2021 Declutter Stuff & Organize Your Life

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Dec 22, 2021 16:04:09 GMT -5 debthaven said:

DH tested negative thank goodness.

I am just devastated at not seeing DS1/DDIL/E/I. 

We'll all test on Fri. If we're all negative (unlikely) they'll come Sunday as planned. 

If not, we'll all test again on Mon. If we're all negative (hopefully) they'll come on Tuesday. 

If we're not all negative on Mon, they won't come. 

Fingers crossed!!! I don't care about the date itself, if it's Christmas, the day after Christmas, 3 days after Christmas ... I just want to see them. 

I am feeling a bit better now because there is a small glimmer of hope that they can still come.

We may have the same dilemma, though not due to covid but winter weather. 

[Sharon]

debthaven hold onto good thoughts that all Covid tests return as Negative so you can see your family.

I have cancelled my trip to go see my Mom because of the winter weather that will be around.  While I would probably get there just fine getting home could be dicy.  Mom agreed that it was best for me to just stay put for the weekend and not attempt to get to her house.

[moneysquirrel]

Ava -- Please check your messages.

Sharon -- Sounds like a good plan to pospone your trip.  Better to not venture out in bad weather conditions.  Wait until the weather improves.

debthaven -- Fingers crossed for negative tests for all family members and that you can visit with the healthy members of the family this holiday.

TheOtherMe -- You are building a wonderful relationship with the little one.  I am so happy for you.

finnime -- Wishing good vibes for all your projects -- both baking and house repairs.

I am taking it easy this day.  Going to DSS this evening for dinner.  Will get a few small things done but not pushing myself to go overboard. 

[TheOtherMe]

I now have a digital album of 50 photos of the Toddler.  So much cute stuff he does on FaceTime.  If Grandma only knew what she is missing.  Her loss is my gain.

[laterbloomer]

I'm starting my Christmas Eve Homemade Chinese Food Feast. Tonight I'm making the Chicken Fried Rice, marinating the beef for beef and broccoli and making the stuffing for the egg rolls. Tomorrow morning I'll put the Honey Garlic Ribs in the slow cooker. Tomorrow afternoon I will fry up the egg rolls, stir-fry the beef and broccoli and heat up the rice. It won't be a keto day tomorrow lol

[debthaven]

I stayed at home again today because the boiler guy replaced the part. So Gd willing we're set for a while. 

DH asked them for an estimate for a new boiler. It was WAY more expensive than we thought. INSANELY expensive. We may get another estimate, but we know and trust them, and they're our roofers too. 

BUT, we had that brand of boiler before this POS one ... it failed ONCE, after 29 years. So DH wants to replace our boiler. I say we can't afford it. 

I'm sure if I add up all the repairs for this POS boiler, we'll see that we've probably already paid for it twice over. Plus I pulled out the old bills ... turns out our "new boiler that we just replaced a few years ago" (in my head) is actually 13 years old.   How the heck did that happen?!

I know very well that things can always be worse, but frankly they suck right now. 

DH's argument is that even if the new FANCY BRAND NAME boiler lasts HALF the life of the old FANCY BRAND NAME boiler, that'll be nearly 15 years without having to worry about it. Plus it's Made in France, just a few miles from here, so parts are very easy to get. 

In fact, that boiler was still going strong, 29 years later! But the hot water tank was leaking, and there were no longer any hot water tanks that were compatible with that 29YO boiler. So we replaced everything. 

This is a problem for 2022. I'm just hoping we'll have heat and hot water for a while. 

[mourningcloak]

DS1 is home.  He's been through a billion boxes it feels like but there are twice as many left!  He's been home for almost a week, guests start arriving tomorrow, and then we hope progress continues.  DH threatens to throw out anything not organized so …. Not really motivating in anyway but motivation isn't his strength.  I personally need to go through the two boxes of "to go" items and see whether they are old school items (binders and stuff) that I can use instead of buying new ones or save for DS2 or if they just need to be donated asap.

