2022 Declutter & Organize Your Life

[stillmovingforward]

BTW - that's a super good idea to ask the cleaners for a recommendation for a handyman. I'm going to do that! I really need a handyman. 

[Rukh O'Rorke]

ok - regrouping for today.

Did nothing yesterday - well except made messes I didn't clean up. Had a high profile meeting 8:30-1 where I had presentations, did not sleep well at all and I don't know why! Insomnia has been getting worse and worse lately. I took a long epsom bath no screen for 1-2 hours before bed and still....maybe time to cut back on caffeine? idk, I don't want to! one of my few indulgences!! Been eating very anti-inflamatory, but need to restock on the frozen sour cherries, try to have those as dessert.....

Have an RI project I have to finish today, want to get something done around the house today. Another killer work week coming up, already worrying about meetings I need to prep reports for. Finishing up today's coffee alotment, will tidy up kitchen and DR to get back on track, go for a walk, and then RI. Will see if I have any energy for anything else after that.

My spidey sense is not. I did get 8 hours of sleep last night, minimal waking up, first time in maybe 2 weeks.

Have the thanksgiving week off, so looking forward to the downtime hopefully I can clear out all the work backlog by then, but not really looking forward to the holiday. First major holiday without DD celebrating with us. Feeling really torn up about that.

[stillmovingforward]

Started cleaning out DD2 and DS2's rooms. They moved out over a year ago. They left a lot of stuff (they moved out/were tossed out but we did warn them 2 months in advance). I'm sorting through it for stuff they want vs. stuff to donate/trash. I'll be glad to get those rooms for our own use. 

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Nov 13, 2022 16:03:12 GMT -5 stillmovingforward said:

Started cleaning out DD2 and DS2's rooms. They moved out over a year ago. They left a lot of stuff (they moved out/were tossed out but we did warn them 2 months in advance). I'm sorting through it for stuff they want vs. stuff to donate/trash. I'll be glad to get those rooms for our own use. 

lol! was this story on the board anywhere? I don't recall it!

I keep daydreaming about DD needingwanting to move back home for 3-6 months, miss her so much!

[Sharon]

I got a lot accomplished this weekend.  Yesterday while I was waiting for the temps to rise above freezing I got the sheets changed, bathrooms cleaned, and 3 loads of laundry done.  Then I went out and worked some more on pastures.  I was cutting back more locust tree sprouts/starts.  They are nasty things with these 1 inch thorns.  There were move of them then I realized and it took quite a while.  In the evening I babysat the grand kids while the parents went to a function at the school.

This morning I ended up having to clean my fridge.  I was thawing a roast for tonight and hadn't set the meat on a plate, like I usually do and the packaging had leaked.  My fridge is now nice and clean for the holidays and the expired condiments, and anything else that was questionable has been tossed.  I also made a quick trip into town and dropped of my returnable bottles/cans, dropped off some mail, and made a quick grocery run.  The other day when I was shopping they didn't have any gallons of milk.  I bought a half gallon but since milk in short supply that day I didn't want to buy a full gallon and possibly leave a family without.  They had lots of milk today.

Then I went to work on mowing the pasture, got part way through my first pass and mower clogged.  I unclogged it and when I went to start it again it backfired and refused to start.  Called DD and DSIL for help, of course it started right up for DSIL.  He said when it backfires that sometimes it needs to sit while the oil drains back down from somewhere.  He mowed about half the pasture for me.

We discussed again tonight about getting two cows.  I will have one and DD/DSIL will have one.  My plan is to keep a half or quarter of my cow for myself and then sell the rest.  Hopefully this will be a profitable venture or at least keep the pasture grass down so I don't have to mow it.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Just sent off the RI work, after 10, kitchen a mess because as I cleaned.....I made food and made new messes


kitchens, amiright?

A little TV. A little bath time, and start the grind again tomorrow....

[debthaven]

Rukh O'Rorke I'm sure you'll catch up during Thanksgiving week.

What are you planning to use those rooms for stillmovingforward ?

Sharon you never stop! I'm impressed lol.

I got to work a bit early today and got rid of 4 more files. I also emptied a small binder at home. Whoo hoo!

I'm keeping the last 3 binders for the foreseeable future ...

[Iggy aka IG]

What a quick weekend, as usual.

To the donation, which I'll drop off tomorrow, I added two pairs of jeans, two shirts, and a rather lovely belted houndstooth type print jacket.  I wore the latter just 6 times or so.

