Well, our last thread wasn't that long....but I thought maybe we deserved a fresh new thread for this fresh new month!...like a new pair of shoes to go with a new outfit!
Ahhhhhh, happy Monday, friends! Here on the northcoast it was an absolutely gorgeous week-end, with a slight break in the temps (75-85 instead of 95!) and there was a lovely breeze blowing.
I've been getting the camping gear lined up in the garage for DH to pack on Wednesday morning. Today's most important task is to track-down a missing air mattress! DD14.99 will be home from band camp around 4:00 pm so I'll have a couple of loads of laundry to do then.
Tomorrow I'll get the rest of the food ready and we'll be set. Since we don't have access to our campsite until after 3:00 pm, DD14.99 will go to band practice Wednesday morning and we'll get packed up and leave about noon.
In the meantime, I'm going to clean out the cabinets in the bathrooms upstairs and give the master bath a good, thorough scrubbing. I need to do the 'fridge, too, as it's trash night and we'll be gone until next Monday night.
DD10 and her friend (who spent the night) are still snoozing. I'm headed up to rouse them in just a bit....never mind....here they come down the stairs as I type! I guess I'll go make them some pancakes, since we don't have milk for cereal!
Have a great August 1st!
Blessings,
Lenora
A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination."
~Nelson Mandela
Still on a lousy late schedule, still need to change it. I feel like I got nothing done last week at all (and my husband agrees). Today I need to take the trash away to the dump (it's piling up), take an overdue CD back to the library, stop briefly at the grocery store, clip coupons, exercise, wash a lot of laundry (including blankets and bedspreads), and grill some fish for dinner before it goes bad (it never lasts long after I buy it!) My fridge is absolutely stuffed with cucumbers, even though I gave my neighbor and SIL 4 each, and I have a huge bowl of tomatoes on the counter. I think tomorrow's dinner will be stuffed tomatoes. I'm having a hard time staying ahead of all of this produce and I'm starting to think seriously about trying to can some of it. I've got an 8 qt. pressure cooker that claims it can can pint jars, but lacks a "canning disc". Anyone have any idea what a canning disc would look like or where a person could get one?
Have fun camping, Lenora! We'll miss you while you're gone! Sounds like you'll have a nice clean house to come back to, too!
Just curious, what instrument does your daughter play? I remember high school marching band quite fondly myself, despite scorching summer temperatures at the beginning of the season and snow at the end!
DS14's computer is now fixed so I'm online properly again! We've been really busy for a while now, with renovations going on - first the kitchen, then the new roof (which necessitated moving everything from the loft (attic) down into the house while the work went on. I told myself I would go through it all and get rid of lots of stuff before it went back up and guess what? I just stuffed it all back up there again After all the upheaval I just couldn't face it, and we were due to go off on holiday too.
We had a great holiday in Somerset - the sun actually shone for an entire week, every SINGLE day which is quite something here! I even wore shorts in public, which is quite unheard of
Now that the work is finished and the holiday is over I can't put things off much longer - the house is a mess. Not to mention all the stuff in the loft. I feel very overwhelmed. Someone tell me where to start!!
The year is scooting on by. Nearly school time again around here. I think it is 2 weeks away from starting back.
Don't feel bad about the feeling of getting nothing, done, Sparrow. I feel that way much of the time any more. Can't seem to get anything done, even when I do have the time.
Today included a quick trip to town, then a 40 mile round trip to check on my dad who has a sitter with him all the time. By the time I'm home again, I just don't much have the energy to get much done.
Managed a bit of school shopping last week for DD15. Tomorrow I plan to get DS13's shopping done. He doesn't want to try on anything, so it's a pain to try and shop for him these days. Nothing fits since his latest growing spurt. . .on his 13th birthday I measured him and he is 5 foot 10, wearing a men's 12 shoe!
Have fun on your camping trip, Lenora. I'm not much on roughing it, but sounds like good family time.
Don't know if I'll keep up, but I'm assuming this thread is for posting what we decluttered, right?
Well, since we found out this new baby is going to be a boy, I decided to let go of the girl clothes. Stored in my house I had 12 boxes of girl clothes from 0-4T. I went thru and took out the most precious things that were my favorites, and decided the rest can go to my SIL, who just had a baby girl in June. Unfortunatly, she doesn't have room for 12 boxes of clothes in her little house. So, I got a bunch of those plastic bins at Walmart and was able to put almost everything in 7 of those (6 of clothes, 1 of shoes). Now I can just give her one or two boxes at a time, and I can store the rest in the garage or bunkhouse without the fear of rats getting into them. WHOOHOO!!
I also cleaned my girls' bedroom real good the other day. It was really a mess (despite me just doing this a couple of months ago). I took out a big trash bag and a half of stuff. Little boxes, papers (My gosh, were they just in their breeding?), and even managed to sneak in a few McD's toys. So that feels good, too, and the room is CLEAN!!
Just working on the last chore on my list for today--clipping the coupons. Got everything else done (yay!) Tomorrow I should vacuum, finish the laundry, drop off some mail, clean the cats' water fountain (poor spoiled things have had to use a regular dish for a few days already), stuff tomatoes for dinner and see about fixing some gazpacho or something, too, water the garden, and...well, there's always something. Work on one of those bigger projects I keep putting off, hopefully.
Hi Honey! Good luck with the junk in the loft. Sounds kind of like my mudroom/storage room, except I haven't had to move it all since we moved in (thank goodness!) I'll work on it if you work on yours? (Maybe? Or maybe my guest room that needs painting...)
Fern, if I had to drive 40 miles in a day, definitely nothing else would get done that day. Ugh. Some days (too few!) I'm very productive and get a lot done, and others I just can't seem to get started. Too many of those lately. I wonder what the difference is? Let me know if you find it.
And Jenny, welcome! We haven't been all that active lately--you probably won't have any trouble keeping up. Sounds like a great job with the baby clothes, and I'm sure your SIL will appreciate them! And the girls' room, too--where does all that paper come from, anyway? I keep trying to clean out our office and the papers just keep coming!
(BTW, I love your little baby ticker. So cute!)
Last week DD14.99 cleaned her closet, under her bed, and her chest of drawers...two bags of garbage, one bag for Goodwill, two bags for Good Neighbors and a pile for me! ...but it does look really nice, now! Good to have you decluttering with us!
Hi Fern! My DDs hate shopping, too (as do I.) I've been able to get most of what DD10.5 needs to start the year already...except shoes. DD14.99 is harder, as so much of what is out there for teens is either not appropriate for school and/or is cut wrong to fit her (or she doesn't like it). My DDs and I are just not ever going to be tall, willowy, long-legged, wasp-waisted, big breasted women. It just 'ain't" gonna happen, and as that is the case, "teen-fashion" right now is not terribly inspiring!
...and of course, September is usually as hot as July around here; in Oct. and Nov.we'll have a temperature range from 75 to 25! "Seasonal" clothing around here has got to be pretty darn flexible!
We'll get school supplies when we get back from our vacation...
Speaking of vacation, I need to get my rear-end in gear! I still have a ton of stuff to do, including the rest of the grocery shopping. We also have to take Bob to my MIL's this evening, as she has agreed to "lizard-sit" for us while we're gone.
HONEY! We've missed you! When my mess is overwhelming, I consider two things when deciding where to start: 1.)what is bugging me the most, or 2.) what will make the biggest impact. (Happy are the days when they are actually the same task/room!) I am, of course, an instant gratification kind-of-girl, so either of those choices leave me feeling like I've really accomplished something.
Well, what is bugging me right now is all these things still on my "to do before camping" list.
Gotta get on that, now!
Love to all!
Blessings,
Lenora
A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination."
~Nelson Mandela
Great to see you back, Honey, and you joining in Jenny. Sparrow & Lenora have been holding this thread together for a while.
6' 1" Honey! He is a big boy! It seems a little strange looking up at them, doesn't it? I'm now the shortest one in the house, with Dad coming in next, The kids love it.
I used to put my kids baby clothes on their babydolls, Jenny. . .some of the things I couldn't bear to part with. Kept them a separate little suitcase full of them that they could change their babies into. Every so often they got to do their own laundry, etc.
Paperwork has about overtaken me. I've got to dig through the mess and pay bills today, come hell or high water. Also planning a shopping trip to a nearby town (60 mile round trip) for a little school shopping. Sure dreading that since temps are expected to hit 100+ again today.
Not much housework getting done today from the sound of it. Also halfway expecting overnight company later in the week, which is just what I need to really stress out over my messy guest room.
In the far-off days pre-baby I used to do a little decluttering with you guys, and I think it's time I started again. In two months we're going to move to Oxford to live with my MIL for a year so that we can save for a deposit and finally buy our own house. The vast majority of our stuff will have to go into storage. When we buy something it will most likely be smaller than this place that we rent at the moment, so . . . I MUST CHUCK STUFF OUT!!!!
I'm off to consider my linen closet right now. Any suggestions, useful advice, sympathetic comments, unsympathetic comments about stopping moaning and getting on with it gratefully received
Moving is a great motivator for decluttering, isn't it? I can' t even imagine moving into a smaller place at this point--it seems like our stuff always expands to fill any available room! Those half-burned candles sound like a good place to start!
Speaking of decluttering, I should really tackle this study. And the guest room, and the mudroom...
Today's another slow day, though. Time just got away from me and I'm not even sure where it went. Oh well, maybe I'll do better tomorrow.
I decluttered a box of stuff today. Got out the schools elem. cheerleading uniforms. I'm the coach, so I've been storing them. Today I took them over to the school during the Varsity girls practice and stashed them in their closet in the gym. HA!!!
Ok, it's ain't much. But dang it, I'm proud of it!
I sat and wrote a list of all that needs doing, and decided on the things that were bugging me the most and that would have the most impact. So yesterday and today, I .......
Completely tidied the living room including my teetering piles of papers on the table. Found about half a trash bag of stuff to throw away, just in that room! Shameful.
Rearranged the living room furniture.
Tidied and cleaned the kitchen.
Reorganised the kitchen cupboards. Decluttered a few items I don't use.
Decluttered and reorganised the shed.
Did lots of laundry (I'm behind).
Reorganised the pots of flowers and garden furniture.
I don't know what's happened to me. I feel almost energetic
Jenny, isn't it great when you do something that's been bugging you for ages? It can feel so good that it spurs you on to other things
Today I'm only decluttering my brain as it's PhD day. Later we're going to my MIL's to plan for the move and think about what stuff we can bring with us.
Honey, you did all that in one day? I'm impressed! Makes me feel downright slothful!
I made a start on the guest room yesterday, anyway. I only had a few minutes, but better than nothing! I moved a few things out and put some pictures in frames I'd bought for them (why have them sitting around separately?) Still need to deal with all the little stuff, though. The last few things in a room always seem to be the hardest to deal with. They're always the things that don't have a logical place to go!
Today I should exercise, work on the guest room some more, and probably do some work in the kitchen. There are blueberries in the fridge waiting to be made into a pie (if I can find room in the fridge with all the cucumbers) and bananas waiting to be made into muffins. And many, many tomatoes and cucumbers--I think I need to make some gazpacho. Maybe try my hand at canning tomatoes, too. My SIL and I are going to try spending a work day at each other's houses once a week, so one week she comes here and helps me out and the next I go to her place and help her (or babysit). It should push me to get more done so I don't waste her time and also let me tackle big jobs a little more easily with two sets of hands. Hopefully it'll be fun, too!
I see its something in Harry Potter, but I'll have to wait to find out - I'm only on the Goblet of Fire at the moment (I only began reading them a week ago - later starter )
Zillah, you must get on very well with your MIL to be planning to live with her for a year. I couldn't think I could take a year of living with my own parents let alone someone else's! I'm dead jealous you'll be living in Oxford. I had a friend there in my teens and spent several weekends there. Lovely place.
Sparrow, the blueberry pie sounds yummy. I love pie I am a bit pastry obsessed at the moment because I am on a GI diet where I'm allowed very little carbs I am allowed blueberries though, maybe I'll get some this week
Jenny, WHAT IF the baby turns out to be a girl after all? You'll have to go ask for the clothes back! I knew DS' sex before he was born, too, but I didn't buy much blue beforehand, just in case!
Fern, paper is the bane of my life! I make endless lists and plans on paper and then the paper gets all over the place, along with all my books and magazines. Then there's the homeschooling stuff, which is taking over the house...
Today I got up late (up late last night chatting to Jenny on the messenger!) and then didn't get dressed until after lunch, tut tut. I caught up on some more laundry, did some ironing for my Mum and ran a couple of errands. I spent most of the evening writing lists and trying to get my head around my money situation which is a bit dire at the moment. Then I read a couple of chapters of the Tightwad Gazette for inspiration!
Tomorrow I have to -
*'declutter' (cancel) the dial up internet account, now we have broadband
*do MORE laundry
*do some serious decluttering in my bedroom
I really want to get the bedroom decluttered, reorganised and looking nice. I love my bedroom, I recently painted it and have new bedding and I am so annoyed with myself at forever using it as a dumping ground for the overspill from the rest of the house. No more!
Sounds like some of you are making progress. Wish I could say the same. Well, actually, I did make headway on paperwork in my office. Thats not to say I'm anywhere near finished, mind you. . .just sorted several boxes into 3 small stackable containers, plus found some stuff I'd been looking for, like the card to renew my car tag. Well, it was only 3 months late. Had to pay around $10 in penalties.