[toomuchreality]

Merry Christmas, everyone! 🎄🎅

[laterbloomer]

Dec 23, 2021 16:51:09 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

I'm starting my Christmas Eve Homemade Chinese Food Feast. Tonight I'm making the Chicken Fried Rice, marinating the beef for beef and broccoli and making the stuffing for the egg rolls. Tomorrow morning I'll put the Honey Garlic Ribs in the slow cooker. Tomorrow afternoon I will fry up the egg rolls, stir-fry the beef and broccoli and heat up the rice. It won't be a keto day tomorrow lol

So far I'm on schedule.

[startsmart]

Merry Christmas to all who are celebrating!


I had a chiropractor adjustment this morning and then picked up mail from the post office. It’s beautiful here - 77 and sunny - so I worked on filling the garden beds with dirt and raked some leaves which I’ll scoop up into the beds later on.

I have a good long 4-day weekend list and no client responsibilities until Tuesday.

Wednesday all 3 new windows got installed and I ordered 3 more which should arrive by March 2022. Thursday I started decorating and then had a long call with a friend while I decorated and she wrapped presents.

Also I’m so close to being done reading Hamilton! Another 100 pages so I want to finish by Sunday.

[nikiz628]

Whew, I havent been around for like 2 weeks. I was crazy busy with the Santa Shop at my kids' school for a week. Then we left for our magical Disney World vacation for a week. It was EXACTLY what our little fam needed after this crazy year. The weather was gorgeous- sunny and in the low 80s all week, crowds were still manageable since it wasn't Christmas break yet, and my kids were ANGELS (which never happens on vacations). Doing a trip and a smaller Christmas might become our new tradition. 

I have 6 pages here to catch up on in this thread, but I hope I find that everyone is doing well. Merry Christmas from this corner of the internet to yours! 

[laterbloomer]

The Chinese food turned out good and we had a really nice visit. I ate more carbs today than I have the rest of 2021 put together. I don't expect to feel too good tomorrow but it's going to be a quiet day so I should be good. So now to detox from the carbs. I need to not keep eating them

[finnime]

Merry Christmas for those who celebrate, and have a joyous day, everyone.

[moneysquirrel]

Just logging on to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.   May you day be filled with all you want it to be.

[nidena]

Since today is just an awesome day off with no demands, I have started the day by vacuuming and steam cleaning the poo messes in the living room.  That will be followed up by the same in the library/office.  I swear, this cat hates if her litter box isn't pristinely clean.

There will also be laundry today; followed by putting together a puzzle.  

It really is great to not have to be "on" at my parent's house today.  I'm just chillaxing in my own home, four states away.  

[startsmart]

Nidea, I can relate! I’ve been in messy PJs all day, slept in, did a puzzle, painted, read… no drama and no performance today!

I will also finish Hamilton tonight (24 pages to go!) and then start on puzzle #2

ETA: finished Hamilton! Only took me 4 years… 😂

[TheOtherMe]

I may get drama for a few days.  DN1 and his wife decided about midnight last night that they were coming here for Christmas because Grandma was taking it out on the Toddler.  I don't know what that means.

Christmas with them is tomorrow and I am invited.  Only people who have been boosted are invited, which definitely limits the number of people.  There are people who are eligible to be boosted who have not been boosted.  My great niece isn't eligible to be boosted so she is invited.  She has had the first two doses of the vaccine.

They already warned me if it gets to be too much, they are coming here before they head home.  They will be here Monday morning for sure as DN3 helps sell hogs and spends the morning until he goes to work.  So they will be here during my telehealth therapy appointment.

That means I have to pick up the cat toys in an attempt to make this place a little bit child proof.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Dec 24, 2021 21:59:57 GMT -5 nikiz628 said:

Whew, I havent been around for like 2 weeks. I was crazy busy with the Santa Shop at my kids' school for a week. Then we left for our magical Disney World vacation for a week. It was EXACTLY what our little fam needed after this crazy year. The weather was gorgeous- sunny and in the low 80s all week, crowds were still manageable since it wasn't Christmas break yet, and my kids were ANGELS (which never happens on vacations). Doing a trip and a smaller Christmas might become our new tradition. 

I have 6 pages here to catch up on in this thread, but I hope I find that everyone is doing well. Merry Christmas from this corner of the internet to yours! 

Yay! I'm so glad it went well! 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Dec 25, 2021 19:27:52 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

I may get drama for a few days.  DN1 and his wife decided about midnight last night that they were coming here for Christmas because Grandma was taking it out on the Toddler.  I don't know what that means.

