Declutter & Fitness - Clearing Out the House

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Oct 17 - 05:42 PM

Rodent decluttering. This week I have found two ticks on me, and I haven't been into the deep woods across the road, just into my garden. This tells me the mice are still there and they have brought their dangerous little friends with them.

This afternoon I trimmed the grass around the edge of the garden down to the soil and made inroads to some of the grassy spots in the tangle of tomatoes. Then I mixed up a gallon of water, a dollop of concentrated compost tea, and couple of tablespoons of molasses, and 2 ounces (measured) of d-limonene (Orange oil). At that strength it will kill insects but not harm the plants. Stronger and it's an herbicide. This should kill some of the ticks, and I'll start setting out a mousetrap at dusk, to hopefully catch the mice and not the lizards, snakes, or toads. If the one I have works (not the snap variety) then I'll get a couple more and do this mouse riddance dance. And I won't be feeding the birds this winter, that is what brought them here in the first place. I live too close to the woods, to which those that survive need to return. A little later in the fall I'll put out an application of beneficial nematodes, that will kill the soil egg stage of any ticks still out in the garden.

Later on this evening I'll go out with the "puffer" can and spritz diatomaceous earth in there (after the spray dries). That's another tick treatment.

Also, all clothes will go into the washer after a very careful personal inspection. Ticks creep me out.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: wysiwyg
Date: 11 Oct 17 - 01:16 PM

Ohio, re Books

In PA, both of our professional libraries have been purged, and gifting/allocations designated. Our personal libraries are mostly centralized now into the sunny 2nd floor garden nursery, for winter purging, gifting, and boxing either for immediate departure or storage there for The Big Move (as yet unsked).

All the PA bookshelves have been mapped to their Ohio locays.

Except the music books.

~S~

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Oct 17 - 07:20 PM

There is a dribble of eBay activity as every few days something sells. I have plenty more to list, but I'm finding the software is acting up. Instead of letting sellers simply revise an item, clicking on the "revise" button opens the proper screen where you make your change, only to open a new selling screen once you try to get it to save. This means that it isn't possible to revise an item without going through that entire listing setup, and I fear it will end up as a duplicate, not an adjustment.

Charmion, I've also waited until I moved in to a new place before I began to purge extra books, even though it would make sense to do it before the move. It never seems to work out that way, but as long as it gets done. When I moved here I also moved in contents from a storage locker from moving out of the house after the divorce, and I had a locker with stuff from my parents' estates. All of that had to be commingled to figure out what I had before I could sort and discard. Lots and lots of books.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Charmion
Date: 10 Oct 17 - 10:35 AM

Today, the burglar alarm is being installed. Strange beeps and bongs are emanating from the front hall even as I type.

Himself has been toiling like a Trojan, hauling books all over the house, and we are now down to only eight (from about 55) two-cubic-foot boxes of books on the garage floor. On the other hand, we're rapidly running out of shelf space, although we have one large Victorian bookcase and two half-height IKEA Billy series bookcases still to come. The big old one, built in Quebec sometime around 1890 and inexplicably painted circa 1952, used to contain three (count 'em, three!) sets of encyclopaedia plus 25 years' worth of the Britannica Book of the Year, so it's going into Himself's office to the law books -- but the guy who's stripping and refinishing it has to recover from his back injury first! The Billy bookcases, made as they are of spit and sawdust, will go in the basement where the novels live.

Himself keeps complaining about books he thinks we should get rid of, while I insist (to his fury) that everything be unpacked and appropriately shelved, or stacked on the floor in front of the bookcase where there is no more room, before we start purging. I hate confusing two sorting processes; if we start purging now, books will end up stacked higgledy-piggledy all over the house and we will soon lose track of what is to stay and what is to go.

The garage also contains seven 5-cubic-foot china barrels full of "the good stuff" (a Wedgwood dinner service for eight and fancy glassware galore), one 4-cube box of rarely used cooking tackle and three 2-cubes repacked with excess china. All that stuff has to wait until the kitchen/pantry/dining room project is finished, however, which could be Christmas.

Meanwhile, Himself's office is still Pepto-Bismol pink, the bedroom is still deep purple and the guest room is still grey. I haven't heard a peep from the painter, and I should email him before he takes on another sub-division contract.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: wysiwyg
Date: 10 Oct 17 - 09:53 AM

Funny that I'm of Swedish heritage, and didn't know that the name for what I've been doing is Swedish Death Cleaning:

https://www.treehugger.com/cleaning-organizing/swedish-death-cleaning-new-decluttering-trend.html

Subject: Things that move in...
From: wysiwyg
Date: 08 Oct 17 - 09:47 PM

Ohio...

THINGS seem to insist on moving in with me. No-- not a buying temptation: little shelves with pegs must have snuck into my car when I was helping Trish move last week; also my weekend houseguest left a hardshell carry-on rolling bag (probably full of the clean clothes for her next stop with family). In the guestroom. I'd asked three times if she wanted help.... "No, see, I didn't really bring much," she said as she left with a tote bag, paper bag, and purse.

I wonder which one will call me first. I've wanted shelves exactly like those; I wonder how long I have to wait before putting them up?

Last visit here, it was a mysterious backpack that turned up in my unlocked car, which eventually turned out to belong to a highschooler two towns west. (Which I returned thru the afterschool boot camp discipline program I found via their note to his mother, inside the pack.)

Then of course there was all the stuff the sellers left here for me to deal with, and the stuff I continue to find left after the August move-out of the housemates.

WTF. Maybe I'm meant to run a home resale business out of our garage. Don't really want to!

I'm putting a new note into the Guest Guide; "Your lost and found may be my Goodwill."

~S~

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: LilyFestre
Date: 08 Oct 17 - 02:31 PM

The excursion itself was a surprise trip. The bus company we like to travel with offers 4 Mystery Trips per year, giving us only a poem with small hints about where we might be going. :) This time we ended up in Titusville, out near Erie, PA. We went for a ride on the Titusville train through the cradle of the natural petroleum area of Pennsylvania. The train is also the only rolling post office still in existence today. I thought that part was pretty neat. I sent a post card to my father-in-law who is a steam train buff and had the post card postmarked right on the train. He is going to love that! Of course, I took photos too. We had a box lunch on the train, spent some time at the Drake Well Museum (indoor/outdoor) which was pretty interesting and then dinner at most likely was a VERY happening spot during the 1970s. LOL. The food was good but the decor cracked me up. Best of all, I had uninterrupted time with my mom. :)

Yesterday I emptied out a double cupboad, threw out any outdated food, cleaned the shelves and refilled the cupboard/organized things a bit. The front porch has been somewhat cleaned off, errands have been run and we are soon on our way to a birthday party for pony rides and hay maze fun. :)

It's been a rainy day here...now cloudy. I spent a few hours playing my ukulele and singing.

Time to get ready to go.

Have a great week everyone!

