Declutter & Fitness - Clearing Out the House

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: wysiwyg
Date: 24 Nov 17 - 11:24 AM

Between an early Thursday morning death notification and Gregs pastoral call, and a Friday morning Columbarium service just concluded, our always-flexible "holiday" plan sustained us with brunchy turkey salad and brie... after late rising Thursday... while we prepared and roasted a whole leg of lamb with spinach creamed in feta cheese sauce. There were grapes as well. Now it's on to a Black Friday bulk meat sale for chix at $0.29/lb and freezer packing fun.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Charmion
Date: 24 Nov 17 - 09:21 AM

I'm glad to hear that the Thanksgiving madness is passing down south, with much churning of dishwashers and inventory of left-overs. We don't have a major eating holiday in November, so the kitchen project at our house is not disrupting our social life -- much.

A new character joined the construction drama this morning: Patrick the painter, who pronounced the existing decor "really ugly" and agreed to quote on the rest of the house once the kitchen project is finished and our bank balance has recovered somewhat. Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, Tony the carpenter is building a new door frame for the ground-floor loo, which thus will become usable again by close of play today. Sean the contractor says he will start installing cabinets on Monday, so today I must call the appliance dealers and tell them to deliver the new range, refrigerator and dishwasher next Friday.

I remember the excitement of Christmas when I was five and had convinced myself that my parents would buy me a pony. I remember the breathless anticipation in the week before the "formal", which is what we called the big dance when I was in high school back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. That's nothing to how I feel about our new kitchen appliances, the first such items I have ever chosen for myself, to meet our needs as cooks and householders, rather than accepting what was supplied by a landlord or housing developer, or was cheapest at Sears.

Whenever I leave the house these days, I seem to buy or otherwise acquire something before I come home again; I'm such a frequent flyer at Canadian Tire that the cashiers smile and wave. When all this tumult is over and the house is fully functional, I intend to launch a no-acquisitions regime. I wonder if I can get through Lent next year without bringing anything into the house that is not food or something required for cleaning or emergency maintenance. Interesting challenge ...

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Nov 17 - 11:52 PM

What a difference a year makes - I'm tired and my feet are tender after all of the standing and walking around the kitchen, but last year I was struggling through the full-fledged pain of Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR for short). I've been on a treatment since April of this year, and though I've had to adjust my dosage back up a bit recently, I'm back to my old self muscle-wise. I was able to lift, get up and down, and use my hands (I could barely open a jar last year).

That's the long of it. The short of it - thank goodness for dishwashers. :)

Too bad about no darkroom, Michelle. Do you use Photoshop and Lightroom? That's where the processing happens these days in my world.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: LilyFestre
Date: 23 Nov 17 - 09:00 PM

Today was all about family time. We did not do a traditional Thanksgiving with turkey and such but what we did do was wonderful, fit the plan we are working and the company was fabulous! We helped to put up a Christmas tree, fixed up some very interesting remote controlled candles, played games, talked, laughed....it was a most wonderful day!

I am not partaking in the Black Friday madness. No. Just NO.

Tomorrow I will be working in my sewing room. I am working on a quilt for the House of Care which is where I often stayed during my cancer treatments. I have sewed together several pieces that have been signed by survivors and now have to piece the rest of it together. A friend of mine will be doing the long arming. She lost her mother to cancer and she wants to be part of this quilt. :)

I have an enlarger in my sewing room that will be looking for a new home. I must get it advertised and get it out of here. I wish I could use it but a darkroom just isn't in the plans. It's time to part ways and make some room.

My closet remains in the same state....I predict that half of the closet project will be completed by Sunday....as long as my quilting gets done anyway. :)

I hope everyone has had a spectacular Thanksgiving!


Michelle

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Nov 17 - 09:39 PM

I don't expect to lose any weight in the next couple of days. I will pay careful attention to sodium and calcium.

On a bright note, my replacement fitness tracker from Nokia arrived today. It died in the middle of last summer and they didn't replace it with the same model because they all had a condensation problem. I've been patient (and they sent me a free scale to lessen the blow of waiting so long). I did find it helped me do a better job of getting exercise.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: wysiwyg
Date: 22 Nov 17 - 09:22 PM

I lost 5 of the 25 pounds I gained during the last thyroid slump.

~S~

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Nov 17 - 05:00 PM

The house is a mess, there is dog hair piled up in corners and under furniture, and I have tons of cooking to do by tomorrow. The next 24 hours are some of the busiest of the year. Miracles will happen. Have a good Thanksgiving, everyone!

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Nov 17 - 11:47 PM

After cleverly arranging to do the sewer work over the weekend and have the excavator picked up early on Monday morning to remove evidence of major earth moving, it is disappointing that the rental company still hasn't removed the equipment by Tuesday evening. It's a pretty clear advertisement that we were up to a big project. The city code enforcement folks work Monday through Friday, and as obtuse as they are, they have probably noticed this appliance in my yard by now. Next: #Obfuscation

The water line was broken on Sunday and fixed, but needed a better repair (done today). The dog containment (Invisible Fence) gets fixed tomorrow. The only thing remaining on the project is to put in a new section of concrete on my front path, once that dirt settles a bit.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: wysiwyg
Date: 20 Nov 17 - 02:31 PM

PA

The 25 scarves are sorted, and the PA lot are hung up on hooks that were sitting there, empty, inside the door of the closet in the room where I dress (bathroom). The Ohio batch is packed.

