2024 Organize & Declutter

[debthaven]

That's beautiful startsmart .

I'm back at work today (online).  I wish I had taken another week off but I'll manage. I'll be doing about 6-8h/week till the end of the year, online.

[wvugurl26]

I think you can mix latex paint with kitty litter to speed up the drying out process. If you have a lot of paint, it might be worth buying some litter.

My decluttering this weekend netted me 7 forever stamps and a $50 bill. I made some decent progress in the basement and cleared a spot for the Rainbow vacuum.

I also went to Target and bought a storage box for the train set DH was gifted by my uncle. I'm not sure it works and in the six months it's been in our house, he hasn't made any move to test it. I reclaimed one of my good LL Bean boat & tote bags. We were at my dad's when he got the gift and it went in that bag in my car for transport and stayed in the entry way for 6 months.

4 boxes were dropped off to Goodwill.

I made decent progress in the basement but as usual I had to stop because I needed to get other things done before Monday.

[seriousthistime]

I've mixed kitty litter in with my leftover paint. It works great. 

[snapdragon]

I took the weekend to loaf around.

This week - 

I need to tighten some bolts in the dining room table   I did all four corners and the table is so steady now

If clear enough I have to put the new plates on the truck   Managed to get both plates on the truck. 

Spread some salt on the weeds in the driveway and front yard

Wash the floors

Attempt to put up some more art on the walls

I have a coffee get together happening on Nov 8th so I need to start picking away at getting the main part of the house "guest ready"

[TheOtherMe]

I confirmed late this afternoon that my house will be cleaned tomorrow afternoon.    Fingers crossed.

[haapai]

The youngster that mows my lawn showed up yesterday asking to buy the gas-powered, backpack-style leaf blower that my folks gave me when they moved into a condo.  Since it was over ten years old, probably hadn't been used in eight years, and I had owned it for two years without ever attempting to start it, I just gave it to him.  The one time that I had tried it on, it seemed a bit heavy.  My brother had passed on it for the same reason.  Maybe the 19-year-old that is a head taller than me and a hundred pounds heavier will be able to get some use out of it. 

Unfortunately, I could not locate the canister of gas blend that came with it fast enough to get the kid to take it too.  He had no interest in stale gas and was pretty sure that his trimmer used the same blend. 

Two square feet of floor space has been recovered and I no longer have to feel guilty when I see the thing.  This is a definite win. 

[Iggy aka IG]

startsmart, what a beautiful quilt!  I love how the groups of colors transition to the next.

debthaven I am so glad online is an option!

Nice work, wvugurl26!  DH has a set in the corner of his Man Cave and mostly works on it in the winter.

Good job, snapdragon!

Yay for more floor space, haapai.  That's one of the things I try and focus on as I think it makes the room feel less cluttered.  That and the ability to move around to declutter more boxes, countertops, desktop, etc.

Fingers crossed, TheOtherMe!

Speaking of kitten litter.  Cat owning friends, do you find there is a difference between plastic vs. stainless steel litter boxes?  I am going to buy our kittens a third box and am leaning toward the latter.  That and a fountain type water bowl.  It will be their Halloween presents.  

Fall has finally arrived, and I love it.  The cooler mornings, soft sweaters...  Snow is expected this week.

Our annual Halloween party came and went.  Due to dwindling numbers, I think this was our last one.  However, Friday evening's neighborhood trick o' treaters were adorable.  8 children, 6 adults and a teenaged big sister stopped in for snacks and beverages.  Thankfully we have tough kids because afterwards, despite the dark, the children were sent outside to play and run off some sugar.  It was a lot of people, and I'm not used to so much noise and movement.

When setting up for our Saturday night party, I got in 3 loads of laundry and did another the next day.  The rec room is picked up, I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher twice, and I will send the leftover cracker assortment and a few other things to work with DH.  I've been eating wheat, and my body is protesting.

[TheOtherMe]

I have always used plastic litter boxes.  I have learned that some cats do not like cover boxes and some don't care.  My current cats don't mind if their litter box is covered as long as they have a lot of room to move around.  So they do.  

I didn't know stainless steel litter boxes were made.  

Trick or Treating in this town was on Sunday.  As usual, no one came, which was a good thing because I didn't buy any candy.  

