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Post by zenamidievel on Sept 7, 2020 16:14:04 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 zenamidievel on Sept 7, 2020 18:02:47 GMT
Good Morning,
Avatar: You can see most of this, Jack-o-lantern, skeleton triangles, the scrolly border has small pumpkins, skulls in it, the black outside border has tan spiderweb lines, and the purple corners each have a little spider.
I love reading your names for the bushes!!! Glad DH was willing to get on board and help with them.
Yesterday: I went paddle boarding! THat was fun, wavy, I'm getting better, I fell 5 times I think. But the whole process, especially with the new pump and collapsible wagon, much more doable and quick process. I make sure I'm far away from other kayaker/paddling people before I attempt standing. I'm going to go again today after I get my 3 loaves of bread baked off that I prepped last night. 2 of them are supposed to be a Rye Bread with Caraway seeds. These are in hopes that DH likes, he likes Rye and Caraway, but says he doesn't like sourdough. But the thing is, the bread most of the time doesn't have a super sour flavor. He said he'd try it anyway. I'm not sure I had the right kind of Rye flour, but did it anyway. The other one is the basic sourdough sandwich loaf.
House: The house is about 5 hours from here. DH and I have spoken more, I think we're doing it, the new construction, in town, view. Editing some goofy stuff that is holding us up right now with moving forward. Maybe the builder will give us 5-10 more days to sign the proposal if need be due to some circumstances we have here that is holding us up, editing.
TaDas:
-picked up print order for cards
-picked up framing job for my friend, looked great!
-third loaf is in oven, gave one loaf to a neighbor, NEWS FLASH! DH LIKES THE RYE CARAWAY LOAF!
-watered the flowers,
Z.
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Post by michelle on Sept 8, 2020 1:21:21 GMT
Another busy day for me. I worked for several hours painting the gate posts etc. This was more of a paint slopping exercise to cover up country problems but it looks so much better! Also there are some enclosures by the gates and I managed to get them looking much better. It's interesting how much better anything looks with a fresh coat of paint. Also worked on digging out 6 tree troughs and catching up on my watering of them. It's quite a chore to keep all these trees hydrated but I am managing to do it. For some reason the smoke makes it more challenging. There are some things that I just try to make look better. Well, actually many things outside, like the contents of the yard around the house. I worked on the coyote fence gate and the right side fencing connecting to it. It definitely looks better. Also raked up grass clippings and suggested to DH that possibly he could use a grass catcher. His take on it is that the tiny clippings fertilize the grass and the internet agrees. Possibly I will just buy my own lawnmower and do this myself. I will look around for a cordless one. Also DD uses one she likes so I will check with her. The edger absolutely terrifies me and goes in the same category of items I will not use like a chainsaw. But possibly there is a more quiet one that would not be so unnerving.
Z, the avatar is so cute! Congrats! on creating the great loaf of bread. You will absolutely have to fill me in on what the house is like that you purchase. It is very exciting, but what are you thinking about it all? I try to get in my memory banks and pull out the unbridled enthusiasm for things that I had as a very young woman--before all of reality taught me how much can go wrong on and on. I don't know if that makes sense but you probably get it because of your paddle boarding. Why not just have fun!!! and be excited about moving. You discussed the positives for this move before. Hooray for you!
The smoke is a 6 tonight so Yoga will have to be done inside. Bummer. Also rolling black outs here so I may not have computer access. Our power comes out of CA.
The avatar is adorable!!!
Onward>>>>>>
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Post by zenamidievel on Sept 8, 2020 18:31:25 GMT
Good MOrning,
Excellent work on your yard once again. We had a lot of fires crop in our state yesterday all over the place. THe smoke was so heavy here last night. Looks better today. Yes, fresh paint does wonders! Even if it's slopped on, lol!
Updating my streaks: (the exercise streak will require a bit of guess/remembering but will err on the side of less than more. More concerned with the P & W streaks, which I have kept.)
P-day 153 streak
W- day 153 streak, NEW LOW: 159.5! Excited to be so close to the 10 pound mark to initial goal! So much better than looking at 35-40 pounds from it. Woohoo!