I used some of the jewelry on one to modify another one (it was actually not a scarf) that was more fabric but lighter fabric, and too big for a scarf overall; it ended up making a long, simulated ruffle in blue tones, running all down my front.

One was a continuous-scarf-type I want to make into a regular one with fringe; I opened uo the seam but its too filmy to fring it myself; so I'll look for some fringe to sew on, at our next Surplus City trip (on a day off).

I'd scored some t-shirts on my way to Ohio, there, that solve another problem-- I like t-shirts with messages, but my message budget and message drawer have hit their limits. I discovered via YouTube that Sharpie can be used to make a message shirt or a tie-dye effect (or both on one shirt). So-- as I stain the fronts of these in everyday wear, I'll use the same idea tattoo artists use to cover a bad tattoo, using Sharpie art with a message, as phrases come to me for one-of-a-kind messaging. $2 each. I'll fringe a few of those, because they are extra long; I did that with another long t-shirt and got a lot of compliments. Apparently, fringing my big butt balances out my big bosom. I'll expreiment wit shapes-- longer on the sides, for instance, so Im not sitting on fringe knots!

~S~

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Nov 17 - 10:02 PM

Two batches later (from a place a few miles from here where the city has free mulch from trimming trees in city parks) I've spread some around and left the full bags blocking anyone from tumbling into the hole left out there - the water line isn't completely mended yet, it has a slow drip but is on so I have water in the house. My friend will finish the repair tomorrow after work, then we'll finish filling in that hole. And over the next couple of weekends I'll take advantage of all of that disturbed soil and extra dirt and redo more beds. I also have to fix the wire for the Invisible Fence. That got clobbered and a repair at the break doesn't work - it must have broken in two places, and we haven't found the other one yet. I'm sure the company will have a solution.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Nov 17 - 05:19 PM

My yard isn't finished, but most of the piles of dirt are gone and I've put in a bed near the curb and transplanted in herbs and iris and filled in with mulch. I'm headed out for a batch of mulch, and maybe a second if it doesn't get dark.

The excavator will be picked up tomorrow morning, and I'll be spending next weekend working out front taking advantage of all of this softened and moved dirt and top soil. (The time I'm taking to type this is also when I'm grabbing a very late lunch/early dinner.)

Resting up from the weekend tomorrow at work.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Charmion
Date: 19 Nov 17 - 03:09 PM

No, Acme, the electricians are not *really* finished. Wires dangle from every connection in the work area, waiting for the carpenter to repair the walls and ceilings; the plug receptacles in the sitting room are dead again for no discernible reason; and half the circuit breakers in the panel have misleading labels, as the circuits have been rewired and now cover different parts of the house. Also, the range and its exhaust hood have yet to be installed, a project that will involve both a gas-fitter and an electrician.

We must also summon back the plumber, as the sink in the second-best bathroom drains very slowly despite several doses of Drano. This condition makes it possible to see that water from the new supply lines laid in when the leaking pipe was discovered contains grit. Although the sink drains so slowly that we have not been able to flush those lines as thoroughly as a plumber might want us to, I believe that the water should be running clear after nearly two weeks of use.

Mayhem begins again tomorrow, when Tony the carpenter returns to start hanging drywall. Sean the contractor allowed as how we probably have three more weeks (Three! More! Weeks!) to wait before we can count on making tea in our new kitchen.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Nov 17 - 09:55 AM

Finishing my morning cup of tea, then out into the yard to transform the heaps of dirt into the look of landscaping.

We weren't able to replace the entire line. The section close to the house is sound, but it is under a corner of an extension of the foundation, so the new piece is a few feet out from the house. And down at the curb - there is a gas line somewhere under there, and these guys regularly work for a public works department in a neighboring city - they know better than most the risk and danger of hitting a gas line. So they dug to within a few feet of the curb and connected to the line from the street. I'll still have to use root killer twice a year to treat that end of the line, but the breaks in the connections that ran through the yard will no longer be part of the equation. The cast iron segments were held together with rubber boots held in place by hose clamps. The rubber had failed and roots had been going through.

Now that I know that that shallow bed in front of the house is a couple of inches of soil over a true part of the foundation, I'm going to take advantage of it and extend a porch out there. That's a project for next year.

P.S. Michelle, your closet plan sounds like a winner. If you find something exceptional you'd forgotten about as you clear out, you can decide to add it to the keep pile or not - but feel totally virtuous about clearing the space. I have a few bins up on shelves in my closet I should probably do that with also. They're clear bins with a paper in view on the inside telling me the size and contents - I kept what I felt were the "classic" pieces of sizes I hope to get into in the future. Those bins have been taking up space for a long time now. I'll have to ask myself what else I would do with that space. Congratulations on deciding what direction to move with this project.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: LilyFestre
Date: 19 Nov 17 - 09:37 AM

So....the new food plan in our house is working out fabulously! We are both happy with it, not feeling hungry at all (weirdest thing ever for me....aside from uber-stressful times of not being able to eat....I can't remember a time when I haven't been somewhat hungry) and I'm down 6.8 pounds this week and I am not dragging in the energy department! Yes, I know...water weight....probably but it's a rockin' start!   I did not get to yoga...chickened out and opted for some other activity/errand/thing to do. Maybe this week I will get to yoga....maybe not...overtime hours will need to be put in due to an early closing of the office on Wednesday and subsequent 2 days off (while we get paid for those days off, we get 7 hours of pay and not 8 and I'm kind of anal about getting in my 40 hours).....anyway, we shall see.

