2020 Declutter Stuff & Organize Your Life

[countrygirl2]

We are going to change things around upstairs. Use the guest bedroom for my office, return the dining room to where it belongs. That will let us use the whole long LR. Change out most of the flooring up here. Hubs is finishing out another room in the basement to make a bedroom and we are going to put our old bedroom suit down there. I told him no more then the kids will ever be here,  we need to use the house effectively for us and they will have a room down there if they visit. I doubt we put little guy down there though. We can bring a mattress up and put it in my office if he visits.


It will be at least January before we can get to it.

[CCL]

debthaven

[Opti]

Dec 10, 2020 17:55:46 GMT -5 bean29 said:

So I read on the internet that I should get rid of my vertical blinds?  Where should I look for current window fashions?  Also, I am not supposed to have a table cloth on my table.  I have two wood tables that are about 15 years old.  I have no idea how durable the finishes would be if I uncover them.  The article I was looking at said to uncover your table and not to even use placemats.  Just wondering what most people are doing?

We paid about $250 for our kitchen table second hand.  I would not be broken hearted if I damaged it and felt I had to buy a new table.  I think that one would do better than my actual dining room table though.  I tend to use my dining room table as a desk, just am not sure about uncovering it.

I think you need to post the article so we can help you decide how relevant it is to your life and how you live. I use tablecloths to protect the table. Not planning to change that anytime soon.

[debthaven]

We only use a tablecloth at Christmas. We like the way the wood looks and ages. 

I woke up feeling better today. (Thanks CCL :-) I marked for 5 hours, I have a headache. I caught up though. 

This weekend
- mark 18 final reports/Fri
- mark 12 final reports/Sat
- mark 5 final reports/Sun
- input last Job 2 marks
- get a tree!!!

Need to catch up on laundry now.

I want to finish ALL my marking by Sunday so I can do other paperwork (as well as work) before my kids arrive. I started a list for next week but I'll finish this one first. 

[Iggy aka IG]

Dec 10, 2020 19:53:28 GMT -5 bean29 said:

Dec 10, 2020 18:48:25 GMT -5 Iggy aka IG said:

bean29 , I'm feeling like I missed something...?  Is this a new decoration trend, for allergy purposes, or....?

I think it was something to the effect of things to get rid of if you are going to sell your house? I have seen the vertical blinds thing a few times now, they are supposed to be very 80’s outdated. Mine have been in my house 15 years so maybe they were outdated when We installed them?

Ah, got it!  What ever you decide to do, good luck with selling your house. 

[countrygirl2]

Doc followup, was good. I didn't say anything about my shoulder killing me. It's old age aches and pains. No pain pills are touching it.

Stopped at chiropractor, not in on Friday, so have an appointment for Monday. He can pop it once or twice and it will be ok. Happens at least

a couple times of year. As hubs says. guess we sleep wrong. There is an area in my spine about where my bra fastens. You can feel it out of

place when it hurts like this. The chiro said its where the rib bones connect to the spine. I have a bit of curvature from the flat feet and that

messes up the back. One time its the left shoulder, next its the right. Hope it doesn't get worse before Monday.

Picked up a few groceries, dang a 24 ounce package of shredded cheese $6.99! I saw individual grapefruit, $1.99 a pound, 5 pound bag is $5.99

so got it. Worcestershire, $6.33. This grocer is so high in our small town, ouch. But sometimes just want to pick up a bit.  I forgot to take checks

to deposit.

I did some target shooting, yesterday afternoon, did good. Hubs said any of the shoots with the Ruger would have disabled or killed a person. He said

with the 22 pistol unless you hit a vital organ you might just make them mad.  I just want to be a good shot. The Ruger is too hard for me to use.  I'm

going to try his dads old one. Sons is new, not been fired much. I don't have the strength to release the magazine. Hubs said you probably wouldn't need

another one anyone, if you hit him, he is in a bad way. If you didn't probably scared them to death anyway. I cleaned both guns. I'm going through them one or two at a

 time and fire them, notate ammo to buy and clean them, hasn't been done for some time. We have lots of shotgun shells but not a lot of anything else.  Those 9mm

 slugs look lethal. There is a beautiful Smith & Wesson pistol in there, was his dads. Looking at it, I don't think its ever been used. Has a pearl handle even. The one pistol holds 9 22 bullets, hubs said they usually hold 6.  I'm proud of my shots, sure nothing to be embarrassed about. And I even shake shooting.  Never really done much, I like that, may go to a shooting range and practice, but we are in pretty good shape here to do so. I told our little town I was practicing and folks thanked me. We sometimes hear a lot of shooting and wonder who.  For awhile, it was Ak's, don't hear them anymore.