E- 123 of 148
One the weight loss journey, it's been 5 months of pretty focused effort with approximately 3 periods of a few days with non stellar focus/food choices. Those each took at least an week to recover from. This is good to remember! If I'd just kept on with those choices, I'd be back where I started in no time! Also, I do like making bread and put my favorites in the recipe builder in MyfitnessPal so I know exactlyl what I'm consuming. I can have that bread, but just not 3-4 pieces A DAY WITH butter and jam! So I will start limiting to making loaves to one times per week. And I must have more discipline with my cracker/chip intake, one serving only as well.
TaDas:
-washed hand wash items
-put current handwash away
-emptied/reloaded DW
-called our realtor. It is happening! It will be the new construction with the view and enlarged 4 car garage (side by side) with two of the bays having extra long recessed area for workbench/shop. This was a major selling point for us.
-called mortgage company to get status situation on another matter
Now, I'm going to go paddle boarding again in the hopes that it's smooth on the water.
MOre later,
Z.
!
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Post by michelle on Sept 9, 2020 2:22:31 GMT
Good day for me. Took Clair to her physical therapy appointment and also went grocery shopping before we got there. Today it was about 20 degrees or more cooler than it has been. Such a change! Had my assistant pick up more paint which I now have in my possession. This is touch up painting for the outside. Attended my Tuesday Wildfire Zoom meeting. This one was about animal evacuation. I learned some things and also now have more to dos to get done. After that I made myself go outside to get some EMP work done. Got started on the Atomic bomb bushes and managed to get two chopped up and the stalks ready to be gotten rid of. This is kind of a long process because they have to be fairly flat branches so that they will compact better in the hole so this requires more clipping. Mission Accomplished! 2 done 7 more to go. Also there was a fancy pine tree of some kind involved in this. I spent time clipping off all the dried up branches and getting the brown needles off of the tree. Thank goodness I am used to being uncomfortable because this was another pretzel activity on the ground and on a ladder. Got everything raked up and bagged, drug to the quad and hauled over to the hole. Hooray!!!
Z, A great big five star ***** Congrats!!! on your streaks. And also on deciding to get the new house--the garage sounds incredible! Hope you had fun paddle boarding.
My favorite self talk sentences:
Eating won't make it better. Nothing tastes as good as thin feels. Stay the same or lose.
I have better things to do than overeat.
The last one sounds dumb--but seriously what am I doing stuffing my face for anyway. And if my life is so lacking things of interest that I have to be a food focused fatty then I better get busy and get other
things to be interested in. MY WW lecturer used to say that if food was one of the top 3 most important things in her life then that was when she would get into trouble.
These sentences still pop into my head or I start using them when I start thinking about backsliding. My food life in my rear view mirror is something I never ever want to go back to. For me daily weighing keeps me focused on the One Day at a Time concept. Just this one day is all I have to do. And best of all I am not suffering in the slightest. True suffering is being on the endless dreadmill of overeating and then dieting and then... on and on. Just chatting about being strong and staying strong!
Onward to get my Yoga done>>>>>>
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Post by michelle on Sept 9, 2020 23:16:43 GMT
Not much to type about. I got two more A-Bomb bushes taken out. This generated 10 large contractor bags full of cut up branches and 6 heavy bags of debris and dirt. Also cut out the small dead branches out of one of the pine trees. I am going to refer to this as sculpting. I have three done now and not all of them need this.
That's about it for me. Those bushes take 2 hours plus for each one. Of course this includes bag hauling off. 4/9ths completed. Five more to go. These are much worse than I thought. I am so glad that I read about the problem with these. They look wonderful on the outside but the inner parts of the branches are actually dead so they actually could explode just like the article said.
Hope you are having a pleasant day.
Onward>>>>>
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Post by zenamidievel on Sept 10, 2020 6:10:39 GMT
Good Evening,
You are very informed on your EMP, Fire Bomb and A-Bomb shrubbery!!! You're doing great. We have so many fires in our state right now, it is CRAZY!!! It's very sad. I'm editing this.
I had sort of a strange day of things.
Craft/Printing: I did an experiment today with scanned copies vs. photocopies, both are better than photographs, at least my photos, but you can't work digitally with a photocopy and if you try to make a photocopy of a photocopy involving color, it degrades/changes each time. I also went the old place and was treated poorly by the manager when I said what I wanted, he was annoyed and asked me why I wanted that, that it was the same thing. I said in my experience it was not the same thing. He said, "Fine, I'll do what you want." annoyed. Gave me the sets and guess what , they were DIFFERENT in clarity but most of all COLOR! I said, "You see they are not the same." and left and wen to my new place. I only went to the old place because I wanted to compare the quality between the two establishments it was negligible and customer service at new place, is much, much better!