Paper is overwhelming isn't it Honey? What I did this time was just make myself really look at what I was pitching. I threw away scads of paper that you couldn't have prised away from me a month ago. I finally realized some of it was stuff I hadn't looked at for months and certainly no longer needed. I just asked myself if I was going to need this for anything ever and it was much easier to throw away.
Planned to really get in here and get some work done today, but a friend called wanting a typing favor, which of course totally screwed up my afternoon. DH had DS out working on a new pipe fence around our place and DD was messing with her horse, so I had the house to myself. . great time to make headway only to have needy people ruin it. Sorry if I sound scroogish. I do wish I could say NO easier. Instead, I do it and grump about it.
Had some good news today, also. I've been wanting to break into the parenting publications for some time now. Had an acceptance on an article a couple weeks ago for Atlanta Parent and today I (unexpectedly) received a check and copy of Western New York Family which included one of my articles in their last issue. Certainly brightened up my otherwise iffy day!
Swapping out sounds like a great idea, Sparrow. Sometimes things just go easier and steadier when you have someone working alongside you.
Once again I had big plans of house cleaning today, but of course, they were thwarted one more time. I've ended up spending the majority of the day sitting outside in the hot as H E double L sun helping DD with her barrel/pole horse. Evidently he got food hung in his throat or something down his windpipe. Thankfully, he finally was able to get it out. After he scared the living daylights out of us though. Plus it took him about 4 hours to do it. I'm just so relieved he is okay. DD trained him on barrels & poles herself and they've been buddies since she was about 6 or 7 yrs. old.
I did manage to mop one bathroom today, plus a portion of my bedroom. Hopefully will be able to finish that up today.
Otherwise, its been a slow day for house doings today.
Today DS and I sorted out all of his clothes. DS had an enormous amount of clothes, because my brother and a friend of ours pass on clothes they have got bored with! This is great for DS, especially my brother's designer jeans - that's the only way DS is ever getting £80 ($142) jeans, I can assure you!! When they give us bags of clothes, we tend to keep everything that fits. We have decided today we need to more selective in deciding what to keep in future - for example, we found today that DS had 25 pairs of shorts!! When we sorted them out, there were only about 8 that he likes and wears, so the rest are going. there were also a lot of t shirts he wasn't keen on so they've gone too. All in all, we filled two big trash bags of clothes for charity, a large carrier bag of things too small for DS to pass on to a friend, and a small bag of things too large, for my Dad.
I also sorted out my clothes, and I found ten or so items to go, then I ironed my backlog of clothes, which took about 3 hours!
I did some more reorganising in the garden, and fed and watered all the plants.
Never did start sorting out my bedroom though....
. Procrastinating? Me?
Ironing, the dreaded chore...at least for me! Probably why I never do it if I can help it! Good for you, Honey! I do need to do some ironing soon, though--I want to patch up the knees of some jeans I've worn through. At least I can wear them around the house!
It's the weekend and not much is happening here besides relaxing with my husband. Still need to make the gazpacho, blueberry pie, and banana muffins. Monday afternoon my SIL will come over and help me work on the guest room--that should be good. And paper--paper is taking over my office! I really need to sort through it.
Congratulations on the article, Fern! And the sorting, Honey! Glad the horse is OK, too!
I'm copying and pasting some of this from the flybaby thread:
I decluttered like a fool today:
*4 or 5 boxes of STUFF. Kitchen stuff, clothes, purses. Couple were full of stuff that SIL didn't want then passed on to MIL, who then passed to me what she didn't want.
*the clorox ready mop. Hated that thing
*a couple more boxes of boxes (like clothes gift boxes).
*this isn't out of the house yet, but I getting rid of 2 big boxes of jeans that are too holey. I mean, the crotched is plumb worn out and can't ever be fixed. 38 pairs. I have been saving them to make a denim quilt for DH for hunting, but said screw it. I was going to throw them out, but DH had a fit, so they are just going in the bunkhouse.
Most of this stuff is going to our cheerleaders. See, two of them have been selected to be in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in NYC!! But, they have to raise boocoo money. So they are having a garage sale with donated items. And I have lots to donate!!
I also decluttered my fridge REAL good, but not because I wanted to. Ours died Saturday (I went to fix a coke and instead of pulling out ice I got a handful of water) and I had to go buy a new one real quick. Just decided to throw most of the stuff away rather than save it. BIG declutter.
Also a big declutter: in order to get the old fridge out and new fridge in, we had to make a path in the garage. Which led to CLEANING the WHOLE garage. We threw away a whole trailer load of boxes and stuff. And found a few other things for the sale. I should have weighed the trailer on the cattle scales, I can't begin to try and figure out what it weighed. 500 or so pounds I guess. At least.
hi guys... missing you all! Since I don't have a house of my own yet I don't have a lot to declutter really, and I'm barely getting my emails read every few days, let alone getting on here! Nice to see you joining us Jenny. I wonder whether Hope's ever gonna come back - we're so slack without her to boss us around!
I did declutter some garden stuff though - about 4ft of bramble which was crawling across the lawn, loads of aquilegia seed heads, some bindweed... three armfuls before I decided it was too warm. Mostly I'm acquiring 'clutter' for the new house...
I spent £35 on a ton of kitchen items my cousin bought for me - loads of stuff and all brand new or used once (tv prog). While I was away I also acquired (free) two large comfy reclining armchairs (in a perfectly reasonable colour too, so my living room is virtually done - I have an old sofa bed which will do for now too), a rocking chair for DD, large teapot, terracotta breadbin, spice rack. The list goes on forever. Basically I've been scavenging in attics and garages for everyone's unwanted items! I also found my dishes, which aren't exactly cheap, but for what they are they're a good price. Don't know how many of the non-Brits are familiar with Portmeirion china, but this is plain white with just a line of simple leaves round the outside (sort of the first level of the pattern without the large flowers on). My other cousin insisted on paying for the first two bits of that as a housewarming present - I got pasta dishes and side plates but still need dinner plates and cereal bowls. It's so plain it can go with anything, which is great. They were £2.50 each, but when she and her daughter went a couple of months back they got them for only a pound a plate. It was a tough decision, but I still decided it was what I wanted. Lovely tough stuff that's as suited to family dining as it is to guests.
Nice to hear everyone's in decluttering mode - well done Honey!!! It's great when that mood comes upon you. I admit I got rid of a large pile of accumulated papers yesterday. Helped that I was angry at my father - spurs me on somehow, gives me the energy I need. I too salute you Zillah for agreeing to live with your MIL for up to a year. No matter how well you get along normally this WILL put a strain on the relationship at times (and with DH!). It teaches patience though, and the ability to go with the flow, let things slide, all that kind of thing. All useful stuff for when Sadie gets a bit older.
Happy Singapore National Day all... the first one in 10yrs that I've missed, though DH has missed loads recently. It feels a bit weird to me. No pizza and parade this year, and my SIL gets hers on her own, knowing she won't be around for it next year either.
for a fabulous week of camping fun? Coming home and having to get it all put away.
Hi friends!
We had a great vacation...a little too hot at night the first two nights(I love cold nights when camping) but perfect after that! We're a bit "pink" on noses and shoulders (even with an SPF 45!) and slightly bug-bitten; but the fish were biting, our "neighbors" were nice, and island time kept us on a pretty slow schedule! Lovely!
Unfortunately, the housework fairy must've taken a vacation at the same time, so I've come home to the exact mess I left!
Since the 'frige was basically empty when we got home, I gave it a good cleaning last night. I did two loads of laundry last night, but still need to wash sleeping bags and beach towels today.
Aside from laundry, today's tasks include a trip to the grocery store, retrieving the lizard from MIL, scrubbing all my camp-kitchen stuff and getting it dried and stored, and (hopefully) cleaning both cars inside and out.
Hi Sparrow! Did you get your cooking done? I'm tempted to try a bit of canning myself....just to say I "can" can...KWIM?!
Fern, how exciting about your articles! I enjoyed the online article (on tweens) that you gave us a link to a while back!
Good heavens, Jenny! What a list of accomplishments! You go, girl!
Kerri...this thread includes "organizing self," so your "accumulating" certainly counts!
Hi Honey! Well done on sorting out yours and DS's clothes! I can't imagine doing 3 hours of ironing at one stretch, though. Good for you to have it done.
Well, it's almost time to go pick up the kiddos from marching band...then "on with the day!"
Happy Tuesday, friends!
Blessings,
Lenora
A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination."
~Nelson Mandela
Glad to hear you're both doing well! It is kind of fun finding things for a new house--almost makes up for all the moving and reorganizing (almost!) Sounds like a great camping trip, Lenora! Nice and relaxing.
Jenny, you're on a tear! I'm amazed--go you!
Sorry to hear about the fridge, though. Always terribly inconvenient when a major appliance goes.
The banana muffins got made and are being happily eaten, but the blueberry pie and gazpacho are still waiting (along with another loaf of bread, but that's pretty easy with a breadmaker). I ordered some canning supplies and bought some jars, so I'll probably make an attempt at canning some tomatoes when the supplies arrive. It's an experiment!
My SIL came over yesterday afternoon and helped a lot with my guest room--it was wonderful! We managed to finally clear out all the little stuff that was in there and start taping it for painting. My husband came home and started talking about painting this weekend, which would be great--there's been very little progress on this room in months, and suddenly it's ready to go! Next week I'll go over to my SIL's house and either help her with something or watch her kids for her. I just hope I can be as helpful to her as she was to me!
My husband and I actually worked in the mudroom a little over the weekend, too. We made a little progress and it looks better, though there's still a lot more to go in there. My allergies were acting up out there, so I can't say I'm too eager to go back to it again.
So anyway, today I should exercise, bring some more tomatoes in from the garden, make the bread, vacuum, clip coupons, and work on taping in the guest room. Not sure I'll actually get all of that done today. I really should make that blueberry pie before the blueberries go bad (again!) I think there's finally room in my fridge for the finished product; I've got so many cucumbers in there they crowd out almost everything else!
DD14.99 and I have to go back to the mall to have her birthday portrait retaken. It seems there was some problem with the camera and they've "lost" every picture taken on it that day. Hers were going to be gorgeous, too. One consolation, though, is that she is just as lovely today! DD10.5 is away for the day with a friend. This might be just the break I need to dig through her closet and drawers without her "help."
I never did get to the grocery store. I had a few bits in the freezer that I decided to use up first. DH picked up deli meat and milk, so we're actually in pretty good shape. When I get back from marching band pick-up, I'm going to make some buns for meatball sandwiches tonight and hamburgers on Friday night.
We'll be gone all day tomorrow, at Cedar Point, with the marching band. DH and I haven't been in several years and are really looking forward to riding the newest roller coasters! The forecast is good and DD10.5 is ready and willing to ride everything she's tall enough to ride, so....yippee!
I have to chair a meeting at church tonihgt. My first with our new pastor. It should be fairly routine, though.
So that's the rest of my my day:
marching band pick-up
make buns
clean in DD10.5's room
DD14.99 portrait retakes
(maybe convince her to pick out another outfit for BTS?)
dinner ~ meatball subs w/sauce and cheese, tater tots and cut veges
meeting at church
I need to head out right now....so On with the day!
Blessings,
Lenora
A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination."
~Nelson Mandela
It's a new day and I'm not starting off any better than normal. DH got off around 3 this morning and is sleeping so nothing getting done around here with all the tippytoeing around.
Picked up school schedules yesterday and need to make one more trip to town for unexpected items for Back To School.
I would love to have a whole day at home without leaving the house, but doesn't appear it will be today. Groceries seem to have totally disappeared (I have an idea where they went. . .can't fill DS13 up these days!)
I plan to do a little furniture moving around today if time and energy allows. Anytime I do that I can usually declutter some items.
The first order of business for the day would seem to be getting dressed and combing hair though.
I'm embarrassed to say that I've decluttered nothing all week. We've had guests and I just haven't had a moment to myself. However, I have now decluttered them! Inspired by all your wonderful works, I'm going to try and pack some books over the weekend.
I took a truckload of stuff to the cheerleaders' garage sale. I had about 10 boxes, various other odds and ends, and picked up three more large boxfulls at my inlaws house for it. Now my garage is clean again!
It's been a good weekend here so far! My husband gets every other Friday off (in return for longer hours the other days), so we've had a 3-day weekend to get stuff done. Friday we finished taping the guest room for painting, and yesterday he painted it! We have a lovely blue room now instead of a poorly-painted peach one. The trim still needs to be taped off and repainted, but the room already looks so much better!
I got a couple of things done in the kitchen while my husband was painting--I made the blueberry pie and I tried my hand at canning tomatoes. The pie turned out quite well. I think the tomatoes did, too, though I may have made an error in the amount of water I put in my pressure cooker. Since I don't know how much of a problem that might be, I think we'll put these jars in the fridge and use them right away (only 3 pints). That'll give me a chance to see what the finished product is like and decide whether it's worth doing again. I suspect they're probably fine (the tomatoes were still bubbling in the jars nearly an hour after I took them out), but I don't want to chance it.
Tomorrow I'll go help my SIL out at her house--sounds like we'll be cleaning out a laundry/utility room. Should be a nice change of pace.