Michelle

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Oct 17 - 11:29 AM

Interesting day yesterday. My ex stopped by to pick up some fresh sweet potatoes and to drop off a bag of eggplants given to him by a co-worker who has a garden. They were starting to get a little soft, so needed using soon.

Meanwhile, I've been trying to get him to head over to that discount grocery I've mentioned here and I was headed over myself, so he rode along to see the Saturday morning chaos when one day a week the warehouse (lots of produce) is opened next to the regular store. We headed from there to Home Depot, where I had to return something and he was going to order a new front door and frame to have his contractor replace for him. Thing is, he lives about 3 miles from the store, but we didn't have a pickup and he was going to pay $80 to have it delivered, so I told him about their trucks for rent. Since I was driving and my ex's insurance card was back at my house in the car, I ended up driving the truck, rented for $19.99 for 75 minutes, to take the door to his house. It was good timing, we just walked in, got the truck, and were turning it back in 15 minutes later just as someone else buying a door needed it.

At home I had those eggplants, and decided the neighbors needed breaded eggplant. My elderly across-the-street neighbor used to take my produce and cook up a storm, but she barely microwaves dinner now. So I called when I had a plate of them nearly ready and told her I'd be over in 10 minutes. We sat and talked and she ate several - she loves these and I need to take them over more often. My next door neighbors on either side like them, so to one I delivered another plate, and to the other, who just recently discovered that she likes eggplant parm, she walked over and I showed her the breading and frying process. She never ate eggplant at all until I gave her samples of my babaghanouj, and after making it together a couple of times, she makes it herself. And so it will go with eggplant Parmesan.

My house will smell like frying for several days, but those eggplants went to a lot of goodwill around this end of the neighborhood. I kept a few fried slices - even though I'm mostly avoiding wheat right now, I had a small plate of those topped with provolone and spaghetti sauce - they were fabulous!

It's a weekend of doing things for others. Last Friday at work we pooled a few dollars and when I was buying my cast iron pot I also picked up a toaster for our office; our old one burns on all settings. I'm going to make a loaf of bread and take it in with the new toaster so they can christen it properly. A jar of my homemade jelly will be the perfect finish.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Oct 17 - 11:22 AM

Michelle, where did your mystery trip take you? And which of you was surprising the other? I like that you did that with Jeremiah last week, so maybe your mom decided to surprise you? Or did you decide to surprise her also?

Okay, I am being frugal, but sometimes you just can't pass up a deal. There was an enamel cast iron pot on clearance at a local electronics and department store. A Hamilton Beach cast iron dutch oven (1.5 quart) with a cast iron base (for a candle or sterno) and an electric cooking base for $9. This is perfect for small meals, it can be used for stovetop or oven. Amazon regularly sells it for $50 or more. I could turn around and sell it on eBay for three times what I paid, but I plan to keep this.

It has been my declutter practice to keep numbers of things at a certain level - if I buy new shoes, rehome or toss older or unused ones. I probably should look around the kitchen and see what in there is never getting used.

Back in the rest of the property, I've discovered a couple of leaks in the long hose that runs around the garage and over to the vegetable garden. There isn't a faucet on that side of the house and I have an expensive faucet-attached sprinkler management device that I want to keep out of sight in the back. Last year I bought a long hose that is still sitting in the garage, so it's time to drag out the old one (ancient, now that I think about it, over a dozen years old) and replace it with this new one. I need to put things to use that are sitting around waiting to be used.

It's also time to clean out the greenhouse and get ready to move plants in for the winter. Last year I lost one I'd wintered over successfully for a couple of years, so I think I need to address a large air leak in the back door of the structure. I love when we get to the season when I can use it - in the summer the greenhouse is where tools are stored and it's like an oven in there.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Donuel
Date: 06 Oct 17 - 10:24 PM

You lovely ladies of perpetual responsibility, order, creativity and grace are the true crux of the culture I know, not the guys arguing over guns and ammo.
Some guys may afford a house but women most often conceive and create a home.
declutter in stages
walk in beauty for ages

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 06 Oct 17 - 06:42 PM

Beaver:

Michelle! How wonderful to be unencumbered by the cabin!

Susan: Always like to assist!

I de-cluttered the remainder of the calendars I had printed over a year ago. The Hospice, which is meant to receive the funds at the request of the artist, recently took over a thrift shop in town so I went in and gave the "leader" three framed prints and the remaining calendars with "instructions" to make a display; if people see how good each print looks framed, they can buy a calendar and frames (at the shop) and have affordable art by a local artist. As this is Thanksgiving Weekend and it was barely possible to drive through town, it is a prime time to peddle pictures of Vintage Bancroft (70s) at the Vintage shop. Enough sold to pay me back the costs and the Hospice has made over $500 from them. They have been well appreciated by many folks. Happy to have completed this endeavour!

Come to think of it, that was not a minor "volunteer" task! No energy fo more right now. Looking at the last few months, I wondered how I found energy to pot in early August - I had finished one cataract routine and not started the next! This gives me hope that after next Thursday I shall regain energy for potting.

The veggie chili, for yesterday's potluck, took all the energy I had but was a great success and I have enough left to freeze a container and keep one for adding to veggies over the next while.

I am hoping one of the women will come and de-clutter the strawberry bed and her partner can collect pottery to "pay" for the work he did on our stained glass window. Good info might be: that cost $200 for Sean to repair but the exquisite one R put in his library was only $50 at an "Eco Centre"! However, I do like our in-house window - in the wall between BR and LR to let light flow.

Not much inching along lately. Maybe centimeters...

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: LilyFestre
Date: 06 Oct 17 - 10:58 AM

For the very first time this year, I have taken off two glorious days in a row! One was a planned vacation day and the other was a luxury decision. I have Monday off for Columbus Day/Indigenous People's Day in NYS.....this gives me 5 whole days off! YES!

Yesterday was a Mother/Daughter Day...a mystery trip with the local bus company and today I have the entire house to myself! Jeremiah is in school and Pete is off to work. I had planned to do more clearing out of the closet but changed my mind. I decided to putter in the kitchen. I washed the windows on the door and hung up some fall decorations, removed everything from the family bulletin board throwing away anything that was no longer needed, tucking away old art (with the exception of Jeremiah's hand made Emergency/Fire Plan), organized the few remaining things that need to stay (my fishing license, the number for the farmer who has agreed to butcher our chickens, the logger, etc. Next I pulled everything off the front of the fridge, gave it a good scrub down and added some new fall magnets that were given to Jeremiah and only put back Jeremiah's chore chart (white board type)/markers, a Book It form that has to be filled out daily and a recent A+ spelling paper where he wrote his name in cursive (this is new for him this fall)...he is so proud and we are too! Let's see...stove top and front is clean, the main counter is clean, dishes done, etc. My plan is to clean all the remaining windows inside and out and get them ready for some winter plastic to help keep the cold air out and hopefully I will have some time to do a little fall baking, put a roast in the crock pot and grab a shower before it's time to get Jeremiah from school.