[finnime]

My town does ToTing on the 31st. I don't know for sure what to expect. In Maryland we were inundated. We had a corner property in a densely settled neighborhood with tons of kids. Here is fairly densely settled, too, but not too many children. Just some. To be sure not to get stuck I bought candy that DH also favors.

I've sent off two pictures that will be exhibited in a gallery in Santa Fe for the month of November. I need to go through my portfolio and pull out smaller pieces for a local show beginning at the end of next week. I also have a festival this weekend and two more in November plus one in December. The year is ending with a bang.

[debthaven]

I hope the shows go very well finnime ! It's wonderful that so many galleries are showing your/DH's photos!

I left the house for the first time today, to see the ophthalmologist. All is well, but I need new glasses. I'm not up to going to the mall for them though ... maybe next week.

I'm starting a list for November, but I'm not feeling great, so it's the minimum I need to do. I'm also starting PT next week, twice a week. So many medical appts, ugh.

November list:
- order new glasses
- osteodensitometry + gyn appt
- Xray + surgeon appt

[startsmart]

Iggy - I looked at the stainless steel litter boxes but they were too spendy for me. Right now I have 3 cats and 2 boxes upstairs and 2 downstairs, all plastic. I also have 2 spares so I can swap them out and scrub the dirty one in the laundry room sink.

I also got the cats a water fountain and they all love in, including the dog! I just keep a few gallon jugs of water nearby to refill it every few days.

[azucena]

I have stainless steel but they are meant to be huge baking pans which are cheaper than steel cat litter boxes.

If you get water fountain get stainless. Drinking from plastic will eventually give them cat acne from their faces rubbing on it. Also be prepared to always provide fountain water once your cat turns bougie lol.

[soupandstew]

The top shelf of my linen cabinet has been bugging me for some time but it was sort of "out of sight, out of mind" until I grabbed one towel yesterday and you know how the rest of that story went.  This morning I took everything off the shelf and was truly shocked at what I had up there.  It's always good to have a FEW old towels, washrags, etc for whatever, but I definitely don't need 21 old wash cloths and 7 old hand towels so all but 2 towels and 4 wash cloths went in the Goodwill bag 

[Sharon]

I mentioned that I had someone coming in to do the floors last month.  She did a pretty good job and it helped my mood and kind of gave me a lift to get moving on other parts of my life.  By having my floors cleaned it was one thing off my list and I didn't feel quite as overwhelmed.

I had her back this month and this time had her do a little more.  I'm not real pleased.  She cleaned 2 of the bathrooms and the sink stoppers look great in my bathroom but the mirror is so streaky you can't hardly see yourself.  She dusted in my bedroom, she dusted the dresser but not the frame/mirror that is part of the dresser.  She dusted my wooden rocking chair but didn't do the rockers or anything below the seat.  I think I will just have her through the holidays and then cancel her.  The house is cleaner than it was, just not what I would expect for what I pay.

[debthaven]

Sharon would it be worth talking to her and giving her another chance?

[haapai]

Today I tossed out a jute bag full of jute bags.  Yesh!  Can you tell that my parents spent most of their adult lives in the developing world? 

I also tossed a busted lampshade that was designed to clip onto an incandescent bulb.

I discovered a spring-operated kitchen scale that is at least sixty years old, two of my mother's childhood New Testaments, and a tin canister of stale popcorn.  I wasn't able to get myself to toss any of these items.  The first two were set aside so that I could marvel at their antiquity and the later is being repurposed as a metal-collecting container.  None of them came inside with me. 

I've begun to say "Please be all junk" aloud before opening boxes and containers.

[TheOtherMe]

Lucy had a fountain.  Because she would only drinking running water after that, these two cats do not and will not have a fountain for water.  

I do run the water in the bathroom sink as commanded when I am in there.  

New cleaning lady came yesterday.  I wore a very high quality mask while she was here and for a bit after she left.  She did a very good job of cleaning.  It's hard to find people as I have found out.  She made a very dirty house look very nice.

After she left and I took off my mask, I noticed this smell.  It was not a pleasant smell.  I smelled like it.  The cats smelled like it.  I couldn't figure out what it was.  I took a shower yesterday and if I smelled, why would the cats smell?  