I

[TheOtherMe]

When I was trying to figure out what to do with my windows in the spring and mentioned vertical blinds, I got told "nobody does those any more".

I have had them in apartments and I never liked them so I don't know why I even thought about putting them in my house.

[startsmart]

Today I went to Goodwill and dropped off some things I had lying around the garage. There’s still 3 boxes of very ugly flooring that I’ll drop at the REstore the next time I’m over that way but at least some of the smaller crap is gone.

I went to the larger grocery store and picked up a few things on my way home and now I’m trying to decide if I should paint the kitchen, decorate for Christmas or work on the crawl space.

Maybe I’ll take a nap... I didn’t go to sleep until 3:30am and the coffee can only do so much

[chiver78]

ooh....I need to remember Restore. there is one over near my dog park. do you know if they take kitchen stuff like mugs, plastic containers, etc? I'd guess that small appliances are a definite yes. I still have a small crock pot and a bunch of mugs I hadn't unearthed yet when Malarky came shopping for her kids.

[startsmart]

Dec 11, 2020 17:56:37 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

ooh....I need to remember Restore. there is one over near my dog park. do you know if they take kitchen stuff like mugs, plastic containers, etc? I'd guess that small appliances are a definite yes. I still have a small crock pot and a bunch of mugs I hadn't unearthed yet when Malarky came shopping for her kids.

The one near me (i.e. 90 miles away) will take most materials and and appliances including small appliances but I didn't see much in the kitchenware category. Best to ask and if they won't resell then Goodwill or Salvation Army definitely will! 

I picked up a little plastic/metal bin that is perfect for holding my onions and keeping them dry and cool. Small wins! 

ETA: I’ve continued to clean the walls in my kitchen, prime and then paint the walls. Once that’s done I will move a foot chest into the kitchen and the space it leaves empty will be for the Christmas tree.

I’ve made good progress in the office and cleaning stuff up. Boxes are going upstairs to the storage room. I’m working toward the goal of making the house look amazing by my 6 month anniversary of living here.

[finnime]

Well, this week didn't turn out like I planned. I did get the ladder put away outside, from when I painted the window trim. And I weeded out some clothing, but my big plans to deal with shitepile and prepare for some wall painting in the living room so we can get out Christmas decorations--none of that happened. Instead the client I'm working with on writing an ebook, and editing it wanted me to actually do the book design, too, something I've not done before. This is a new process for him, too, and I understand he did not know there's a difference between writing/editing and book design.

So I took that on, installed Adobe Indesign and taught myself it, then moved the 50-page script I'd prepared into it. The script includes 110 images. We're working through the finalization process now, but are basically done with the book. When client signs off I'll work through putting it into epub format as well as PDF (which it is now.)

Today I also had an order for 18 individual cheesecakes, just to break it up. Got them done. And now I have a new skill in Indesign, a very powerful bit of software.

Got some great feedback for the two novels I've written from a beta reader, too. 

Christmas orders for baking are accumulating. Need to write up a work plan for them. But the week before me is so far open. Maybe I will get to painting that wall and getting Christmas stuff out. Like for Thanksgiving, we'll be spending Christmas with DD. It's just too high risk for DH right now.

[countrygirl2]

I brought up my Xmas bedspread yesterday, I also have red sheets but didn't get them.
Took my down comforter to have it cleaned.

I wondered why my body has been killing me since early yesterday. We have a front coming through dropping the barometer quite a bit and sharply, that sure causes me a lot of pain,  hopefully better tomorrow.


Going to go to bed, took something for it and now I'm getting tired. Night all!

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

I finished my Fall Term classes today. Such a relief. Three weeks off from taking classes.
I might be able to tackle some house stuff these three weeks!

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Dec 12, 2020 0:34:41 GMT -5 countrygirl2 said:

I brought up my Xmas bedspread yesterday, I also have red sheets but didn't get them.
Took my down comforter to have it cleaned.