Christmas with them is tomorrow and I am invited.  Only people who have been boosted are invited, which definitely limits the number of people.  There are people who are eligible to be boosted who have not been boosted.  My great niece isn't eligible to be boosted so she is invited.  She has had the first two doses of the vaccine.

They already warned me if it gets to be too much, they are coming here before they head home.  They will be here Monday morning for sure as DN3 helps sell hogs and spends the morning until he goes to work.  So they will be here during my telehealth therapy appointment.

That means I have to pick up the cat toys in an attempt to make this place a little bit child proof.

Yikes! That's a switcheroo on that decision! I hope it all goes smoothly.

[TheOtherMe]

I was shocked, totally shocked they changed their minds.  

I hope it goes well, too.  I'm going to tell them I'm going over early as I don't like to drive in the dark and it will be dark at the time they set.  I will probably be gone by the time the meal starts.  There won't be food for a vegetarian anyway.

[Sharon]

The lights bulbs have been switched out in the extra bedrooms and the glass lamp shades have been washed. Let there be light. The litter box has been changed. It is supposed to be very cold for the next several days and I wanted that chore done so I don't have to go outside.

I also brought in the few outdoor Christmas lights that I had on some bushes on the front. There was a branch that broke off earlier this week when we had the snow it has been hauled to the burn pile. I had hoped to putter around outside a little bit more but the wind is really picking up and the temperature is dropping.

[startsmart]

I’ve laid the rest of the bricks out to the end of the garden and later I’ll extend the path to the greenhouse. It took another 125 bricks to finish up.

3 more wheelbarrows of dirt moved to the raised beds and lots of cleaning up of the trash that gets blown by the wind into my yard.

I also cut the backing fabric for the quilt series and have all 6 cut. Now I’m basting the red and pink quilt so I can begin quilting those. I need to cut the fabric for the edging and I’ll do those in a batch.

I’ve started setting up my bullet journal for 2022 since I made it my “reward” for finishing Hamilton.

[nidena]

Not necessarily decluttering but I updated another 31 stores on www.brashopdirectory.com.  It took me four hours.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Dec 26, 2021 17:05:48 GMT -5 startsmart said:

I’ve laid the rest of the bricks out to the end of the garden and later I’ll extend the path to the greenhouse. It took another 125 bricks to finish up.

3 more wheelbarrows of dirt moved to the raised beds and lots of cleaning up of the trash that gets blown by the wind into my yard.

I also cut the backing fabric for the quilt series and have all 6 cut. Now I’m basting the red and pink quilt so I can begin quilting those. I need to cut the fabric for the edging and I’ll do those in a batch.

I’ve started setting up my bullet journal for 2022 since I made it my “reward” for finishing Hamilton.

YAY for bullet journals!!!

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Today is deep cleaning the primary bathroom. Let's see if I can purge anything! 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Three ace bandages
One arm sling
A baggie of ridiculously expired cold medication
A travel size baby powder that is unopened.
Spilled and grimy cotton balls and swabs.
Under-the-casts sleeves
Four lids to bottles that are gone.
Two grody hair ties
Two weird unknown utensils
Eye liner pencil sharpener
One massively overused nail file


In the trash!

[TheOtherMe]

The Toddler is so adorable.  He knew who I was and in all of his being busy with the overwhelming number of gifts Grandma gave him, he gave me a hug when I left.

I did clean the bathroom today and I've been moving the boxes from the when the Organizer was last here.  I need them out of the living room in case the Toddler visits.

I did get advice from my nephew-in-law on who to call to put in a tile shower where I don't have to hire each contractor myself. He also said to call NOW, the sooner the better as contractors are already lining up their spring/summer jobs.  

[stillmovingforward]

I have a chest of drawers that I keep all my Christmas stuff relegated to. I took everything out, sorted it, and put only the stuff I really wanted back in. It all fits neatly now with a little extra space.

[laterbloomer]

ISO'S kids and grandkids were here for dinner today, and that finishes up Christmas. It was a good weekend. ❤

[startsmart]

The end of the year is nigh!

Unless anyone has an objection I will start the 2022 thread on Thursday and we will leave this thread open until Saturday when the mods will lock it.