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Declutter & Accountability - January 2012
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Subject: Declutter & Accountability - January 201 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 31 Dec 11 - 10:24 PM Last time I checked, we're into our fourth year of this enterprise that we call "decluttering." For some of us it means getting control of the stuff in our houses, for others, it means getting control of our lives, and for most of us, it is a mix of the two. The "accountability" part came from those who are working on getting regular exercise on the path to better fitness. I don't think we all live in horribly messy houses, I don't think any of us are hoarders. But we have too much stuff in the places where we live and it is our aim to reduce the amount of stuff and along the way streamline the way we live. The goal here, for most of us, is to have a beautiful space at home that we can enjoy and can open to our friends and family when we wish. We want good health and to be able to enjoy whatever adventures come our way. Here's to a year in which each of us will create a space in our homes that is worthy of Architectural Digest, and our homes will be so organized that The Container Store and Martha Stewart Living come knocking, looking for ideas. And make it a year in which we all stop beating up ourselves for not being perfect, and along the way, achieve fitness (and have Richard Simmons come knocking looking for ideas!) Have a great 2012, all, and here's looking at you! (Previous thread) SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: LilyFestre Date: 31 Dec 11 - 10:43 PM Great intro to the new thread SRS!!! My goal for this month is to make half of my home office into a play room for Jeremiah. The other half will house bookcases and all my crafting gear. I'd like to have it set up so that we can play up there for the majority of the day with just a few toys in the living room area. Ideally, I'd like to work on my beading while the baby plays but we'll just have to see how it goes. My house is in better shape than it has been in some time but as an unfinished old farm house, there are always projects in the works. It's nice to know that I'm not the only person who doesn't live in the land of Martha Stewart! Happy New Year Everybody!!! Michelle |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 31 Dec 11 - 11:49 PM Happy New Year! |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: LilyFestre Date: 01 Jan 12 - 12:22 AM Happy New Year!!!! XXOOXOX Michelle |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 01 Jan 12 - 08:49 AM Planned January Daily Fitness Schedule: Sun-- Evening Club Pool w/Hardi; BackHab, Ai Chi Weekdays (11:30 AM and about 8PM): Mon-- Club Pool; BackHab, Ai Chi, Aquajogging; evening light cardio w/Hardi Tue-- PT Dry Clinic; strength and balance training; evening light cardio w/Hardi Wed-- Club Pool; BackHab, Ai Chi, Aquajogging; evening light cardio w/Hardi Thu-- Home weightroom; Upper Body workout, evening light cardio w/Hardi Fri-- PT Pool; Cardio and Stairclimbing Sat-- Active REST DAY/Sat Svc ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 01 Jan 12 - 11:53 AM The sun is out and the yard looks lovely, a great way to begin the year. Laundry is drying, the kitchen is clean, the table is clear and inviting. It's time to file a bunch of papers then start a new folder for this year's bills and receipts. I have a couple of these annual holders around: I'll leave the 2011 stuff in the 12-pocked folder and get the 2010 one to use now. Those 2010 bills and receipts will be bundled into a manila envelope. After a while they'll be shredded. Vacuumed yesterday but noticed that I couldn't get everywhere I wanted because there's stuff on the floor. So today part of my goal is to file papers, pick up stuff, and find places where it can go on shelves, etc. I have to take down the rest of the decorations, and I need to go turn over a portion of my garden to put in the potatoes. The new year starts looking much like the old year, but I did finish some big deadlines, so it feels pretty good. How are all of you doing exercise-wise? I figure my mowing yesterday was a great start (it took about 2 1/2 hours of steady pushing to get it all done, plus after raking leaves from the curb to the lawn and passing over them to mulch them in.) The bandaids on my thumbs are my "pink badges of fitness," though blisters aren't mandatory. :) SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 01 Jan 12 - 12:34 PM You don't have much winter there, do you, SRS? It sounds lovely. The sun has been out here, but temps have still been chilly, though yesterday it did get up into the 40s. Thanks to Morgan, we have a drainer full of clean dishes and swept and mopped living room and kitchen. He came over yesterday and for a while I let him play a computer game. At the time I had my arm out of the sling and on a pillow with ice packed around my elbow. It hurt a lot and I was fairly upset. Morgan said to me, "Mama, is there anything I can do?" I blubbered that I didn't know at which point he came over to me, put his hand on my shoulder and said, "What can I do for you that you cannot do?" I still really couldn't focus though I did tell him how sweet he was and how much I love him. At that point, he said he knew just what to do and proceeded to wash the dishes and then to sweep and mop! I did get it together enough to read him a couple of my favourite stories from the old Childcraft books: the Shoemaker and the Elves and Nanette Visits the Château. I told him he reminded me of the little pixies or brownies that came in the house and cleaned it up while folks were asleep. The Shoemaker story was the only one I could find, at the time, that reminded me of what he was doing. It was just so sweet and such a nice way to get ready for The New Year. He was excited about the new year because he was going to be able to stay up the whole night. I called him at about 930p. He was loud and excited and asked me what in the world I was doing up so late that I usually was always in bed by then. I told him I was getting ready to go to bed and wanted to wish him a Happy New Year. We then had a discussion about it now being 2012 but not the beginning of third grade. He was a little confused because were always talking about next year when you're in third grade. I think he finally understood. It was funny. I haven't heard yet, this morning, if he lasted the night or not. I have done a few things over the past few days, laundry, paying bills, etc. Roger took off work from Thursday through Monday so it's been nice to have him home. Today we hope to clean a bit and I, also, will be working on clearing my hanging files to make way for the new year receipts etc. If my elbow is not a lot better by Tuesday, I'll be going to the doctor. What exercise I have done has mostly been stretching all my parts but the one. Last night as we were in bed trying to go to sleep, the neighbours decided to set off some fireworks at midnight. We quickly found out Luna is afraid of loud booms! I got up to go to the bathroom and as I sat on the edge of the bed a furry head peaked out between my legs from under the bed. Poor thing, she was really frightened. I talked her into coming out from under it, she followed me to the bathroom, sat down and leaned against my legs and finally just lied down on the floor as I spoke to her and petted her. She followed me back to the bedroom but didn't go under the bed this time, just stayed in the bedroom for while. Up until now, we have never been able to get her to sleep in the bedroom. She's always gone back out to the living room to lie on the couch. She wouldn't even stay in the bedroom with a nice cushy dog bed. On Saturday, I did start work on a marketing e-mail for my first e-book. Learning a bit more of what I can do in Microsoft Word with pictures and other fancy bits. I also have to decide whether to keep paying for my website or just dump it and keep a running blog. A website doesn't really seem to be that important or useful, but I think that's mostly because I don't utilize it as much as I could. It's a lot easier to enter things in a blog than to go into the host server, log in and then use their tools to add to the website. If I dump it it would save us $12 a month which isn't a lot but every little bit helps, right? If any of you have any thoughts I be interested to hear them. I'll be working more on the e-mail and try to get it out this week. I think I'll be having Morgan over after school at least one or two days per week now as he is no longer going to the late day classes. He's quite excited about getting out at the usual time. I really am loving having Dragon Naturally Speaking! It has been a great tool especially at the moment. So here we are in the new year. I hope that it is a prosperous one for us all in all ways and I give thanks that it is so. luvyakat |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 01 Jan 12 - 12:59 PM Kat, I've been using Wordpress for a couple of blogs for a while, and have a blogger site. The benefit to the blogger site is that it is automatically indexed in the Google searches (Google owns it.) When the fireworks and shooting started last night I got up and watched the dogs - they were excited - so I invited them in and we did tricks for treats for a few minutes until the worst of it settled down. They thoroughly enjoyed coming inside for food! Getting set to take my girl Cinnamon for a walk by herself. She came in to do timeout - a while ago Poppy snapped at Zeke for getting to rough and Cinnamon gets upset when anyone snaps at her friend Zeke so was all set to clobber Poppy. I gave her a boot in the rear, shooed her to the garage for a couple of minutes, then brought her into the house. I've snuck the leash (it rattles, so I had to be careful) to this room and closed the back blinds so the others won't see the door open. Poppy barks at the door every so often, but in a few minutes I'll take Cinnamon for a walk to remind her who is the pack leader. They each raise a ruckus if they think they've been left behind. I'll do the same later with Poppy (they benefit from these one-on-one walks). I benefit from the walk also. :) SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 01 Jan 12 - 02:41 PM Thanks for the reminder about Wordpress, SRS. I forgot I have a blog there. I just spoke to start logic where my website is hosted. I think I'm going to park my domain name through them for $24 a year and have it point to a blog or two. That will save us a little bit of money and make it a lot easier for me to work on and also to feel motivated to work on. It has been so cumbersome otherwise I just haven't wanted to do it to keep it up the way it should be. So, that's one good start, one item crossed off the list for the new year. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: GUEST,mg Date: 01 Jan 12 - 03:48 PM I am very grateful for a lot ...including probably renters for my rental house, which I sorely need...still have my job in an uncertain economy..only a couple of years until I could retire. I think the best thing for me to do is just to keep things minimal and as low-stress as possible. I really need a better cash flow and have to look at ways to achieve that without having to summon up get up and go which I do not have...I have put ads out for doing a modest amount of shopping, housework etc. in exchange for free rent, rather than look for another part-time job..which would conflict at times with my main state job...I hope to go to more music camps this next year..already signed up for Rainycamp and Singtime Frolics and Camp Alexandra...hope to make it to Princeton again..would love to go to one of the Georgia Straits but they are pricy...hope to work with others to get at least one group CD out this year and maybe another on canneries for the local cannery group here. The one word that comes to my mind when I think of 2012 is travel...my feets are getting itchy...Had VISA almost paid off..down to under $3k and loss of renters has upped that quite a bit...but hopefully I can pay that off and then my car, which I must say I am enjoying after being without one for several years. mg |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Janie Date: 01 Jan 12 - 05:39 PM Whew!! Another closet and the spare bedroom nearly done, stuff moved around from closet to closet to put "dead storage" items in dead storage, put stuff that I occasionally need to get to where I can get to it with a little less digging and work, and stuff that I have wanted to get to mor eoften but haven't because it was inaccessible in places where I can get to it rather easily. Another large load of stuff for Goodwill. I could use the money from a yard sale, but when I factor in the time and prep, and keeping all this "stuff" until an opportune time for a yard sale, Goodwill is the sensible choice. I wish my local ecumenical ministry thrift store was open for collections on Saturdays. They need the dollars much more than Goodwill to stock the food pantry, etc. It was sad and difficult to make the decision to get rid of my extensive hand-thrown pottery collection. No pleasure, however, in having all those pieces wrapped in paper and packed in cardboard in a back closet. This house is simply too small to either use the functional pieces in the kitchen, or to have much sitting out. A few pieces were small or flat enough that I was able to hang them on walls when I moved in, and I have kept a few favorite vases in the hope I will one day have flowers to cut again, but 98% is out on the carport. Annie called as I was going through the boxes, and is going to make it a bit easier. She has a large circle of friends and old-time musicians. She is going to pick up the entire collection and find good homes for the individual pieces among her far-reaching crowd of friends that she travels to play music with - gifts for people who host her, etc. Hauling it all to Good Will felt really bad. These pieces were carefully and lovingly collected over 30 years, and most have memories and emotions attached to them. Now, it is likely they will have meaning to some one else who receives them as a thoughtful gift from some one they care about and with whom they have made memories. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: mouldy Date: 01 Jan 12 - 06:11 PM Having cleared the debris from Christmas visitors out, I have also cleared up from the evening with friends last night. It was a late one, of course, as we were out in the village for the torchlight procession and the firework display. I don't want to believe what I read on the bathroom scales yesterday evening. They told me I had put about 10lbs back on in as many days since I was weighed at WW. I'm going away to Paris for a couple of days this week, to celebrate my 60th (a treat from my daughters) and I think I'd better eat soup for the duration! My cat decided to try and do a runner out of the front door about 1am, but I managed to grab him. Today, he went out back late morning and did a disappearing act until I managed to coax him in at 7pm. He hasn't eaten all day, and I didn't even get his meds into him this morning. He seems quite frail at the moment. Hopefully his appetite will be back tomorrow. I think he's stressing because all of a sudden he's got a rearranged house and no builders, and while he's trying to adjust to this, it keeps getting invaded by visitors. I daresay the fireworks down the road didn't help. They were very loud (very impressive) and lasted a good 15 minutes. Washing, packing and an attempt to sort out that bedroom of mine tomorrow, I think. Andrea |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: LilyFestre Date: 01 Jan 12 - 07:31 PM My husband and I played with the Wii for over 2 hours...that counts for exercise! We played tennis, bowling and golf but the real exercise came in the form of boxing....at which, I might add, I ROCK!!!! *GRIN* That was fun AND a great work out!!! Michelle |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 01 Jan 12 - 08:57 PM Solid PW pool workout; 45 min aerobic up to 180 BPM susteained and 10 min flex. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 01 Jan 12 - 09:09 PM I walked both dogs today, and have done some of the gardening I wanted. I weeded, moved four Swiss chard plants to a more protected area, and dug a couple of the areas for potatoes. Back to work tomorrow. The rest of the world has the day off, but classes resume during our truncated winter semester, so we're all back. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 01 Jan 12 - 11:45 PM We had a leisurely morning then got busy. Roger swept the whole house while I did a bit of laundry and some one – handed scrubbing in the bathroom. We also picked up and put away a few things here and there. Roger took the dog and me for a ride, stopped at the store for a few groceries, then bought me lunch. We came home and found a new BBC detective series and watched a couple of episodes in the afternoon. Had a great visit with my daughter back east and our son as well as my sisters in Wyoming. All in all it's been a kind of quiet pleasant day. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: LilyFestre Date: 02 Jan 12 - 01:35 AM Dishes from the last 2 or 3 days are done, toys are picked up, medications for the week are all sorted out and I am looking forward to tomorrow. :) Michelle |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: mouldy Date: 02 Jan 12 - 05:11 AM Still got to gird the loins and attack the bedroom. Need another coffee. Andrea |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 02 Jan 12 - 11:48 AM In the fun of enjoying a hard workout last night, I forgot that Sunday night is NOT the night to do it, if one wants to do the planned exercise program the next day-- I'm way too sore, so I'm dialing back today's pool workout to be a weightroom visit later with ZHardi for cardio and upper-body DVD, and some walking this afternoon. ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 02 Jan 12 - 04:57 PM I finished filing the piles of paper around my file cabinet and switched the expanding file for this year's bills. The 2010 papers are out of it and lumped into a big envelope. 2011 papers will stay in that file in case I need to find something in the coming months. I've been organizing the papers this way for years now, it works well. Went for a walk with the dogs, it's a lovely afternoon, sunny, 52 degrees. I'll head out in a couple of minutes and dig another spot for potatoes. The kitchen is also caught up, sinks and counters scrubbed also. There are still some ornaments out, but tonight I'll make a push to finish them. I've been working on the area around my dining table - that is where the papers I've been organizing have lived. I cleared a couple of the built in shelves at the end of the room and put in a wine rack a friend had given me. During the break I took advantage of a great sale at a liquor store I like and got over a case of various wines, all well under $10 a bottle. It looks nice but it's also nice to finally have a wider selection of wines for various meals. Mostly various imported reds and a few German whites as well. How's your arm, Kat? SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 02 Jan 12 - 06:05 PM Ended up doing a shop-a-thon today, with lots of walking. Up to and past capacity: still out of breath even when walking easily indoors-- lower meds a-coming. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: mouldy Date: 03 Jan 12 - 03:03 AM Got all the seasonal decorations properly boxed up and put away. Mainly packed for my few days away, and all washing up to date. (Still haven't braved the bedroom). However, I want to delay leaving until the post has arrived, and that's usually around lunchtime, so once I have deposited the feline at the cattery in an hour, I will try and crack on. Part of me hopes that we don't discover a flea market in Paris - the baggage restrictions on out cheap flight make it impossible to buy anything of any substance! (Could always chuck clothes away, I suppose.....) Andrea |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Dorothy Parshall Date: 03 Jan 12 - 10:21 AM Andrea: When we went to Whidbey Island last year, I only packed extra underwear. I knew there were good thrift shops and we bought a couple changes of clothes when we got there. In our case, it saved carrying stuff on the plane; we returned by truck. It seems we have all made it through the holiday season relatively intact. I am realizing that I manage to get all the daily nitty gritty done. It is finding a LIFE and a way to exercise that suits me... Long talk with dear friend in Maryland yesterday, catching up. He goes to a gym and rides an exer-cycle for an hour - frequently - listening to Bulgarian dance music! I could do that if I had one here - maybe a half hour, listening to music or even talking books! AND he gave me names and number for friends of his in Montreal who are musicians and into dance - as a resource for more dancing! Yesterday I walked around the block; I was starting to feel the chair grow around me like a prison! Arghhhh! So - phone calls to make, 2 emails to send to arrange for "coffee date" with friends, one to work out logistics re raccoon books. I ordered several copies of one useful book and had them mailed to a woman in Ohiio (that darned border). She will then send copies to others as needed. What a sweetheart! And an email to SPCA encouraging a meeting to talk about strategies for wildlings as the birthing season will start in April. Now to peruse the almost 30 emails awaiting. