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Post by michelle on May 4, 2024 3:20:06 GMT
We are a group working to declutter our spaces. Please feel free to share your goals, projects, ideas, revelations or challenges facing you as you work toward your own goals. Also feel free to copy and paste this intro, use our "CLUTTERBUSTERS" Title for the day to start the thread if you don't see it started. Good luck Clutterbusting!
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Post by michelle on May 4, 2024 3:21:12 GMT
Z, Hope your flights are pleasant!
Not much today since it was another down time day. I did manage to spend a couple of hours on office admin work. My irises are starting to form flowers---very exciting!! I don't remember the apple tree having such stunning blossoms, it certainly has been beautiful. I have been keeping the house better now that I am not working so much. Tomorrow Clair has a PT appointment and a Therapy event. I will have to see if she is up to attending the therapy event since the cold wind affects her so much causing her to be exhausted. We were back to winter today.
Thursday - Clair and I went to her PT appointment got some encouragement and questions answered so that was helpful. Then we went to the Stay Pawsitive event at the university which was fun. I sent an email inquiring about information pertaining to the Paws for Love involvement with reading programs and children so I will check that out since we might enjoy that. I did get some more office admin items done and also got all items put away from the day away from home. Just trying to deal with things as they come up rather than having them pile up due to having so much to do that I can't get everything done. Lots is piled up in the area of raking. Uggg... I will overcome! Tomorrow I don't know what my plan is. Hooray!
Friday - Another restful day. I still get my steps in but otherwise I am just kind of taking a few days off from the rest of it. One of my irises bloomed! Best day so far with Clair being able to wander around the house and also one of the decks that is sectioned off so that she cannot get into the yard around the house. This is to avoid the dreaded zoomies. I am not nearly as stressed out about her--it has been a long very difficult period of six months and I am going to skip retro whining. The furniture is going to arrive about 10 days later than I thought it would. We are headed back to winter including snow tomorrow night--just hoping shoveling is not needed.
Hope you are enjoying being home!!!
Onward>>>>
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Post by zenamidievel on May 4, 2024 22:27:49 GMT
Good AFternoon,
I'm glad you were able to do the event/s with Clair and that your flowers are starting to bloom. I thought about your Iris plantings today on my walk with neighbor as quite a lot of things are blooming here now, irises and trees.
I'm soooo very glad to be home!!! My clock is messed up in an opposite sort of way. I seem to not want to sleep at all, which is weird. I got a walk in with neighbor today. Between pretty solidly working I have 32 Needlepoint charts now live in my shop that are all things I've not submitted, won't be submitting for certificates. This took many hours and there were corrections to the drafts that I'd done prior to leaving that needed done also. But...I think it's all worth it, I think what's in there looks adorable and most of the designs would be pretty easily worked from a chart for most people. I am SATISFIED and so glad this stuff is up! I do have three more designs to post, but will do later today. I Have spent a lot of time on this these past two days! I will just need people to "find" me in this regard.
Positives: As my shop has been open a few years now, I have good sales history and reviews. I've disabled the ability for anyone to view what my sales have been in regard to specific items, they only see the total. This benefits me, as though my charts are new, people will have no idea for most part that they are new and might assume that some of my sales are from these patterns already, though I have no reviews for them yet. People can page through a shops reviews and try to figure out what sells the most frequently or recently from a shop, I do this. I've looked around at other designs, I think mine are really good and fall in the middle of not trying to be too realistic but also are not completely goofy cartoon. I think I'd call them sophisticated 2 dimensional approaches to the subject matter. Later....when I start filling my shop even more with the other designs, I will break them out into better categories, like have a holiday specific section, etc. but I think for now until I'm at the point that more is in there, it's better for buyers to be able to see all the designs in one spot as they are all charts. I still have 3-5 shop sections avalailable to differentiate and categorize later.
Now I must go to the store! I hope you're having a good. day.
