BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: LilyFestre
Date: 06 Sep 11 - 03:11 PM

Today I am cleaning up little piles of this and that in the corners of my kitchen. A canner. Jugs that need to be recyled. A pile to go to the Salvation Army tomorrow. Dishes are done, oversized corn pot is soaking, beans are cut and ready to blanch when I get the pot clean (they are so awkward to clean because they are SO BIG), 3rd load of laundry is going...putter, putter, putter. :)

Yoga tonight.

Soft yoga.

Stretchy yoga.

A class I requested to happen for my post chemo body.

Ahhhhhhhhhh. I love my yoga teacher & I love my yoga!!!

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: wysiwyg
Date: 06 Sep 11 - 06:07 PM

The annual dog-linens, this year at the Laundromat. Big mistake-- needed a helper I forgot to invite, so now cannot walk. But by golly I got 'em done! Three chockful, heavy trash bags. Now, meds!

A few other items came to light for the pending Porch Sale. In a few days the housemate and I will go thru all the old Mudcat Attic Dorm linens to purge for the sale-- lot of memories in those fabrics and colors. I think I may keep the pillowcases for a quilt and sell the rest.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Sep 11 - 08:38 PM

I have to empty the back of my pickup of garage sale stuff from my friend's house. I was bushed yesterday, but this evening I'm thinking about making a quick trip for a few bags of topsoil and sand to level the place where the greenhouse will go.

Beans are simmering - it cooled off enough last night to kick my "must cook" gene into action.

I have dog things to attend to also. Baths and Revolution (for fleas, ticks, and heart worm) and to set their dog houses up again. They've had a big pile of hay in their stall, but they do like their dog houses when it's cooler out.

Michelle, how big is your farm, what do you grow, and is that your family business? Is your garden just for you, separate from what else you grow or raise? You talked about the barn lightning hit and the animals being okay - what all animals?

Maggie

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: LilyFestre
Date: 07 Sep 11 - 09:23 AM

SRS,

   We have a small homestead, several gardens for food production, 2 steer, 2 pigs and a bunch of chickens. We do this for ourselves and it is not our family business. We grow a variety of things and try something new each year. This year our new thing was garlic (planted last fall). We also have potatoes, tomatoes, peas, beans, carrots, summer squash, winter squash, pumpkins, melons, herbs and corn. We also have a small orchard started with apples, peaches, pears and cherries. Then there's the blueberry patch and 4 rows of grapes, started just for fun to see what we can do.
   
   Today didn't start out well for me. Let's hope the day gets better.

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: SINSULL
Date: 07 Sep 11 - 09:51 AM

Hope your day gets better, Michelle.
Meantime, word of Dan. He is OK. Apparently, he stayed with a friend to recoup but didn't let anyone know. All is well until his next chemo treatment.
Thank you for the thoughts and prayers.
SINS

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: LilyFestre
Date: 07 Sep 11 - 10:20 AM

Sins,

   That's great news about Dan!!! I'm so glad he finally let someone know where he was. I imagine lots of folks are very relieved.

The baby is just starting to wake up (what a GREAT day to sleep in...gray, cool, rainy) and I have the dishwasher going, a load of clothes in the washing machine, all hardwood floors have been swept, ALL toys that are downstairs are IN the playpen and I'll be vacuuming soon.

I have put half of Jeremiah's toys in a tote and taken them to my office, the rest remain downstairs. Please somebody tell me that I am not alone in the toy clutter making me want to pull my hair out!!! I don't mind some, really, I don't...but his current favorite are Legos and he takes them all over the house. I love to see him playing happily but every time I step on one of those little plastic lovelies, I'd like to pitch every single one of them into outer space!!!

*Whew* Ok. Rant over. I feel better. :)   I really do love watching him play and connect the blocks...just wish they could be kept in one area.

Oh and I stepped out of our bedroom this morning to find a nice pile of cat poop. GREAT. I wonder what prompted THAT. They never do that!!!! The cat box is clean, they have food and water, lots of love...what gives?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!? D~i~s~g~u~s~t~i~n~g!!!!

I hear happy chatter coming from the nursery so it's time for me to go!

Enjoy the day everybody!