After a week of the above plan, Pete and I decided it was something sustainable for us so yesterday I did a major grocery shopping expedition to overhaul my kitchen.

Something else I've been thinking about is my closet. I've started working in there but the thing is, I just want to ditch everything that does not currently fit, with the exception of maybe 5 favorite items. I have a huge closet that is full but most of it are items I can't wear anymore. So this morning I approached my thought with Pete. "Dear Heart, what would you think if I got rid of EVERYTHING in the closet that doesn't currently fit and just start over?"   He said, "Go for it, it's probably all out of style anyway." While I tend to wear more classic clothes instead of trendy, I'm happy with the go ahead! :)    I have approximately 10 solid work outfits I'll keep and 4 days of play clothes/after work clothes, etc. The rest is going buh bye! I can't wait to have the space and it will make it so much easier to find things. :)

It's cold and damp today and I have seen a few snowflakes this morning. The pellet stove and woodstove are both on making it very cozy here. I've spent some time this morning, picking up and am just about to sit down to breakfast which my beloved has made. :) Lazy Sunday mornings are my favorite.

Have a great week everybody!

Michelle

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Nov 17 - 10:18 PM

Too many distractions to work on the wheelbarrow, but I need to do it tomorrow, before the guys come back to finish backfilling the trench. The sewer line is finished, though there is a drip where sweating a repair in the water line (got hit by the excavator) didn't close it perfectly. While one of them fixes that, I'll be putting edging back, trimming, and planting to give the yard the look that I was landscaping all weekend.

It was rough today but tomorrow will be calm and feel warmer since the wind died down. The repair didn't go all of the way to the house because there is a part of the foundation (that went under a long gone planter) that is in the way. There will be more garden work out there over the long holiday weekend.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: wysiwyg
Date: 18 Nov 17 - 11:34 AM

PA

When is the purchase of Twenty-five Fashion Scarves not hoarding?

I noticed recently that the scarves I'd bought from eye lust for eye candy are getting not only polite compliments.... but blurted exclamatory compliments. So I started paying more attention, and I hypothesized that their eye-catching contrast with "my" olive drab, pastel, or grey-tinged colors somehow draw the beholder's eye away from my thin hair, my tetracycline smile, and my too-casual garb. Hm. So I tested that hypothesis with a full length mirror-- not a loved item due to a recent thyroid-slump weight gain I'm just trying to LOSE, even if all that fits comfortably is sweat pants and drab t-shirts!

I've had three scarves to alternate, all Goodwill purchases. Yesterday I went back for another one or two. Deep in the bins I found 50 of the length that has been working. About 10 are the texture I love next to my skin. A few were very dressy, with sparkle. One is actually a sash belt that will either fit or be used as a scarf tied differently.

Now I can stop worrying about getting more food stains on my shells and shirts-- the scarf du jour is unwound as a crossover bib. I can leave the scratchy ones at the gourmet restaurant whose high-tech entrees have ruined many a blouse. I can divide the duplicate color ranges between PA and Ohio. I can leave a generic color in each of our two cars. I can tie scratchy ones on my scooter and walker handlebars to tie up my hair or cargo, or stream in the breeze. I can reduce the amount of paper I use as kleenex or extra napkins. One had necklace-conversion jewelry I can swap onto any scarf, and a pendant to convert to a necklace using that really narrow scarf too narrow to use as a scarf and too short to use as a scooter tie.

I can consider them disposable after several uses, because 25 cost $25. Now they're off to wash out a trace of mothball scent, and then sorting begins!

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Nov 17 - 11:01 AM

These were store-bought tomatoes at the point when they were going to deteriorate, and they'd probably already been in a fridge. My garden tomatoes don't go into the fridge until they absolutely have to, and I then try very soon to process them (canning or freezing).

I regularly share garden produce, and my former next door neighbor called one day to see if I had some tomatoes. I'd given her a bad time about buying some the week before, when the garden was going great guns. I was getting ready to can and she laughed when she walked into my kitchen and saw every flat surface covered with a layer of boxes and bowls of these ripe tomatoes.

The work is underway in the yard, and we have a wind advisory all day today as a cold front moves in. It won't be too cold to work out there, but it is going to take some of the pleasure out of the task. I realized pretty quickly that standing around watching isn't helping, it kind of cramps their style, and though I brought an offered-and-accepted array of shovels (they had their own, but you can never have too many when it comes to the specialty ones - trowels, short shovels, sharp shooters, etc.) and at one point some needed duct tape. For tomorrow: I'll have to replace a chunk of concrete in the path. That's easy enough with 2x4s edging and bags of quick concrete, but it means another step in the job.

I need to work on my self-assigned task for today, to rebuild my wheelbarrow with new handles. I think I'll move this activity into the greenhouse. That wind is a killer. And while I'm at it, I'll straighten out the greenhouse. Truth be told, gardeners are packrats, you can never have too many pots, etc, but I should probably get rid of some of the really lightweight stuff that occupies space but rarely gets reused. I'll need the wheelbarrow - I had visualized a tidy line of excavated dirt through the front yard, but there will be quite a bit of shoveling and shifting to do out there when they finish, and the refurbished wheelbarrow is instrumental in that. (I could buy a new wheelbarrow for probably twice what I paid for the new handles, but there is nothing wrong with the barrow itself and I hate the idea of throwing things away instead of repairing them.)