One day this weekend is slated for paperwork organization...just something I like to do periodically and the annual major big wood stove/chimney cleaning event. Cold weather isn't far away! Another day is set aside for some major sewing...haven't had the time or energy to do that in quite some time and I am looking forward to that. If the weather is nice, the front porch is going to have a major overhaul as well...it's a catch all space for us and I'm so over it!

In other news, I think I shared that we had a cabin we were going to list. Well, it was listed and sold the first day! The closing is less than 2 weeks away! YES! :)

I can't tell you how much of a luxury it feels like to have this time to put things in order the way I want and have wanted to for some time now. *Happy Content Sigh*

Enjoy your day everybody!

Michelle

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: wysiwyg
Date: 06 Oct 17 - 09:50 AM

Acme, already rotating art?

FreeCycle usually has an option of viewing posts online (sort of forum style) only, if mails are an issue.

Here's a creative church approach-- during our annual PA diocesan convention, they're planning an Altar Guild Swap Meet to declutter sacristies.

~S~

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Oct 17 - 09:37 PM

eBay items are starting to move, the days are cooling. I'm returning to the No Spend practice that worked for a while last year, getting groceries but eliminating impulse and non-essential shopping. Making do, swapping, etc. I even signed up again for the area freecycle group, we'll see how long I can stand that daily email.

I buy whole chickens and cut them up unless I find parts on a good sale. I buy pot roasts and cut them into 1 lb pieces to freeze (I don't buy hamburger from the store any more). I shop at a deep-discount store that gets gourmet cheese and yogurt for a fraction of the regular grocery store prices (near shelf date, but easy to use while they're still good.) Shopping today I found several packages of NY strip steaks in the Kroger discount bin and cut and repackaged into six ounce packages for the freezer. It comes out about $3.25 per steak, something I don't eat often but are nice occasionally and for guests. I've made a concerted effort to draw down the freezer stock. If I add some frozen vegetables I'll have pretty much everything I need, save the fresh dairy products. It is time to defrost - things are all tumbled around in there since last spring. When I'm feeling efficient I put a list of contents on the door and keep a running tally of contents. If I'm feeling really efficient I'll straighten the side-by-side (frost free) freezer first.

This activity is also getting ready for the fall cooking season, plus canning and freezing (I have tomatoes in the garden now, and a few eggplants). I have food gifts for friends for the holidays, jelly made during the summer in this spectacular year of the wild grape. I have gifts for family, including good Pyrex containers (my local thrift store has great glassware) they can take food home in.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: wysiwyg
Date: 05 Oct 17 - 05:50 AM

Ohio:

It turns out I have a whole box of odds and ends I can give her, right here, many of which I no longer use. Space here is tight, so those 6" of pantry space and linen closet space will be welcome.

Other items I listed for her choice were left by the recently-moved housemates. And looking for items to pass along netted ME one item I'd not realized they left-- an outlet strip WITH USB ports. I immediately installed THAT where needed, and took it off my shopping list!

Dorothy, you've been a real role model for me in two-home living.

~s~

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Oct 17 - 10:35 PM

Books and art - I also have a lot. Way too much. My father collected art, and though he had a small house, he had a lot of it leaning up against the walls in his store room. I think he intended to rotate it. I move a few things around occasionally, but I have a cupboard full of spare frames I've picked up at thrift stores and garage sales for items of my own I decide to put up. Pretty cards purchased in travels, kid art, etc. The most recent item was a brochure from Prospect Park in Brooklyn, NY, where I worked one summer. I kept occasionally finding this brochure and I couldn't make myself toss it, so I finally dug out a frame. It's a mostly green map and it's a lovely simple maple frame and it looks good. That wall is of oddball stuff, including my MA diploma., an Lookout Visitor Certificate a friend gave me in the mid-1970s (I was visiting his lookout!), kid art, and a New Yorker cover that my dad really loved and mounted. This one. Very clever.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 04 Oct 17 - 05:29 PM

Beaver:

Where it is pouring! sporadically today. It let up long enough for me to close the shed door and take the top off the "greenhouse" so those tender plants will be well watered. WARM! today.

Susan! Great going!

Charmion: We have almost no wall space but I am planning to set up an area where the wall pieces can change from time to time. Not sure where until the ladder to sleeping loft is in place. There is wall space in the screen house but the art must be weather proof! As the rain pours down, I am wondering about the state of the current contents!

Two tiny jalapeno from the garden (the only two!) must have been cluttered with all the heat of a huge one. A 10" frying pan full of cabbage and zuke is almost too hot to eat. The next meal of it will be served with 10% yogurt!

I continue to inch along, sorting, organizing/discarding. My energy waxes and wanes but I am energized enough to be making the veggie chili for a potluck tomorrow, a major move forward. Watching, hopefully, for the time I feel like potting. With eyes de-cluttered of cataracts and ankle healed sufficiently that I can walk on the lumpy back yard, I am feeling possible. Progress is being made.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: wysiwyg
Date: 04 Oct 17 - 02:26 PM

Ohio:

(Apols in advance for typos)

...and I'm thrilled to be able to give that same mom 2 matching wing chairs and a child's chair, which I will bring down on the next trailer load (May 2018). We'd been fretting over keeping or giving these away-- suddenly it was such an easy decision, knowing the cause it would serve and how dearly they'll be loved. We bought them used and it was a sweet memory: walking thru a thrift shop separately, we'd each seen them and coveted them, but feared the other wouldn't like (or wish to invest in) them. Beautiful deep salmon pink velour on solid frames/legs-- my color!

On that load will be a set (or 3) of shelves. Our PA furniture will then be pared down to awaiting 'The Big Move' mode-- stuff we use every day-- and I'll have ample sorting spaces for books, mementos, and STUFF to memorialize and then purge.

~S~

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: wysiwyg
Date: 03 Oct 17 - 05:02 PM

I was raised poor. Some days, dirt poor. But my mom had that precious thing-- a sewing machine. She made me beautiful clothes, and she covered anything unlovely in our various homes with tasteful and pretty fabric.

From her I learned never to throw out fabric because, no matter how worn, there is always a piece with life in it. With that philosophy Hardi and I created a 5000 square foot home furnished (once we'd blended households) with less than a small apartment's worth of halfway decent furniture (laminate plus green stamps), and one genuine antique dresser (primitive), plus Goodwill and FreeCycle and discarded parishioners' pieces.... that 5000 sq feet was the only rental open, the summer we arrived. I just gave away--to my extreme pleasure-- the double mattress/spring I treated myself to right before we married, to a lady starting over and going for custody. Barely used, totally clean, plus maple frame left in the garage rafters by the house's sellers. Four more bags of seller's abandoned 'stuff' also came down which I also gave her and her helper to use or sell. The only item I brought in-- a hand-crocheted afghan throw-- in the color scheme of our newly-forming guest room in time for a weekend housemate. Baby afghans, brand new boots/shoes-- gone, plus a bulky twin mattress.