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Sep 11 - 10:22 AM

Michelle, it sounds like a great setup for a little custom gardening on the side - you read about the restaurants that serve specialty salads or dishes from local farmers - any opportunity to branch out a little in your growing and improve the food quality in your community? If I ever get my garden to a point where I can consistently produce extra, I'm going to see about sending it to our local food bank. Or set up a fruit stand at the bottom of my driveway. ;-D

My ex has been patiently waiting to see how my sweet potato growing experiment worked, hoping that as with the Irish potato experiment, there will be extra to go around. Yesterday we took a spade fork out and I dug a little closer to the middle of one plant and we found a few of the potatoes. I covered them back over and I'll harvest them after the vines die way back, well before the first frost. Something is eating up all of my cantaloupes - I'm going to have to get a rat trap and see what it is. Rat, squirrel, some other rodent. Possum? It could be just about anything.

Another lovely cool morning. I took a hoe to the area where the kennel used to stand and leveled out a few built up spots where the fire ants had piled dirt. Didn't get the bagged top soil yet, maybe today. I need to fill in a few dog holes first so I don't break an ankle back there.

I'm glad you heard from your friend, Mary.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: SINSULL
Date: 07 Sep 11 - 01:36 PM

I have a family reputation for giving toys with thousands of tiny parts. LOL Sorry.
As to the cat poop - if you figure out what the cat was thinking, let me know. Mine occasionally use the bathroom sink. Most embarrassing when company is around.
M

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Bill D
Date: 07 Sep 11 - 04:30 PM

THIS IS NOT BILL IT IS TINKER.

The second half of my trip last night only made it as far as Silver Springs. Bill and Rita rescued me after 8 hours of driving last night and this morning the car refused to start.

The tow truck was 3 hours late, the mechanic can no longer squeeze it in... it'll be morning before I no when and what is going on...

Mudcat friends are the best.

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Sep 11 - 12:19 AM

Tink, you landed in a warm, safe place! And Bill D likes good beer, so check out the man's fridge. :)

My posters for work turned out great and after delivering them I stopped by my friend's house. He is resigned to the move, waiting for the other shoe to drop now that it's hurry up and a wait. Since the driving route to the place I picked up my posters went through the area his roommate wants to look for an apartment I got a look - convenient location, tons of apartments. They have to compete with each other for tenants, so they keep them up.

I drifted away, distracted by other web sites. Time to call it a night and see if I can get my topsoil tomorrow. This evening I ended up in the high-end grocery and spent more than I intended, but I only get there very 4 to 6 weeks now, so it will average out to be not too bad a hit. (I go a little crazy in the produce and fish sections of the store).

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: SINSULL
Date: 08 Sep 11 - 08:12 AM

Stay dry Tink. I hope your basement does too.
SINS

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Sep 11 - 09:18 AM

The morning is lovely but it's one of those days that feels a bit "off." The dogs were happy but kept getting tangled as they forgot to just walk and kept playing with Zeke and jumping on Susie. Zeke got into trouble at his house by raiding trash and getting into his food bin. Along the way there was a dog out who is simply NEVER out (he wasn't a problem, he stayed in his yard, but considering how careful this family is when they walk him or keep him in the back, this was odd.) Silly signs but the whole walk felt a little off-kilter. Maybe we're due for an earthquake? We aren't due a storm though we sure could use one (with the absolute exception of a firestorm)!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: katlaughing
Date: 08 Sep 11 - 10:56 AM

Sins, so glad to hear that Dan is okay!

Tink, enjoy the company and stay dry! It will come out in divine time...sometimes there's just no rushing such things.:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Tinker
Date: 08 Sep 11 - 11:32 AM

Jarius woke me up this morning (by phone) to find out where I left the pumps.   Less than 24 hours after putting in a new hot water heater it is wet again.... But the men will deal with it.

Then my feet went squish as I got out of bed.

Bill and I have picked up the wet carpet and raised up the need items from the little seepage here.

Know that there is a problem with the ignition coil, now waiting to see if that fixes it or if there is more of a problem...


YEAH! Car is ready !!! Time to drive on through the storm.

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: SINSULL
Date: 08 Sep 11 - 11:38 AM

How high's the water Momma?
Five feet high and risin'


Sunshine this weekend.

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Sep 11 - 03:37 PM

So it's flooding at Bill's house also?

Michelle has posted some links to impressive photos on her facebook page. Looks like the end of summer in PA is a sodden mess, not the lovely beginning of fall when people are on the lookout for the colors to start changing.