This weekend:
-5 loads of laundry
-Scrubbed one toilet
-Stored Halloween items into totes and rotated those totes for Christmas totes.  While in the storage closet, I straightened it up and tossed a few items.
-Going to scrutinize said Christmas tote contents with a goal of going from 4 to 3.  I'll donate items to Goodwill and in the newly emptied tote, I'll store the 4 Christmas throw pillows.
-Took an inventory and concluded we need only scotch tape and gift wrap this year
-Made a breakfast casserole, blueberry muffins, sangria and tequila sunrises for a neighbor's brunch
-Brought in most of the outdoor decor
-Made spaghetti with meat sauce, baked cornbread, breaded fried okra, brown butter neighbor grown carrots, and overnight oats.  DH cooked Cornish game hen in the Traeger last night.  
-Did the usual several stacks of dishes
-Played a few card games with the neighbor kiddos
-Refilled the TP, Keurig and ice trays
-Got some reading done while the power was out
-Set up my new phone
-Watched college basketball, listened to NFL in the background during chores, watched a few DVR programs, and the Yellowstone premier
-A stack of egg cartons went with DH this morning for his co-worker's wife's chickens
-Prepared a large Sam's Club order for pickup
-Planned this week's suppers

On to wrap up the 2023 calendar project here at the office.

[startsmart]

Hey ladies, sorry for the late update, it’s been a busy week.

Mom is doing well post-op, they won’t know the lab details on her cancer for a few weeks. She’s not in much pain and back home recovering.

Here in Kansas it is snowing and very cold, since so much of my time this summer and fall was taken up with volunteering I am way behind the fall chores. Still need to drain my hoses, plant bulbs, empty the pool… except now the pool has a half inch layer of ice on top.

The greenhouse is ready for winter with 18 bags of pebbles over a dozen or so cardboard boxes I cut up. I have a few plants and planters in there for spring and it’s secured down tight so the wind won’t toss it.

[debthaven]

I'm glad your mom is recovering well startsmart . I hope you hear good news soon.

Gee Iggy aka IG I wonder why the weekend went by so quickly. 

I'm working 5 days this week. I promised myself I wouldn't do that anymore, but it's hard to refuse hours. Happily I only have to go into school 3 days this week.

[finnime]

I'm going to start with the end result and say my car looks fabulous! The detailer did an awesome job in all respects. It looks brand new, inside and out. Worth every penny. He came here to the house and worked in the driveway.

I did remove 3 bags of Stuff including trash from the car as well as DH's canes, a crate I keep in the back to hold groceries and a travel pillow. Just have to winnow out the necessary and useful Stuff and throw out the rest.

[TheOtherMe]

This is recycling week so a full bin is at the curb.  I have never had that much to recycle!  It will be that way every two weeks for a while.

[startsmart]

Even though I didn’t want to work outside in the snow today, I was out most of the evening for local politics. Thankfully I did not get nominated to any chair position! But we had a really good time and potluck dinner.

The house is staying rather warm but I have to remember I’ve gotten 6 new windows on the first floor since last winter! I checked upstairs and it’s all water tight there (5 new windows up there!) but I do still suspect there’s a nest of squirrels in the rafters of the attic.

[finnime]

I've got to get the house organized and cleaned in the next few days to be ready for next week. DD is flying in on Monday and Thanksgiving we're hosting 13-15 family members. I had a day allocated for each room but I'm going to have to double up, since I procrastinated so much. Things do seem much more doable now that the car is so amazingly clean.

Today I'll hit up the bathroom and office. Tomorrow, the kitchen and guest room. Thursday, the primary bedroom and then Friday the living room and dining area.

Trash goes out Thursday morning.

I wrote a little children's book that I edit in the off time. I'm going to try and get it published before Christmas, to give to friends with young children and grandchildren.

[debthaven]

How exciting finnime ! Both about the car and the book. 

[Iggy aka IG]

LOL, debthaven, indeed re: the quick weekends.  Glad you have a short week.

finnime you've been busy!  And congratulations on the book.

How refreshing to get all of that recycling out, TheOtherMe.

Yay not to be nominated, startsmart.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I've been wrapping things up before it and our upcoming annual convention:

-2023 calendars were dropped off this morning
-Fueled up and washed the truck
-Dropped off the two-bag clothing donation
-Almost finished paying monthly bills
-Submitted the grocery order
-About ready to submit a Christmas gift order

[TheOtherMe]

I've already put more boxes in the recycling bin.  

[snapdragon]

I have the car at the mechanics. I have a great friend who is letting me borrow her car for the next few days. The weather is great and is turning bad next week. So I am thankful it's dropped off. Just for funsies, I left work at 2:30 yesterday and did not get to the shop until 4:20. they are 30 miles away from me. So 30 miles on surface streets due to me being unable to drive on the freeway.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Starting to look forward to an actual weekend this week!

The house is very much out of whack after working for 10 days straight now, so glad I changed the cleaner arrival to 12-2 rather than 8-10 am! I won't have to get up early to finish the prep!

Have an afternoon appt with the architect about house plans, will work on the house when I get back as have the afternoon off work. But still dealing with insomnia issues and not very productive outside of crisis mode....Just need to review some reports and then I will clock out for today....

[TheOtherMe]

Had to go on the porch to bring in a Chewy order.

Snow plow guys had been here to put in their stakes for the winter.  At least now I know they are going to do it.

Last week, when I called the owner, he wasn't sure if they could do mine or not.  I was not happy.  It is late to try to find someone.

