread completed today; many more contemplated incl CLEANING (caps for emph and to save HTML time). My abbrv's are in a thread of that name if anyone wants to know one. I'm a dog person this month. I might be a cat peson next month. Play nice or I may have to hump you. :~) I had CAFF tdy, look out! Also multitasking bigtime as Mudcatter-in-disguise/matriarch-at-25 is on the way here with her fam and (modest) MONIES. ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 01 Nov 10 - 01:48 PM After the sales ended yesterday I have three packages ready to go when the postal carrier comes by after lunch. Two other items with bids end this evening. Every little bit helps with this de-clutter (and my bank account smiles upon the process)! The concrete guy who is working on my neighbor's driveway is there now, so I'll talk to him in a bit. It's mostly curiosity now, information to stow away for later. But if we both decided to fill in our den floors, then maybe he'd give us a bulk rate (there's another one with a step down den on the other side of me also. Who knows, it could be a sweep on this end of the block! And six inches can make a difference when you pay flood insurance.) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: maire-aine Date: 01 Nov 10 - 01:51 PM I de-cluttered the leaves from the lawn. If we rake them out to the street, the city will vacuum them up & compost them. The worst is the magnolia, with the heavy leaves, but it's completely dropped now. The rest are about 80%, so I'll have to rake once more. Also planted 2 hardy mums, that I bought on sale for 99-cents each. Maryanne |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: GUEST,mg Date: 01 Nov 10 - 02:20 PM I would check with local realtors to see if that is done and how it affects your salability and also if you have an assumable mortgage if it affects that in any way...there could be reasons in terms of financing, house inspection etc. not to do this, or it might not matter at all. mg |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 01 Nov 10 - 06:27 PM I answered this once, but it didn't stick. I'm not worried about saleability after this kind of work, though if anything, it would be easier to sell without that goofy dip in the middle of the house. And it would be so much easier to arrange and move furniture around here without a step to look out for. The step kind of breaks up the way the space looks, and there are two wrought iron rails to keep people and things from going over the step from the kitchen/dining area. Those of us who pay for flood insurance might also see a benefit. It would make our houses look just a little higher above the creek, and that could help lower costs. Concrete guys are barely English speakers, the boss doesn't turn up until it's time to inspect and collect payment. My neighbor will let me know when she thinks that is. I don't want to call the guy out on a purely speculative question, but if he's here already, I'd have him step inside and take a look. Three packages dropped off at the post office, and one more invoice just sent. These are small items, but I have a whole bunch more of small items to work on, so I'll stay busy. Clearing that sun room of eBay stuff would be wonderful! :) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: LilyFestre Date: 01 Nov 10 - 07:28 PM Lots of walking today, a few miles at the very least. I was out most of the day so not much got done around the house other than dishes and laundry. Michelle |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: gnu Date: 01 Nov 10 - 07:36 PM No exercise here - suspended - but I have been losing more weight. Sommat about a hemerrouge that just puts you off yer apperaturetite. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 01 Nov 10 - 07:44 PM Gnu, do you have a new and unusual diet plan? I just decluttered the back yard of one dead young possum whose mother is going to wonder where he got to. Sad, to say, like the miller's daughter, he is swimming away with the tide (of the creek, that is). SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: ragdall Date: 01 Nov 10 - 11:49 PM I will have a difficult declutter task in the future. I'm hoping to gain some perspective by soliciting input from the people who frequent this thread. I had a very close friend whom I met online. We chatted online and talked on the phone for hours every day. The only time that we ever met face to face, he flew many miles for a week long visit with my husband and me. Over seven years ago, despite my efforts to persuade him otherwise, he took his own life. Because I was the one who called the police when I hadn't heard from my friend for a couple of days, the police mailed me copies of the police report, his will and the letter he'd left for them to find. There was more than enough money to pay for cremating his remains, but it took me four and a half months and many, many long distance phone calls to find someone who could get his body out of a county morgue and cremated. They finally laid him to rest on Halloween - how fitting. Any of his money that was left went to two charities. His furniture, clothing, etc., went to charity thrift stores. Some time later, I had a phone call from a county lawyer advising me that my friend's "personal effects" had been left to me. I told the lawyer that I didn't want them, but in due time a large box (30 inch cube) of photos and printed materials arrived at my door. I don't know what to do with my friend's personal belongings. I haven't been able to bring myself to just toss it all in a rubbish bin. That seems as if I'd be treating my friend as if his life meant nothing. As much as I loved my friend and cared about him, I really don't want to keep his baby pictures, high school yearbooks, polaroid photo collection, old family photos, etc.. I have too much clutter of my own that I need to get rid of. In the letter the police found, my friend wrote that he had no living relatives. I know that wasn't true. He wanted nothing to do with any relatives, but there were some. To the best of my knowledge, he detested them. I think I may be able to find some of these people from clues in my friend's parents' obituaries. Should I try to find them and ask if they want anything from his belongings, knowing that would probably be the last thing my friend would want? Should I just toss the box in the rubbish? Is there another choice that I haven't considered? What would you do? Thanks, rags |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 02 Nov 10 - 01:50 AM Did he go to college? Was there anything in his effects that might have some local history appeal, that you could donate to the Special Collections in his university library? Or is there a historical association in his town? My sister gave things from my mother's estate to a couple of local museums - military uniforms and such (she was a WAC in WWII). My Dad's music and such are here, and will one day be donated to a museum or library. Your friend was desperate, depressed, and leaned on you to take care of what he left behind. But he did it in a way that wasn't entirely fair to you, so I think that while we both understand there is an honorable way to deal with these things that you will try to achieve, if it gets to be too much, chuck it. Don't let his baggage weigh you down. Okay? I can tell you from first-hand experience that baggage can affect your health, your personal relationships, your life. So if it starts to take a toll, pass it on. Take care - SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: ragdall Date: 02 Nov 10 - 03:42 AM SRS, Thank you for the time and effort you put into your response. It's very helpful. I looked through the box once, seven years ago, and haven't been able to make myself go through it again. I don't remember anything that was likely to be of historical interest. It is a collection of mementos of significant events, people and pets in one man's very limited life. I will look again before discarding anything. rags |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: GUEST,Bizibod Date: 02 Nov 10 - 09:25 AM In a similar position once myself. Didn't want to keep it, couldn't just throw it away, so had a small fire and respectfully consigned it to the flames.Clean and final. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 02 Nov 10 - 10:44 AM That's what I've told my family to do with anything leftover of my stuff that they don't want or can't pass on to friends, etc. Burn it up, as guest said, clean and final. Other than that, rags, I agree with SRS, completely. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 02 Nov 10 - 11:41 AM I was up really late last night finishing a project for work, so I'm taking a few hours off today. By the time I finished this computer was running so slowly. I know the writing is on the wall, it's time for a new one (I've reached a couple of upgrade limits - it is five and a half years old, and for a computer used in my work, that's getting elderly). I'll have to build my own, and I'll have my son assist (it'd go faster that way) but I'll have to save up for this. Or find an eBay goldmine! ;) Just talked to my boss, he saw it and loves it! That's so nice! I made sure it was a real eye-catcher. :) I want to concur with the note from our drop-in guest; fire is a satisfactory way to deal with a number of problems like this. Sometimes a small campfire or burning barrel has a tremendously cathartic effect. I prefer out-of-doors versus a fireplace or a trash burner stove - you don't know what you might be releasing in the smoke. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Catherine Jayne Date: 02 Nov 10 - 05:03 PM Had a busy month last month but now getting back on track. Only put on 5lbs over the celebrations and with havign to take steroids for my chest but now I'm almost back to full strength and have started my exercises again. Body pump, body combat and spinning are all back in routine this week. Wedding was fantastic, a real fairy tale, photographers pics here Got a list as long as my arm for the house. Bedroom to be finally decorated. Twins beds are nearly sorted and their room to be decorated. All thank you cards have been written and posted. My brother is back in the country on leave, I'm just really happy he is home safe adn we're hoping to meet up soon. Building working of the new kitchen is coming along nicely. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 02 Nov 10 - 06:04 PM Those are huge photos in Catherine's link, so be patient for them to load! Great shots, the few I looked at. I've identified the next eBay listing, I decided I'd go for something bulkier. An old electric typewriter "word processor" that people still buy, amazingly. It's one I kept thinking I might one day need a typewriter. Nope. Not once in all of these years. There are some old cartridges to go with it. That'll make a little more room on the floor in the sun room! No exercise (dog walking) with this rain, but I need to start exercising with some of the videos I have here. They get boring after a while, but over the years I picked up clearance tapes at the Half Price Books in the neighborhood so I can switch around for variety. Yes, I still have a VCR. :) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: ragdall Date: 02 Nov 10 - 07:15 PM Thanks to those who suggested disposal by fire. It's worth considering. Maybe I could get a permit for a small fire and burn them on his Yahrzeit? rags |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 02 Nov 10 - 10:27 PM The day has come when I need to switch the setting on my air conditioner from cool to heat. The filters have been changed, and for now, I'll set the main house heat pump on warm so it comes on at night when I'm in that part of the house if it gets really cool. My office area stays fairly warm with the computer and such running when I'm in here. I have a fireplace that doesn't draw worth a darn, so I no longer build fires in it. I have a mirror and a candle stand on a plank on top of the fire log thing in the fireplace. I need to clean all of the heavy cobwebs out now and clean the mirror at the back and re-fill the stand with candles. They look beautiful in there in cold weather and whether a fire or candles, the light is warming on cold days. Beautiful fillet of catfish and a half a baked acorn squash for dinner. I opened a bottle of Shiraz to have have a glass this evening. Take the edge off of the occasional voter results I hear if I turn on the radio. After 8 years of Bush making a mess, you'd think people would know it would probably take a dozen years to fix the problem, not 2. Sheesh. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 03 Nov 10 - 10:16 AM Wallet decluttered as most bills were paid.
Kat, when you come up for air, tell us what Morgan did for Halloween? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Catherine Jayne Date: 03 Nov 10 - 05:46 PM 4 mile brisk walk tonight and a body pump class. Should have reminded myself I have had 5 weeks off from this class and should have reduced my weights for a couple of classes! Big bag of kids clothes sent to the charity shop today. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 03 Nov 10 - 06:50 PM Keep up the activity to keep the weight off, Catherine! I think more than half of the work of a diet and weight loss is keeping up the good habits once you reach your goal. I just took a nap that felt so good - over the last couple of days there has been so much going on, both in the world and in my work and life that my brain has knotted up. Figuratively, of course. But when you reach that tired point that it says "take a nap NOW" that nap can make such a big difference. I kind of woke about half-way through the time I allotted myself and it's like I could feel issues sorting themselves out. This is the power of a power nap. Out for a walk with the dogs before it gets dark. The sky cleared this afternoon, so we'll go enjoy it. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: LilyFestre Date: 03 Nov 10 - 07:13 PM Received results for my tumor marker today (excellent news) and also the results for some more standard health bloodwork testing which needs some attention. Motivaton for me to start doing a bit more. I'm feeling highly unsocial today and haven't done one darn thing around this house other than to take care of the baby. I intend to indulge in this wallowing or whatever it is for the rest of the night. I need to get it out of my system and tomorrow is a whole, new day filled with activity and plans. As for tonight, pass the Kleenex, get out the extra quilt, put on my softest socks and my biggest, most comfy sweats and leave me alone. Michelle |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 03 Nov 10 - 08:27 PM Michelle, a hot bath might fit nicely with an evening like that also! I need to go give my beautiful Mexican tile walls a scrub because they pick up soap from showers. Now that we're into cool weather it is bath season, and I like the tile to be shiny and a work of art (since I put it up I like to admire my handiwork!) I understand the feeling. I think the nap I took today helped a lot with the same kind of feeling. "Don't bother me, I want to mope." The walk with the dogs was good, though, and helped my mood a bit. We wove around several blocks, looking for acorns under some of the red oaks. The rain over the last 2 days seems to have washed a lot of them away, it was slim pickings this evening. A friend emailed to tell me that a friend of his has a bit part in a program I don't watch often, but I'll watch it tonight in solidarity with my friend. I have had some more furniture moving ideas, so I may turn the television so I can see it from across the room and push and shove a few things to see what they look like. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: ragdall Date: 03 Nov 10 - 11:10 PM I spent three hours loosening soil and removing rocks and roots from my flower bed. It's all raked over evenly now, ready for me to add a layer of compost to it tomorrow. Then I can finally plant at least 50 of the 100 tulip bulbs that I bought over a week ago. I must also make a run to the community compost bins at the transfer station with all the roots and other plants that I removed in the past few days. Now that that flower bed is empty, I can relocate some Forget-me-not, daisies and mallow plants from other beds, making those beds less cluttered also. I hope that my hands will work better tomorrow. At the moment they are sore, swollen and inflexible. I need to get everything finished tomorrow as the prediction is for freezing daytime temperatures after that. On the bright side, if the ground will be frozen from now until spring, I won't have to worry about cats accidentally digging up my bulbs. rags |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 03 Nov 10 - 11:18 PM Moved a cabinet in my office, I like the look. I can still reach my window, but I can also see my calendar now. The television was on top of that cabinet, and looks good in the corner, and it is easy to glance over at it when I'm on the computer. I have other moves in mind. After a wonderful long walk with the dogs, dinner was a portion of lamb and the last of the acorn squash reheated. Mmmmm! I have another one to bake later this week. :) They really are good. (Cut in half, scoop out seeds, put cut side down on oiled foil on baking sheet. Put in 425o oven for 1 hour 15 minutes. Enjoy!) I bought a boneless leg of lamb at Sam's this week, a little over 4 lbs. This evening I cut it up (taking most of the fat off of the outer edges) and packaged it in 4 - 6 ounce packages and it is in the freezer. Tonight's dinner was from that work. I've been looking at and making a shift over to Dr. Andrew Wiel's "anti-inflammatory food pyramid" (link). Small portions of meat and filling up on veggies and whole grains and beans is what he recommends. I was watching Dr. Oz last week and he showed a blood test on a woman with a healthy diet after having her eat a fast food burger meal. The blood serum was literally cloudy from all of the junk fat in the food. Makes me look at the congealed fat in the pan after cooking a steak and thinking twice. And three times. I like red meat, but I'll keep my portions very small. The news is on (and it is sweeps month) so they had an interview with a convicted burglar. He said the one best way to keep burglars away from your house (after you've left lights and a radio on) is to have a dog. "Burglars won't mess with houses with dogs." That's why I have my two pooches; their presence helps keep the house safe (after a burglary in 2005) and the by-product is the unconditional love they offer every time I come home. It's a win-win set up! (That's a doggie "high five" in that photo - Cinnamon, the pit bull, loves to give Poppy kisses. Poppy tolerates it.) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 03 Nov 10 - 11:47 PM That is a cute photo. I'd heard that about burglars, too. I think our neighbours' dogs, all the way round us, plus the goat next door, would stave off any attempts in our neighbourhood, but I have felt a bit less safe without Merlee here. With Rog here because of his foot, it's not so much that way, but we do need to think about it, later. Morgan was a stunningly handsome, classic vampire for Halloween. his dad did his makeup and hair and did a fantastic job...his red hair was slicked down to a point on his forehead, his eyes were rimmed with black while his face was deathly white with bright red lips and of course fangs to bite with. I bought him a black cape with red lining. Unfortunately none of us got pix, so I've asked him for a re-dress...he says everything but the makeup! I have been at work with Rog and at my own appts., but did finally get started on decluttering a novel in my head onto paper, so to speak. To manage 50,000 words in thirty days, the average day must have 1666 words. I've written only twice since just after midnight of the 31st and have managed 4001, so I am only down 997 from that daily goal for the past three days. We are off to work again tomorrow morning, only for a couple of hours, but I may take the laptop and work on it there. We've also got to go to the health food store. I've been getting a lot of walking done as I go to the store, post office, etc., etc. all those things Rog usually does, sometimes with me in tow.:-) Went off the rails the past two weeks with diet, running around too much, too stressed, but today started a new week and I have started out well. Thanks, SRS, for the link to Dr. Weil. I love that guy! Heard him on NPR years ago and bought a couple of his books. It's good to be reminded of the good he teaches. My house is a disaster right now. Rog has moved into the kitchen, a lot, at his "command center," as he's doing work-related stuff on the computer most of the day, plus it's easier for him to get ready for a shower whilst sitting in his office chair which he uses to scoot down the hallway, so his dirty clothes wind up going right into the washer which is by the back door. He is a very messy engineer anyway...his office at work looks as chaotic as his spot here, BUT he knows where everything is. It's pretty amazing. I was really proud of him, today. They had on a live conference of the President and were getting ready to go to another live feed from Denver when the whole building lost power. I could hear him sending people around to check this and that, the generator kicked in, and he was so calm and efficient during the whole thing, scooting around in the dark on another office chair, making sure everything came back up the way he'd engineered it to do. (It did!) It's tiring for him, though. Monday we see the doc to see if he can wear a boot, but probably still no weight on it...they said for at least 6-8 weeks. So, probably not much decluttering getting done around here. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: mouldy Date: 04 Nov 10 - 03:22 AM Back down in Yorkshire after a day or two in Belford. Going back up full-time tomorrow with the cat, so I will have to find a free connection till I get mine transferred back to Sky. Got the phone line basically connected with BT, so now I have to start the transfer process, which can take a couple of weeks or so. I have a contact for a local builder who will be able to have a look at the guttering (which might only need re-bracketing in some places). The heating is on, and the house smells lovely and damp. got a tv working...all is well. So far. Andrea |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: SINSULL Date: 04 Nov 10 - 09:42 AM Staring at the boxes that still have to go down to the basement. Maybe I will be motivated this weekend. Weighed myself and have gained nothing - amazing. Now to start losing again. I want a picture of that vampire, kat WITH make up. SINS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 04 Nov 10 - 10:57 AM Andrea, was the house you're buying not already wired for phone? Don't they just flip a few switches or do a few keystrokes and move phones over there? Or will you be changing companies? And do you have to get a new number? We have 3-digit area codes here so the seven numbers unique to the house can be used in other areas. Do they do something like that in the UK? The heat came on early this morning. I have it set at about 66 for overnight. It still tends to warm from the outside and the sun during the day, so it'll probably be a couple of more weeks before it comes on during the day. The house slab slowly cools after holding the average temperature from a very hot summer. We're getting set to run an inventory of every book and disk, reel, or item in the library. There are about 1.3 million discrete items. All hands on board. Training for my office starts this afternoon. I'll have to take sudafed every time I go into the stacks because of the dust, and I'll have to wear gloves. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: LilyFestre Date: 04 Nov 10 - 12:06 PM Ah yes! Here it is, a brand new day and things are MUCH better. I needed that time to curl up and not exist. Today's work includes laundry, dishes, errands, keeping the fire going and the floors. Exercise.....wait for it..... YOGA!!!!!!!!!! YAHOO!!!! I found a sitter that I am very comfortable with...I knew it the first time she held Jeremiah. YAY! So...yoga is now back in the regular swing of my life (not as often as I'd like....but it's a start!!). |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 04 Nov 10 - 08:00 PM It's a wonderful cool evening here. Lots of puttering around the house to do. Our fall in Texas comes later than for the rest of you. We haven't heard from Alice in a while - is she busy weather-proofing? Haven't heard from several others for a while. I hope a few more will report in. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: mouldy Date: 04 Nov 10 - 08:07 PM The house has been a holiday let for several years,and so the phone was disconnected. It was only a couple of days to process it, and allocate me a number. I now want to shift over to Sky as a provider, as I was with them before, but they have to take the line over from BT who actually own the exchanges. This is the process that takes a couple of weeks,and until then I will have no internet. Andrea |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 04 Nov 10 - 08:34 PM I got a call at 730 this morning, "Mama, my mom *needs* you to take me to school." Grumble, grumble...okay. So, I was off to get him at 8a, then back home. Did a few things on the PC, ate breakfast, then gathered up Rog, picked up dau., dropped her at work, then took Rog to work. We were supposed to only be about an hour. Wound up being there until lunch time. Stopped at the health food store on the way home and the post office. I put away the Halloween things and brought in the gargoyle which sat out on the front steps all spring and summer on the lower shelf of a verdigris wrought iron plant stand which I will also bring in for the winter, tomorrow. Rog and I both gathered up trash bags from the kitchen and elsewhere, then Morgan took them out for us this afternoon. He also carried in two reams of paper for me from the car. He was going to put his name on one and mine on the other. HIS were going to be for the little paper books he makes with my oversized stapler and folded in half sheets. I told him he was not getting 500 sheets of paper for anything!:-) I also reminded him that I always give him what he needs for his projects. I am trying to be content with doing little things for now. My etsy store is languishing. I think I will put up a note so folks don't think I am a complete idiot. On to noveling. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: maire-aine Date: 04 Nov 10 - 11:21 PM My next-door neighbors moved out today-- a nice young couple with 3 adorable little kids. I'll miss them; they were real nice neighbors, but I understand that they needed more room. The house has been sold & they sign the papers tomorrow. Haven't met the new owners (they hadn't met them either), but I expect to meet them over the weekend. All I know is they're another young couple, and they're anxious to move in. Maryanne |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: SINSULL Date: 05 Nov 10 - 09:10 AM LOL kat. She was smart enough to have Morgan call with his request. Somehow I don't hear a sincere grumble. Time spent with Morgan is precious. Plus, I remember when just walking to the phone was too much for you. Celebrate being well enough to be on the To Be Called list. Love you, Marigold By the way, guys, Christmas is just around the corner. Is it time for our annual bitch about saccharine Christmas music in the mall? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 05 Nov 10 - 11:04 AM Who goes to the mall? I avoid it like the plague most times. Still eating my diet breakfast of dry toast and fruit each morning. It's homemade whole wheat bread, so it isn't so bad. The rest of the day is the "maintenance" diet that you eat between the "real" diet weeks. Next week I start up that weight loss 2 weeks of the diet, and I think I've cleared the fridge down enough that I won't have as much food go unused. I'll pull the meat portions out of the freezer as I need them, I won't be staring at a whole chicken getting old as the schedule doesn't allow using it very fast. I decided rather spontaneously a month ago to do this, so the contents of the fridge hadn't gone through the subtle shift from forbidden to approved foods and frozen portions. Now it's set for more fruits and veggies (that can't hurt!) but little bread, no potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc. I don't think he lets the winter squash in either. I have a small acorn squash that I'll eat over the weekend. Still moving stuff around the house, reassigning shelves, etc. I have to winterize some of the garden this weekend. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 05 Nov 10 - 11:29 AM LOL, Sins. I can't do a real grumble with him as it is HER who I'd like to grumble at...I don't call it smart, I call it triangulation and it's gonna stop! And, honey, I haven't walked to a phone in ages...my cellphone is too handy, but I DO get your point and I AM grateful for the walking I am able to do! Time spent with him is precious, but can be overdone when it's been 630a, 730a several mornings in a row plus one whole day and one whole afternoon, plus some more in just one week! I raised three and like my mornings for getting up s-l-o-w-l-y and peacefully.:-) I've just been informed we don't have go to work until the afternoon, so I have a load of wash in, may do the dishes, and get to that novel. It's actually turning out to be really fun, even a little bit of romance. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: SINSULL Date: 05 Nov 10 - 12:18 PM I agree SRS. I don't remember the last time I was in a mall. A fate worse than death. Laundry and romance. What an interesting life our Miss Kitty leads. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 05 Nov 10 - 12:35 PM ✔ Declutter accomplished via mail again today. Targeted at a little boy in Colorado! The rest of you, eat your hearts out! :) ♫ ♪ SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 05 Nov 10 - 02:13 PM Oh, no, I hope you haven't started and avalanche, SRS! :-) He is going to be so excited! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 05 Nov 10 - 03:21 PM Does he read? I hand-printed a short note to him. Nate Berkus is doing a program on choosing paint. He generally is kind of "design lite" most of the time, but maybe there will be a useful tip or two. All of the cabinets in my house match my paneling in the living room. One of these days I need to make the plunge and start painting. And cabinets are likely to be where I start. It's also tempting to take the cabinet doors off, at least on top. I also need to re-do one of the lower cabinets, so I can put all of my flat baking sheets in one place, on edge, and they're easy to pick up and put back. But that is wishful thinking, for when I have the time and money to start that kind of project. Back to work. . . SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: maire-aine Date: 05 Nov 10 - 08:12 PM I did take several of my upper cabinet doors off in the kitchen. It made things much easier to keep organized. The man is coming to install my new blinds in the livingroom on Monday. We had our first few snowflakes today. Just a few, and they melted as soon as they hit the windshield, but the real thing will be coming soon. Need to get my snowblower started (& serviced if necessary). It's supposed to be cold this weekend, but warm up a bit next week, so I'll finish up any outdoor chores then. M |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 06 Nov 10 - 11:46 AM It's a beautiful chilly fall morning. Last night when I was out running errands after dark I could smell the fall leaves and a few fireplaces were going. Trouble is, too many people run their fire places and impact the air quality on still days. But for now, it evokes warm feelings of autumn. There are several watchers on that compact and no bids, so I hope it is just a matter of experienced buyers waiting until the last minute to show their hands and drop in on it. I'll list the typewriter and then head out to work in the yard for a few hours. It really needs some attention. Part of this also is emptying the current hay out of the dogs' enclosure, sweeping out the area, and filling it with fresh. We need to winterize for them. I have a heater I set up out there when it gets really cold, mostly for the dogs but partly to keep the garage itself from freezing. I had a couple of strange dreams last night that I can only conclude are spin-offs from this thread. One was of me building an extension of the workbench along a side wall (where did all of the stuff go?) and another was I'm sure inspired by Andrea and her new house. Somehow I moved into a nifty looking house that was classic high Victorian, and started discovering all of the DIY wiring and odd placement of useful things and it culminated with discovering a back bedroom with a squishy floor. In this dream I moved to the edge of the room and pulled up the carpet to find another underneath, and another and another, down to 8 carpets resting solely on the beams, no floorboards. I woke up at that point! No way I could have bought a funky house like that without an inspector to discover odd rooms and fuses and wiring not up to code! Whew! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 06 Nov 10 - 03:56 PM Pulling out the tangle of sunflower limbs today. I know I'll have a gazillion seeds in my beds next year, but the birds will find quite a few. And I'm taking a lot of the limbs the long way round and dumping them on the back of my property over the creek. Maybe I'll have a sunflower jungle back there next year! Compact didn't sell, so I relisted at a lower price. Listed the typewriter. Have a few more things to list. Would love to move tons out of the sunroom this month. No elves built a new workbench in my garage overnight, despite the dream. Darn. It looked good! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 06 Nov 10 - 07:22 PM Interesting dreams, SRS! There is hope for us, yet. Rog and I went back to Kmart to get me some more of the all cotton pants I found a week ago which stay soft and fit well. It's so hard to find 100% which isn't so cheap it scratches after the first washing; or, even to find 100% cotton that isn't too expensive. I also bought a new handbag, one which I can carry the O2 in also, but I've decided I don't like it and will take it back. There is hope, because after that, when we came home, Rog took what I said to heart and cleaned up his PIT in the kitchen. He moved his monitor back to the computer desk which sits against one kitchen wall, instead of being clamped onto the table on his side, which also entailed moving his keyboard, mouse, and a bunch of other little things which have been taking up so much space on the table. He also cleaned off the top of his 2 drawer filing cabinet which sits next to the desk. I did the dishes and more laundry. Then, had Morgan come over to help me sort beads. FireMountain has a $1 or less sale right now. I'd ordered a bunch of stuff including three strands of assorted glass beads for 75 cents per package, so I bought three packages. We had nine strands to sort into bowls. It was a lot of fun and we have all kinds of plans for beautiful jewellery. SRS, he is reading beginner stuff really well. It's fun...we'll be driving down the road and he'll say, "Mama! That sign said 'exit!'" Sins, he says he'll do the makeup and all if he can take a shower right after, which I promised. No telling how soon, though, we will do our best.:-) Our kitchen looks so much better now. It was really bugging me. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 07 Nov 10 - 12:07 AM I'm glad to see Kat here, I was afraid I'd be talking to myself all day. It's nice to see Rog clear off the table - you'll both enjoy the space, I'm sure! I cleared grass and weeds from my kitchen garden today (the one under the kitchen window) and emptied partial bags of mulch there just to get rid of them. The garden and drive (where I had bags of dirt and mulch stacked) look much neater, and I'll plant some more chard tomorrow. I also worked more on the keyhole garden. I need more rocks from the back to finish the wall, but it's about 2/3 done around the outside. Once it is finished I'll plant it with winter crops. This evening I defrosted my big upright freezer. It was on a whim that I pulled out the cooler and put in a few big hard frozen things and then filled it with the quick-defrost stuff (sliced peppers, small packages of meat, etc.) and the rest crammed into my side-by-side, and then spent an hour with the hair dryer and some towels to defrost. About 4 gallons of ice water came out of there, but clear and packed again it looks so good! I have a few things still in the fridge freezer, but I think I'll empty it all into the big one tomorrow, then clear out and put back just a few things. A load of laundry is in and I'm ready to call it a night. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 07 Nov 10 - 12:24 AM I forgot to mention - I had a sinking feeling this evening when I realized there had been another skunk discharge in the back yard. When it's that strong I can't tell if the dogs got it or not, but I isolated them one at a time in the garage and sniffed their muzzles. No skunk. I heard the barking, but didn't look. They are pretty good at torquing off skunks but not getting hit. I think this is the fourth time year that they've done that (it also means I don't have to dispose of a skunk carcass, though I did get rid of a dead possum during the week.) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 07 Nov 10 - 12:48 AM Yikes! Glad they didn't get hit with spray. Just in to report decluttering my mind of more novel. By now, the count should be 8,335 words. I thought it was 8,000 for some reason, so I stopped a few minutes ago at 8,162. When went to enter my update on their website, I saw I was 175 words under. Drat! I could add them, easily, but decided I needed to stop. There will be plenty tomorrow. I am having so much fun with this one...describing the Georgian Colonial which is center stage for most of the novel. We will be doing a bit more cleaning tomorrow. I put up a note at my Etsy store. I was looking for shampoo for eczema which I think it what's going on with my scalp. My search led me to an Etsy store! I ordered a sample of an all natural, fragrance-free shampoo a mom started making for her baby when she couldn't find anything which helped her. She emailed me right back, offering to put a scent in it and asking what goods I sell. I really like the kindly manner of business I see on there. Don't forget to turn your clocks back if you are in the US. kat |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 07 Nov 10 - 10:36 AM SRS, a table-mate at the AR training I just attended has had repeated skunkifications with his doggeh, and mentioned a really effective de-stink recipe. ==== Great to see so much being done around the group the last couple of days. Here, the next priority is choosing be=tween suddenly-motivated paid helpers on the one hand, and tasks on the other hand that need to be done next here-- income space or personal study space... within a general environment of more work anticipated as a consequence of the training. (Not-paid; advice here not requested.) So I'm taking a few days to reflect on that while I prep the van for some more sleepovers, because some of the work will occur where it's still warn enough to bunk out in the good old boondocker. ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 07 Nov 10 - 12:10 PM I have skunks down. Nature's Miracle Skunk Odor Remover sprayed on the part of the dog that got hit, usually the face, chin, or neck (skunks can aim and are accurate). I don't even bother to bathe the dogs when I use this stuff, forget the baking soda and peroxide recipe. Just use it repeatedly, and it works best if you don't get the dog wet at all. The last four episodes the dogs haven't been hit, the scent just hung in the air for a while. The big freezer looks good and I'm using a few of the things I took out while I was organizing the contents. I've moved a shelf up so I have room for a turkey or three, and some of the little things are ingredients. I had the ends of a couple of loaves of French bread that I sliced thin and toasted in the oven and will grind up with some oregano and garlic for bread crumbs. A couple of things thawing may be way too old, but I'll see once they're defrosted. The garden where I worked is beautiful today, and I can feel it in my back and butt, all of the digging and lifting. I'll do some more today, and I'm going to dig the iris out of one bed. I'd rather put in crops there and the variety is a short dull yellow that is my least favorite. I'll take some to work for folks who are looking for anything to plant, and I'll put some in the back to stabilize the bank over the creek. Laundry is finished, a loaf of bread is in the machine kneading and I'll bake it in a regular pan later. I have started freezing half and that works well when it's just me in the house. A batch of pizza crusts are in there and I'll probably make a batch of tortillas today, use a couple and freeze the rest. They are so superior to the store ones with all of the preservatives. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 07 Nov 10 - 03:33 PM We've been busy and it sure feels good to get so much done. Rog swept the main parts, sitting in his rolling chair and scooting along while I scrubbed the bathroom, put weeks of clean clothes away, finally, and listed 10-15 books on various places online for trade or sale. They have been sitting in various piles for weeks and are now on specific shelves set aside for them, so that feels like a major accomplishment. Of course there are lots more to do! It takes so much time, but will pay off in the long run, I hope. I set myself some goals before I could work on the novel as it is fun, but the undone stuff nags in my head. I like having things tidied up, at least, and not hanging over me whilst being creative. The litter boxes also got done. In a little while we are going to the store and stopping by Morgan's to listen to his mom's car...see if Rog can do an "armchair" diagnosis from the passenger's seat of our car. My taxi service needs to be ltd. to him and Morgan.:-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 07 Nov 10 - 03:34 PM Forgot, I have six books packaged up and ready for the post office tomorrow. That came about this morning, too. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: LilyFestre Date: 07 Nov 10 - 05:23 PM Things here have been crazy busy with preparations for Jeremiah's Open House/Welcoming Party. Yesterday morning was spent decorating the Parish Hall and the guests started arriving around 1:00. The party was to be a short affair, lasting only until 2:30 as I thought the baby would just be tuckered out from all the activity and people. Around 40 people came and the last guests followed us out at 4:30. We all went to my Mom's house, the baby took a nap, my nana took a nap and I ran to town to pick up dinner. At 7:00, my entire family went to church and Jeremiah was baptised...it was an absolutely beautiful service. Jeremiah didn't cry at all when water was put on his head but he DID make dirt bike sounds during the prayer and continued to sing long after some of the songs had ended. :) We had a beautiful cake after church and the entire congregation stayed to celebrate with us just a little bit longer. :) So....this is a long way of saying, I decluttered my digital camera and had a 100+ prints made up, matted them and hung them around the parish hall so folks could share in Jeremiah's life from the very start. I wish that some of you lived closer....I would have invited you in a heartbeat!!! Today we decluttered my car and Pete's car from the many gifts and spent this morning opening presents, making a thank you list and then finding spots for new toys, clothes, diapers, formula, etc. Dishes have been done, laundry is in the process and I finished reading The Good Earth today while Jeremiah napped. Activity? I'm pretty sure I walked a few miles yesterday running around the parish hall getting things up, setting up tables, chairs, running back and forth to the kitchen and wandering around talking with everyone. And then there was the cleaning up last night too. I am tired today, my hips are sore and I've pulled something in my stomach (too much moving of stuff probably) and I am happy, happy, HAPPY. I count yesterday as one of the best days of my life. Michelle |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 07 Nov 10 - 06:31 PM I was sorry to miss that-- was away at an Anti-Racism training-the-trainers workshop for the Diocese. ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 07 Nov 10 - 07:13 PM Michelle, it sounds like a magical day! I'm so glad it went well. Today was gorgeous here, a little cool, not much breeze, clear blue sky. If you were outside not moving around it might feel a little nippy. I tackled some pruning (since tomorrow is trash day) and that is piled ready at the curb. I took on a big bed of iris that my son and I planted probably 3 or 4 years ago. It was packed full but the soil was soft and the grass in it came out pretty easily. I bagged some iris for a friend a work, tossed a lot in the back along the creek to stabilize the bank, tossed some in the compost, and still have three bags I can give away. Big bed. They're not the most gorgeous iris, they're a dusky yellow, kind of short, but the foliage always looks so pretty. I have some other beds with the ones I'll transplant around the yard. After that I ran to Home Depot and picked up some hardwood mulch and I just spread several bags when I drove in. That's where I'll put some winter veggies, chard and maybe kale. It's dark, the dogs are demanding attention, so I'm off again, and I'm trying to get most things done here pretty soon because I know after a couple hours of digging, once I stop, I'll crash. ;) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 07 Nov 10 - 08:41 PM Michelle, that sounds just perfect. What a wonderful day! I've got one load of laundry left drying for folding later this evening. Not sure if I'll write tonight or not. I see there is a new Holmes on Masterpiece Mystery and also I didn't know Desperate Housewives had started their new season. I'm going to have to play catch up or watch for reruns. I know it has a ton of stereotypes, but I love that show...it is so over the top! My arm muscles are getting stronger. We went to the store and I carried in the bags, all in one trip!:-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: mouldy Date: 08 Nov 10 - 07:50 AM Greetings from rainy/haily/blowy Northumberland (I have found a cafe with wi-fi!) Today is my last clutter-free day...the van arrives tomorrow! It will definitely be an interesting exercise getting stuff stowed. However, I got curious and took a tool to a boarded up fireplace in that little room off my bedroom...there's an original iron one hidden in there. However there is a sheet of asbestos screwed in front of it, so i am going to have to be careful and contact the council for safe disposal. The village is fantastic. There is always something going on, and the people are really welcoming. There is a guy from the village parish council who has already said he will drag me into the drama group and put the two morris dancers who live in the village in touch with me! Andrea |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: SINSULL Date: 08 Nov 10 - 10:10 AM That does sound like an amazing day. Jeremiah has met his extended family. Wonderful times. Kat, Morgan reminds me of the time I wrapped my son from head to foot in gauze and sent himm trick or treating as a mummy. His costume itched and lasted less than ten minutes. The next day the entire neighborhood was decorated with discarded gauze. Decided to use another personal day and stay home. Maybe I will finally get the sunroom emptied. We'll see. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 08 Nov 10 - 10:43 AM Most of the key post-workshop follow-up tasks got done ydy incl stashing the key docs and training manual up in my office. Today because I have done so well at keeping my schedule roomy enough and structured enough, I turn my attention to getting back into the routine that was interrupted by Hardi's one-week absence followed immediately by a complex/surprise guest arrival, followed imiediately by my own most-of-the-week absence. A year ago I would never have dreamed that October/November in MY life could handle all that WITH the concomitant annual round of church involvements-- but then at this time a year ago we were burying an awful lot of people during time I've been able to devote, this year, to futuire income-producing action steps. So today it's back to the health club routine, catching up weekly second-floor chores in our own personal space, and looking forward to the things I'm REALLY itching to do-- which are not due today, but are due soon, so I'll just lean on my schedule and enjoy anticipating them while I chug away on the physical tasks. ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 08 Nov 10 - 11:19 AM Andrea, the new house is so exciting, but an asbestos board in front of a fireplace that you can come into contact with is considered "hot" and if you were in the US your house would be wrapped in plastic and men in moon suits would come in to collect it. You be very careful with that thing. Once removed, you're certainly going to find out why it was put there in the first place. Hopefully modern technology will provide a good way to keep out the draft, probably the biggest reason for blocking off a fireplace that I can think of. I do hope you'll take before, during, and after photos as you work on and get moved into the house. And wouldn't this be a great series of things to use in a blog, if you have one. Another lovely day here, high predicted of 75 today. Clear and beautiful. But I have a ton of stuff on my desk. This entry constitutes my short break after finishing one big task and moving on to another. Kat, it left Denver at 1:38am. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow. Isn't tracking amazing? :) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 08 Nov 10 - 02:00 PM Haply, Hardi also wants to go to the club, but this eveing-- so I got a day's work of AR progress done as well, by allocating materials into two waiting file boxes loaded up ("Take to the Event"-type bins with hanging files waiting to be filled), with actual training stuff in one and stuff for the training PLANNERS's meetings in the other. Also had time to fish up several archived articles that will be edited into a sermon for outlying parishes, with the first date to do this soon to be set. Sadie came up to the office with me to help expedite a few of the usual Monday chores. She is so helpful! Faulkner, over, howled. Progress also BTW in the attic room-- a temperature-monitor unit us now installed up there with a new nukerator (I took a larger FreeCycle one for our use), and the laptop with wireless card is sitting now ion that stairway so I can see if the router is sending a good signal up there or not. And I'm working on booking Adrian to finish the stair-carpeting project for that space. Made a decision today about a lingering, pesky issue-- a big ole fridge some Catters will recall as the MudGather Beer Fridge. Old, not efficient, but came free with the house. It's just SO OLD and VERY nasty.... cleanable but I don't want to do it ever again! Well, it's finally on the way out. We can replace it with a small, efficient bar fridge when we get around to it, and also gain some space in a tight corner thereby. Issue was, we do use that "guest" fridge for our own milk/overflow/freezer stuff when there is no guest..... But I can pare down (now, it's almost empty too) for the sake of a smaller electric bill, and let a FCer drag that out for us who probably REALLY needs it while it still works. This also will solve another pesky issue-- a big, sturdy metal typing table from the past that I DO want to keep but IS hard to find a spot for.... really in the way now and needs a home. :~) Well, it can go UNDER that bar fridge to raise it up to MY convenience-height (and add some storage space below the bar fridge, for guest use.) WINWINWINWINWIN! ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: LilyFestre Date: 08 Nov 10 - 02:03 PM Lots of decluttering and putting away of things this morning. I have a large basket of paper things to go through yet and hope to get that done later tonight. Floors swept, some dusting done and a trip to an appointment happened this morning. Also this morning, our hot water tank died so I'm off to see about getting a new one. Anyone know if the Energy Star appliances are worth the extra cost (about $150.00 to $200.00 extra in this case)? Since I'm taking a friend along for the ride and company, if we have time, we're hoping to walk around the mall or pet store or...just somewhere to walk, window shop and talk. :) Two large doe were just standing outside my dining room window...maybe 50 feet from the house, if that. They are so beautiful...I just want to reach out and pet their soft noses. :) Michelle |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 08 Nov 10 - 02:53 PM Brought a nice little high carbon paring knife of my Dad's back into service. It has occupied a space in my wood block holder for ages, but was very dull. I finally took the time and the stone to give it a good edge. This is because another frequently-used paring knife has gone walkabout. I went out in the yard with the camera this morning. There's still more work, but it is looking much tidier now. Preparing to mail things to my son. A smallish care package. I'll do a little running to get what is on his list, then to get a few known favorites. Looking forward to his coming home for a few weeks over xmas. :) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 08 Nov 10 - 04:18 PM Whew! Executive decision. Paid a bit over minimum on one credit card I owe the most on, but with the lowest interest rate in order to send a second payment this month to pay off the card that has the highest interest rate: I don't fool with this one for their points now and this was an amount I could get this out of the way. (I have another similar one, but no interest in the first year, so it's the one to leave alone). To avoid a hit to my credit I haven't closed the card I paid off today. I use it every few months for some big item I have to buy and pay it off over a few months. The last expert discussion I heard about this (no doubt on an NPR program) said it's better to keep even the high interest ones and keep them happy with sparse usage than to get completely rid of them. So, I just paid off the tires I bought in August. That card is the most toxic of the ones I have, it used to be a great very low interest rate but with the banking changes they doubled their interest rate (it's still lower than many, which tells you just how great the rate was before!). They also have really awful penalties if you're late. There is no grace period whatsoever after the due date. If I get another card from a local credit union, then I will close this. That's my unsolicited credit counseling (in the "do as I say, not as I do" department, or I wouldn't have any debt to begin with.) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 08 Nov 10 - 04:39 PM My brother just completed a class in credit for a home loan he'd applied for...the expert told them if they paid 25% more than the minimum payment each month they would off their credit cards or what have you much faster than one might expect. I've been doing that on our one credit card, the only one we have after I paid them all of and got rid of them, and it is surprising and satisfying to see the balance go down more than expected. Rog is now in a boot, still no driving, no weight-bearing, see the doc again in a month. Looks as though it is healing well. Went to work with him, after the doc. I wrote about 1,000 words, hit some tiny key by accident on my laptop and lost them all. Now to restart from where I was earlier. *sigh* No decluttering today, but I did a fair amount of walking to and from etc. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 08 Nov 10 - 06:55 PM You should have your word processing software set to auto save every 5 minutes or so, Kat! I have it automatically back up files also. Which foot did Rog break? Can he drive himself one of these days? Took the dogs for a long walk. I think we were out there for almost an hour, and we took a route that is new to them, around some houses through a drainage area (the kind they build in housing developments these day, a sterile thing that was once a branch of the creek) and into a park, then back around to the front of that long block, kind of an "L" shaped detour to get to the other end of a block we walk occasionally. They like new smells, new things, and it's good for me also. Anyway, that's my good long exercise on day one of this diet. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: maire-aine Date: 08 Nov 10 - 07:18 PM Andrea, your new neighborhood/village sounds wonderful. My new window blinds are up, and they're exactly what I wanted-- 1-inch wood painted off-white, and they fit within the window frame. I took a ring to the jeweler's this morning, to see what I'd get for it if I sold it. I bought it when I went to Italy in 1972, and I've only worn it (maybe) 3 times in almost 40 years. I was taken with it at the time, but it's really not my style at all. Anyway, the clerk told me what they'd give me, but said their "estate jewelry" buyer might be interested in it, so that might bring a little more. Keeping my fingers crossed. Met my new neighbors over the weekend-- seem like a nice couple, and they have 2 little girls (both pre-school it think). M |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 08 Nov 10 - 07:30 PM Your new blinds sound really nice, Maryanne. Andrea, I, too, meant to say your new home/village sounds wonderful! SRS, he broke his right foot. NO driving for at least another month, though I don't know if we'll get him to stick to that. He has the boot off with his foot up, right now. He was complaining about it being too hot. I remember the same thing when I wore one of those clunky boots. I don't know what Rog was watching but I overheard something about a website called the Cult of Less..seems twenty-somethings are getting rid of all of their clutter and one of them found a clever to blog it and offer tips. I can see already from the Itemizing One it will be helpful for me, though it would take me a long time to write down each and every item we own. Still I can see the organisation he writes about would be helpful. I think he is in the UK, but it looks as though he's getting lots of publicity from all over. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 08 Nov 10 - 08:16 PM There was a story on Marketplace, I heard it also. There's a new novel called Sunset Park that was the reason they were having that discussion. I had the bunionectomy on my right foot, so I know Rog's pain: I was a month without driving. I did cheat - I had a pair of sandals that I could fit over the bandage so when I was in the truck on one of my 1 mile or less drives (to the post office, the bank, or the grocery store) I used the sandal, and put the boot on to walk around the store, etc. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 08 Nov 10 - 09:40 PM Thanks for the tip on the auto-save. Seems my PC has it on. I'll have to check the laptop to make sure it is from now on AND take my power cord. Both times we've been at the station I've had to shut it down after a couple of hours because the battery was low. Thing is, other than not being able to drive, Rog has had no pain with this, as long as he doesn't put weight on it and he's been good about that. I"ll have to watch him with the boot, though; if he keeps taking it on and off, he might forget and step down. His boss was bugging him about coming in more, today. I don't know what she expects. It hasn't even been three weeks, he's been in almost every day and it gets tiring for him shoving around that big building on the little stool, plus he can do a lot of work here at home. She's just going to have to be patient. He will go in more, but it's going to take a bit of time. They've been busy buying two new news cars for 50,000 and new cameras for news at 10,000, but can't find the money to hire him a helper since they let one go about three years ago. Sorry, didn't mean to get off on that. I am off to see if I can resurrect that dining room, now. A Georgian Colonial deep in the woods of Vermont, snug up against the mountains...it was a dark and stormy night...not!**bg** |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 08 Nov 10 - 10:56 PM Went a little nuts (pardon the pun!) in the bulk foods at the grocery, got the little four ounce bags and filled a bunch with sweets, nuts, and chocolate tidbits to send in the care package tomorrow. Most of them won't melt. Today I'm really feeling the result of yesterday's digging. It's an early night, I think! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: LilyFestre Date: 09 Nov 10 - 06:38 AM I'm off to an early morning doctor's appointment and if the sun should happen to peek out, the baby and I are going to go for a nice walk. Sounds like you guys are getting plenty done....I need to find a hole in my schedule (coming SOON) to get more things done at home. Michelle |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: SINSULL Date: 09 Nov 10 - 10:00 AM AAAARGHHHH! Gained three pounds and have no one to blame but myself. Back to water as a beverage and fruit as a snack. BUT on the bright side, my office is closing for Veteran's Day - not a planned holiday. WHOO WHOO. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 09 Nov 10 - 11:07 AM Started day right despite offers to crazy it up.... many Town errands today, then POOL with STUDY material. Dragged out some boxes from under the keyboard shelf, eeew, dust.... re-making the "keyboard shelf" this week (maybe) to re-purpose the desk I had been using as a shelf because now I need a student's desk and this one has a lift-top and storage areas. Tdy I will treat myself to one book that is better studied opened up flat-- I'm gonna get that ONE rebound so it can lie open. It keys a class I'm taking with the OT studies done to date-- so a lot of cross-noting is timely. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 09 Nov 10 - 11:37 AM Laundry in, including some new socks my son asked for. Part of the care package in preparation. Ironed the cotton archival gloves I've been using to protect my hands some during the day and to keep medicated lotion on for a while at night. Despite the diet and two days of vigorous exercise, it doesn't register as less weight on my scale. I doubt I'm putting on muscle instead of fat, that usual line offered to those of us who are trying to lose weight. But it may take a couple of more days for the low-carb approach to kick in. I have a couple of events this week that will make staying strictly on the diet difficult, but I'll work around those days and try to keep the damage to just one meal eaten elsewhere each day. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 09 Nov 10 - 12:02 PM Happy to PS that wireless up in the attic actually works. Even better in the shared kitchen, but anywhere is enough for "truth in advertising." (Hardi had rearranged the router some time back but tdy was the first time I could actually go up to SEE.) Also very happy to say it's nice and toasty up there, which sez plans are working. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 09 Nov 10 - 08:14 PM Back on track with weight loss, here. Was at work with Rog for a long time this afternoon. Managed to get over 2,000 words added to my novel, despite that I forgot the memory stick. I knew where I'd stopped, so just added. I am officially at 10,771 words. One fifth of the way.:-) Did a load of laundry last night. was at an appt. this morning. Picked up a few things and put them away this evening. That's about it around here for decluttering and exercise. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 09 Nov 10 - 11:52 PM I had to do a major dish cleanup in the kitchen today, and after I emptied the dishpan in the left (deeper) side of the sink I saw that a crack that has been there since I can remember (I installed it in 2002) is now much longer. There is a swirling line that shows up because of a tea stain embedded in it. Soon I must replace this sink. I suspect that the crack occurred when it was first installed, I think a carpenter stepped in the sink when working on mounting a board for an overhead light. Though I thought I'd like porcelain, I've found this sink to be a problem in a number of ways. The high lip, the dribble around it. I'll look at stainless sinks and see if the handyman who works for my next door neighbor sometimes can come do this. (I found one I like at Home Depot - I'll file this in my folder for ongoing projects). Starting Friday it is supposed to get a lot colder here. So I have a few outdoor chores to race through in the next couple of days. Maybe I can take Thursday off to finish some of it. I made a big push last weekend, but there is still more to do. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: SINSULL Date: 10 Nov 10 - 08:48 AM WHOO WHOOOOOOO!Just back from my 3 month exam. For the first time in three years ALL my numbers are right including HbA1c which has been skyrocketing up until recently. Now to add some regular exercise and keep losing weight. In a year's time I could be off my diabetes meds and maybe some of the other crap I am taking. SINS, doing a happy dance. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: maeve Date: 10 Nov 10 - 09:20 AM That's the best news I've read lately, Mary. Thank you for taking care of my good friend. Maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 10 Nov 10 - 11:35 AM That is great news, Mary! I can report that I'm on my diet, eating healthy, and even with the exercise, not dropping any weight so far. Kind of depressing. :-( Box is ready to go to sprout away at college. Goodies packed in with the requested blanket and sock of rice (I found a heavy sock, filled it with rice, stitched about an inch down from the opening, then used some cotton webbing attached as a looping handle. This might be useful to carry or hang the sock, but it'll also keep it from accidentally ending up in in the washer. It goes in the microwave for 2 minutes and is a source of dry heat for headaches and muscle aches.) We have a commercially produced bag here at the house that has been used for years. As long as they don't get wet, they're durable. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: LilyFestre Date: 10 Nov 10 - 02:11 PM YAY SINS!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOO BABY!!!! Now THAT is EXCELLENT news!!!!! My A1C is up a little bit and just yesterday I requested insulin instead of a mix of meds...the glucophage in particular makes me nauseous and so I stopped taking it. Besides that I have MUCH better control with the insulin. Activity for me today includes a Mommy and Me class and we will be going for a walk soon. :) Michelle |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 10 Nov 10 - 02:20 PM ... and I start another new BP med adjustment today. New exercise directives from doc: lift less but more often, walk slow, use scooter, rest more (legs up) while we continue to work on diagnosing cause of BP issues. But not "stop studying and head for an ER admittance." Unless I feel a need. Why I love this doc-- he is unstoppable (but not urgently hysterical) in working towards an accurate cause/effect Dx-- and is partner-oriented, not control-oriented, with intelligent patients. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: SINSULL Date: 10 Nov 10 - 08:09 PM Metformin caused me a month of suffering. Now I am on Glucizine. My blood sugar drops abruptly if I am not careful about meals and snacks. But it is working. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 10 Nov 10 - 08:13 PM I was at work today and got some hiking around in as I trotted across campus to photograph a meeting. And I am back to climbing the stairs to my office (I'm on the sixth floor). I did eat the lunch provided and had two cookies, but otherwise, did very well keeping to the diet despite eating out. I arrived home before dark so I pruned a couple of large limbs off of the vitex in my front yard. This tree is way too many and is so wide and needs to be directed more up than out. I put a small stack of limbs at the drive for trash pickup tomorrow morning, and I'll work on the rest to put out again after the weekend. On my way home I stopped to look at a couple of places to compare prices (sinks, and looking for a cell phone docking station). And stumbled upon some Ott lights in the clearance section at Office Depot. I found their task light (scroll down here past Toni Collette embroidering and you'll see this lamp) on sale for $18. Apparently they're stocking different sorts now, on stands or with extensions. But these tabletop small ones are perfect for sewing, beading, any kind of close work. They are daylight bulbs and normally cost $40. I don't find them on sale often, so I grabbed one for my sewing room (because I moved the sewing one in here for working on eBay stuff) and have one as a gift. Time to winterize, and I'll do as much as I can tomorrow because bad weather is headed our way. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 10 Nov 10 - 09:47 PM Marigold, congratulations!!! That is great news! I took Rog to work at nine this morning, then came home. Did a load of laundry, packaged up two books and sent them out later in the afternoon. Got the house key from my daughter (see good thoughts appreciated thread), did a few phone calls for her and of my own, then picked up Rog at about 1230p and came home. Haven't done much since except go take care of the granddogs. Keeping within my points this week saw me lose a pound, so I am happy. Tried on a coat I didn't wear last winter at all because it felt too tight. Yesterday, I put it on and it felt almost too loose! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 11 Nov 10 - 09:35 AM Goal today is catch up on studies punctuated by laundry back-and-forthing, mini-meals (just made a day's soup), and possibly pool later but main thing is to monitor new meds with a view to increasing over that over the next several days. Pool for the near term is set to be Tues/Thurs/Sun with VERY slow work for maintaining fat-burning musskle-tone. A fairly extreme surgery (not gastric bypass, etc) is in the planning phases to facilitate exercise, but it's a year off probably.... it will involve a lengthy non-ambulatory recovery period which can coincide with continuing studies (and income opportunities being prepared for now). ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 Nov 10 - 10:42 AM We have a low overcast sky and a warm humid day. Feels like the kind of weather that can spawn thunderstorms and tornadoes. But for now it is warm and calm and I'll take it. I took today off to work around here, so I need to use it well. I've been going through the paper on my counter so far, looking at my ad circulars for buying a turkey soon, and seeing what coupons I've received lately that I can actually use. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 Nov 10 - 12:22 PM Cleared table tops this morning, getting ready to make a run with the recycling stuff, then head to the store. I have a couple of very good percent-off coupons that expire soon from places where I regularly shop, so I think now is the time to do some of my holiday shopping. Anything I give will be practical and picked up extremely discounted or at one of the great thrift stores in the area. In the yard, I need to pull hoses out of the beds where they've been all summer, and I need to take the blade off of my mower and sharpen it, to prepare for the mulching that I'll do a couple of times at least. The leaves are just now beginning to pile up. My across the street neighbor has a stone for sharpening, so I'll ask if he can do it or show me how. (When I was a child the next door neighbors had a huge round stone in a cradle that you turned by hand. One person cranked while the other sharpened. It was such a great old fashioned device that I'd love to have here today!) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: LilyFestre Date: 11 Nov 10 - 01:00 PM Today has been full of activity since I got up. Floors swept, dishes done *(by hand because the hot water tank broke and the dishwasher is connected through that line), laundry started, active playtime (guess who can sit up by himself now?), large basket of paperwork sorted and put away, 3 other large baskets of magazines and catalogs gone through and sorted (more than half tossed...catalogs), potatoes peeled for shepard's pie, a few business calls made, hot water tank delivered and am currently taking a break and waiting for the repair man who is coming with (ordered) parts to fix the pellet stove. I have a nice fire going in the woodstove too. Yoga later. Glucose tracking has begun with new insulin and food tracking as well...something I know I should do as it is a big help but haven't done in a long time. Here's to moving forward! Michelle |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: SINSULL Date: 11 Nov 10 - 01:06 PM Tracking is a nuisance but it pays off when planning your meals and snacks. Good luck with it, Lily. My dishwasher died a few months back. Now I hide clean dishes in it instead of dirty. LOL SINS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 Nov 10 - 01:39 PM I rarely use my dishwasher because it is old enough that I have to wash the dishes before I use it or they come out with food on them. Kind of ruins the "labor saving" end of things. I have always drained my clean dishes in the dishwasher. Okay, through backtracking and research I find that the device I was looking at is from an article four years old. That's several generations in modern technology. I did some key word searching and found that the VTech LS6245 DEC 6.0 phone does what the docking device I read about does, but with less cost and no fuss (and I already have a couple of their phones as extensions around the house). I hoped I'd be able to get it with a coupon but Office Depot doesn't carry this one. Fry's is plenty inexpensive anyway, and they have it. Now I need to sort out the phone end of things, to see if I can go ahead and do this. The sun is out, so I really am stepping away from the computer and will go drag hoses. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: SINSULL Date: 11 Nov 10 - 05:23 PM Screw the doctor's test results. I got carded today. Heh heh. All that good living pays off. SINS who thinks they should not allow cashiers on drugs to work but is flattered anyway. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 Nov 10 - 06:20 PM I finished cutting limbs and pruning the vitex out front and there is a pile of branches to go in the trash on Monday and some again on Thursday. They might not pick up any if I put too many out, so I'll pace myself. I could feel a bit of an ache in my arm and shoulder this afternoon since I got my annual flu shot yesterday at work, but this was a great upper-body workout. I did all of the cutting with a bow saw and loppers. I pulled the soaker hose from the west side of the house, out through the canna lilies and through the hibiscus and irises in front. This will make it easier after the first frost when some of these things melt in to mats of fiber. All of that stuff is in the compost now. The dogs have been bathed, and I found a soft swelling under the pit bull's neck. It's like she has a wattle now, like an old lady. It feels very soft, like there is fluid or fat in there. It doesn't hurt her and I think it turned up fairly recently - I take off the wider rather tight collar when I walk them and hadn't noticed it a couple of days ago. I'll watch it for a couple of days and see if it changes or goes away. Anyway, when they're dry I'll put the Revolution on them. I finished my phone research. I'll get the VTech blueray phone to dock the cell phone and can use with cordless phones I already have here. I'll then go down to Radio Shack and buy one of the "Straight Up Prepaid" phones that T-Mobile puts out and put some minutes on it. And every so often I'll see how those minutes are going. I won't use it for lengthy calls, I can swap out my Sprint cell phone into the same system for that (it takes up to 8 devices). This means the cell phone rings all of the phones in the house and they all operate through the cell phone if you pick one up an dial. And it means a few dollars a month for minutes is the only cost for this phone once the base station and the inexpensive T-Moble phone have been put in place. (I hope all of this makes sense to someone other than just me. My goal is to get this phone number away from the bundled cable provider and not have to pay a lot to keep it in service on a very minimal level. The house phone number seems to be what everyone uses to identify me, so I don't want it to go back into circulation with someone else.) I could still change my mind and just use this docking system with the cell phone I already have. I'm mulling it over. Into the shower, and downtown to take photos of a guitar master class at the public library. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 11 Nov 10 - 06:45 PM Sorta, kinda clear as mud, SRS.:-) You're doing better than I. Last night I threw some clothes in to wash, heard a thunk, looked in and felt around, thought it might be one of the dryer balls we use to separate the clothes whilst drying. Got ready to go to bed which is when I put my cell phone on the charger. No cell phone. Finally found it, in the washer..all nice and clean and wet and done in. Sim card was okay, though! Went to our daughter's about 830a, where I let the four dogs out in rotation as two of them want to be alphas at the same time. Said hello to the ferrets and loved up to the cat. Fed and watered the dogs. Left and went to Radio Shack whose clerk advised me to go the a little phone store which could upgrade me for free as I was due for an upgrade. Gee, who knew?:-) Went to the phone store, not open until 10a. Went on to Office Max to return their dual printer cartridges which were mostly dry right after I bought them on the 2nd. Got new ones, then took Rog to work. Went in and read for about an hour, went out to the car, took a nap, then decided to go to the phone store while waiting for Rog. Phone store guy was really nice. I chose one of the free upgrade phones, left and bought some lunch, went back to get Rog and we came home. Sat down with the new phone, hated the screen resolution..it was not as crisp and clear as I like. So...after we ate, we went back to the phone store where I picked out another one which I like better, but still am not convinced I'll keep it. I have 14 days in which to return it. Then we went to Kmart where I returned a small backpack I didn't like. Then home. Now, it is almost time to go do the dogs all over again! Hope I get to write this evening. I have an appt in the AM and Rog will go in to work, again. Don't know when the kids will be back. I"ll post more about that on the other thread. I am sticking to points and getting a lot of walking done! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: maire-aine Date: 11 Nov 10 - 10:33 PM De-cluttered my car today. I'll be going over to Canada next week, so I want everything tidy when I go thru customs. Laundry is all done. Did some grocery shopping-- frozen entrees were on sale, so I stocked up. Maryanne |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 12 Nov 10 - 12:37 AM Maryanne, I've had a huge trash bag of all of my recycling in the pickup for several days. I can imagine forgetting and approaching the border with that stuff! Tomorrow I'm pretty sure the recycle yard will be open. Kat, I understand about the phone. I'm not totally in love with the one I'm using, but it is better than the other ones I didn't love either. :) My next door neighbor's son has her on his family plan, and she had quite an elderly Sprint phone when her purse was stolen a few weeks ago. She paid $50 and Sprint sent her a replacement - an old phone also, not a new one, but I'm sure her son is more than ready for an upgrade on her phone that she could have gotten for free. She didn't want to bother him, but I told her that when she's down in Austin (where he lives with his family) for the holidays, they should make a trip to the Sprint store and get her the upgrade that she's due. And that she could have saved her $50. Now she knows! I'm looking at these phones for a couple of reasons. For a minimum cost (just the phone itself) I can take my number away from the folks who charge me $25 - $30 to keep it in play every month when I don't use it much. Rather than race through the house to find that phone if it rings, I can use a docking station that works with cordless phones I already have around the house. If the power goes out now, my phone doesn't work (I'd have to buy an expensive battery phone from the cable company), but if I have a cell phone for the house, it's like having the old AT&T line that stays alive even if the power is out. The master class was nice, and while I was down at the library I picked up several recorded books. Here's my yard work before and after: If you look at this photo divided in thirds, the area on the right side of the photo where the right and middle thirds meet is more or less where I was working. I took the iris out of that bed, and you can see how full the top of that tree is, drooping way down and filling the area. Here is after, where the outer limbs have been removed and the drooping ones have been pruned. And the iris are no longer in that bed. It's covered with mulch waiting for a few plants. I want plants and trees but I don't want burglars or prowlers hiding out, so I'm making it easier to see through the trees and shrubs. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: mouldy Date: 12 Nov 10 - 08:41 AM You all seem to be doing amazingly well, folks! Well I'm part way through the unpacking....can't find the stereo....have lost the keys to the "annexe", where more stuff is stacked. My main problem is what to do with the mountain of boxes and packing paper. I'm collapsing and stacking boxes wherever possible, and filling others with paper. The domestic recycling here is not as thorough as I am used to - blue wheelie bin for paper, card and plastic bottles; black bin for everything else. They get emptied alternate weeks. The nearest tip is about 15 miles away. I'll have to make sure I take a couple of boxes every time I venture that way! Anyway, on a brighter note - I have been invited to go along to Morris practice on Tues evenings....over the border in Scotland! There's a couple from the village who go. So, the exercise will hopefully increase, I will walk to the village shops and, should I feel inclined, there's WW in the village too, on Mondays! I'll be properly online again in a couple of weeks, all being well, so till then I'll try and get to the cafe in Wooler a couple of times a week. Andrea |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 12 Nov 10 - 11:18 AM General Andrea still on the march! GOGOGOGO! === Car declut/winter car preparedness prep is on for today with a pile of do-together outdoor chores to warp up outdoor winter prep. A trip with the old almost-defunct scooter is planned to research some items and buy a very few; a trip for a new scooter is in the works for after Turkey Day. Bouncy-bouncy, TBTG, despite increased sloth meds! Another increase planned for tmrw tho SOMETHING I am taking (we now realize) has kilt my femollie responses daid. First to determine is if any of them are working, THEN we can adjust brand/variants to get the responses back. Been thinking about one of several ground rules from the recent training I did that applies so well here: each of us is responsible for ourselves. ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 12 Nov 10 - 12:02 PM In the past I've written about the Super-Closet plan here and the theory of flow-directed chores. Today these two notions proved theyseffs in a powerful way-- the dreaded switch to winter clothing/ putaway of summer stuff took FIVE minutes this year, not the all-day effort of past years. ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 12 Nov 10 - 01:37 PM huffpuffhuffpuffhuffpuff -Camper up on blocks for winter. -Dog World policed; ready for spring mowing and summer set-up. -Huge hazardous hole in yard at DW gate filled in and laundry room kitteh litter emptied. -Firewood gathered and on its way to fire ring, to torch with leftover kerosene FCed in. -New yard chairs est. this summer (3 farflung locations) stowed for spring mowing and winter dreaming. -Van dejunked and cleared for scheduled fall boondocking, winter travel, and winter scootering. -Several roomsize rugs re-purposed and flowing towards new purposes. -Work sched with Adrian for Tuesday now possible. -Some firewood a FCer wanted is ready for Ade to shorten to fit her woodstove and load into my van for me to deliver to her next week. A fun stint with Hardi with both of us working hard, huffpuffhuffpuff. ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: maire-aine Date: 12 Nov 10 - 01:55 PM Changed my guitar strings; that's been on my to-do list for months. M |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 12 Nov 10 - 02:06 PM The kitchen is cleaned and swept. Last night I cut up several dozen peppers, seeded, then sliced before freezing on baking sheets, so this morning rounded up the seeds that had scattered. I bagged the peppers I froze last night and will keep cutting them and freezing them this way for the next few days. I use these in things like fajitas - last night I had chicken fajitas that were 1 part chicken, 2 parts peppers, and 1 part onion, on my homemade tortillas. Mmmmm! I was disappointed to learn that a huge number (6,000!) of my credit card points expired on Oct. 31 so I don't have enough now to use for that ticket for my son. I'll have to buy it. That was a year's worth of points that just went away, so I'm just a tad ticked off. They should have put that on the front of the bill right next to the number, not on the bottom of the back page where I didn't think to look. I could have ordered the ticket 2 weeks ago if I'd known. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 12 Nov 10 - 04:28 PM Makes ya wonder who designs those things, eh, SRS? It should have been upfront and really noticeable, esp. as I am sure that is one of their selling points. I've almost given up on getting anything done other than dogs, take Rog in to work, going to my own appts. then repeat in reverse order, plus stop for groceries and the mail. Have done 1-2 loads of laundry every day for a couple of weeks, now. I did pull the stove out today when I noticed some trash behind it which didn't make it into the trash can. Oh, crud! Every time Rog gave the dog a paper plate to lick, I think it went under the stove! I pulled a bunch of stuff out from under and behind it. It felt good to be able to do it all by myself, but it also made me realise just how much has been left needing to be done. Ugh...:-) Mailed off another book requested just today, so that stack is going down, slowly. I also reopened my bookstore at Biblio, so need to get more titles added. I decided not to sweat getting photos of them, but to get inventory up, first and quickly. A lot don't have pix and I can add them later, in one fell swoop, sorta. I did make a bracelet the other day with some of the new beads I ordered. Have the beginnings of a necklace. I would enjoy a day where no one needs me for anything.:-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 12 Nov 10 - 06:18 PM I dug around in the bottom drawer of my secretary and found a bowl of things I'd forgotten about. Various small antique items that had someplace else they should be residing, so I delivered the old beads and decorative pin one place, drawer pulls to another. I still didn't find what I was looking for, though, my previous pair of Rx glasses because I am going to have them put the new lenses in my current frame. The frame was replaced in August when the last one broke, so I might as well re-use it, but I need glasses in the meantime while they put in new lenses. I have a couple of others I can use, but they go back a ways. Today is that weather event I mentioned that works on the transformation from fall to winter. The wind is gusting heavily, circular eddies at times, and the rain has come in waves during the day. Let's knock those leaves down and make sure they're sodden so they stick to everything. I did a lot of work the other day, but I didn't sharpen the mower blade yet, so I need to do that this weekend, because I'll be needing it in a few days. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: LilyFestre Date: 12 Nov 10 - 06:26 PM Today has been a relaxing day. The hot water tank is being installed as I type, the pellet stove is working nicely on this chilly fall evening and soon we hope to be leaving for a block party. :) I've been needing this kind of day. Michelle |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 12 Nov 10 - 06:56 PM Need a chuckle? Short and sweet. :) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 12 Nov 10 - 11:55 PM Very cute, SRS, thanks! I may not be decluttering much, but after not writing on my novel for three days, I sat down tonight and did 3044 words in a couple of hours. Whoo-hoo! I am past the 15,000 mark, which leaves me behind, day-goal-wise by about 5,000.:-) I had to have a diversion from all of the crap which happened today. Too much to go into, but it's all getting sorted out on Monday. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 13 Nov 10 - 01:57 AM It has been a quiet evening, after a late night at work. A glass of wine, the Internet, and me. :-) I have a lot of house cleaning to do tomorrow. It is time to conquer the dust kittens. Time to scrub the tiles, mop the floors. And I think I'll work on the fireplace. I'm going to look for a solid chunk of styrofoam to cut and place inside the lower door on the outside of the chimney where ashes are scooped out of the fireplace. The thing is a bleedin' wind tunnel in winter, cold air gushing through (even with bricks blocking the hole in the hearth where ashes should be pushed through from inside the house.) I'll open the metal outside door on the brick chimney and fit styrofoam in there. And maybe steel wool. That might keep the mice out. I know they visit occasionally, I see their chews on the bag of dog treats that usually sits on the hearth. Grrr. Mice. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 13 Nov 10 - 04:38 PM Got up early, I thought, to let the dogs out. It was 830a! They were hungry and holding their legs together, poor things.:-) The boxers are so infectiously happy, though. They sound like a herd of elephants and are just SO glad to see me. Too cute. After, we came back to the house, had breakfast, then I did a few things around the house. Picked up stuff which needed to be put away. Added some towels to the laundry. I'd cleared the decks for writing, but have been feeling so badly about my Etsy store, I decided first to photo a new bracelet I made...a really simple glass bead on elastic thread, and get it listed. Have done and am now going to go take a quick nap before I slog on; hope to get to 20,000 by tonight. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: LilyFestre Date: 13 Nov 10 - 08:41 PM It's been a long, busy, wonderful week and everyone in this house is exhausted. It's about 8:40pm and I am the only one still awake....not for long. Down half a pound this week. Inch by inch, step by step. Goodnight All. Michelle |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 13 Nov 10 - 11:09 PM G'night, Michelle. I am calling it a day, too, writing-wise. I made it to 18,128 today. Less than 32,000 to go!:-) And, I am sticking to weight watchers points. It's good for me to be busy. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 14 Nov 10 - 01:24 AM I just got home from attending my daughter's play at her university. They put on Eugene O'Neill's one comedy, Oh, Wilderness!, set in 1906 Connecticut, near Yale (in New Haven). And to help her research I had pulled out my Ansonia, Connecticut (just west of New Haven) family photos from 1905, 1906, and 1907, of my great aunts in their high school graduation photos and another one taken of a women's team at school. And one of my grandfather with other young gentlemen from Yale. She also studied how a slip (petticoat) or possibly skirt that I have from that same household was made. Some eyelet lace, and horizontal tucks that make the skirt look fancier. She really did her homework and design - when the curtain opens the stage is dark, then Fourth of July music of a parade comes up, and when the lights turn on there is a tableau - everyone in the play right there, in costume - it was gorgeous and it was like they stepped out of those old family photos! She did such a beautiful job! Apparently some of the male actors didn't like that they had to wear stiff removable collars, like in the photo, but she got it right down to the vest the father was wearing under his suit, and his watch fob! There were petticoats under the women's skirts, and there were all sorts of features that made the blouses all unique, yet they all had that turn-of-the-century feel for each character. Am I gushing? Audience members weren't allowed to take photos, but she tells me she'll get me some that the took in advance of the play opening. I'm looking forward to that! Other than this excitement, I took the plunge on the phones. I looked at the T-Mobile phones with their SIM cards and decided it would be much easier and probably cost about the same in the first year to go to Sprint and have them put my house number into a cell phone. I got one that will come out free after I send in the $50 rebate, and it will be a flat $10 a month to use this. T-Mobile I'd have had to pay upfront on phone and minutes and then I'd end up paying about the same in minutes anyway as I'd pay Sprint. Charter hasn't let the number go yet, so I'll call in the morning and discuss it with them. I'm keeping their Internet service, but I took the phone away because they didn't play nicely. I picked up the base station and for now it is set up so the handset can charge, but until the new cell phone is working, I won't set it up with any other phones. After picking up the base station, I shopped the HP section at Fry's, and I think I found my next computer. If the bonus promised comes through, I'll use that to get this new one in place. That will make my work much easier and faster. And that's enough. I'm winding down after the 45 minute drive home. All of you are probably sound asleep by now. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 14 Nov 10 - 01:31 AM Oops. That's Ah, Wilderness! Tired reporter, here! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 14 Nov 10 - 10:08 AM Yes, SRS, you ARE gushing, which when others have done it some folks have had a problem with, but as for me, I welcome gushing. :~) Whether it's "on topic" is the eyes of some, or not. As a matter of fact I have an item to gush about today myself, TBTG, but for privacy reasons I think this time I will not. But congratulations are involved-- WHOOOOOPPPEEEEEE! ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 14 Nov 10 - 01:41 PM I'm waiting for the phones to switch over. I called Sprint this morning and they said my cable company doesn't have folks who do this on the weekend, and the records show the switch will be completed by Thursday midnight. She said not to call the cable company about the cost of Internet alone until after the switch - if they shut down the phone they'd mess up the change that can only happen with an active phone. I'm looking forward to a couple of simpler bills. I may only save $15 a month, but I'll have less grief. The telecommunications aspect of the bill (lots of state and federal laws are involved) means it can have a lot of slack and the cable company abuses that slack. If any of the rest of you are thinking that you only need a cell phone but would like to use normal phones in the house, look up the VTECH LS6245 Bluetooth Cordless Phone and you'll see what I'm doing. I already own a couple of the cordless phones that work with this. I did a major important backup of my computer hard drive today. Copied the data and documents onto another external hard drive. It was past time to do this. Laundry is in washing, it's a gorgeous cool sunny day out, so though I have to sweep and mop and do some scrubbing, I'll also spend some time in the yard. I have one item to ship tomorrow for eBay; that compact never went past the first bid, which is a disappointment. I'll find something else to list this evening to keep up the momentum. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: LilyFestre Date: 14 Nov 10 - 02:40 PM Laundry, dishes, floors, bedding changed and washed. Another box of sitting STUFF from the music room gone through. Pete bought me some new music to play yesterday so that technically is adding to the pile but it has 2 songs that I love and it came with a CD so I have the entire orchestra backing me through the stereo...love it! On the baby front, I found that my instincts are right on about some people. There has been a woman who has wanted to babysit for us and when she holds our son, I can see she is uncomfortable and nervous with him. I finally had to say (as kindly as possible) that it shows that she is nervous when she holds him (although she is forever asking to hold him) and that makes me nervous and unable to be comfortable with her babysitting him. She agreed and said she probably shouldn't be babysitting children that young as she IS feeling uncomfortable. I have been feeling bad about needing to have that conversation and it has weighed on my heart for awhile now. So....while that is not a physical decluttering, it surely is a decluttering of the mind and has made it easier for me to say no. There is one other person who has asked to hold Jeremiah that we simply do not like, trust or want near our child. Having that in place is like having everything in my kitchen in place...it just feels GOOD. Michelle...because I'm the Mommy and I said so!!! ;) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 14 Nov 10 - 06:27 PM Busy day, a lot of it online. I moved brush to the curb, and I cleaned out the fridge so there will be some tempting trash that I'll put in the metal can, not just a trash bag at the curb. I'm switching my diet this week to a kind of half and half Scarsdale and Dr. Weil. Weil doesn't dictate what you eat each day, he suggests numbers of types of servings per week. So I'll plan my meals around the fruit and veggies I have here, and add the meat and occasional starches or other carbs as I go, and let the Scarsdale schedule suggest which ones. It's more interesting this way, and that helps keep me on the diet. For the past several days I've been looking at computers both in a store I like and online. And I did a lot of the math. Some things are so easy to add into a computer that there's no point buying it from the factory. I see good sales for DVD burners every week, for example, so I'll get the one that comes with the computer and add the extra one later. Computers come with a video card, and the computers I leaned toward had a slower card than I wanted. They're expensive enough that I wouldn't like to spend a lot for a new card and set aside an otherwise perfectly good card. So I upgraded to the card I wanted and it costs less that way in the long run. With this comparison shopping I was able to essentially rebuild the one I liked at the store and for the same price get a couple of good upgrades. The store as a 1Tb hard drive, the online computer has a 750Gb hard drive. I bought a 1Tb hard drive for $69 a few weeks ago, and I'll do that again and add it to the second bay in the computer, use that for the music and scanning I need to do. But it doesn't need to happen right now, I can wait for a sale. I built a version of this. So it's on order, needs to be built, it'll be a while. And that's all I'll say for now. The bonus this year is going to pay for it. I should be able to get a lot more work done and do it a lot faster. As it is now, by the end of the day I'm having to turn off the computer and reboot to get the cache room I need. Laundry is almost finished. I've been poking benedryl down the pit bull three times a day for the allergic reaction and she's looking much better this afternoon. The catahoula is now limping. It's always something! Busy week coming up. How about for the rest of you? SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 14 Nov 10 - 08:58 PM Busy, yes, I have allocated a day that had been a day off to a day of intensive anti-racism work-- office-wise and otherwise. Pool tonite per schedule, 40 minutes muscle work. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: SINSULL Date: 14 Nov 10 - 09:04 PM Go with your instincts, Lily. They will serve you well. Laundry done; bills paid; dishes done; now for some recreation. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: LilyFestre Date: 14 Nov 10 - 10:03 PM The smells of freshly baked bread and a roasted chicken are filling our home at the moment...Mmmmmmmmmmmm....YUM! The week ahead is busy: Monday: Day at home, planning for Thanksgiving, catching up on house stuff, contact publisher Tuesday: Cancer Support Meeting Wednesday: Mommy & Me, Trip to the hospital, grocery shopping and a Coping With Cancer meeting Thursday: Appointment, Ladies Guild Luncheon, Yoga Friday: Catch my breath and catch up with any household chores that need my attention. Oh. And swimming with the baby...I'm excited about that!!! Of course, things are subject to change, but that's how it's looking at the moment. Michelle |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: LilyFestre Date: 14 Nov 10 - 10:17 PM Oops....fogot that on Thursday, there is a Quarter Mania Paddle Auction event for my Relay for Life team that I promised to attend (and bring a few dozen cookies to sell!). :) Michelle |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 14 Nov 10 - 10:28 PM Yes, I've spent a lot of money today. Well spent, especially these tickets. Good thing you can get Southwest tickets for a very reasonable rate if you book a month in advance. Laundry needs to be folded and I have to haul a bunch of equipment to work tomorrow, so I'll get it ready. I have to stuff two more benedryl pills into my pit bull, for her third dose today. Who knew that an animal I have personally seen eat shit will spit out two tiny little pills if I don't get them way down her throat. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 14 Nov 10 - 11:34 PM She won't take them wrapped in soft cheese or something else delectable to her (no shit!)**bg** We went to the store and got dog food for our other grand"children"...they'd run out. We also bought a few things we needed. I hauled it into our daughter's house and then supervised the letting out and the feeding. There are two who vie for alpha female status, so they have to be kept separate. It all works out, but can be exhausting. The kids will probably not be home until Wed. morning, so on it goes, twice a day. The cat and the ferrets are easy, but I feel sorry for all of them. They are lonesome. I carried in a 25lb bag of cat litter then Rog changed the boxes. I have a folding rollup cart to bring the groceries in, up the stairs, then Rog sits in his chair and pulls it behind him to the kitchen nad puts the groceries away. Did another load of laundry...that seems to be a daily thing, right now. We have a lot to do tomorrow, then Rog is supposed to get two wisdom teeth pulled on Tuesday. Might as well pour if it's gonna rain.:-) Oh, and Morgan called just before 8a this morning so we had a nice chat after I told him happy birthday and we talked about what we might do for it when he gets back. I missed him a lot, today. His first birthday we haven't been together. kat |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: LilyFestre Date: 15 Nov 10 - 07:52 AM *sitting back with a huge smile on my face watching the Happy Dance in progress* SRS, I'm SO SO happy for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Will you make any of his favorite meals or do something special while he is home? :) :) :) Michelle |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: SINSULL Date: 15 Nov 10 - 09:04 AM Enjoy, SRS! That is wonderful news. When is Morgan coming home, kat? He must be getting a little antsy unless he has other kids to play with. M |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 15 Nov 10 - 09:06 AM SRS that happy dance in marquee looks like a hul, so I'm hearing Havaiian music. Thanks BTW for squeezing in the Santa thing this year and, in my case, for the Santee you gave me. Reading her wishlist last night was a special glimpse at a special person's life ad it will be an honor to Santa her, TBTG. ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: gnu Date: 15 Nov 10 - 04:48 PM SRS... awwww! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 15 Nov 10 - 06:41 PM You can bet that he's not gushing about going home to visit Mom on his end, he's looking forward to visiting with all of his friends, so we'll give him as much leeway for doing that as possible. I'm just so proud of these two kids, and they're both at that point where they're shaping their own lives, so I'm watching and enjoying it. A lot of running around today - this library inventory stuff isn't complicated, except it requires great attention to detail and lots of little executive decisions as you go. I'll be doing some more of this later in the week; we stopped when my laptop stopped reporting to the mother ship. Took my household recycling over to the depot near me, and they've finally opened the new side of it where they did all sorts of improvements. It looks great, with solar collectors and compactors for the recycling and such. And they've set up a "swap" area, so I dropped off a chair I picked up at the curb a couple of weeks ago. I didn't really want it, but it was too pretty to put in the trash, so it's now where someone else can pick it up. I found some plastic covered plate display pieces in a box. They're a little grimy, so they'll need a good once over with some Formula 409, and then I have a lot of antique plates I can use them with. Shipped an eBay item, and I need to list some more. It's a busy week with a couple of more drives over to the university, and jobs that need to be finished and sent electronically. The good thing about this now is that there is more variety than there has been for a while. Looks like rain, better see if I need to do anything else in the yard. I spent about 30 minutes picking tomatoes, peppers, and okra. I'll cut up and freeze a lot of the peppers tonight. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 15 Nov 10 - 08:14 PM HULA of course is what I meant, SRS. And don't discount the gushing on his end, internally. Ours always tell us later how much they have valued time with us-- they're just too cool to SAY so at the time. === My home office and healthy habits up there really came thru for me today. I got a boatload of work done, including the Craft Segment without which no Home Office day is really complete. The craft project invlved preping a paperback book for rebinding and making a lasting cover; our local office supply crew is kind enought to do this for me when I come across a book in my studies woirth opening flat and kjeeping for a long time. (This one is "Presbytera.") I worried a bit about squeezing in one more subject-area-- the anti-racism work-- but it is so totally within my skills set (and the habits I worked so hard last year to establish) that it fits well. My teams and partners in each area of activity appreciate that I do not work on any one area fulltime, but that I re-appear weekly as their subject's day rotates back up to the top of my desk. And tomorrow Adrian will come finish our attic stairs. The new Lowe's opened just in time for me to run out for a bit to get him some parts he'll need-- I love it when a plan comes together. ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: LilyFestre Date: 15 Nov 10 - 10:24 PM Walking. Walking. Walking. Christmas shopping for the baby (except for stocking goodies) is finished! :) Michelle |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 15 Nov 10 - 10:35 PM I got some walking in, today, too, Michelle.:-) Window-shopping the electronics dept. at Target and i bought some new undies and gloves. Whoo-hoo! Also went to the health food store which is getting huge. They are tripling its size! So, good walks, both places, then I gathered up Rog and came home. Did the dogs this AM and PM. Sins, Morgan may be home tomorrow, after the service at 1p, or Wed. AM depending on road conditions. We had snow when we got up, but it didn't stick. It stuck up where they are in the mtns.:-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: maire-aine Date: 15 Nov 10 - 11:45 PM Raked more leaves. Hopefully, this is just about the end of them. Also started up my snow blower, so I don't have to take it in for services-- saves a few $. That snowfall in Minneapolis over the weekend was just too close. Maryanne |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 16 Nov 10 - 02:35 AM Been on facebook with my son, working out plans for bringing things back from school over the holiday. The dishes can wait until tomorrow. It got so late, as we talked, and with facebook others can start new conversations, so the time has flown. Maryanne, I can't believe it's time for a snow blower already. I still haven't put my lawnmower away for the season yet. The trees are still full of leaves that I'll have to mulch. :) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 16 Nov 10 - 02:50 PM I can't believe there are only 4 weeks left in the semester. So much to finish before the break. Maybe if I set up a list on the fridge to cross off as I finish things I'll be a bit organized. Just over a week to Thanksgiving, so I guess first on the list is getting a bird or planning a ham and making plans. Turkeys are so much work that maybe I'll do a ham for Thanksgiving and save the turkey for when both kids are here. We all love open face hot turkey sandwiches (we could skip the big carving of the bird at the table bit and go straight to the sandwiches with gravy!) so I'll save that work for the maximum family pleasure. It was probably 10 years ago when they first tried one of those sandwiches - my homemade bread, moist slices of turkey, and homemade turkey gravy over the top. It was dinnertime when their dad brought them back from the weekend with him and they were "ewww-ing" and fussing at how awful this thing on my plate looked. I made each one take a taste and I swear they devoured the rest of my sandwich. As with BLTs, these sandwiches are a bit of a family ritual. You can keep your stuffing, we don't need a lot of the extra stuff. But this is sacrosanct, the sandwiches. ☺ SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: LilyFestre Date: 16 Nov 10 - 06:10 PM I'm with you SRS, I love hot turkey sandwiches!!! I'm not big on the stuffing either...I'd much rather have homemade mashed potatoes! YUM! Regular housework today and some extra laundry (rugs, towels, blankets, etc). Dinner tonight is roast chicken, winter squash and parslied potatoes (squash, potatoes and parsley from our garden...parsley is now inside and still going strong). Oatmeal wheat bread is about to be started too. :) Michelle |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 16 Nov 10 - 07:29 PM All the work done to date up in the attic room is really showing itself off now that the stairs are all carpeted. I took my studies (and dog) up there with me while Adrian worked, puttering occasionally on a few little tweaks; it is really looking like someone's very nice slice of heaven. There is one last beige rug to cut up to cover the bare spots around the perimeter on the plank floor (no it is not sand-able and pretty-able), which we can do next time we go up there. ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 17 Nov 10 - 02:37 AM Another late night, digging out papers for my son. Seems the AP classes haven't shown up on his transcript yet. I've had my quota of dust and pencil smears from the box of papers that were once crammed into his bulging backpack. I hope what I dug out and scanned is helpful. Off to bed! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 17 Nov 10 - 10:52 AM Now that my new computer is on order, it seems to exaggerate the slowness of this old one. When I've made the changeover I'll probably stick this one in the living room and use it for guests or for checking the television listings, simple stuff. But it's like waiting for the other shoe to drop as I load programs. It is always a lot of work to get a new machine up and running, everything loaded, but it will be so streamlined once it is all in place. I've been busy with photos, and it gets heavier as the semester progresses. So as soon as that machine gets here, my job will be so much easier. I have to pick up some of the software today, so I'm ready. On another note, a beautiful sideline of this Secret Santa program is the PMs I get from folks with various projects in mind. All I'll say is that I love some of our generous stealth out-of-the-blue-gift-givers. Puts a smile on my face! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 17 Nov 10 - 01:43 PM Budgets, budgets, and more budgets. Another thing I am not fond of being so good at. Oh well! TBTG! The decluts supported THIS as well-- everything I needed was within 5 minutes of where I thought I might have put it. ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 17 Nov 10 - 02:03 PM Dropped Rog off at work, came home to add books to my store, when Morgan called. So, I've got my walking in for the day. After opening your package, SRS, (thank you very much and see your email - he's already drawn several more pictures in it) we went to the music store where he bought himself four new picks, including a thumb pick for his uke and a slide whistle. I have no one to blame but myself, as I pointed them (the slide whistles) out. LOL I also bought him his first real tin whistle which he likes, but it doesn't hold a candle to the slide whistle, at the moment. He's off to home, in a few minutes, then I will go get Rog. Another load of laundry done. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 17 Nov 10 - 10:58 PM I have a new piece of kid art here in my office! Thank you, Morgan! Didn't stay with the diet today, I worked at a reception (but I didn't eat cake, just fruit, spring rolls, and a couple of pot stickers) and I had an early dinner with an acquaintance from work. More non-diet food, but not a lot of it. I did climb the stairs a couple of times. The friend I ate with was mostly his normal self, but when we walked out of the restaurant he asked if I had a few more minutes, and we talked in my truck. He cares for his senior-citizen brother, mentally retarded and high-maintenance. His family is spread around, several other brothers are glad to not have to help. This friend was diagnosed with prostate cancer this week. He doesn't seem to have a lot of information, and needed to tell someone, but doesn't want to talk with any of his former co-workers (he retired this year) or family. I'm not close, and though I like him as a friend, I don't want to be in a relationship. I'll keep an eye on him, and hopefully steer him into a support group. It's chilly out tonight; I have been puttering around the house, doing a few dishes, folding laundry. I'm going to start smelling burning fire wood more often now, but I don't build a fire here. I have some great candles in the fireplace, though. I'll clear off the hearth, a lot of stuff has accumulated there. It's time to start looking into some of the decorating stuff, in particular, the lights I'll put on that limb I put in the pot in the house. I cleared off a table in the kitchen, moving the microwave and the toaster to other surfaces. I'll put the table in the folded down position in the hall for now (with two drop leaves in the down position the table is only 12 or 14 inches deep and about 3 feet wide.) I'd prefer to keep this and get rid of a couple of other pieces that take up space, but those other pieces hold more stuff. So what to do with the stuff? But something I have thought about a lot. I could stack my flat shipping shipping boxes on top of the table I just moved and stack sales items underneath. And move out the hutch--it's a pressboard WalMart piece that I painted to make it look better. It's a thought. I think in addition to putting away folded laundry and cleaning the hearth, I'll go scrub down the tile and tub in the master bath. It's getting cool enough to be hot bath season. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: LilyFestre Date: 18 Nov 10 - 12:33 AM A trip to to grocery stores netted lots of walking. Further, another doctor appointment at a large medical facility added even MORE walking. YAY for movement! When I got home, we decluttered the car and then the countertops. :) Night All. Michelle |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 18 Nov 10 - 10:46 AM The offshoot from yesterday's restaurant meal is that it was a royal experience - I stayed close to the throne room last night. The insides are still feeling a bit tender this morning. Not a great first impression of the place and was what I expect will be my LAST impression of the place. Getting cool out, still clear. Need to pick more peppers in preparation for freezing them, and I'll take some to work with me. I'm watching the tomato crop closely this year, now that I finally have one. Frost is the enemy! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 18 Nov 10 - 01:08 PM Hope you are feeling better now, SRS. Glad you got the picture. He was really funny about the journal. He spent quite a bit of the short time he was here, yesterday, drawing very intently in it. He designed a "hair style" on a smiling head (it has three spikes of hair) and he did a very cute smiling boy's head with detailed ears and a baseball cap on his head. He told me he was getting better because he "joined the art club" at school. It's a loose-knit group of kids who dreamed this up and do things together at recess from what I can gather. Anyway, when he left for home, I asked didn't he want to take the book to show his parents. He told me he wasn't going to take it home until it was "all filled up!" Thanks, again. It was a very perfect and thoughtful gift. Rog got mad this morning, I think he's fed up with not being able to drive because of his foot. He finally gave in and let me drive him, after we took Morgan to school and our daughter to work as her husband had to be at work at 630a and her car is still not working. I will pick Rog up at 1230p. In the meantime, our house looked depressing, so I came home and got busy. Spent about two hours picking up, putting away all kinds of stuff, including crap on the corner of my old office desk where the jewellery-making is done and where the laptop lives; sorting, folding, hanging up and putting away clean laundry from the past two weeks; and, put in another load of laundry. Took some photos, loaded them into the computer, cropped and emailed them and, now I am about to tackle the kitchen table and have one more load of laundry to put away whilst another is drying. I may take a nap this afternoon before picking up my daughter and Morgan.:-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 18 Nov 10 - 01:10 PM And, I did another 3,118 words last night, so the novel is over 23,000; only a few thousand short of the daily goal.:-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Liz the Squeak Date: 18 Nov 10 - 03:50 PM I see my posting of last weekend got decluttered - I'm still alive, still raging against the machine and still in the process of decluttering the computer room. There is now space for most of a bed and an awful lot of garbage has gone out. That's about it really.... more of the same. Oh, I have nearly finished the yellow and green quilt, which is good because the friend it is for is in some deep organic fertilizer and needs something positive... good thoughts would be appreciated, especially on the 29th when the results of some nasty tests come through. LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 18 Nov 10 - 05:42 PM Good to hear from you Liz, sorry your last post didn't stick. I'm amazed at all of the sewing you do. Kat, I'm sure the cabin-fever aspect of the cast/boot arrangement is not unexpected by either of you, but it is still something you have to deal with. On the other hand, when he does finally get to go out without the boot, it will feel sooo good! I was so tired today when I was over at work that I had to take a nap when I came in. Now I'll work this evening to make up for that nap, but it was worth it. I think it is a combination of allergies and still being a little tender from last night. I have to clean out my home office area. It seems only right if a new computer is being installed. I may save that for after Thanksgiving, though, when I have a couple of extra days off for puttering. Before that, I have to clean up the house for company and have to figure out what the menu will be and pick up the ingredients. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 18 Nov 10 - 07:44 PM post fr fone nyah nyah ~s |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 18 Nov 10 - 11:46 PM Is this Susan's alter-ego posting from a phone, or has her ID been usurped? I post picture mail to TwitPic from my phone, but it doesn't go anywhere else on the web, like Mudcat (I'm not willing to pay for the data charges on the phone if I used it for anything more than picture mail). I went out to shop this evening, and my first (and only) stop was the gas station. When I was almost there, the gut wrench of the food poisoning from yesterday hit me again. I was able to fill up the tank, and the gut relaxed, so I pointed the truck toward the grocery store, but about half-way there had another spasm of discomfort and decided that I didn't need the good yogurt and the tile cleaner that badly, so headed back to the house. Since having a few more hits this evening (eat food after a shot of food poisoning and it seems nothing is happy going through for a while) I removed the take-away menu from that Latin Fusion restaurant from my notebook and tossed it. And tweeted my displeasure. I think they didn't have the empanadas (empanadillas when made by my mother-in-law are more involved, larger, and were much more delicious) chilled properly before heating to bring to us. I hope my friend didn't get sick also. A cancer diagnosis is bad enough, but food poisoning on top of it - talk about adding insult to injury! Kat, I really do like that picture of Morgan's. I think he got your hair just perfectly, and his is as straight as I remember seeing in your photos. His minimalist art is great! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 19 Nov 10 - 12:06 AM Thanks, Maggie. I'll have to scan a couple more for you to see. I was going to ask him about my hair as all the perm has been gone for awhile now. I was surprised he must remember it being curly. I've got the laundry folded and ready to put away. Picked up Morgan and had a bit of fun with him, then we dropped him off and went to the grocery store. Rog is going back to work, sedentary work, full-time on Monday with my driving him until he sees the doc on the 6th for an okay, we hope, to drive. You're right, SRS, we are both very frustrated esp. as he hasn't been been paid anything since just after he hurt it. Just today the Worker's Comp guy seems to have it figured out (corporate seems to have "miscommunicated.") We've been both extremely stressed over that along with the kids being away, caring for granddogs and extra taxi service for our dau. At least next week, he will have two days off for the holiday. I took some photos today of things I was going to put in my Etsy store including a lone napkin ring made of "Fine China" from Japan with a flat bottom and a pink rose with leaves on top. Found a set of 4 on ebay at $7.99, so figured mine should only be priced at $2. Not really worth it anyway. But, while I was thinking of creative way to suggest folks could use it, I decided I may keep it. I can put rubber cement on the flat bottom, attach it to the wall and use it for a spray of dried flowers, or a fav. scarf pulled through and draped over part-way to grab on the way out the door, or even hang a fav. necklace around the rose. I didn't want to put it up that way in case I decided to sell it, but I did take some pix with dried roses I had from Mother's day and I think it looks kind of pretty. I just tried to upload a photo to myopera and had trouble as it is bedtime, I'll try to add it tomorrow for you all to see. G'night! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 19 Nov 10 - 09:07 AM SRS, that was me on a new toy Hardi brought home ydy. Cannot believe it goes to MUDCAT! ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 19 Nov 10 - 11:29 AM Mystery solved! I've been on the phone to track down graduation photos of my son. We realized that neither parent received a proof and the offer to buy the shot on stage when they get the handshake and diploma. I got the company name, his sister is in their system, but he isn't. Chances are he's the victim of a typo, so we need to have their clerk (who is in later today) go through and look, or I'll go look at the proofs and point him out. It would be a great holiday gift (I think I gave Moonglow's grad photo as a gift four years ago). It's a lovely cold day, down to about 40 last night. Late next week it looks like a freeze is predicted, so this weekend may be the last hurrah for much of the garden. And it means I'll liberally clutter my freezer with peppers. I'll give green tomatoes to my friend or neighbor who make relish. (I found a recipe for green tomato mincemeat and sent it to the canning friend. He said he doesn't like mincemeat and that it is way too strong for him. I'll take his word on it and not fool with that. Green tomato relish is wonderful and that's good enough for me!) I just called that neighbor, she may not be able to make it this year, but we talked gardening and I have a couple of other things she can use. For a source of estrogen or the estrogen effect, she apparently orders chaste berries, the seeds on the purple chaste tree (also called vitex, and I have several in the yard). I'm going to go pull the berries off the ones in a stack next to the drive before I put them at the curb for the trash. They should be nice and dry after a couple of weeks off of the main plant. Last summer I gave her one of these plants, and I remember now that is why she wanted it. Planning to shop for a ham and try to finish my Thanksgiving shopping early in the week next week so I don't have to fight the crowds. I'll also go through the xmas stuff and find enough good sets of lights to use to wrap the limb in the pot. I will post a photo of that, once I get a good background for it. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 19 Nov 10 - 01:50 PM Here is a picture of the NAPKIN RING as a dried flower holder. Michelle, you have been such an inspiration throughout the past year. I know I need to get out of the house more and, now, that Rog is going back to work full-time and I will be driving him, at least for a few more weeks, I got really brave, for my frame of mind right now, and called around for yoga classes for a really out-of-shape etc., etc. person. I found a wonderful teacher and center with a special flat rate per month for one year. I can check out any class for free for a week, which I will do after Thanksgiving. Thank you, Michelle, for your example of courage and perseverance. I came home this morning determined to find some things to list on ebay which might actually be worth something. I have to do some research, but I did pull out two rings, a necklace and a charm, all 14-24k gold. Now to do some checking on sales of like pieces. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 19 Nov 10 - 02:29 PM Good work, Kat! And good idea about finding more eBay items. The bill from the cable company came - it has gone up another $12 after going up $7 last summer. Geez, Louise, but I'm ready to dump these folks. AT&T is taking their sweet time getting set up in the neighborhood. They also delayed on letting go of the house phone number; assuming Sprint has all of the info now, it'll happen on Tuesday. Good riddance! My computer is going to be delayed a week in shipping, but I don't want to cancel the order because the next-best, the one in the store, doesn't have the things I want for the price I'm getting them. I will have to be patient. The heat is on more these days, so one thing I will do this weekend is block the lower end of the vent into the fire place. It's the door outside where ash is emptied, but it always lets heat in during summer and cold in in winter. Time to cut a chunk of styrofoam to block it. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: LilyFestre Date: 19 Nov 10 - 03:31 PM Kat, WOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! I am SO excited for you!!! I hope that your body feels as good after the class as mine does!!! Always remember that yoga is not about the pose or looking all Yoga Journalish...it's about moving your body, finding YOUR edge and breathing even if the person next to you is bending herself into an impossible bind....do what YOU can do and what feels good to YOU!!! *HAPPY DANCE!!* You'll have to let me know how it goes! When do you start? I took Jeremiah to the pool today....his first time ever in a swimming pool. I was a little apprehensive because he screams if the water is cold but the pool was a beautiful temperature and HE LOVED IT!! I LOVED IT!!! My good girlfriend (who I haven't had enough time with lately) invited us to go and now we have a standing invitation! I am SO happy about this and had SO MUCH fun today that I can't even begin to explain. My mom even stopped down and took photos and videos....our little boy is a fish...kicking and splashing away with a HUGE smile on his face. He was looking at everything today....looking all around and taking it in. He amazes me each and every day. *happy sigh* My nana says, "You're a goner.* LOL She's right. I love that little boy...oh my!!!! On the decluttering scene, I did the dishes and cleared up the table next to my chair. Not much but hey....we went swimming!!!!!! :) An utterly content and happy, Michelle |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 19 Nov 10 - 05:29 PM While flipping channels today I got some display ideas for all of the oddball antiques around here. Will mull it over and report of I try any of them. The weekend before Thanksgiving. I think for most of us that means housecleaning, shopping, etc. I look forward to hearing about people's plans. The typewriter I have listed on eBay now looks like it will go down again without a bid, so that will be donated this weekend to get that big box out of the house. And the large outer box from the Container Store will be untaped and put back behind the cabinet again, opening up a lot of floor space. I'll watch some NetFlix DVDs to send them back, finally. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 19 Nov 10 - 09:58 PM I'm ready for the holidays. I shopped this evening when there were few people in the store. I had to buy $20 of other stuff to get my turkey at the low price, and I did that with things that I needed that I normally buy at that store. I hate being stuck in stores full of people and long, tedious lines. That doesn't mean I avoided all discord this evening, however. I was in my regular little store picking up the last few things I needed, and I walked to the checkout where only one clerk was working, and there was a cart in front of the register but the shopper had walked away. Nowhere in sight for several minutes, and we were all waiting for the clerk to say something or ask one of us to go ahead, but she didn't. A little woman came back with her box of 'Nilla cookies and proceeded to go through the longest, drawn out purchase, and bagged her groceries there at the register (this is a store where you move your cart away from the register and bag them yourself.) I finally mentioned that the way she was shopping rather defeated the way the store functions. She was quite snotty when she said she was waiting for the money to clear, and she ended up paying with three different cards and cash. I wouldn't have minded if she hadn't made several of us wait for her to begin with, so I wasn't about to apologize to this twit. One day someone will point out how selfish she is and maybe she'll understand why those of us in line were more than a little stony-faced as she finally moved away from the register. Busy weekend! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: LilyFestre Date: 19 Nov 10 - 10:07 PM I am looking forward to Pete's Staycation, starting NOW!!! He has several days off....that's the first time since my surgery back in January! We have a list of things to be done...the first on the list, if the weather cooperates is a hoop house...we'll be building a 8x16 foot hoop house for growing cold crops. We work so well together as a team that I'm excited about getting out there with the hammer, shovels and stuff! Also in the works for this week is getting the island for the kitchen all measured out and ordered. It takes 6 to 8 weeks to get here...just in time for his Christmas break. I'll be posting photos soon. In the meantime, I am tuckered right to my bones from today's swimming adventures...an hour and a half of nonstop fun with the baby! I have photos of that as well...soon! Michelle |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 19 Nov 10 - 10:09 PM I'd love a hoop house. How do they hold up in heavy weather? SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: LilyFestre Date: 20 Nov 10 - 08:42 AM About the hoop house...I'm not sure how it will hold up in harsh weather...we're looking at this as an experiment. Here ordered special plastic (made for such a thing) and we'll be using 2x6s for the base and the frame will be made of PVC (schedule 40 which is flexible and strong). Then it will be anchored down probably in 8 spots vs each corner as we live on a mountain top and get hellacious winds from time to time (one time we were sitting on the front porch and we watched as the wind picked up my 50 pound kayak, spun it around and dropped it back down to the ground). So...the plan will be to get it built, let it sit for a few days for the inside temperature to rise and then put some of the seedlings out for a test run. Meanwhile, we have flats of little cold crop veggies growing in our living room!! :) Michelle |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 20 Nov 10 - 11:59 AM Keep us posted on this, Michelle, and it's interesting enough to many people over time that you might start a dedicated thread for it. On the diet and accountability portion of the post, I'll report that this morning I made a banana and frozen strawberry smoothie, this time with plain yogurt, not the little flavored and Splenda sweetened cups that have a lot of other ingredients beyond the milk and culture. I used a teaspoon or so of local honey to sweeten it, and it was very good, better than the other way. And healthier, so I'll stick with this method because there are some good cooking things I can do with plain yogurt that I can't do with vanilla or cherry, etc. Need to get busy around here today, so I'll report decluttering after the fact. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 20 Nov 10 - 12:02 PM Picked up a cheap piece of lumberjack-looking fabric ydy to stage a hunters' photo for the attic room. That means a fun trip up there for memories and a few tweaks. I think I will put a marketing binder up there and do all the planning for next year's guests in there-- make THAT the workspace to plan for its use. (The other officey-spaces are too crowded with immediate-present work/study projects!) And maybe that is the place to hold our new joint financial planning meetings-- lot of good memories up there for the right atmosphere. ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 20 Nov 10 - 06:46 PM SRS, a dried fig or two makes for a really sweet, yummy smoothie with whatever else you add to it, strawberries, or blueberries like I use. Blueberries have all kinds of healthful qualities, too. We went to the store this morning. Managed to get all we need for the holiday for whomever is in town and wants to come over. We have not had a paycheck in three weeks due to a screw-up in the corporate office of the parent company which Rog works for and Workers Comp. The only one who has tried to get it fixed is the WC guy. The company has so many right hands and left hands who don't know what the other is doing it isn't even funny. Anyway, they said they were supposed to make a direct deposit either Thur. or Fri night. As of now, nada. There may be some fireworks in western Colorado come Monday morning. It certainly makes for interesting times...too much stress for both of us. In the meantime, it has been a good day! We managed all right this morning. I have a load of laundry in. And, Morgan came over this afternoon. He and I "noveled" together, he on my laptop beside me as we both wrote on our nanowrimo novels. A high, reasonable, suggested word count goal for a first grader is 300. He is at 158, though his read more like short stories, I don't care. There are no "rules" per se. I am pleased as punch he is writing and even did some dialogue today. I have finally almost made it to the halfway point, though that means I am still about 5,000 behind. I figure if I can keep the blues away, I'll be able to catch up this coming week when Rog is back at work. I am really have fun with it. Morgan also got down on his hands and knees, bless his heart, and used cleaning wipes in the corners of the bathroom floor. The mop just doesn't do a good job and the whole floor, about 3' X 5' was really dirty; I haven't had the energy to tackle it. He loves doing that kind of cleaning! He even scrubbed along the lower part of the wall. He got paid for that job which we negotiated before he started. Then we went outside. He wanted to hammer so I set him to looking for loose nails in the picket fence. Then, I told him to come in the house to find a couple of screws, a screwdriver and a metal hanger. The fence post right by the gate has been wedged apart from the fence for ages. It needs a big bolt put through it, but, in the meantime, to keep the fence from falling over, I showed him how to wire the hanger around it, then we got a tough stick and put it in between the fence post and wire and began to twist until it was tight, like a tourniquet. He thought that was pretty slick. It was so cute, he had on some adult safety goggles. Then I showed him where we needed to put the screws in the gate latch. It had lost two and was swinging down so it never gets latched. Not a problem, most of the time, but when the wind blows it bangs away. So, he set the screws in the old holes and darned if he didn't get them in just as tight as could be. I only had to turn them a couple of turns to get them finished. SO! After a year or more of that nagging little problem, the two of us fixed it while Rog rested on the couch with his foot up! We both had a great sense of accomplishment. We then came in and played around on youtube for a bit, then he went home. We're about to settle down to watch the third instalment of The Aristocrats from netflix. It's a BBC production; quite good. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 20 Nov 10 - 09:17 PM Isn't it nice when you can get those kinds of chores out of the way? That gate will look new to you for weeks now. Took bags of paper and plastic recycling down to city hall, where they have expanded our village program. I usually take it to Fort Worth's program, but this is a bit closer. These were the grocery bags that built up in a corner in the laundry room, but it is reduced to a reasonable number and I've moved an extra box and a couple of bundles of paper bags out of there also. And done a load of laundry. Making room in the fridge tonight. I'll cut up and freeze several bags and bowls of peppers and consolidate a few things. This will make it much easier on Thanksgiving. I took about a pound of the berries off of my purple chaste (vitex) tree up to the neighbor who has been buying these to make into some kind of potable tincture for an estrogen replacement. She's going to see if she can use these (and last summer I gave her one of my potted vitex volunteers, but it isn't big enough to produce many berries yet. It is beautiful out in her yard, though.) I also took her some peppers, herbs, and tomatoes. I'm working on the kitchen and getting the living and dining areas cleared in advance of Thanksgiving. Nothing on to watch, so I'll put in my NetFlix movies that have been here forever. Accountability-wise, the dogs and I went for a walk this evening. It was very pretty out, and there were lots of premium squashed acorns on the road for the dogs to munch. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 21 Nov 10 - 03:19 AM It's late, I'm headed to bed in a couple of minutes. I came in to turn off the computer, so will report first. I was on my feet for quite a while in the kitchen, cutting up and blanching pablano peppers. I have a recipe I like, and they will be cooked however they're used, so I chose to trim stems, seed, and cut in half these small (3-4") peppers before blanching for 3-4 minutes before freezing. This has removed a couple of containers from the fridge. I cooked a chicken breast (froze the rest of the skinnless boneless pack) and a small casserole dish of the pepper/cheese/relleno casserole for the next couple of days. But I was able to move quite a few bulky things out of the fridge. The dishes have also been washed and the containers are air drying now in the dishwasher. I swept several rooms and cleaned out the antique 3-legged hanging fireplace pot that used to hold cat toys. Now they're in a bag in the pantry and the pot will be re-purposed. Another load of laundry has finished so it will go in the dryer before I head to bed. Today I cleaned the burners and the stove top and rearranged the freezer a bit. It's beginning to look at lot like the holidays in my kitchen. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 21 Nov 10 - 11:37 AM Bagged up three trays of frozen stuff. I have a full gallon bag of blanched pablano peppers, and today I'll be cleaning and slicing green bell peppers and sweet yellow banana peppers. I also need to organize my side-by-side freezer so I'm not always opening the big one. It gets iced up because it isn't frost-free. I rearranged the kitchen yesterday after moving one table out, and it really opened up the view into the living room. If I put in the shelves I was speculating about a few weeks back I'll be sure to keep them low enough if they go on the living room side that I can see past. I have the television in the living room on a lower table now so the bookshelves were blocking the view. I'd rather watch the one TV from the kitchen than buy another TV just for when I'm working in the kitchen. More yellowed antique linens of various sorts are beginning the soak in water for a few days process. If the typewriter on eBay doesn't sell today I'll take it down to Goodwill, and clear up some floor space. I have to be ruthless with some of these things, and am still preferring to donate or sell on eBay than run a garage sale. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 21 Nov 10 - 12:17 PM A deal has been struck that pending another use of the Attic Room (hereinafter known as The Recovery Room), it shall be the site of regularly-scheduled Power Finance work, which will be neatly housed in a portable file box I already have that will go up there tonight in conjunction with some window-caulking, decor work, and staging photography..... before the evening's pool visit, which will make a nice butt-building exercise for two. To explore: whose new phone makes the better calculator. And I'm getting rid of the fone internet-- eeew. (Keeping the texting feature, maybe, for work). With a little added motivation all the way around-- our good friend (and our Diocese's lead Anti-Racism trainer) Arnold reports he recently had a heart attack. He and his wife are our age. ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 21 Nov 10 - 12:25 PM I managed over 3,000 words in two hours last night, using the autosave throughout. I went away form the computer for a few minutes, looked over and saw the blue screen of "Oh no!" I had about half of my past-the-midway-word-count novel saved on a stick, but had not copied the rest in the past couple of days because the usb port is hard to reach. You can see this coming, can't you? Long story short - we went to bed we me feeling sick at losing about 13,000 words and Rog assuring me we'd do all kinds of things in the morning to rescue my novel. Got up this morning, moved everything out of his way. He vacuumed it out, first, then removed the video driver. THAT was the culprit. Rog is my hero, again! I am back up and running. My external HD is plugged in, usb-ported and I am backing up everything as I type. I had been unplugging the external because it feels too hot to me, sometimes, and I don't like the risk of fire plus there's no need for it to be on all of the time AND it was also hard to get to. I am redoing my whole set up for easier access to everything! Thanks goodness I am back in business. I will be doing that and have done another load of laundry. As for exercise...whatever I do around the house will have to suffice. I feel frazzled and uneasy until we get the pay thing settled with Rog's company etc. I will keep focussing on writing to keep my mind occupied. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 21 Nov 10 - 01:09 PM If you were using auto backup, did you find your lost 13,000 words in a saved file? That's what happens if you have Word set up that way. The next time you open the program, it presents you with the auto-saved version and asks if you want to save it. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 21 Nov 10 - 04:03 PM The whole thing was there, SRS, the trouble was we couldn't even get the PC to reboot. F2, F10, CTRL F8, nothing worked. So, we finally shut it down for the night, not knowing if we'd be able to recover anything. I am glad Rog knows what he is doing and was able to figure out it was the video card. I have rearranged it all, with Morgan's help. I had the The HD now sits on a low step stool, wooden, beside me under the window, kind of, with the printer on top of it. The CD drive, USB ports, etc. are within easy reach. This allowed me to bring the tape player and scanner up closer to the front of the typing table, so they are now easier to reach. We also put a low, wire mesh shelf, free-standing on the floor beside the HD on which I have a box of CDs which need to be uploaded onto the external HD which also sits on that low shelf, along with the thing I put the camera stick in to upload photos. The clutter from on top of my desk was gone through and organised better. It now all sits within an antique copper tray which gives it a more uniform, less-cluttered look. It holds a cup of pens, pencils, and scissors; a tape dispenser, a small vintage plant pot with paper clips in it, a neat little memo paper holder my daughter made , kind of like a napkin holder in which I have scrap memo paper, my pick comb for my hair as I comb it out at my desk after washing it, and a small 6" ruler. I also have a neat keepsake box my sister sent me from Alaska in which I keep a few things. Now, if I want to "clear the decks" all I have to do is pick up the tray and whisk it away!:-) The only other things on the top of my desk, now, are a small speaker, my date book which is always open to the current week, with a pen for making notes in it, and a small standing ceramic teddy bear with a big purple bow and he's holding a purple heart which has Morgan's smiling face looking out from the picture it frames. He gave it to me for Christmas last year, from the "store" they had at school. I have not written, yet, today, but I am not worried about it. I think I will watch something on netflix to occupy my mind and relax a little bit. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 21 Nov 10 - 05:03 PM My kitchen counter is looking wonderfully clear, the only things on it now are the microwave against the wall (moved it here from a table so I could take the table out), and my pan and stuff for slicing green bell peppers from the garden. A large baking pan just went in the freezer. My computer desk contents doesn't fit tidily into anything, and the equipment attached to my computer are spread out over three or four levels and surfaces. The back of the desk has a colossal collection of cables and electric plugs and extra USB ports. Printer, scanner, speakers, two protected power supplies, two external hard drives (one for backup, one for recorded books and movies), at least three cables (camera, phone, mp3 player) and I'm sure there is more. When this new computer arrives I think I'll move a television out of the room, the CPU has a TV receiver. At first when I was looking at the options I could add, it seemed silly to have a tv in the computer, but then I realized that with it would come software and the ability to record, edit, burn to DVD. And I have been needing to plug my VCR into the computer to do just that with old family stuff and programs that never came to DVD. I have a device that can work with an older computer and XP, but Win7 doesn't play nicely with a lot of older software and devices. I also have a stainless steel ruler the size of a small sword - 24" plus the handle. It's inch and cm on one side, but the other side, the agate and picas side, is why I use it. I work with InDesign and printing presses still use those measures much of the time. Back to the kitchen. I reorganized my side-by-side freezer in conjunction with the veggie processing, and found a few things that can go back over in the big one because they're not needed often. There should be room to freeze a couple of smaller trays of some of the red peppers (still bell, but they're red, and I'll keep them separate to use as accents). SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 21 Nov 10 - 06:06 PM I forgot to mention on the right-hand side of my desk, there is a small baby blanket, blue, pink and white, which I crocheted years ago which my Siamese cat loves. He keeps me company most of the time I am on here.:-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 21 Nov 10 - 08:33 PM Did pool all 3 scheduled days this week despite new meds inhibiting effects. Another week to go at this dosage, and then up she goes. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 22 Nov 10 - 11:57 AM Andrea just posted on facebook, so hopefully she's working on a long newsy account for us here all about the house and getting moved in. I had a stack of papers on the kitchen counter that needed attention - calls to make for address changes, reviewing accounts, etc. and that's almost finished. It was a smallish pile of paper and once it is finished, the counter will be clear of clutter. I'll pick up a ham for Thanksgiving today, and I think I have most everything else I need. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: mouldy Date: 22 Nov 10 - 12:23 PM Yep, I'm back, folks! Had a joiner round today, and the annexe is now open. Stereo has been found. I have ordered up a new (stable) door for it, and a repair on the rotten wooden step. The later addition of beading on the plate rack (to stop plates falling, I guess) has been removed, and my Staffordshire flat-back figures are going up. He is coming back on Thursday to remodel some shelves so that the TV will fit on them, and I can get more books on. Found out a bit more about the house: I don't know when it was built exactly, but there's a date of 1752 carved in a lintel above a blocked up doorway in my coal shed. The village was all part of the Belford estate, and in 1820, the new squire decided on a programme of upgrading and smartening up of quite a lot of the properties. This will be why mine appears "Georgian", with a dressed stone front! They were to be occupied by the higher level estate workers. The deeds will only probably go back to 1923, when the hall was sold and the estate was broken up. The walls are nearly 2 feet thick in places! The back bedroom floor has a bit of a slope. That was probably what the surveyor meant by "settlement"! I had to fit a net curtain on the bathroom window, which isn't frosted, and which is at a low level, right next to the pan! The house next along the terrace has not been modernised. It's fascinating - and a bit squalid - inhabited by a sweet old couple. I was shown round. They have taken the meaning of clutter to a whole new level! They can't live in the living room because of the bookcases 2 or 3 deep, old dressers, chests, piles of stuff etc. The same goes for the front bedroom. The other rooms have a bit more room for manoeuvre. They have no heating apart from the range in the back room. There are no carpets to speak of, and what wallpaper there is barely clings on! He is building an interior door half way down the hall to stop the draughts. It's taking a while, but he is going to make a lovely careful job of it. It was so interesting to see the little differences in the layout of the two houses upstairs. Rambled on enough now. Andrea - who is still unpacking, but about three quarters through it! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 22 Nov 10 - 04:44 PM Fascinating! Maybe the de-clutter bug will spread. :) Made a quick trip to the post office then was going to go get my ham for Thursday. The truck did a funny little noise in the garage when I started it, and it was more pronounced when I started it again at the post office. So I drove straight to Sears without stopping again. It's warm today, and I had the bad battery warning under relatively civilized conditions. They replaced it, prorating about 25% of the original cost, and I'm set for the cold weather later in the week (that would have killed this battery dead, that's why I acted today.) I have my ham, and I picked up 2 cases (4 bottles each) of the sparkling Martinelli cider that we love for the holidays. I'm moving living room furniture tonight, and working on getting those boxes of playbills out of here. And I'm sincerely thinking about turning over 2 antique tables I use a lot and taking off those hard antique little wheels that make them wobble all of the time. I could add sliders then for moving and not have the wiggle problem any time someone cuts their meat. :) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: maire-aine Date: 22 Nov 10 - 08:21 PM Not cooking this Thanksgiving, but having dinner with my cousin & her husband; they live about an hour away. We're going to a restaurant near them, which is fine with me. But I will probably make some stuffing & mashed potatoes over the weekend, just for myself. I've been trying to be careful with my carbs, and mostly succeeded, but it isn't showing up on the scale yet. All the laundry is caught up-- even the canvas bags I use for grocery shopping. Saw "Harry Potter" this afternoon; discount before 4pm. Andrea, I can't wait to see pictures of the "new" house. Maryanne |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 22 Nov 10 - 11:36 PM We're cooking, for ourselves and my brother. Don't know if the kids will be in town or not. Gary's mom is really sad and lonely with his dad having just passed and her b-day is the 29th, so they may go back up. I'd love to have them, since we haven't had a b-day party for Morgan down here. If they stay I will put b-day candles in the pumpkin pie for him as he'd asked me to make him a pie for his birthday, anyway. I'll probably do it, anyway, when they come back, if they go. We do have to do a regular grocery run, tomorrow after Rog gets out of work. I took him this morning, went to my doc's for a regular blood test, came home and did two loads of laundry, did some other stuff on the computer, then picked up Morgan for a quick forty minutes before time to go get Rog at 5p. Tomorrow morning we will pick up our dau. and Morgan, take him to school, her to work, then Rog to work, then I get to treat myself to an osteopathic manipulation by my girlfriend who is back to doing adjustments!! Can hardly wait to see her and get the treatment. Then I have to hurry home to meet a delivery guy, then the rest of the day is mine, until time to pick up Morgan, then Rog. I have managed to get past 27,000 words on the novel. I am enjoying this one so much, but I know I will probably be a hermit this weekend in order to reach the goal of 50,000. Morgan is at 195 words with a goal of 300 and it is really fun to watch him tap away on my laptop. My weigh in isn't until Wed. when I get up, but I checked tonight and it looks as though this past week will have been a good one. I hope it's not just because of the stress. We finally are getting a paycheck, tomorrow! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 23 Nov 10 - 12:30 AM You're doing great work on that novel, Kat! Such discipline! I got exercise this evening by moving furniture around. The dining table is against a different wall, the things that were on that wall moved over, and a couple of things moved completely across the room. It'll need more tweaking, but this should allow the easy movement of a couple of things to make a lot of room for expanding the table for lots of people. I'm not trying to diet or follow a particular plan, but I'm keeping portion small and avoiding the sweets altogether. I'll have pie on Thanksgiving, but limit it to that. Dieting this time of year is difficult, I'll settle for a slight weight loss or just not gaining any back. Maryanne, I've heard about some wonderful spreads available in restaurants for Thanksgiving dinner. When I was a teen my parents divorced, so the holiday meal that was difficult was xmas eve with Dad. No place had much of anything to choose from, and we had an awful meal out the first year, then as the oldest (at 15) I insisted we cook something at his house, and thus began the tradition of the baked salmon for xmas eve dinner. He'd buy a fresh fish from one of the reservation fishermen and I'd bake it. He never managed a very big tree, but it got better every year. For me, the meal is the most important part of these end of the year holidays. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: mouldy Date: 23 Nov 10 - 02:50 AM There is a WW group in the village. I will go if I can't get a grip once I've properly settled. I have taken some pics of the house - I must try and get them onto Flikr. There are still photos from August on the camera. I really am very lax! I haven't had the scales out yet, but I saw myself in a 3 way mirror at Marks and Spencer.... not a pretty sight! Andrea |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 23 Nov 10 - 04:35 AM Andrea, thanks for the updates and history bits. GO GENERAL ANDREA! ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: LilyFestre Date: 23 Nov 10 - 11:05 AM I emptied out the fridge this morning, cleaned all shelves and drawers, and did some major rearranging. There are now 2 turkeys in our fridge, one to cook later today for freezing meat and soup for during the winter and the other for Thanksgiving day. :) I am most thankful. Michelle |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: mouldy Date: 23 Nov 10 - 12:41 PM I found the scales this morning. They are telling me I've lost a stone....I DON'T THINK SO! I'll hop onto them again tomorrow and see if it was a fluke. After 3 chocolate bars today, we'll see! Andrea |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: maeve Date: 23 Nov 10 - 12:49 PM Have a joyful and peaceful Thanksgiving. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 23 Nov 10 - 12:52 PM As a kid I never realized how much work went into Thanksgiving; I grumbled that I had to help by cutting up all of the veggies for the stuffing. Now I'm so glad that Mom had us help that way, because I feel the continuity between the generations, as I have my children each do their tasks on Thanksgiving. My son won't be here this year, so hopefully Moonglow will be here early enough to make the rolls. In light of day I can see a few more things to shift in the living room, but in general I like the new layout. I've been out talking to the neighbors. I'll be picking up newspapers for folks headed out of town over the next couple of weeks. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 24 Nov 10 - 12:12 AM It's been a long, busy day, but we are ready. I think the kids will be staying here; I hope they will be, though it might mean they won't be here for Christmas. We'll cross that bridge when we get there, eh? I did the usual taxi service this AM, took Morgan to school first, then dropped off Rog, then my daughter. Came home for a quick break, then to see my girlfriend doc who spent an hour doing gentle osteo. manipulation while we caught up on each other's news. It was wonderful to see her. Then home, ate a quick lunch, met the O2 delivery guy, then finally paid the late house payment and a few other bills which could not be ignored. By that time, I had about an hour before picking Morgan up, so I put my feet up, turned on a Native American flute CD and fell asleep with a cat purring in my ear. Went to get Morgan, got a snack with him, called Rog and told him I was ready to get him, early. As it turned out, by the time we got there, it was just on time. From there, because my SIL had to work late, we took M to the store with us. Utter chaos! Not Morgan, but the store. Yuck, I'd rather got late at night or early morning. Anyway, we managed, but by the time we got home we were both ready for Morgan to go home. No dad, so he stayed for a while longer, helping to get the groceries brought in. His dad picked him up about 630a, which made it a very full 12 hour go, go, go day for me. Have had supper and a shower and did another 1,000 plus on the novel. It's still a lot of fun and I am excited because I believe I will make it to 50,000 before midnight of the 30th.:-) I read the first, very rough draft chapter to a friend and she loved it. Said I made her laugh and hooked her with wanting to now more, right away. Must be on the right track as that's my goal!:-) SRS, your kitchen sounds so lovely and it is important for the kids to be involved. I always loved helping. Maryanne, great job! Andrea, congrats!! Your place sounds so interesting. I love old houses and finding out more about them. Yours sounds awesome. You have good reason to be very proud of yourself, imo. After all you've been through, what you have done takes courage and you, like a few others around here, are my sheroes! maevedarlin', you, too.;-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: mouldy Date: 24 Nov 10 - 02:37 AM Reliving it all again at the moment with the awful news from NZ. We are having another shot at holding an inquest in 4 weeks....hopefully the Russians will have concluded their criminal proceedings by now: it's already been put back twice in the last 9 months! So... more hefting of boxes up and down the yard, methinks, before the forecast snow arrives. I hear it's snowing in Newcastle, which is about 55 miles south of here. So far we aren't forecast to get it for another day or so, but they could be wrong! Going to try the scales again in a while, because I still don't believe what they showed yesterday! Andrea |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 24 Nov 10 - 11:16 AM Moving is great all-round exercise, Andrea. I've always ended up more fit at the end of all of that movement and heavy lifting, so I'm not surprised if you've lost weight! I'm down a few pounds from when I started that diet over a month ago. I'm eating a healthy large portion of fruit or veggie with each meal, and keep the carb portion fairly small. I can see that the handlebars aren't so pronounced. Last week I was flipping through the radio dial and found that a station that used to have my favorite old hard rock seems to have returned from a couple of years of an oddball format. So I got some exercise just dancing around the kitchen, and that's what I'll plan to do every so often. It might embarrass my children, but the dogs don't care. :) Yesterday afternoon the Charter folks let loose of my house phone, and the new cell phone is now serving that number. And with a few keystrokes, I paired the BluTooth devices and transferred a bunch of phone number contacts from my regular cell phone into the new house cell phone. I've disconnected and unplugged the cable phone modem (another cast off device added to the shelf of them) and paired the new cell with the wireless base I have in place. I'm still learning how to use it, but later on I'll pair the two other wireless handsets I have to that new base and have phones around the house. I know this sounds silly, 2 cell phones, but this way I can keep the house number I've had for the last dozen years that is attached to a lot of accounts around town. And it means the people who are far and wide who know this number aren't high and dry if they try to reach me. It's nice to not fall off the face of the planet. ;) I have to scramble to do work for work this morning so I can go finish in the yard this afternoon. Freezing weather is predicted to arrive in our area tomorrow. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 24 Nov 10 - 11:54 AM {{{ANDREA}}}} I've been wondering how that was effecting you. You've been so kind in your postings in that thread. I hope the inquest happens as planned. Seems Morgan does not have school, today, so he's home with dad, which means the only taxi service today was Rog! Whoo-hoo! I will have M over later to help me make pies, I think. My weigh-in this morning shows a pound gone, so that's good! SRS, keeping the old number makes sense to me. That's what we did at first with a new cell plan for me, then got an at home phone with Tmobile, so I transferred our old number back from the new cell to that home phone, still shows on the tmobile bill and folks can get hold of me. I have been weaning all friends and family to the cell, but docs and bills all go by the home number we've had for years. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 24 Nov 10 - 03:41 PM I also wondered about the mine disaster. I mentioned the subject a while back in another month and didn't hear anything so figured it isn't a package that is unwrapped unless it is necessary. Take care, Andrea. Almost finished with photos I'm processing, but I took about an hour and a half lunch to pick tomatoes and peppers. I trimmed out a lot, and my neighbor stopped by and helped for an hour. I still have work to do out there, and have to haul stuff to the compost, but I wanted to get the produce in before the freeze tomorrow. The box arrived, and will get opened later after I finish a few things on the old computer and in the garden. And walk the dogs and change the hay in their stall. I need to empty my computer desk of everything but the equipment that will be installed and sort out all of these papers. I can see how my holiday will be spent. It will be busy! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: maire-aine Date: 24 Nov 10 - 06:44 PM I signed up to provide coffee & dessert at my house for the n'hood holiday progressive dinner on 18th, so I'd better get my act together. Today I moved some furniture to make room for the tree, which I'll put up on Fri/Sat, plus whatever other decorations I decide to put up. I'm going to be gone for a few days the first week of Dec, so I'll have to play catch-up. Plus I want to do more baking this year. Every time I walk into the kitchen I think "somebody needs to wash this floor". Maryanne |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 24 Nov 10 - 06:52 PM (((Andrea))) === Folks, lest anyone think I have money to throw around on help with the house, I don't-- but when we carve a helper's fair pay out of grocery bucks, there's a quadruple impact. We buy/eat less, he eats, etc. etc. I'm very selective in what I pay for help with-- and it always involves me doing a good portion of the work in the process. So today Adrian worked his magic on the upstairs of the house. (I got my exercise being his second pair of hands.) I had prepped a room to add a big rug, so he measured and cut free carpeting I'd been saving (FC) to fit the pattern I drew, and up it went. We walked its wrinkles out together. But first he had vacuumed up a ton of dust and pet fur, in the room to be improved, and then he also sucked the used rug's dirt and dust out once it was in place. It's off white-- not suitable for high-traffic or mud-traffic downstairs. But most of the traffic-pattern dirt it held is now invisible-- glad I didn't waste money getting it cleaned first. The one stain it had is under the bed, tra-la! It went over a rug that holds onto cat hair like velcro, so that room (Sailboats) will be much easier to keep clean. We also turned the box spring and mattress for more even wearing. The scraps will go to the laundry room. But the big impact was in the landing room that has needed stuff sorted for months. I had gotten it down to the last few smallish boxes and a table to bring downstairs, and as of today those are gone now too, in addition to left-behind stuffed animals that no one wanted. (I kept a few as keepsakes, and am donating the rest.) The antique wicker basket that had held them has come down to hold CATS in front of the HEATER. And a few items that did not belong to me went to their owner's room for HIM to deal with! :~) Why the impact was so huge for such a tiny room-- a landing-room that was probably a nursery at one point-- is because it frees up the downstairs now to be kept pretty as a PUBLIC space, with this nice sitting area right outside our bedroom door for JUST US. The TV will probably move upstairs eventually, and this also clears the way for Adrian to paint out the awful bird wallpaper we have put up with for over 16 years, in the LR, that is shown in the MudGather pix in the Photo pages here. And I had a brilliant idea on that as well, today. The wallpaper is glazed. Various high-adhesion primers have been recommended but Hardi's brother Phil is a professional painter.... and the switchplates and outlet covers were also papered and glazed. I can take a few off to send him to play with, before we invest in a series of expensive primers!!!!! And then keep one to remember the old paper-- they can be replaced with new ones. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 24 Nov 10 - 10:28 PM I am closing in on 30,000 word count. If I don't reach it tonight, I will by tomorrow night. Then only 20,000 left over five days, I can do this! Looks as though the kids will be gone tomorrow overnight to the MIL's as she is really feeling lonely and sad from losing her husband and also having a birthday on the 29th. I would prefer they stay off the roads on the holiday and I'd love to have them here, but I know I would want them with me if I were without Rog, big-time, so I understand. Morgan and I played Canasta instead of making pies this afternoon. My BP was way too low, again, so lifting cards was about it for me for an hour or two until the meds wore off. It's still low, but not dangerously like it was. We are going to try cutting back on some of the meds over the holiday, then call the doc, again, on Monday. I did manage to get the dirty silverware in the sink to soak. Also, I won't be posting for a day or two. Something is hanging up my PC and I do not like using this laptop.:-) If it goes on too long, I will hookup a real keyboard and trackball to this and get back in here, but I figure I've got to give Rog a day or two off.:-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 25 Nov 10 - 01:22 AM I'm loading up the new computer. Took a while to upgrade the operating system, and I can't use my good keyboard until I get a USB adapter for it (it's old enough that it has the old round plug on the end, so I need an adapter. I thought I had one, but I can't find it. Just tons of cables and other adapters.) This is so fast compared to the other one. I knew the data was getting here faster than the processor could handle, and now it is just as quick as can be. I'm downloading email from my online gmail accounts, and it take a while to first download, then to sort. I stopped deleting mail ages ago, though I do go through periodically and dump the commercial stuff. I need to learn to use the filters better, it would probably be faster. Tomorrow will be busy. Yard work, dog stall work (sweep out the old hay and load it with new) and cooking. Tonight is for kicking back. Have a good Thanksgiving, USians, and the rest of you who don't have the holiday, enjoy your Thursday! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: mouldy Date: 25 Nov 10 - 02:43 AM Well the snow came last night, but there's only an inch or so...which has frozen. Took some more cardboard boxes and packing paper to the tip yesterday afternoon, and bought a couple of new doormats while I was at it - there's a homewares store nearby. I also baked a couple of small fruit cakes for the church coffee morning on Saturday. I forgot that butter drips out of the cake pans, so ended up scrubbing the oven out late last night! The joiner is (hopefully) coming this morning to remodel some shelves for me. I am beginning to think that I may actually have room for most of the books after all! I just need to sort some shelving out in the little cupboard in the room off my bedroom, which is my dressing table/computer/chill-out space....well it will be eventually! Thanks for your kind thoughts too, folks. Andrea |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Leadfingers Date: 25 Nov 10 - 07:06 AM 200 |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: LilyFestre Date: 25 Nov 10 - 11:08 AM HA! I had a feeling that 200th post would be from Leadfingers!!! Made me smile!!! :) Meanwhile on the homefront, we've been doing minimal chores or clutter control as it's vacation time!!!! We are playing with the baby, doing things we love, puttering when the mood strikes, reading by the fire, enjoying wonderful cups of coffee and most importantly, each other!!!!!! Due to the inclement weather and the desire to keep everyone safe, the actual Thanksgiving meal has been post-poned. We cooked a turkey on Tuesday for ourselves...a 21 pound bird that we have picked at ever since. Today the meat will be removed from the bones, the bones will be boiled for broth and then veggies added for soup. There will be LOADS of soup for the freezer and cold nights later this season or for lazy weekend afternoons on a snowy day. We'll make another turkey and all it's fixin's sometime soon..when the roads are not covered with freezing rain and snow. We're thankful for today and every other day...turkey or not. :) Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!!! Michelle :) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: mouldy Date: 25 Nov 10 - 12:49 PM The joiner (a very nice young (28) Scots lad called Chris) has been here all day and now gone. I have re-modelled shelves and my bigger TV is now up and running, and room for a few more books too. He has replaced a damaged spindle on the staircase, and put one in where I needed to stop Freya falling through the gap in the rails on the half-landing when she comes. Ialso emptied some more ornaments from another box, and am sorting out some bits to go to the village charity shop tomorrow. However, I have my inaugural visit to the new doctors tomorrow too so that I can get my repeat script set up. I did go back onto the scales yesterday, and they still give good news....maybe the batteries are going! Baked some banana cake today. I will have to be careful I don't scoff that too quickly! Andrea |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 25 Nov 10 - 02:23 PM Andrea, that all sounds wonderful. I am so happy for you that you have the new place and are making such inroads in becoming part of the community and all. You are amazing. We slept in until 830a. I had the cranberries cooked and cooling in a special dish I use only twice a year just for them. It is a light sort of turquoise green pottery pot with lid which a woman for whom my daughter babysat gave to my dau. years ago and which she gave to me. I love the deep red of the berries against the beautiful colours of the pot. I made two pumpkin pies, though one will not be touched until Morgan next is over as I will put birthday candles on it for him. Rog put the turkey in earlier, has peeled the potatoes and has them in the pressure cooker which was his mom's. And, he has the cream cheese with chopped green olives and pimento ready to stuff the celery. We've told my brother it will be ready about 2p, but when we did the timer for the pies, it turned the oven off when it was done, which we just noticed, so lost about an hour's worth of cooking time! Might be a bit later than we thought. Last night I used System restore to an earlier date and whatever was hanging my PC up seems to have been cleared. Phew! It is bright, sunny, a little windy and very cold here, today. My "boyz" in New England called to say it was cold and cloudy there. They were on their way to their dad's for a few hours while my dau. will be with friends. I cannot believe how grown up they sound. Just 12 last May and their voices have changed. They are both in chorus! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 25 Nov 10 - 04:12 PM Re-formatted LR today while Hardi sewed-- 1/4 study, 1/2 TV, 1/4 this puder corner. Moving twd public space and PAINTING. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 25 Nov 10 - 04:25 PM Overnight November arrived here in Fort Worth. I went out and got the paper and the wheelbarrow. Hauled two huge loads of the tomato vines I cut yesterday back to the compost. Picked the last couple of eggplants, and that is it, except for some basil, from the garden today. Finished stuffing the dogs' houses full of new hay (they love it!) It was beginning to drizzle when I came in. Faucet covers will go on in a few minutes, but everything else is taken care of. I have candles in the fireplace that I'll light this evening - I get the effect of the fire without the smoke. Rolls are rising, sweet potatoes are simmering. Dinner is going to be very late here this year, as the end of the line for my daughter and her friend who are coming to dinner. They've already been at both of his parents homes (anyone else watch the Vicar of Dibley, in particular, the episode where she eats so many xmas dinners?) Still installing stuff on the computer. Got the printer linked up, the scanner, but I haven't set up the television receiver yet. I'm interested in using that to load stuff into the computer that I can burn to DVD, but I'll make sure everything works over this long weekend. The house is beginning to smell good. Andrea, I love that you have enough book shelves now and are getting out the ornaments. I need to do that. I noticed some lights up in the neighborhood yesterday - good idea, now it's going to be cold work. I have to put lights up on my crape myrtle "tree." Lucky Morgan, with his pumpkin pie for his birthday! My father used to request a banana cream pie. I'm dying to bake something special for today, so it might be a cranberry duff or a blueberry coffee cake. I want it to have pretty fruit, whatever I decide. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 25 Nov 10 - 09:25 PM Had to mess with my PC, again. Just testing to see if this goes through. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: LilyFestre Date: 25 Nov 10 - 10:30 PM So SRS, what did you decide for your pretty fruit dessert? And Happy Birthday to Morgan!!! How old will he be? Andrea....sounds like you are making some serious progress! My favorite thing set up first when I've moved is our bed and the bookshelves...something about having them up just says HOME to me (no matter how many other boxes I have about). :) We've decided on minimal Christmas decorations this year. It was close to this time last year when we started digging around in the shed for Christmas gear and I thought I had pulled something. As you all know, I didn't pull anything, it was cancer. So...the sight of all that stuff up brings up too much for me right now. We'll have a small decorated tree and our family nativity. That's it. I have tons of Christmas stuff and normally like to get the entire house all decked out but last year's Christmas stuff remained up until May or so...I just didn't have the oomph to take care of it and then I got tired of looking at it. So....simple is the name of the game for Christmas this year. It will still be beautiful and the baby will love the lights on the tree. :) I did get something else done today. We had a welcoming party for Jeremiah in the beginning of the month. For decorations, I had several photos mounted on 70+ 12x12 paper and hung around the hall. When it came time to take everything down, we were exhausted so instead of taking all the tape off the backs of the matting paper, I just put 2 of the mats back to back with all their tape still attached. Today I took all the tape off and slide the 12x12 photos into a top loading scrapbook...actually they took up 4 scrapbooks. I love to sit and look at them and now that they are in albums, it's MUCH easier than sifting through a box of mounted photos. I did some laundry and also cleaned out Jeremiah's Pack and Play which lately has been a dumping ground for clean folded clothing waiting to make it's way upstairs to be put away. He's sitting so much better and soon will be crawling....I want him to be comfortable playin in there for a minute or two if there is something I must attend to. There are things that need to be done but my Ambien is kicking in, my eyes are feeling heavy and my fingers aren't cooperating like they should to type so I might as well call it a night. Sweet dreams to you all, Michelle |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 25 Nov 10 - 11:11 PM Thanks, Michelle. He turned seven on the 14th when they were away due to his dad's step-dad passing away a couple of days before that. Your simple Christmas sounds wonderful and reminds me of the song, Simple Gifts. I've been doing more minimalist decorating as the years go by. This year, I think we will use the Norfolk Island pine which sits in the middle of the big picture window in the LR. I have tiny lights we can put on it and a few lightweight ornaments. Morgan and I will put a few other special things around the house, but not much. I am past the 30,000 words mark, today. We had a nice day other than having to go out when it was too darn cold this evening to let the grand-dogs out to pee. My brother did come over and the three of us had a good time. Rog's turkey was very good and, except for too thin of crust, the pie we cut into, today, was perfect. It was leftover crust from the deeper dish one which I am saving for Morgan, so I hope that one will have more crust on the bottom. I always roll it out too thin, it seems, but at least the pumpkin was deliciouso! Talked with my boys back East and my dau., as well as my sisters in WY. Left a message for bet in Alaska...she was out to dinner at her son's. It's funny to go to facebook to find out where one's errant sibling might be that day. Did the same thing with Rog's. LOL...our son called earlier in the week as he expected to be snowed in with not great tires and no four-wheel drive. Good news, though, after a year on unemployment, he starts a brand-new job, in his field, on Monday! That is really something to be gratefull for! All the food is put away. I am going to write a bit more and then help Rog with his shower and go to bed with a book I want to finish tonight. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 Nov 10 - 01:11 AM Had enough carbs today to last for a week. I ended up deciding if I tried to do the duff or cake the oven timing would be off, so I was all set to mix up a batch of cookies, to have a few on a plate this evening and bake the rest later. I had the sugar, butter, etc for oatmeal cookies, and when I picked up the acrylic tub of oats - full of weevils. Ugg. Out into the compost it went, I packed away the cookie stuff to finish after a trip to the store tomorrow for more oats. I had a lot of trouble with weevils this year because it was so warm. I put flour in the freezer, and rice, but I didn't think to dig out the oatmeal and I haven't eaten any in months. My feet are always so tired after an evening of cooking, but otherwise, it went great. The ham was very well received. It was a relatively simple meal, but a pretty table, and I packed up a lot of leftovers to send home with people. Michelle, I have a lot of ornaments too, and several years ago I decided to pull out all of just one type of thing. So I did all Santa ornaments one year and nutcrackers another. Last year I pulled out the colored glass balls like tree ornaments and I put them in and around crystal pieces (vases, platters, bowls, candlesticks, anything of shiny clear or green glass) on the mantle, where I have up-lights that hit them all from underneath. Not sure about this year, I'll see what I'm in the mood for. Just lights, maybe. Isolating part of the collection really lets those pieces shine, and the next year, you can highlight more. Rotating your collection is like "shopping your closet" or in this case, packing boxes. Motrin, here I come, then to bed to put my feet up. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: mouldy Date: 26 Nov 10 - 01:28 AM Well I'll get some exercise today with a quarter mile walk through snow to the doc's...and there's more forecast. At the moment we've 2-3 inches. I will probably walk on after the doc's to the farm shop where I can get coffee...and fresh meat and veg. Then it's a half mile walk back up the village to get home. My sister in law was supposed to be coming across to her cottage in Embleton this weekend from the west side of Scotland, but I don't know if she will! Andrea |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 26 Nov 10 - 11:22 AM Getting fabric today for LR curtains, for the color scheme the paint will be in. Also some fabric for the cats' new LR bed-- the wicker antique wicker basket I brought down the other day. That is, IF the parochial emergency that came on the AM's phone call does not eclipse our plans. Ah well, at least we agreed on fabric and got the measuring done-- I can get go it myself if need be. ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 Nov 10 - 01:04 PM Didn't freeze last night, so I could have left the garden alone, but that fate is still coming soon, so probably just as well. I have to declutter my kitchen and sun room of several buckets of tomatoes, peppers, and a couple of eggplants. I'll see if I can find people to can them, or maybe look into doing a batch of my own green tomato relish. I have some bills to sort out. I wonder if the folks in call centers will be in a jolly mood today? I'd love to get my keyboard plug converter, but I know the store where I would get it is jammed to the gills with shoppers and the drive over would be hellish, so I'll bide my time. I have a lot of leftover adapters from previous purchases, but none that work. And I have stray bits from this new computer that I need to go ahead and set up. Sensors for the receiver in the computer. I can start converting VCR tapes to burn to DVD one of these days (I'll get the large extra hard drive before I do much of that, because this work takes up a lot of space.) Lovely day. I need to get out and enjoy it. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: maire-aine Date: 26 Nov 10 - 03:03 PM Did not go overboard on carbs yesterday (but the week isn't over). The dinner was very nice, with small servings of the usual things: salad, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans & turkey with gravy, and pumpkin pie for dessert. And the most wonderful thing about it was that it was FREE for seniors (62+), so I fit right in. I'm sure it brought in families with younger people too, so it's a good marketing event. I put the tree together & brought down the boxes of ornaments; will decorate over the weekend. Re-arranged the furniture in the dining room & covered the buffet with a piece of oil-cloth, so I could put the plants on it (in front of the window) without damaging the finish worse than it already is. Brought up the wreaths & mantle decorations, and put those up. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Not going anywhere near the malls today. Maryanne |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 26 Nov 10 - 07:42 PM Closing in on 32,000. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: mouldy Date: 26 Nov 10 - 07:48 PM Doc's appointment was cancelled as the doctor was stuck on the A1, the main road, and couldn't get to the surgery. I went as far as the village charity shop, 50 yards from my house, and donated a box of random stuff, and the Christmas tree that's too wide for the space in this living room. I also let them have a set of outdoor lights which I won't be able to use here. They set the tree up, and are on about having it on display. They were giving free cups of coffee, so that was as far as I got. There will be some more bits and bobs going tomorrow, as they will be open for a couple of hours. The buses weren't running today, and the village schools were shut. We have 6-8 inches of snow,and it's broken the gutter off my back lobby. Just needs a new bracket. I hope the ones on the house hold up, as there's quite a weight of snow on them. Tomorrow morning it's the church coffee morning, and I've a couple of fruit cakes to donate. Hope the path isn't too bad - it may only be across the road, but it's a sloping cobbled path the nearest way, and even steeper paving slabs from the bottom end. maybe the snow will give some traction! Hopped onthe scales this morning - a couple of pounds more - must not sample my own baking! Andrea |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 Nov 10 - 10:36 PM Didn't get much accomplished today. I shopped, brought in some beautiful lettuce for salads, to keep eating healthy. I picked up oats to finish those cookies, and finished that dough. Moved computer files. Cleaned up the plate holders I found at the recycle place a couple of weeks back. They hold bowls up very well, but plates lean back a bit more than I hoped. It may have to do with how I position the hinges. I'll play with it. The hinges are nice and stiff, so the plates or whatever will stay put once they're in place. Going to give the bathroom tiles a good scrub this evening. I ran out of the stuff last week and couldn't find the same brand, but I'll see if the cheap stuff and some elbow grease doesn't do the job. When it's cold, it's the season for nice hot soaks in the tub. :) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 26 Nov 10 - 11:11 PM Less than 14,000 to go now. I will probably be AWOL for the next couple of days. **BG** |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 26 Nov 10 - 11:20 PM Hardi did a lot of projects here today (me second banana), then we went to a fave discount vendor in Wmsport for fabric and "parts." Found exactly what we/I wanted, plus casters of just the right sort to make my re-purposed study desk roll around as I prefer. We then brought back Thai dinner with enough panaang sauce left over for the turkey we thawed ydy-- a nice tender turkey breast we had saved for his mom's annual visit, that she missed this October due to a health crisis. So we dined out ydy as we now do, annually, to avoid the extra dishwashing and hoopla, and for "leftover turkey" we had the thawed breast to play with, along with some cran-orange relish I had made (low sugar). The weird thing for us was watching the rest of the US culture eat itself sick, as if it's got to be done by right-- while we paid the same bucks for our dinner but ate about 1/3 of what everyone else in the room did. Weird! ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: mouldy Date: 27 Nov 10 - 03:28 AM Oh well, Northumberland was mentinoed on the news today with the police giving a "do not travel" warning. The clear skies forecast on the BBC website yesterday aren't here, although it froze last night and is not due to get much above all day! Instead they are now giving snow showers, and then a thunderstorm tomorrow! This to be followed by temperatures about 4C warmer. (I don't think they know!) We have a foot of snow in places,and the hills inland will be worse. Anyway, today's exercise will be to find a shovel and clear the snow that has fallen off the roof and landed just outside the back door. It's blocking my way to the logs and coal. If I can't find or get at the shovel...well it's ideal snow for big snowballs and, therefore, snowmen! After I've been to the coffee morning (unless it's cancelled, like yesterday's school fair) I'll go take a box of more random stuff to the village charity shop. This snow is hampering the unpacking, as I am getting down just to stuff that needs to be swapped between outbuildings, or house and annexe. Andrea |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 27 Nov 10 - 11:40 AM Be sure to eat enough before starting work to fuel the physical work, Andrea, so you don't get blindsided by overhunger AFTERwards. Go Andrea! ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: LilyFestre Date: 27 Nov 10 - 12:02 PM We celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday!!! Aside from the cooking, I spent time sweeping, dusting, doing up dishes from the cooking, cleared the table, got out my good linens, did laundry, cleaned the bathroom, did a little rearranging...loads of work really but it felt good to get some things done that I've been meaning to do. For examply, my piano is covered with family photos which needed dusting. There was a basket of Jeremiah's toys that I've been meaning to get upstairs for some time now but my arms always seemed full for each trip up there. I sorted out more of his clothes. Swept the stairs....yep...lots was done here yesterday...it looks amazing and feels wonderful. We had a traditional Thanksgiving meal (turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, squash, corn (both from our garden), gravy (Pete makes THE best gravy EVER), pumpkin and apple pie. We have a TON of leftovers as no one ate until the point of bursting. My favorites this year were Mom's mashed potatoes (she makes THE BEST mashed potatoes EVER...how lucky am I to have THE BEST gravy & mashed potatoes in one meal?!!?) and the buttercup squash. I love that squash.....no butter, sugar, salt or anything else needed....just cut it up, boil it and mash it...OMG GOOD!!! In fact, it's what I just had for lunch! YUM. I did manange to get the first turkey all picked apart and bones boiled. There is a LOT of broth so either later today or tomorrow, I'llbe chopping veggies for the soup. Then there's the other turkey to tend to from yesterday. I have a feeling I'll be sharing some turkey noodle or turkey rice soup with family and friends..there's just too much for our freezer. Besides.....it's lovely to share soup. :) Michelle |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 27 Nov 10 - 12:38 PM Keep on typing, Kat! Stay warm, Andrea! The freeze we were expecting on Thursday night arrived last night. I looked out the kitchen window this morning to see all of the dark green wilted leaves on the plants that were perky and beautiful the day before. Today is already much warmer than yesterday, so I'll go out and cut out some of the dead stuff. Lilies, amaryllis, cannas, basil, eggplant, tomatoes, etc. All to the compost. Yesterday I mailed a box to my son, a care package to boost him through finals. Other than that, the only shipping I'm doing during this month is to order fruitcakes for my brother and sister and the bakery will do the shipping. We sibs had "that conversation" this year amongst ourselves - since we all now have college kids, we'll send something to the kids as long as they're in college, but for the rest of it, cards will do, and we'll try to be better about calling more often. I've continued to modify the old computer (I added a software program from work that can't be removed once it is in place, but it allows me to map directly to campus servers) and add productivity software to the new computer. I baked those oatmeal cookies last night and packed and put them in the freezer for later this month. The next couple of days are wide open. There is a lot to do around here, but I'll see what suggests itself and go from there. I should get some more eBay stuff up, so maybe I'll poke around for good holiday shipping items. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 27 Nov 10 - 11:25 PM Thanks, SRS, I DID and am done except for all of the rewriting, but that doesn't happen until next month! For now, I don't want to see it, read it, or hear about it. Phew, last night and today have been frenzied to say the least. (I couldn't sleep with what I think was food poisoning from Wednesday, so wrote in misery.**BG**) I wanted to concentrate on it while Morgan was away, so I can have some time with him without feeling the pull of the novel. He also finished his, though he cut back his word count to a more manageable size considering all the travelling he's been doing and all. Tomorrow I plan to do nothing at all, if I can help it. I hope I sleep tonight. Still feeling a bit queasy. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 27 Nov 10 - 11:36 PM Correction, I made it well past the 50,000 word count, but the novel is not done. It'll probably be another 10-20,000 near as I can tell.:-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 28 Nov 10 - 12:11 AM Did some general running around and in one stop, picked up what turned out to be a duplicate adapter for my good keyboard. But neither one works with the new computer. Darn. It works with Win7 on the other computer, so I'm not sure what the problem is. The adapter, probably. I don't know if I want to buy another keyboard, but I'll call the company next week and ask. I still have more software to load and a few programs to download, for this setup to be complete (at least, the way I want. I'm sure for HP it was complete when they sent their extra goodies with Win7 Home, but they all went away when I upgraded to Win7 Ultimate.) On the home front, I'm set to scrub the limestone and soap scum out of my showers now, and I am going to be finishing up some canning. Don't know if I'll be doing any canning (the green tomatoes) but that is a possibility. Lights are ready to go up tomorrow - I picked up a box of mixed color spare lights to go in the strings that I'll put in my mid-sized pine. Keep up the work as needed on the novel, Kat, and give Morgan a big hug from me. I had 7-year-olds who were writers also, but still, it's a lot of work to plan to participate in a big writing project at that age. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: mouldy Date: 28 Nov 10 - 03:07 AM My back is only creaking a little from the digging. There was another light fall overnight, but that won't take much shifting. I have icicles to try and deal with, and just make sure they aren't over where I walk. That might be an impossible task. I was ntalking to my neighbour yesterday, whose house supposedly dates from about 1760, and we came to the conclusion that if that dated stone on my house is genuine, it must have been a separate, much smaller building, as where my house is attached to his, it is built around an external stairway. The house, and the rest of the small terrace, as it stands now is c.1820. The reason it's protected is that the terrace, and the one round the corner, were designed by an eminent architect of the time. Steve also said that the exterior wall of my bathroom, where it adjoins his propert, is merely built into a rough stone dividing wall which is in a bit of a state. It is one which appears to be shared responsibility, and he says he's patched it up as best he can. I really am going to have to bite the bullet and get that work done! Unless I find something else to do, I may try and sort the little room out a bit more today, and try to get some more screws out of the panel covering the fireplace. Andrea |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 28 Nov 10 - 11:50 AM Andrea, that sounds like such an adventure! I loaded about as much software as I can on this computer and on my son's computer. I want his up and running when he comes home since he has to do an online final. If the productivity software on his computer is too old he can use my old computer that is more up to date. Lovely windy day, and I need to sharpen the mower blade and get started mulching leaves. It won't be the last time; I always need to do it a couple of times at least. I don't own the source of the leaves, they just pool in my yard. This will constitute my exercise for the weekend. I've had leftovers from Thanksgiving for several days, but now that I'm down to just the mashed potatoes I think if I keep the rest of the day healthy eating I can get back to my good pattern tomorrow. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 28 Nov 10 - 04:56 PM I had to re-order my to-do list. No mulching until the piles of branches were off of the lawn. And no stretching electrical cords to holiday lights until the mulching is finished. So, the branches are now out of the way, and I heaped into the compost the various garden plants that died with the freeze. Tomorrow afternoon I'll mulch, and then see about putting out the lights. I'm only doing one tree in the yard, and I'll do some lights on the porch, and those strings are ready to go. I dug a hole in the oldest compost heap (it's ready to use, but I won't need it till spring) and pour in the contents of one of my driveway bins. That's where I drop the table scraps (veggie only) and let it break down so much that it doesn't interest the dogs. I rotate between one bin breaking down and one that I'm filling. It means I put a lot less trash at the curb and these good nutrients stay in the yard. Tonight, peppers. Lots of peppers need to be cut up and put in the freezer. The laundry is about finished, so I can focus on the kitchen work and not have to go back and forth. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 28 Nov 10 - 05:55 PM Major budget due tomorrow, ofc computer FUBAR. Will do on LR puder, uck. Major writing project due for class Thursday, so far no joy. Got Sailboats room put back together after Ade's rug job last week. Got landing room set up for use, ditto. Got a few items moved to where they needed to be, for utility. Got casters onto re-purposed study desk for better utility. Got some major and minor attic room stuff done. Got some Band re-organization done. TBTG and Hardi on all. ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 28 Nov 10 - 10:35 PM Pool 40 minutes muscle work, working in reps of 10 now instead of 3. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: LilyFestre Date: 28 Nov 10 - 10:48 PM Well..........the hoop house is up but not yet covered. And as if by magic, another frame suitable for a hoop house arrived here. YES! Also a set of drawers I purchased at a yard sale some time ago has finally made it's way to the house. Currently it's sitting in my kitchen but I have a nice place for it in the hall underneath where we hang all our coats. I'm hoping it works there. The dresser has 3 drawers....fabulous for Pete's undies, socks and jammies, another drawer for bibs and Jeremiah's jammies and then...oh...I don't know...I'm sure I'll find SOMETHING. Also, a locking gun cabinet made it's way here....it will work nicely to hold my rifle and most of Pete's guns. I'm also on a kick about getting my treadmill out where it is more accessible in this room of baby land. I want to walk each day. I've been having hip and knee issues that actually feel worse when sit still and loads of relief when I'm walking. So...my living room may look goofy for awhile but so what? I don't care...I want functual not all Better Homes and Gardens. I mean...we live here and pretty is nice in as many places as I can make it happen but I only have so much room in the living room and that is where my treadmill is. I'm motivated to get this done....say by Tuesday. That's my plan Stan. And hey, for those of you who do WW, did you know they are switching the entire program up starting TOMORROW?!?!?!? I'm excited about it....change is good and in this instance, it will help me refocus. I'd like to stay awake until Midnight to read about the new changes on the sight but I doubt I'll make it that long. Night Everybody. Michelle |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 29 Nov 10 - 12:20 AM I don't do WW so I'll just have to wait to see what all of you discover at your weigh-ins, etc. I've about stuffed the software in this computer that I can, and I even did a little rudimentary check-out on the TV receiver on this. If I record things from the antenna I can only watch them on this computer, but I hope I can still stream in my own content and burn it to DVDs. The equipment is in place. I'd love to thin out the wall of VCR tapes in my front room. I wrapped 3 strings of lights around that shapely tree limb in my front room, and hung a few interesting ornaments on it. Bright and simple. I'll wash the crystal on the mantle and add some of the tree ornaments to the various glasses and vases next. I have to trim the juniper next to my driveway because it is encroaching on the drive, and I'll make a greenery ornament for the door. I'll wait till next week to do that. Michelle, I'm sure the magic of the holidays with a baby in the house is going to make everything look different to you. There will be the babyproof end of things, but also the sparkling magic that you can see through his eyes. I hope you take a few photos! I've about finished my cuppa chamomile tea, so I'm off to bed. Tomorrow is the first day I'll actually see about doing some photos and web design with the new computer and upgraded software. Might be interesting. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: mouldy Date: 29 Nov 10 - 03:16 AM It's just after 8am, and I am about to gird the loins and deal with the latest pile of snow to drop from the roof and block the back door. We had another couple of inches last night as well. My car is gradually disappearing! Got the asbestos panel off at last, and just have to saw through the nails which are holding the battens to the surround. Those of you on FB will be able to see it, because I'm so pleased with what I've uncovered that it is my new profile picture. (It's better looking than me too!) Andrea |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 29 Nov 10 - 11:34 AM Andrea, I just looked through your photos - what a treat! Thanks! And the expression on your cat's face speaks volumes. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: wysiwyg Date: 29 Nov 10 - 02:35 PM Budget DONE. Uck uck uck. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 29 Nov 10 - 03:42 PM Michelle, I didn't know about WgtWatchers changing until you mentioned it. Have just had a look and find I am going to have to start all over again with entering all the foods I eat by going over their labels. None of the foods I've created can be saved and converted to the new plan because they are now basing points on carbs, too, as well as fiber, fat, and whoozit! Aarrrggghhh! I do see they have raised the daily points value and the week's extra and all fruits and veggies are now zero points. A quick look says it's probably a good way to go, but I don't like having to re-enter all of the info it took me so long to gather. Think I'll go have a look at gnu's way, again.:-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: mouldy Date: 29 Nov 10 - 04:24 PM Kat, that sounds like the Discover Plan, which we started on in the new year - "Filling Foods"! I shovelled the snow, and had some, admittedly deep and narrow, channels cut through. This evening most of the foot depth of snow has dropped off the outhouse roof into the yard, and it's even deeper than before, and along the length of the yard too. It was banked up against the back door, and one pile is definitely up to the dining room window height! Well I cleared a square away from there so I'll have somewhere to stand when I dig tomorrow. My back is starting to hang out the white flag, but I have got to do it. I feel so stiff! I have a new freezer coming on Friday too. Firstly, they have got to hoist it over the unploughed snow at the side of the road, and then it's somehow got to make its way down the yard to the annexe, so I've GOT to clear it! Andrea |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 29 Nov 10 - 05:12 PM Ironic, isn't it, to have to shift so much snow to move a freezer? I'm going to have to do the Watchdog Nation rule of dedicating "15 minutes a day" to solve financial things on bills. I have a couple that need attention before the payments are due. One will be easy, one will be a pain in the ass. I think I'll do the easy one first. I'm back on my healthier lower-carb eating routine today since I've finished most of the Thanksgiving leftovers. Fruits, veggies, healthy carbs. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 30 Nov 10 - 12:03 AM Note to self: Double glove next time I work with hot peppers. My right thumb is feeling quite uncomfortably hot after cleaning and preparing a bunch of peppers to blanch before freezing. I was very careful not to touch my face with those gloves on. I also sorted the buckets of green tomatoes, removing bad ones and those too small to use, and setting aside the rosy ones to ripen. I put a pan of fully ripe ones in the freezer to use later for juice and sauce. The kitchen is still sporting buckets and bins of veggies, but I'll finish distributing or cooking this week. Hopefully. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: mouldy Date: 30 Nov 10 - 02:36 AM Are you using rubber gloves? Were they the disposible ones, and did they split? The payment for the freezer still hasn't gone through, and I rang the company, who have the order on file at their end. They say it's awaiting authorisation. Well the original reason I rang them was because the payment page stalled and did nothing. Twice. I'm just now going to ring the bank and see if they have anything pending. Then I'm going to get up and start shovelling again. We only had a dusting overnight, but there are eastery winds off Scandinavia blowing right at the back of the house. There is also an ominous overhang on the front off the house, and I'm worried it may drop off in a big lump and hit a phone cable that's just in front of it. Andrea |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 30 Nov 10 - 12:30 PM Welcome to the more north country, eh, Andrea? I don't envy you that part of living in such an idyllic sounding village.:-) I loved Wyoming, but do not miss the snow and wind! I finally felt well enough to get a few things done this morning when I got back from dropping Rog off at work. Put away a couple of toys, did a load of laundry which is drying now, folded another load and put it, and one already done, away. Moved a couple of chairs back to where they belonged since being used for Thanksgiving. Changed the towels in the bathroom and freshened up in there, too. Andrea, WW is saying this is the biggest change they've made in 13 years and that now it is "Power" foods, not Filling, as we have had for the past year, too. Here's a blurb about it: Are Weight Watchers Power Foods the same as Filling Foods? No, they are different. To put it simply, Filling Foods are(sic) were chosen based on their ability to fill you up, but Power Foods were chosen based on their impact on health as well as their ability to fill you up. If you make Power Foods the basis of your meals, you'll be eating nutrient-packed foods that keep you satisfied—and that's the best strategy for health and weight loss. How did the two lists come about? For years, subscribers wanted an easy way to spot foods that kept them full the longest. So we created the Filling Foods list to meet this need. However, we soon began hearing from more subscribers who told us that they wanted a quick way to identify not only the foods that were the most filling, but also the healthiest choices — meaning the best foods you can eat, period. So, we started from scratch. We ranked foods within similar categories, such as milk, using a proprietary formula that rated their ability to be filling and their impact on health (via the food's content of sugar, sodium, saturated fat, total fat, and/or fiber).The highest ranked foods within each category became Weight Watchers Power Foods. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: LilyFestre Date: 30 Nov 10 - 12:31 PM It's a cold, rainy, windy day here. I've been busy with dishes, laundry etc. I'm still working on how to figure out how to rearrange the living room so I can use my treadmill a bit more easily and still keep all the baby gear in the room. I've been lugging firewood in to keep the fire going too. Weight Watchers has updated their program so I am reading about some changes and finding it very interesting. Michelle |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 30 Nov 10 - 12:37 PM Andrea, sounds like you have a few problems to solve there to do with ice and snow removal. I wonder if you can employ any salt or heating devices? With the peppers I was wearing a pair of vinyl restaurant-style gloves, and though there was no hole in the thumb, I suspect the heat gradually traveled through micro pores or something. I transferred the frozen peppers into a bag this morning, and I'll do the next batch this evening. I need to run to the restaurant supply place a few blocks from me anyway, and I'll poke around to see what other types of gloves they carry. My computer desk is completely clean, and I rearranged my plugs a bit more and straightened out the various cables that run from the USB hub behind my monitor. I used a twist tie to bundle the mp3, camera, and cell phone cables so they don't sprawl over the desk. It looks great! Last night I dug through the laundry room basket of electrical gadgets (that cabinet is where I try to keep all of these things so I don't buy more when I still had some somewhere else. It kind of works.) I had one of those switches that you plug into the wall, then plug the device into the switch. That's on my decorated tree limb. I'm going to pull out those little motors you plug into tree lights and put a few ornaments to turning. For example, I have a lovely little crystal moon with a ceramic Santa on it that looks charming as it rotates. December tomorrow. Oh, my. Kat, where do you stand on your novel word count? SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: katlaughing Date: 30 Nov 10 - 01:28 PM Flew right by and reached about 56,000 before the deadline! Novel is still not finished, though. Unedited first few paragraphs are in the nanowrimo thread. Thanks for asking! Michelle, I think WW looks interesting, too. Sorry to see their giant fudge bars are now going to be 4 points instead of 1!!*sigh* |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 01 Dec 10 - 12:14 AM I dug through a couple of boxes and found the little rotating motors that plug into the mini-lights I put on my crape myrtle limb. That little Santa is rotating beautifully, and I can add several more (I think they suggest 3 motors per string). It has to be something that you can tell is moving - a glass ball with no pattern, for example, is barely noticeable. In the past I've mentioned the WatchdogNation approach to getting your bills taken care of (when you need to call customer service). Take them on one a day, or adopt a 15-minutes for the call plan, to make them more manageable. I spent my first 15 minutes of bill-sorting this month with Sprint. It didn't result in much savings. I have to call back again tomorrow, and maybe that clerk will waive the activation fee. The woman this evening said that they're "educating customers" about how to set up these phones to avoid that fee. A polite way of saying she wouldn't waive it. No one told me that if I simply bought the phone at a store and activated it online that they'd waive the fee. So perhaps one last waiver? Next time we replace a phone we'll buy it at the store and take it home to activate. Someone could/should have said to do that and we'd have understood. Tomorrow, the cable company. They're ugly customers, so I'm pacing myself. I'll start a new thread tomorrow. Stay warm, everyone, and fingers crossed that we all traverse the December page of the calendar with ease and stay in the black in the process! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: maire-aine Date: 01 Dec 10 - 12:53 AM Finally got the tree up and decorated. Picture of Christmas tree on FB Maryanne |
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Subject: RE: BS: Nov 2010 Declutter & Exercise reports From: Stilly River Sage Date: 01 Dec 10 - 01:34 AM Beautiful, Maryanne! The new thread. SRS |