Tent, kept for evaluation. Tall enough, I'll sleep in it when I travel. Kept duffel to stow it in too. If not, give away.


~S~

Yay!

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Charmion
Date: 03 Oct 17 - 09:16 AM

Three more bookcases arriving today; two more to go.

Yesterday we started unpacking framed pictures, not because we're ready to decorate, but because the crates were blocking access to the furnace filter. Oh, well; whatever works.

We have too much art, much of it really quite good and most of it original. I inherited lots from my father, who came from a family of painters and makers of interesting stuff, and bought more. Himself has also bought art -- a nice Daumier etching, for example, and has a sister who paints. I actually like some of her stuff, though not all. Then there was my grandmother, who liked to think of herself as a bit of a patroness. Some 40 years ago, she befriended a painter who left us with a fine watercolour of Galway harbour that needs reframing, a large, busy abstract that makes my head swim, and a nearly life-sized seated portrait of me at the age of 27. That last will never find wall space in this house if I can help it. Finally, there is the profusion of "certificates suitable for framing" that Himself has accumulated over the years, of which perhaps one of his four diplomas, his commission and his licence to practise law will go in his office. The rest -- removed from the frames in which they were originally presented -- go in the filing cabinet.

In this house, we can hang perhaps half of the framed items we have now, and I really can't imagine selling or otherwise disposing of the rest, so I plan to kick this can down the road, and make a First World Problem for our heirs and assigns. When I have finished squaring away our glory hole of a basement storage space, it will include a rack for framed pictures, just like (if considerably smaller than) what I have seen in a warehouse at the National Gallery of Canada. When we are dead, the nephews and nieces can sort it all out, and throw it all out if the spirit so moves them. Or perhaps fall in love with my great-grandmother's Impressionist landscapes of the Montreal area ... Who knows?

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 02 Oct 17 - 07:28 PM

Beaver:
I must have done a lot yesterday because I am too tired today! I really felt as though I was making organizational progress and some de-cluttering as well. Just inch by inch. Cleared about a foot of mags and papers today and had new, good, thoughts about where to put stuff. Forgot to go to dump and have to wait til Thurs but the stuff is out of house.

R de-cluttered his crew cab last week; it took him all day!

Hope I have more energy tomorrow. It was so nice to have good energy for a few days - with the cooler weather. FROST last two nights! The "don't bend over; don't pick up more than 10 #" is ongoing but... Dug up strawberries for someone on Friday, need to plant a few things, harvested the cabbage and managed to get them in frig, scrubbed bathtub by pretend lying down - not bending from waist! Nine more days!

I seem to be seeing dirt in places I never noticed recently so cleaned stuff in the K! And enjoyed time on the swing, with book, in the afternoons until it cooled too much.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Oct 17 - 10:25 PM

The Internet finally came back on this evening, after being off for probably 16 hours. Whew. It's amazing how many things get done during the day that at least have some reference to online sources.

The vegetable garden got attention today, including digging potatoes, weeding, trimming with the weed-whacker, and propping up the tomato vines that finally have fruit. The trimmer works better with the new cap - I didn't realize how it was dragging with the old one wearing out.

A few more garments came out of the closet this afternoon and I pulled a few unused items out of my dresser. I need to get a few new blouses (thrift store) and send some of the short-sleeved ones back. I like 3/4 sleeves best, regular short sleeves are okay, but for now the cap sleeves I have never get worn, my arms aren't in shape for them.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Sep 17 - 11:35 AM

My system here works well enough that when a friend comes to town at the last minute the guest room is ready to go. This wasn't always the case. There are a couple of oddball chairs in the guest room and I'm reminded that I've been meaning to take a class on upholstery to redo them, but that's a minor issue. What's really nice is to know that said guest, who is zonked because she didn't sleep well the night before, got a really good night's sleep in there.

Lovely weekend, so many things to do. The new cap for my string trimmer arrived yesterday so that chore can be tackled early in the day while it's cool. I need to clear out some of the grass around the garden - I'm getting a fall crop of tomatoes, if I can see them to pick them.

The declutter activity continues to be to donate or sell things that are culled from the household. I need to make a run to the recycle bin today and should make a loop taking me past the Thrift Store donation station as well. I still have to take out a couple of pair of clogs I never wear; the new shoes are totally comfortable, so that is a welcome exchange of shoe space. I'm thoroughly pleased with the new jeans, and I need to put one of my older pair either in the craft room to use as a source of denim fabric, or donate and let the thrift store recycle or put it in a craft category.

The music collection is in the radar again these days - that is my biggest chore and something I need to get back to. It would certainly free up space also, to finally donate it to a university library.

Have a good weekend, everyone! I hope it has finally cooled to seasonal normal temperatures wherever you are.

P.S. Dove into the closet headfirst, so to speak. Pants and dresses that don't fit are going to the thrift store. Even if I get back to those sizes again, they're not in style or are not something I would wear any more. You look at this stuff forever and don't see it, until you take a close look and wonder why you kept it for so long.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: LilyFestre
Date: 29 Sep 17 - 08:52 PM

I cleaned out my car...all vacuumed and washed. :) Other than that, I haven't done anything other than normal chores around the house this week. It IS, however, the weekend! :) We have plans of going to a pumpkin farm that has become a family tradition. Frankly, I love the family time but would prefer to stay home tomorrow so I can putter around here (is it bad that I hope the predicted rain comes so I can do that? We scheduled a rain date.......).

All is well. I hope it's well in your part of the world too.

Michelle

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Charmion
Date: 27 Sep 17 - 10:07 AM

Hi, Acme: You asked about how we organize books around here.

Substantial ranks of bookcases are located in the basement recreation (i.e., TV-watching) room, the largest bedroom, the study, and Himself's office. Books are distributed according to where one would be most likely to want to read them: fiction, British history and cookbooks in the basement, which is accessed from the kitchen and has two sofas; crime and law in the office; music, editorial reference, military theory, and Canadian, American and European history in the study; and essays, poetry, and Himself's substantial collection of Victorian and Edwardian children's books in the bedroom. Modern children's books (C.S. Lewis to J.K. Rowling) are in a small bookcase at the top of the stairs, where young relatives can find them easily.

Fiction and essays are organized alphabetically by author. History is more or less chronological, and because we have so many of them, books on military topics are shelved together, again more or less in chronological order. So when you're looking for a book about the battle of Shiloh at our house, it helps to know that it happened before Gettysburg. Poetry is also chronological, with anthologies shelved together.

We have one other small bookcase, in the guest room, and travel books will probably end up there.

It's more of a set of conventions than a system, but it works for us.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 26 Sep 17 - 10:32 PM

Beaver:
WOW! I have virtually nothing from any, long gone, parents. My ex managed to lose anything of value. I think about asking sons if there is anything they want but I SO doubt it. Taun has most of the family albums and I hope he shares. I never meant to leave them but he was not through with them... He does have a beautiful table, from the U of Toronto Library, and an antique rocking chair I left with them. I still have a desk, replica of the one used by Dickens; it came with a house I bought and I am ready to let it go but R isn't! He wants to build another library - for me and my desk!