[Iggy aka IG]

Between baking last weekend, cooking suppers each night, bringing in the monthly grocery order and folding towels last night, it looks like a bomb went off in my kitchen.  The goal is to bring it back to an acceptable level before leaving town.

[startsmart]

Mom’s doctor appt yesterday got rescheduled so no news yet on the cancer details from surgery. Timing was appreciated though because they had to take their rescue dog to the vet, found out he was in heart failure and had to make the decision to put him to sleep. Thankfully he’s not suffering anymore and they have an older dog doing okay (the twin to my dachshund).

I am trying to get the ice and water out of the pool but the ice sheets are huge. Our high next week is 50° so I’ll aim to get it done then.

[Iggy aka IG]

Nov 16, 2022 14:13:10 GMT -5 startsmart said:

Mom’s doctor appt yesterday got rescheduled so no news yet on the cancer details from surgery. Timing was appreciated though because they had to take their rescue dog to the vet, found out he was in heart failure and had to make the decision to put him to sleep. Thankfully he’s not suffering anymore and they have an older dog doing okay (the twin to my dachshund).

I am trying to get the ice and water out of the pool but the ice sheets are huge. Our high next week is 50° so I’ll aim to get it done then.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

So sorry to hear about the dog startsmart. Hugs.

[finnime]

I guess I've been waiting for a surge of energy to power me through all that remains to be done, and I guess that's not going to happen by itself. Need to thoroughly clean kitchen, bathroom, guest room and master bedroom still. Today!

Also have some things to buy at grocery store. They were out of a fair number of items yesterday. I'm not used to living in an area where you have to travel(!) more than 5 minutes to get to more than one gs. Where I used to live we had 4 immediately accessible, and 2 more within 10 minutes. Much more urban there.

[debthaven]

Sorry about the doggy startsmart . I hope your mom gets good news soon.

TheOtherMe here we can put a few extra boxes by the recycling bin if they're flat.

So 30 miles on surface streets due to me being unable to drive on the freeway.
Why can't you drive on the highway snapdragon ? Is it because it's your friend's car? 

I'm WFH tomorrow morning. Since it's only 2h and I can wear sweatpants and fuzzy slippers, I'm considering this week done. Getting there!!! 

This weekend
- paperwork
- mark 5 videos
- DH's Quickbooks

Next week is a light week, so I may do some of this then. 

[TheOtherMe]

I do flatten the boxes but I have many boxes out there from the bathroom project.  It will take all winter to get them gone.

Contractor came this morning.  Everything is done except for the shower door.

[startsmart]

I have calls for work starting in an hour and I am still in bed 🤷🏼‍♀️

For some reason my new melatonin gummies give me a wicked hangover effect in the morning. I am working a bit this weekend because it’s too cold to go out and do anything else.

Today I might go buy the clothes dryer I need. While I have been drying clothes all over the place since I got the washer. It’s just not worth the time it’s taking. The cost savings will even put by the end of the year when it comes to time saved.

I dropped off a load of donations a few Saturdays ago but then reused my donation basket for something new. I think I need to repurpose the boxes sitting upstairs so I can keep that stuff in the garage.

ETA:
I did get up and to my meeting on time but feel much better because my senior dog did not get up until noon! They say owners and pets begin to resemble each other…

[snapdragon]

Nov 17, 2022 12:29:51 GMT -5 debthaven said:

Sorry about the doggy startsmart . I hope your mom gets good news soon.

TheOtherMe here we can put a few extra boxes by the recycling bin if they're flat.

So 30 miles on surface streets due to me being unable to drive on the freeway.
Why can't you drive on the highway snapdragon ? Is it because it's your friend's car? 

I'm WFH tomorrow morning. Since it's only 2h and I can wear sweatpants and fuzzy slippers, I'm considering this week done. Getting there!!! 

This weekend
- paperwork
- mark 5 videos
- DH's Quickbooks

Next week is a light week, so I may do some of this then. 

Friends car is great! It's my car that has been the problem since July.

My car has tranny issues and doesn't kick down so I would be doing 20-25 and my RPM's would be in in the 3000+ area before the gears would shift. Than if I was trying to get to 35-40+ my RPM's would be over 4000 before shifting. This took a lot of time so the engine has been running at super speed and the car has been doing the slow mo action frame while I have been driving. I believe this is now a well known thing on this transmission.

Basically I was unwilling to drive on the freeway because if I had to stop or slow down the tranny would act up and I wouldn't be able to get up to speed and probably end up in a wreck. That is what they are doing today...the replacement parts came in and it's also being re-programmed. I really do not enjoy having so much of the car as electronic but that is the way all newish cars are anymore. Even better I am just about at 70K miles on the thing.

[debthaven]

I hope you get the car back soon snapdragon !

This weekend
- Shitepile/Sat
- DH's Quickbooks/Sat
- mark 5 videos

I should mark the videos but I'm still burned out from last weekend's marking.