I wondered why my body has been killing me since early yesterday. We have a front coming through dropping the barometer quite a bit and sharply, that sure causes me a lot of pain,  hopefully better tomorrow.


Going to go to bed, took something for it and now I'm getting tired. Night all!

So fun that you have Christmas bedding!

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Dec 12, 2020 0:30:46 GMT -5 finnime said:

Well, this week didn't turn out like I planned. I did get the ladder put away outside, from when I painted the window trim. And I weeded out some clothing, but my big plans to deal with shitepile and prepare for some wall painting in the living room so we can get out Christmas decorations--none of that happened. Instead the client I'm working with on writing an ebook, and editing it wanted me to actually do the book design, too, something I've not done before. This is a new process for him, too, and I understand he did not know there's a difference between writing/editing and book design.

So I took that on, installed Adobe Indesign and taught myself it, then moved the 50-page script I'd prepared into it. The script includes 110 images. We're working through the finalization process now, but are basically done with the book. When client signs off I'll work through putting it into epub format as well as PDF (which it is now.)

Today I also had an order for 18 individual cheesecakes, just to break it up. Got them done. And now I have a new skill in Indesign, a very powerful bit of software.

Got some great feedback for the two novels I've written from a beta reader, too. 

Christmas orders for baking are accumulating. Need to write up a work plan for them. But the week before me is so far open. Maybe I will get to painting that wall and getting Christmas stuff out. Like for Thanksgiving, we'll be spending Christmas with DD. It's just too high risk for DH right now.

Oh my, there’s a huge difference between those two parts of publishing a book! Good luck and have fun!

[debthaven]

Finnime that's amazing that you could teach yourself InDesign! I'm very impressed! It's a great skill to have. 

This weekend
- mark 18 final reports/Fri
- mark 12 final reports/Sat 
- get tree!/Sat 
- input last Job 2 marks/Sat
- mark 5 final reports/Sun

We bought and put up the tree. I'll decorate it tomorrow or Monday.

Laundry ongoing. 

[empress of self-improvement]

chiver, call the ReStore first. Not that it always works. I called a few weeks ago anout my bed. Person on the phone said they'd take it. Guy running the dropoff said nope. He did take the little things i had though. It was a pain in the ass.
Currently standing in a socially distanced line at the post office waiting to declutter my bread maker. OY.

[moneysquirrel]

Good morning all!

debthaven -- so sorry that you have to go through the issues for next semester.  Hope things will work out for the better for you.
Knee Deep in Water Chloe -- Glad that you have finished the Fall Semester.  At this time of any year, any thing off your plate is a blessing.
finnime -- So happy that you are learning new skills.  This may open up new venues for you.

Re: vertical blinds and tablecloths-- I don't have them and never did.  Kitchen table usually has one on it.  It protects the wood and I do several crafts on that table so I prefer to keep it covered.  Dining room table is mostly uncovered.

This week: 
* Kept up with the usual maintenance items.
*Met with collusion company and arranged to take the car in for repairs the first week in January.
*Purchased the dishwasher.  Friend's DH is installing it for me and should be finished today.
*Up to date with all bills that have come in.
*Christmas  --- Trees are decorated, nativity collection is out, other items are out.  Outside wreath is hung and I even wrapped the pole with garland since I had it on hand.  It shreds a lot so am glad that it is outside and not in.  Took care of the outside stuff while the ladies cleaned the inside. 
* Added several items to the donate box
* Renewed several items on Etsy

Upcoming this month:

* Continue with house upkeep.
* Call to schedule pickup of donations.  Would like that to happen before the end of the year.
* Monthly Bills -- Three more to go.  Think two of them will come in this week
* Property tax -- Informed Delivery notified me that this is coming in today.  Due by end of year.
* Get back to beading project. Once I get it going again I will be on a roll. It just getting back to it that is an issue right now.
* Finish crochet project -- decided to use my leftover yarn to do a laptop case.  Not sure how it will turn out but most of the cases I have here are too wide for my Chromebook so I am currently winging this project.
*Renew 1 Rx
*As needed limited grocery runs
*Continue adding items to the donation boxes.
* A million and one other items I am sure.

[debthaven]

Congrats on the new dishwasher Moneysquirrel! 