Home:
-TT, tried to deal with stuff today, editing.
Craft:
-Craft room was getting a little crazy.
-realized I had the perfect size box to hole ALL my scrapbooking papers. I emptied 5 smaller boxes/containers setting about, grouped them by theme, put cardboard deviders in the box, bagged scraps and put with each group, THis was very good to do because I had different groups of paper in multiple places. SO now it's all together and sorted. I do not need to buy any more paper, and I mean business!!!!
-put all the Halloween paper away from about the table and floor area
-threw away the excess boxes, scraps and bits, and other trash.
-now I'm not tripping over, stepping on things, when I try to get up and walk out of the room
TOday we signed paperwork for the house/new construction. It is happening! IT will take a year to complete and we will move next fall. I will have to make a long range plan here. BUt I know I can start with DS' room thinning/boxing of contents and my closet.
Z.
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Post by michelle on Sept 11, 2020 2:52:09 GMT
Z, Congrats!!! on making a decision about your new home. I loved your idea for organizing your papers.
I took Buttercup to the Vet to get two of her shots. She will go next Thursday to get the others.I had time to get one of the A-Bomb bushes done but much to my horror I found out that I have 10 to do rather than 9. So now I am 5/10ths complete. My plan is to get the rest of them done by Sunday afternoon. It's possible that I will have to do less because some other things need to be done badly.
The wildfire situation is so sad. I follow a major fire because it is not that far from us. The US Forest Service does updates twice a day on it. They had it rather under control then a wind event caused it to grow 25 X 30 miles in less than 24 hours. Fortunately it was not in our direction. I try to figure out what I can do. Right now I feed the displaced birds who have made temporary homes in my pine trees etc. There are a lot of them but I do not seem to have acquired anymore after the initial groups showed up. One thing I can do is to be a good citizen by making my home and property as fire safe as possible and also to provide the items listed for the firefighters if they do have to come on my property. Just simple things such as having my "Evacuated" sign painted and ready to be put out by my address sign will help them. Right now it is getting rid of potentially exploding bushes. I can do this. I can keep going.
Onward>>>>>
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Post by michelle on Sept 12, 2020 4:23:04 GMT
Today the smoke was off the graph so I stayed in the house and worked diligently on my long list of items that need to be done. Accomplishments:
- Washed all the rugs from the K floor, a personal load of wash. 6 or 7 loads
- Cleaned one bathroom meticulously. This took a long time but it was worth it.
- Fixed a blanket
- Set an appointment for the electrician to come out to the house
- Set an appointment for the mechanic to come by and work on my quad
- Did a home blessing, dusting all items that needed it. Washed dog prints off the windows, vac'd floors
- Organized two cupboards
- Went down the basement and arranged items so that the electrician could work. However the appointment is scheduled for 9/30.
- Watched the briefings on the fire that is near us. But has also moved about 80 miles away.
- Cleaned the laundry room, K, on and on
- Cleaned the deck
- Changed the dogs water in their plunge pool
I could not go out to walk the dogs since the smoke is an issue. I have worked in it for three weeks but this stuff is really bad.
- Emailed my DB
I was busy the entire day and it looks like it!
I have a big list for tomorrow. If I can do as well as I did today I will be really happy. Another smoke day is forecast. My bronchials don't like this stuff at all.
Hope you are having a pleasant evening!!
Onward>>>>>
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Post by michelle on Sept 13, 2020 1:59:03 GMT
Saturday - More intense smoke today so I worked in the house - Changed a light bulb - Did some personal items like ordering BC's meds on line, bank deposit, bank reconciliation, etc. - Tried again to unfreeze my phone which was a failure - Watched the incident reports on the North Complex fire that I follow since it is in this area. This is very serious. I am learning a lot about wildfire management and all the things that go on into complex situations like this. - Detailed the MBR and Bath. This took a long time but it looks great. - More dusting and used the webster - Three loads of wash
- Changed two dog water containers - One food prep item - This was fun---I decided to put the shelving in a closet myself. So I had to watch a YouTube of how to install hollow wall fasteners, got the level out and proceeded to do all the work! Including using the cordless drill which is a first for me. Those shelves are just perfect! Also organized the items in that closet. Tomorrow I will continue to work on my list of piled up items. Progress is being made. Onward>>>>> |
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