2022 Declutter & Organize Your Life

[debthaven]

I'm sorry TheO. 

[Sharon]

I have started putting up my Christmas decorations.  First has been the outdoor lights.  I did go through and toss the bad strings.  Mom insisted on savings the bulbs from one of the bad strings.  It was easier to let her do that than argue with her.  She is gone now so I may whittle down some of those bulbs.   I do need to get one more string of lights to finish across the front of my house.  I had to put up hooks to be able to hang the lights but hopefully next year it will be easier.  The hooks will now exist and I have an extendable pole that can be used to lift the lights onto the hooks.

Mom was here for 4 nights and we had a good visit.  DD is checking into the hospital this evening to be induced so I will have the kids and the dog for the next several days.

[TheOtherMe]

I am still impressed by my cleaners.  Sent a text about 7:45 AM with the time they will be here this morning.  I already know they will be here at that time.

[snapdragon]

Nov 26, 2022 20:00:24 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

Nov 26, 2022 11:04:47 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

I have made my grocery pick up run this morning and everything has been put away.  I should be good for a couple of weeks.

The cleaners are coming on Monday so I got cash for them.  I also realized that next month I need to pay them for a Christmas gift.

I hope to get my Christmas decorations up today.  The red, white and blue tree is going in to the trash can.

I did find the list of drop off spots for cardboard for my county.  There is one around the corner from me.  Stopped this morning but it was full.  I can watch for when it gets emptied and take a bunch of boxes over there to speed up the process of getting all of the boxes out of my garage.  

Between my regular recycling and the boxes I put in immediately after  the last recycling day, the bin is near full.  There isn't room for more big boxes.  

Not in the mood for Christmas.  Totes are going back to the garage.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with not wanting to "Gussy" up your place. If you are not feeling it, your not feeling it. Sometimes I admit, all the "extra" that goes into decorating is just a PITA and not worth the hassle. When I am in that mood, I just put up a string of lights in the back window and call it a day. 

[TheOtherMe]

I ordered a wreath from Etsy and I did put that up indoors.  Otherwise, it's that and the ceramic trees.  

My cleaners just left and commented on how well I had done at not messing up the place.  Well, it's all going in the bedrooms.

They also commented No white dust!   I don't know if I could go through another renovation in the foreseeable future because of all the dirt and noise.

[saveinla]

Hello everyone - I am back from vacation and I had a great time with family and friends. We have to start unpacking all the stuff, but have decided not to rush through that and do it one day at a time. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

[startsmart]

I finished painting the bedroom ceiling and just have a few more spots to touch up before I bring in the Christmas tree.

Now that I have space in the living room back I can lay out the quilts and backing pieces to make sure it’s all good before that goes to the quilter.

[TheOtherMe]

Shower door is being installed in the morning  

[finnime]

Nov 28, 2022 15:30:27 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

Shower door is being installed in the morning  

It's been a long slog. I'm very happy for you.

[saveinla]

I did not want to sleep at 6 PM yesterday evening, so I went through and emptied the suitcases and put 90% of the stuff away. Today I have to go through the clothes to be washed and start running them. 

Its been 5 years since my mom passed away suddenly today and its been weighing heavily on my mind. Not sure how much I can do - I will be donating to the food bank in her memory, as I am too tired to do anything else. I have been up since 2 AM thinking of my mom and sister and trying to make sense of it all.

[TheOtherMe]

saveinla  Please take care of yourself.  These days are hard.  For me, it never makes sense.

[nikiz628]

Nov 28, 2022 12:01:37 GMT -5 snapdragon said:

Nov 26, 2022 20:00:24 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

Not in the mood for Christmas.  Totes are going back to the garage.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with not wanting to "Gussy" up your place. If you are not feeling it, your not feeling it. Sometimes I admit, all the "extra" that goes into decorating is just a PITA and not worth the hassle. When I am in that mood, I just put up a string of lights in the back window and call it a day. 

This is our 15th Christmas in our house and I think it will be the first one we don't put up the outdoor lights for. I'm just exhausted and the thought of getting them out, hoping they all work, hanging them... then taking them back down again just feels like too much this year. (Coming from the literal QUEEN of Christmas, mind you). I did hang two snowflake lights in our front windows, so there is a little glitz out front lol.  

[nikiz628]

My next surgery is coming up on Monday, so I am in prep mode. This time it's my left wrist and elbow, which should be easier as it's my non-dominant hand. I have all of my Christmas shopping completed and I will have it all wrapped before the weekend is over. I am working on getting the house super cleaned and praying it stays that way for at least the week after the surgery (come on kids, I know you can do it lol). My sister has taken over my hosting duties for our family Xmas this year, so that's one less thing I have to worry about. I have a few odds-and-ends errands I would love to knock off the list beforehand as well, for peace of mind more than anything. Basically I am wrapping up my year in the next 6 days.   I've also had a hair in my behind to start pitching all of the things again, so I am trying to keep that in check until I have more free time. 