I'm gradually decluttering things off the list of things I need to buy - close as I'm likely to get for a while, at least till we're actually moving into our house with all those boxes of stuff that left Singapore... wonder what I'll find to declutter from those, because I'm sure there'll be something!!
meanwhile I might declutter a few people from a particularly annoying department of my mortgage provider, since they couldn't manage to organise a piss-up in a brewery ('scuse my French). I don't mind genuine delays, but this really is totally arseholic behaviour, going round in circles with the dumbest of stupid mistakes. Yes, I will be complaining, both through my branch manager and personally. The branch staff have been bending over backwards to be helpful, and the whole thing is being repeatedly fouled up by the loans processing department. Not that the vendor's solicitor has yet provided mine with the draft contract, so that's also holding things up. I call my solicitor every Monday morning for her commiseration, knowing I'm not likely to have actually moved any further forward.
The kids, or rather DS, is due to start school on about Sept. 6th, and we are very unlikely to be moved in even the night before that on camp beds. DD has an appeal over being denied a place at the same school, but not until nearly two weeks later on the 19th!!! It's beyond insane.
And I thought moving here was a good thing!
I'm off to read DS a bedtime story, having spent much of my evening researching bagless vacuum cleaners. Yippee!
Well, decluttering around this house has been rather sketchy at best lately, although I'm working through a pretty darn impressive list of "back-to-school" tasks! We did a family cleaning on Saturday, so things are still in good shape. Holiday Grand Plan starts a week from Sunday....anybody onboard with me? (Just FYI....Christmas Countdown starts October 23 so keep that in mind, too!)
I spent Monday in Columbus at a conference for the Ohio Association of Teachers of Family and Consumer Sciences. I attended three really great workshops and two that were so-so, and thoroughly enjoyed the luncheon speaker and the closing speaker. It was a good day.
Yesterday the DDs and I decluttered old hairstyles with a trip to see my sister at the salon! I really had mine cut....I've gone from medium-long to "off-the-neck and above-the-ears!" DH thinks its "cute," and took wild advantage of easier access to my neck and earlobes! DD10.5 wears a bob, but let my sister cut hers short, too. It's wedged in the back and bobbed just above her earing holes...so darling! DD15-on-Saturday left hers long, but did have some layers put in so it frames her face.
Today looks to be the great "back-to-school shoe hunt." The DDs still need school shoes and athletic shoes. I need a pair of shoes for "casual" days...I've had the same pair of Nikes for about a decade so I thought something a little more stylish might be nice.
Tonight we have a marching band fund raiser with DD~15 and an open house at the intermediate school to meet the new principal with DD10.5. DH and I are going to "divide-and-conquer" to get both done.
Right now, I need a shower before heading out for marching band pick-up!
Romper Room hellos to all!
Blessings,
Lenora
A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination."
~Nelson Mandela
Kerri, good luck with the mortgage and the decorating! (Nicer word than recluttering, I think!)
Wow, I'm so not ready to think about Christmas yet, Lenora! (Though it probably would be good if I did start, with all the crazy holiday baking I do.) That website looks really useful. I think I need another freezer, though. Mine is already packed.
Ah, haircuts. I like having my hair long, but sometimes it just gets too long! Last March I had 11" cut off and it felt really good! I hadn't had my hair that short in years. So much easier to take care of! (Gave the ponytail to Locks of Love, so hopefully someone's getting some use out of it.)
This week seems to be going very quickly for me. Monday I went over and helped my SIL clean up in her laundry/utility room and watched her kids for a little bit. My parents tried to drive me crazy (they put things off until they become emergencies, then ask everyone to drop everything to help them, because now it's an emergency!) and my allergies kept me from sleeping most of the night. Not fun. Yesterday I had to go to the grocery store because we were out of so many things. Got some laundry and dishes done and more tomatoes brought in from the garden somewhere in there, too. Today I'll be vacuuming, hopefully exercising, making some bread (in the breadmaker), and working on taping the trim for painting in the guest room. And dinner, whew!
All those clothes I decluttered, and I got more back. LOL!
A friend gave me 3 boxes of clothes and shoes that her tall and skinny 5th grader has out grown. Should be just right for both of my girls. Then a tall and skinny gal at church gave me a trash bag full of maternity clothes. nice ones from places like GAP!! Then I got a surprise package in the mail from a cousin of baby boy clothes that were brand new (she had been getting stuff for years at Old Navy on clearance for baby gifts, and was decluttering, so she gave all the rest to me).
So this week has been a week of gaining rather than losing. Oh, well.
Lenora, hair cuts sound cute, but I don't think I could ever go short! LOL!
Christmas!!!??? Yikes, let me have this baby first. LOL! Actually, MIL was talking about drawing names this year, since there are now 12 of us in their immediate family. Fine with me!!
I'm a long-haired girl as well, but decluttered 6 inches a few weeks ago to take me back from below-waist level to a bra-strap kind of length. Much better. I am too lazy for shorter hair!!
Lenora, those holiday plans look scary-yet-fantastic! I think because we move house at the end of September I might sign up for Christmas Countdown. (I'm assuming you don't do both?)
Oh, I DID declutter today. A girlfriend who lent me some post-baby-size clothes came to stay and I remembered to give them back to her. There, I'm not as completely hopeless as I thought I was.
At some point between 6:00 pm and 8:30 pm yesterday evening, DD15's "guy friend" became her first "boyfriend!" I knew that he liked her, but she kept reiterating the "just friends" position all summer. The young man has been here several times over the summer and I've met his mother. He seems like a nice guy. He and another guy friend will be at DD15's pool party on Saturday, so I've already told DH that he needs to "have a word with" the new beau....I think I scared him: (DH, that is! ) I remember my first "Will you go with me" boyfriend very fondly. Of course there have been 25 years since then, but I don't remember the inevitable break-up being traumatic in any long-term way. I hope her experience is as sweet. Sigh....... (DD15 just came through here so I made sure it was o-kay that I was telling you!)
According to the forecast the pool party is probably going to be rained-out...more likely "thunderstormed-out," so the DDs and I will be getting the house company ready, just-in-case. We'll just add a few extra chores to the regular Friday "sweep-and-swipe."
I must get to the grocery store and make a quick run to the mall for one additional gift that I haven't been able to find in our little 'burb.
Zillah, I use a modified version of the Grand Plan all year for my cleaning so It's not difficult to add the "Holiday" part to that. I clean in different order, and instead of condensing the time...I take several weeks-off, too. I did have a year where I was so off track with the HGP that I switched to the Christmas Countdown when it started, but I usually don't have to do both!
Oh! ...speaking of easy-care hair: Mine now takes a rub with a towel, a quarter-size dollop of gel and a 10-finger comb-through and it's styled! LOVE that!!!
I hear you, Kerri, on the "fight" with the mortgage people. BLEH! We wanted to be in this house for the start of the school year when we moved (the family had already moved out, too)...and it still took almost twice-daily phone battles to get the closing when we wanted it. We had been pre-approved and our house was already sold, so the mortgage company was the only thing holding us back. We did get in just two days before school started...but what a pain!
Hello's to every one! Have a great Friday!
Blessings,
Lenora
A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination."
~Nelson Mandela
Quick stop here today. I have too many tomatoes! Time to try canning some more of them--if I don't, they'll just go bad. I also need to exercise, sweep the floor, and do some taping in the guest room. And make dinner, when it gets to be about that time. It doesn't sound like much, but it'll keep me busy!
Good luck with the party and good luck to your daughter, Lenora.
Sometimes there isn't an inevitable break-up, though. LOL! My SIL and her hubby have been together since they were 14. he's been in the family longer than I have!! They graduated in 96 and 97, married in 99, had baby #1 in 2002, and #2 2005.
I'll bet DS will want to kill me for suggesting it's sweet won't he Honey!! Well I hope she's nice because she's certainly lucky - he won't do anything to hurt her. I hope Lenora's DD is half as lucky in her choice!
I decluttered tomatoes today from the fridge Sparrow... Mum has never done anything but have them in salad and give them away so we're struggling and found a basket that had been popped in the fridge and forgotten. I think the remaining ones had been frozen too because the ones that looked okay collapsed a few minutes after being taken out of the fridge. Very weird. We've got about a half dozen cucumbers due to ripen at the same time too, but I love them in vinegar and so does Mum, so they're not so hard to declutter!
DD turned 9 yesterday (my mother kindly suggested she could be near puberty by next year! ). We had a lovely party at my cousin's house with her three kids and her sister's 2 kids as well, and all kids from DD down to a couple of 18mth olds played beautifully together, and the five oldest kids ended the night in a tent in the garden. No problems at all, and they were thrilled when my cousin dragged out an ancient camping stove and did bacon for everyone at 8am. It wasn't terribly warm at that point mind you!
The house MIGHT be reaching completion as early as a couple of weeks, but I'm not gonna hold my breath. The searches are done and we're signing on Thursday and handing over the deposit. With any luck we might manage completion a week after that. THat would leave us moving in the week DH is in Italy - yippee. I won't bother to move everything, but if I can get basic cooking apparatus and beds in place I have a better chance of getting my son to school when they open on the following Tuesday. MAYBE. And DD still doesn't have a place, but now it's closer I shall be calling the schools again to see if I can do anything.
I'd better get me gone. Zillah - I need to email you to cancel Ludlow I'm afraid. If I don't get to it in the meantime, consider yourself forewarned. I'm upset but that's the weekend after school starts, we'll be getting our stuff together, and we have a family 70th birthday party that weekend! Adding a food festival would be crazy unfortunately. Next year...
Well, we survived the birthday party in pretty good shape...didn't get to have the pool party though, because of the nasty weather. Still, everyone seemed to have a good time. DD15 has been invited on her first "outing" with the BF next Saturday: it's a "group thing" with his church's youth group, which makes DH feel better about it.
Oh, yes, Honey...it does make me feel old! Bite your tongue, Jenny!
Speaking of youth outings, the men of our church took the youth canoing on the Cuyahoga yesterday...and despite no less than THREE reminders, DH didn't use any sunscreen and came home just fried. HA! Serves him right.
Today is going to be a "planning day" for me. I'm getting terrible butterflies about starting my student teaching on Wednesday and have been trying not to dwell on it, but today I've got to "face the music" and get us all ready to go. I want the DDs and my first three days of outfits picked-out/laid out and I intend to finish all other laundry today, too. We need to do our regular Monday sweep-and-swipe and DD15 needs to put away the last bit of her birthday "stuff." I want to get another coat of paint on the frame of a bulletin board I bought for the front room (painting the frame black to coordinate with the decor) so DH can hang it this evening. I'm hoping to clear the kitchen of all paper clutter and get us in the habit of bringing that sort of stuff in here (front room = office)....yeah, right....like that's gonna be easy!
I need a few things from the grocery store and would still like to get to the pool for a couple of hours later.
Looks like I better get on the ball, friends! Have a great Monday!
Blessings,
Lenora
A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination."
~Nelson Mandela
Word is the styles are changing. No more bare bellies. Hopefully we will be able to find clothing soon that doesn't end at belly button level or above.
No decluttering going on around here today unless you call running errands decluttering. Some days there just isn't enough time to get everything done.
Dropped the kids off at school this morning, then on to check on my elderly dad who has a 24 hr. sitter with him. On to a nearby town to check mail for where I'll be working when we ever get the doors opened for business, then back to my town for bank and grocery run. I'll turn around twice and it will be time to go back and get the kids from school.
(And people have the nerve to ask stay at home moms, "So what do you do all day? Aren't you bored?")
Good luck on your student teaching, Lenora. You'll do fine. Let us know how it goes.
Well, hubby's home wanting food. Will post again another day.
Blessings,
Lenora
"...if woman's work is never done, why bother about how much of it [isn't] getting done at any given moment?"
~ Claire Fraser in The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon
(Book 6 in the Outlander series is due Sept. 27!)
I've packed 2 boxes of games etc. and 2 of books. That's it for the games, but I think I've at least 10 times that to go on the books! I also decluttered a whole bunch of free CDs (you know the kind of things, music compilations, AOL things. WHY DID I KEEP THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE?)
Lenora, that first romance is so sweet and exciting isn't it? Good work on getting so ahead with your preparations for teaching, I expect you'll be absolutely shattered at first. But I'm sure you're going to enjoy it
Kerri, got your email. I think that missing out on Ludlow will be best all round, what with all the moving house going on!
Fern, I'm with you on the tops as well. I recently tried on some pre-pregancy things, as I'm now back to my pre-pregnancy weight, but my stomach is not what it used to be! How did I wear things that tight? Tunics and fitted shirts for me from now on.
Now, can I pack another box of books before bed? . . .
Packing is never loads of fun, Zillah. I've told DH that I never want to move again and that if we ever decide to have a "winter place" where it is warm....I'm going to go there and buy doubles of anything I need...NOT pack a thing!
I got loads of planning done yesterday...if it works the way it looks on paper, life should run smoothly even with me out of the house every day. ...Now... go back and read the previous sentence without snorting your beverage all over your keyboard. Yeah, right! Well, One can always dream! The truth is, as long as everyone keeps everything on the calendar and I keep meals planned....everything else will happen as it must.
Today I must do my nails and my eyebrows. I cut my nails week-before-last, so I think I'll french manicure them. My toes need "done" too.
Speaking of painting, the bulletin board frame turned out badly. Even with a coat of primer, the paint just peeled off in chunks....I think I'll run to the fabric store for some padding, fabric, and ribbon to cover it instead.
DD15 has a marching band show this evening and DD10.5 has open house to meet her teacher. (DH and I will "divide and conqueor," again.)