Not much to report except that stuff is piling up around here, but once I get started I can draw down the stacks of clutter. It's just getting started that is the trick. Today I'm tired, but I don't think this is symptomatic of my excavation of animal droppings last weekend. I think I just got to bed late last night.

Kat, is your weather cooling off? You'll probably be out doing your drives through the countryside to look at the Aspen turn. If Michelle can't supply good fall colors this year, you'll have to pick up the task. :) Here in Texas the color is brown. Unrelieved brown. Or black where it burned. Nothing to brag about usually, but this year is worse.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Bill D
Date: 08 Sep 11 - 04:37 PM

We had 'relatively' minor seepage in one end of what we laughingly call the 'guest room', where Tinker slept. It was dry beside her bed, but a bit soggy by the far wall. Tinker, bless her heart, moved a few things before I even woke up, and helped me sort out the damp throw rugs & carpet samples. Then I drove her to get her car. (She is about as easy a guest to have as any you'll meet...good company and clever. *grin*)

I now have 3 fans and the dehumidifier running, and will probably be back to vaguely normal by Sat. morning..(good Lord willin' and the creeks don't rise ☺). Tinker will likely have more to cope with when she gets home than I did!.

Weather maps look slightly better for next few days...for us, anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Tinker
Date: 08 Sep 11 - 05:49 PM

Came home to only wet floors and no clean up -- Well aside from the fans and dehumidifier It is tropically damp down there. But it is unseasonably cool. I did see a patch of sun and blue skies for about half an hour on my way home.

I am going to have a long soak in a hot tub courtesy of my new hot water heater tonight. Anything else can wait til tomorrow.

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Sep 11 - 07:35 PM

I turned the water heater tank thermostat way down this summer, but when we get to cooler days I'll turn it up so I can have satisfactorily hot baths.

When it rains hard here the creek rises in the bottom of the yard and in the street out front. We keep our fingers crossed that it doesn't reach the house, but we do pay flood insurance. I have only one room has wall-to-wall, because I didn't know when I moved in here what the odds would be that they'd get wet. It turned out that the only times the house did get wet were when the gutter on the back of the house was attached wrong and it fed water into the chimney bricks and puddled in front of the fireplace.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Bill D
Date: 08 Sep 11 - 08:24 PM

*sigh*..My basement area was a wee bit damper than I thought. The water that barely reached one carpet managed to 'wick' across and under almost to the other wall. Had to move some furniture and drape dampish carpets over plastic tables and turn the fan on them.
The place looks like we were just moving in. It was tedious, but I don't want to think about how it would go in a few days, if I hadn't noticed. I 'think' I can dry it all with fans overnight, then turning carpets over tomorrow.

Then I get to put it BACK in time for company Sat. night!

I hereby bequeath all rain for the next month to Texas!

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Sep 11 - 11:18 PM

Thank you. We'll try to take delivery on it.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Bettynh
Date: 09 Sep 11 - 11:05 AM

Yard sale tomorrow. I mined the attic and came out with a folding carpet rocker (needs carpet), wicker rocker, box of tuned metal bars that would be a xylophone if put together right, and a school chair (the kind that bolts to the floor). That should pull in the antiquers. While I was there, I found my grandmother's trunk. Notebook from her (high school, about 1898) physics class, a certificate from WW1 about her brother(?) signing up for National Guard, a photo of unknown men in front of a Civil War-looking tent, some clothes, 2 albums of postcards, all on the first layer. It'll take weeks of sorting, looking, thinking about, and deciding what to do with all that stuff. There are more very old books and magazines up there, too.

I hope to sell off 2 partial sets of china (1950-60s), the bowling ball that was in my son's closet when he moved into his apartment, a pile of assorted tupperware and kitchen gizmos (NO ONE needs more than one potato masher) and several boxes of little stuff for the quarter table.

I'm trying something new with all my sci-fi books. Packed them in plastic supermarket bags, 15 to a bag, and selling for $1.50 a bag. I've decided a Kindle is in my future. Hopefully someone who likes sci-fi will need a winters' reading.

The big problem this week is the old books, though. I can't bring myself to sell them for a dime apiece, and, really, I don't want to burden someone else with interesting boat anchors. They're heavy, and that's the worst problem. I doubt I can convince my son to bring them back in if they don't sell. I did list a few separately in my craigslisting, so there may be hope.