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Nov 17 - 10:20 AM

Talk about clearing out. Mrs Steve's away for the weekend so I'm mopping up forgotten-about food. Just had an omelette made with out-of-date eggs, whacked on top of a plain naan bread that was five weeks out of date (grilled it and tipped the omelette butter on it first). Delicious!

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Nov 17 - 07:34 AM

Never keep tomatoes in the fridge, Acme! More than a day or so of fridge temperatures switches off genes that produce volatiles that give tomatoes their flavour and aroma, and they don't recover when you warm them up again. It's one reason why shop tomatoes can look lovely and red yet taste of nothing - they've been cold-stored for too long.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Nov 17 - 11:29 PM

It's difficult (but essential) to have the sewer line replacement happening this weekend before Thanksgiving. I need to start staging the meal, making space for a thawed (or fresh - I don't have one yet) turkey, and all of the other stuff. Tonight I worked on something I would have kept till tomorrow, to get ahead. When I make batches of kidney beans (based on a recipe from my late Puerto Rican mother-in-law) I empty a lot of things from the fridge. I have decluttered the fridge of a pint of fancy little tomatoes my ex gave me last week, about 8 ounces of canned pumpkin leftover from last week's pumpkin bread, a bowl full of poblano pepper that came in from the garden right after the first frost of the year, a container with garlic and half of an onion, etc. The resulting batch of beans went into 11 12-ounce jars in the freezer for lunches. It cleared about a half-shelf for holiday ingredients.

Charmion, did the electricians really finish this week?

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Nov 17 - 09:33 AM

I just skimmed through this thread to find my May and October reports of having the rotorooter guys come get the roots out of the sewer line, the outcome of needing a new line, and I've set everything in motion. The excavator arrives today, the yard is flagged by the various utility services to protect any existing lines nearby, and tomorrow it happens. I have to sign for the equipment when it's delivered today, then all will be revealed to the neighborhood - something big is happening. If, until then, I work in the back yard and leave the garage door closed with the SUV inside, the code enforcement guys (who cruise past regularly in their white pickup trucks) won't see I'm home to ask about it. They're off on weekends (they suffer from the "big fish in a small pond" syndrome and are busybodies in their little fiefdom).

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Charmion
Date: 17 Nov 17 - 07:53 AM

A house is a hole in the ground into which you throw money, shovelful by shovelful.

The gas-fitter arrived at half-past seven, and now they're making holes in the walls and calling to each other in distressed voices. "Can you see that?" "Have you got enough room?" Rumble, rumble, rumble. I don't hear any positive responses, so I sit up here in the study thinking dark thoughts.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Nov 17 - 05:42 AM

Our house was built in around 1890. It's made with stone walls two feet thick. It has a slate roof that we had to renew at huge expense about ten years ago. It stands on its own in a big garden surrounded by farmland. We're a hundred feet above sea level (by my reckoning, safely above tsunami reach) and less than half a mile from the Atlantic and we're fully exposed to the westerlies. In thirty years we've had to make five insurance claims, three for roof damage (but none since the new roof - the slates are individually clipped down now) and two for demolished greenhouses! Via lots of shrubs and trees I've gradually managed to create quite a sheltered garden, in contrast to the open field we had when we moved in. The climate is mild but lots of shrubs and trees wouldn't be able to take the salt winds we get in winter. A good overnight blow often means we can't see through the salt on our windows next morning!

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Nov 17 - 08:42 PM

I'm pretty sure what You consider an "old house" is way older than what people around my area consider old. I've read the exploits of several UK folks working on their houses, and it is a different world, with historic structures and craftsmen working on things built decades or centuries ago. My house was built in 1976. I also worry about the chimney on my house, it doesn't draw well and it water has worked into the masonry so the mortar around the ugly stone hearth is crumbling.

If you find that sugar-daddy, see if he wants to travel to the U.S. also. :)

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 16 Nov 17 - 05:45 AM

Living in old houses generally means sensible-sized rooms and a cosy feel but there's always something to fix. We still have a few totally knackered single-glazed windows that desperately need replacing. We have an extremely deep stairwell that needs decorating and there's no way I can do it myself. We need new radiators throughout. I worry about the chimney. The kitchen needs a new floor covering. We have a damp wall. I need to dig out a new soakwaway in one place. We need new gutters all round if I'm honest. But it all works for us. I need a sugar-daddy. 😂

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Nov 17 - 09:56 PM

I need to replace the windows in this house, but there are a number of things that won't get done until the foundation is stabilized. So nothing big will get done anytime soon. The big project this weekend is to replace the sewer line; calls to the plumber are expensive and the mess that must be cleaned when the line backs up mean this is an essential job now. That will certainly declutter my pocketbook considerably!

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 15 Nov 17 - 08:46 PM

We've had three huge downstairs windows replaced today. We've waited for many weeks after first ordering them, and whaddya know? Pouring with rain when the men arrived first thing this morning. However, the job's done, the chaps were thoroughly professional, even vacuuming the house before they left, and we are now totally double-glazed downstairs for the first time ever. It should be a cosy winter! But what a day it's been. Lovely fellers but they took a liking to my cappuccinos so I ended up making eight! Mrs Steve abandoned me for tea and cakes with her mates in town...Thank God for this bottle of Negroamaro...