I'm just puttering today, so I'll likely be checking back in with comments or updates!
Blessings,
Lenora
"...if woman's work is never done, why bother about how much of it [isn't] getting done at any given moment?"
~ Claire Fraser in The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon
(Book 6 in the Outlander series is due Sept.27!)
Last week I went to my SIL's and helped her clean out her laundry room, and today she was back over here to help me tape the trim in my guest room. We almost finished--just one pane of one window left to do. I'll be so glad to have that room done! This is working really well. Next week I'll go over and babysit her kids while she and her husband go to a prenatal visit.
Tomorrow I need to do the vacuuming, go out to my garden again, and finish the taping. Maybe I'll get around to some actual decluttering, too--the papers are still out of control in my office.
Honey, that's almost exactly what I'm thinking about...without the buttons, though!
Well, the DDS and I had our "first three days of school!" So far everything is good and we are all pleased with our placements! I can already see that the household routines that I've spent the last 8 years setting in place won't work for our new situation though....however, what little planning/adjusting I've done this summer got us through the frist week...so "on we go!"
Today I need to detail some of the DDS' daily lists for after school, set up a file-system for myself both to use in the classroom and to get "stuff" from school to home...and back again!
The other items on my TODO list today are laundry and ironing. I want to check the forecast (nasty after mid-week, I hear, ) and plan my wardrobe for the week. I'm going to "encourage" DD10 to plan hers, too!
I'd really love to finalize my Grand Plan cleaning calendar...but I'm going to wait until after my class meets on Monday night...just in case there's anything "big" due for that class. I'm starting with the "front porch" anyways...since my flowerpots need replaced and I'm ready for a couple of big, fat mums. I think I'll pull the worst-looking flowers out of my deck boxes and replace them with pansies, too...just to keep some color going a little later in the season!
So! Plans for today: laundry, ironing, and organizing for work/school, That's it for me!
Have a great Saturday, friends
Blessings,
Lenora
"...if woman's work is never done, why bother about how much of it [isn't] getting done at any given moment?"
~ Claire Fraser in The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon
(Book 6 in the Outlander series is due Sept.27!)
Glad the start of your new life is going well Lenora! I'm sure things will take a bit of time to bed down while you find out how the new routines will work.
Sparrow, I love your idea of a shared work day. Fun and motivating
I've been packing, packing, packing. Today I've been taking down curtains and light fittings, which makes the house a bit depressing to live in, but it's an important job done. This evening I'm going to sort through which clothes we're going to take for our year in Oxford, and which will go into storage. Also I need to do the study at a time when DD1.5 is asleep as that is her 'off limits' room. I plan to chuck out my collection of used padded envelopes. See, I can declutter
We had a pretty good weekend--we put two coats of paint on the trim in the guest room in between relaxing and watching some TV. It's such a good feeling to be making progress in that room! I had been procrastinating for far too long. The only thing left to paint now is the ceiling--I want to try to put some glitter on it somehow (it's a space-themed room). My current idea is to dilute Elmer's glue by half with water, mix in the glitter, and try to roll it on. I'm going to try it on posterboard first.
One thing that was not so good was waiting for us when we came back from a walk last night. There on our front porch, right next to the front door, was a large black widow spider. Ugh! It was the first one my husband had ever seen and I hope it'll be the last for some time. We dispatched it with some spray, but it did freak me out a little. Somehow I don't feel like digging in boxes in my garage today!
Anyway, today I need to make a menu and grocery list and go to the store--we're about out of food again. I've already done a couple of loads of laundry and stripped the bed to wash all the bedding. Vacuumed off the ceiling fan, too--it was starting to get dusty. I've got a "recipe" for a homemade cleaner that I want to try on my bathtub, now that I've finally got something to put it in. And I need to get moving and get this all done today, because tomorrow I'll be over at my SIL's house babysitting her kids while she and her husband go for a prenatal visit. It's a busy day!
Oh, Gee Sparrow....your ceiling fans are "starting" to get dusty??????
...ours just stay that way!
Long day for me: Out the door at 6:30 am, high school until 4:00 pm, then at the university from 5:00-7:30. I had to run by the church to see how the photography was going (I'm in charge ) and tomorrow I have an early meeting (7:00 am) at school with our "team."
The DDs dusted and vacuumed downstairs, cleaned their rooms, DD10.5 cleaned the powder room, and DD15 took care of dinner and the kitchen. GOSH, they're great kids!
I have to iron a couple of things for tomorrow, as we are having a family picture taken for the church directory and I won't be home to supervise the "getting ready."
Love to all!
Blessings,
Lenora
"...if woman's work is never done, why bother about how much of it [isn't] getting done at any given moment?"
~ Claire Fraser in The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon
(Book 6 in the Outlander series is due Sept.27!)
how much stuff we actually cram into our homes and consider to be 'the basics'. I know because I've spent the last week or so buying more of it. Beds and duvets and pillows and electricals and jugs and... We 'dejunked' a couple of carloads into our new garage, courtesy of the very, VERY kind lady who lives there till next weekend. My carseats were flat and we filled that, plus DH's boot, then we went out and bought some more to throw in there! And that doesn't even include most of the stuff we flew over with or the 17 remaining boxes we packed up and shipped before we left Singapore, or the extras that DH is collecting from Singapore later in September. Nor does it include junk. Just the important stuff is threatening to melt my credit card, let alone wasting money. Plus there's school uniforms to buy (DS starts next Tuesday, maybe) and clothes for the cooler weather which we just don't have.
Our money has been thoroughly dejunked.
I agree with you on the ceiling fans Lenora. I did that job once then delegated it to anyone taller than me, so DH and my SIL took it in turns. I changed the water in the bucket. I don't think I could even imagine vacuuming the darn thing - it got glued on pretty good! I know I'll indulge in a fan or two next summer, but they won't get nearly the wear that they had in Singapore so that's one less icky job to avoid. Which reminds me, I still have to find a suitable ironing board!
My friend was doing a boot sale on Sunday and had some space in the car, so I was invited to bring a couple boxes of my own clutter, and go along. We made £28 pounds each ($50 so the currency converter tells me). Not bad eh?
That was just stuff that I found on the quick, from looking in cupboards and drawers and on shelves. I'm going to do another boot sale in a few weeks with my Mum and Dad's (much bigger) car, so this time I'm going to tackle the attic....
I'm trying hard to raise money for a mini break for me and DS next year, so all profits are going in to a special money box that you have to smash to get the money out!
Your boot sales/our yard sales are a great way to drum up some extra cash. You've put me in the mood to have one now. Except I don't know where I'd find the time right now.
Still trying to dejunk my office around here. I'm making headway, but it seems like the mess gets bigger before it begins to shrink. I'm really trying to organize as I go. . .using 3 ring binders to keep up with my monthly payments, payment books and that sort of thing. Beats rummaging through a messy drawer for it all every time I need to see what is due to be paid.
Looks like today is grocery shopping day which I'm not looking forward to. I'm waiting to go until the pharmacy opens up. Then its back for housecleaning and one kid pick up from school while the other has a ballgame, making another pick up trip necessary. This $2.70 gas is about to eat my lunch.
Speaking of which, I decided I'd save a little money and buy the cheaper grade (lower octane gas). NOT a good move, since its causing me vehicle problems now. I won't be doing that again any time soon.
Well, looks like my day is off to a running start. I've got a man coming home from helping neighbors load horses, wanting food of course. Grrrrrrrrrrrr!
Fern, your day sounds a lot like mine (except for the kid errands)! Today's grocery day for me, too. I meant to go Monday but wasn't ready, and yesterday I was at my SIL's babysitting my niece and nephew (which was fun for both me and them, I think). And I know what you mean about the gas! All of the grocery stores are at least 5 miles from here, whichever direction I go. I've been trying to consolidate my errands, but that means my trips take longer and I have to have enough time before dinner--which my husband wants on the table the minute he gets home. I'd really like to do that for him, but I'm terrible with time. I always think I can do just one more thing before I need to start making dinner and that it won't take nearly as long as it does. Something I need to work on (and probably always will, to judge by my parents).
Also today I need to go out to my garden, exercise, and vacuum, if I get to it. If I don't, I'll do it tomorrow. Vacuuming is one chore I really have to keep on top of--my husband and I both have terible allergies to dust, mold, and cats (in my case). And of course we have 2 cats, so the dander really builds if I let it go longer than a week. Which perhaps explains me dragging the vacuum up to vacuum off my ceiling fan! Just what I need, something to toss dust all around my bedroom while I'm sleeping at night.
I tried making a homemade tub cleaner out of Clean Home, Clean Planet yesterday and was surprised and pleased with the results. Haven't tried that before, but I think I will again. It was much more pleasant to use than my usual tub cleaners, mostly because I didn't have to worry about getting some vinyl gloves and not getting any on me. And my tub looks much better!
I'm also making a pile for a yard sale "someday." I suspect it may be next summer, since I only want to do it once and I doubt I'll get through all of this clutter before then!
Anyway, I better go get busy if I want to get to the store today!
I'm inspired by your tales of selling old stuff, and I wish I had time to do the same
However, I have dejunked six pairs of shoes today. I looked at all my old office shoes and thought that I never want an office job again, and if I do have one they'll be so out of date I won't want to wear them. SO I THREW THEM AWAY!!!! (Yes, I'm a hoarder by nature, this goes against my very being! But it feels good )
Sometimes I am soooooo anti-social that it just really isn't the slightest bit amusing. Sorry about that, everyone. I have not even been lurking... when I get down or busy I get very introverted. I am going to try and keep that from happening, again. Once again, I am sorry for my long absences. When a person knows better... they do better, right?
Anyhow.
Baby steps even in dejunking. Sooooo...
today I will dejunk my grey hair. A friend gave me a gift certificate for having my hair cut and coloured. (Baby-sitting has its hidden rewards, I guess...) So I will be getting my hair done, finally.
I should also rejoin flyladies... given my track record. Maybe not.
Ok, Ya'll know I'm the hick/cowgirl around here. So you English people explain something to me (Honey, you know me and my fascination of your lingo). What is this boot ya'll are talking about. Kerri said something about filling DH's boot, and all I can think of is, why is he filling his boot and with what? Not much would fit in a boot, you just put your feet in it, right?
Ok, so explain for this country gal! LOL!
I haven't been doing any decluttering lately. My SIL decided not to use hardly ANY of my beautiful baby girl clothes and gave them back to me, along with a couple of other biggish baby things that I don't even know where they came from. I'm not decluttering, I'm REcluttering!!!
I did find a big wasp nest out in some bushes (didn't see it til I got down on toddler/kitten level to play in the yard), I'm going to declutter them later. LOL!
I don't HAVE a trunk, but I know what one is!! I have a bed. Which is the back of my truck, where I can store ALOT more junk than just a little ol' trunk (or in your case, boot).
In my neck of the woods, a boot is what I wear on a foot, goes half up my calf, usually worn around the farm, sometimes worn with spurs for kicking a ridden animal in the belly, but a fashion item as well. I'm such a smart-ass, ain't I!!
Today I have decluttered the trash that my husband left on the counter, since he doesn't know what a trash can is. No, no bitterness here. (just so you know, I am in some kind of a bad mood today. I'm trying to be humorous).
Jenny, over here people don't really have yard sales - instead they fill their car boot with stuff and drive to where the nearest 'boot sale' is being held. So, basically a yard sale in a field
Honey, I asked the sonographer if she was SURE this was a boy and she said there was no doubt. LOL! BUT, if a girl happened to pop out, my SIL isn't only 2 hours away with the girl clothes.
I think the Pensieve is in Goblet of Fire, too. So you won't have long to find out.
Moved into current home less then 3 yearsago,(from a motor home) and this coming week-end going to hold yard sale boy where did all this come from?????
it seems I have two of every thing and I don't even need one of them
Comments
Monday!
Well, our last thread wasn't that long....but I thought maybe we deserved a fresh new thread for this fresh new month!...like a new pair of shoes to go with a new outfit!
Ahhhhhh, happy Monday, friends! Here on the northcoast it was an absolutely gorgeous week-end, with a slight break in the temps (75-85 instead of 95!) and there was a lovely breeze blowing.
I've been getting the camping gear lined up in the garage for DH to pack on Wednesday morning. Today's most important task is to track-down a missing air mattress! DD14.99 will be home from band camp around 4:00 pm so I'll have a couple of loads of laundry to do then.
Tomorrow I'll get the rest of the food ready and we'll be set. Since we don't have access to our campsite until after 3:00 pm, DD14.99 will go to band practice Wednesday morning and we'll get packed up and leave about noon.
In the meantime, I'm going to clean out the cabinets in the bathrooms upstairs and give the master bath a good, thorough scrubbing. I need to do the 'fridge, too, as it's trash night and we'll be gone until next Monday night.
DD10 and her friend (who spent the night) are still snoozing. I'm headed up to rouse them in just a bit....never mind....here they come down the stairs as I type! I guess I'll go make them some pancakes, since we don't have milk for cereal!
Have a great August 1st!
Blessings,
Lenora
A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination."
~Nelson Mandela
August, good heavens. Where
August, good heavens. Where did July go?