I'll load the front porch and back of the truck with stuff for the sale, so I can start setting up (in the driveway) before my son gets here at 7:30 to drag boxes out of the front door and set out signs. He gets upset when folks arrive early looking for a deal, but they can carry boxes, too. They have to pay whatever price I set, though. My rule is NO bargaining before the signs go out. I'm not a morning person.

Meanwhile, empty boxes, wrapping papers, and boxes of things I actually decided to keep are sitting in the middle of the kitchen.

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: LilyFestre
Date: 09 Sep 11 - 11:24 AM

Rock on Betty!!!

Cleaned the guest room today, vacuumed the nursery and dusted, scrubbed the bathroom (did the floor on my hands and knees), 2 loads of laundry are done and on the line and soon I'll tidy up the kitchen and living room.

Can't wait to see my friend...she'll be here in about 6 hours!!! YAHOO!!!

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Sep 11 - 12:49 PM

It took three 40-pound bags of topsoil to fill two of the dog-dug holes in the back yard. One near the faucet was going to cause an accident, same with the one by the edge of the patio. The others are out in open areas and not problematic. The rest of my topsoil (five more bags) is to level the area for the greenhouse shed.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Sep 11 - 12:55 PM

Betty, sounds like the kind of garage sale I love to visit! Good luck and good weather!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: mouldy
Date: 09 Sep 11 - 03:20 PM

Well the builders have been absent for the rest of this week, due to the jobs they are having to finish (last one today, I believe). The planners have approved the addition of a small roof light (in principle) but drawings and measurements will have to be done by the architect for a "minor materials amendment application". The builder's going to get hold of him next week, when HE (architect) gets back from holiday. It's all very frustrating, but should be worth all the hassle. It's the downside of owning a listed building in a conservation area!

Anyway, I have shed the first 2lb at WW....went to a beer festival this afternoon! However, I have only strayed 1pt into my "extras". Going to a food festival tomorrow, as I want to get something to take to a buffet on Sunday, (seeing as I'm not in a good way for making stuff). Now THAT is going to be torture!

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Sep 11 - 12:21 AM

I turned on the old computer in the kitchen, the one that uses the flat screen television on the wall as the monitor, and played a movie in its' DVD player. While it ran I washed all of the dishes, cleaned the counter, cooked a late dinner, then ate and put the extra away. The movie ended as the dining table was cleared (and I found the Sept. issue of a magazine that I was thinking hadn't been delivered) and tomorrow it will be lovely to wake and walk into a completely clean kitchen.

Ciao! (I watched Under the Tuscan Sun)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Sep 11 - 09:41 AM

Lovely morning. I've packed up a couple of things to put in the mail and have moved sprinklers during our day of allowed watering. Last night I started working out the position of the greenhouse by putting the floor pieces down and checking to see if they were level. They're not, so I'll be doing some work with a hoe and shovel first thing.

Michelle, I hope you had a good visit! Betty, I hope the yard sale is going well! I'm hoping I can have enough stuff in place by Oct 8 to do one then. Oct 1 might be even better, but that will happen only if I've managed to sort the garage gardening stuff into the new shed so I can start staging the garage sale. I'd love to advertise one and have it called for rain (we haven't had rain for so long that we'll do just about anything to tempt the weather to come along and ruin plans!)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Bettynh
Date: 10 Sep 11 - 02:45 PM

Sale is done, and I made $142. I still have the carpet chair and wicker rocker. The xylophone went to a young woman who knows a musician and works with children. ;-) The wheat pennies went to a 7-year-old who just discovered old coins. He was thrilled to have a coin more than 100 years old (one penny was 1910). The old books were pretty popular. I sold two of the biggest (and heaviest) sets, both histories, and the huge book of bound art magazines (1885). The Civil War memoirs are gone. I'm a bit surprised that I sold a book of hymn lyrics and psalms, but not the Zane Grey. There is just no predicting... And the sci-fi came back in. I think all the books, including the sci-fi will go into the next sale, in 2-3 weeks. Ditto with the china and bowling ball. On the front lawn are a kitchen chair (all alone, needing a new cover for the seat), a wire closet organizer, and a box of assorted stuff, mostly jelly glasses, with a "FREE" sign. I really hope the chair, at least, disappears. Salvation Army is so stuffed that they reject less-than-perfect furniture and the dump has closed the shed where you could leave useful stuff (too many pickers, fighting?). It's a good chair, solid maple. It just needs a piece of plastic and a stapler to make it a perfect (single) chair.