Robin is SO thrilled with his library and I am thrilled to have some space cleared in the house and room for my own books when I bring them from the mill. I expect he will be bringing some of his next trip. But, a record of any sort will not be happening! I try to keep a loose leaf up to date of the novels I have read - so I don't read them twice! I only keep non-fiction that I have read and want to look at again.

Never listen to a radio - in car; father said it would distract from driving- or at home - too noisy; I prefer the sounds of silence - wind, rain, birds, spring peepers... I do great thinking as I drive. Dare not sing as my foot gets heavier on the gas pedal!

R went back to Montreal, leaving about 3 pm after totally re-organizing the back shed, getting the freezer and BBQ out there, winter tires accessible and the bookcase that will take the place of the sewing machine in my BR when there are enough bodies to move it! And storage bins more accessible so I can spend some time/energy trying to sort and, hopefully, discarding.

Feeling better in general and, with the temp due to go down, hope to get some good stuff done. The studio is organized for working!

Went to horticultural Society mtng tonight and asked for help getting rid of the yellow sort of iris (not bearded) which I have not been able to get out of the ground! They offered to remove and pot for next spring's plant sale! I will print out the photo I took of the blooms. I took my largest cabbage for the "competition" but it is "flat" and not at all like the other ones. At least 15" in D, it is good for a month of meals! And there are 3 more! And someone is to come Friday to collect some strawberry plants.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Sep 17 - 05:43 PM

Somber day here. Some of the items I'm listing on eBay, while they perfectly well need to go there, cause a bit of a wrench because they belonged to Dad. And it's not so much that, I've sold lots of family estate things with barely a twinge, but I realized that I'm coming up on the 20 year anniversary of his death. Intellectually I know that time has passed, but I lost both parents within six months, so that period from November 1997 to May 1998 was really tough. But like I mentioned above about keeping photos of objects instead of the objects themselves, I have kept the things that really do mean something. My house is filled with things that both parents sent over the years, and with things received after they died. I've told my kids a lot of the important stories. As I list several small cassette recorders and players (Dad was a packrat when it came to buying and keeping electronic stuff) I remembered that my mother gave me a cassette player of hers (even though I had several of my own) with the admonition that I record family stories for my children. So this going through stuff, decluttering, and passing it along has meaning. I need to keep telling the stories to my children. So I'll sell these little recorders but maybe take my time in passing along the one Mom gave me with those specific instructions.

A local radio call in program today had a guest who has written about how distracted we are by devices, and how creative our brains are when they are in fact a bit bored instead of always engaged with stuff and apps. She suggested driving with the radio off, without listening to the recorded book. To see what occurs during that time, of giving oneself an assignment for that time to think about something. Those stories to do with things, with people, would be a good starting place for each of us.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Sep 17 - 11:52 AM

Charmion, how do you organize your books?

My father kept a three-ring notebook with typed and handwritten pages in his car. He was always stopping at bookstores and used book stores and wanted to keep track of what he'd already read. The list was long; I sold a lot of mysteries from his estate on eBay and they often went as sets because he would get every one from his favorite authors. I also like mysteries, but decided I would do better to clear out the huge volume of books and if I choose to read these authors at a later date, I'll get them via the library or interlibrary loan or online. Nowadays there are sites like LibraryThing that Katlaughing used, and GoodReads, probably an independent company at one time but now owned (to no surprise) by Amazon. It lets you transport the list of all of the books you've purchased into GoodReads (you can choose whether they appear or not, and mark them read or not.) I suspect he would have enjoyed keeping track of his books that way. And in order to know I'm getting my books in the correct order, I use Fantastic Fiction, a site out of the UK that I discovered when I was selling those books.

I've thought about using LibraryThing to keep track - I think you can get a lifetime membership for a fairly low cost, then catalog all of your books by ISBN. When I organized my front room last (one 14' wall is floor to ceiling books) I pulled them all off of the shelves and used the large tiles in my den as an organizer. One tile for As, the next for Bs, and using a couple for letters that had more last names (S, T, M, etc.) I was able that way to look at each stack and cull the duplicates. But it doesn't give me a list of everything, just one of everything.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Charmion
Date: 26 Sep 17 - 09:12 AM

It's still hot as the hinges of Hell in Stratford, but relief is on the way: Environment Canada prophesies the arrival of a new front this evening, bringing rain tomorrow and a high of only 25C (!), followed by a sharp drop in temperature to something far more typical for late September. One can only hope.

Himself started work as a Legal Aid duty counsel today, so he set off this morning in his official lawyer's grey suit and shiny black shoes to walk the 2.5 km from home to the courthouse. That's not much of challenge at 0800 hr, but by mid-afternoon the thermometer will be around 31C with humidity to match, and that grey suit will be some wilted by the time he gets home.

In the car the other day on the way to Canadian Tire (this time for toolshed shelving), he remarked that we are now in the final stages of the Moving to Stratford operation, and now it's time to shift the focus to Living in Stratford. To that end, I joined the local concert choir, and attended my first rehearsal last night. It was held in a stifling hot Protestant church in the company of a squadron of stable flies (country town!), and everybody soldiered through stubbornly, swabbing sweat from brows as we sight-read our way through four movements of the Fauré Requiem and a selection of short pieces suitable for Remembrance Day. I think I will fit in just fine.

Meanwhile, some 35 two-cubic-foot boxes of books still sit in the garage along with seven china barrels with the fancy crockery and a couple of cartons of LPs. In the basement, access to the furnace is blocked by a stack of crated pictures that must be moved (and, preferably, unpacked) before the furnace can be cleaned. I would bet serious money that the people who sold us this house did not have the furnace cleaned in the spring -- who does that? Well, I did, back in Ottawa, but then I (ahem) failed to do it the previous fall.

But the china barrels have to stay right where they are until the kitchen project is finished (forecast for late November), and the books are waiting for yet another delivery of IKEA bookcases, due on 3 October. By the time we have finished filling this house with bookcases, we won't have much room on the walls for pictures. So it goes.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 25 Sep 17 - 11:17 PM

Beaver:
warm weather and allergies! YEP! took more chlorpheniramine maleate than in a long time. Careful not to raise dust to add to problem.

Neti pot: what I am using is similar; does the job without being authentic. Works great as long as I remember to do it at least twice/day.

I have recovered from the idiot anesthesiologist's failure to listen and comply but the heat has slowed down both of us. We work early and late and stay in the cooler house in the heat or go out in the AC car.

New mattress is great! The frame and rather nice head and foot will go back to Montreal - too much clutter for our tiny BR. Freezer is repaired and will go to back shed until needed.

Library is gaining books; house being de-cluttered! I will have room for some of mine which I will bring back next trip to the mill. Amazing owl photo bought on studio tour is framed - all we need is a piece of wall on which to hang it! Maybe on the solid wall of screen house.

