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Post by zenamidievel on Jul 3, 2021 19:46:50 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 Jul 4, 2021 2:30:05 GMT
Saturday Accomplishments: Declutter - One heavy book, a wall decoration, one magazine that I should not have bought, a big bag of pine tree limbs Dogs and Birds - Ran Buttercup and Sam four times, fed them once, fed the birds twice, changed two bird baths, changed two Hummingbird feeders, made three bottles of HB food and stored in Fridge, Cleaned up the yard. Shot the water in the hose at the three dogs so they could have a wild and carefree fun time--twice for about 10-15 minutes each. Endlessly picked up dog toy bunnies. The other day DH left one on the top of his car and then when he went through the curves it flu off. I was zooming thru there on my way to do errands and saw--a bunny! So I backed up and picked it up. Picked up the hoses and a bunch of golf balls so it would be easier for DH to mow the grass. DH has 600 golf balls at the moment--he uses the back yard for putting and chipping and the rest of the yard as a driving range. There were about 60 of them on the grass. Got out my cordless shears and cut back the grass along the garage. Got eight enclosures put together for the new plants and installed them. Picked up after myself and am trying to appear OCD--I could be a counterfeit OCD which would be great since everything would be 100% done! Fixed my big flower pot with pretty flowers. Straightened up the scarecrows that drive the buckboard and gave them a bouquet of flowers to hold.
Moved a yard decor item which fell apart but ended up being a happy accident since the improved broken item ended up looking great in the yard. Went to town with DH and got three more plants. It was so hot that the handle on the push cart could not be touched. I will definitely bring gloves from now on. Came back home and watered them. Watered the four new heat sensitive plants--they just wilt in this oven.
Did yoga with DH under the apple tree--it is quite lovely under there, birds chirping, dogs running across yoga mats arguing with each other, play fighting....
Hope you are having a wonderful evening!!!
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Post by zenamidievel on Jul 4, 2021 14:33:55 GMT
Hello,
I meant to post earlier. You had a productive day with yard and dog stuff!
TaDas: -ran the DW -rebooted laundry x3 -got walk in before it got hot -watered outside stuff -went to friends house and watered her new trees, she's out of town, and gave her potted plants more water water. -13K Steps
Z.
-put some college related items in shopping cart on Amazon -DH and I did some title/seller paperwork
Shopping: I meant to tell you that I hd looked at some watches on line and kind of liked the stainless steel/rose gold color combo ones. I went to Fred Myer to get water toys so stopped in to see what they had. They had one that was similar to what I'd seen on line and it was 50% off! So that's what I got.
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Post by michelle on Jul 5, 2021 3:25:59 GMT
Z, The watch sounds cute! Today was mostly an instant replay of yesterday. All dog/bird chores completed. However the day was cloudy!!! and 20 degrees cooler. I was so happy about this! The dogs have had such terrible cabin fever since they cannot go outside from about 10 to 8 at night for any exercise. Buttercup is the hardest hit by this. Went to town by myself to pick up more yard supplies. Then DH and I got all the large plants planted. Nine of them. I am forging onward with making the yard look nice again. Now I am working on flowers such as Irises etc. I want to make sure I do not have to dodge anything to get around in the planters. One tree looks like it is not going to make it. It isn't terribly big so I would be able to remove it--limb by limb. I have been watering it more but it is still dropping needles by the handful when I pull on the branches. DH and I went through his drip system supplies and got them somewhat more organized. Tomorrow we will go to town to pick up more small plants and drip system supplies. I bought an ornamental MOVA today which wasn't related to the yard but was for sale at the nursery.
I did change the date to 7/7 on my note inside of my recycle bin. The trash company had the unmitigated gaul to send me a letter accusing me of putting unauthorized items in there and had the audacity of including a photo of my neighbor's trash in their bin. So now I take a picture of my authorized items each pick up day so I will have proof if they harress me again! Probably they got the message when I called them in response to that letter.