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Penny S. Date: 03 Jan 12 - 12:58 PM I managed to get through two Christmas dinners and fried leftovers without putting on any extra - still at my lowest for months (apart from an odd glitch yesterday)! Still have a stock of choccies, seasonal sweeties, nuts, cakes and biscuits, but last year I managed to keep these going until Candlemas. (The next day after that being my birthday can lead to further supplies.) Today I cleared an area in front of my study window as I am having a curtain pole measurer coming on Thursday. I don't feel up to doing the job myself as I don't know what the wall is made of, and one window is very wide. I have to move stuff in the living room as well. I also headed off the post of the previous occupant at last. They never redirected mail, and I wasn't given the address to send on to. The estate agents dealt with it for a bit, but then started shredding it. I set up a stamp to read NOT AT THIS ADDRESS and put things back in the post, which worked except for plastic covered things, on which someone would carefully wipe the ink off and redeliver it here. Today I had back, for the third time, one on which I had stuck a sticker ov er the address, with the stamp on. Someone had carefully moved the stamp and reattached it before redelivering it. The sorting office now has a flag on my address. Only stuff for me will now arrive! The problem with that declutter was that I went out in the storm to the next but one village, next to the Waitrose supermarket, where they were selling off Christmas goods at half price. Hence some of the above mentioned stash of goodies. Penny |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 03 Jan 12 - 01:58 PM It's better, thank you, SRS. Still in a sling, though I do take it out for short time every couple of hours to give my neck a rest and to just keep my arm from getting too stiff. I have been able to do a lot more with it in the past couple of days. We did a bit more cleaning, yesterday, so the new year came in a bit better than I expected. I must be feeling better overall because I put Roger on notice yesterday that I am done with bachelor living and am reclaiming my way of making our home feel more comfortable and inviting. It's not all his fault. There is a lot of decluttering I need to do, especially in my mind and through my words. It might seem simple but one thing I have determined to do this year is to write on the lines in my datebook. It sits in front of me just above the keyboard so I reach over to write in it and the most comfortable way is to do so in a slant. I'm adding one step to that, slanting the book instead before I write in it. This will make it easier for me to find past information about appointments and other things. This morning I checked into a new satellite service for Internet to see if it would be less expensive for us. Still thinking about it. I also called two doctors' offices to find out if the sleep study from November 15 had finally been written up and sent out them. Finally, it has and will be faxed to the doctor who moved away, the one who really saved my life. I will be meeting a new doctor/pulmonologist on the 12th who will take over his work with me, but he really wanted to see the report and offered to send me his " thoughts" on it. I hope he does so before my first appointment with the new doctor. I've heard good things about her, but she's going to have to fill some very big shoes. I've never met a doctor quite so brilliant and empathic and an excellent listener as Dr. H. I also did some work on a CD cover for my brother with directions for our sister, the artist, on what changes would like to see in what she has come up with. I intended to do more work on my marketing e-mail for my book, but here it is already lunchtime, so I'll have to see about getting to it this afternoon. I have some other specific goals in mind for this year, but at the moment, they remain too private to share. When they come to fruition I will definitely share! |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 03 Jan 12 - 02:03 PM PT today per schedule. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: LilyFestre Date: 03 Jan 12 - 03:48 PM Yesterday Pete and I had a day to ourselves. One of our Christmas gifts was a full day and evening of babysitting! We found a fantastic consignment shop and picked up 7 new outfits for the baby, went to a bead shop that was overwhelming and heavenly...they even had a couch with magazines and Bluesville on the radio so Pete was content. I'm hoping to take a few classes to get some basics down pat for both beading and wire-wrapped jewelry making! Then it was off to dinner(which we were given money for as part of the gift) and then to Barnes and Noble...a place we used to go to almost every weekend....and had a few cups of coffee (courtesy of a gift certificate as part of the same gift). It was a wonderful day that we both needed and enjoyed. :) Washed some new dishes, swept the kitchen, dining room and hallway, picked up toys, I'm on my 3rd load of dishes, made and packed 3 days worth of lunches for Pete (jambalaya) and am going to vacuum once the baby is awake. He's been really cranky lately and his sleep schedule has been off. Today we know why. He is sick with a cold complete with cough, runny, runny nose and fever. Poor little man. He's been playing and into things he shouldn't be (which is normal and good) but he's also been quite a bit more clingy and asking to be UP! UP! Mama's lap is a good place to snuggle. I sure wish he felt better. Vick's Vapor Rub and a humidifier are both on. Also, my car died. Pete just went to town to get me a new battery. I think I'll go put a fresh pot of coffee on so he has something to warm up with when he gets home. HELLO JANUARY TEMPERATURES!!! Walking DVD to come before dinner and then some Wii Boxing afterwards. :) |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 03 Jan 12 - 06:39 PM Kat, we were trying to sort out a bill from a sleep study that Moonglow participated in, and it seems the insurance company paid the wrong place, the sleep center instead of the doctor. My daughter already paid the sleep center. But we won't know, probably will have to pester the insurance company to repay the doctor because the sleep center, on in a large chain, has gone into bankruptcy. Here's the story. They have a huge debt load compared to their assets, and they've bailed on customers, employees, everyone. I wasn't getting an answer when I called, and Moonglow said she had the same result. Calling other offices didn't work, so I googled it and found the news. If you used this company you're lucky to have anything out of them. Michelle, that was a good start on your mini-break with babysitting. Next time you need to visit a spa for Mommy and Daddy and enjoy the hot tub together instead of shopping for baby clothes. But you'll get there! Penny, I had a post office box for years and it took forever to get people to understand when I shifted to a new post office and my address changed. One friend sent a parcel that was never returned - they simply kept it. He wrote to ask if I'd gotten it and I asked where he sent it or I'd never have known what happened. I tried writing to that new box user and sending an new forwarding card - absolutely no cooperation. I helped a neighbor a bit this afternoon, tech stuff. I'll be running around tomorrow and need to pick up a new modem for her. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 03 Jan 12 - 10:24 PM I hope you get things sorted out, SRS. All of the sleep studies I've had done were through the two hospitals which are here. This last one was supposed to be at a specific doctor's sleep clinic, but they couldn't get me in soon enough. No problem with any of them being legitimate, though. I didn't even know there were places like what you told us about. I hope the study itself was of some use for Moonglow. Meditation this morning. Early evening I did 20 min. of qi gong; took it very slowly and carefully with my right arm. Some moves I was not able to do and wouldn't even try, but there don't seem to be any ill effects, so far, from the bit I did do. It's a start back, then next week my osteopath will manipulate it and that will help, too. I did well on writing on the lines and was able to tick off all but one of the things I wanted to get done today. kat |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: LilyFestre Date: 03 Jan 12 - 11:34 PM Well, I ended up only doing half a mile tonight at 4mph. I also did 5 load of laundry away, 8+ trips up and down the stairs and vacuumed. I've been busy all day and it shows! I don't know about the rest of you but when my husband is home for holiday breaks, I like to spend that time with him and Jeremiah and I kind of let the housework slide. :) Michelle |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Catherine Jayne Date: 04 Jan 12 - 08:29 AM Happy New Year!! Sorry I've not been around for a bit, life seems to have got in the way. Work has been busy and Paul has been busily working on the house extension. We ordered our new range cooker the other day which should be delivered early part of next week. I've pretty much been able to maintain my weight for a while although last year I had renal colic twice and then pneumonia in November, just waiting for the result of a chest xray I had on the 30th December to see if my chest is completely clear, fingers crossed it will all be ok. I've got a busy year ahead of me. I have a place running the London Marathon on the 22nd April for the charity Sense which is a charity for the deaf blind, click here to have a read about what they do. I have a fundraising page where people can sponsor me and help raise money for this wonderful charity. I'm also taking part in the London and Edinburgh Moonwalks which is another 2 marathons which are powerwalked and the London Sunwalk which is a half marathon also power walked so thats 3 and a half marathons in 4 consecutive months. Take a look at my Year of Marathon Mayhems page Harry is doing well at school and was one of the 3 wise men in the school navtivity play. The twins will go to the same school in September. Harry is still learning the violin and enjoying it. Amelia loves to sing. I think George is going to play the drums!! Hope 2012 is kind to everyone x |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 04 Jan 12 - 10:33 AM Catherine, thanks for checking in. Sounds like we might hear from you again come July! I hope the xray is clear - those sound like serious ailments to get through - be sure you're healthy when you start these races! I must confess here this morning that I embarrassed myself with my Internet provider (I was on hold and hung up before it got worse). I knew my bill would go up, thought by $5, they raised it by $10. I found in my notes just now, while waiting on hold and haranguing the clerk about playing fast and loose with the bill. The penalty for leaving the contract is $5 a month. I found a note to myself "Call back in Dec. 2011." Another NOTE TO SELF: "Check the notes before making the call next time." I'll just shut up now and pay the bill. Running around, spending money today. Not my favorite thing, but it must be done. While I'm out, I'll pick up that new modem. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 04 Jan 12 - 02:31 PM The doc approved the fitness plan for January, below, and set a target HR goal of 110 sustained for 15 minutes (with higher intervals for cardiac training). To achieve that we slashed the meds further-- with the option to eliminate one entirely, if that HR is not possible due to the med's pulse-slowing effect. The bennies are running out on PT so I ordered a poolside pulse-oximeter which will arrive in a few days, so I can focus the remaining PT bennies on the dry clinic. One or two PT pool sessions left, as I transition back to my own pool routines, which I have missed! ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 04 Jan 12 - 05:35 PM Are you still planning to travel some this month, Susan? Kat, one of the little extras in Windows 7 Ultimate is a "Stickynotes" program that you can park where you want on your monitor and it's made to look like a post-it note. I wonder if the diary you're keeping is doing a similar task? The difference here is that when I finish I remove it from the "slip" so I can't see a list of what I've accomplished, just the list of what needs to be done. Today my son and I visited a couple of places so he could get his hands on several laptop/net book/tablet products out there and compare how they look and feel. He's already done some research and narrowed it down to a couple of designs and brands. And then I took him to the credit union and set up an account with money his grandmother left him that I'd been holding. He was (as I told his dad) the King of Ennui as I had him set it up, but I think he's smart enough to figure out pretty soon that it's a nicer place to do business than the commercial banks. And he can put cash over there every so often to save and forget about it since it isn't his main bank for now. Teaching kids about money - it's a tough job. It's an evening of work to make up for the afternoon off and it's nice to have a job that lets me be flexible on days like this. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Dorothy Parshall Date: 04 Jan 12 - 06:55 PM A day of connecting by emails and discussions on FB. Animal advocacy - some ideas on how to improve our outreach and effectiveness. Entered some info in address book and got rid of the paper copies; more yet to do, now that I found address book. Used my new battery booster to start car yesterday. R used it and left key in ignition, got a boost, then came home and turned it off??? We will keep said object in car! And take the battery charger to the cabin. Made a couple qts of stewed apples. R used my car while he determines how to get clutch repaired in his truck. Appt with country neighbour on Saturday morning to consider the internet and cell phone possibilities. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 04 Jan 12 - 07:41 PM Wed-- No Club Pool (doc appt); evening light cardio w/Hardi & upper body weights w DVD Also a lot of bending and carrying in connection with a closet cleanout. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 04 Jan 12 - 08:59 PM Thanks for the reminder, SRS, about the sticky notes. I like writing down what I do and what I need to do and having it to refer back to, so I remain a Luddite in some respects. Meditation this morning. Got a "wake up" e-mail from the Dr. who moved away. Basically, we need to do some tweaking of the BiPAP and I need to move enough, in a safe environment, to be breathless and move out more CO2. I have a lot to discuss with the new doctor on the 12th. I was able to tick off everything on my list today, which included parking my website and pointing my domain name to my blog, thus saving us a little bit of money every month; updated my blog, Linked in, and twitter. I spent the morning figuring out what I wanted for an e-mail signature for marketing my book. I used a neat, free program called Wise Stamp. I also answered some e-mails. I spent about 30 min. on my feet, this evening, marching/dancing in place while I folded laundry and also walking back and forth in the house. I definitely got to the breathless stage, worked past the initial "ow, it hurts" and felt pretty good by the time Roger got home. kat |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 04 Jan 12 - 09:18 PM Are you still planning to travel some this month, Susan? Sorry to have missed that earlier-- no, not AFAIK; sister is doing fine on packing up her apartment without me for now, TBTG. May change mid-month but staying put for now. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 05 Jan 12 - 12:11 AM This evening I set up the new modem for my neighbor. It required a lot of going back and forth between the living room (where the modem and router are) and the bedroom because when she first wanted the modem set up she didn't want to have any holes in the wall or run it up into the ceiling and back down. Now she's thinking about wiring the room. It would be easier. I packed up my holiday lights, most of the tabletop ornaments, and started on the mantle this evening. I'll save the rest till tomorrow when I'll also rearrange boxes in my closet as I put them away. It looks like we'll be having friends over for dinner on Saturday so I have to scramble to get this place picked up and figure out what the central dish is. Everyone else will bring other stuff (we always do potlucks - that way no one person bears the whole expense of the dinner and we always enjoy what others bring to the meal.) SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Catherine Jayne Date: 05 Jan 12 - 01:51 AM LOL SRS! I hope to be around a bit more once the training has settled down. We've got a few festivals planned to go to this year too so hopefully it won't be all running/powerwalking and there'll be much more music and singing. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 05 Jan 12 - 08:39 AM Every year we winterize the next "most troublesome" source of drafts. Top of the list this year is MY OFFICE, duh! Where the BRIGHT SUN is even when it's cloudy!!! Hardi offered me an evening of "my choice" and so I will spend the day prepping for him to insert his head into a cavity HE can reach to staple-gun in some foiled bubble wrap left from someone else's project that has been sitting up there since February 2010!!! My part of the job will be gathering materials and tools-- and stair-climbing them up there, plus clearing space so he can get at that cavity. Let's see... caulk gun and caulk, staple gun and staples, knife, duct tape.... LOL, I also have a 5-gal bucket that needs to go back up, to carry it all! This foiled bubble wrap is neat stuff-- the Celotex that flexes to cut/lay in place like carpeting. With heat-reflective surface. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 05 Jan 12 - 10:34 AM Drafts were a major problem in this house when the fireplace was front and center in the living room. It let in warm and humidity in the summer and kept the room very chilly in winter. Last summer I bought a large (est. 4' x 10') pink styrofoam-type plank of insulation and measured and I cut pieces to build a box that fits into the cavity - it doesn't just cover the front, it is literally a box I slid into the fireplace cavity, starting with lining the sides, the back, (two pieces because it slopes), the bottom, and then a facing piece on the front that is flush with the stonework on the fireplace wall. I caulked it with low-pressure window sealant foam. I put a plank on the rock hearth (not level) and with shims made the 3/4" plywood piece level, and the large television sits on that, blocking the pink portion of the rock wall. It feels so much better in here. If I get insulating curtains for the sliding glass door and the double windows on the back of the house (same wall as fireplace) I'll have an even better insulation system. My electric bill went way down. I finished a couple of deadlines over the break, but more of them loom. Must trot! SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 05 Jan 12 - 11:23 AM Yes, the cavity is box-shaped and a liner of this stuff is pretty much the plan. Need to leave the front open but already planned to curtain it off as well. Another kewl thing today, in combat of the Little Grey Gnats of SAD trying to get me-- and man they are really swarming today. The closet cleanout (it's my SuperCloset that I've posted about before) included a shopping bag full of scraps. These had been held/stored the requisite time since some clothing was re-purposed (dresses became skirts). I did use quite a few of the scraps in some small projects, and was glad to have them handy... but now it's time for that nasty bag to go and I am not a quilter! A few of the bodices (about 8) are pretty enough to wear as liners under sweaters to keep cotton next to the skin and to cover that throat area that radiates so much heat in the winter. I need 2 new sweaters-- now I realize they can be V-necks!!! I tossed a few yesterday but when I tackled the larger bag this AM, that seemed not quite right somehow..... The rest of the bag (scrappier bodices, sleeves, other parts) is going to FreeCycle (they're out on the porch NOW), where someone will enjoy a winter quilting and/or dollclothes project, and I get to keep a visual reminder of some old favorites that wore out and were discarded as skirts or blouses long ago. (The space cleared will hold some other stuff I DO need to keep, organized in those nice re-usable shopping bags that hold their shape.) I even had hangers on hand-- to hang up the bodices I saved, where they will look pretty on a bare wall. But the neatest thing is the pair of motion-detector LED lights we found ElCheapo to light that black hole of a closet. Next is putting back in the things that STAY, with lights ON!!! ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 05 Jan 12 - 12:23 PM Meditation this morning, 30 min. of qi gong, and about 8 min. of stretches and walking in the house. There seems to have been some cosmic serendipity last night after I read my doctor's e-mail. I felt scared and a little depressed. So I went to Netflix and was going to watch a short video to relax my mind and wait for Rog to come home. I had to laugh when one of the top movies recommended was called "Fat, Sick, and Almost Dead." I started to watch it, but decided to wait so Roger could listen along later in the evening. It's a documentary made by an Australian man who had spent his young life concentrating on making oodles of money. As he continued with success he ate more and more and became quite obese. While the video follows his journey of driving across America in 60 days while on a very well monitored juice fast, it encompasses much more about nutrition, especially micro nutrients which we get from fresh fruits and vegetables. He suffered from an autoimmune problem which caused skin rashes for which he was on prednisone all of the time. While travelling across America,he told people what he was doing, and met a truck driver in Iowa who had the same skin condition and who was morbidly obese. He offered to help the truck driver who was so inspired, after a few days of committed juice fasting, he went on to a 60 day fast with a doctor's supervision and, within a year dropped 202 pounds. He quit driving truck and has made it his life's work to help people just as he was helped. The docu was very entertaining, very "revealing," and very inspiring. It also won a slew of awards noted at the bottom of the homepage at THE WEBSITE. An even more important website which seems to have new and new members every day is REBOOT YOUR LIFE. That's the Australian link, but it gives you an idea and, I haven't looked for it yet, but I'm sure there is a link to the American equivalent. I intend to speak to my doctors about this. I don't want to do a complete just juice fast, but will probably start out replacing one meal each day with juice. Have to buy a juicer, first! I could relate too well to the trucker, especially, NOT that I have that much to lose ( there wouldn't be anything of me left!), but the pain he had in trouble with moving, etc. was too close to home. Regardless, even if one is interested in losing just a little bit of weight, the documentary is well worth watching, just for health purposes, in my opinion. He does have several experts, doctors and nutritionists who speak of how terrible the general diet of the majority of Americans and Australians is. Most of us only include 5% of our daily intake of food in micro nutrients when it should be about 60%. The neat thing he points out about juicing is looking at a plate or bowl filled with the recommended amount is overwhelming. It looks as though one would never be able to eat that many fruits and vegetables. By juicing it becomes a much easier and tasty task. kat |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 05 Jan 12 - 01:05 PM 2 trips outside today per daily phone alarm, one with quite a heavy load to bring in. Car crap now reduced-- bagged items not needed till spring are headed to space waiting in that closet!!! I'm getting the upper body workout that had been scheduled, in all these chores. I can feel the metabolism beginning to respond as the meds levels go down, but it's still breathless-provoking to do so little at such energy cost... however I know that these are the right pieces I'm working with, and that they will pay off exponentially and synergistically, so I am obedient to them. ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 05 Jan 12 - 06:30 PM Kat, there is a lot in various places these days (public television, public radio, various green sites) about macronutrients, micronutrients, etc. And then there are the various flora programs - Dr. Ohira (sp?) is the one you hear about a lot. Please let us know what you decide to do. Commercial fruit juice is mostly forms of sugar and carbs, so you're going to have to make your own fresh juice to make it work. I've been busy ticking things off of my to-do list today. Finished a couple of important ones that I can finish later this evening. Got a call from a friend who is in town and I'll run an errand, shop, then pick her up and we'll have dinner with my ex also. She'll spend the night and I'll spend tomorrow cleaning getting ready for dinner on Saturday. Interesting use of the bodices of dresses, Susan. Do you finish them along the bottom so they're basically fitted blouses? I see design folks on programs like Nate Berkus doing layers so you end up with a dress under a top and a jacket so it looks like a skirt, yet when you take off a layer or two it can be dressed up for evening wear if you don't have time to go home and change. I don't think this fits any of our lifestyles, but it's still interesting. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: GUEST,wysfone Date: 05 Jan 12 - 06:58 PM Not these. Too short. Originally empire so more like dickies. Hemming. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 05 Jan 12 - 07:26 PM I've already joined ReBoot Your Life, SRS, and will start in the 13th. And, yes, I will be getting a juicer. Rog and I are always reading the labels for sodium and sugar content. Most store-bought foods are loaded with both. Looks like my start, yesterday, is going to be persistent. About a half hour before Rog is due home, I get itchy feet. Put on the oldies rock, as I did last night, and marched in place and back and forth in the house for about 11 minutes. Longer than last night, plus did more stretching. The sciatica I woke up with is GONE. (Usually, I would have immobilised and had pain for several days. Guess ya can teach an ol' cat new tricks.:-) My docs are going to be happy, but, more importantly, I am happy. Scales said I've dumped 4 lbs of about 7 gained over the holidays. As I am sure some of you know, by now, I sent out my first marketing email for my book, this afternoon. Then, I decluttered my email contacts list of old addys, etc. I'd been needing to do that for some time. I also posted excerpts from WindWords on my FB wall, twittered (why do I feel like a little bird when I say that;->) and added to my blog. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: LilyFestre Date: 05 Jan 12 - 07:45 PM Today we got a Jersey bull calf who was born on Christmas day. We named him Herald. :) Schedules are a bit screwy here but I have faith that things will even out. Later in the day we ran a few errands. All in all, a good day! Michellle |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 05 Jan 12 - 08:38 PM The PT peeps will be so happy when I report tomorrow that the closet thing involved a LOT of "step-ups" which is a structured balance/gait thingie they make me do all the time-- and that I did them relatively easily. And I know I got my walkies in because my legs ache like the dickens! ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 06 Jan 12 - 11:04 AM A friend has come to visit for a couple of days and we'll fix a big dinner for her family and mine tomorrow. The kitchen is clean and clear and ready to go. I'll stack the holiday boxes of ornaments into the office closet to clear the floor space in the hall, that's probably as much as I'll get accomplished until Sunday. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 06 Jan 12 - 12:24 PM HR to 102 at 3.2 MPH Borg 6.5 aquatic treadmill. S~ |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Dorothy Parshall Date: 06 Jan 12 - 02:31 PM Kat's film sounds terrific. I'll have a look later. Found a bunch of weight related info thru article in Montreal Gazette leading to the Journal of Clinical Investigation, January issue. http://www.jci.org/122/1 Diabetes, obesity and the hypothalmus Well, that was supposed to be a blue clicky. Worked for me once. Heaven forbid it should work again. Purchased tickets for a trip to San Diego in April to visit granddaughter, and great granddaughter! Oh, and the husband/father who I have talked to on Skype. Managed to get flights with NO plane change. LONG trip in any case. We fly from Albany (Drive to Albany about four hours). Five minutes after I clicked "purchase", I realized that is the beginning of the raccoon birthing season. I hope they hold off until I get back! And that we have enough willing volunteers to hold the fort in any case. Neonates are not difficult - other than frequent feedings! Made another couple quarts of stewed apples today. Seem to have misplaced one qt from the other day? I better check the spare frig. And now I had better get going - lunch and then to the country. Looks as though tomorrow's mild weather will support a trio into New York State to visit with my raccoon rehab friend and her youngsters (raccoons to be released in the spring), |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Dorothy Parshall Date: 06 Jan 12 - 04:17 PM I guess you have to go away and come back before it becomes a blue clicky. When I think of all the frustration I have been through over this. You may have a fairy god-elf. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 06 Jan 12 - 08:07 PM I took my friend over to her daughter's house this evening after making a run to the hardware store. Item in question isn't in this store (try a rural one they said). So I'll mail order it. Dinner for people here tomorrow so I'll be clearing, cleaning, sorting, putting away this evening and tomorrow morning. It was a lovely day but I was running around so I didn't walk the dogs, but we'll get out for a long walk tomorrow. We all need the exercise! SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 06 Jan 12 - 11:03 PM prev post is dupe, pls delete FROM EMAIL: What is a calorie? Calories are the little bastards that get into your closet at night & sew all the seams on your clothes tighter! Help! My closet is INFESTED with them! === ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: LilyFestre Date: 07 Jan 12 - 12:08 AM Today Jeremiah and I went for a walk, played at a playground and had a picnic. I'd like to add that it is January 6th...and were able to play outside without a winter coat!!!! What a beautiful day!!! Michelle |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 07 Jan 12 - 11:46 AM Cleaned up in the office a bit, now to the rest of the house. Guests coming this evening. Too bad it is chilly and overcast here today - it would have been wonderful to open the doors and people be able to use the new patio area beside the house. Last summer was way too hot. Guest room will be set up again today; I don't think anyone is planning to stay over, but if they do, I'll be ready. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 07 Jan 12 - 12:14 PM Did a lot of walking, yesterday. After doing some research, we bought a GE Juice Extractor. Used it for the first time this morning. It works really well, is easy to clean up, and the first juice I made was delicious, plus the goat next door had a nice pile of pulp to gobble down. The recipe I used included: 4 stalks of celery 1 bunch of half of a lemon 2 Granny Smith apples 1 cucumber and a little bit of ginger root. I had already had breakfast, so I only had a little bit to drink. I'll use it for my lunch today, but my taste buds are craving it right now! The other good news is I've lost another 1.2 pounds. Roger is away this morning for a couple of hours, so I think I'll declutter more of my e-mail, fold some laundry, and finish up more laundry. I may ask Morgan if he wants to come over for a little bit. He and I have started a neat new bedtime ritual: about 30 min. before he has to go to bed we get on the phone and take turns reading to one another out of the old Childcraft books. When we lived back east, I found sets for each of my kids as well as a set for myself, of the old ones. I'd grown up with them and just love the stories and poems. Last night was funny, Morgan read me some short poems and we said good night. No sooner had I hung up the phone, it rang again. Morgan was giggling his head off saying he was just talking to his dad and everything was coming out in rhymes! His laughter was infectious! kathopeful |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: LilyFestre Date: 07 Jan 12 - 08:02 PM I slept WAYYYYY in today. Ah Heaven!!! Pete got the baby up, dressed, fed and took him outside to play. Apparently Jeremiah found himself a mud puddle...he was COVERED when they came in!!! Pete and I had a great laugh about it and changed him into some dry gear. I puttered about the house and then we went to a benefit dinner for a little boy who has amazed the pediatrics hospital about 6 times over by surviving. The benefit was to raise funds to help build a handicapped accessible bathroom in that family's home. A very worthy cause. A good time was had by all. Also, I rediscovered my love of sprouts today. YUM. I'm going to be growing my own shortly. :) Michelle |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 07 Jan 12 - 10:48 PM Finished all of the juice I made, so that, plus my fruit smoothie in the AM, brings me close to all recommendations for fruits and veggies. I can feel and taste it, working its way through me. While Roger was gone, I had Morgan over for a couple of hours. Sent him home at lunchtime. Folded a ton of laundry, did the stuff I wanted to get washed, today, and a few other things. Lots of walking, again. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Dorothy Parshall Date: 07 Jan 12 - 11:24 PM Freezing rain all day yesterday so stayed in city. Went to country early this am, in time to start the wood fire which warmed cabin quickly. Neighbour came over and determined best place for the - whatever it is that facilitates internet service. He will sell me the one he no longer uses (Bell) and I only need to get a monthly account. He suggested a blue tooth to use with cell phone; phone can be by window where it gets a signal and I can talk on Bluetooth.I'm still figuring that out. I have a Bluetooth around here somewhere that I can try. Considering canceling land line in city and putting that money toward increased cell minutes. Weather seemed to be OK so I started south to New York State to visit rehab friend. It stopped raining and was OK. Then the challenge of unmarked roads! It took almost an extra hour as I had to stop at houses to find first one road and then another. Municipal roads depts will be hearing from me! However, that gave Amy time to do her afternoon cleanup of the animal pens. She was just finishing when I arrived so I got to say hello to some of her 18 raccoons which will be released in the spring - yearlings. All those incredibly beautiful little faces and hands! We talked for hours, while it snowed a couple inches! Trip back to the city was slow. It was a good day. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 08 Jan 12 - 12:16 PM Closet cleanouts are so much fun. Amid all the hard, dirty work are treasures that have gotten buried (and stuff to send to the thrift shop too). One treasure on this cleanout was a new, still-bagged microfleece top that I thought matched another one I had opened to use 2-3 winters ago. That one had turned out to be the kind of fleece that attracts and holds too much lint and pet-hair. It lives in my very-cold office. So I was saving this one for when it wore out (they were very cheap thru a catalog of cheapies)-- for snow-plowing or for emergencies like heat off in ice storms. It's also not my color, the new one I was saving. Well it was folded so huge, with cardboard, in its plastic bag, that I thought I'd just take out the cardboard and refold it. It turned out to be a totally different item, that will be JUST the thing to put on after wet pool visits, to come home in on the iciest days. It's a different mfr, different kind of fleece, different cut, LONG, and has a zipping funnel-neck. Sometimes the voice of God has been like a heartbeat saying, "You already have every thing you need." Wotta provider! As soon as I saw the size I was sure it was now too tight-- of course it fits perfectly, now that I took out the elasticized hem (which made it even longer)!!! And I netted a whole shelf cleared for newer things!!! === Speaking of very-cold office, we insulated that cold foot area a few days ago and skirted the huge table I use as a desk. Under the table has been a lot of well-organized but visually-cluttering stuff. We had found the perfect fabric at a thriftie a few months ago and now it is 90% up. (One end of the table is where I open the long, metal filing cabinet, and Hardi is sewing me the flap for that end.) The working side of the desk remains unskirted, but the skirted side faces the settin' chair and the comfy company chair for hubby, private chats, and/or tea-swilling visitors. === A friend is coming in a few weeks to be a spare-pair-of-hands in the office area... we will organize/declutter the small boxes of old files from which I have been harvesting a binder full of workshop replicables for that portion of Old Career still not available via the internet. (It will empty a capacious shelf in a cabinet in there.) This is a periodic process that beats filing, anytime-- which I have posted about before in some of our earliest declut-threads. The hallway outside that room is also set for a minor revamp, to be sure it all remains visually peaceful as it gains storage bins. And I already HAVE all those materials, too! ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 08 Jan 12 - 01:30 PM Good luck on the fleece, Susan! I have all sorts of throws or lap quilts, some wool, some acrylic, out in the various sitting spaces for the cold months. The great thing about having people over for dinner is leftovers the next day and no cooking. Nice! Been rearranging furniture and I'll move the files I'm working on back to the dining table, but there are a lot less now than when I started and I should finish soon. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: LilyFestre Date: 08 Jan 12 - 02:40 PM Today I did myself a favor and said no to an invite to somewhere I didn't want to go. Somewhere that we go every year but I decided that this year just didn't make sense for me but it did for my guys. So...as a result, I have the house entirely to myself which I think is a first since the arrival of Jeremiah. I did some chores and am about to settle in and finish a book I'm reading. Next week I will have 2 days to myself (ok...maybe 7 hours or so)during which I plan to condense my office into half it's space and make the other half a play room. I'm sure I posted about this before but the baby has been sick this past week so it got put on hold. It will happen when it's supposed to (and I'm hoping that means this week!). All the Christmas decorations are put away except for the tree which is still lighted and beautiful. I'm sure that will be going this week too but for now, it's lovely and I enjoy the atmosphere it brings to this room! Later Gators! Michelle |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 08 Jan 12 - 03:30 PM Good for you, Michelle. It is so good to spend time on taking care of ourselves first. SRS, you have had a busy weekend. Hope you had a good visit. I didn't get much sleep last night due to a stuffy nose. Finally gave up about 6 AM and got up about seven, though we intended to sleep in. I surprised myself though. After breakfast I felt energized and vacuumed half the house. That's a first for me in about 1 1/2 to 2 years! I've also done two more loads of laundry and vacuuming included Roger helping me take the couch cushions off and vacuumed up all of the dog debris. She is a hairy mutt! I copied out more juice recipes from the Reboot site and made a grocery list. We then went to the store where I walked for about 45 min. gathering up more goodies. When we came home I did a bit more vacuuming, Roger did the usual: litter box, trash, and might get to the dishes which are soaking. With our new gathering of food, we tried out another juice which they call V8. I guessed at how much to cut the recipe down because we didn't want to make too much, didn't want to bother with actual calculations. Anyway we got a very pretty reddish – pink juice which did not taste at all like the V8 we're all used to. I'm sure I didn't get the amounts correct, but I still liked it, though Roger did not. It had in it: one beet root, 1 plum tomato, 1 carrot, a half batch of parsley, and four radishes. I added one green apple which made it taste better. I have some more recipes I'll try throughout this week. I will definitely be making another batch of the first one I tried. I woke up and found myself craving it last night and I can really feel the effects it's having on my body. I was down another 4 ounces this morning. I may still get out the garden hose sprayer, a special small line made for use inside for houseplants, and give them all a good washing. Right now were going to watch a Werner Herzog documentary on that ancient cave in France. I was delighted to find Netflix has it. Scratch that. Looks like I am going to go throw the ball for the dog, first.:-) |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 08 Jan 12 - 05:02 PM I think that film was turned out in 3D, wasn't it? That would be worth the trouble to go see. I hope you enjoy it! Moved all of my files back to the dining room table, along with the laptop. I'll spend some time on the next spreadsheet this afternoon. When I need to get up and walk around it will be on some other chore. The kitchen is looking great, so it's other stuff that needs doing that will get attention. I should walk the dogs also. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Janie Date: 08 Jan 12 - 08:04 PM No where to put additional shelves, Maggie. I've had shelving built where there was room for it in closets. I don't have a garage or basement and my little garden shed is just big enough to stow most of the garden stuff and house the lawn mower. My house is quite small - 1100 sq. ft., and poorly configured. Stuff that normally would be shelved in a garage or basement has to find homes in one of the closets or be tossed after a project, only to be purchased again for the next project. Today I decided to keep the 4 unopened plastic drop clothes, wood filler, spackling compound, sandpaper, caulk and caulking gun, wipe rags, etc. In the top of a closet. Along with some random hardware that I will eventually need. But they may really need to go. They are taking up space that could be used to store stuff like light-bulbs, duct tape or office supplies for my private practice. I think my comment about the attic and flooring was confusing. The attic is not suitable for significant storage - Not high enough to stand up even at the ridge, and accessible only through a small trapdoor with drop-down ladder. There are planking or small plywood sheets over the joists and insulation in the immediate vicinity of the trap door. I've stored what I can there. The rest is uncovered insulation between joists. Anything stored beyond that bit that is already covered would be inaccessible to me given my physical limitations, even if there was some sort of flooring. And if I don't anticipate needing to get to it, there is no point in keeping it. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: LilyFestre Date: 09 Jan 12 - 11:41 AM It's been a productive morning here. The dishes are done, a pot roast is in the crock pot with lots of carrots and onions, scraps are in the chicken bucket, laundry is going, toys are picked up, Christmas gifts from yesterday's non-adventure are put away and I'm working on our budget/getting things paid. I also had a tri-axle of wood delivered this morning with a very pleasant chatty fella. It's always nice when people who come to your home to deliver a service are friendly! :) Also, I unloaded the playpen this morning which had become a catch all while the Christmas tree took it's usual spot. Getting things done sure does feel good! Michelle |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 09 Jan 12 - 11:52 AM My new daily schedule (up earlier, more books/less TV) began this AM with a wonderful hour spent in office-land (Presbytera World), waking up to Hardi's latest helpful addition to the desk skirt (he snuck it in there), and envisioning how I want it when friend V comes to help. Later this aftn I will clear off the huge desk surface, so I can get some work done even tho friend-help not due for several weeks. It all goes into a reclaimed bin friend V will help organize, and under the skirt! Now it's off to the scheduled pool workout. When I get back it's upstairs with this missy for a good read and desk-clearing, up in that sunny, bright office-- facing the BLUE-SKY, western window. Among my ruminations will be spotting the way the church year flows and where my best windows of opportunity are for the other ministries in which I take the lead. (One of them heated itself up over the weekend, leaving me a lot of opportunities to harvest in office-time!) I don't need to declut the schedule/commitments-- just see the seasons of it better than I have been seeing them. ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 09 Jan 12 - 12:41 PM Meditation and qi gong this morning. Houseplants watered, one load of laundry done, emails answered, as well as PMs, and made up a delicious cup of new juice with red grapes, one golden delicious apple, a small piece of ginger, and blackberries. Yummy! |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 09 Jan 12 - 07:55 PM Oops, I overdid it again, but I did get the office desk cleared afterwards. 90 minutes of Ai Chi stretch, Backhab core work, aqujogginf with ski, high knees, and intervals, more Ai Chi to stretch out, and step-ups in shallow water. That Reebok fleece coverup was GREAT! The salamander is coming on-- I could eat a horse (and won't)! ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Dorothy Parshall Date: 10 Jan 12 - 12:10 AM Today: realized I was totally exhausted yesterday! No wonder I never made it to the library. So did that today - walked about 8 blocks round trip plus two flights up. R had my car. Computer, reading, went to International Folk Dancing for an hour but new instructor spent most of time talking. We only did one dance. I came home and watched Little Mosque on the Prairie and Redemption which looks like it will be a very interesting series. I "need" the TV and VCR I gave away on Whidbey - I could record when not home. Will watch Craigslist. Excellent article on sugar in NYT magazine: Is sugar toxic? This is related scientifically to the ones I saw in the Journal of Clinical Investigation on the effect of high fat diet on hypothalamus - long term. precis "Glucagonocentric restructuring of diabetes: a pathophysiologic and therapeutic makeover" "Obesity is associated with hypothalamic injury in rodents and humans" I found these three concepts and research very interesting as a help in understanding the problem of weight difficulties. Of which: I felt I was eating very carefully the last couple weeks and gained two pounds. Just have to look harder at what I am doing here. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 10 Jan 12 - 12:30 AM Dorothy, that's an interesting article - and one of those very long ones that the New York Times is so good about running. I'll finish reading it tomorrow. I recently got Taube's book Good Calories, Bad Calories after hearing him interviewed on a local NPR radio program. Busy beginning to the day with a drive to the airport in a steady rain. Work around the house this afternoon and a lovely dinner with a friend who is in town for a few weeks, staying here for another week or so then heading to Dallas to stay with her other daughter. I'm kind of an adopted daughter - she has a large extended family this way! Kat, you're going to spoil the neighbors' goats rotten with all of the produce pulp you have left over! SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: GUEST,mg Date: 10 Jan 12 - 01:03 AM Well, sugar scares me too but not half as much as starches...we evolved to be able to metabolize small amounts of sugar via berries, fruits, honey etc. We did not evolve....most of us..Mediterranean people perhaps being an exception...to digest processed starches..people in ancient times really probably did not go around eating grasses...when they started to, like in Egypt, their health plummeted. L And he goes on about your body quits producing insulin when you are diagnosed iwth Type 2 diabetes..not necessarily...often insulin scores are way high...mine was 5 times what it should be...still not in a good range...we produce too much insulin, not too little...and it is nothing short of malpractice when a health person tells you otherwise without actually checking your insulin levels. You can do it in a simple blood test. It costs about $30 extra if they mjake you pay for it;. Pay for it. It supposedly is the most predictve score for future heart disease there is.. Assume the worst about sugar and high fructose corn syrup. I do not think it is benign. I think small amounts of sugar are OK for mostpeople, but notwhen mixed with starches, such as in cookies, cakes etc..OK in a bit of dark chocolate or high fat ice cream. Watch the processed (don't worry if simple or complex..pretty much the same to the body because complex means starches and they break down almost instantly to sugars) and ground up starches. Some people are OK with whole grains etc..some people can't handle those. Look to beans, lentils etc. I am totally for a dual food stamp program to reduce the amount of purchasing people can do with them...but allow for a few treats. A major amount of money with specific foods that can be purchased, similar to WIC. A small amount for treats, sugary things, cokes etc. I think this would increase the health of people quickly. Worst combination of foods would be transfat, white flour, ;high fructose corn syrup, white sugar. Sounds like a cake mix? A store cookie..a doughnut. mg |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 10 Jan 12 - 01:58 AM I agree, Mary. Carbs are a big problem. This is a test from my phone. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 10 Jan 12 - 10:29 AM The phone is not the way to post here, I was testing the browser function. Knowing one can do it and actually wasting time browsing via phone are two different things. Mary, I have most sugar out of my diet and try to keep the carbs low each day. Multi-grains, non-wheat grains, etc. I'm working on keeping more fruit and vegetables and good quality proteins in my diet. Soy is also problematic in some non-cultured forms. What are you hearing (beyond the sales hype) about products like this? Dr. Ohhira advertises on the organic gardening program I listen to and the host offers testimonials. If nothing else, they are expensive (Amazon has 60 for $34). I eat good quality yogurt and some of those come with a variety of cultures beyond the main one that is used. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 10 Jan 12 - 11:24 AM Meditation and qi gong this morning. SRS, the goat is in heaven whenever she sees Rog come out the backdoor with leftovers.:-) Sometime, I will save the pulp and try some of their soup recipes. Might get Rog to try more that way. Had an adjustment from my osteopathic doc, yesterday. She couldn't believe how good my colour looks, noticed the weight loss, and also was very pleased with how my lower legs look. even though, I've always been careful about salt, with juicing I am now doing even less and it shows. I think they may have to adjust the meds, soon.:-) |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 10 Jan 12 - 11:43 AM SRS, yes on fone.... mine would always time out on the long thread-load last month. CAN post, but time......? === Aaargh, recurring bladder infections-- had to cancel PT this AM but then that will allow for more stair-climbing which is what the PT would have been mostly about today, and only I will REALLY care if I pee the stairs! :~) For a start I can run up a couple of antibiotics-- I keep forgetting the bedtime dose that sits by my chair down here. And more office clearing, YAY! ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 10 Jan 12 - 12:13 PM Working on some virtual clearing - moving data from C: to D: drive. It has been a while so I've resurrected an old thread (on which I offered answers about a previous OS). What goes around comes around. :) SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 10 Jan 12 - 07:15 PM ...resurrected an old thread... Ah yes, the wisdom we stored up, when we had it, against the days when we might not recall it. I look back more often than one might guess, to see what I used to know. :~) === OK, it was a bangup day, with step-ups thrown in via steep stairs. The PT equivalent would be at least 3 sets of 10-- the usual-- but more like 4 and with higher steps, too. Plus active-rest eq's of some upper body stuff I currently do with DVD, when I've been sitting too long. === What I have to show for it in decluts is: ~ Significant office re-org progress including adding light where there was dark and too much thereof. ~ Huge "landing room" progress where a catch all of the Xmas season made me really NUTS. Each item that left today involved a lot of walkies. Each item went where it was SUPPOSED to go, not where it could be easily shoved into TomorrowLand. ~ Some work projects advanced. ~ A new computer-calendar/anti-forgetting thingie, so I remember to take things WITH me when I go places where things were supposed to GO. ~ Decluttered a FCer who was ragging on me for no cause whatsoever just like some of the old Mudcat days. My conclusion: There is no such thing as toxic people-- just our toxic reactions TO them. I politely wished her well in her future endeavors, and wished myself well in mine. The item she talked me out of giving her will go elsewhere, hassle-free. :~) ~ Up in the old Mudcat Dorm, vacated by housemate just before Xmas bless her heart, some furniture moved back where I wanted it and some where I had always wanted to try it out (NICE!). ~ A number of new Dorm projects for the cordless drill/driver were spotted. Seems the visiting housemate's kids/grandkids wreaked a little havoc no one took care of before they left. I will pay myself for this little set of inconveniences via the cute sneakers they also left, which now will go to my next yard sale instead of the parish thrift shop. ~ One of my work responsibilities may pass in whole or in part to someone else, per dates I had set awhile back. So the re-org is also an opportunity to ensure that my files and resources are in good order, in the event I get some help (or a new gig to replace this one). Also, separately, I finally found the intern I've been praying for these last 15 years. "Oh THERE he is!!!" :~) ~ The bedding got augmented for winter temps now that the real cold appears to (sort of) be here. === What I have to show for it in fitness scheduling is: ~ A more realistic idea-- to report to the PT Friday-- about that second workout each day I undertook... a great goal but I'm not there yet. ~ By the time the pulse-oximeter arrives I should be better able to get that second one in-- on actual machines instead of on my feet doing chores. ~ OTOH I get more done every day and also am less breathless every day, so it's all good. === What I have to show for it in general wellness is: ~ Per goal, there was more book and a LOT less TV/internet today. Faulkner approves, and so do I. Hardi and I will celebrate that tonight with the beginning of a new couples' study that is just for US. ~ Per plan, there was plenty of good fud to eat up in the office, and many mini-meals were easily prepared and consumed. ~ I hope not to be up half the night again with stomach waking me up to feed the salamander: http://www.garagehowto.com/salamander-heater.html ~ A couple invited us to a NON-MINISTRY, SOCIAL evening tomorrow night. (What is THAT!?!?!?) Hardi has to work. I'm going! And it will be cold there! And I have a metabolism now to keep me warm! ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: LilyFestre Date: 10 Jan 12 - 10:17 PM My car has been dead since before Christmas which has made running errands somewhat difficult. Today I got my car to the shop where they gave me a loaner car and I ran several errands. I just might have my own computer back by the end of the week!!! Made a stop at the bank and at the YMCA. :) Michelle |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 10 Jan 12 - 10:17 PM I have to finish Bobert's cover art to send out tomorrow (he misunderstood which printed pieces could be included with the cover he chose, so I'm moving some things around and creating a tray liner for clear back on the case - he thought the back was black.) Between us we can just about get this job done. :) I was going to move the folders (My Documents, My Pictures, etc.), but have decided first that since I've had an external hard drive sitting in a box on the floor for months I ought to use it. I'm making a backup of the computer and THEN I'll move the folders. Moving day may come tomorrow because it takes a while for all of this to move (clone) to the new site. I'm sure I need to log out of all programs to do this, so I'll switch to the laptop for the time being. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Janie Date: 10 Jan 12 - 10:43 PM Ya'll are wearing me out! Have a sick teenager cluttering up the place but last night was able to do some work on closing out the private books for 2011 and preparing end-of-year statements for clients who need them. Then stayed up way too late reading the last of the Jean Auel series. Slept well however. Too well. The alarm rang for 30 minutes this morning before I heard it. Tonight I have done nothing but answer e-mails. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 11 Jan 12 - 11:48 AM Meditation and qi gong this morning. Down another pound. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Dorothy Parshall Date: 11 Jan 12 - 02:10 PM SRS: That book looks very interesting. I'll keep an eye out for it. Do NOT buy books on principle that they breed like rabbits. Having said that, I need to go message a couple people on FB; I bought a bunch of books to give away on living with wildlife and two copies of Starling North's classic raccoon book. All sent to a friend in Ohio - the border thing. Now she needs to send them to two addresses in US - and gets to keep one of each for herself. Right after I finish here. The carb question: we just read The Paleo Solution - our ancestors ate almost no carbs until them became farmers. So that and the articles in the journal, and I, agree with Mary, and other's. Wheat seems to be a BIG one in our culture. Suspect many more re sensitive to it than those obvious- Celiac, etc. A friend states that one piece of WW bread and she is tired within an hour; one piece of white bread and it is the next day. In any case, if we feel tired we tend not to do as much, metabolism drops, weight goes up? In spite of my best efforts R and I have been dealing with a bug. I saw mine coming and scotched it with larger doses of Pau d'Arco. R was too busy, overworked and underslept - spent yesterday in bed, ate lightly and took large doses of Pd'A and C. Much better today. We went out for a fancy breakfast and he finally went off to work about noon. I arranged for internet at the cabin - go out tomorrow for tech to set it up. Had a phone call from a scammer - five of them! He refused to quit. I phoned credit card company and asked what they were doing to alert people. A lame, "it's on our website" Phoned Bell; waste of time. Posted on FB page the link to do not call/canada - after I found it and registered. Also my fury. This creep even phoned again after I made my phone calls, trying to keep the phone busy so he could not get through. "You hung up on me! That's rude!" I hung up again. I wonder how many people a day he scams. Like SRS, the decluttering I need to do is the mess in my computer. I back up often but do not take enough time to remove stuff. Did some of that yesterday; will do more today - or maybe tomorrow while I wait for tech - or both! 10F put there. 60 in here! I need to walk to store for veggies so I shall bundle up and do so - soon while it is warmest? After I put sheets in washer and send those messages but before I get hungry and eat the wrong stuff. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 Jan 12 - 02:36 PM It is rather exciting to learn new things - I've used this CD cover to make inroads into using Illustrator. It's not like I know nothing about it - all of these programs are linked. But when I found that I could make it look like a program I was much more familiar with (InDesign) it all fell into place. Interestingly, I was first looking through Illustrator, then felt really sleepy and took a nap and it just kind of slipped into place. I woke and realized I knew what it would look like and how it would work. Power nap indeed! :-D Working on lots of stuff, don't know if I'll finish anything. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 11 Jan 12 - 04:20 PM Half the last pool workout, minus the BackHab. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 Jan 12 - 06:52 PM It was a great walk in lovely warm weather. Our last for a while, it's supposed to get cold tomorrow and stay that way. My lawn needs mowing again, it hasn't been so cold for so long to kill off winter grass or weeds. Ironic that I'm mowing now and didn't mow all summer. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 11 Jan 12 - 07:05 PM It's cold here and has been for a week or so. There is even a biting wind this evening. Luna didn't get as long of a session with the ball-throwing this evening. She did a good job of watching while I got in ten minutes of stretching and walking in the house, though.:-) I worked all morning on the cover for Prairie Child; learned how to do some things in Photoshop which I should have known years ago. Yesterday, I redid all of the chapter titles in the BookBrewer e-book file and also tried to do some CD cover for my brother. Can't do it. It needs a real artist, so I emailed a friend to get a quote. Laundry is ongoing, it seems. Juice has been wonderful. I made up my own blend this morning and it was delicious: 1/2 pear 1/2 kiwi handful of parsley 1 cucumber few sprigs of mint one green apple Yum! |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 Jan 12 - 11:53 PM Kat, the thing about Photoshop that was reinforced when I was working on Bobert's cover is that just because you can add text in Photoshop, if it is enlarged at all, it gets rough edges. I'm only beginning to use Illustrator, but a friend who works in a print shop was telling me some about it, and this is why I've wanted to start using it. If you put in text in Illustrator then save it as an outline it essentially saves the text in such a way that it doesn't get those rough edges if it is enlarged (raster/vector graphics). Tackling paper tonight. I got a lot out of the way last week, but this crept up into the office and settled on a number of flat surfaces. Other household chores like the dishes are finished, so the rest of the evening will go to clobber paper before I set my computer to (once again) back up the C: drive. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 12 Jan 12 - 12:43 PM I had a wonderful evening last night-- an actual SOCIAL EVENING (Hardi had to miss it boohoo), where church was NOT DISCUSSED. I actually can't recall the last time that occurred, even at family events... It might not have in the last, oh..... however many years that is, since 1992! Oh, yeah-- relief-- visits to son and DIL are usually non-church-talk (upside) but do not offer any other adults to meet (downside). I made a new friend, Faulkner had a great time too, and it involved movement I can only do now thanks to PT and TBTG so it replaced the planned evening workout quite nicely. Today is the catchup day where I am taking care of the billing for the PT and planning the wellness seasonality for 2012. I included calendar prompts to resume some key activities in case I forget. I'm worry less about WHY my memory is sometimes so unreliable and doing more about it. We added the winter "portapottie" to the van in case we get stuck on Bloss Mountain again this year for 3-4 hours. (Last week I heard of someone else that happened to, very recently.) It's an empty TidyCat plastic bucket we got via FC, which is also narrow enough to fit into the space left by the boondocking cot I may use yet this winter. I also have a twin down comforter to allocate to the boondocker for sleepage and/or winter emergencies; the cot is already in it for a Feb. work thing.... travels in the south end of the Diocese sometimes allow boondocking when it's too cold up home, but when I'm not 'docking there are always friendly churches I can bunk in and the bucket also makes a nice gear-tote. Tomorrow is the last visit to the PT pool for the foreseeable future. I am planning a gift and have an item to print for it and a craft activity for later using what I print, that will involve a stair-climb. Dinner is 90% made so that means more OFFICE time, YAY! I'm reading a neat Harriet Lerner book my priest recommended that includes a little family systems stuff. I liked the part about how we actually benefit from the same dysfunctional behaviors other system members display toward us. ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 12 Jan 12 - 02:24 PM Working on things that don't require much computer firepower this morning. I'm waiting for the backup to finish - it's up to 79% now. Taking more than 12 hours. Oh my - interrupted by a call - Susie's daughter called - she was hit by a car in the parking lot at work this morning - it was slow moving, but still extreme pain in hip, eye swollen (she had surgery 2 weeks ago), and she doesn't recognize anyone. I went up to the house and got Zeke and his food, and will hold down the fort here. The week just took on an ominous look. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 12 Jan 12 - 07:58 PM 2 sets of ten step-ups on the high stairs. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 12 Jan 12 - 08:44 PM She's in ICU for probably a week, the most pressing problem is a head injury. Oh, my. I'll wait to go see her, they don't need me underfoot for the time being. We have a long weekend coming up - anyone doing anything special, or just staying in and staying warm? Kat, I meant to ask, has Luna completely settled in? Has she gotten past the shy times when she wasn't sure about people or how to act? SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 12 Jan 12 - 11:09 PM Thanks for asking, SRS. Yes, she's settled in pretty well, though she'll still let anyone come in the house or yard with nary a word unless they have a pet with them! Not alert dog material. We may watch for anther as a companion for her and more *alert*.:-) Otherwise, she is wonderful and worships Morgan. I am not sure why the things in Photoshop that I have done would need to be enlarged. It's what I used for the cover of WindWords, both print back in 2004 and e-book this year. Maybe it's because I use the dimensions of the provided template. I am not familiar with the other programs you mentioned. Had a great visit with the new pulmonologist. I really like and trust her! We are the right track! kat |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 13 Jan 12 - 12:03 AM Got an update this evening, it is going to take Susie a while to get over all of the trauma of today. I've been dog-proofing the house this evening. Not for my dogs, they know the rules and it is set up fine for them. But it looks like Zeke will be here indefinitely, so I called a friend who has had Labrador retrievers for years and asked for some tips. If he's going to be here for months then we need to go about setting the rules - I need to be the pack leader for him, also, not the day camp counselor that I have been. :-/ He pulls off of his leash (a collar martingale) sometimes, so I was thinking about getting one of the "easy walk" martingales like I use on the pit bull, but actually she thinks the Gentle Leader (like I use on the catahoula) would be better. She suggested that I establish a tub or bin for his toys - and once I know what his favorite toys are, keep them there. I'll go up to the house and find some and bring them back down. She also suggested getting a big piece of carpet remnant and make it his in the front room - he will adjust to sleeping on that bed with the dogs, I'm sure (during cold weather) but if I make a point of giving him a rug that I can move around when needed, that will help. Also maybe learn some of the hand signs - I had a trainer work with my two years ago and I only remember one hand sign. I may have to give her a call and ask for some tips. I'm not complaining - Susie has the hard job ahead, getting better. My role is this is to take care of Zeke so she doesn't have to worry that no one could take him. He's safe until she's ready to get back to her house. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Dorothy Parshall Date: 13 Jan 12 - 03:12 PM Just want to quickly share this Latest Nature of Things: "Programmed to be fat" . It was very interesting. Of course, I think that because it, in part, upholds my self-learned theory that the toxins keep m from losing weight: Latest Nature of Things: "Programmed to be fat" |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 13 Jan 12 - 05:22 PM That video isn't visible in the US. Darn! There is a lot of interesting science about how we metabolize food. A striking example is the diabetes in American Southwest tribal people - they were accustomed to a sparse desert food supply, so when the American high-carb diet came the sugars produced quickly overwhelmed their systems. Last night I lowered the futon for the dogs (all three) and closed the bedroom doors to keep Mr. Zeke off of the human beds. He still wasn't happy, so during the night moved into the leather recliner. I'd blocked the sofa access with a diningroom chair, intentionally leaving this one open. I'll let him sleep there - he'll have the least impact and it is a compromise. No couch, no beds, just a comfy chair. My virtual decluttering is underway this afternoon. I was tired last night so decided to not start this file moving from C: to D:. But today I'm in the process and it will relieve the problem of a crowded C: drive (we're talking red zone crowded!) SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 14 Jan 12 - 01:05 AM The kitchen is clean. One thing about having Zeke here, I have to stay on top of dishes and trash or he'll get into them. He really is a softy, used to staying indoors when it's cold out. It should be down to freezing tonight, so I'll let them in - my girls will sleep on the futon and he'll head for the leather lounger. They'll be outside again at first light. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 14 Jan 12 - 01:11 AM SRS, sounds like you have a full plate! Today was probably the last day in the PT pool and it was a very good (long) session with HR where it is supposed to be, much encouragement from a variety of sources, and some fun peer talk with a fellow hard worker. We found a coiple of new baselines for my workoputs at my own pool and did some good planning for the dry clinic next week. PTist concurs that any good land thing is better at this point than working out too much at home-- she's very good for slowing me to reasonable paces of progression. Some new step-up strategies to be sure I donpt hurt myself, etc. Hardi and I have embarked on a new weekly (or oftener) activity, doing some silly kids; games during hockey intermissions. More about that next time. Good, gentle movement for muscles stiff from the day's PT tho. And FUN! Brekky today was heavenly. We had Trucker's Brekky (steak and eggs, home fries, wheat toast), except that I had crab cakes instead of the steak, and the dippy eggs on top. OMG YUM! A smidge of tartar sauce. Hardi ate his whole platefull, and I are one of the two crab cakes-- and some carbs because we were on the way to the PT appt. and I knew a hard aqua-run was ahead of me-- it turned out to be 38 minutes cardio on the aquatic treadmill. After the PT appt I had half of the leftover crab cake, and then we did a long shopathon at WalMart (my oat bead on sale, YAY!). Then when we got back I polished off the other half of the crabcake. Dinner later was red cargo rice (a variety of brown), with stir-fried chicken and bok choy. The rice had been cooked about half and half with kale (or maybe collards), and spinach, and then stirred with a spoonful of fat free greek yogurt to cream it up. Deelish! ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: LilyFestre Date: 14 Jan 12 - 08:50 AM Yesterday I vacuumed, did dishes (how is it they pile up so quickly?!?!), cleaned off the kitchen table, balanced the checkbook, picked up all the toys from the day, filled our pill containers and have decided to talk to my doctor about getting rid of some of them that I don't think are necessary any more, recreated one of my favorite recipes that was about 15 points per serving down to 2 points (oh yes I did!!!) and had that with some tomato soup for a lovely lunch (Pete worked from home yesterday so it was nice to have some company) and then had a 5 hour nap. LOL. What can I say? It was a busy week and I was wiped out!! Happy Saturday! We're off to pick up a double dresser...an online yard sale SCORE!!!!! Michelle |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 14 Jan 12 - 09:54 AM This is the first weekend without kid stuff in a month, but it brings it's own issues nonetheless. Oven mitt in the middle of the kitchen floor tells me that one of the pointy-tailed elves patrolled house last night. :-) My credit card consolidation went through this week. Now to pay off the one that is left. Taxes loom - as long as I have kids in college they need to be completed as soon as possible in the year because of the FAFSA. eBay will help with the card payoff so I need to get past all of the distractions and start listing stuff. The sun room is more clear since I recycled a bunch of the boxes in there. It should be sunny and warmer this weekend, so there is some yard work to do. A friend on facebook remarked that she had a yard full of leaves and did any of us know someone who could come rake? Yes! A neighbor I've known almost since I moved in here. He and his wife take a walk at least once a day, across the bridge and up the hill past us. We talk every so often and have shared produce, plants from the garden, etc. He helped answer questions for Spanish speaking folks during our garage sale last fall and mentioned he was looking for some casual work to supplement his wife's income - he has had trouble getting work. When I first saw them on those walks he was wearing a huge back brace and walking with a walker - but still out every day. He'd broken his back at work, and had some surgeries. He can do the manual work now - and with maturity has the steady pace that compensates for swiftness. Two years ago he completely remodeled their house - new roof, siding, carpentry, painting. He keeps going, even if he can't get a job, so I was glad to recommend him. They arranged for the job on Monday. Nice to help both friends this way! Better get moving. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 14 Jan 12 - 09:56 PM At 3 PM this afternoon, we finished a 23 hour Morgan-thon! He came over yesterday afternoon, after school, and spent the night, and the morning, and part of the afternoon! We had a blast, though close to the end, Papa was in sore need of some quiet. :-) Morgan has always slept on a cot in our room because the living room is so far away from our bedroom and it was a little scary for him. Now that he is eight years old and we have a kid-cuddly dog, he decided to try sleeping in the living room. Cot up against the sofa in case the dog pushed him off or vice a versa, with his sleeping bag and a spare blanket and of course the dog, we told him goodnight and left a nightlight on. He also knew where the flashlight was. He came into our room a couple of times before Roger was in there, telling me he wasn't quite sure and could he please watch some TV. I am of the opinion he watches too much TV at home and he knows that when he comes over here we usually don't watch any television. We might watch a movie on Netflix but no TV, usually. I told him no and asked if he'd like to hear some music. So, out came the Walkman CD player, he's tucked in with his pillow kind of on the dog's rump and that was the last I heard. I was up and down a couple of times, very quietly, and never heard a word. We were so proud of him. He slept the night through and said the dog never left him. One of the dogs at home always sleeps with him too so I'm sure that's part of the reason why he was able to be a big boy and sleep in the living room. We did a lot of stuff with him last night and this morning, then just before lunchtime we went to the grocery store where I stocked up on fruits and vegetables. Morgan was a very big help bagging up the produce for me and finding stuff for me. After that we bought lunch, came home and ate it. After that he cleaned up all of the stuff he'd had out playing, coloring, etc. and packed up all of the things he brought with him. By the time his parents got here, Mama was ready for a kiss goodbye and a chance to just *stop*! I'm not complaining though. It really was very good time and he behaved so well, it was really neat. I got in a lot of walking and lifting, doing all sorts of things yesterday and today and I'm pleased to say that, as of today, I have lost 3.4 pounds. That's since I started having the extracted juice I've been making since last Sunday. I'm pretty amazed. I haven't really changed what I have for meals, but my body can really feel the difference in the micro-nutrients which I'm getting. The doctor I saw Thursday was really glad to hear about it. Ever since I was a little girl I've loved chocolate. I had been very ill as a baby and the doctors told my parents not give me milk, but give me lots more food because that's what I needed. Consequently I didn't like milk, but I loved chocolate. I remember dad coming home one time, when I was a little, with a brand-new product from the store. It was Nestlé's Quik. He said he was sure they could get me to drink milk if it was chocolate milk and he was right. All my life I've always had a little bit of chocolate nearly every day. There are times when I crave it greatly, especially when emotionally upset or or nervous about something. The juice I made yesterday was not very tasty so I didn't have any made up this morning for my mid-morning sip. About 1p, it suddenly dawned on me that I was absolutely craving some juice. So I stopped prepping all the stuff we brought from the grocery store and whipped up a batch right away. This evening when I was drinking a bit more of it it dawned on me, I have not had any craving for chocolate in a week or two. I could still eat it, but I do not have to absolutely have it. Instead my body is craving the juice and, boy am I grateful. My whole outlook, moods, energy levels, and mindset have improved greatly. Tomorrow, it's back to the usual Sunday chores: dishes, change the sheets, laundry, and vacuuming. Oh! And I have to do some dusting. It's really getting thick. Oh, and I almost forgot: Friday morning I heard a kind of weird hissing sound, followed it down the hallway to where the furnace and hot water heater are. At first, I couldn't really see anything, so I turned off the furnace and called Roger. While I was on the phone with him I got a flashlight took another look and saw water running down the sides of the hot water heater. Roger rushed home from work, crawled under the house, getting entirely muddy in the process, and then left to go buy a new one. Isn't that the way? Seems our homes or cars always know when we have a little bit of extra cash. Roger had just done some freelance work for which he'd been paid. Half of it went to the hot water heater and the other half supplemented what we had for the house payment. *groan* Though we grumbled a bit, we both were very grateful that we were able to take care of things. Any other time up to now, that would have caused me to call my daughter and tell her that we had to cancel our plans with Morgan but, because of the way I'm feeling, we were able to carry on. I know this might seem like a long catch up, but I wanted to share the good news with you all. Thanks for listening, kat |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 14 Jan 12 - 10:22 PM 2 sets of step ups on the high stairs. Got financial center moved back to attic dorm, sorted priority piles to prep for year-end summaries. New plan for office shelf build just about set, have half the materials on hand now. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: GUEST,mg Date: 14 Jan 12 - 11:55 PM I can't remember if I said this or not but I plan to look for free rent in exchange for some office and housekeeping chores..not personal or pet care because I have to be able to move about on weekends etc...but it has been at least two years since I lost my second job and I have made absolutely no effort to replace it..partly because sometimes I have to put in extra hours at my main job and partly because I can get wiped out tired..I live in a charming little cabin on a beautiful oceanfront property, but I don't use the property or go through the swamps to the ocean and I hate being cold and not having a bathtub and I also want a dishwasher, washing machine and cable TV so I can watch my infomercials..I get mesmerized by the steam cleaner ones especially..Anyway, I have an ad in the paper and one flyer up but I nheed to do more..put something on Craig's list.. There are a lot of retired people here who have cabins in the back of their main house and they are gone for months at a time..that would be my ideal situation...mg |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 15 Jan 12 - 12:32 AM mg, have you ever seen a copy of the Caretaker's Gazette? The have sample listings. They have all kinds of caretaking jobs all over the world listed and the subscription is not too high, imo. Might be a good place to look. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 15 Jan 12 - 02:17 AM Kat, that sounds like a wonderful visit from Morgan. He's such a treasure! I ran errands this afternoon and stopped by to see Susie. She's very swollen from the trauma, they shaved her head (half had been shaved for the surgery and they asked her son - he said go ahead - it's easier to keep the area clean without hair.) She has a neck brace on until they can determine if her neck is broken and she's in traction for the broken hip and they'll do that surgery probably on Tuesday. After some of the metal hardware is gone they'd do MRIs for the neck and check on the brain swelling. She's not conscious but she does sometimes try to speak or respond. Two of her children were there, and among other things, they worried that they should find someplace to take care of Zeke after a couple of weeks. I told them he's fine here for the duration - clearly none of them is set up to deal with him, and they're not thrilled at the idea, because they find him too rambunctious. We like him, he likes being with the dogs, the yard is large, and we have a history. I need to get another dog bed - the two on top of the futon in the living room are firmly the property of my two dogs - I saw him looking at them and the girls curled up before he had a chance to claim on. I'll get one more and put up there - dogs CAN count, and I think they'll figure it out. :) In other activity, I filed a lot of paper today and culled old documents from files (last year's policies for things, etc.) A load of laundry, dishes done, trash out. Counters clear - must keep this up to keep dogs in their places! SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 15 Jan 12 - 08:05 AM I need to get another dog bed A rolled up scatter rug stores nicely and makes a great spare dogbed. What was that song about the sleeping bag rolled up and stashed behind the couch? ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 15 Jan 12 - 11:25 AM It's funny - these dogs can count. It isn't enough that they have a large futon to sleep on, they ALSO want the extra dog beds on top. He tried to get onto Cinnamon's bed and she scooted in first and curled up. These are about $20 at Big Lots. I am going to get some carpet scraps and use those to created dog places (in the winter they don't enjoy the tile floors as much as they do in the summer!) Lots to do today. Nothing new in that, is there? SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: GUEST,mg Date: 15 Jan 12 - 12:42 PM we have snow on the ground here so today might be the day i take my geneology cards aand alphabetize them at a restaurant overlookoing the sea |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 15 Jan 12 - 12:42 PM SQUEAM ALERT * Sister has successfully packed and departed apartment, and texted me this AM that she is on the road to Californy (has driver). * Declut of the day: One Very Large Rat. (see rat thread FMI) * Activity of the Day: KidFit with Professor Bounce, have started looking for DVD of series. * Most fun activity of the week: Tie: campfire with friends and dog, string-walking stretches with Hardi. * Office dig-out going very quickly, will be able to do work project on schedule. New shelves bought to hold up existing tall hutch shelf as legs, to create more stowage. Need long 2x12 next for base, and then up it all goes. In my sleep, I figured out how to customize the shelf-legs to the desired height!!! * Decluttered some boundaries this week as well. ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 15 Jan 12 - 09:21 PM 45 minutes pool: BackHab, Ai Chi, 5 step-ups. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 15 Jan 12 - 11:31 PM I set up the Gentle Leader dog walking collar on Zeke and though he wasn't sure at first, it took about 30 seconds for him to ignore it and walk beside me. We all four of us took a walk around the block and he was as good as gold. Also got the dog pillow and gave all three a run at the futon - and they each settled down on a cushion. They're so funny! If there wasn't a cushion there they'd just sleep anywhere. The low tonight is in the 50s so they don't need to come in. All of the laundry is folded and put away. The dishes will be finished soon. Simple stuff. Tomorrow is a holiday, but I'll find more of this stuff to keep me busy. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: maire-aine Date: 16 Jan 12 - 12:11 PM Something "funky" going on with my Internet Explorer for the last couple of days. I've been getting error messages & it's very slow. I go to my AOL email & it only loads emails in "basic" format. I go to FB and I can read everything, but can't "like" anything, nor can I post anything in "update status". Arghh! There were a couple of updates that ran a few days ago. Any thoughts, SRS? Maryanne |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: LilyFestre Date: 16 Jan 12 - 12:41 PM So far today the floors have been swept and laundry is going. I've also made arrangements to have our steer and pigs butchered as well as the trucking end of it. Soon there will be stew in the crock pot, Jeremiah to the sitter, me off for a walk on this really cold day and then my WW meeting! Tomorrow I am joining the Y and am sooo excited about it! YAY!!! The rest of the day will involve picking up, dishes, seed selecting and getting things organized for all that. This homestead is going to be one organized well run machine by the time I am done!!! WOOO HOOO! Michelle |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 16 Jan 12 - 01:35 PM Maryanne, I would normally recommend Malwarebytes - but their site seems to be down. You can still download it at cnet and other places - but it looks like they're having an html issue. You can use it as a free program or you can buy a copy (best thing to start is to use it free and run a full scan.) Some of the free download sites have a lot of other ads trying to mimic the very thing you're downloading, so read carefully. C|Net does a pretty good job of keeping it clearer. Otherwise, I'd say that IE has issues every so often. I use Chrome and Firefox more. I also have and use Safari. Seamonkey is pretty out of date, but Opera seems to be humming along. Try another browser and see how things look. Here on the home front, I've decluttered myself of doggie-smelling-dogs. Yup. All three got a bath this afternoon. I'm still a little soggy, but they're happily drying in the yard and every time I took someone out the back they all got treats. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 16 Jan 12 - 03:57 PM Be careful, SRS. Before you know it, Zeke won't want to go home! :-) Seriously, as I've said before, what a very good help and friend you are, especially to Susie. I feel sorry for her having been through so much with her husband and now this. I hope she has a safe and swift, as much as possible, recovery. I had a ton of energy yesterday so we cleaned house. It still hasn't been dusted and I still need to put more stuff away, but we started about 9:30 AM and I was still doing stuff around three or 4 PM. We had a huge stack of dishes so we shared and did them together whilst listening to Prairie Home Companion. Roger swept all the floors, I mopped, though I still have a bit more to do, scrubbed the bathroom, and I prepped more fruits and vegetables, & made more juice. I also called my daughter, who does indeed have our old Electrolux floor buffer/rug shampooer. It was expensive and does a great job on wood floors as well as carpets. Our LR is hardwood and needs a good cleaning/polishing, so she is to return it sometime this week. (I thought she'd left it behind when she moved down here, so was delighted to find she still has it!) My office space in the dining room has been bugging me. the rolling hanging file cart that I had, sat right over a heat register. We had a deflector on it but the papers and things still got too hot. I took it back to the old office where I will put the hanging files in a big file cabinet. In its place in the dining room, I commandeered one of those kitchen stands which has butcher block on the top and three slide out metal drawers underneath and is on wheels. We weren't using it much except as a spot to throw stuff which we didn't want put away into cupboards. So, I found places to put it all and, as a consequence, the kitchen looks a little also. The cart fit the LR space much better and allowed me to get stuff off my desk and into the drawers which makes everything look neater and gives the cats more space on my desk. LOL By the end of the day my bum was dragging and I felt as though I had done really a full day's work, physical work, and it felt good.Today, I feel a little worn out, but I think it's more from emotional reaction last night from hearing that my dad's cousin, who I called my Aunt Helen, had passed away Sunday morning. It was to be expected, she was old and had been in terrible pain from arthritis for years, plus she had lost her eyesight. It was just a few years ago she had to leave our area, move out of her home and into a care home closer to her daughter in Idaho, mostly because of her loss of sight. So I had not seen her in about five years or so, but we always talked on the phone and she was always the dearest, sweetest person to me. It was she who lived with my dad and his parents for a time when she was growing up so she really was like a sister to him. He had no siblings, otherwise. She's also the one who gave me a huge photo of my grandparent's ranch which was taken back in the 1920s or so. She also gave me a set of kitchen towels embroidered by my grandma with a different "chore" noted for each day of the week. Another treasure was a little stuffed cloth doll my grandmother had made for Aunt Helen's daughter. And, when she left town, she called me one day and asked me to come over. She had a little box inside of which was a beautiful pin my grandparents gave her when she graduated from high school. My mom had one like it though in different colours. It's an early acrylic, I think, one with miniature roses caught inside, like an insect in amber. It is very precious to me as are the other items she gave me. I am going to really miss our visits. I'm so grateful we had a wonderful visit at Christmas time, the last time I spoke with her. I know my dad has one or two other cousins who are still alive, but I never knew them, so it feels as though I've lost the last contact with my dad through relatives of his generation. So, here's to my beloved Aunt Helen. I know she's in a better place, free and clear of all pain and I am grateful for her having been a part of my life. Thanks for listening, kat |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 16 Jan 12 - 04:59 PM The workout last night was a copy of the preceding week's workout, minus the deep-water, fast aquajogging-- and woke up this AM minus the soreness. Yay! No car today, so 1 set of step-ups instead of pool work. PT dry clinic tomorrow. I'm taking them a motivator-plaque for the pool area. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 17 Jan 12 - 06:38 PM Saved to post when Mudcat came back: Kat, I'm sorry about your aunt. I didn't meet a lot of my older relatives until I was in college - my father had estranged himself from his mother, but I started writing in high school when my parents separated, and over the years her sisters got in touch. I made several trips east to meet them, and visited more often when I was working in NYC. They were interesting old ladies - it would have been nice to know them less old also. :-/ I saw Susie this afternoon - she's trying to talk a little, not completely coherent yet, but stringing together phrases and answering questions. As the swelling subsides I'm sure it will get better. Did some laundry, policed the back yard a bit, and made myself take the time to research electric companies. I'm at the end of a year-long advertised special, so I have to find a new plan or accept a plan from this existing company. I have about 2 weeks left, but I don't want to wait till the last minute. Mainly, I don't want to be penalized for not letting them directly withdraw the monthly amount - I want to be able to dispute it if something is wrong, etc. I also don't want to be penalized if I pay with a credit card. So I'm comparing plans, see which gives me the most wiggle room at the best price. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 17 Jan 12 - 08:02 PM 75 minutes clinic PT today incl 3 minutes dry treadmill at 1.4 MPH. Good shoes! MP3 player was good but I sure had the wrong stuff on it! Longer next time. PT-ist confirms mid-March is a good time to plan on discharge from PT, to land and water stuff on my own till next fall. Leg raises with 2-lb weights x 2 sets of 10. I learned a few new land stretches that will help with post-PT soreness, but one knee is in trouble anyway (arthur-osis). I handled a Rite Aid errand this evening with no scooter, yay, TBTG for Aleve! Shelf build for office sched for Friday. I did some good scheduling/planning for various work projects today including shifting one up the chain of command that now can handle it; a new responsibility/learning opportunity are coming my way, so I am trimming back some of the detail level on existing stuff and allocating schedule time and office space to the new thingie. Sleeping schedule has been messed up but, thanks to alarms and TBTG, it's come back where I want it to be. The day started with slipper repair, so I now have a nice, warm pair for my tootsies in that cold office. Sister's drive west has reached the Pecos, TX area. I was able to help her find a motel when she called up today with her plan sot to hell by road conditions, and then I sent her a YouTube video: Waltz Across Texas! :~) ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 18 Jan 12 - 10:20 AM Pecos is good. There is a "gap" from Van Horn to El Paso that you don't want to find your self in when it is stopping time. That is the zone very near the border that is policed and patrolled heavily and stopping by the road and sleeping in ones car isn't a good idea. At. All. Think NarcoWar. The dogs spent a quiet night - I'm amazed at how easy it is to get Zeke to lie down and stay put if he simply has his own bed in with the others. They're already sleeping on a bed, but they have cushions on top of it. He knows it is his while he's part of the pack, and we'll make sure to send this home with him when the time comes. Must make a push to have a few things in order by the end of the next weekend - Moonglow will have her tonsils out next Tuesday and I'll be ready in case she decides she wants to come here to recuperate instead of with her roommates up at school. She'll probably want to stay there, but I'll be set just in case. It's a Mom thing. . . SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 18 Jan 12 - 01:26 PM Thanks, SRS, have notified her and started a trip thread now as well. === PT also confirmed that our play activities are sound, PT-wise. === Tonight is Bills. :~| ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: maire-aine Date: 18 Jan 12 - 01:36 PM I updated to IE 9 and that solved my FB problems, but still have a few issues, mostly email & printing. Still working on it. M |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: LilyFestre Date: 18 Jan 12 - 01:54 PM Spent the morning with my baby, playing and doing some play learning as well. The rest of the day has been spent fussing with the insurance company. F*CKERS. That's all I have to say. Michelle |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 18 Jan 12 - 04:46 PM And you said it succinctly. Lucidly. Yup. I agree. Susan, if she spent the night in Pecos then she'll be past the area I'm talking about by early afternoon. Bleh. I've done filing, organizing, etc. but the paper keeps creeping back. Must try harder. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 19 Jan 12 - 12:22 AM Spent most of yesterday working on my blog; adding to it since I parked my domain name, dumped my website, and have it pointed to the blog, now. I had a lot of frustrations with customising the template I chose. I still need to add more stuff and figure out a couple of other things, but at least it's there for people to see, now. Had a two month checkup with the kidney specialist today and it was grand! Last time I saw him, he was threatening iron tabs which I hate to take and advised me to eat more fish and chicken. I didn't want to do that mostly because I prefer to be a vegetarian. Over the next two months, I gained a few pounds during the holidays, but have been steadily losing, then came along the juicing plan. Today, he looked at my blood-work and urinalysis and said everything looked stable and "excellent." He was happy with the rate of weight loss, we've managed to bring my blood pressure up to an acceptable low normal (it's been too low for about a year), and no anaemia, no anything else! He was a happy camper, but not as happy as I! I told him to expect ever better when I see him again near the end of March. It's been a bit of a long haul since last summer, so this news was very welcome, today! I've also been doing the usual: laundry, etc. Sunday, we had a huge cleanup. (Sorry if I'm repeating myself.) |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: LilyFestre Date: 19 Jan 12 - 08:09 AM Down 1.6 Michelle |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 19 Jan 12 - 11:30 AM Good going, Michelle. Meditation and qi gong this morning. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 19 Jan 12 - 11:51 AM Great news, Kat! If you blood pressure needs to be higher, just keep fussing with that blog template. That should do it! :) Michelle, I haven't been on a scale for a while. I guess I need to do that again one of these days. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 19 Jan 12 - 01:49 PM Yesterday's pool time was approved by the PT and it did not relly inhibit the PT tiome today either-- a good mix. I learned how to copy/paste text msgs from the new fone to email, this AM, which will make keeping track AT the pool so simple-- I can email her a copy of the pool stats, and (DUH!) email it to the doc's office as well. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 19 Jan 12 - 03:56 PM Spent the morning making juice and also, for the first time in probably 20 years, made homemade soup and it was delicious, esp. with cornbread. I even invited my brother over to sample the juice and soup. He really liked them. I almost cannot believe what this represents for me, as far as mental changes go which translates into physical, too. Major, major changes. Here's the recipe (I was out of onions, so I used scallions and also one less cup of water): Vegetable Soup – makes 4 servings (save 2 for Day 4) 3 Tbsp. Olive Oil 1 large Onion, chopped 3 cloves Garlic, minced 3 medium Carrots, chopped 3 Celery Stalks, chopped 3 Tomatoes, chopped with juice reserved 1 medium Zucchini, cut into half moons 1 cup Green Beans, trimmed to 1 inch pieces 3-4 handfuls Kale or other leafy green such as Chard or Bok Choy, chopped into small pieces 6 cups water 3/4 Tbsp. fresh Thyme, chopped 1 Tbsp. fresh Oregano, chopped (or 1/2 Tbsp. dried) 1 tsp. Sea Salt 1/2 tsp. fresh ground Black Pepper In a large stock pot, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the onion, garlic, carrots and celery and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, zucchini, green beans, water, salt, pepper, thyme and oregano; stir and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook the soup for 10 minutes. Add the chopped kale or other leafy greens and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Season to taste with the salt and pepper. Per serving: Calories: 185 Protein: 4 g Fiber: 5.5 g |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: ClaireBear Date: 19 Jan 12 - 04:12 PM Just checking in: No progress on rebuilding the house, but I'm steeling myself to call contractors. One problem, I think, is that I don't really want to move back there -- I want to move ON. I should have seen that coming, I suppose. My wuzband is not dealing with the fire insurance company at all well. I suppose I'll have to take that on, along with the more-than-full-time job and taking care of our child. My wuzband is retired and could so easily deal with this issue -- also he's much more confrontational than I am, which is a good thing when dealing with insurance -- but will he? No, he just says it looks like they're not going to give us anything for the contents of our house. Yeah, right. But there's good news: Sometime in the last few weeks my weight got down to (I think) lower than it's been since my son was born in 2000. I'd still like to lose another 40 pounds and get back to what I weighed at about age 30, but I feel so much better for the 35 pounds that are gone so far! Hurray for the happiness diet. Now if only I had time to take walks, which would I think improve my circulation, muscle tone, and blood pressure. Maybe I should institute a daily constitutional with the boychild -- only trouble is, I don't get home til after dark, and There Be Cougars. Hmmmm. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Jeri Date: 19 Jan 12 - 04:32 PM I take it you're talking about feline cougars... I went to the gym today and bought stew veggies. I already have chicken, potatoes and ...GARLIC. It's supposed to snow tonight (it's spitting right now) and I've got a big day planned. Stew making, laundry and maybe shoveling, and all in my... my friend calls them "fire pants". They aren't pajamas if they have a fly and pockets, and they go great with the lumberchick chique look that works so well in New England, although I need to wear my ear-flapped rabbit fur adorned hat to really pull it off. If you don't mind animal pelts, don't use rabbit fur on a hat. They shed even though they're long gone. Maybe getting hair into your mouth is their way of retaliating. I put food in the two bird feeders and moved the suet cage to where the furry, tree-pig (squirrel) can't eat ALL of it. The birds and I are ready. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: ClaireBear Date: 19 Jan 12 - 05:02 PM Yes, feline! LOL. I suppose I am a potential cougar, but I have no such urges. Well, I don't THINK I have such urges. How much younger does the cougee have to be than the cougar for it to count? |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Jeri Date: 19 Jan 12 - 05:09 PM Feggetaboutit -- YOU have a few years to go before you can qualify! |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: ClaireBear Date: 19 Jan 12 - 05:20 PM Jeri, that's about the nicest thing anyone's said to me all day! But surely, at 57, I qualify? I used to have a coat with rabbit fur on the collar. That bunne exacted its revenge daily. I'll be right over for some of that stew! |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Jeri Date: 19 Jan 12 - 06:10 PM I never would have guessed you were the same age as I! |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 19 Jan 12 - 07:12 PM That makes three of us. The soup sounds good, Kat. I made a batch as well last night, but it was a bit more haphazard. I decided I wanted some soup, so I sauteed some frozen chicken necks and backbones (cut off whole birds I used earlier). Added ~ 3 cups water, simmered, then removed the bones. I added some diced veggies, what I had - onions, carrots, celery, potatoes. Then when it was humming along I poured in a quart of chicken stock I made a few days ago, and added a skinless boneless chicken breast to simmer until it was cooked (but not so long it became rubbery.) I took out the chicken to cool and cut up, and added 1 cup of home-canned tomato juice (left over from earlier in the week), several big grinds of black pepper, a sprig of thyme from the garden, salt, and a handful of whole wheat spaghetti broken into 1" pieces. I love the flavor of Balsamic vinegar so I added a couple of tablespoons, added back the meat, and a little sesame oil, and at the end, I put a large serving-worth into a small saucepan on another burner and poured in a beaten egg while stirring it to give it the eggdrop soup effect - and there it was. Came out pretty good. I'd rather add the egg to as much soup as I'm going to eat, not the whole pot. In the declutter work, I've been cleaning, measuring, photographing and describing things for eBay. And for exercise, I took the dogs for a walk in the sunshine this afternoon. A few days ago with Zeke on the Gentle Leader we walked around one large block, and did two blocks the next time. This time we wandered around the neighborhood and did several blocks, and he started to protest at the thing on his face, rubbing on Cinnamon and on my pants at times. But he'll be better about it than Cinnamon, who simply refuses to walk anywhere with one of those on her face. :-( SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 20 Jan 12 - 10:56 AM Friday! Even though it was a shorter work week for us here in the US, each day was a hard-fought zone, so the weekend is welcome! SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 20 Jan 12 - 12:23 PM 4 of us, roughly. I re-cluttered in a CAT! Maybe two! ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: LilyFestre Date: 20 Jan 12 - 02:52 PM I've been working on quite a pile of launry today as well as tending to the baby and to Pete who is home and sick. The new dresser is in it's new space and I decided to use it for something a little untraditional. :) Shoe racks have been moved as well. Kitchen floor and hallway have been swept. AND I'm going to yoga in just a little bit!!!!! HOORAY!!!! I can't wait to melt into my mat!!! I'll be stiff and not able to do what I used to do but so what....gotta start somewhere!!! Michelle |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: LilyFestre Date: 20 Jan 12 - 07:15 PM Yoga was WONDERFUL!!! We did some deep stretching and a few sun salutations. YUM . Michelle |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 20 Jan 12 - 07:50 PM We've been busy most of the day. Went to the coumadin clinic and found that all of the leafy greens I've been doing lowered my INR, so we upped the dosage. It was to be expected. Then went to hand therapy for my right thumb and left index finger. Elbow is much better, as is everything else but those two digits. Using Dragon has certainly helped. I bought multi-coloured highlighters which I am going to use in my day book, which is really just a thin 5 X 8 calendar book with "week-at-a-glance" pages. I am using different colours for appts., when to pay certain bills, daily weight, etc. This way I will be able to go back and find data easily instead of reading all of my hen scratch to find one kernel!:-) Also Rog went into Lowes and bought a new faucet for the kitchen sink. The water here, even the treated city water, has so many minerals in it, the spout on the one we put in about five years ago had sprung leaks all over, corroded from the inside out. I hope he has the time to put it in this weekend. He may have to do some freelance work. Went to the store, had a good walk round stocking up for a week of juicing and made a new batch. Still tastes yummy. I told the nurse at the clinic about it; she's all set to start doing it, too! I'm going to try to do more de-clutttering, tomorrow. kat kat |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 20 Jan 12 - 08:40 PM Walked a whole store with great breath resources. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 20 Jan 12 - 08:54 PM I am pleased with how well Zeke is settling in and has calmed down - to a degree, anyway. It isn't enough to have human attention, this dog really craves other dogs so he's quite happy to share the garage and the futon with two others. We had another warm afternoon so took a walk, but I was trying to get the leashes all at a better length so cut this walk a bit short. We're tripping all over each other with loops tied in leashes - with the new head collar, Zeke's needed to be adjusted and it was tied too tight to fix on the walk. I'm eating more produce also, Kat, but not juicing. And I'm combining more things (like a dish yesterday - Italian sausage, mushrooms, spaghetti sauce over whole wheat rotini, and to it I added a few cut up okra and a handful of cut up chart. The okra was a marginal success - I'll try soaking in in vinegar to remove the slime, like one cookbook directs, before I use it that way again. I was going to see Susie this evening, but earlier today I did feel cold-like symptoms. They've cleared now, but I'll wait till tomorrow to be sure it was a small event, not a cold, before I go near someone as ill as she is in the hospital. I hope Pete gets well soon, Michelle, and I'm glad to see the yoga still feels good. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 21 Jan 12 - 01:22 AM These dogs are so funny! Cinnamon has wanted to try out the new pillow, and I discovered that this evening when I found Zeke trying to make a spot on my living room sofa. "No! Down! Come with me!" and we headed back into the front room, to find an empty space on the bed, but not the one he wanted, which was occupied by Cinnamon. I scratched her ears and offered a great scratch and tickle session - she changed to her old bed and got a deep lower-ear massage (the kind that has them grinding their head into your hand). Along with this, her bed had an extra towel on it to make it more inviting, so Zeke hopped up and claimed his fluffy cushion. Geez. They're like kindergartners. :-) SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 21 Jan 12 - 10:11 AM Sunny and cool today, lots to do. Supposed to be in the 50s, warming into the 70s tomorrow. So I'll wait and do the gardening tomorrow. eBay today, along with helping a neighbor (her modem and router have been a problem - I fixed the modem a few weeks ago, this weekend we'll replace the router.) And a visit to Susie. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: maire-aine Date: 21 Jan 12 - 10:32 AM We got our first real snowfall of the season, and only about 2 inches at that. Can you believe SE Michigan with only 10" of snow since November, and all of that melted as soon as it fell? Anyway, my snowblower started, thank heavens. Pantry is well-stocked, so there's no need to go out. I guess there's nothing to do but do laundry. Maryanne |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 21 Jan 12 - 12:46 PM We added more fiber and flavor with a can of greens added to a weekly red-rice pot (cargo rice, a type of brown). We get plenty of vitamins from the raw veggies we have each evening with supper-- this is just green gravy and a scoop of this rice can then be mixed with a couple of chunks of chicken or tofu. === I fixed a broken pull-out drawer in the fridge today by swapping in a larger drawer-- a plastic pull-out one that will make lots of lunch items more easily findable, and make it less likely we'll reach for the crap food after a workout. === My pulse-oximeter arrived ydy which will make getting an accurate HR at the pool much simpler-- we used one in aquatic PT. You can watch your HR climb as you work, and stay out of trouble-- as well as correlate HR to how it feels, so you can watch your cardio fitness improve. These have gotten much more affordable and, for me, are more important now than a pedometer-- for that I've been going by the wisdom (SRS?) that if my legs ache, I got to my step goal and maybe a tad over it. === In the dry-clinic PT, we have settled into a good, workable routine that even works when the only aide available is the one I had trouble with. (She got some good direction from mgmt and I got better self-advocacy strategies.) I know the equipment better now too. === I am really liking the shape emerging for the weekly exercise plan, where I do a bangup Thursday PT and a land or water cardio activity Friday... and then let the body rest/heal for two days of regular, active household and church stuff. I plan to make Saturdays my sleep-in-a-tad-late day. === This AM I installed an inexpensive lamp with a good, hevay base in the chilly, under-keyboard slot Hardi insulated for me last week in the office. The larger oil-rad worked well in the LR last year for spot heat, but this is a much tighter space... it's safer than a space heater and can be left on in the bad cold spells. Kitteh approves. === The drawers left over from the install I did in the fridge will be great for holding office supplies, in a cabinet where they have been piling up. === In the office, an organization plan is shaping itself in my mind. We didn't get the new shelves in yet, but I can see how I want the workflow to move thru the storage system it will hold-- space planning. And even tho the office is still so cold, I am looking forward to nesting in there a couple of afternoons a week on my work stuff. ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 21 Jan 12 - 12:53 PM It's been overcast here in the mornings, then clearing off and in the 40s, but the radio just said we're supposed to have a bunch of snow in the mtns. with rain here in the valley. We got up late this morning. Last night was quiet, but kind of wild. A bunch of sheriff's cars pulled up next door, very quietly, no lights, the officers slipping out and silently walking about the house. It was eerie. The neighbour's dogs never barked, no loud voices, cars or anything. One of our bedroom windows, the one by the head of the bed, faces their driveway, so I was a bit anxious. I was up and down, couldn't settle until about 3a. Have no idea what it was all about as the neighbours are all still here, their cars, dogs and all. Anyway, not sure we'll get much done, today. I am still hoping for the new faucet. We need to clean up the kitchen. I told Rog it'd be a lot better to do that *after* installing the faucet.:-) I am also going to get his help in putting the clean clothes away, plus I have a couple more loads to do. SRS, that's funny about the dogs. We finally convinced Luna to use Merlee's brand-new bed, bought it just before he passed. She wouldn't have a thing to do with it so we put it away. She doesn't seem to like soft things, but she is so hairy the covers I put on the couch were constantly needing to be changed. With the bed, I can take its cover off, wash it, and it's much better than before. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 21 Jan 12 - 01:35 PM Took some photos for eBay yesterday - I have another roadside-rescue chandelier to post - but I got smart today and hung it up and photographed it at a good angle. I hadn't screwed the top on so it was looking a little lopsided, so now that I've done that I'll reshoot some of my close shots (on a blue background - I don't like having much, if any, of the house showing in photos of items.) With a ruler, etc. Dave Letterman did a funny piece about photos with coins in them for scale (after that very small frog was discovered in New Guinea and photographed on a Roosevelt dime). SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: GUEST,mg Date: 21 Jan 12 - 05:17 PM Geologists at least used to always put their pickax in the picture for scale. mg |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 21 Jan 12 - 06:28 PM Three cheers for Roger! This morning, he did the dishes and then, may I have a drum-roll please, he put in the new faucet! But wait, there's more!I've been asking him for weeks to put some cardboard in the front of the radiator of the car until we can get the heater back flushed. He did that this afternoon. I folded three loads of laundry and put them away and have three loads more to go in the washer and dryer. I cleaned off the top of my desk and now have five different pictures of my three gorgeous grandsons smiling at me as I dictate this. Morgan asked to come over about noon, which he did. We just goofed off for a while then he started telling us again how his laptop start button wouldn't work so he was unable to use it for games or to go online for schoolwork and that kind of thing. Wound up Roger took him over to their house where they picked up our ladder the kids had borrowed and never brought back and my pie plates and Morgan's laptop. Papa is now Morgan's hero.:-) He figured out why the button wasn't working and, while it isn't perfect, he did get it so that Morgan can turn it on and off and we downloaded one of his favourite games for him, Wizard 101. That kid had such a happy smile on his face. We sent him home at four smiling to beat the band. I've promised Roger tomorrow off. I'm going to work on clearing the jewellery desk again and a few other little things here and there, but today feels very productive and I think I'll just relax. kat |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 21 Jan 12 - 06:57 PM Good day all around! I went with my nextdoor neighbor to get a new router, and we made a point of getting one that is easy to add a guest to. There is a button (push it at the point where it asks for the password or for the user to push the button), but there is also a device (a USB flash drive) that can be plugged into someone else's computer and use her wireless internet. Now she's up and running full speed. The modem and the router were each slowly fading in and out. Ought to last another 2 or 3 years now. Laundry from last night needs folding and I need to run another load. And I need to do some grocery shopping so I'll do that now before it's completely dark. Tonight is more eBay listings. SRS |