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: wysiwyg
Date: 15 Nov 17 - 08:27 PM

PA

Since I'll be away for tomorrow's planned purge date upstairs, I took some of today's active rest day and put a better work chair and a pack of leaf bags up there, then purged the rest of the books stored in the garden room. A large box awaits 3 or 4 more books from another room and then it can be taped for delivery. Also purged the master bedroom's trash and recyclables (Rx bottles), leaving a recycling box set to catch the ongoing RX bottles.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Charmion
Date: 15 Nov 17 - 09:06 AM

The electricians have arrived for what they claim (and I hope) will be their last day on the premises. The washing-up tackle has been removed from the laundry hole (where the electrical panel is located), and all food secured. The cats have gone to ground.

Today's plan includes a visit to the gym and some grocery shopping: frozen entrées, because preparing raw ingredients is just too messy for our current situation, and salad ingredients. I am already heartily sick of lasagna and cottage pie, but must acknowledge the great improvement in the quality of such ready-to-heat comestibles over the last 20 years. Himself wants salmon ...

The electricians are invading the sitting room today, and when that task is completed every single space in the house will have been affected by the kitchen project. Truly, a modern house is a framework containing a web of plumbing and wires, and we live in the heart of the web like a couple of spiders.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Vashta Nerada
Date: 13 Nov 17 - 02:05 PM

I've been reading about leaving root vegetables in the ground till you need them, but that presupposes the absence of mice. I have had sweet potatoes attached by mice, so I dig them now, don't leave them out there.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: wysiwyg
Date: 13 Nov 17 - 10:33 AM

DP, not sure this is applicable but clamp lamps with small bulbs kept newly hatched chicks warm in a winter barn.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 13 Nov 17 - 10:19 AM

Beaver:
Working up to the prep for leaving to go to Montreal for 10 days. On the plus side is my grand d and the father of her daughter, due in Feb. I am SO looking forward to seeing her and meeting him. I HATE leaving my home to get cold and have been wrestling with how to maintain the plants with least expenditure of electric for little heaters. Will be using the "magic" outlet, Maggie, for the Bathroom but still need a place for blooming diplademia (too awkward to transport) and Af. violet - in full lovely bloom.

Today is final prep day: clean a cheap tea trolley that was in the studio, put all the geraniums on it and put in studio which I have been keeping above freezing - kept hoping for energy to pot if solar gain warmed it enough - neither happened but I shall keep it going as I do NOT want clay to freeze and do not feel like moving it into bathroom. Also put dahlia and canna roots in there. All to be re-thought when I return.

Eyes are not bothering any more! Ankle has been better - hot bath and comfrey poultice! The moving of firewood into house is making me stronger day by day and energy level is better. May have lost a couple pounds, too.

The carrots are frozen into the ground but I am hoping today will thaw enough to get them out. Carrot soup! I put a window over them in hopes solar gain might help but there is no solar yet today, just pale grey sky!

Leave for the mill in the morning at a time that will not have me driving east into the rising sun. Then to Montreal on Weds to have my head organized, at least, in that disastrous house. All meals will be eaten out. A series of musical events are planned. And I suspect some museums will be visited. Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun, and leave on Monday am. Then I rest!

RE those darn engine lights! Double darn!!! My 12 year old car needs an emissions check to be licensed for next year. It will not pass if the lights are on. So, Tues I go back to that dealer, where I did not get the lights tended to a few weeks ago... (DID NOT know about this test back then!) Hope it is simple! Then wait two days before emissions test. Will stop at dealer in Belleville on way home on Thursday. arriving home poorer but hopefully with test passed. The actual test is free.

Life really is fraught with hazard.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Charmion
Date: 13 Nov 17 - 09:45 AM

You have my sympathy, Rags. I did the same thing a few years ago, and isn't it interesting that such events never happen on a fine clear day in summer?

The electricians are back, making more holes and plaster dust. I'm going to the gym as much to flee the racket of the electric saw as to improve my physical fitness.

We have been living in the basement for a week now, and a clumsy sort of routine is setting in. Two more weeks of this ... Ack!

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: ragdall
Date: 13 Nov 17 - 05:51 AM

Kitchen got thorough vacuuming tonight after a window pane I'd left leaning in its track, fell while I tried to better my position to fit it in properly.

Am now faced with the tasks of finding a glazier to replace the glass in the empty steel frame and disposing of the shards and small pieces of a 30 inch by 36 inch piece of glass.

rags

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Nov 17 - 10:27 PM

I go in spurts as far as the eBay listings, and when I have multiples of things I list them one at a time and then relist using new photos but most of the description and sales particulars the same. I have one box to put in the mail tomorrow morning. Despite the eBay sales, I also have items that just don't merit the work and go in a bin I keep in the laundry room for donation items.

I worked my way through several pounds of fresh mushrooms this weekend, using the new dehydrator to preserve them. I wanted to put them in vacuum sealed jars (put the lid on, not completely tight, insert lidded jar into Food Saver vacuum bin, attach hose, and turn it on. The jar inside also loses the air and then it's lid seals.) To have the mushrooms truly dry enough I took them from the dehydrator (much reduced in volume) and put them on a cookie sheet in a very low oven. I ended up with about three quarts of dried sliced mushrooms.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Donuel
Date: 12 Nov 17 - 08:42 PM

Thyroid brain fog reminds me of diabetes fatigue.

Three car loads of declutter junk is done with three to go.

Three days to go until a windows install.
Its going to be close.
I just don't have the ambition to ebay obsolete electronics and such.
Its embarrassing but I am just doing a purge.
1/4 of the basement is just canvas and pictures, I'll save that purge till later

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: wysiwyg
Date: 12 Nov 17 - 08:18 PM

PA

I just got some excellent notes from a well-listened-to brainstorming session of this morning; what I came up with addresses house, joints, balance, nutrition-- and real life in a clergy household. My partner in that session is a grandma-aged preacher's kid and gardener, who lives now with someone of my aporoximate degree of disability, so she HEARD me without advising me. Yay! No distractions!