Z. Sunday AM Early Update: -Jet lag, up for several hours already, went through my lisitings from yesterday and day prior, and double checked file names, titles and photos to be sure I had all right titles, photos on right thing. When you do so many, it is easy to get mixed up with the saving, changing photos, titles, file names etc. and I did actualy catch three errors of this type and fixed them. -yesterday I did one mor teacup, a thistle, love it -this morning I found my beach buckets, blue and pink, and got those listed as well. That is 36 charts done and listed all of which are not even of the 40 I'm waiting on certificates on. Of these 40, some have multiple variations, my shop is going to have a ton of cute offerings. -When searching by search terms, like "cupcake needlepoint" etc...mine seem to be showing up with other sellers, look very good along side, I'm excited. -Did a FB plug last night for these new charts. -Now I can get back to painting Canvases
Home: I did empty my suitcase and ran that laundry, suitcase away, grocery shopped and reclaimed kitchen I will try to get more house related chores done today.
Also, I did come home between 3-4 pounds lower than when we left. I have been processing how this was achieved, at heart, I have always known what to do/not do, it's a matter of making the changes. I'm not going to start posting numbers until I get back to a certain point, I'm not discouraged, but it will take time.
Z.
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Post by michelle on May 5, 2024 16:35:56 GMT
Z, They look fantastic!!! Great job staying OP! Busy day for me yesterday doing Homemaking chores. Worked on figuring out how to keep Sam from jumping. He was out of the habit but has gotten back into it. This is scary since the mountain lion problem is a real item so the fear is that he will jump out of the yard around the house at night and not come when called. Buttercup is whining at me about playing Mail Dog or Scardy Cat Cars or going for a walk. This is like ignoring a baby crying. Today I need to keep seated since there was an over abundance of steps yesterday so I will work on office items.
I did spend the day working on office admin which I was happy to do because the weather was outrageous today. The wind is still blowing incredibly and I have just one more PT walk to get done. A number of procrastionables got worked on. Hooray for that!
Hope you are having a great day!!!
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Post by zenamidievel on May 6, 2024 15:46:26 GMT
Good Morning,
Jet lag still in effect! I've never gotten so much done before 8:00 AM in my life! Lol!
Home: Kitchen Reclaimed after yesterday's cooking experiments. Copycat Cheesecake Factory Brown Bread recipe, interesting, tasty. Gave two loaves of that away, they are small baguette type loaves, except shorter,like 10 inches. This recipe uses molasses, a lot of honey and cocoa powder, whole wheat flower and regular bread flour. Washed all the hand wash this A.M., loaded DW ran it, laundry is rebooted.
I had run laundry from travel bag so that was done, but still out. This morning I emptied my travel back pack, sorted ornament purchases, to three boxes, one is mine, one is sister and one will be part of a wedding gift. THrew away all excess papers, maps, reciepts and what not from back pack. Cleared off the ottoman of chair that sets in the corner, bed is made and I'll finish putting laundry away. I've decided my focus for home chore areas for this month will be closet, closet built in and downstairs family area. I've been taking stuff down there and just setting it about, so there's build up of different sorts going on down there.
Creative: Okay, I did end doing two more designs and got those posted which are an Ebenezer Scrooge Hat...aka Snowman Hat, and I did a plain pine tree on a teacup and added some black to that for a different color combo. I'm not sure if you recall my having watched, "Make it to Market" series which was either on Britbox or Acorn channels. This program would take different type of artists, from weavers on looms, wood turning, iron work, glass blowing, ceramics, etc..... They would have mentor come in and examine their work and processes. Something discussed would be a simple, lower effort, repeatable "something" that could be an income generator for their art/craft that could be supplied to different stores, or taken themselves to shows/events for sale. So, for me, the Teacup is what is like that. It's a cute design, can accomadate different themes for people that stitch who would like to do for themselves or for gifts on these themes. THey can be finished in several ways, as an ornament, coaster or doorknob hanger, they can be personalized if someone contacts me for that purposed. The other design I have, and thse are the only two things I'm pretty sure I care to offer in this manner, will also accomplish the same thing. So I've possibly sort of done what the "Make it to Market" people were talking about. Also, to give you idea, it costs less than $8.00 per quarter, to have 40 charts available. I would only need to sell 2 charts every 3 months, to pay the listing costs for 40 charts. The charts increase my overall shop visibiity from increased traffic for the varied search terms that people would use in searches for items. So, do I hope charts sell? Sure. Do I need to sell massive number of them to make it worthwhile? No. Regardless of how many actually sell, the effort was fun and will be worthwhile. ALso, I have one unsolicited 'favorite" on the pink cake on pewter cake plate already this morning. I am excited and ready to paint again. Also I do realize that with my morning coffee while I wait for certificates, I can start working through the theme offerings of the other design and save them as drafts so that they are all ready to go when it's time. It would be much easier to do 5 or so each morning rather than work through 60 all at once. Yes, you read that right.....it will be crazy! You are such a support to me in reading these details! I think of you as my "Make it to Market" mentor!