[finnime]

Best wishes with your surgery, nikiz628. It sounds like you have preparing well in hand. It's probably a good thing to not put out a lot of Christmas decoration, because you would have to take it down again and you may not feel up to it.

[debthaven]

Yay for the shower door TheOtherMe !

Hugs saveinla . How was your trip?

I hope your surgery goes well nikiz628 . 

[saveinla]

my trip was a lot of fun debthaven - really enjoyed spending time with a lot of friends and family.

Since I had a lot of time, I could relax and take my time visiting with everyone - lots of good food and fun.

[debthaven]

Glad you had a good time saveinla !

How was your shower this morning TheOtherMe ?!

Any news Sharon ? 

I've been out of the house 3 full days this week so I'm behind on laundry. I just got home and started a load.

This week
- pick up package
- mark 18 26 reports

I started marking at school today. I didn't get far but it's a start. 

On Zoom tomorrow and Friday morning. 

PS Just started the second load.  

[TheOtherMe]

The shower was wonderful.  Long and hot.  And no water on the bathroom floor.  It stayed contained in the shower just like the installer said it would.

Money well spent.

[snapdragon]

I have a small list for this week -

Fold and put away laundry on the bed

Wash dirty clothes and bed linens

Vacuum

take standing fans back to storage along with a few extra containers

enjoy time at x-mas party Sat morning

remake the bed so it's even cozier.

[Iggy aka IG]

Hello friends, I've been out for two weeks with what I concluded is bronchitis.  I'm several pages behind but wanted to stop in and say hi.  Hope everyone had a relaxing Thanksgiving.  I'll check back in hopefully tomorrow.  

[debthaven]

Oh no Iggy aka IG ! I hope you're feeling better now. 

[Sharon]

Baby arrived Sunday evening.  They were discharged yesterday.  Today is the first day that I haven't had guests over for at least some part of the day in over a week.  During lunch I finished picking up the few toys that were still out.  DD started to when they stopped by yesterday to pick up DGS2 and I told her to leave it.  The big kids cleaned up pretty good the night before.  The mess was mostly stuff that DGS2 had hauled out, and a few lego creations the older two had made and left on the nightstands in the guest room.  It wasn't much and didn't take long to clean up.

[saveinla]

Congrats Sharon.

[saveinla]

Nov 30, 2022 14:27:33 GMT -5 Iggy aka IG said:

Hello friends, I've been out for two weeks with what I concluded is bronchitis.  I'm several pages behind but wanted to stop in and say hi.  Hope everyone had a relaxing Thanksgiving.  I'll check back in hopefully tomorrow.  

Feel better Iggy aka IG. 

[debthaven]

Congratulations Sharon ! So happy everything went well. 

[moneysquirrel]

Congrats, Sharon

Wishing you well on your upcoming surgery, nikiz628
Iggy aka IG -- Glkad you are on the road to recovery.  Take it easy if you can.

TheOtherMe, Your shower is beautiful.  

debthaven -- Only a few more classes.

I have been gearing up for the last few craft shows -- only two left.  Putting the fininshing touches on a few items in the next day or so and then calling it quits for the shows and I can work on other projects that have been started.  Also have two more classes to teach so those (as well as the ones I take) will be over by the end of next week.  

J have began to start getting the house into Christmas mode.  Still have some to do inside before I do the few things outside.  (Still have the Thanksgiving/Fall wreath on the door as well as that season's flag.) I plan to get all done no later than Sunday.  Also noticed that my Christmas catcus is full of buds so I am happy about that as well.  Some of the other ones are barely surviving. 

Getting close to bedtime so I will sign off now.  Til later.

 

[debthaven]

This week 
- pick up package/Thu
- mark 8 26 reports (Wed/Thu)

[TheOtherMe]

DN1 has officially asked me to go to Aspen with them the first week of January.  No offer of paying any of the cost and I would be there to take care of the Toddler while they ski.  I told him when he first asked that we would have to work out a cost sharing agreement.

I think it's a no.  I'd rather go to Toronto later in the spring.

[snapdragon]

Dec 1, 2022 9:54:41 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

DN1 has officially asked me to go to Aspen with them the first week of January.  No offer of paying any of the cost and I would be there to take care of the Toddler while they ski.  I told him when he first asked that we would have to work out a cost sharing agreement.

I think it's a no.  I'd rather go to Toronto later in the spring.

Glad that you are figuring out your boundaries TheOtherMe.

Iggy aka IG - Hope your feeling better.

[startsmart]

Gah, this last month has just been brutal. In the midst of making arrangements for her cancer treatment my mom has had to put both of her dogs to sleep (they were 12 and 15) and she’s devastated. It’s a terrible time to adopt a new dog because her radiation treatment will likely be 3-5 times a week at a hospital an hour from home. Both dogs had a sudden downturn (heart failure and total loss of mobility) so it was the right thing but just really sucks.