My life has turned into yard work. This too shall pass--I hope! 18,389 OP Steps.
Monday:
More shopping for plants today. We need three more shrub type plants that I will pick up tomorrow and I placed my order for my bulbs today. This will cause a lot of digging etc to thin out the ones I already have but it will be worth it!
Hope you are having a great evening!!!
Tuesday:
Spent many hours catching up on the hand water that is critical in this heat wave. Now just need to do a little more tomorrow. Also used my tool station on the right side of the house to rake etc pine needles and managed to get two bags full. Started working on a rather large pile of work Admin paper tiger items. Created a strategic plan to finish the audit year. If I apply myself and don't get side tracked I will be finished with the majority of the work in 14 working days (three weeks). Lots is going on though so we will see if I can accomplish that. Excellent day for me!
Onward>>>>
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Post by zenamidievel on Jul 7, 2021 5:30:50 GMT
I am glad you are having excellent days!
I’m on my phone posting from lake vacation with teens. Everything is going well. I’m exhausted tho snd am falling asleep.
I hope your plan works for audit completion. You are very busy with all you do!
It is morning now and I have control of the t..v. From teen trash shows! Lol. I’m on day 34 or 35 of streaks even with cookies, candy and chips everywhere. It is going well!
Food prep, shop preparation for group is going well even with notification upon arrival we have one non red meat eater and one vegetarian!..lol.
I’d rented a boat for today but it’s cooled and looks thunderstorm like. We won’t be able to boat if there’s any thunderstorm activity at all. Out of my control, just have to see how it plays out. The in-laws are to come tonight for dinner and my mom is here. It’ll be good it’s not so hot.. my girlhood friend is here and another k-12 grade girlhood friend met up with us at the beach yesterday. Really nice!
Have a great day!
Z
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Post by michelle on Jul 8, 2021 0:31:26 GMT
Z, It sounds like you are having a wonderful time!!! Wednesday:More times spent outside getting the last of the watering of trees done. That got put off and it won't happen again. I certainly don't want the expense of removing very large trees that have expired. Spent time digging out there troughs, picking up pine needles etc. Managed to get a bag and a half of debris. Also trimmed back some trees in the back planter so that I don't have to worry about running into pine needle branches. This was due to needing to maintain the new plants. Decluttered more items today and got my office organized and cleaned. Cleaned the FR thoroughly, etc etc......Also got rid of the last of the chicken wire. There will be no more chicken wire anywhere on this property--except for the stuff that is laying along the fence line on the perimeter that keeps the coyotes out. Tomorrow is an office work day so hopefully I won't be outside for long in the morning.
Steps:
Sunday - 18,389 Monday - 13,447 Tuesday - 17,304 Wednesday - 22, 126--- a lot got accomplished. Hooray!!!
Onward>>>>>
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Post by zenamidievel on Jul 8, 2021 6:18:00 GMT
Good work on your office and yard work and steps!!!
We were able to do the boat the last half of the day and that was really fun. Cause my crew was not ready to earlier when was big yucky I took my friend and her daughter and niece, then my girls, then my friends one more time.
When boating finished at 6:30 pm I immediately went back and mom and I got all the food set out for the in-laws who came, all came. Was fun, food good, all went well!!! My Aunt and Uncle came too! I’d good prepped cut veggies for veggie platters with dip that morning and made a dessert. Then mom had brought a Chinese Chicken salad that was all prepared and only needed Assembled and lemon bars.
Still on my streaks, 19 k steps.
Z
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Post by michelle on Jul 9, 2021 4:10:27 GMT
Z, It sounds like you are having a great trip! The boating reminded me of the boat we had when I was growing up--just so much fun.
Today I worked on getting all the big throw rugs washed and managed to accomplish my goal. Also completed an audit. Just now I was outside watering the apple tree after DH and I did our Yoga. Earlier I had been watching a town hall meeting about the fire and then Yikes! fire is now visible on the mountainside across the way. This is much closer to us than was indicated by the Plumas Sierra National Forest firefighters discussion. Well, now we will have to be on fire watch ourselves and not leave the dogs unattended etc. The power is going to be iffy so if I don't post it will be because I have lost the internet.