Then I noticed a baggie on the kitchen floor.  Oh, is that what that smells like now?  Apparently it is and it stinks.  

I have to think about this.  I don't want to mention the baggie I found because I am not giving it back but I would like her to shower and have on clean clothes when she comes. 

I have my air purifiers that I run whenever anyone is here and I can't smell it this morning.

Amelia was weird during the night and this morning.  I think she got enough in her system to feel different.  

This is not a problem I had anticipated.  

[TheOtherMe]

I did drop off an old computer for recycling today when I went to town to get my food.  I've had that on my To Do list for over a year.  

[haapai]

Oct 30, 2024 14:59:11 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

Lucy had a fountain.  Because she would only drinking running water after that, these two cats do not and will not have a fountain for water.  

I do run the water in the bathroom sink as commanded when I am in there.  

New cleaning lady came yesterday.  I wore a very high quality mask while she was here and for a bit after she left.  She did a very good job of cleaning.  It's hard to find people as I have found out.  She made a very dirty house look very nice.

After she left and I took off my mask, I noticed this smell.  It was not a pleasant smell.  I smelled like it.  The cats smelled like it.  I couldn't figure out what it was.  I took a shower yesterday and if I smelled, why would the cats smell?  

Then I noticed a baggie on the kitchen floor.  Oh, is that what that smells like now?  Apparently it is and it stinks.  

I have to think about this.  I don't want to mention the baggie I found because I am not giving it back but I would like her to shower and have on clean clothes when she comes. 

I have my air purifiers that I run whenever anyone is here and I can't smell it this morning.

Amelia was weird during the night and this morning.  I think she got enough in her system to feel different.  

This is not a problem I had anticipated.  

You are definitely not the only person encountering gig workers that reek of weed.  I've lost almost all of my sense of smell and never had much familiarity with the stuff but I smell it constantly.  It's no longer the "strong tobacco" smell that I was told about when I was more naive.  The piney and skunky notes have become much more prominent and impossible to ignore.  I've been sorely tempted to drag some of those instacart et al workers aside and tell them that if I could smell the skunk on them, everyone could.  What stops me is the certainty that someone else has probably tried to tell them this already and it has not sunk in. 

[wvugurl26]

There's a sign up on the door of all locations of my ob-gyn office that basically says don't come in here reeking of weed. I thought of all the doctor types you might show up reeking of weed that wouldn't be it.

It's trash night and all the paper recycling I sorted out over the weekend is on the curb. Another step forward.

[TheOtherMe]

It is not the smell of the weed I did in college, but that was in the 1970's.  

It smelled like skunk.  It was bad.  

I don't know how she gets it off.  It's in her home and in her clothes.  I guess I open windows big time even when it's zero outside.  

Back in the day, my doctor did not make it a secret that he did weed, but it did not smell like this.  

She will never get the code I have given other cleaners to get in my house when I am not home.  I do not want her smoking that stuff in my house.

If I find another baggie, I won't have to look on google to know what it is either.

Amelia is fine since late afternoon yesterday.  She was so weird that I do believe the odor affected her.  Who knows, she may have found the baggie before I did.  The cats did not high tail it to the basement either.  They stayed upstairs.  The cleaner did not try to talk to the cats.  Was it the weed smell that kept them here instead of the basement?

She works in the mornings in a small office.  She said 6 employees.  For all I know, they smoke there.  She cleans houses in the afternoons.

[debthaven]

TheOtherMe can you tell her you're allergic to smoke? I get that it's awkward though.

[seriousthistime]

I find that people who smoke a lot of weed do not realize it clings to their clothes.  My sister was told by a client that she reeked of weed.  She said she didn't believe it because she couldn't smell it.  Her car also reeked.  She denied that it did and said it couldn't possibly reek because she had one of those pine scented air fresheners hanging from her rear view mirror. 