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Subject: Mini-meals by Alarm From: wysiwyg Date: 22 Jan 12 - 12:22 PM When I developed the mini-meal strategies particular to our family economy, I didn't know at the time that our household would soon include a diabetic. But because we had that already in place, his diabetic learning curve was a crazy-short one. Now I'm the one benefiting from what he then learned-- that sometimes WHEN we eat is more important than WHAT we eat, and to set an alarm. For some folks the internal "I'm hungry" signal never goes off, or has been habitually overridden by other demands to the point where one doesn't even notice it. So for awhile, my ACOA body and brain had to go thru a phase of "Eat as soon as you feel hungry." Now that this process has run its course, I'm taking on Hardi's structure of eating by the demands of an alarm. The new personal rule is, "eat as soon after the alarm as you can finish what you are doing," in (or course) the smallest reasonable quantity. I seem to be thinking more clearly with the reduced meds, too, what a coinkydink! ;~) ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: LilyFestre Date: 22 Jan 12 - 12:33 PM I've been having fun checking out organizing and gardening ideas on Pinterest. If you haven't check it out yet, you should! FUN! A visual billboard of all things that make you happy! If you need an invite, let me know and I'll send one your way (will need your email addy). www.pinterest.com Michelle |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: LilyFestre Date: 22 Jan 12 - 02:06 PM I've been working up a storm in my *office* which really has become nothing more than a storage area for stuff I don't use for often anymore. The plan...I think I wrote this before....is to divide that room in half so Jeremiah can use half of it for a play room and I can use the other half to store my stuff (mostly bookshelves and crafting goodies these days) and set up a beading station where I can both bead (already have the desk planned so little fingers stay out) and where I can see him. I'll put photos up when it's closer to being done but the process has been started in a big way. I'm off to look over some paint samples as I intend to paint at least half the room later this week. Half of the room has no windows, this is where I will be setting up my gear. I don't want the baby playing in a windowless area...that would just be sad. In any case, there is a Berber carpet in that room...off white...brown flecks. I think I'm going to go with a classic sand color...I think that will work well. Besides, the walls are going to be covered with his artwork anyway (on paper...we hope!) so it will be plenty colorful. I'm also going to search for a bean bag chair. I am not big on television but PBS has some really great kid shows...he loves Sesame Street and Word World so I'm thinking of putting an old television & VCR/DVD player in there as well. I have a collection of Disney movies that I recently picked up at the thrift shop as well as some educational DVDs that were given to Jeremiah from family at Christmas time. I'm thinking morning playtime will be in the playroom and then later in the day will be time spent in the kitchen or living room while we make dinner and hang out with Daddy. We'll see. I have an all day appointment at the onocology clinic on Tuesday so won't get anything done then but the rest of the week is looking free so I might just get this all done before the month after all!!! Also upcoming is a major freezer clean out. Stewie is going to the butcher on Wednesday and there's going to be a whole lotta beef coming our way in a few weeks....have to make room! I cleaned out the fridge late last night but still have a pile of dishes to tend to from that event. Later tonight I'll do them. I'm hoping to catch a nap today as I went to bed at 4:30am and was up 3 hours later (to stay) with the baby. It's funny how you kind of get use to not having enough sleep. I'd like a nap but could really do without one as well if I were to be busy. Sitting in this chair isn't going to help with that so I'll catch you whirly birds later. Love to all! Michelle |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 22 Jan 12 - 02:36 PM Made the last push to get the brass and copper chandelier listed on eBay. It seems a lot of items don't sell there because the listing only has one ugly photo of the item in the auction. I put up a lot of photos and described it as thoroughly as possible. Gave a starting price and a buy-it-now price. Almost everything I list sells, I think think the photos are the reason why. I always include the statement "These photos are of the chandelier up for auction so should be considered as part of the description." I think that helps. There's still a lot to do around here, but that was my big hurdle for the weekend. Next comes a dog walk, minus Poppy, who is once again limping. I've realized that Cinnamon is really confused right now as to who is in charge when there is a new dog in the pack - I need to reinforce that I am the pack leader, that she shouldn't clobber Poppy when Poppy interacts with Zeke. She doesn't need to do any correcting, that is my job (and basically, Poppy tells Zeke to back off if he gets to rough at play and Cinnamon should accept that). SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 22 Jan 12 - 04:41 PM Michelle, there is a really neat blackboard paint you can get to put on a portion of the wall where little fingers can write on it. My daughter did that for Morgan and he loved it. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 22 Jan 12 - 11:09 PM Per sched/plan: 45 minutes ai chi and backhab (second half). Delivered adjustable step-up platform, now stowed. Office org. plan now sketched! ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 23 Jan 12 - 10:56 AM Meditation and qi gong this morning. Off to a good start. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 23 Jan 12 - 01:34 PM Heckuva week coming up: I have a dog that needs attention because of an injury that I'd like to help heal without an expensive trip to the vet. The jury is still out as to whether this will work. Moonglow gets her tonsils out tommorrow and her roommates are in and out, so I'll spend the day there. Oy. I hope I can convince her to come back down here for a few days and get a bit more consistent attention from her Dad and me. We have jobs and days off available, not classes and a rigid schedule in the student job market. There are also a couple of work-related appointments. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: LilyFestre Date: 23 Jan 12 - 02:10 PM I hope all goes well for MoonGlow and that she will let you take care of her (In my experience, no one takes care of you like your mama!!!). Get some popsicles or fruit bars to keep on hand for her sore throat! XOXOXOOXOXOX <-----Hugs for MoonGlow Michelle |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 23 Jan 12 - 02:21 PM Same here for {{{{Moonglow.}}}} SRS, nothing your vet will recommend will hold a candle to AMERIGEL. It is safe for pets and I have friends who swear by it for their pets' wounds. It's the only thing which worked on my leg last year and is all natural ingredients. Good luck to you for this week! |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: LilyFestre Date: 23 Jan 12 - 03:15 PM We swear by Bag Balm in this house for both critters and people! Michelle |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 23 Jan 12 - 05:59 PM Fri. Jan. 20 No pool-- furniture shopping, with breath!!! About an hour total walking (short sitting as needed). === Sun. Jan. 22 Pool workout Sunday evening ROM/relax 45 minutes total: Ai Chi-- upper body and core ROM x 10 reps BackHab-- second half of workout (crossovers, sideways, lunges, ROM hips, hi-knee, etc) Demo'd platform (6" side steps) Shower stretches === Mon. Jan. 23 pool workout 10 min slo ski warmup. 15 min 150-178 JOG HR 80s-- inner thighs very tired. 15 min intervals 178-186 BPM. HR 95-100; 85-95-100; 85-95-100 (3 sets w new pulse oximeter) 5 min Ai Chi upper body and core ROM x 10 reps 10 minutes hot tub stretches/warm up after cold pool No step-ups-- time short === ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 23 Jan 12 - 06:08 PM Yes, Michelle, Bag Balm is great, unless you're allergic to lanolin.:-)Smith College recommends it to all of their swimmers, too. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 23 Jan 12 - 08:47 PM I took Cinnamon for a quick walk around the block this evening, and have some shopping to do for Moonglow (soft foods) and a quick trip down to see Susie. Thanks for the recommendation, Kat, I looked at the list of places that sell their products and I'll take a look. I've been using a cleanser the vet gave me in a little bottle and charged a lot for - I looked it up online (and probably mentioned it last summer) and since it isn't an Rx ordered a gallon for $10. It cost $12 to ship it, but $22 it still way less than what I'd pay for it 4 ounces at a time! You know those annoying adds that we've been seeing on Mudcat? I clicked one, figuring to give a few cents into Max's piggybank, and it was actually a useful video - who knew. Of course, they want to sign you up to tell you how to eat healthy, but the discussion, once you got past the sales pitch, was sound. Talking about the problems of sugar and carbs and such. It's one of the "five foods you shouldn't eat" ads in full color. I finished most of the things I was taking care of for work today. This evening I will send in a couple of print orders electronically so I can pick them up later in the week. I'll take my laptop with me tomorrow, and one of my dogs. I'll empty email and I'll let Poppy sleep in the truck. I'm keeping them from rough housing while she has this injury. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 23 Jan 12 - 11:39 PM Good deal, SRS. It si expensive for a tube of it, but it only take a minuscule amount to be effective, consistently, and you do not have to cover the wound as they advise, just rub it in really well. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 24 Jan 12 - 12:02 AM Kat, I passed by a CVS this evening on my way back from visiting Susie, but it was closed. I'll print out a page of the products so I'm sure I'm looking at the right stuff and swing by Walgreens or CVS tomorrow. Susie is about ready to head to rehab. Her immediate medical needs are under control, now she needs to learn to walk and get back to her old self. She'll have to wear a padded helmet for a while. She has crappy insurance (the night before the accident she said she was going to change in the next open season - but that will be late in 2012) and finding someplace that will take it, that is the hard part. We're hoping that since the plan has the proviso that if they can't find anyone that takes their plan they'll pay out of the plan will work. It may have been good in the last place she lived, but it isn't widely accepted here. Off to hold my girl's hand tomorrow, deliver soft foods requested, and probably watch her sleep much of the day. :-) SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: LilyFestre Date: 24 Jan 12 - 07:57 AM Stomach bug here. ICK. Pete had it for 3 days, it hit me yesterday but I must say I'm feeling much better this morning. That's a good thing as I'm off to the oncology clinic to have my port flushed and about 8 tubes of blood taken. A friend is going along today so I plan to enjoy the ride down, friendly chit chat with my favorite nurses and an enjoyable ride back home with a lunch in there somewhere. Have a great day everybody! Michelle |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 24 Jan 12 - 12:46 PM SRS, I'd be surprised if you find it at any of the usual places like Walgreens. Maybe in a metro area, but here we have to special order it from a medical supply store. Good luck, regardless, with that and taking care of your daughter. Meditation and qi gong (2 different sets - 20-30 minutes each) |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 24 Jan 12 - 02:53 PM PT per schedule. Added reps to leg weights and added resistance to upper body stuff. The pool and the PT are starting to synergize. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: LilyFestre Date: 24 Jan 12 - 09:47 PM My port was flushing just fine but wouldn't give a blood return so they put some kind of disolving med into my chest and after an hour, the blood return worked just fine. When I got home, the doctor already had an email waiting for me. My thyroid is WAY OUT of whack. It should be 0.27-4.2. My is 20.15. Um Houston, we have a problem. So...today instead of beating myself up for being so tired lately, I'm giving in to it and am going to rest. My body has been screaming I'M TIRED for weeks now. I just thought I hit a lazy streak or something. Guess not. Good night. XOXOXOXO Michelle |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Dorothy Parshall Date: 24 Jan 12 - 10:26 PM SRS: my son accessed CBC in Washington. MAybe if you go to www,cbc.ca Then put The Nature of Things in the "search box" . MAYBE it will let you in. There are so many excellent programs. Last week it was about the teen brain. On fourth day of no choc and no cookies. Having a wandering blood sugar issue. Taking chromium to regulate. Eating frequent small meals. Listening carefully to what my body wants/needs. Feel better in most ways, otherwise. Intrigued by it. Great music Friday night. And again this week. Cold on weekend but the cabin was cosy. Visited friends in northern NYS all day Saturday. Had a wonderful time, admiring her raccoons - to be released in the spring. We hope to attend release day. Came back to city on Sunday aft to a cold house (38F). If R had not needed the car, I would have gone back to the country. Wrapped up in quilt with heating pad. Electric blanket is on to-buy list. Got a Turbo Hub from neighbour and arranged for an account but could not et it functioning. More calls to Bell, which I detest more each time. I need to call the neighbour and talk to him - tomorrow. Tech support could not help. Customer service is an oxymoron. I could write a novella about this Bell experience. Up to 40F today. Big thaw. Messy but at least the house got warm and sidewalks clear. I walked to library - 6 in, 6 out. Long talk with #1 son yesterday re tech stuff. I want to go dancing certain nights; the good TV shows are on those nights. Bottom line: they are available the next day on line. So I can have both! Next week - dancing! Our TV is old! I am watching Craigslist for a newer model. Too tired tonight to read back over other posts. I'll try to start there tomorrow morning. Hope everyone is doing OK. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 25 Jan 12 - 12:00 AM Michelle, your thyroid needs to be your friend. Take care, get things adjusted if you need to. It can make a huge difference in your energy and your weight. (Do you suppose the chemo clobbered your thyroid? I'm asking - I don't know - but I wouldn't be surprised). Dorothy, I'll give it a try later. My plate is full, I'm not watching anything for the moment (but I do like those Canadian science programs!) My lovely daughter is doing fine. After the anesthesia wore off the really sore throat came along and she didn't have much volume when she tried speaking for a while. She's allergic (hives) to the main pain killer originally prescribed, so I picked up another one (a patch) for her this afternoon. It doesn't give the spikes of no pain like the pills or liquid, but it lasts for 3 days and keeps the pain at a moderated level for a prolonged period. When I left this evening she was able to enjoy a bowl of noodle soup. The surgeon took out tonsils and adenoids. This is why she has such a swollen uvula and a sore throat, but she will feel so much better without those items contributing to poor sleep. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 25 Jan 12 - 11:33 AM Meditation and one hour of qi gong |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 25 Jan 12 - 03:54 PM Brrrr but it's a damp cold couple of days. We need the rain, no arguing about that, but it has been a fairly steady drench, no gentle drizzle that lets you continue to do a few activities outside. Indoor stuff, and if my thermostatic plugs come today (they respond to the temperature and power on and off, so I don't need to go change the oil radiator or fuss that a light is always on) I'll set one up in the greenhouse and get some seeds started. Choosing my next electric company today (after I do the math). SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: LilyFestre Date: 25 Jan 12 - 10:51 PM Family Day at the Salvation Army = Fun day of great shopping and awesome steals and deals!!! Bonus? I went to 2 different shops!!!! YAY!!! Michelle |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 25 Jan 12 - 11:17 PM Well, sticking to something does pan out. My brother's classical piano pieces which I put up on Soundclick last Sunday have apparently been getting looked at. The one I first put on FB and Twitter has climbed to #121 on a chart of 41,000+ songs and #37 in a sub-genre of 14,000+!! So...I have some more work to do...upload more sound files and enter the descriptions,etc. I am happy to do it when I see numbers like those. It's been a bit of a trial to get him to really believe in the power of the internet and how it all works. He is willing to learn, but a nice demonstration like this really helps! After qi gong this morning, I dusted the pictures and knick-knacks in the hallway and part of the LR, plus the walls and a few things on a shelf in the bathroom. I've lost more to do, but it's a start. Every morning as I do my qi gong, the morning sun shines right through the big picture window right onto the bookshelves and tv stand facing me, so I see all of the dust! It's getting to me.:-) More dusting, music uploading, and juicing tomorrow morning after seeing Morgan off to school with Rog as he goes to work. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: LilyFestre Date: 26 Jan 12 - 12:17 AM Oops...I should add that Family Day means all clothes (except those with blue tags), shoes, books and linens are half price. VCR tapes are a quarter...found some great sing along videos for the baby!!!! I'm off to bed. Night all. Michelle |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 26 Jan 12 - 06:45 AM Pool ydy per schedule. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 Jan 12 - 01:26 PM The sun has come out after 5-7 inches of rain in the last two days. I threw the ball for Zeke in the back, enjoying the sun on my back. Gotta soak up some Vitamin D today. Tackling financial things today - changed my electric company again. I find that if I do it each year I get a better rate. This time I shopped according to how they run bill-pay since some of these companies will only give you their lowest rates if you autopay electronically out of your checking account. No, I don't think so. Moonglow is holding her own in the sore throat department. I suspect it will take until the end of the weekend before it begins to let up. Susie will move to rehab today and we'll explore the possibility of taking Zeke down to see her when we know we can do it without his jumping on her. Crossing off items on my copious "things to do" list. Lots more to go. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: GUEST,mg Date: 26 Jan 12 - 03:27 PM I can not see how low-sugar chocolate could be anything but helpful for a blood sugar situation, but every person's metabolism is different. I mix baking chocolate with coconut oil, ground flaxseed, stevia, a bit of cream cheese, cinnamon and sometimes a few nuts. Works for me. Fats will stabilize many peoples' blood sugar problems. I find if I eat bacon especially mine will drop (basically too high but I still get horrible symtpoms of what is called hypoglycemia, but in my case is not hypo) and my weight will drop. mg |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 Jan 12 - 03:36 PM That sounds wonderful, Mary! Give us a recipe (portions) for that concoction? SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Dorothy Parshall Date: 26 Jan 12 - 04:26 PM mg: you do come up with interesting thoughts. Now, on day 6 of no choc, I am having daily bs swings. I think I read somewhere that it helps regulate bs but I have been eating too much – 50-100gm – and it is such an addiction that I am really trying hard. I have done without before without this problem. But I have also cut out all cookies so my diet these few days has only the sugar made from the little carbs I ingest. Today I ate a fruit pie from – AGHHH – McD's which was in the frig a month or two. (I had to nuke it under a damp paper towel!). That settled things down. But now it is time to eat again. I think I'll do the stewed apples and cranberries. granola and yogurt. We are out of plain yogurt and veggies and bread and….. I have not had the car at all this week but R's truck should be done by tomorrow, Then I will need to do a big shopping. May have a chance to use car tonight MAYBE. Fat, as in bacon, inhibits the production of insulin. I played with that once and found that too much sugar gave me a headache in one part of head (front or back but I don't remember which) and too little caused a headache in the other part. Hypoglylcemic most of my life, I had been doing better – ALWAYS have food available! Only this week has been strange – juggling to make sure the correct balance of foods is ingested. But with an eye toward low caloric intake. I still feel better though tired in aft, but not falling asleep as I was most afternoons recently. I actually did not realize how poorly I was feeling, too many days but not all. Saw something on line about buckwheat helping bs. Thinking about trying a "cookie" made of buckwheat, choc, cranberries, honey something else? Ground sunflower seeds or chickpea flour, a binder of some sort …. Walked to library yesterday and day before. House is above 60 currently. Monday and Tuesday were thawing days. Wet but nice. Now it is a moderate 20F and overcast again. We have finally reduced the mouse pop by four. That might be it! I cleaned the counters thoroughly to see if there is any mouse sign tomorrow. An Amarylis is sending up two healthy stalks! This week has been a support R week through a couple crises. Hope one is done today and the other has to conclude this phase tomorrow by 5 pm. Sometimes deadlines are good! So I am hanging out to feed him when he gets a chance to stop in.. The most amazing thing happened yesterday. Bro called to tell me what was going on, i.e. where R was and his phone was not with him and blither, blither, blither. Totally unnecessary. We had had a go-round on Tuesday when I let him have it about how stressed R is "and YOU are the cause." So he tells me "R was here this aft and he was not stressed at all." 64 years and he does not have a clue about R! R had come home about 3 pm for a bite and was so stressed he was shaking. He sat here wanting very much not to leave. Oblivious? Self centred? I just got him off the phone asap. It does no good to talk with him. To the country tomorrow for music on Fri and Sat, see friends, and maybe get the internet connected at the cabin. Peace and quiet, in any case, in a warm and beautiful place. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: GUEST,mg Date: 26 Jan 12 - 04:55 PM I just nuke a square of baking chocolate, add about a tablespoon of pure coconut oil, about 2 teaspons maybe of cream cheese (otherwise mixture is very runny), a little shake of stevia, a little vanilla, a big pinch of cinnamon (supposed to be good for regulating blood sugar)..grind some flax seeds well and add about a tablespoon or two (if you are not used to flax seeds start sparingly). Could add some chopped nuts, dried fruits etc. Just stir and eat. Not overly delicisou but gives a chocolate fix and is quick and easy. I have read our hearts especially love the stearic acid in chocolate and our thyroids love the medium fat chains in coconut oil (which has very healing properties). I think if six days without chocolate is making you not feeling well, your body is saying give me some chocolate..just not mixed with sugar etc. mg |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 Jan 12 - 09:49 PM I've been using ground flax seed - it goes through you in a hurry if you get too much, and it causes gas. I usually mix a tablespoon or two into the dry ingredients when I make bread. Long day tomorrow, but I start my work day late, so maybe I'll get a dog walk in or a little gardening if it warms up early. I'm eating a low-carb diet now (again) and need to get the exercise also so it pays off. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Dorothy Parshall Date: 26 Jan 12 - 11:07 PM Coconut oil So I checked out coconut oil because I had a strong idea it was not a good thing. This article extolls its virtues. I am not totally convinced but may try a little to see how it tastes. I am very aware of the ways my body reacts to things, often in seconds. I am finding this situation interesting, perhaps a challenge to make changes. I am wanting to go more toward veggie, knowing I will never go there completely because I have not been able to maintain this body on strictly non-animal protein. So, I am going to to keep on trying to find a good way to be healthy and hopefully lose some weight. Then I shall certainly feel better. The Nature of Things tonight was about animal minds and how well they think, solve problems, etc. Fascinating to see a small octopus "try on" some shells and then, have ascertained that they fit and provided protection, it picked them up and took them along. That both clutters their life and gives them safety. It was a kind of cute little guy! |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 Jan 12 - 11:16 PM Coconut and Macadamia nut oil are the two new organic health food superstars that folks are talking about in the organic news I hear. Out is Canola, in are these two. And butter. And the ever-reliable olive oil, as long as it really is olive oil. There is a lot of artificial and mixed stuff out there now. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 26 Jan 12 - 11:42 PM I don't remember the name of the company, but several years ago when I was going to an acupuncturist, he had me using pressed coconut oil, virgin organic if I remember correctly, on toast in the morning. It was delicious and it felt good. I don't know why I stopped using it. Now I'm doing so much of the fruit and vegetable juice extraction I probably won't go back to using it except on rare occasions, though mg, your mixture sounds quite good. This morning I kept getting sidetracked. Morgan called about 745a to say he was calling in sick, no need to take him to school as he had a cold. Just after meditation, when I was just getting into qi gong, my daughter back east called needing help with her resume. Got that done and e-mailed off for her, went back to the qi gong and lo and behold got another couple of phone calls, one from Morgan trying to figure out a password for a game that we had set up for my computer for him to play. Once we got that sorted out, I gave up and started doing my work for the day. Worked on my brother's music this morning. a second piece of his is climbing the charts, too. I called to tell him and invited him over for lunch, but before he came, I finally found time to finish my qi gong and throw the ball for Luna. The rest of the day, I did more work on my brother stuff, rested a bit as I didn't sleep very well last night, too excited, and that was about it. Tomorrow I have hand therapy and Coumadin clinic, plus Roger has the day off, so will do some usual shopping and run errands. Seeyasoon, kat |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 27 Jan 12 - 02:59 PM Busy day, things are getting done, but I'll be going full-tilt until late this evening. I'll get a quick nap in the middle of the day to tide me over. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: LilyFestre Date: 27 Jan 12 - 07:11 PM I spent today in the emergency room with my nana. And late this afternoon, I helped her get settled into a nursing home. *Sigh* :/ Michelle |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 27 Jan 12 - 07:16 PM Oh, Michelle. {{{hugs}}}} to you and your nana |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 27 Jan 12 - 07:26 PM Office shelves UP!!! Desk CLEAR! Shelf-loading has begun. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 27 Jan 12 - 07:47 PM Michelle, is this a temporary stay or a move that was inevitable? I'll be visiting Susie in a rehab hospital - I imagine it has a bit of the look of a nursing home. I haven't been down yet, her son told me where she is this afternoon and I was already scheduled for some activities for afternoon and evening. I'll see her tomorrow. Must get my camera and start snapping - I usually wait till after the talk, but tonight I'll photograph folks before (in some ways it is better - they aren't eating) so I can get out a bit early. One eBay item has lots of looks and followers, no bids. Ends tomorrow or Sunday morning, but anyway, I need to get more up so I have several at any given time. Must start converting some of this stuff into space and cash. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 27 Jan 12 - 11:57 PM We left this morning, went to the vet's for dry cat food, specialised, prescription, no less. Good thing they gave us a rebate to send in for $15 because it was an outrageous price. It will last the two of them for a month or more, but I mean to do some looking for something not so high. There's a speciality pet shop which carries some kind that I think it was Dr. Weil recommends. Anyway, they are spoiled kitties.:-) Then to coumadin clinic where we had to up the dose because of all of the leafy greens I am now juicing. Hand therapy after was very helpful..we are making progress. Then to the shoe store to see if I could find some off-the-shelf shoes as the orthotic ones are really causing pain these days. I don't want to spend a bunch more for more of them, so I ordered some special arch supports for Birks and will try them in my old Birks, first. Plus I see the osteopath on Monday; she will help. We came home, ate lunch, and didn't do much of anything else the rest of the day! I did do some qi gong this evening, while sitting here watching netflix. And, I lost another pound according to the scales this morning. Tomorrow, I hope to finish the dusting. |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 28 Jan 12 - 01:09 AM Your shoes sound better than mine were this evening - a favorite pair of slip on Clark clogs (rubber sole, blue leather upper) literally fell apart, both shoes, as I wore them this evening. I thought they felt really loose and looked down to see the uppers split from the soles on the sides! They're in the trash now. They were 3 or 4 years old, I didn't wear them that often, so they weren't worn out. They dried out or something. Susie is in a rehab hospital now so I'll go see her tomorrow. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 28 Jan 12 - 10:20 PM Went to dinner with friends - went to the rehab hospital to see Susie. Got some stuff listed on eBay, did some laundry. Nothing exciting. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 29 Jan 12 - 12:06 AM This morning Rog brought me stacks of books from one shelf in the LR. As I went through them, I dusted each one and entered it in my LibraryThing acct. I didn't knwo when you hit 200 you have to pay to enter any more. It's a nominal fee, so I paid it and kept entering. Rog moved the shelf to the wall shelves we already have in the office, then took them back there for me. Still 4 more shelves to go, but they weren't actually as dusty as I thought. We went to the grocery store then and got lunch to bring back. I watched a video on netflix. we'd expected Morgan to call at 9a this morning and maybe come over if he felt better. Didn't hear from him all day, was still puny, but lots better this evening. Enough to listen to "mama" read another story from Wonder Tales of the World an old book of my dad's that I loved as a kid. Still do. Before that, my brother called and said he had a surprise for me. He came over and gave me a "Congrats" card with a bit of cash tucked inside for the work I have been doing for him. It's the first time he's ever been able to do that and I think we both felt very pleased about it. Give and ye shall receive, indeed.:-)He really surprised me! Rog and I had supper and, after reading to Morgan, we watched a funny, touching movie by Jackie Chan, Little Big Soldier. Excellent if you don't mind subtitles. I love listening to Chinese being spoken. Just off to bed, now. Seeyasoon, kat |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 29 Jan 12 - 10:19 AM I was tired last night - hit a wall and headed to bed soon after that (the post time is Eastern time and I'm in Central). Folding laundry is the first order of the day since I washed everything yesterday. Also I need to wash the protective bedding on the futon to get out some of the dog hair. That'll fill up the dryer lint screen! SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 29 Jan 12 - 12:31 PM With the new office configuration emerging, it's really a pleasure to bring an item into it and just sit down and DO IT. What had felt like procrastination was really a storage issue!!! ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: GUEST,LilyFestre Date: 29 Jan 12 - 01:55 PM It's been crazy around here and not in a good way. As I posted before, on Friday my Nana was taken to the ER via ambulance and later went to a nursing home. Since she was here visiting, she really wasn't equipped for things she'd need for a longer stay so yesterday I went shopping to get things she needs until I can go to her house and pick up what she might like (3 hours away). Then it was off for a family visit (all 3 of us). My Nana's roommate isn't what you'd call a peach. Nana says, "The light is on in the attic but there isn't anyone home." She's beyond bitchy and has already made accusations about us stealing her stuff..her underwear of all things!! We moved to the community space to visit and shortly after that, bingo started in the adjoining room so it filled up fast. Everyone (but the roommate) wants to see the baby. He was overwhelmed and frightened but I'm sure he'll warm up in time. Let's see. Ok...the rest of the visit was fine. Later in the day, Pete's great aunt died unexpectedly. Then Herald, our newest calf died. During the night, I woke up to a horrible screeching sound....a sound so shrill and violent that it made the hair on my arms stand up. My first thought was the baby and I flew into his room to find him sleeping peacefully. Pete was also sleeping peacefully. I heard the sound again and woke Pete up. Something was killing one of our roosters. Turns out it was an owl. Both were dead this morning. Jeremiah has developed a deep, wet sounding cough. We'll be going to the doctor tomorrow. I just finished sorting a few baskets of laundry and went through Jeremiah's dresser taking out clothes that no longer fit, matching up outfits and putting everything away. Our clothes are folded but remain on the bed until I catch a second wind to finish that up. This morning we had brunch.....venison tenderloin, mushrooms, onions and garlic in red wine (Peckerhead Red to be exact) and baked potatoes. The only part I need to count is the tablespoon of butter I used to cook the mushrooms. At the moment, the baby is trying to nap....coughing away. I do NOT like the sounds of this. Michelle |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 29 Jan 12 - 05:29 PM Michelle, this sounds like the kind of weekend you'll be glad to put behind you. Winter is a hard time of year for so many creatures, humans included. Cuddles to Jeremiah and a big hug to your Nana. My oldest is gradually getting over her tonsillectomy sore throat. Today when I called she sounded better and was out walking around. I'm taking the dogs for a walk in a few minutes - we had several cold days when we didn't go, but tonight I'll do the walk then feeding routine to reinforce the pack leader stuff. Several more items listed on eBay. I often times then share the listing on facebook or twitter, though I usually go along behind and delete them from the account. This gives an instant boost to the number of views an item has so it makes it look to shoppers on eBay that it is more popular. Success breeds success - if people are looking at it, they'll look at it more closely. That's my theory, anyway! SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 29 Jan 12 - 07:02 PM We had a great walk, and when we returned to the yard I untied a couple of loops in the girl's leads and tied knots at useful points. The loops were giving them too much ability to pull ahead of me. Zeke also has a knot instead of a loop now. He was such a renegade when Susie walked him with the other collar, and he walks best of the tree now, quietly beside me a little bit back (heal). My two tend to still pull. With 1 or 2 dogs, a loop is okay, but with three it gets trickier and if I move them from one side to the other, gripping one of the knots on each leash makes it easier to reign them in. A friend is spending the night tomorrow so we'll declutter her computer a bit and figure out what time her flight is on Tuesday. I've taken a chicken from the freezer to roast. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 29 Jan 12 - 07:16 PM Legs and feet orful sore, so I guess I got MY walk in-- I'm still sorting office stuff into the new storage system and purging from boxes of stored administrivia. 110 gallons of bagged trash. About half was deferred trash piling up in a big box that got topped off, and the other half was the purge-o-mania harvest. It's really heat to see that what I eyeballed for storage needs is perfectly fitting what I needed to unpack into it. And since I went up the wall with a system taller than I am, I had treated myself to a folding step stool I lovelovelove because it goes right between the shelves, out of the way. And I found a box of pins I needed to pin up all the cards, etc. people send me that make this such a nice place to work. I have about 2' x 4 ' x 6' left of boxed material to go thru/purge, and then each shelf will get a fine-tune on organization. But the project bins are labeled, and ready for upcoming deadlines and annual planning. ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: katlaughing Date: 29 Jan 12 - 07:33 PM {{{{{Michelle}}}} I hope your thyroid is getting better so you don't get too run down with all you are having to deal with. Babies all get better; they have amazingly strong systems. Maybe your nana will get a new room or rooomy, soon. We both woke up too early; usually we can't go back to sleep, but we both did! I got up and 8a, fed myself (which Rog usually fixes) and the cats. The dog food was too high and heavy for me to get down, but she did get let out to pee.:-) Rog got up about 915a and automatically started my breakfast! He was surprised and pleased I was able to do it, myself. My hands are getting stronger and less painful, so it helps. I scrubbed the bathroom, did a load of laundry, picked up and put away stuff from my desk and around the house. Also, Rog hooked up my plant sprayer hose to the faucet and I gave all the houseplants a good washing off plus watering. They were dusty, too! Rog did his usual: litter box, dishes, sweeping. we still need to mop, but neither of us seems to have the energy or motivation for it when we've been busy with so much else. kat |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: LilyFestre Date: 30 Jan 12 - 10:51 AM Jeremiah still has a temperature but it's gone down quite a bit and he's sounding better. :) I've been busy this morning: Breakfast made, dishes done, lunch packed, a load of laundry done, showered, bed made, 2 business calls and a venison roast is in the crock pot with loads of celery, carrots, parsnips, tomatoes and onions. Potatoes will go in later....or maybe I'll make rice. I haven't decided. Later I'm headed to the nursing home to spend some time with my nana. Jeremiah will be staying with his nana as I don't want to take him anywhere with the cough he has going on. I guess the painting of the playroom will wait a bit...who knew the week was going to be like it was? It's ok...it will happen when it should. I'm just going to roll with it, what else can I do? As for catching up with any rest...tiredness from thyroid....well...I did have a nice nap over the weekend and am sending myself to bed a bit earlier (midnight instead of 2am) and was up only a few times with the baby (mostly checking on him being restless). I hope everybody is doing well! Michelle |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: wysiwyg Date: 31 Jan 12 - 03:17 PM PT per schedule. Met the new Hip Machine and upped the arm and ankle weights for all the abduction/adduction exercises. (Hurts so good!) ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Dorothy Parshall Date: 31 Jan 12 - 04:47 PM Michelle! So glad to hear J is doing better! We had a lovely weekend in the country. Fri at the Cafe. Sat am the nest door neighbour came over and tried to get my computer connected to the Turbo Hub. No dice. We spent time talking about the possible wind turbine project that a contractor is trying to put in"our backyards". On a wetland and on the pavement barren - a unique and fragile eco-system. Arranged to try the Turbo Hub on Sunday am at his house. R and I had lunch and went off to visit an environmentalist about half hour away. Good info and a great visit. He believes the region has rulings about this. I gave this info to Leo to check out. Then supper in O-town and a wonderful concert. 9am on Sunday I am not usually awake but I trundled over to Leo's and he connected. I gave him the info gained yesterday re wind project. Came back and tried to connect to the Hub. NO. Made breakfast and tried again... Finally after reading awhile and trying, a couple more times, I looked at that darned thing thoughtfully, went and turned it a different direction - and VOILA! Other than cooking supper, I was online 'til midnight, dispensing with emails and then researching wind turbines and their effect on human health - NOT good - and on the environment - NOT good. Kill birds and bats by the thousands. Monday was a quiet day, in city, on computer, and outlining a presentation for public education. We had stopped to give rent to landlady and she only knew that a neighbour had "signed on". Told her we would be out of there in a flash if this comes to pass. On the way to the city, we passed by the beginnings of a turbine installation in an area that is largely corn fields. Too close to houses to be safe. A done deal. We'll see how it affects these folks. The amount of land that is desecrated in the process in huge. Cannot see how they can be permitted to do it in a wetland or in the Barrens. Email from Leo today that the Province did not even know about this- Ministry of the environment has an eco-reserve very close - as in yards from - and told him they have plans to enlarge it! That is part of the Barrens area. So GOOD that Leo called them. They could stop this in a flash if they choose. This takes priority over the raccoons, but I will do both and more. That blood sugar thing stopped on Friday as mysteriously as it started. I talked with my health consultant yesterday and today about supplements and the insoluble mystery of how I did myself out of chromium. And my need for protein which is huge. Better not to try to be veggie is the conclusion. I am continuing the small meals and no choc or cookies, almost. Each day that I succeed adds to my determination. But I am not going to weigh myself yet. I don't feel as though I have lost an ounce! |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: LilyFestre Date: 31 Jan 12 - 04:57 PM Jeremiah was up several times during the night last night...coughing, crying...just feeling miserable. This morning I took him to the doctor, stopped by the pharmacy and came home. So. Not very productive or active but necessary. He has a mean cold and a double ear infection. As a result, we both have been napping on and off today. You know your child looks sick when you walk into the reception area of the doctor's office and the receptionists and nurses take one look at him and say...awwwwwwwwwww. Feel better my sweet boy. XOXOOXOOOXOXOXO |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 31 Jan 12 - 06:26 PM Last couple of days have been busy, but I took a friend to the airport today (she has been in the area for five weeks, but since she has a balance problem she didn't drive and we had to pick her up and deliver her between us.) Susie was looking much better - they project four more weeks of PT before she might leave, and her son will have to level the floor at her house (she has a sunken den - six inches lower than the rest of the house.) He'll put in joists and raise the floor level. I am going to do it with concrete one of these days, I don't want a floor that stuff can get underneath. Anyway, we're looking forward to her progress and getting her back home maybe by March. Gotta go walk the dogs. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 01 Feb 12 - 12:40 AM We had a great walk. I'll start a new thread on Wednesday. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Declutter & Accountability - January 2012 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 01 Feb 12 - 10:57 AM Here's February. |
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