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: wysiwyg
Date: 10 Sep 11 - 02:52 PM

Front porch now stuffed with things ejected as the main floor was deep-cleaned (missed last year's). Probably about half is trash or recyclables and half is yard-sale worthy. Now I know what that oddly-located front door is really for--ejections!

In the midst of MIL visiting I am working now on the guest room for an anticipated September guest, and that leads to an office project looming. Then I leave this house in order and head to Chicago to organize the sick relative's probable need for live-in care for a few months.

Friend at another forum I frequent have some fun signatures-- here's one that applies to the surprises in a busy life: "I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me."

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Sep 11 - 05:18 PM

;-)

Moving wheelbarrows full of dirt, and contemplating ways to tamp it down without renting a thing to tamp it down. I can simply walk on it, or I can use a bucket of water or rocks and lift and place it. I'll moisten the dirt a bit when I finish. I'm using a long 2x4 and a level to be sure that the surface of this dirt is indeed level. I have some bags of gravel that I am planning to put down around the edges of the dirt to help stabilize it more once the floor of the shed is down.

I'm not getting a permit for this; it doesn't require a foundation, no plumbing, no wiring, and I'm making sure it isn't in the right-of-way. It also will be pretty close to the house and blocked from view by the fence so I'm hoping the village folks don't pay attention and ask about it. It's a temporary building at most.

Am going out to dinner with a friend tonight, so I need to find a logical stopping point and come in for a shower. We'll meet at the restaurant so I don't need to clean house first, or I'd have to stop the outdoors stuff now and scramble. :-D

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Sep 11 - 09:28 AM

Dinner was good, I didn't last long after I got home. Yesterdays wheelbarrow work wore me out. More of it today, but on a finer scale. Gotta run to Home Depot for some more screws and a couple of bags of sand.

I do have other stuff to get done around here, so I'll pace myself today.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Sep 11 - 03:45 PM

Darn. It's getting hot again. This week it's supposed to spike up to 102^o. Like we need any more reminders of the miserable summer that is almost past.

After tweaking the level floor for the greenhouse I've got it ready to put the structure in place. I'll lay out some of that and do it this evening when it's a bit cooler. This is probably a project that won't finish until next week, much as I'd love to have it over with today. I've sorted all of the various construction bits into different containers and I did find the right size and type of screw to replace some old rusty ones.

There are some boxes on the floor in the sunroom that came from my friend's house - some cookbooks I'll examine and shelve in the kitchen, and with others I'll make a Goodwill. Though it seems like I'm doing an awful lot on behalf of a friend, this work does benefit both of us.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: wysiwyg
Date: 11 Sep 11 - 11:00 PM

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by. - Douglas Adams

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Sep 11 - 11:27 PM

I like Douglas Adams!

I got the walls of the greenhouse up, but need to get a couple of pieces of lumber to place inside in the middle to support one part of the roof that is the "weakest link" in the structure. That should also make putting the roof on somewhat easier.

Load of laundry in, the rest of it folded. The kitchen is clean. All of that construction wore me out - I've accomplished a lot this weekend.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: mouldy
Date: 12 Sep 11 - 07:54 AM

You are all making me feel exhausted with your activity! I just wish I could get into my garden.
However, the builders ARE back, and the windowsills of the ground floor are in!

The diet went out of the window this weekend after my visit to the local food fair and beer festival on Saturday, followed by a lovely buffet at a neighbour's party yesterday afternoon. It's zero pts soup for me today!

The remnant of Hurricane Katya has decided to visit us, and my little Norway Spruce outside the front of my house has overturned, and the pot has smashed. At least where the builders are working out back is sheltered.