[jerseygirl]

When we were in Sonoma CA if we had car windows down, we could smell that stinky strong skunk smell occasionally from a passing car!
I wouldn’t allow anyone who smelled like skunk into my house UGH!!
I never liked cigarette smoke and some people did have strong smell on their clothes but the skunk smell is MUCH worse
No problem with people doing what they want but I do object to bringing skunk smells into my house or even needing to breathe it when walking in the city

[Iggy aka IG]

debthaven I am glad you left the house and that you are taking it easy.

soupandstew good job on the linen shelf!  In the past I've donated old sheets and towels to the animal shelter.

finnime what a lovely way to end the year.

Nice work, haapai!  I love antique items such as those.

TheOtherMe congratulations on ridding of the old computer.  That has also been on my list for several years.

Re: weed.  It's legal here, but it's never been my thing.  I do often wonder how people get loaded and then function at work.   

Thank you all for your kitty litter and drinking fountain feedback!  azucena what a great idea to use baking pans instead of buying new.  And I didn't know that regarding plastic and acne.  (It's interesting, after I read the above, an article about it popped up in my computer's news feed. )  And LOL regarding the kittens turning bougie.  Their food is served on thrifted on small Pampered Chef dessert plates, and they have their own pantry shelf for food, etc.  And every now and then they "allow" me to wash their blanket and towels.  I am now that cat person.

I WFH yesterday:
-Cleared off the kitchen table
-Put Halloween party leftover non-perishable food into the pantry
-Did one load of laundry
-Emptied the dishwasher
-Walked two bags of trash and the large pizza box out to the can
-Cleared off my desktop
-Processed a rather lengthy quote, deleted 200 old emails, and updated my calendar for the next two months

[TheOtherMe]

Mom never believed that her house and everything in it smelled like cigarette smoke.  

It wasn't until she quit smoking for about 2 years that she admitted everything was yellow and we had to paint, etc. for her and new furniture and carpet was purchased.

It's not easy to find a cleaner.  I don't feel like I can fire her because I have had so many problems finding someone who will clean my house.

She did a good job.  It will be much faster next time because there it had been so long since it was thoroughly cleaned.  

I don't think it will do any good to tell I'm allergic to smoke unless I am prepared to fire her and I'm not.  

I have been trying to get someone to clean my house since the middle of the summer.  There are not a lot of options.

[TheOtherMe]

Weed was a college thing for me.  I could have gotten fired for it when I worked for the IRS and I wasn't risking my job over that.

Thus it became necessary that my roommate and I decided we would not host parties because there were too many people who wanted to smoke weed and they laughed when I said it could cost me my job.  They were all college students so didn't have that problem.

My naivity about what it is today is why I had to google what was in the baggie.  

It's not legal in Iowa, but it is in Illinois.  It doesn't matter if it's legal.  If someone wants to smoke it, they can find it.  Same with hard drugs.  Never did that but I know people who did.

I know my doctor in Boulder fired his office manager after she became addicted to cocaine.  She was stealing the business receipts.  He hired an accountant and ended up dropping charges after getting payment when she and her husband sold their house.

[TheOtherMe]

Iggy aka IG   I'm enjoying watching you become a Cat Lady.  

Amelia somehow got her collar off this morning.  Luckily, it was on the floor beside my chair and she didn't fight me when I put it back on.  I did not want the feeder to beep incessant when it didn't it would be trigger from the chip not being used.  It's a warning to the Cat Mom that the cat isn't eating.

[Iggy aka IG]

Aw, thank you, TheOtherMe.  They really do rescue us.

Re: weed.  In high school, I hung out with the crowd that smoked it.  I never felt peer pressured into it, though I did smoke cigarettes.  I quit a few years later, primarily for health reasons.

[azucena]

Oct 31, 2024 17:54:48 GMT -5 Iggy aka IG said:

Aw, thank you, TheOtherMe.  They really do rescue us.

Re: weed.  In high school, I hung out with the crowd that smoked it.  I never felt peer pressured into it, though I did smoke cigarettes.  I quit a few years later, primarily for health reasons.

I use something like this
www.webstaurantstore.com/choice-full-size-standard-weight-anti-jam-stainless-steel-steam-table-hotel-pan-6-deep/4070069.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&gclid=Cj0KCQjw1Yy5BhD-ARIsAI0RbXZ3Azj4pYN_hymAIjHPuuumbrDtUSrRkUw3AHxs--a3kMyLR0LeQv8aAnHBEALw_wcB