[nidena]

I cleared out the cat domain, scraped all the messes that I hadn't gotten to, and swept up all the litter and other debris.  Then put all the beds and toys back down.  Took me a good hour.  That was after I had gone to Lowe's for the sole purpose of buying a floor scraper.  I was tired of trying to scrape messes up using the pooper scooper.  Feels really good to get that all clean again.

[startsmart]

I started decorating and so far have the tree up (it’s pre-lit) and maybe half the ornaments on and have started in the rest of the house.

Since I have a gazillion ornaments I’m using them all over the house. I did up my fireplace mantle, filled my china cabinet with color coordinating ornaments and then put the rest in baskets around the house. More decorating to do tomorrow!

I also got set up with a new cable tv account after 2 hours of arguing with them on the phone. Although I had an account for 8 years in California they wanted me to verify my identity by uploading my SS card and drivers license to their system. Hard no. Finally we got around that nonsense and my DVRs will arrive this week. It’s so nice now they’re not hard wired into a satellite! I can move the tv anywhere in the house and use the WiFi to get live tv, Netflix,
Amazon or Hulu on my TVs.

The office is also looking loads better, the bed still had a lot of papers on it but the rest of the room is great. Fabric is mostly put away and it feels good to work in there.

[debthaven]

Start I'd love to see pictures if you're willing. 

This weekend
- mark 18 final reports/Fri
- mark 12 final reports/Sat
- get tree!/Sat
- input last Job 2 marks/Sat
- mark 5 final reports/Sun
- Shitepile/Sun
- clear out handbag/Sun
- clear out wallet/Sun

All done marking for the semester!    I also got ahead on next week's list, and started decorating the tree. 

[debthaven]

Next week
- QB
- bank loan (still waiting on some papers!)

I'm only working Monday and Tuesday. DS1/DDIL/E! arrive Tuesday night. So if this list doesn't get done until after Christmas, that's OK too.

Tomorrow is our department meeting (on Zoom). I think it's going to get heated ...

[TheOtherMe]

Going to finish the last two Christmas cards today and scan a document my DN1 wants to see from the mail that comes here.

Found out in my sister's Christmas card letter that niece's husband had covid.  So nice of them to tell me.     My niece, her husband and son were all here when DN3 moved his stuff to the basement.  That better have been past the 14 day time.

[debthaven]

Sorry to hear that TheO ... you were all wearing masks, right? Try not to worry about it too much. 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

[debthaven]

Knee Deep in Water Chloe you have a duck?! With a bow?! 

[TheOtherMe]

Dec 13, 2020 12:15:59 GMT -5 debthaven said:

Sorry to hear that TheO ... you were all wearing masks, right? Try not to worry about it too much. 

Yes and door to house was open.  Also the garage door was wide open.

It just irritates me that nobody bothered to tell me.

[saveinla]

Dec 13, 2020 13:43:02 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

Dec 13, 2020 12:15:59 GMT -5 debthaven said:

Sorry to hear that TheO ... you were all wearing masks, right? Try not to worry about it too much. 

Yes and door to house was open.  Also the garage door was wide open.

It just irritates me that nobody bothered to tell me.

I agree. It's the lack of common courtesy that is more irritating than the action itself. 

[saveinla]

Our refinancing saga continues - since it's a been a month, we got a request for another set of documents - new payslips - which I am ok with, but they want the trust document and the certification of the trust that was already sent 3 weeks ago.

Broke down a bunch of cardboard boxes in the patio. Now have to remember to ask the cleaning lady if she wants to take them to the recycling and get some money. One load of laundry is done and another should be started soon.

Plan is to cook a couple things - if I get my order for veggies delivered today, so I can be ready for most of the week.

Went to the pharmacy to pick up some meds and also picked a couple of things that were needed. Not planning to go out anymore until Friday evening or Saturday morning to pick up some staples that I will need then.

My MIL has been diagnosed with Stage 3 lymphoma and they are going for a discussion with the oncologist tomorrow. She has not been told about this yet and I am really mad at my DH and his brothers - she is a very strong woman who is still very active in the community in a leadership role and she can handle this. I just don't want it to be a shock if the oncologist is blunt about survival rate and other details. I know treatment for Lymphoma has come a long way and there is a lot of hope, but not sure how her body will respond to the treatment. She has become very frail recently and not eating much. Hoping and praying that they get a good doctor who will work with her.