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Penny S.
Date: 12 Sep 11 - 08:42 AM

I added to my clutter yesterday - there was astreet party in aid of L'Arche, and people had little stalls with various items for sale, and one was selling off someone's yarn stash. I firmly refused to buy some lovely cotton yarn, but did buy some string type yarn to use with a circular knitting frame I bought from a charity shop the other week. I have made a string bag, which Oxfam reckons they could use more of, and can do it while Swedish Wallander is on TV, still watching the subtitles. I don't like just sitting, and that and the original Killing are rather inhibiting.
I am now supplying Oxfam with bags made from skirts from them - cheap, with jeans type styling and small sized. I fold up the hem inside and make pockets there, with a concealed one behind the front zip. Put a zip from my mother's recycling stash in along the top, where suitable, or Velcro. Use old belts, or spare fabric for the shoulder strap, with curtain rings to adjust length.
And I've also started making digitally edited photos to mount in old frames they sell for 99p.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Sep 11 - 09:38 AM

Penny, please post photos of those bags - they sound wonderful! And I agree, I don't usually just sit and watch TV or movies, I like to be doing something else. That's a great occupation that you can take the garments and convert them into a value-added product for the charity. I'm not ready to move the sewing machine to the living room yet, but I've done it in the past and for most programs it is enough to listen and glance up every so often. Radio with an occasional picture.

Andrea, unless your spruce was broken, severing the stem from the root ball, you can rescue it. Soak the rootball in a tub and let all of the dirt work free (this requires a bit of work!) and straighten out the roots as much as you can, and then either replant in a larger pot with new soil or put it in the ground in a hole only as deep as is needed to spread out the roots. Be sure the root "flare," the wide part of the tree at the base of the stem, is exposed. They suffer when they're planted too deep in the ground and bare root planting is actually better for them than preserving a root-bound ball.

I'm contemplating my lumber support this afternoon, and then I'll proceed with the roof on the greenhouse. I have a couple of helpers in mind, and with a support it should be much easier* (*that's the goal, anyway.)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Bettynh
Date: 12 Sep 11 - 10:52 AM

That chair is still on the lawn. :::sigh::: Ok, new plan... the son from Brattleboro is coming next week to visit. Maybe the dump there has a swap space. It seems so silly, but it makes me physically sick to think of sending it to the landfill.

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Sep 11 - 11:37 AM

I tried taking a structurally sound chair to a consignment store - someone could buy it and reupholster it the way they wanted. They said I'd have to reupholster it myself before they would take it - I guess they figure their shoppers have no imagination.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: katlaughing
Date: 12 Sep 11 - 02:19 PM

Same here, except for one antique rocker. Most charities will not take anything with a few tears, etc. which may mean reupholstering. WE put a wingback chair out by the post box this Sat. past. with a free sign on it. It was gone in thirty minutes.

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Sep 11 - 03:07 PM

Someone could start a business for rescuing and reupholstering chairs. Selling them afterward is the trick, eh?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Penny S.
Date: 12 Sep 11 - 04:38 PM

The problem with chairs over here is that they have to be certificated as fire resistant, and individuals cannot do this. We had to dump one of my father's chairs because of this, because no charity would take them - and then we found the label which he had cut off!

I tried to get the local upholsterers to re-web another chair, and have had to do it myself because it had webbing which was hard to get. Except my sister found a shop on the internet whichy had the stuff. I haven't finished yet, because I can't get it tight enough.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: wysiwyg
Date: 12 Sep 11 - 10:09 PM

Dr. Pain (PT) got me good today-- she is continuing to find new muscles. There is a structural orthopedic thingie I have always known about (causing bilateral imbalance/weakness) that never caused serious dysfunction till now (due to age/weight), so she is retraining my bones to move the way they probably always should have, and that's where the newly sore muscles are coming from-=- not places that used to be strong and are not now, but places I never developed at all from birth.

I have progressed to a new level of PT, where I can now add land-based versions of some of the things we do in the pool, because I discovered one night quite spontaneously that I could do one of them lying in bed which I had not been able to do on land at all, so she gave me a great pictorial worksheet to work from to keep those new muscles engaged properly (counterintuitively).

Today I made a poolside counter so I can keep better track of how many reps/sets I'm at. People keep talking to me while I work and I lose my count (strokebrain thingie).

I was able to start this year's studies today, and boy did THAT feel good. A colleague unexpectedly received a set of used books that she wanted to aim my way, and (TBTG!!!) it's just exactly the book I could not have afforded yet.

MIL is here and I am so enjoying my clean house. It's much easier to keep it that way when it starts REALLY clean.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Sep 11 - 09:22 AM

We're due the last hurrah of the summer this week as the high temperature today is supposed to break a record for the day at around 105^o. Later in the week it will cool, so later in the week people will come help me with my greenhouse roof. No point in sweating over the job if we don't have to. I have a 4x4" post (it's a pretty Douglas fir beam) that I'll stain and use as the support, and I have a cedar plank that I'll use for the footer and header.