Still on a lousy late schedule, still need to change it. I feel like I got nothing done last week at all (and my husband agrees). Today I need to take the trash away to the dump (it's piling up), take an overdue CD back to the library, stop briefly at the grocery store, clip coupons, exercise, wash a lot of laundry (including blankets and bedspreads), and grill some fish for dinner before it goes bad (it never lasts long after I buy it!) My fridge is absolutely stuffed with cucumbers, even though I gave my neighbor and SIL 4 each, and I have a huge bowl of tomatoes on the counter. I think tomorrow's dinner will be stuffed tomatoes. I'm having a hard time staying ahead of all of this produce and I'm starting to think seriously about trying to can some of it. I've got an 8 qt. pressure cooker that claims it can can pint jars, but lacks a "canning disc". Anyone have any idea what a canning disc would look like or where a person could get one?
Have fun camping, Lenora! We'll miss you while you're gone! Sounds like you'll have a nice clean house to come back to, too!
Just curious, what instrument does your daughter play? I remember high school marching band quite fondly myself, despite scorching summer temperatures at the beginning of the season and snow at the end!
Hiya
Hi Lenora, Hi Sparrow
DS14's computer is now fixed so I'm online properly again! We've been really busy for a while now, with renovations going on - first the kitchen, then the new roof (which necessitated moving everything from the loft (attic) down into the house while the work went on. I told myself I would go through it all and get rid of lots of stuff before it went back up and guess what? I just stuffed it all back up there again
After all the upheaval I just couldn't face it, and we were due to go off on holiday too.
We had a great holiday in Somerset - the sun actually shone for an entire week, every SINGLE day which is quite something here! I even wore shorts in public, which is quite unheard of
Now that the work is finished and the holiday is over I can't put things off much longer - the house is a mess. Not to mention all the stuff in the loft. I feel very overwhelmed. Someone tell me where to start!!
It's nice to be back
The year is scooting on by. N
The year is scooting on by. Nearly school time again around here. I think it is 2 weeks away from starting back.
Don't feel bad about the feeling of getting nothing, done, Sparrow. I feel that way much of the time any more. Can't seem to get anything done, even when I do have the time.
Today included a quick trip to town, then a 40 mile round trip to check on my dad who has a sitter with him all the time. By the time I'm home again, I just don't much have the energy to get much done.
Managed a bit of school shopping last week for DD15. Tomorrow I plan to get DS13's shopping done. He doesn't want to try on anything, so it's a pain to try and shop for him these days. Nothing fits since his latest growing spurt. . .on his 13th birthday I measured him and he is 5 foot 10, wearing a men's 12 shoe!
Have fun on your camping trip, Lenora. I'm not much on roughing it, but sounds like good family time.
Hi Fern
We were posting at the same time.
I know what you mean about tall boys - my DS turned 14 last month and is 6 foot 1!
Can I join in?
Don't know if I'll keep up, but I'm assuming this thread is for posting what we decluttered, right?
Well, since we found out this new baby is going to be a boy, I decided to let go of the girl clothes. Stored in my house I had 12 boxes of girl clothes from 0-4T. I went thru and took out the most precious things that were my favorites, and decided the rest can go to my SIL, who just had a baby girl in June. Unfortunatly, she doesn't have room for 12 boxes of clothes in her little house. So, I got a bunch of those plastic bins at Walmart and was able to put almost everything in 7 of those (6 of clothes, 1 of shoes). Now I can just give her one or two boxes at a time, and I can store the rest in the garage or bunkhouse without the fear of rats getting into them. WHOOHOO!!
I also cleaned my girls' bedroom real good the other day. It was really a mess (despite me just doing this a couple of months ago). I took out a big trash bag and a half of stuff. Little boxes, papers (My gosh, were they just in their breeding?), and even managed to sneak in a few McD's toys. So that feels good, too, and the room is CLEAN!!
Just had to pop in and share!
Jenny
Welcome! Please do! :)
Join in, that is! Good to hear from everyone!
Just working on the last chore on my list for today--clipping the coupons. Got everything else done (yay!) Tomorrow I should vacuum, finish the laundry, drop off some mail, clean the cats' water fountain (poor spoiled things have had to use a regular dish for a few days already), stuff tomatoes for dinner and see about fixing some gazpacho or something, too, water the garden, and...well, there's always something. Work on one of those bigger projects I keep putting off, hopefully.
Hi Honey! Good luck with the junk in the loft. Sounds kind of like my mudroom/storage room, except I haven't had to move it all since we moved in (thank goodness!) I'll work on it if you work on yours? (Maybe? Or maybe my guest room that needs painting...)
Fern, if I had to drive 40 miles in a day, definitely nothing else would get done that day. Ugh. Some days (too few!) I'm very productive and get a lot done, and others I just can't seem to get started. Too many of those lately. I wonder what the difference is? Let me know if you find it.
And Jenny, welcome!
We haven't been all that active lately--you probably won't have any trouble keeping up. Sounds like a great job with the baby clothes, and I'm sure your SIL will appreciate them! And the girls' room, too--where does all that paper come from, anyway? I keep trying to clean out our office and the papers just keep coming!
(BTW, I love your little baby ticker. So cute!)
Jenny, I see your 1 1/2 trash bag and raise you...
Last week DD14.99 cleaned her closet, under her bed, and her chest of drawers...two bags of garbage, one bag for Goodwill, two bags for Good Neighbors and a pile for me! ...but it does look really nice, now! Good to have you decluttering with us!
Hi Fern! My DDs hate shopping, too (as do I.) I've been able to get most of what DD10.5 needs to start the year already...except shoes. DD14.99 is harder, as so much of what is out there for teens is either not appropriate for school and/or is cut wrong to fit her (or she doesn't like it). My DDs and I are just not ever going to be tall, willowy, long-legged, wasp-waisted, big breasted women. It just 'ain't" gonna happen, and as that is the case, "teen-fashion" right now is not terribly inspiring!
...and of course, September is usually as hot as July around here; in Oct. and Nov.we'll have a temperature range from 75 to 25! "Seasonal" clothing around here has got to be pretty darn flexible!
We'll get school supplies when we get back from our vacation...
Speaking of vacation, I need to get my rear-end in gear! I still have a ton of stuff to do, including the rest of the grocery shopping. We also have to take Bob to my MIL's this evening, as she has agreed to "lizard-sit" for us while we're gone.
HONEY! We've missed you! When my mess is overwhelming, I consider two things when deciding where to start: 1.)what is bugging me the most, or 2.) what will make the biggest impact. (Happy are the days when they are actually the same task/room!) I am, of course, an instant gratification kind-of-girl, so either of those choices leave me feeling like I've really accomplished something.
Well, what is bugging me right now is all these things still on my "to do before camping" list.
Gotta get on that, now!
Love to all!
Blessings,
Lenora
A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination."
~Nelson Mandela
Great to see you back, Honey,
Great to see you back, Honey, and you joining in Jenny. Sparrow & Lenora have been holding this thread together for a while.
6' 1" Honey! He is a big boy! It seems a little strange looking up at them, doesn't it? I'm now the shortest one in the house, with Dad coming in next,
The kids love it.
I used to put my kids baby clothes on their babydolls, Jenny. . .some of the things I couldn't bear to part with. Kept them a separate little suitcase full of them that they could change their babies into. Every so often they got to do their own laundry, etc.
Paperwork has about overtaken me. I've got to dig through the mess and pay bills today, come hell or high water. Also planning a shopping trip to a nearby town (60 mile round trip) for a little school shopping. Sure dreading that since temps are expected to hit 100+ again today.
Not much housework getting done today from the sound of it. Also halfway expecting overnight company later in the week, which is just what I need to really stress out over my messy guest room.
Can I come a play too?
Hi de-clutterers!
In the far-off days pre-baby I used to do a little decluttering with you guys, and I think it's time I started again. In two months we're going to move to Oxford to live with my MIL for a year so that we can save for a deposit and finally buy our own house. The vast majority of our stuff will have to go into storage. When we buy something it will most likely be smaller than this place that we rent at the moment, so . . . I MUST CHUCK STUFF OUT!!!!
I'm off to consider my linen closet right now. Any suggestions, useful advice, sympathetic comments, unsympathetic comments about stopping moaning and getting on with it gratefully received
Zillah
A Triumph
I decluttered 4 half-burned candles instead of packing them! Are you proud?
Zillah
Hi Zillah! :) Moving is
Hi Zillah!
Moving is a great motivator for decluttering, isn't it? I can' t even imagine moving into a smaller place at this point--it seems like our stuff always expands to fill any available room! Those half-burned candles sound like a good place to start!
Speaking of decluttering, I should really tackle this study. And the guest room, and the mudroom...
Today's another slow day, though. Time just got away from me and I'm not even sure where it went. Oh well, maybe I'll do better tomorrow.
I decluttered a box of stuff
I decluttered a box of stuff today. Got out the schools elem. cheerleading uniforms. I'm the coach, so I've been storing them. Today I took them over to the school during the Varsity girls practice and stashed them in their closet in the gym. HA!!!
Ok, it's ain't much. But dang it, I'm proud of it!
Jenny
Followed your advice, Lenora!
I sat and wrote a list of all that needs doing, and decided on the things that were bugging me the most and that would have the most impact. So yesterday and today, I .......
Completely tidied the living room including my teetering piles of papers on the table. Found about half a trash bag of stuff to throw away, just in that room! Shameful.
Rearranged the living room furniture.
Tidied and cleaned the kitchen.
Reorganised the kitchen cupboards. Decluttered a few items I don't use.
Decluttered and reorganised the shed.
Did lots of laundry (I'm behind).
Reorganised the pots of flowers and garden furniture.
I don't know what's happened to me. I feel almost energetic
Wow
Honey, that's an incredible amount!!
Jenny, isn't it great when you do something that's been bugging you for ages? It can feel so good that it spurs you on to other things
Today I'm only decluttering my brain as it's PhD day. Later we're going to my MIL's to plan for the move and think about what stuff we can bring with us.
Zillah
Worked on the guest room!
Honey, you did all that in one day? I'm impressed! Makes me feel downright slothful!
I made a start on the guest room yesterday, anyway. I only had a few minutes, but better than nothing! I moved a few things out and put some pictures in frames I'd bought for them (why have them sitting around separately?) Still need to deal with all the little stuff, though. The last few things in a room always seem to be the hardest to deal with. They're always the things that don't have a logical place to go!
Today I should exercise, work on the guest room some more, and probably do some work in the kitchen. There are blueberries in the fridge waiting to be made into a pie (if I can find room in the fridge with all the cucumbers) and bananas waiting to be made into muffins. And many, many tomatoes and cucumbers--I think I need to make some gazpacho. Maybe try my hand at canning tomatoes, too. My SIL and I are going to try spending a work day at each other's houses once a week, so one week she comes here and helps me out and the next I go to her place and help her (or babysit). It should push me to get more done so I don't waste her time and also let me tackle big jobs a little more easily with two sets of hands. Hopefully it'll be fun, too!
Lenora must be camping. Hope she's having fun!
Had to google pensieve!
I see its something in Harry Potter, but I'll have to wait to find out - I'm only on the Goblet of Fire at the moment (I only began reading them a week ago - later starter
)
Zillah, you must get on very well with your MIL to be planning to live with her for a year. I couldn't think I could take a year of living with my own parents let alone someone else's! I'm dead jealous you'll be living in Oxford. I had a friend there in my teens and spent several weekends there. Lovely place.
Sparrow, the blueberry pie sounds yummy. I love pie
I am a bit pastry obsessed at the moment because I am on a GI diet where I'm allowed very little carbs 
I am allowed blueberries though, maybe I'll get some this week 
Jenny, WHAT IF the baby turns out to be a girl after all? You'll have to go ask for the clothes back! I knew DS' sex before he was born, too, but I didn't buy much blue beforehand, just in case!
Fern, paper is the bane of my life! I make endless lists and plans on paper and then the paper gets all over the place, along with all my books and magazines. Then there's the homeschooling stuff, which is taking over the house...
Today I got up late (up late last night chatting to Jenny on the messenger!) and then didn't get dressed until after lunch, tut tut. I caught up on some more laundry, did some ironing for my Mum and ran a couple of errands. I spent most of the evening writing lists and trying to get my head around my money situation which is a bit dire at the moment. Then I read a couple of chapters of the Tightwad Gazette for inspiration!
Tomorrow I have to -
*'declutter' (cancel) the dial up internet account, now we have broadband
*do MORE laundry
*do some serious decluttering in my bedroom
I really want to get the bedroom decluttered, reorganised and looking nice. I love my bedroom, I recently painted it and have new bedding and I am so annoyed with myself at forever using it as a dumping ground for the overspill from the rest of the house. No more!
Sounds like some of you are m
Sounds like some of you are making progress. Wish I could say the same. Well, actually, I did make headway on paperwork in my office. Thats not to say I'm anywhere near finished, mind you. . .just sorted several boxes into 3 small stackable containers, plus found some stuff I'd been looking for, like the card to renew my car tag.
Well, it was only 3 months late. Had to pay around $10 in penalties.
Paper is overwhelming isn't it Honey? What I did this time was just make myself really look at what I was pitching. I threw away scads of paper that you couldn't have prised away from me a month ago. I finally realized some of it was stuff I hadn't looked at for months and certainly no longer needed. I just asked myself if I was going to need this for anything ever and it was much easier to throw away.
Planned to really get in here and get some work done today, but a friend called wanting a typing favor, which of course totally screwed up my afternoon. DH had DS out working on a new pipe fence around our place and DD was messing with her horse, so I had the house to myself. . great time to make headway only to have needy people ruin it. Sorry if I sound scroogish. I do wish I could say NO easier. Instead, I do it and grump about it.
