2023 Declutter & Organize Your Life

[debthaven]

Today I did NOTHING but watch crap on Netflix. I really needed to rest after the weekend.

DD got a new job!!! It's not perfect, her commute will suck during high season. But she absolutely needs to leave her current, VERY toxic job. Hopefully it will be a fresh start for her.  

Job 2 put me on remote interviews again this week so I only have to go in one day. I'm so grateful. We're totally exhausted after the long drive and the drama of this weekend. 

[TheOtherMe]

Congrats to your DD.  I hope this works well for her.

[finnime]

That's wonderful for your DD, debthaven. So glad to hear it.

[Opti]

Looking for a vote on something. I am putting some things away very deliberately while my brain cells are on hiatus because of pollen season.

I have a paper I saved from my volunteer days at PSG. It has an obit for one of our members. At that time I was working PT at my old healthcare job and could not realistically attend the services. It does also have names and phone numbers for members of  our committee at the time.

I have a folder or more of PSG stuff and I created a funeral/Bulletin folder for all the funerals I have attended in the last 5 years or so.
I'm not sure where to put it. In the PSG folder(s) with contact info, meeting minutes, and meeting agendas OR the much smaller funeral/bulletin folder which explicitly is for people who passed. Some of the funerals are more and cooler than what I grew up with so its also an idea thing for the future and a remembrance of those in my life that have transitioned.


Sorry for the lengthy post, the one to three working brain cells only do stream of conciousness.

[Opti]

So sorry Debt, sounds like an awful situation for you and your daughter. 

[anciana]

May 8, 2023 16:41:50 GMT -5 debthaven said:

Today I did NOTHING but watch crap on Netflix. I really needed to rest after the weekend.

DD got a new job!!! It's not perfect, her commute will suck during high season. But she absolutely needs to leave her current, VERY toxic job. Hopefully it will be a fresh start for her.  

Job 2 put me on remote interviews again this week so I only have to go in one day. I'm so grateful. We're totally exhausted after the long drive and the drama of this weekend. 

I am glad you were able to visit your DD, if nothing else, just to see what the situation is and provide support for her. I am sure she appreciated that! And I bet you’re all happy for her new job. Here’s hoping it’s a better fit and she enjoys it more.
Hope you can relax a bit now, I can imagine all of that would be weighing on you but things are looking up now. *hugs*

[Iggy aka IG]

My friends.  I was out with a virus last week and am working half days this week.  I missed you!

When I was feeling a bit better later in the week, I did small projects in order to move the body:

-Cleaned out my top bathroom drawer.  Tossed two things, put some in the donation box.
-Organized the back pantry shelves.  Relocated a few items, arranged canned food, added some things to the grocery list.
-Reacquainted myself with my camping gear and relocated a few items.
-Addressed the stack next to my recliner.  Relocated two manuals and caught up on several months' worth of reading.  In the words of a wise woman, I started with the oldest first.
-In the stack above I found the to do list I'd made at the beginning of winter.  Added a few items to it and will start to address it in a few weekends when I have free time.
-Pulled the never used French press from storage, gave it a good bath and read the instructions.  We'll use it for camping.
-Descaled the Keurig.  Yuck.
-Collated and stored 2022 tax documents.
-Moved several reference lists from my old phone to the new one.

I received my bonus yesterday and have a call in to the company to install the office privacy window coverings.  Earlier today I watched a couple slowly walk through the lobby STARING into the office across from me.  That means people do it to me, too.  People are weird.

[startsmart]

Last day has been rough, in a series of weird and horrible events yesterday the cats broke a screen out and escapes to the backyard and I haven’t been able to lure them home or capture them. Checked the vet, called the shelter, nothing to do but wait.

A storm blew in tonight so rain, hail and 60 mph winds and the kitties are out in this mess.

[debthaven]

Hope you're feeling better now Iggy aka IG . We missed you too. 

Oh no startsmart ! I hope the kitties come back very soon.

Thank you all so much for your kind words about DD. 

I'm struggling to get through this week. I'm exhausted, and I don't feel AT ALL retired. After this week things will get easier for a while. I mark my last set of finals this weekend.