I hope your weather calmes down! It's been raining here and is washing the dirt off our rocks! The rocks that were covered in mud were fist sized ones, completely covered. So it is fun to see what they'll actually look like each time rain washes more of that off of them.
Okay, back it! Today I'll go to the art store and get the thinner I need for the paint.
Z.
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Post by michelle on May 7, 2024 3:35:22 GMT
Z, The avatar is really pretty! The Make it to Market series sounds very interesting.Those Etsy needlepoint items are adorable!!! Today I worked on office admin items. The emails seemed to pour in so I just worked on answering them as they came in. This is a customer service trick and I am shocked at how many people comment on this and appreciate it. Just another way to retain customers! Every nutty thing that happens just rolls right off of me now since I have so much less to do. Before they would be bothersome because I had no time to deal with them. For instance... Well I was going to give an example but I will skip all of that. Buttercup was whining again. Let's see---> DH walked her three times, I walked her twice (normally it's three but the frigid wind finally caused Clair and I to hide in the house), two games of MailDog, one game of FastPitch, 20 minutes supervised a.m. play with Clair. Hmmm..... I would say that's enough! I think she was mourning not getting to play Scardy Cat Cars. Too bad--by that time I was dogged out. Also no way was I going to wake up Clair for that game!
Tomorrow I have an appointment in town. So I will drop Clair off at DH's office for him to dog sit. I have a plan to be able to leave her at home but we must get the xrays done on the 16th and if she is 100% healed I can start working on that implimentation. It's sort of crazy right now because she is wandering around in the house and certain gates need to be shut and other dogs need access to the yard on and on. All of these combinations are truly mind boggling. I will overcome!!!
Tuesday - Went to town for the appointment which took four hours out of my day--the commuting etc added on to this substantially. Now I am trying to get ready for a therapy event tomorrow, picking up my mess from the car errand, 2nd PT walk of the day accomplished. That's about it for me. Just as scintialltingly interesting as it sounds LOL.
Wednesday - Clair and I went to the Stay Pawsitive event today. This one was a lot of fun! Then I came home and jammed through a pile of work that had accrued over the last two days. Mission accomplished. Hooray!!!
Hope you are having a fantastic evening!!!
Onward>>>>
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Post by zenamidievel on May 9, 2024 10:43:51 GMT
Good Morning,
Sorry for being missing, my clock is still screwed up, I didn't realize how many days had passed.
Awesome effort getting through your work pile up and being able to attend the event with Clair! Also, that's really great you're able to respond so quickly to people's inquiries. Customer service can be so poor these days I think people are schocked when they get it! Yay you!