Had some good news today, also. I've been wanting to break into the parenting publications for some time now. Had an acceptance on an article a couple weeks ago for Atlanta Parent and today I (unexpectedly) received a check and copy of Western New York Family which included one of my articles in their last issue. Certainly brightened up my otherwise iffy day!
Swapping out sounds like a great idea, Sparrow. Sometimes things just go easier and steadier when you have someone working alongside you.
So glad to see this thread popping again!
Thanks, Jenny. Feels good!
Thanks, Jenny. Feels good!
Once again I had big plans of house cleaning today, but of course, they were thwarted one more time. I've ended up spending the majority of the day sitting outside in the hot as H E double L sun helping DD with her barrel/pole horse. Evidently he got food hung in his throat or something down his windpipe. Thankfully, he finally was able to get it out. After he scared the living daylights out of us though. Plus it took him about 4 hours to do it. I'm just so relieved he is okay. DD trained him on barrels & poles herself and they've been buddies since she was about 6 or 7 yrs. old.
I did manage to mop one bathroom today, plus a portion of my bedroom. Hopefully will be able to finish that up today.
Otherwise, its been a slow day for house doings today.
Busy busy
Today DS and I sorted out all of his clothes. DS had an enormous amount of clothes, because my brother and a friend of ours pass on clothes they have got bored with! This is great for DS, especially my brother's designer jeans - that's the only way DS is ever getting £80 ($142) jeans, I can assure you!! When they give us bags of clothes, we tend to keep everything that fits. We have decided today we need to more selective in deciding what to keep in future - for example, we found today that DS had 25 pairs of shorts!! When we sorted them out, there were only about 8 that he likes and wears, so the rest are going. there were also a lot of t shirts he wasn't keen on so they've gone too. All in all, we filled two big trash bags of clothes for charity, a large carrier bag of things too small for DS to pass on to a friend, and a small bag of things too large, for my Dad.
I also sorted out my clothes, and I found ten or so items to go, then I ironed my backlog of clothes, which took about 3 hours!
I did some more reorganising in the garden, and fed and watered all the plants.
Never did start sorting out my bedroom though....
. Procrastinating? Me?
Ironing, the dreaded chore...
Ironing, the dreaded chore...at least for me! Probably why I never do it if I can help it! Good for you, Honey!
I do need to do some ironing soon, though--I want to patch up the knees of some jeans I've worn through. At least I can wear them around the house!
It's the weekend and not much is happening here besides relaxing with my husband. Still need to make the gazpacho, blueberry pie, and banana muffins. Monday afternoon my SIL will come over and help me work on the guest room--that should be good. And paper--paper is taking over my office! I really need to sort through it.
Congratulations on the article, Fern! And the sorting, Honey! Glad the horse is OK, too!
More STUFF
I'm copying and pasting some of this from the flybaby thread:
I decluttered like a fool today:
*4 or 5 boxes of STUFF. Kitchen stuff, clothes, purses. Couple were full of stuff that SIL didn't want then passed on to MIL, who then passed to me what she didn't want.
*the clorox ready mop. Hated that thing
*a couple more boxes of boxes (like clothes gift boxes).
*this isn't out of the house yet, but I getting rid of 2 big boxes of jeans that are too holey. I mean, the crotched is plumb worn out and can't ever be fixed. 38 pairs. I have been saving them to make a denim quilt for DH for hunting, but said screw it. I was going to throw them out, but DH had a fit, so they are just going in the bunkhouse.
Most of this stuff is going to our cheerleaders. See, two of them have been selected to be in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in NYC!! But, they have to raise boocoo money. So they are having a garage sale with donated items. And I have lots to donate!!
I also decluttered my fridge REAL good, but not because I wanted to. Ours died Saturday (I went to fix a coke and instead of pulling out ice I got a handful of water) and I had to go buy a new one real quick. Just decided to throw most of the stuff away rather than save it. BIG declutter.
Also a big declutter: in order to get the old fridge out and new fridge in, we had to make a path in the garage. Which led to CLEANING the WHOLE garage. We threw away a whole trailer load of boxes and stuff. And found a few other things for the sale. I should have weighed the trailer on the cattle scales, I can't begin to try and figure out what it weighed. 500 or so pounds I guess. At least.
Jenny
popping in
hi guys... missing you all! Since I don't have a house of my own yet I don't have a lot to declutter really, and I'm barely getting my emails read every few days, let alone getting on here! Nice to see you joining us Jenny. I wonder whether Hope's ever gonna come back - we're so slack without her to boss us around!
I did declutter some garden stuff though - about 4ft of bramble which was crawling across the lawn, loads of aquilegia seed heads, some bindweed... three armfuls before I decided it was too warm. Mostly I'm acquiring 'clutter' for the new house...
I spent £35 on a ton of kitchen items my cousin bought for me - loads of stuff and all brand new or used once (tv prog). While I was away I also acquired (free) two large comfy reclining armchairs (in a perfectly reasonable colour too, so my living room is virtually done - I have an old sofa bed which will do for now too), a rocking chair for DD, large teapot, terracotta breadbin, spice rack. The list goes on forever. Basically I've been scavenging in attics and garages for everyone's unwanted items! I also found my dishes, which aren't exactly cheap, but for what they are they're a good price. Don't know how many of the non-Brits are familiar with Portmeirion china, but this is plain white with just a line of simple leaves round the outside (sort of the first level of the pattern without the large flowers on). My other cousin insisted on paying for the first two bits of that as a housewarming present - I got pasta dishes and side plates but still need dinner plates and cereal bowls. It's so plain it can go with anything, which is great. They were £2.50 each, but when she and her daughter went a couple of months back they got them for only a pound a plate. It was a tough decision, but I still decided it was what I wanted. Lovely tough stuff that's as suited to family dining as it is to guests.
Nice to hear everyone's in decluttering mode - well done Honey!!! It's great when that mood comes upon you. I admit I got rid of a large pile of accumulated papers yesterday. Helped that I was angry at my father - spurs me on somehow, gives me the energy I need.
I too salute you Zillah for agreeing to live with your MIL for up to a year. No matter how well you get along normally this WILL put a strain on the relationship at times (and with DH!). It teaches patience though, and the ability to go with the flow, let things slide, all that kind of thing. All useful stuff for when Sadie gets a bit older.
Happy Singapore National Day all... the first one in 10yrs that I've missed, though DH has missed loads recently. It feels a bit weird to me. No pizza and parade this year, and my SIL gets hers on her own, knowing she won't be around for it next year either.
Kerri.
Payback...
for a fabulous week of camping fun? Coming home and having to get it all put away.
Hi friends!
We had a great vacation...a little too hot at night the first two nights(I love cold nights when camping) but perfect after that! We're a bit "pink" on noses and shoulders (even with an SPF 45!) and slightly bug-bitten; but the fish were biting, our "neighbors" were nice, and island time kept us on a pretty slow schedule! Lovely!
Unfortunately, the housework fairy must've taken a vacation at the same time, so I've come home to the exact mess I left!
Since the 'frige was basically empty when we got home, I gave it a good cleaning last night. I did two loads of laundry last night, but still need to wash sleeping bags and beach towels today.
Aside from laundry, today's tasks include a trip to the grocery store, retrieving the lizard from MIL, scrubbing all my camp-kitchen stuff and getting it dried and stored, and (hopefully) cleaning both cars inside and out.
Hi Sparrow! Did you get your cooking done? I'm tempted to try a bit of canning myself....just to say I "can" can...KWIM?!
Fern, how exciting about your articles! I enjoyed the online article (on tweens) that you gave us a link to a while back!
Good heavens, Jenny! What a list of accomplishments! You go, girl!
Kerri...this thread includes "organizing self," so your "accumulating" certainly counts!
Hi Honey! Well done on sorting out yours and DS's clothes! I can't imagine doing 3 hours of ironing at one stretch, though. Good for you to have it done.
Well, it's almost time to go pick up the kiddos from marching band...then "on with the day!"
Happy Tuesday, friends!
Blessings,
Lenora
A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination."
~Nelson Mandela
Hi Kerri, Hi Lenora!
Glad to hear you're both doing well! It is kind of fun finding things for a new house--almost makes up for all the moving and reorganizing (almost!)
Sounds like a great camping trip, Lenora! Nice and relaxing.
Jenny, you're on a tear! I'm amazed--go you!
Sorry to hear about the fridge, though. Always terribly inconvenient when a major appliance goes.
The banana muffins got made and are being happily eaten, but the blueberry pie and gazpacho are still waiting (along with another loaf of bread, but that's pretty easy with a breadmaker). I ordered some canning supplies and bought some jars, so I'll probably make an attempt at canning some tomatoes when the supplies arrive. It's an experiment!
My SIL came over yesterday afternoon and helped a lot with my guest room--it was wonderful! We managed to finally clear out all the little stuff that was in there and start taping it for painting. My husband came home and started talking about painting this weekend, which would be great--there's been very little progress on this room in months, and suddenly it's ready to go!
Next week I'll go over to my SIL's house and either help her with something or watch her kids for her. I just hope I can be as helpful to her as she was to me!
My husband and I actually worked in the mudroom a little over the weekend, too. We made a little progress and it looks better, though there's still a lot more to go in there. My allergies were acting up out there, so I can't say I'm too eager to go back to it again.
So anyway, today I should exercise, bring some more tomatoes in from the garden, make the bread, vacuum, clip coupons, and work on taping in the guest room. Not sure I'll actually get all of that done today. I really should make that blueberry pie before the blueberries go bad (again!) I think there's finally room in my fridge for the finished product; I've got so many cucumbers in there they crowd out almost everything else!
Do-over...Arghhhhhhhhh
DD14.99 and I have to go back to the mall to have her birthday portrait retaken. It seems there was some problem with the camera and they've "lost" every picture taken on it that day. Hers were going to be gorgeous, too. One consolation, though, is that she is just as lovely today!
DD10.5 is away for the day with a friend. This might be just the break I need to dig through her closet and drawers without her "help."
I never did get to the grocery store. I had a few bits in the freezer that I decided to use up first. DH picked up deli meat and milk, so we're actually in pretty good shape. When I get back from marching band pick-up, I'm going to make some buns for meatball sandwiches tonight and hamburgers on Friday night.
We'll be gone all day tomorrow, at Cedar Point, with the marching band. DH and I haven't been in several years and are really looking forward to riding the newest roller coasters! The forecast is good and DD10.5 is ready and willing to ride everything she's tall enough to ride, so....yippee!
I have to chair a meeting at church tonihgt. My first with our new pastor. It should be fairly routine, though.
So that's the rest of my my day:
marching band pick-up
make buns
clean in DD10.5's room
DD14.99 portrait retakes
(maybe convince her to pick out another outfit for BTS?)
dinner ~ meatball subs w/sauce and cheese, tater tots and cut veges
meeting at church
I need to head out right now....so On with the day!
Blessings,
Lenora
A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination."
~Nelson Mandela
Morning everyone
It's a new day and I'm not starting off any better than normal. DH got off around 3 this morning and is sleeping so nothing getting done around here with all the tippytoeing around.
Picked up school schedules yesterday and need to make one more trip to town for unexpected items for Back To School.
I would love to have a whole day at home without leaving the house, but doesn't appear it will be today. Groceries seem to have totally disappeared (I have an idea where they went. . .can't fill DS13 up these days!)
I plan to do a little furniture moving around today if time and energy allows. Anytime I do that I can usually declutter some items.
The first order of business for the day would seem to be getting dressed and combing hair though.
Clutter, clutter
I'm embarrassed to say that I've decluttered nothing all week. We've had guests and I just haven't had a moment to myself. However, I have now decluttered them! Inspired by all your wonderful works, I'm going to try and pack some books over the weekend.
Have a good weekend
Zillah
I took a truckload of stuff t
I took a truckload of stuff to the cheerleaders' garage sale. I had about 10 boxes, various other odds and ends, and picked up three more large boxfulls at my inlaws house for it. Now my garage is clean again!
Jenny
Productive weekend
Yay for clean garages and stuff gone!
It's been a good weekend here so far! My husband gets every other Friday off (in return for longer hours the other days), so we've had a 3-day weekend to get stuff done. Friday we finished taping the guest room for painting, and yesterday he painted it! We have a lovely blue room now instead of a poorly-painted peach one.
The trim still needs to be taped off and repainted, but the room already looks so much better!
I got a couple of things done in the kitchen while my husband was painting--I made the blueberry pie and I tried my hand at canning tomatoes. The pie turned out quite well. I think the tomatoes did, too, though I may have made an error in the amount of water I put in my pressure cooker. Since I don't know how much of a problem that might be, I think we'll put these jars in the fridge and use them right away (only 3 pints). That'll give me a chance to see what the finished product is like and decide whether it's worth doing again. I suspect they're probably fine (the tomatoes were still bubbling in the jars nearly an hour after I took them out), but I don't want to chance it.
Tomorrow I'll go help my SIL out at her house--sounds like we'll be cleaning out a laundry/utility room. Should be a nice change of pace.