Pottery studio is much better with the "bookcase" shelving! I hope to get back to doing some work soon - as long as I do not bend over and do not lift more than 10#! Hoping to try some different patterns of glazing.

R leaves tomorrow and will take some stuff with him to further de-clutter back shed.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Sep 17 - 12:07 PM

My pet peeve today: stores that sell products but that don't support the commonplace repairs those products may need. As mentioned before, the spool cap from my Homelite electric trimmer finally wore through, sending string into a huge tangle. I headed to Home Depot to pick up the replacement, but accidentally got the wrong brand and it doesn't fit. My only remedy is to order the correct one online, arriving next week. The trimming will wait, I'll mow, but this is a common brand and you'd think they'd keep more than replacement string.

Fall allergies are making their presence known via headaches and a lot more sneezing. And the weekend was weird - everyone from Texas to New Hampshire and lower Canada seems to have been upset by much warmer than usual weather. I spent most of the time working indoors on eBay listings. I've listed a number of items of different types, I don't generally specialize. I have disturbed some dust in the process, so I suppose that could also contribute to the headache.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 24 Sep 17 - 10:01 PM

Beaver:

R arrived at 3 am. I was too worried to sleep. We were up at 6:30 to leave at 7 for the hospital-- where there was a hold up and I did not get op until after noon. The idiot anesthesiologist did differently than the last one and I was wiped out for two days, thereby missing out on my much anticipated supper; I was in bed from late aft when we finally arrived at airbnb until morning. Cheryl was very sweet and tried to give me good soup but I could not eat it. R did.

The drops seem to affect me so I wake up feeling well but go down hill. The heat contributes! Happily, the house stays OK - we spent the aft inside! And cools off before bedtime with doors open. Love those screen doors!

We did get home in time Friday to pick up yard sale items and 3 of 4 are in their homes - a shelf unit with grow lights in the bathroom where it will be kept warm when I am not here; one bookshelf in the studio and the antique cupboard is beautiful in the screen room, a lovely space and totally shaded so cooler than the house. Great display area for pottery. A wonderful addition to our lives.

R is thrilled with his library and has moved some piles of books out there!! It still needs the flooring and many shelves, and a rail for the ladder.

We did stuff around the house Sat am and then went off on a studio tour - good to be in AC car when the heat hits! Fun day concluding with some exploring of back roads. Today organizing, etc in am and late aft. The heat... Also, R is still tired from the work he was doing in Montreal 12-14 hour days for several weeks. He is happy to be here. So am I! We sat outside on the swing in the cool of the evening and breathed in the delicious air. And R noted that he never thought he would ever just sit and swing! YAY!

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: wysiwyg
Date: 24 Sep 17 - 05:48 PM

Our parish has hosted an annual Antique Show for almost 50 years, with 15 dealers for each show. The ones still motivated to come report that the whole industry is dying; antique shops in area PA towns are closing and no longer a big tourist draw; last I heard we were down to four dealers interested for this year.

It's kinda gross to think that the crap we get now at Walmart will be 'antiques'-- much studied and valued-- when the industry revives. Just look how 'midcentury' mishmashes show up now on HGTV-- 1948-ish - 1968-ish all mixed like they might have been in a 1970 starter home, as high decor.

???

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Sep 17 - 02:55 PM

If you have a photo of the object with loved ones around it, I think you'll find that you still have the stories - because that's what this item is, after all - a mnemonic device to remember family stories and loved ones long gone. If you watch something like Antiques Roadshow you know the market is way down for big, dark antiques. This may change in the future, but for now, we live with these things or we decide that getting rid of them as time allows spares our children the chore in the future.

It's too damned hot this afternoon for mowing. I was going to at least do the trimming but the spool cap wore through and needs replacing. #ItsAlwaysSomething

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Charmion
Date: 24 Sep 17 - 01:42 PM

Thanks very much for posting the link to "The Tyranny of the Heirloom". I feel better now about my fancy inlaid tilt-top table, a piece of 18th-century English elegance sitting uneasily in the lounge of our 1970s Canadian suburban house.

It was the star of my great-grandmother's parlour, tricked out with lace, silver and delicacies for her weekly Thursday afternoon "at home". When my grandfather was little, circa 1887, he was allowed to sit at that table to polish off the delicacies when the last guests had departed. It is made of mahogany with a tripod base and a top inlaid with pearwood to form a picture of a basket of roses surrounded by a wreath of laurel. With a diameter of 40 inches and standing just a little lower than a standard dining table, it is not suitable for routine use as an eating-off table, but it is great for parties where people help themselves to nice portable snacks set out on plates. But 21st-century people don't have the discipline of their great-grandparents and don't know how to behave in the presence of fine furniture, so I must either protect it with padding and a liquid-repellent cover or cringe whenever a guest (especially a child) approaches it with a glass in his/her hand.

I inherited it in 1992, when my father died, and for 25 years I have arranged the sitting room furniture around it. My father believed that it is valuable, but I know very well that furniture -- even genuine Chippendale -- is worth exactly what one can persuade a customer to pay for it, and Canadians aren't eager to buy furniture they have to be careful with. There are days when I feel stuck with it. And then somebody new will come to the house and say, Wow, what a beautiful thing! So I guess if I'm going to be stuck with something, I shall be grateful that it's not only occasionally useful (with padding and an oilcloth cover) but also beautiful all the time. If I part with it, even for a towering price, I must also part with the ghost of a little blond boy in an Eton jacket scoffing shortbread off a Limoges tea plate, and I just can't do that.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Sep 17 - 11:00 AM

The boxes of items listed on eBay are neatly stacked, available to add a packing slip, tape closed, and transport out of the house. I may have to tweak some of the "Buy it Now" prices to move them out, but a couple of weeks a visibility is often needed before things start moving.

I was looking for an article (one I printed it out, it's around here somewhere, I'll find it when I'm no longer looking for it) and found this, possibly even better one when I did an online search: The Tyranny of the Heirloom. It might be of interest to our active and passive readers. I'm slowly moving stuff out of the house that my kids have no interest in. I learn about the family I never met through some of these things, them let them go to new homes.

Subject: When is a buy not a clutter? And Cheyenne plan.
From: wysiwyg
Date: 23 Sep 17 - 04:41 PM

Ohio...

When is a buy not a clutter? When it works like this:

In a girl-power, swamp-skills home security plan, four long-wanted plant hangers spotted at Walmart-- destined for PA soon and Ohio forever-- make a great storm-door noisemaker until the beer cans and battery-powered door alarm chimes arrive. ;-)

The framework for the new security plan is, "Pray AND tie your camels. Then, LIVE." See me FMI.

Just-concluded: neat paid home security backup arrangement w nextdoor neighbor Marie/Joe's adult daughter Cheyenne, who lives at home, works, and goes to kollidge. I've met her several times around the driveway, and she is the soul of sweet manners, with strength. She's thrilled to park in the driveway and tour hse/garage weekly (or if concerns noted). Has pitty puppy.