Tomorrow I am going to do my errands, fire permitting. This is the opposite of fun.
Hope you are continuing to have a wonderful time!!!
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Post by zenamidievel on Jul 9, 2021 14:33:41 GMT
Hello,
Yikes on fire situation! Stay safe and keep me posted as you are able!
Rented boat for 4 more hours yesterday, took my crew and friends crew, fun but am relieved to not be driving a boat today.
Food management, prep, is going well here! This might be weird thing to post about but I like when I do not over buy and everything is getting used up.
Tomorrow we leave and I’m getting birthday donuts for breakfast and check out.
Have a great day!
Z
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Post by michelle on Jul 9, 2021 23:19:26 GMT
We got a message to evacuate immediately. Last year I made up a check sheet of all items we need to do for evacuation and we did those items. That took about an hour. Then we got downgraded and didn't have to leave because the fire moved in a different direction. Now we are on "wait and see" mode as the fire is very visible across the way. This one is not as nerve racking as a couple we had last year. Or the one that was less than 1/2 mile from us or the one........
I am doing my happy dance at the moment. We have plenty of room at the office for the dogs and us to camp out there but it would not be considered a fun vacation to do so.
Hope you are having a pleasant weekend!!! BTW--Great! job on the streaks.
Onward>>>>>
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Post by zenamidievel on Jul 11, 2021 4:36:42 GMT
I'm glad you have room at the office to go to with the pups if the need arises.
I am home, everything went well, checked out on time, home when I said we'd be, people picked up the kids,
Still on my streaks! Tomorrow I'll look at the # of days and get that updated. I'm not going to weigh in until tomorrow. I should have lost more weight. WE'll see.
Hope you're okay there.
Z.
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Post by michelle on Jul 11, 2021 23:10:43 GMT
A lot is going on with the Beckwourth Complex wildfire that is affecting us. Power outages, evacuation notices etc. We got another mandatory evacuation last night that got downgraded. I have appreciated getting ready for both of these since DH was not really aware of much and I was able to add important items to my evacuation list. Yesterday we drove on the highway and the fire was burning visibly in the mountains for 25 miles. It is just so huge and out of control. Last year most of the trees coming into our valley burned except for those along our main entry road and in the areas surronding it. This has turned out to be a HUGE problem for the firefighters. If those trees ignite the fire will change from a backing fire to a head fire and come into the valley uncontrollably and burn everything to cinders. Yikes! BTW backing fire---a slow come down the mountain Head fire---coming down fast at you. Twice we have been at risk which is why we got two mandatories. Right now the canyon road coming into our valley is closed as well as the highway so that the firefighters can concentrate on keeping us safe. It's just a lot......
I want to say how proud I am of myself for not sticking my head in the sand last year and working so diligently on EMP. Also the many hours spent watching the firefighter videos as they fight the fires and the great job they have done to work on educating those of us who want to learn has been invaluable. I am just so grateful that I am one of the best educated people around and am able to consider what might happen instead of watching TV or pretending. I called this fire correctly from the outset. It has been so incredibly hard for me to fight DH about the 27 shrubs--11 huge ones, that I found out needed to go last year for fire safety. Something wonderful----DH has joined me now in this and it makes all the difference in the world since last year I spent all those weeks on my own. I am so sad about the destruction of the habitat but at least any bird that is hungry due to this destruction can come and I will feed it. Also those deer that showed up or any new ones.
If you read this book, thanks.
Great job!!! on your streaks.