Creative: Thanks for the compliments on the charts. The nature of them being simple, pixelated things, gives them a graphic and also cohesive look, so they look fun together from a presentation wise.This is how I felt when examining the other sellers page, sort of. On that note, I did further research. THat seller also sells "Needle Minders" which are a flat button metal with a magnet. People put the button on top of their work, and the magnet on the back, it stays and the needle obviously sticks to the button because of the magnet on the back. These are all very cute, I did look into how some are made, just curious, I'm not doing that! Anyway, this seller does sell a lot of needle minders. I realized I could examine the sales and found that out of approximately 100 sales, 25 were charts, 75 were needle minders. This is fine! As mentioned before, I'm happy with whatever happens and on that note....drum roll......I sold a chart already...a cupcake! Also, I did go ahead and did about 7 more charts that were specifically holiday ornaments. Again, mine are not over complicated, and I think good offerings for the holidays. I really like the the way the shaped one came out. Again I offered these in different color combinations because some people can't envision replacing colors on a thing. THis is easy for some people not for others. But if they do like the combination shown, it's there for them.. It also shows a sampling of how one "could" change up the colors, so someone viewing, might be like, "Oh! I can do that and use my ...whatever...... surplus threads easily!" So the repetition I don't think is a waste of time and some color combinations grab people more than others and you are trying to attract people. I did get to the paint store and got an acrylic paint supply needed and a smaller ceramic pallet tray which has a lid. They helped me decide what product to get which was nice, and three basic paint colors.
Also, I just used Finerworks.com to do a gicglee canvas of that door grid except in a square crop, features 9 squares, in the colors that coordinate with our kitchen living room. I'm not sure what DH will think but there are three other locations it can go if it is not cared for. I think it will be perfect. Fingers crossed.
Baking: While on trip I do recipe research during down time and the German T.V. is on. Also I completely understand the game of "Snooker" as it seems the Snooker World Championship had coincidentally been held on the same dates as our last few trips and it's a benign, understable thing to have on in the background...lol. So yesterday I made a gluten free Almond Cake. This uses almond flour, which is denser than regular flour, eggs, lemon zest and sliced almonds for the top, 4 ingredients! You seperate the eggs, mix the yokes with the sugar, then the flour and zest. Then you whip the egg whites till soft peaks form and fold in. This helps to "lighten" the density of the cake. I had my sample piece, then I texted my two walking neighbors asking if each would like part of the rest of the cake. THey said yes, and I delivered it. That cake, I would definitely make again for a gluten free desert except next time I think a small amount of almond extract would be tasty in there. It was stable enough you could make two and have a layered cake. The cake is denser, doesn't rise as much as a regular type of cake we think of, but it would be good that way, just lowe and a doing a simple powdered sugar glaze, just lightly in the middle and over the top would be a nice touch, with slivered almonds. Thanks for listening.
Today I'm hosting book club. The book takes place in Dublin and twice some Sheperd's Pie was eaten. Which, if you recall, I made recipe recently for St. Patrick's Day, so I will serve that, salad, rolls and a dessert. So today is a cooking, cleaning day to host this.
I did walk yesterday, Bought tickets for the musical DD is in at the university for the end of this month. I'm actually down 5 pounds from prior to trip, I feel good about this.
That's about it.
Z.
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Post by michelle on May 10, 2024 0:02:43 GMT
Thursday - Major accomplishment in getting my stash and dash closet taken care of. Also stash and dash items had started to take over another closet which was scary so I took care of that one. All of this took some time, to say the least. Lots of weekly things needed to get done all at once today so I took care of those. Two PT dog walks and then some office work. I am just keeping my head above water in this area. It seems like this week is just a mass of disorganization. I have the steps to prove I have been busy but not much output to speak of. I can't believe that it will be Friday tomorrow. I have 12 Audits hanging over my head due to the management company's poor performance in regard to getting us all the requested records so now I have to go through all of them and make up lists again of what is needed. Two are done, ten more to go. Hopefully I can get three or four done tomorrow.
IMO the Christmas ornaments added a lot to Etsy. Of course, they all look wonderful!!! Congrats on the successful OP trip! That is fantastic!!! The baking sounds very tasty. Hope you book club is fun tonight!
Buttercup is moaning again--she wants her desert.
Friday - Spent the day relaxing and also getting some chores done. I did get everything done on my short list. Hooray!!!
Onward>>>>
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Post by zenamidievel on May 11, 2024 20:48:34 GMT
Hello,
Great work on your stash and dash closet. I will be like you next week in my areas of focus! I will, I will, I will!