Unless her parents rescind:

".... this is Susan. Greg contact info 4 checks or worries is xxx.xxx.xxxx. Unless ur folks rescind our arrangement, a small monthly check (up to 50) will arrive whether I'm here or not. (50 would incl weekly garden hose on/off.)

This month I'll b away xxxx, and u can tour house (every rm) to see what 'normal' looks like. (Are also pix in FB album if u want to friend/see.) The door alarms will be set on 'chime' mode if they arrive in time.

In Oct I hope hse security is good enuf to visit MIL xxxx. Door alarms n trail cams we discussed def up by then. I hope to depart for PA Nov. Xxxx and return in xxxx. Snow/lawn care via xxxxx's Svc except driveway.

The patio is available at any time for dog training/play, if Newbie not out there, or supervised w Newbie by advance arrangement. She can be a problem if not tied. (She boards when I'm away.)

When u can, pls copy ur drivers license 4 our records? The storm door makes a good mailbox.

Thank you!!! Last long msg I promise!"


And all the free laundry she cares to do here instead of at her crowded small house next door.

~S~

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: LilyFestre
Date: 23 Sep 17 - 10:29 AM

It has been a hectic but interesting workweek, the kind that leaves you all fired up and ready to move into the next week with enthusiasm and interest! :) However, that doesn't mean I'm not ready for this weekend! ;)

In just a few minutes we are off on a new adventure to pick concord grapes. Our grapes have done well this year and there are more to come, however, we are going to be making our own grape juice and jelly this year (and maybe a few grape pies...never have had them but would like to try) so we need a very large abundance of grapes! Homemade grape juice sounds amazing to me! :)

I cleaned the kitchen last night so it's all sparkly and ready for us to get busy with the canning process. Jeremiah loves to be helpful in the kitchen so it makes this a true family adventure and something that we all love to do. :) I am looking forward to the rest of the day...now if Pete would just hurry up and get out of the shower so we can GO! LOL

Have a good one everybody!

Michelle

PS. We recently put our log cabin on the market. We bought it over 20 years ago as a place to go on the weekends to get Pete out of town as he hated living in town. We have been on our homestead for 19+ years now (and far from town) and rarely go to the cabin. We don't have the time and besides that, we are content to stay right here when we do have the time. :)

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: wysiwyg
Date: 23 Sep 17 - 08:51 AM

Ohio

The more dangerous aspects of the opioid epidemic are emanating from the next Big City south of the town we're retiring to. Past helper Jeremy died in it, in June, and the neighborhood (and whole town) is showing a real uptick in home invasions just since the first of the year. So a re-purposed group of PA item is a one or more trail cams, cleverly placed in house and garage, a baby monitor so I can announce warnings to 'visitors' from the bedroom, and toddler door alarms. I moved the dog's crate to my bedroom area to be able to release her in case of intrusion.

I'm also seriously considering adding a dog-strength hotwire to the exterior security lights, to supplement the 6 neighbors keeping eyes and ears out.

Because I don't want any burgling help decluttering our retirement place! :-(

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: wysiwyg
Date: 21 Sep 17 - 09:20 PM

Ohio...

Another stay-forever piece is now in place-- a thick, off white 8 x 9 carpet from the PA guest room (a FreeCycle score) fits the guest/sewing room here POIFECK. The door even opens over it. Can be rotated to ensure even wear.

Hardi and I discussed our thoughts for that room when we were here for vacay in August. He envisioned it completely differently and had a much better idea. So today the mockup of his Murphy Bed idea began, as follows.

The departing housemates left us a neat Craigslist twin headboard w shelves/cubbies, that will fit between two of our matching bookcases. Above these, a shelf with a clothes rod under a wooden valance will stretch across the whole wall-- with the curtains (hung on the rod) covering the bed when it's up (or flanking the bed when it's down).

The headboard is a tad too deep, relative to the bookcases, so it will get its back 1/3 sliced off, and most of that hung for more cubbies above the other 2/3.

With this rig, we can use every inch, right up to the ceiling, on that wall. Even with the bed down, Hardi's grandmother's antique sewing machine will fit as his sewing table, at the foot of the bed, like a footboard.

One hour kid labor. He learned all about assembling Hollywood bed frames.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Sep 17 - 07:15 PM

A friend of mine has a job interview in central PA - I was telling her about you. Got a little teary-eyed in skimming over some of the high and low points. :) Looking forward to those photos.

I stopped in a fabric store this evening on my way home from work; I've meant to for a while. I didn't have anything in particular I needed, I just wanted to look. They have all cotton and it's intended for quilting, though of course people come for fabric for other things as well. They have lots of large tables with cutting boards inset for working and teaching. Looked interesting!

Dorothy, drop us a line to let us know when you are up to it after that second surgery. I'm sure you'll be very happy to finally have that out of the way.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: LilyFestre
Date: 20 Sep 17 - 10:28 PM

Maggie,

I'll share some photos on FB tomorrow evening so you can see. The space just makes me happy.

Michelle

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Sep 17 - 09:18 PM

[window envy] I work in a dark cold basement. Lucky you! And the office sounds charming and relaxing for any clients who visit. It seems it wasn't that long ago that you took up quilting - you've come a long way with it, to have spares to use for decorative purposes!

I'm doing some virtual reorganizing this evening. My mp3 player lost it's mind overnight so I loaded the last file of the mystery I was close to finishing in my phone for the drive to work. During the day I visited the public library web site and I have a library audio download in my phone and tablet now, and I've hopefully set up so my programs sync information and I can read books on different devices and each one knows where I stopped last, regardless of what I was reading on. (That's the theory.) I've also formatted the mp3 player and I'm reloading some books back into it.

Dorothy, have we discussed neti pots in these threads? It would soothe your nose and throat, but having to lean over the sink to use it might not be recommended, unless you're very careful.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 20 Sep 17 - 09:09 PM

Beaver:

As I sit here (9 pm) wondering when R will arrive - and we have to leave for hospital at 7 am... I am delighted to read of Michelle's new office!!! and Susan's delight in her forever piece of furniture.

And, no, I have not done all sorts of things to make life easier as I have been in get out and push mode for days now. Well, I washed hair this aft as it will be 3 weeks before I can do that! And did laundry this morning so that is DONE! And all the "hatches" are battened down, as I "accept" that nothing will be done for 3 weeks, unless R does it.

I also broke down and bought a fancy duster at the hardware store for cobwebs and floor dust, and used it to clear up some of the house. I really did not have the energy to vacuum but this was a great improvement. It is actually my great fear of dust (allergy) and the discomfort of the respirator and having to leave the house until the dust settles... More trouble with fall allergies this year than in many years - maybe that is part of the cause of my slowdown!

The good new is that using a saline nasal wash has almost eliminated the chronic cough that has plagued me the last several years. The Dr. was quite concerned that I not cough while she is operating on my eye! But the anesthesia stopped the cough for 24 hours!