I'm also having a very small, ill-attended pity party about doing the same amount of hours next semester. But we'll soon have a loan for the (essential) renovations, and ya gotta do what ya gotta do. It won't be paid off by the end of 2023, but I want to put a big dent in it.

I'm hoping to take work down another notch in 2024, but we'll see. If I can "power on" through 2023 (to quote Rukh O'Rorke ) I should be able to. 

[TheOtherMe]

startsmart  Have you set out a litter box?  That will sometimes bring them home

[Rukh O'Rorke]

May 9, 2023 18:19:32 GMT -5 startsmart said:

Last day has been rough, in a series of weird and horrible events yesterday the cats broke a screen out and escapes to the backyard and I haven’t been able to lure them home or capture them. Checked the vet, called the shelter, nothing to do but wait.

A storm blew in tonight so rain, hail and 60 mph winds and the kitties are out in this mess.

oh gosh, so terrible.

Wishing them a safe passage home....

[Rukh O'Rorke]

May 9, 2023 18:47:52 GMT -5 debthaven said:

Hope you're feeling better now Iggy aka IG . We missed you too. 

Oh no startsmart ! I hope the kitties come back very soon.

Thank you all so much for your kind words about DD. 

I'm struggling to get through this week. I'm exhausted, and I don't feel AT ALL retired. After this week things will get easier for a while. I mark my last set of finals this weekend.

I'm also having a very small, ill-attended pity party about doing the same amount of hours next semester. But we'll soon have a loan for the (essential) renovations, and ya gotta do what ya gotta do. It won't be paid off by the end of 2023, but I want to put a big dent in it.

I'm hoping to take work down another notch in 2024, but we'll see. If I can "power on" through 2023 (to quote Rukh O'Rorke ) I should be able to. 

power through!

[jerseygirl]

May 9, 2023 7:06:15 GMT -5 Opti said:

Looking for a vote on something. I am putting some things away very deliberately while my brain cells are on hiatus because of pollen season.

I have a paper I saved from my volunteer days at PSG. It has an obit for one of our members. At that time I was working PT at my old healthcare job and could not realistically attend the services. It does also have names and phone numbers for members of  our committee at the time.

I have a folder or more of PSG stuff and I created a funeral/Bulletin folder for all the funerals I have attended in the last 5 years or so.
I'm not sure where to put it. In the PSG folder(s) with contact info, meeting minutes, and meeting agendas OR the much smaller funeral/bulletin folder which explicitly is for people who passed. Some of the funerals are more and cooler than what I grew up with so its also an idea thing for the future and a remembrance of those in my life that have transitioned.


Sorry for the lengthy post, the one to three working brain cells only do stream of conciousness.

What is PSG?

[Opti]

May 9, 2023 20:50:30 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

May 9, 2023 7:06:15 GMT -5 Opti said:

Looking for a vote on something. I am putting some things away very deliberately while my brain cells are on hiatus because of pollen season.

I have a paper I saved from my volunteer days at PSG. It has an obit for one of our members. At that time I was working PT at my old healthcare job and could not realistically attend the services. It does also have names and phone numbers for members of  our committee at the time.

I have a folder or more of PSG stuff and I created a funeral/Bulletin folder for all the funerals I have attended in the last 5 years or so.
I'm not sure where to put it. In the PSG folder(s) with contact info, meeting minutes, and meeting agendas OR the much smaller funeral/bulletin folder which explicitly is for people who passed. Some of the funerals are more and cooler than what I grew up with so its also an idea thing for the future and a remembrance of those in my life that have transitioned.


Sorry for the lengthy post, the one to three working brain cells only do stream of conciousness.

What is PSG?

Professional Services Group. I was part of one called Professional Services Group of Central New Jersey aka PSGCNJ. It used to be sponsored by the NJ Dept of Labor. We had to go independent and become a 501(c)(3) because there were complaints at the time the organization was not welcoming to blue collar workers. 