Decided last minute to to bake and cook up some surprises and go spend the night with my mom. I'm ready to leave now. The cooking is done, I cleaned up my mess, loaded the car and am ready to go. I'll come back tomorrow.
BIG NEWS!!! Two certificates are HERE!!!!!! So, I took the most "chart-able" flower, the four petal one and got those listed 4 ways. That's all I had time for. I must go, I'll be back tomorrow afternoon.
Bookclub: Well it went fine, dinner was good, I was jet lagged and the most talkative person was not present so it was .....dare I say it.....??.... a little boring? I kind of think so. But it was fine.
Hope you're doing well! You are so busy!
Z>
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Post by michelle on May 13, 2024 3:08:55 GMT
Z, Great news about the certificates!!! The for petal flowers are wonderful! This weekend has been a whirlwind. AA came today and we attempted getting my computer problems under control but they just got worse so now DH will have to call the experts to come and unravel it all. I stayed completely calm since I had an idea we were not going to get anywhere. I have several yellow and also several peach irises that are blooming. Saturday I spent time cutting back the Russian thistles which made the planters look much better. It's watering season so I started doing my chores. Got the dog PT accomplished! AA was such a help with two large projects which was a serious stress reducer.
Hope you are having a wonderful evening!!!
Onward>>>>
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Post by zenamidievel on May 13, 2024 14:43:02 GMT
Good Morning,
I'm glad the AA was able to come and help out but sorry about the computer issues. I know you are at higher elevation....iris blooming is full on where we are as are the pinkish coral Dogwood trees.
Drove back from mom's house and I'm glad I went. We had a nice dinner out, I was remembered to take a check to pay her back for the refund we'd gotten for the shipping charges for her new vehicle. I had a very small gift, baked a spinach onion quiche which she enjoys as much as I do, we had it for breakfast and I left it there as well as the gluten free almond cake which I also left the rest of there.
When I got home, I crocheted 4 ornament rounds in the classic colors that I'd sold out of last year. I'd forgotten I'd gotten more skeins in those colors, reaquainted myself with what I'd crocheted already, and that was fun cause it'd been a while since doing. When we drive up to our home town on Saturday for an overnight stay, I will take some crochet with me to do in the car to/from and I will make some more drink cozies with the yarn I have left in those colors as I did sell two more sets of three of those this weekend. I've sold 3 sets of those to date. THey are fun to make like the ornaments.
TOday I mean to do some canvas painting as I'd previously prepped three canvases for angels and I will also address some general house pick up/clean up situations as I need breaks from sitting. Hope to get a walk in this morning. I do have a head in sand situation to take care of and a package to mail.
Z.
Wednesday: I have been getting my walks in and have gone to the gym 4 times (pretty major for me!) Eating is going well. I had to , yes, "had" to shop yesterday...that was a bit traumatizing. I will need to make returns but I'll probably do that tomorrow or Friday after I review the situation. This took a major part of the day unbeleivably.
Creative: Each morning I'm working on the file prepping, loading pics, saving as PDF's for the big upload of bears that will take place to their own shop section. I'm through about 20 though I could have 60, I think it will pare down to 40 or less so that I don't have to to many repeats even with different colors. I'm trying to pick what I think is the "best" of each thing. But a few will have multiples, like baby rattles and Easter egg combos. But am done for the morning on this. I have not painte again yet, because I think I'm putting it off....but I will do it today when I return. I made a list of what is left to do in regard to bears for tomorrow morning. I'm more than halfway through them.
Update: I don't know how things can be going better but also for me to be in such a negative head space. Well I do know how, but there is no immediate fix for this situation which I have created in regard to my present weight. I am down almost 8 pounds, so that is good, I've kept up with activity since returning and have been eating well, it will just take time. So now I'm heading out to make some returns and see if I can find some khaki pants...which I need...it is what it is. I can change, I will change!
Z.