My recluttering project
I'm gradually decluttering things off the list of things I need to buy - close as I'm likely to get for a while, at least till we're actually moving into our house with all those boxes of stuff that left Singapore... wonder what I'll find to declutter from those, because I'm sure there'll be something!!
meanwhile I might declutter a few people from a particularly annoying department of my mortgage provider, since they couldn't manage to organise a piss-up in a brewery ('scuse my French). I don't mind genuine delays, but this really is totally arseholic behaviour, going round in circles with the dumbest of stupid mistakes. Yes, I will be complaining, both through my branch manager and personally. The branch staff have been bending over backwards to be helpful, and the whole thing is being repeatedly fouled up by the loans processing department. Not that the vendor's solicitor has yet provided mine with the draft contract, so that's also holding things up. I call my solicitor every Monday morning for her commiseration, knowing I'm not likely to have actually moved any further forward.
The kids, or rather DS, is due to start school on about Sept. 6th, and we are very unlikely to be moved in even the night before that on camp beds. DD has an appeal over being denied a place at the same school, but not until nearly two weeks later on the 19th!!! It's beyond insane.
And I thought moving here was a good thing!
I'm off to read DS a bedtime story, having spent much of my evening researching bagless vacuum cleaners. Yippee!
Kerri.
DYSON!!
They're terrific
Wednesday!
Well, decluttering around this house has been rather sketchy at best lately, although I'm working through a pretty darn impressive list of "back-to-school" tasks! We did a family cleaning on Saturday, so things are still in good shape. Holiday Grand Plan starts a week from Sunday....anybody onboard with me? (Just FYI....Christmas Countdown starts October 23 so keep that in mind, too!)
I spent Monday in Columbus at a conference for the Ohio Association of Teachers of Family and Consumer Sciences. I attended three really great workshops and two that were so-so, and thoroughly enjoyed the luncheon speaker and the closing speaker. It was a good day.
Yesterday the DDs and I decluttered old hairstyles with a trip to see my sister at the salon! I really had mine cut....I've gone from medium-long to "off-the-neck and above-the-ears!"
DH thinks its "cute," and took wild advantage of easier access to my neck and earlobes! 
DD10.5 wears a bob, but let my sister cut hers short, too. It's wedged in the back and bobbed just above her earing holes...so darling! DD15-on-Saturday left hers long, but did have some layers put in so it frames her face.
Today looks to be the great "back-to-school shoe hunt." The DDs still need school shoes and athletic shoes. I need a pair of shoes for "casual" days...I've had the same pair of Nikes for about a decade so I thought something a little more stylish might be nice.
Tonight we have a marching band fund raiser with DD~15 and an open house at the intermediate school to meet the new principal with DD10.5. DH and I are going to "divide-and-conquer" to get both done.
Right now, I need a shower before heading out for marching band pick-up!
Romper Room hellos to all!
Blessings,
Lenora
A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination."
~Nelson Mandela
Week on fast forward
Kerri, good luck with the mortgage and the decorating! (Nicer word than recluttering, I think!)
Wow, I'm so not ready to think about Christmas yet, Lenora! (Though it probably would be good if I did start, with all the crazy holiday baking I do.) That website looks really useful. I think I need another freezer, though. Mine is already packed.
Ah, haircuts. I like having my hair long, but sometimes it just gets too long! Last March I had 11" cut off and it felt really good! I hadn't had my hair that short in years. So much easier to take care of! (Gave the ponytail to Locks of Love, so hopefully someone's getting some use out of it.)
This week seems to be going very quickly for me. Monday I went over and helped my SIL clean up in her laundry/utility room and watched her kids for a little bit. My parents tried to drive me crazy (they put things off until they become emergencies, then ask everyone to drop everything to help them, because now it's an emergency!) and my allergies kept me from sleeping most of the night. Not fun. Yesterday I had to go to the grocery store because we were out of so many things. Got some laundry and dishes done and more tomatoes brought in from the garden somewhere in there, too. Today I'll be vacuuming, hopefully exercising, making some bread (in the breadmaker), and working on taping the trim for painting in the guest room. And dinner, whew!
All those clothes I declutter
All those clothes I decluttered, and I got more back. LOL!
A friend gave me 3 boxes of clothes and shoes that her tall and skinny 5th grader has out grown. Should be just right for both of my girls. Then a tall and skinny gal at church gave me a trash bag full of maternity clothes. nice ones from places like GAP!! Then I got a surprise package in the mail from a cousin of baby boy clothes that were brand new (she had been getting stuff for years at Old Navy on clearance for baby gifts, and was decluttering, so she gave all the rest to me).
So this week has been a week of gaining rather than losing. Oh, well.
Lenora, hair cuts sound cute, but I don't think I could ever go short! LOL!
Christmas!!!??? Yikes, let me have this baby first. LOL! Actually, MIL was talking about drawing names this year, since there are now 12 of us in their immediate family. Fine with me!!
Bad week for decluttering
I'm a long-haired girl as well, but decluttered 6 inches a few weeks ago to take me back from below-waist level to a bra-strap kind of length. Much better. I am too lazy for shorter hair!!
Lenora, those holiday plans look scary-yet-fantastic! I think because we move house at the end of September I might sign up for Christmas Countdown. (I'm assuming you don't do both?)
Oh, I DID declutter today. A girlfriend who lent me some post-baby-size clothes came to stay and I remembered to give them back to her. There, I'm not as completely hopeless as I thought I was.
Zillah
Decluttering my heart
At some point between 6:00 pm and 8:30 pm yesterday evening, DD15's "guy friend" became her first "boyfriend!" I knew that he liked her, but she kept reiterating the "just friends" position all summer. The young man has been here several times over the summer and I've met his mother. He seems like a nice guy. He and another guy friend will be at DD15's pool party on Saturday, so I've already told DH that he needs to "have a word with" the new beau....I think I scared him: (DH, that is!
) I remember my first "Will you go with me" boyfriend very fondly. Of course there have been 25 years since then, but I don't remember the inevitable break-up being traumatic in any long-term way. I hope her experience is as sweet. Sigh....... (DD15 just came through here so I made sure it was o-kay that I was telling you!)
According to the forecast the pool party is probably going to be rained-out...more likely "thunderstormed-out," so the DDs and I will be getting the house company ready, just-in-case. We'll just add a few extra chores to the regular Friday "sweep-and-swipe."
I must get to the grocery store and make a quick run to the mall for one additional gift that I haven't been able to find in our little 'burb.
Zillah, I use a modified version of the Grand Plan all year for my cleaning so It's not difficult to add the "Holiday" part to that. I clean in different order, and instead of condensing the time...I take several weeks-off, too. I did have a year where I was so off track with the HGP that I switched to the Christmas Countdown when it started, but I usually don't have to do both!
Oh! ...speaking of easy-care hair: Mine now takes a rub with a towel, a quarter-size dollop of gel and a 10-finger comb-through and it's styled! LOVE that!!!
I hear you, Kerri, on the "fight" with the mortgage people. BLEH! We wanted to be in this house for the start of the school year when we moved (the family had already moved out, too)...and it still took almost twice-daily phone battles to get the closing when we wanted it. We had been pre-approved and our house was already sold, so the mortgage company was the only thing holding us back. We did get in just two days before school started...but what a pain!
Hello's to every one! Have a great Friday!
Blessings,
Lenora
A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination."
~Nelson Mandela
Too many tomatoes!
Quick stop here today. I have too many tomatoes! Time to try canning some more of them--if I don't, they'll just go bad. I also need to exercise, sweep the floor, and do some taping in the guest room. And make dinner, when it gets to be about that time. It doesn't sound like much, but it'll keep me busy!
Good luck with the party and good luck to your daughter, Lenora.
Boyfriend!! Oh my!! How exc
Boyfriend!! Oh my!! How exciting!!
Sometimes there isn't an inevitable break-up, though. LOL! My SIL and her hubby have been together since they were 14. he's been in the family longer than I have!! They graduated in 96 and 97, married in 99, had baby #1 in 2002, and #2 2005.
young love
Lenora, DS14 has his first girlfriend too! They met at a homeschool meeting in June.
Doesn't it make you feel old??
So sweet (oops!)
I'll bet DS will want to kill me for suggesting it's sweet won't he Honey!!
Well I hope she's nice because she's certainly lucky - he won't do anything to hurt her. I hope Lenora's DD is half as lucky in her choice! 
I decluttered tomatoes today from the fridge Sparrow... Mum has never done anything but have them in salad and give them away so we're struggling and found a basket that had been popped in the fridge and forgotten. I think the remaining ones had been frozen too because the ones that looked okay collapsed a few minutes after being taken out of the fridge. Very weird. We've got about a half dozen cucumbers due to ripen at the same time too, but I love them in vinegar and so does Mum, so they're not so hard to declutter!
DD turned 9 yesterday (my mother kindly suggested she could be near puberty by next year!
). We had a lovely party at my cousin's house with her three kids and her sister's 2 kids as well, and all kids from DD down to a couple of 18mth olds played beautifully together, and the five oldest kids ended the night in a tent in the garden. No problems at all, and they were thrilled when my cousin dragged out an ancient camping stove and did bacon for everyone at 8am. It wasn't terribly warm at that point mind you!
The house MIGHT be reaching completion as early as a couple of weeks, but I'm not gonna hold my breath. The searches are done and we're signing on Thursday and handing over the deposit. With any luck we might manage completion a week after that. THat would leave us moving in the week DH is in Italy - yippee. I won't bother to move everything, but if I can get basic cooking apparatus and beds in place I have a better chance of getting my son to school when they open on the following Tuesday. MAYBE. And DD still doesn't have a place, but now it's closer I shall be calling the schools again to see if I can do anything.
I'd better get me gone. Zillah - I need to email you to cancel Ludlow I'm afraid. If I don't get to it in the meantime, consider yourself forewarned. I'm upset but that's the weekend after school starts, we'll be getting our stuff together, and we have a family 70th birthday party that weekend! Adding a food festival would be crazy unfortunately. Next year...
Kerri.
Monday!
Well, we survived the birthday party in pretty good shape...didn't get to have the pool party though, because of the nasty weather.
Still, everyone seemed to have a good time. DD15 has been invited on her first "outing" with the BF next Saturday: it's a "group thing" with his church's youth group, which makes DH feel better about it. 
Oh, yes, Honey...it does make me feel old!
Bite your tongue, Jenny!
Speaking of youth outings, the men of our church took the youth canoing on the Cuyahoga yesterday...and despite no less than THREE reminders, DH didn't use any sunscreen and came home just fried. HA! Serves him right.
Today is going to be a "planning day" for me. I'm getting terrible butterflies about starting my student teaching on Wednesday and have been trying not to dwell on it, but today I've got to "face the music" and get us all ready to go. I want the DDs and my first three days of outfits picked-out/laid out and I intend to finish all other laundry today, too. We need to do our regular Monday sweep-and-swipe and DD15 needs to put away the last bit of her birthday "stuff." I want to get another coat of paint on the frame of a bulletin board I bought for the front room (painting the frame black to coordinate with the decor) so DH can hang it this evening. I'm hoping to clear the kitchen of all paper clutter and get us in the habit of bringing that sort of stuff in here (front room = office)....yeah, right....like that's gonna be easy!
I need a few things from the grocery store and would still like to get to the pool for a couple of hours later.
Looks like I better get on the ball, friends! Have a great Monday!
Blessings,
Lenora
A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination."
~Nelson Mandela
Hallelujah!
Word is the styles are changing. No more bare bellies. Hopefully we will be able to find clothing soon that doesn't end at belly button level or above.
No decluttering going on around here today unless you call running errands decluttering. Some days there just isn't enough time to get everything done.
Dropped the kids off at school this morning, then on to check on my elderly dad who has a 24 hr. sitter with him. On to a nearby town to check mail for where I'll be working when we ever get the doors opened for business, then back to my town for bank and grocery run. I'll turn around twice and it will be time to go back and get the kids from school.
(And people have the nerve to ask stay at home moms, "So what do you do all day? Aren't you bored?")
Good luck on your student teaching, Lenora. You'll do fine. Let us know how it goes.
Well, hubby's home wanting food. Will post again another day.
AMEN, Fern!
I'm loving the longer, tunic-style tops!
Blessings,
Lenora
"...if woman's work is never done, why bother about how much of it [isn't] getting done at any given moment?"
~ Claire Fraser in The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon
(Book 6 in the Outlander series is due Sept. 27!)
The packing's started
I've packed 2 boxes of games etc. and 2 of books. That's it for the games, but I think I've at least 10 times that to go on the books! I also decluttered a whole bunch of free CDs (you know the kind of things, music compilations, AOL things. WHY DID I KEEP THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE?)
Lenora, that first romance is so sweet and exciting isn't it? Good work on getting so ahead with your preparations for teaching, I expect you'll be absolutely shattered at first. But I'm sure you're going to enjoy it
Kerri, got your email. I think that missing out on Ludlow will be best all round, what with all the moving house going on!
Fern, I'm with you on the tops as well. I recently tried on some pre-pregancy things, as I'm now back to my pre-pregnancy weight, but my stomach is not what it used to be! How did I wear things that tight?
Tunics and fitted shirts for me from now on.
Now, can I pack another box of books before bed? . . .
Zillah
Tuesday!
Packing is never loads of fun, Zillah. I've told DH that I never want to move again and that if we ever decide to have a "winter place" where it is warm....I'm going to go there and buy doubles of anything I need...NOT pack a thing!
I got loads of planning done yesterday...if it works the way it looks on paper, life should run smoothly even with me out of the house every day. ...Now... go back and read the previous sentence without snorting your beverage all over your keyboard. Yeah, right!