Its barely functioning right now as most of the old timers have retired or moved. In the heyday I was a co-chair for a committee of 38plus people that put on training on how to get your next job. That has been refined, as we could no longer do in person 5 day training due to unavailable places to hold it. In the heyday it had over 160 members most of which volunteered lots of time and talent. We also did mock interviews and other stuff. (Training committee)

[finnime]

I'm on a train heading home after visiting DD. Her birthday is next week but I'll be too busy getting ready for our trip to go down then. As we chug along, I'm planning how to tackle setting the house to rights for when we're gone. I want to come home to a completely clean and nicely organized home. A girl can dream, right?

I'm going to break it down by major tasks and areas: the basement, my clothes which need winnowing, the deck which needs straightening out, the garden and yard which need weeding, the kitchen which demand organizing; the shite pile. I can get it all done by the 22nd, I think.

[debthaven]

I hope you had a good visit with DD finnime ! I know you'll manage with the house. 

I just finished 2 very long days days of non-stop interviewing. My next "chunk" is five weeks of a very light schedule ... just my professor/admin students and 3 meetings. 

But first I need to mark my last set of 18 final exams this weekend (about 4h).

DH did the laundry. 

ETA: And because I am a glutton for punishment, I just offered both schools an additional half day for interviews. I didn't offer full days though. (I'm not free all day those days and those long days are too tiring.)

ETA2: Turns out Job 1 cancelled the day I offered.  I won't hear from Job 2 till tomorrow.

[debthaven]

The painter has nearly finished painting around the new windows (inside the house). He's finished the kitchen, DR, LR and DS2's bedroom/DH's office downstairs, and DS3's bedroom and the guest room upstairs. He still has DD's room, DD's walk-in closet and our bedroom to finish. He only works inside when it's raining, otherwise he works outside. 

I told the contractor that the priority is DD's room/closet because she arrives on Wed. Her red curtains are 15YO, they're very faded and chewed up by our late bunny. We'll get her new curtains tomorrow. Red isn't in style (we had trouble finding them for the LR/DR) so we'll get forest green (with DD's approval). I could order red curtains on Amazon but I prefer to see/touch the fabric. 

This weekend
- pharmacy
- get DD's curtains
- DS3's birthday gift
- mark finals

[snapdragon]

I am alive and starting to actually move around.

Finally managed to get groceries on Monday. 

My place is a complete mess and I just don't have the bandwidth or energy to even attempt to deal with it right now. It's going to be very warm this weekend so I am hoping I can function enough to get my place cool.

Everyone take care of yourselves. My sickness is getting better so I am hoping that it's mostly gone by next week. Allergies won't be gone but the rest of this crud I would gladly toss into the bin.

[debthaven]

I hope you feel better very soon snapdragon. 

Any luck with the kitties startsmart ? 

[startsmart]

No luck yet with the kittens, we are having very wet weather and I hope they’ll dislike being out in the muck. Same reason I won’t put a litter box outside, it’ll just get flooded.

I was out on Tuesday night for an event during a big storm that broke one of my old wood windows so I need to clean up that glass (mostly on the roof) and got a new one on order. It has plastic up because we are getting rain all week and I’m trying to protect the floors.

[TheOtherMe]

Debt, are you having the entire inside of your house painted?

[debthaven]

No TheOtherMe  they're only painting around the new window frames to hide the plaster/cement. They matched the dirty white in most of the house, and the terra cotta in the guest room. It won't be too visible once we get the curtains back up.

The inside needs it except for DS2's bedroom and our bedroom which were done right before Covid, but that's not happening anytime soon.

They are however painting the outside ... hence the need for the loan.

This weekend
- get DD's curtains/Fri
- DS3's birthday gift/Fri
- pharmacy
- mark finals

ETA: The painter just finished inside. Now we have to put the 3 upstairs bedrooms back together ... we'll do that this weekend.

[Iggy aka IG]

snapdragon glad you are feeling better.  If it is anything like the crud I had, I feel for you.  And yes, allergies are prevalent here, too.

debthaven what a sense of closure to have the interior painting complete!  Glad DD is coming for a visit.

startsmart sorry to hear about the storm, your windows and kittens.  Part of our state had a very bad hailstorm earlier this week resulting in a lot of damage.

finnime I love the fact you used the word winnowing regarding your clothing.  I shall remember that the next time I address that task.  