Laundry and dishes out of the way this morning. I need to file some papers and make a run to the Goodwill. I'm keeping the decluttering activities minimal this week because I have a lot of stuff to do for work and I have a couple of events to photograph.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: LilyFestre
Date: 13 Sep 11 - 04:31 PM

Hosted a guest for 3 days and had a BLAST! We walked and talked until our legs couldn't do any more, up until 5:30am just giggling and reminiscing. :) Wonderful!!! :)

Ran errands this morning, picked up ingredients to make rye bread (this will be a first), picked up a few bushels of fresh pears to can this weekend and did a little grocery shopping. Jeremiah and I hung out in the sunshine (he swam in his little pool while I read with my feet dipped in the water) and I have a pot roast in the crock pot. Dishes are done, table is set, counter is clear, clothes ready to be washed (plug fell out and I can't get at it), toys are picked up and there is a pot roast in the crock pot. Soon I will be off to Y~O~G~A!!! YAY!

It's been a productive day here. Hope everyone is well!

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Sep 11 - 10:03 PM

This evening I listed an item at eBay (a "lot" of pretty gold chains) for my friend. Testing the waters for what are basically left-over estate items. Pretty, but he doesn't have anyone to give this women's jewelry. The gold merchants looked at it carefully before passing it over when he took some good over to the gold exchange a while back. The books I listed a couple of days ago have barely been looked at the but chains already have one watcher. I dug around in my fabric stash and found a rich red piece of cloth to use behind a close scan of the pieces to give it a richer feel. Lots of people list things, but if you don't make them look good and put up photos so people can see detail people are less likely to give it a second look (I thought one was 10K gold plate but in my photo I saw that it was 14K so I revised it to correct it.)

In the yard, I went out near dark with my lopper and cut down three of the huge sunflowers that have dried up and toppled over during the summer. Only one remains - and two of the stems were so large that I couldn't cut them with the pruning tool, so I'll wait till it's light and chop them down. (Yes, these sunflowers are the size of small trees.)

Another early night, I think.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Sep 11 - 09:26 AM

Looks like our Michelle is going to combine Yoga and port maintenance later this week. We can measure the time back to her cancer surgery by how old Jeremiah is - what a great yardstick! I hope you can have that port out pretty soon, pretty Michelle, and then just focus on yoga!

We had a few drops of rain this morning and it is overcast, but the chance is very low so I will still water my yard unless it rains outright.

I've worked out a footer for my 4" x 4" beam (8 feet long) that will support the greenhouse roof (the existing system has some cracks but is otherwise in great shape). This weekend, I think, we'll make the push to put the roof sections on. I can hardly WAIT to move stuff out of the garage - the bin with the corn gluten meal and rock powders (greensand and lava sand) and the potting table in my sun room and the mower . . . I'll get such a thrill from having that space emptied and then I can put it to better use with things more appropriate for my sun room and my garage. My neighbor is going to hand down their old grill (he received a new one for his birthday a few months ago so the old one is an orphan out in the yard.) It needs a little work, but I can handle that. I haven't grilled meat for months because of our fire danger. That grill can live in the garage where the corn gluten meal bin is now sitting.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: wysiwyg
Date: 14 Sep 11 - 05:53 PM

PT is tracking that stuff, it's 3x per week, but started land stuff this AM as well for me to track:

Clams and side extensions, 2 sets of 10

New Rx from doc for new PT cycle, to begin Friday.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Fall feats-Declutter & Exercise SEPT '11
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Sep 11 - 08:00 PM

Heavily overcast today and not nearly so hot. Tried to rain a couple of times, but didn't manage it. I'll continue to put water in the bird baths.

Tomorrow evening I'm going to try to get the roof put up on the greenhouse. My ex and a friend will be over to help, and this evening I'll put together my support beam so we can slide it into place when it's needed. I'll move a table over into the greenhouse because it is super sturdy and someone can stand on it to help when maneuvering the roof. This evening I can go out with the shovel and wheelbarrow full of dirt and fill in along the outer edges of the greenhouse, the parts that extend past the level pad I worked on to put it up. I'll probably also put a few bricks under the edge if they fit.

SRS