Well, One can always dream! The truth is, as long as everyone keeps everything on the calendar and I keep meals planned....everything else will happen as it must.
Today I must do my nails and my eyebrows. I cut my nails week-before-last, so I think I'll french manicure them. My toes need "done" too.
Speaking of painting, the bulletin board frame turned out badly.
Even with a coat of primer, the paint just peeled off in chunks....I think I'll run to the fabric store for some padding, fabric, and ribbon to cover it instead.
DD15 has a marching band show this evening and DD10.5 has open house to meet her teacher. (DH and I will "divide and conqueor," again.)
I'm just puttering today, so I'll likely be checking back in with comments or updates!
Blessings,
Lenora
"...if woman's work is never done, why bother about how much of it [isn't] getting done at any given moment?"
~ Claire Fraser in The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon
(Book 6 in the Outlander series is due Sept.27!)
Bulletin board
Lenora, I guess you know they have instructions on how to make one of those boards with fabric and ribbon over at organized home http://www.organizedchristmas.com/article83.html
The instructions look complicated to me
:
Another shared work day
Last week I went to my SIL's and helped her clean out her laundry room, and today she was back over here to help me tape the trim in my guest room. We almost finished--just one pane of one window left to do. I'll be so glad to have that room done! This is working really well. Next week I'll go over and babysit her kids while she and her husband go to a prenatal visit.
Tomorrow I need to do the vacuuming, go out to my garden again, and finish the taping. Maybe I'll get around to some actual decluttering, too--the papers are still out of control in my office.
Saturday!
Honey, that's almost exactly what I'm thinking about...without the buttons, though!
Well, the DDS and I had our "first three days of school!" So far everything is good and we are all pleased with our placements! I can already see that the household routines that I've spent the last 8 years setting in place won't work for our new situation though....however, what little planning/adjusting I've done this summer got us through the frist week...so "on we go!"
Today I need to detail some of the DDS' daily lists for after school, set up a file-system for myself both to use in the classroom and to get "stuff" from school to home...and back again!
The other items on my TODO list today are laundry and ironing. I want to check the forecast (nasty after mid-week, I hear,
) and plan my wardrobe for the week. I'm going to "encourage" DD10 to plan hers, too!
I'd really love to finalize my Grand Plan cleaning calendar...but I'm going to wait until after my class meets on Monday night...just in case there's anything "big" due for that class. I'm starting with the "front porch" anyways...since my flowerpots need replaced and I'm ready for a couple of big, fat mums. I think I'll pull the worst-looking flowers out of my deck boxes and replace them with pansies, too...just to keep some color going a little later in the season!
So! Plans for today: laundry, ironing, and organizing for work/school, That's it for me!
Have a great Saturday, friends
Blessings,
Lenora
"...if woman's work is never done, why bother about how much of it [isn't] getting done at any given moment?"
~ Claire Fraser in The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon
(Book 6 in the Outlander series is due Sept.27!)
Packing
Glad the start of your new life is going well Lenora! I'm sure things will take a bit of time to bed down while you find out how the new routines will work.
Sparrow, I love your idea of a shared work day. Fun and motivating
I've been packing, packing, packing. Today I've been taking down curtains and light fittings, which makes the house a bit depressing to live in, but it's an important job done. This evening I'm going to sort through which clothes we're going to take for our year in Oxford, and which will go into storage. Also I need to do the study at a time when DD1.5 is asleep as that is her 'off limits' room. I plan to chuck out my collection of used padded envelopes. See, I can declutter
Zillah
Busy weekend, busy Monday
We had a pretty good weekend--we put two coats of paint on the trim in the guest room in between relaxing and watching some TV. It's such a good feeling to be making progress in that room! I had been procrastinating for far too long. The only thing left to paint now is the ceiling--I want to try to put some glitter on it somehow (it's a space-themed room). My current idea is to dilute Elmer's glue by half with water, mix in the glitter, and try to roll it on. I'm going to try it on posterboard first.
One thing that was not so good was waiting for us when we came back from a walk last night. There on our front porch, right next to the front door, was a large black widow spider. Ugh! It was the first one my husband had ever seen and I hope it'll be the last for some time. We dispatched it with some spray, but it did freak me out a little. Somehow I don't feel like digging in boxes in my garage today!
Anyway, today I need to make a menu and grocery list and go to the store--we're about out of food again. I've already done a couple of loads of laundry and stripped the bed to wash all the bedding. Vacuumed off the ceiling fan, too--it was starting to get dusty. I've got a "recipe" for a homemade cleaner that I want to try on my bathtub, now that I've finally got something to put it in. And I need to get moving and get this all done today, because tomorrow I'll be over at my SIL's house babysitting her kids while she and her husband go for a prenatal visit. It's a busy day!
ROTFLMAO
Oh, Gee Sparrow....your ceiling fans are "starting" to get dusty??????
...ours just stay that way!
Long day for me: Out the door at 6:30 am, high school until 4:00 pm, then at the university from 5:00-7:30. I had to run by the church to see how the photography was going (I'm in charge
) and tomorrow I have an early meeting (7:00 am) at school with our "team."
The DDs dusted and vacuumed downstairs, cleaned their rooms, DD10.5 cleaned the powder room, and DD15 took care of dinner and the kitchen. GOSH, they're great kids!
I have to iron a couple of things for tomorrow, as we are having a family picture taken for the church directory and I won't be home to supervise the "getting ready."
Love to all!
Blessings,
Lenora
"...if woman's work is never done, why bother about how much of it [isn't] getting done at any given moment?"
~ Claire Fraser in The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon
(Book 6 in the Outlander series is due Sept.27!)
you wouldn't credit
how much stuff we actually cram into our homes and consider to be 'the basics'. I know because I've spent the last week or so buying more of it. Beds and duvets and pillows and electricals and jugs and... We 'dejunked' a couple of carloads into our new garage, courtesy of the very, VERY kind lady who lives there till next weekend. My carseats were flat and we filled that, plus DH's boot, then we went out and bought some more to throw in there! And that doesn't even include most of the stuff we flew over with or the 17 remaining boxes we packed up and shipped before we left Singapore, or the extras that DH is collecting from Singapore later in September. Nor does it include junk. Just the important stuff is threatening to melt my credit card, let alone wasting money. Plus there's school uniforms to buy (DS starts next Tuesday, maybe) and clothes for the cooler weather which we just don't have.
Our money has been thoroughly dejunked.
I agree with you on the ceiling fans Lenora. I did that job once then delegated it to anyone taller than me, so DH and my SIL took it in turns. I changed the water in the bucket. I don't think I could even imagine vacuuming the darn thing - it got glued on pretty good! I know I'll indulge in a fan or two next summer, but they won't get nearly the wear that they had in Singapore so that's one less icky job to avoid. Which reminds me, I still have to find a suitable ironing board!
Kerri.
Dejunking
My friend was doing a boot sale on Sunday and had some space in the car, so I was invited to bring a couple boxes of my own clutter, and go along. We made £28 pounds each ($50 so the currency converter tells me). Not bad eh?
That was just stuff that I found on the quick, from looking in cupboards and drawers and on shelves. I'm going to do another boot sale in a few weeks with my Mum and Dad's (much bigger) car, so this time I'm going to tackle the attic....
I'm trying hard to raise money for a mini break for me and DS next year, so all profits are going in to a special money box that you have to smash to get the money out!
Your boot sales/our yard sale
Your boot sales/our yard sales are a great way to drum up some extra cash. You've put me in the mood to have one now. Except I don't know where I'd find the time right now.
Still trying to dejunk my office around here. I'm making headway, but it seems like the mess gets bigger before it begins to shrink. I'm really trying to organize as I go. . .using 3 ring binders to keep up with my monthly payments, payment books and that sort of thing. Beats rummaging through a messy drawer for it all every time I need to see what is due to be paid.
Looks like today is grocery shopping day which I'm not looking forward to. I'm waiting to go until the pharmacy opens up. Then its back for housecleaning and one kid pick up from school while the other has a ballgame, making another pick up trip necessary. This $2.70 gas is about to eat my lunch.
Speaking of which, I decided I'd save a little money and buy the cheaper grade (lower octane gas). NOT a good move, since its causing me vehicle problems now. I won't be doing that again any time soon.
Well, looks like my day is off to a running start. I've got a man coming home from helping neighbors load horses, wanting food of course. Grrrrrrrrrrrr!
Grocery day here, too.
Fern, your day sounds a lot like mine (except for the kid errands)! Today's grocery day for me, too. I meant to go Monday but wasn't ready, and yesterday I was at my SIL's babysitting my niece and nephew (which was fun for both me and them, I think). And I know what you mean about the gas! All of the grocery stores are at least 5 miles from here, whichever direction I go. I've been trying to consolidate my errands, but that means my trips take longer and I have to have enough time before dinner--which my husband wants on the table the minute he gets home. I'd really like to do that for him, but I'm terrible with time. I always think I can do just one more thing before I need to start making dinner and that it won't take nearly as long as it does. Something I need to work on (and probably always will, to judge by my parents).
Also today I need to go out to my garden, exercise, and vacuum, if I get to it. If I don't, I'll do it tomorrow. Vacuuming is one chore I really have to keep on top of--my husband and I both have terible allergies to dust, mold, and cats (in my case). And of course we have 2 cats, so the dander really builds if I let it go longer than a week. Which perhaps explains me dragging the vacuum up to vacuum off my ceiling fan!
Just what I need, something to toss dust all around my bedroom while I'm sleeping at night.
I tried making a homemade tub cleaner out of Clean Home, Clean Planet yesterday and was surprised and pleased with the results. Haven't tried that before, but I think I will again. It was much more pleasant to use than my usual tub cleaners, mostly because I didn't have to worry about getting some vinyl gloves and not getting any on me. And my tub looks much better!
I'm also making a pile for a yard sale "someday." I suspect it may be next summer, since I only want to do it once and I doubt I'll get through all of this clutter before then!
Anyway, I better go get busy if I want to get to the store today!
Dejunking Shoes
I'm inspired by your tales of selling old stuff, and I wish I had time to do the same
However, I have dejunked six pairs of shoes today. I looked at all my old office shoes and thought that I never want an office job again, and if I do have one they'll be so out of date I won't want to wear them. SO I THREW THEM AWAY!!!! (Yes, I'm a hoarder by nature, this goes against my very being! But it feels good
)
So, onwards with packing . . .
Zillah
Climbing on the bandwagon... again.
Sometimes I am soooooo anti-social that it just really isn't the slightest bit amusing. Sorry about that, everyone. I have not even been lurking... when I get down or busy I get very introverted. I am going to try and keep that from happening, again. Once again, I am sorry for my long absences. When a person knows better... they do better, right?
Anyhow.
So I will be getting my hair done, finally. 
Baby steps even in dejunking. Sooooo...
today I will dejunk my grey hair. A friend gave me a gift certificate for having my hair cut and coloured. (Baby-sitting has its hidden rewards, I guess...)
I should also rejoin flyladies... given my track record. Maybe not.
...Bring me that horizon...
Hickalert
Ok, Ya'll know I'm the hick/cowgirl around here. So you English people explain something to me (Honey, you know me and my fascination of your lingo). What is this boot ya'll are talking about. Kerri said something about filling DH's boot, and all I can think of is, why is he filling his boot and with what? Not much would fit in a boot, you just put your feet in it, right?
Ok, so explain for this country gal! LOL!
I haven't been doing any decluttering lately. My SIL decided not to use hardly ANY of my beautiful baby girl clothes and gave them back to me, along with a couple of other biggish baby things that I don't even know where they came from. I'm not decluttering, I'm REcluttering!!!
I did find a big wasp nest out in some bushes (didn't see it til I got down on toddler/kitten level to play in the yard), I'm going to declutter them later. LOL!
Boot!!
Jenny, over here a boot is what you American-English speakers call a trunk, i.e. the thing at the back of your car where you store your car junk
Zillah
Ahhhh...
I don't HAVE a trunk, but I know what one is!! I have a bed. Which is the back of my truck, where I can store ALOT more junk than just a little ol' trunk (or in your case, boot).
In my neck of the woods, a boot is what I wear on a foot, goes half up my calf, usually worn around the farm, sometimes worn with spurs for kicking a ridden animal in the belly, but a fashion item as well.
I'm such a smart-ass, ain't I!!
Today I have decluttered the trash that my husband left on the counter, since he doesn't know what a trash can is. No, no bitterness here. (just so you know, I am in some kind of a bad mood today. I'm trying to be humorous).
boot sales
Jenny, over here people don't really have yard sales - instead they fill their car boot with stuff and drive to where the nearest 'boot sale' is being held. So, basically a yard sale in a field
Boots!
Jenny, of course we have boots to go on the feet as well, except that mine go up to my knees and are for nothing more practical than strutting!
Zillah
Decluttering your brain?
Like a Pensieve? LOL!
Boy or Girl?
Honey, I asked the sonographer if she was SURE this was a boy and she said there was no doubt. LOL! BUT, if a girl happened to pop out, my SIL isn't only 2 hours away with the girl clothes.
I think the Pensieve is in Goblet of Fire, too. So you won't have long to find out.
Jenny
Wow!
Congratulations, Fern on the article!!!
Jenny
dejunking house
Moved into current home less then 3 yearsago,(from a motor home) and this coming week-end going to hold yard sale boy where did all this come from?????
it seems I have two of every thing and I don't even need one of them
Snort
That'll be it!
Zillah
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