The days of the week each already had activities and gained a new activity, many of which are OUT of the house. It's realistic, allowing for body repair via active rest (as distinct from sloth). It's all stuff I like to do, and can adapt with mobility aids on hand.

The notes have already been shared with the best cheerleaders on the planet, to be sure Thyroid Brain Fog doesn't push me back chairwards.

It was hell dealing with all the emotional issues in the way of progress, but since I had excellent support in that department I was able to entrust the solutions to the spontaneous insight process we all possess when support IS adequate.

Another recent new gain is a spiritual director who firmly and gently insists I slow down, PERIOD, twice a day for five minutes-- and that I connect with a better-organized medical practice to address the many health issues whose intersections make all the solutions so darn hard: an end to struggle. Not an end of solving problems; not an end to problems. An end to approaching them via isolated struggle. The group she suggested I explore is in Ohio, so if they're as good as she says that will solve THAT question. Now I need to see if PA doc and OH doc can work together. I think I know how-- via OH consult in January with report to PA doc because until the foreseeable future, I'm halftime in each state.

~S~

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: LilyFestre
Date: 12 Nov 17 - 05:42 PM

I went through a ridiculous amount of paperwork, condensed a great deal of it and shredded the rest. Whew.

I see that this thread has been mostly about decluttering but since the title still says & Fitness, I'm going to throw this out there....it's time for me to step it up. Pete and I have decided to shake things up for the next month. He has his reasons that are personal to him but for me, I am ready to start the weight loss process again. Prior to the cancer adventure, I had lost 100+ pounds, had all kinds of energy and was rocking the yoga world (at least in my own head..LOL) but then...well, you all know what happened. It has taken me YEARS to regain my energy and my body has stiffened considerably. I have a FitBit and that sometimes is motivating to me. I know how many steps I go on an average day when it's just work and home time without intentionally trying to hit the 10,000 mark. I am going to revisit my yoga studio for a gentle yoga class. There is also a studio near my job that I might revisit but honestly, I prefer to be closer to home after my yoga. I have a sitter lined up for one day a week (ok, two days a week but I'm starting yoga for one day a week) and see how it goes for the next month.

So, there it is. I am committing to focusing on ME and both my nutritional and physical needs for the next month. If it's manageable, we can extend the time.....but for now, the next 30 days are going to be a time of change. :)

Be well.

Michelle

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Charmion
Date: 11 Nov 17 - 10:30 PM

After the Remembrance Day parade, I knuckled down to cleaning the sitting room, which lay under a depressing veil of plaster dust. I wanted to read the paper, dammit, but I couldn't bring myself to walk across the filthy carpet in order to sit on grubby upholstery. So I broke out the vacuum cleaner, the dusters and the mop and got busy.

The back half of the ground floor of the house is now almost completely gutted, with half-rigged wiring draped from the ceiling in several critical places and plug receptacles dangling like evulsed eyeballs. The outside wall of the kitchen has been stripped back to the sheathing and studs, and the kitchen ceiling has been laid open in a 12-inch gap where Tony the carpenter has installed the new exhaust duct.

Himself says it reminds him of bombed-out houses in Bosnia.

The electricians will be back on Monday, and I'm getting nervous about how much they're going to cost by the time their part of the project is finished. In effect, they are rewiring not only three quarters of the ground floor but also significant areas of the basement, the upstairs, and even the garage that used to share circuits with parts of the dining room and kitchen. It's work that will pay off in the long run, but good Lord what a mess they make! Tony rigged sheets of plastic to contain the dust, but it's only about 75 percent effective. When the job is done, I'm going to find a good cleaner ... that is, a cleaner who is at least as good as I am, and a whole lot younger, less arthritic, and more energetic.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: wysiwyg
Date: 11 Nov 17 - 01:41 PM

PA

PA

We had a good talk here about moving upheaval; while I think further about staging space, I'm shifting to direct trash purging-- LESS focus on packing (which creates the staging need), and MORE focus on creating space via things LEAVING.

That means a disposal kit to move thru rooms w me: a recycle bin, a Goodwill bin, and paper leaf bags for trash (not plastic). THEN each room will have less in it, and each room can have its own staging area.

There will remain some furniture items in PA when we eventually load up the moving truck; frankly many of them are too worn put to donate to the parish rummage sale. Those ickier items may be trashed or recycled, whereas the still-good items will be offered to the parish as long planned.

Another issue I'm hopeful about is re-thinking my house chairs, and the flow of movement. In Ohio there are long, straight lines for the flow of chores, with a good chair for a short sit at each end and in between. In PA it's not linear, but circular and vertical. That means changing the directionality of my chore flow, and maybe moving one of the 2-piece recliners upstairs. But that's for next week's consideration.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Nov 17 - 01:33 PM

My neighbor was over for a cuppa coffee this morning after I helped her close the last few boxes and disconnect the modem and router for transport. Her son will be here soon with the UHaul. I am sorry to see her go, and we will visit if I get down there. Everything left in the house will be sold next weekend. I may go over on Sunday to see what's left; I took a look at the media cabinet and found the design of the side drawers wasn't as efficient as I hoped.

It took a couple of tries to get some of the electronics to work in their new location. Now I need to move the one on the dining area buffet and clear the sewing project off of the table in time for Thanksgiving.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Nov 17 - 09:08 PM

Those books sound like a treasure trove!