I have discovered that the outdoor cabinet by the front door, planned for storing pottery which is now in the screen house, is a good spot for things going to the dump or thrift shops.

I am hoping R can fetch the things bought last Saturday at the yard sale and get them into place. BUT I will not be able to organize until the 3 weeks is up.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: LilyFestre
Date: 20 Sep 17 - 07:54 PM

I haven't done much cleaning out at home but I have at my office! I have been working in an interior office with no windows. I fixed it up nicely and it's been going ok. Recently, however, I was bumped up and found myself with a nice office space with a large window! I have an awesome maintenance man who took out the desk that was in that office and moved in the desk of my choice, he moved my bookcase and even helped me lug the boxes of binders/manuals, etc. I am pleased to report that my office is ultra organized, homey with Jeremiah art and a quilt hanging on the wall and a nice chair for those coming into my space. No clutter. I have a HUGE bulletin board that I have covered in fabric that nicely picks up some of the colors in the quilt. The window has a large interior window sill and I have flowers there and some seasonal pumpkins too.....I love my work space!

Love to everybody!

Michelle

Subject: The one about the sideboard
From: wysiwyg
Date: 20 Sep 17 - 01:26 PM

First pirce of stay-forever furnitute unloaded and installed in Ohio: Greg's beautiful sideboard. Was I right, how I envisioned it the day I bought the house? Duh, YEAH...

Its position allows the front door (with coats hung on it) to open fully. Space between sideboard and wall facilitates storage of flat items, and the adjoining window's curtain drop. After its rain-dampened masonite back fully dries, I'll swap in the green/blue cloth cover from the previous divider which married the LR/K colors (open concept). It needs a cover for the back which faces into the LR

The sideboard replaces two previous items that combined to be a few inches wide, and about a foot shorter. It's been a great 'landing' zone, so this turns out not to be a good spot for a really tall item (such as the whole tall china cabinet we thought of for that spot.)

It's helpful to see one of the larger PA pieces that will eventually be here... many pieces bought for a house w huge rooms, in a double-wide-type footprint? Maybe.... if I can get used to them one at a time. They hold wonderful memories!

Anticipated use: power tools until we're here fulltime (when they'll move to the garage); then large serving-ware. Now and also then, landing zone or buffet for company meals (whether in kitchen or LR or both).

Boy-unloading time: 2 young men, no dolly, 15 minutes untarping to placement.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Sep 17 - 10:36 PM

Good luck with your recovery from that second eye surgery, Dorothy. This time I'm sure you'll have prepared for a larger range of activities you can do while restricting your motion.

This evening I was going to work on eBay, but when I realized a note about an item to list was lost in the clutter on my desk, I decided instead to clear the stacks and file the stuff on my computer desk and on top of the file cabinet. Wood is now visible and in the process I found a couple of things I've been looking for, and things I forgot I needed.

wysiwyg - a friend of mine apparently travels with a small pillow for getting comfortable with the hoses she wears at night from her oxygen machine. I found one in the guest room and figured it must be hers. I think she makes them herself, and they compress down to nothing to go in the luggage, but are helpful for propping the O2 line. I'm keeping it for her next visit, she apparently has a lot of them. When you're thinking about service projects, making pillows may be something to add to your list.

Weather dried out and are hoping for some rain next week. I'm finally getting the dry grass that doesn't need to be mowed very often. My vegetable garden is finally starting to produce, there are green tomatoes and a couple of eggplants in view.

Charmion, how many of those boxes of books have you unpacked so far, or will they wait until more renovations are completed?

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 19 Sep 17 - 06:40 PM

Beaver:

A few more little things done today - not a great deal. I drove to Coe Hill to give Arne some mineral capsules and stopped at once-was-a- hardware store for a bowl of nice thick soup and a thick piece of home made bread. Yum. Then at the Mercantile to see Lillian but her mom died on Saturday so she was on way back west - Manitoba. Feeling low all afternoon - sad for Lillian whose Mom was quite ready to leave but still hard for L.

Also frustrated as I could not find the supplement order list. Then the internet would not connect so I put the computer into a carrying bag - THERE was the list! and off to Tim Horton's for a bowl of soup. And to order the supps. Also did not feel like eating anything in the house... May feel like doing a couple more things in the house when I get home...

Oh yeah, not looking forward to cataract up on Thursday - not that it is bad but the frustration of not bending over and not lifting for 3 weeks... And add on a day that it is heavily not getting around to actually raining. And add on wondering what time R will get here tomorrow and will he manage to pick up the new-to-us mattress without which it will be an uncomfortable weekend! SO - not much done today!

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: wysiwyg
Date: 18 Sep 17 - 04:17 AM

This post equals two FB tips and a report on decluttered pillows and overnight case.

Tip 1-- the below is pasted from a very small FB group I set up for tracking wellness progress with closest friends and family-- a FB within my huge FB.

Tip 2-- the below paste reflects using pix to head threads, which can be easier to find later than thread titles.


The declut: items strewn in my computer corner and DR are now cased for removal to vehicle.

...

The Travel Logistics Thread

Remember this image to find this thread again in Photo's-- I will!

2017+ includes portability plans that will require at least my minimum pillowing kit to be permanently onboard. One key to maintain my mobility is able to totally let go for at least 5 hours sleep. Not every host has a recliner, or enough extra pillows to fully support my joints.

Since before 2012 I've been making my kits increasingly smaller. This one is the smallest yet: an overnight-sized airline rolling bag. A matching tote carries atoelan nightie, plus change of undies.

Inside are 5 small pillows of vairous sizes, a cushy kniteditem wth case for a 6th huggy pillow, and a pair of wadded-paper neck or wrist pillows with cushy chenille-sleeve wrappers. There are usually more pillows plus blanket in the car. Add 1-2 pillows with a host's bed (or 0 pillows but a good recliner), and boom!

We especially felt the lack of kit when we recently drove home from OH to PA (in August). Too tired NOT to stop but too few pillows be workable! OWWWW! :-(

The front pockets shown here are still empty-- room for a whole clothing outfit!

Subject: RE: Declutter & Fitness -2017- Clearing Out the House
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 17 Sep 17 - 08:38 PM

Beaver:

Yard sale yesterday netted a lovely cupboard for the screen house, roomy and an attractive antique that will display lots of pottery and be good for storage as well. Also two good solid book cases - not sure where yet, and a shelf unit with two grow light units.

Still some pottery to transport to the back - use wheelbarrow! I observed today that there are two "shelves" across the top of the gazebo - back and front - that will hold many pieces. It is looking quite nice with the director's chairs open.

Potted the tree seedlings, did some sorting, some spray painting (can only do it in very small bits to avoid odour. inch by inch...

Waiting for Chris Rawlings open house for organic apples and cider. Must check FB. Great visit with artist Arne Roosman - wishing I had wall space for one of his marvellous paintings.