Onward>>>>>
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Post by zenamidievel on Jul 12, 2021 14:58:30 GMT
Good Morning,
I am sad to hear about the devestating destruction of the fire. I'm very glad DH has got on board with you in regard to the EMP! You have worked diligently to do everything in you power to improve your conditions there! My mom just forwared an EMP related post to our family group, I think she and my sister drove through one of these devestated areas last this summer on their road trip. Made me think of you and the hard work you have done. It sounds a like a lot to say the least!!! I'm sorry you're having this stress and anxiety! Not a book, I like to learn new things, even if it's fire terminology. Stay safe!!!!!
Yesterday: Was called to substitute for church sound, did it. They are not going to be putting me on formal schedule any more due to our moving tho. I said they could call me tho as long as I'm still in town to sub.
Streaks: Down 14 lbs! Day 37, NO CHEATS!!! Even while surrounded by chips, cheetos, crackers, cookies, apple dumplings, ice cream, candy, Scotcheroos, Lemon Bars, donuts and sweet rolls for 6 straight days!
This House: -Title company as asked we provide Waivers of Lien by contractors who have done work here over the last ninety days. This is super annoying but I'm trying to work through it. Also they are saying just sign the form and return it and say "none". Well it's an affidavit type/legal form, we're not going to do that!
TOday: -need to take cat to vet appointment for shots and wellness check, done -get walk in -get these forms sent out to contractors, done -speak to people at title company, verifying what they want, what we will/will not sign they way it is., done -run some laundry -organize a few things and maybe box some kitchen and clothing that DH and I can take in a load to new house this week when we go to meet with landscaper.
Update, All that form stuff and the cat took up quite a bit of time today. Now I am waiting for the painter to come by and sign one of these things. This was all very idiotic on the Title company's part and could have been far less confusing and troublesome, which I have stated.
CB: Realized I had not removed tags from two swimsuits I don't need, so I can return those to Target still I will do that later this afternoon.
Yesterday I made Greek Salad, it is very yummy!
Z
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Post by michelle on Jul 13, 2021 4:57:01 GMT
Z, Great job!!!! on the Streaks. Hopefully you can get the remaining paperwork done without any hassles. I have a appointment to take all three of the dogs on Monday for their wellness exams so that they can get their rattlesnake shots. I made it as early in the morning as possible since I wanted to avoid doing it when it's 100 outside.
Lots still going on with the wildfire situation but I will skip all of that. I am fairly tired after all the high drama of the last few days. I spent the morning doing miscellaneous housework and also went outside to water and do yard work on the right side of the house. But since I got such a slow start by the time I got started to do the yard work chores it was just very hot. I did manage to get on small EMP project done. Also got an audit done this afternoon. And a few items decluttered. I have 16,464 Steps so I was busy as those were Functional Fitness.
Tomorrow I am hoping to reduce the rather large pile of paper tiger items and chores I got started and then got sidetracked.
Hope you are having a pleasant evening!!!
Onward>>>>>
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Post by michelle on Jul 14, 2021 4:23:06 GMT
Lots of Functional Fitness got done today, 21,564 Steps.
Worked on the right side of the house--more weeding, raking of pine needles, watering trees. Three bags full. Also had to fix one of the watering areas for a tree.
I tried to just work on old items today. The rose bush and one shrub needed pruning so I got that done finally. Had to emergency water some plants, this heat and dryness is making it challenging. Cleaned house, got the girls harnesses taken in and put on them so now they look great again. Spent a long time installing a dog gate that Sam jumped up on and somehow broke. That required using the drill somewhat on and on. However I did a really good job which is why it took so long. Fixed some rugs that needed nonslip backing put on them.More watering, more yard work inside the formal yard. Started working on the small patches of dead grass in the yard. They are easy to fix--just need to do it. Yoga under the apple tree with DH and the three dogs--such cute antics!
Also today I went through the paper tiger items, got them organized and threw out a bunch of useless papers. Decluttered a big bag of stuff.
Tomorrow I am going to MAKE myself do the touch up painting. Also need to hand water the plants in the yard. The drip system is not enough for many of them right now. I will also MAKE myself get some of the paper tiger items done.
Hope you are having a relaxing evening!!!
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