I've continued to thin out household items and electronics for both eBay sales and to donate to Goodwill. Cleaning off my computer desk and other work spaces around the house.

Yesterday I found a tidy little dehydrator at Aldi. I have several 8oz boxes of fresh mushrooms that I'm going to run through it first. The trays are drying now, after being washed before starting.

I've rearranged some of the streaming video stations in my house - I finally realized that I should put the Firestick on the television in the kitchen, then I don't need to worry about having a computer attached to it for anything I want to stream (NetFlix or Amazon Prime). My laptop has been in there for a while. I retired a desktop computer from the kitchen to the guest room this year, I may be able to retire it from the guest room soon. Rather than a computer to stream stuff and play videos, I can use an inexpensive dongle. I organized my cables, power supplies, and peripherals a while ago. I may get a hard drive enclosure or docking station and move the drive from the computer I plan to retire. My thought is that if I have all of my digital programming stored on these drives and a Plexi-like media server then I can play something on any room in the house and as I work between rooms, keep track of programs. Or not. An entertainment system that works around the house. I'm also thinking about taking my retired computer desk (in the guest room with the retired kitchen computer) and putting it in the craft room. The table I use for sewing in the craft room can be flattened (it's one of those portable ones with legs that fold flat inside the framework of the top). I could set my sewing machine on the computer table, and put a lot of other stuff on the various shelves, taking less space but more efficient.

Photos at 11.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: LilyFestre
Date: 10 Nov 17 - 04:34 PM

All this book chatter.....must be something in the air. I have been getting rid of books that Jeremiah has outgrown and frankly, I have a small storage building full of books that I collected while I was teaching. They are all boxed by grade level and I'm ready to let them go. Several of my coworkers have children so I am going to unload it all into the conference room for everyone to go through and take what they want. Any leftovers will go in the lobby for clients or to our local library for their biannual book sale. I also have two 6 foot tall bookcases in one of the downstairs hallways that I am sorting through of my own stuff. There are several reference books there for my profession but also homesteading books which Pete will never part with and my own collection of photography books...some of which I am contemplating parting with. I used to have a darkroom in the house where we previously lived and had thought that one day I would have one in this house as well. It's been almost 20 years and that hasn't happened nor do I think it will happen anytime soon. I still love to work in a darkroom, I don't think that will ever change but I also love digital editing. It's different, to be sure, but I still get great enjoyment from this. So...with that said, I am trying to decide how to get rid of my enlarger. It's too big and bulky to sell and I hate to just give it away but there is a professional camera shop not far from where I work and I've been wondering if they take things on consignment....I imagine they do...so I'm going to look into that this week.
    I've been sick for the last week or maybe week and a half...finally went to the doctor on Wednesday and I have bronchitis. I took Wednesday and Thursday off and today was a paid holiday for our company.....so that's 3 days of medications in my body and I am feeling better. I'm not coughing nearly as much and I have my voice again but I get tired out easily....so I'm letting my body dictate what gets done and what will wait....sure does give me a lot of time to think though! I did get the kitchen floor scrubbed today but I think that's about all I'm going to do except for maybe revamping our budget a bit.
    I joined a decluttering group on FB of local women. Today's challenge is to take before and after photos of under the bathroom sink....I will do that today too. For me, that area is just dishtowels....it's a bit disheveled at the moment as that is an area that Jeremiah tends to (folds and puts towels away) so it won't take long to straighten up. Progress is progress and I'll take it.
    I have been slowly chiseling away at my closet. I have decided to get rid of all the clothes that do not currently fit unless it's something I absolutely love. I have held onto things for years simply because our budget was so screaming tight that I wasn't sure I'd ever have money to buy new clothes for myself. That is no longer the case and when and if I ever need a new size, I rather enjoy shopping for new clothes....so.....buh bye to all the old stuff!

I suppose that's it for now. I'm looking forward to the return of some energy (I have a sneaking suspicion, this bronchitis has been around for longer than I care to admit).

Be well everyone!

Michelle

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Vashta Nerada
Date: 10 Nov 17 - 10:19 AM

Difficult to offer advice, anyway, with so little concrete information - like which state (other than Confusion) you're actually in right now. Good luck with the decisions. :)

Hadn't thought about grease splatter around books. And I don't suppose you want to cook in whatever bathrooms are unaffected by the construction. Backyard grill?

A friend near Lake Michigan posted photos of the snow that covered her yard when she woke this morning. Over the summer they built a pole barn garage/shop and storage area, and this is just the weather she has waited for to start working on her crafts out there (the space is heated, but not cooled). It reminds me that I need to clear the space in front of my garage work bench and put away the various things piled atop the work bench.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: wysiwyg
Date: 10 Nov 17 - 09:41 AM

PA:

Trying to see thru a pile of confusions (no advice pls), howwwww?????....where?!?.... to choose staging spaces for the room by room purge/donate process involved over the several PA stints between "retirement installments" (aka life in Ohio). My activity level deficit requires that effort but......

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Charmion
Date: 10 Nov 17 - 09:31 AM

Thanks for the electric skillet idea, Vashta, but our emergency cave dwelling is full of books that should not be exposed to the splatter and spray generated real cooking -- at least when I'm the cook. If we limit ourselves to what we can nuke in the microwave or bake in the toaster oven, we reduce the risk to everything else in the room.