L came Wednesday and the house looks and smells clean.

I'm headed out of cell range soon, which after being ill for nearly two weeks, is just what the doctor ordered.  

Have a relaxing weekend, everyone.  

[debthaven]

I put the furniture back in place in the three upstairs bedrooms, and put DD's clothes back in her closet (they were on the bed because of the closet window.) DH put all the bedroom curtains (back) up.

DD's new curtains look good. Her room finally looks like a bedroom again instead of a storage unit, which is great because that's where the grandkids stay when they're here.

We haven't put up the new curtains in the LR/DR because we need new curtain rods. I like the way it looks without curtains so we may leave it like that for the summer.  

Enjoy your trip Iggy aka IG .

This weekend (updated)
- pharmacy
- mark 18 finals

[Sharon]

I took Thursday and Friday off to try and catch up with life so of course on Wednesday I started coughing again.  I'm finally feeling a little better today but still very wheezy.  The past two days I have worked in the yard and while it doesn't look like it I did get stuff done.  My mini-petunias are planted in the big planter on the back patio.  I almost have one section of the garden completely weeded.  It is weeded enough to plant my peppers but I want to finish it up and also plant some lettuce and maybe a row of beans. 

Wednesday and Thursday I did work on the hand mowing and finally got everything within the yard done.  I still need to do out by the road and along the side of the property on the other side of the fence.  This I got the rider out and got the rest of the lawn mowed and also got two of the three patio dining chairs out.  I just was too tired to haul the last one out.

There were several small things that I got done such as moving some flower pots that had been on the back patio since I moved in to the shop.  The plants died the first winter I was here, even though they were covered.  Then I raked up the pile of leaves that had accumulated in that area.  I also got the pasture irrigation system figured out so it is now on automatic and I don't have to manually turn it on and off each day.  Now if the irrigation guy would just come back and fix the leak in the yard system.  He never tells you when he will be there he just randomly shows up.  It has been at least 3 weeks since he was last here and discovered he had the wrong size parts to fix the issue.  It has been two months since I first texted him that I was ready for him to come out and get my systems up and running for the years.

[startsmart]

UPDATE! We had a massive thunderstorm Friday night and my rain gauge says 4.5” in 2 hrs. I kept randomly hearing meowing so I’d check the front porch and backyard but couldn’t go out with pouring rain and lightning. When the rain stopped I got out the food and lured Harry back in. George is still hiding in the backyard.

Harry ate well and let me brush most of the stickers out his long fur. I am hoping he can cry and lure his brother home this weekend. It is so gross out there since my plumbing issues the grass is now a mud pit and I am hopeful that the bad weather brings George back.

I did notice that the storm filled my pool up the rest of the way but I know from experience it will be COLD.

[debthaven]

Yay for Harry coming home startsmart ! I hope George follows soon.

This weekend (updated)
- mark 18 final essays/Sat 
- input MSc marks/Sat
- pharmacy
All done with marking for the semester! Looking forward to 5 light weeks. 

[TheOtherMe]

What a good boy, Harry!   Keep talking to George so he comes to be with you.

I have until Monday to fill the recycle bin.  It's almost full now.

[debthaven]

DH and I deep-cleaned DS3's room and the guest room today. We were planning to do DD's room too but we ran out of steam. I'll do it Wednesday with the cleaner before DD arrives.  

I still have to take the old curtains to the recycling bin but at least they're in the car now.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

May 3, 2023 18:37:38 GMT -5 NastyWoman said:

Another day, another short lived burst of decluttering. Today I skipped the books, went into my closet and filled two medium sized kitchen bags with clothes to go to goodwill. 
They will leave the house with other miscellaneous items tomorrow. I need to get my car back into my carport first. It is now parked a few blocks away due to a painting project here in the complex I live.

Sounds like the bursts are being super effective!!