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Post by michelle on May 16, 2024 0:09:00 GMT
Z, I can't wait to see the Teddy Bears!!! Congrats on getting gym time & walks. I am going to post my Steps from when I started doing Clair's PT--this will be interesting since I have been getting 10,000 ++ seven days a week. Yesterday I got 14,589 when I added on the yard work. Today I took a couple of hours off and looked at my wildflower books to refresh my memory which was fun for me. My internet was down requiring the phone company to come to the house--now that is working but the modem will need to be upgraded next week when they have time to do it. I have started working outside which I am enjoying and as usual lots needs to be done. Tomorrow I have to take Clair to the vet for her final (I hope) set of xrays showing that she is 100% (I hope) healed. Also am going to find the trailhead for the Sunday Native Plant Society field trip just to be sure I know where it is. Then doing the same thing for a therapy event at another Amazon location--I am always amazed that really large buildings don't bother to put street addresses on their properties. I am somewhat directionally challenged so I usually do this if I am not sure about the locations. My irises are all starting--just so exciting!!! I fell off the shopping wagon but think I am back on. It is not pretty.... However, I will overcome.
Wednesday - Hectic day for me so I am glad it is almost behind me. I decided to move my office at home from one room back to the old way I had it since my computer programs aren't working so not much can be done in most areas. The appointment to fix all of that is set for Monday. I checked out the trail head for the field trip and will have to skip it since the first part of it is straight uphill which my knee won't be able to handle--it is acting up off and on. It's doing OK as long as I don't over do it. My dinner is calling me! I am soooo hungry.
Hope you are having a wonderful evening!!!!
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Post by zenamidievel on May 18, 2024 15:28:31 GMT
Good Morning,
Crossing fingers for Clair's x-rays and good news in that department. Can't wait to hear on that, please update!
DH and I went to the event last night, this is what caused the throwing a pot full of spaghetti at the wall reaction from me. The event was fine, this goes on for three days for him, I really don't get why he/we were included in these goings on, editing.
Creative: The above derailed me from getting to painting canvases. But it did not derail from getting more bear charts taken care of yesterday morning. Also I created a Santa Face that fills a whole 4" round, and that came out pretty cute I think, and it is different from other Santa offerings to a degree, I think I did well on his eyes and happy laugh lines. It did take some time to work out though, but was fun. He is in shop as of this morning. I think I will be through the rest of the bears by end of day today. I was speaking with my neighbor who's education is in marketing, about whether to show the personalization option for stitch back in shop or not, or just wait for someone to contact me. I guess I will figure out how to do a customized listing with the options the buyer inputs.
Saturday: Editing, re-saving of PDF files continues for bears. I can't believe how man there are. Maybe I'm a crazy person, I don't know. I do need to figure out the custom stitched back thing and how to do a listing with options customers input. I've not done that before. We have to drive to Tonasket today for a service tomorrow and will spend one night, tonight away.
Yesterday: I did get the kitchen reclaimed, washed hand stuff ran the dishwasher. Then I made the rounds for the multiple return situation, that took a lot of time, of course while doing those returns, I found a couple other things, and it all mixes and mattches with current stuff. I still may have a couple of returns to do on a couple dresses, I'm still deciding. I will fix that when I get back.
Today: I must go get my walk in and then pack for this overnight.
I hope things are going well for you!
Z.
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Post by michelle on May 19, 2024 3:00:08 GMT
Z, The Santa is adorable!!! and congrats on getting returns done.
The furniture came today which caused a significant amount of time spent on redecorating. Got a number of additional items ordered. It all looks wonderful and not a business thing in sight. This year my office got significant sprawl with items in just about every room. Now I am back to having it all contained in one room. Hooray!!! However, some of that spread was highly organized so work got done faster. I am just about 90% done with this decorating spree. I need to have some items hauled away. I will round everything up and see if calling 1-800-GOTJUNK makes sense. Right now most items are stacked neatly in the garage. Monday my computer will be in town to have the computer geeks (no insult intended) work on the Microsoft idiocy so I will take advantage of yet another day to finish up with all of this. I am going to MAKE myself finish up.
Much work has been done the last two days--moving around cleaning on and on. Glad that is behind me.
Hope you are having a relaxing evening!!!
Onward>>>>
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