And the mayhem level during working hours means we pretty well have to eat lunch out, so our diet hardly qualifies as Spartan. This is Stratford, after all, the foodiest town (per capita) in Ontario. Today, I think I'll call in at Mercer Hall for a Japanese rice bowl topped with shredded duck ... !

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Charmion
Date: 10 Nov 17 - 08:37 AM

It snowed in the night, and Stratford is cold this morning. So is our house, where the outside wall of the kitchen has been stripped back to the studs and sheathing, the better to reveal the various forms of crapitude that have been inflicted on the plumbing and wiring by previous owners.

We blew the circuits last night in our efforts to make supper; who knew that the water heater was on the same circuit as the toaster? Thank God for wireless and Google, which provided a comforting You Tube video on resetting your circuit-breaker switch when it resists resetting.

The electricians are back, so it's time to shut down the computer and flee to the gym.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Nov 17 - 12:04 AM

Over the last few weeks I've helped my next-door neighbor assemble boxes to pack in; she's moving to Austin to a retirement apartment near her son. Her house is always the neatest I've ever seen, and most of the things that fill a 2000 square foot house are going into an estate sale the weekend after this. Her new small apartment will not be cluttered.

I was over tonight helping disassemble the video equipment that attaches cable to the television components and leaving the Internet modem and router in place until she leaves. The house phone is now disconnected but she has a cell phone. I'll have her over tomorrow for dinner again, and maybe for coffee on Saturday morning - her son will arrive with a UHaul at midday and help pack up and transport her to Austin. She's tried to leave out enough items so she can make coffee, have a meal, but it would be easier to simply come over here.

I found a couple of things at thrift stores this week to list on eBay, and I have things here already to list. We're to the time of year when people are looking for gifts or will have time to spend online shopping, so I should have them ready to go. This weekend my time will be split between working in the yard and listing items. Getting ready to spend money on the sewer line replacement and hopefully make money on eBay.

I tried a gluten-free pumpkin bread mix this evening - and it was wonderful! I've avoided a lot of baking since I've been avoiding flour, a good move in general since it's a source of calories and carbs. I need to I'll cut this loaf into portions and freeze it to use as dessert. It would be too tempting to eat the whole loaf if I don't put it away soon. I figured out how to scan bar codes into the "My Fitness Pal" app, so can keep track of things like this easily.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Charmion
Date: 09 Nov 17 - 07:56 PM

Yesterday the plumber found and repaired the pipe that was leaking into the wall beside the refrigerator, and installed a new seal on the toilet in the second-best bathroom, which is right over the kitchen. Today the electricians came to sort out the wiring, a task that took them into every space in the house as they established precisely which fixtures were on which circuits; over the years, some very dodgy work has been done in this house. Meanwhile, Tony the carpenter was making a jeezly great hole in the outside wall over the kitchen window to accommodate the outlet duct from the exhaust hood that will be installed over the new range. Thank God, it didn't start to rain until late afternoon.

Meanwhile, I went to the gym for a comprehensive cardio workout and ironed a basketful of shirts, including three of the wing-collar jobs Himself wears in court.

Tomorrow will bring the return of the electricians and perhaps the gas-fitter and his apprentice, who should have come this afternoon but didn't.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 09 Nov 17 - 06:04 PM

Beaver:

Dirth of energy. Usually "finished" for the day by 1 pm, including when I get up at ten! Or so it seems. Big event was an interesting workshop on "The Land Between", on Saturday; it was an hour away and after, I drive another 2.5 hour to Toronto for Chris Rawlings "Seventy Years of Music"- a terrific event. I had to leave about 10 pm for the 3 hour trip home but enjoyed the music, the few friends of almost 50 years and the couple new ones - 2 new interesting FB friends. That was a super positive! So glad I did it - then rested totally for a couple days!

So, each day I manage to muddle through a few tasks - still unloading the car from last trip and it will be soon time to leave again. It took me four days to manage to complete an airbnb booking for my granddaughter and her friend - arriving in Montreal on 16th. I was going to try to get the house in order but too daunting, and then R informed he was bitten by a rat - in bed! Forget it! NOT my pregnant GD! I found a place 5 blocks away on the same street! But the torture of getting it completed was traumatic.

So I bring in wood, eat too much, gained weight back and I care but ... Fed up. the recently done eye has been hurting to the whimpering level. Went to Dr yesterday and they are "healing nicely". I really was getting scared. Still bothers me but less. The good news was seeing well enough to drive to Toronto and back at night! Even saw a deer by the road from a good enough distance to stop and tell it to go home! It did.

Today: the complication was sorting out the logistics of an emission test on 12 year old car. I called for an appointment; Man asked if the dash lights were on (the stupid yellow lights that have been on for over a year and no one knows how to get rid of them). I told him they were both on and he made me an appointment. I went to it today and was told the car would fail if the lights were on! I used words such as "incompetent" "poorly trained" "gross stupidity" "irresponsible" And the dumb broad kept saying "no no..." I was breathing fire and she was upset that I had the audacity to be annoyed??? How could anyone be that dumb? What if I had driven 20 miles, not unusual up here. Left there and considered the possibilities. I will go back to that dealer in QC on 21st to get lights fixed and then to someone in Ontario for emission check. Too bad I did not know about this emissions test when I had the work done in Quebec a few weeks ago.... Life is fraught with hazard! I consider those lights a scam; the times someone did manage to check them and turn them out it was of no consequence. Most of the service stations do not even know how to turn them off. It requires a computer and $50, even it there is nothing wrong!

7F for tonight!