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Post by michelle on Oct 4, 2021 14:31:23 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 Oct 5, 2021 7:50:41 GMT
Hello!
Read through all your areas of progress this morning! You are busy as usual. Clair is hysterically cute! I can picture her doing all you describe! I hope you can get done what you wish with the irises. Good job decluttering and congrats on your semi retirement! I hope this goes as planned for you.
We are in Frankfurt now and walked around the main old square two days, around town and the Main River. It is less picturesque, less to see, at least what interests me and is raining steadily now as of yesterday. Yesterday I stayed in the room sketching and DH did a train/tram exploration for our route to airport tomorrow. Today will use our last day trip, multi zone train pass to go to Mainz about 40 minutes from Frankfurt. We’ve been getting a lot of walking in and have been eating pretty well, there’s no in between meal snacking. Lots of walking activity of course, but I have been allowing myself pastry 🥐 in the mornings with breakfast and bit more bread/pretzels here and there. But I feel all has been reasonable. There’s no scales in hotels as last trip, so we’ll just have to see where I come out after returning home, which will be technically Friday as we get in very late Thursday night. DH got us signed up for this thing where we can do our own Covid tests with live armed proctor online and we did the screening to come home on Sunday evening.
Craft: I still plan on doing the graphic angels for template designed for larger circle ornaments. Over the last few days After sketching many samples of told painting type designs to also apply to this template, I have finalized 5 goodish ones to try. The main challenge lies in doing with acrylic paint and the fine details needed. I may need to try acrylic extender etc but this can end up thinning to much and then the color is it bright/vivid enough. Will have to see how it goes. I also worked up designs for two sided Halloween theme shelf sitters. I might need to do one more as I’m not 100% on one of them. I might like to try getting two blocks posted for sale prior to the fifteenth. They will be acrylic, pyrography lower border with wood staining, and pyrography line design acrylic paint for top part with cartoon/simplistic image, ghost, jacks lantern, candy corn.
We’ve enjoyed the trip ver my hunt are looking forward to getting home too.
Z
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Post by michelle on Oct 6, 2021 1:38:00 GMT
Z, You reminded me that I need to get my Halloween shelf sitters out. They are are so cute! Also I will go through all of my miscellaneous decorations to see if I plan on using them and if not will declutter. It's great to see you back to working on crafting ideas!!! It sounds like you are doing fantastic with your Streaks while vacationing. We are headed into the first phase of winter for the next few days and then it will be back to very cool fall days. So today I decided to get my annual cutting back of the four butterfly bushes done, two of which grow to be quite large. This is the first year I cut them back before all those bothersome long,thin leaves got all over the grass. I'm sure glad I did because it went very quickly and now I don't have to rake endlessly trying to get them picked up. Not sure about the leaf blower as I proved I could rake faster and do a better job but possibly it just takes practice. Thanks for congratulating me on my possible semi retirement. For starters I am trying to not volunteer for extra work to help DH. Now that I have that as a plan I think I will be successful. Buttercup also does some very cute things but I try to keep my dog stories to a minimum. Clair and Buttercup play a couple of games that are seriously outrageous!
I hope it is not raining nonstop. Nevada rain is usually hardly any at all so we don't have things like umbrellas. Hope you are enjoying the final part of your trip!!!
Onward>>>>
Wednesday - Such a lovely fall day today! Another happy homemaking day complete with a couple of hours of raking and watering in the back planter.The fire mitigation company ignored my phone call. These contractors are just so editing....... Sometimes they are great and other times not so much. When I called about the sprinkler system I must have left messages with six of them and not one of them called me back. I knew this would be the case so I just kept calling until I got a hold of one that answered his phone. It was on the weekend and he turned out to be the greatest. His company was called Big Bear Landscaping so I called him Mr. Bear and gave him a Facebook pic of a big brown bear laying on a picnic table sound asleep with a note thanking him. He told me he put that pic on his fridge.
Onward>>>>
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Post by zenamidievel on Oct 7, 2021 16:18:13 GMT
Good Morning,
We are home! Hooray! All flights went smoothly, little to minimal delays. DH had upgrades from all his miles for airline and points for hotels, some of which were going to expire, which was part of reason for this trip to happen now. Due to this, we had access to the hotel executive lounges, where you get a free snacks/beverages and sometimes outright food type dinner each night for two hours each night, depending on hotel. I think our only real expenses were the train tickets and usually a midday meal. I kept shopping to a minimum because I'd have to carry back what ever I bought. I ended up with some German Candy and snacks to send to DD in a care package, three strings of little miniature cowbell type decoration on thin jute rope, which were inexpensive and in colors, red and gray, with little Bavarian type pattern which are the WSU cougar colors, so thought those were cute. Also from the famous smallish Christmas store, Katherine Wolfhart (sp) she has Christmas shops in these villages, especially Rothenburg aug der Tauber, which are famous. I went through the shops, enjoyed looking at all of it, but only ended up buying some Christmas and Bavarian classic style table linens which I REALLY liked! I don't think these were by her company, they were by a German table linen company, I think, but I really like the design. Also these would fold flat in my suitcase/backpack. In a nutshell, I was able to bring everything home in my suitcase and back pack. ALso I have two Christmas decorations that my mom gave me and from my grandparents that were made in Germany that I love and never see anything that tops these. ALso I one is a year round little decoration i Love, which btw , just this morning, I used the putty you recommended to stick the girl's hoe handle back into her hands that had come loose.
Pets: I never grow tired of puppy tales. THey make me smile, like pictures/videos of babies!...lol. The cat is happy we're home I believe the kitty care went great, she is having a lap sit with me now, her second for the morning.
Landscaping: The landscaping looks great! I like the two colors of rock used, which is black basalt and then some multi colored earth tones that tie to stones on house, house color and pavers. The plants look good, I got some things that will have flowers, some Salvia/purple sage stuff, the rock rose type plants (red), some day lilies, (Yellow) Some Sprirea which has some yellowish/gold color leaf rather than dark green and this will be pink in spring, some feather grasses (tall) an some . THey hydroseed product is sprouting, DH and seems good. DH and I have couple questions for landscapers in regard to this there are a couple of giant weedish/plants coming in down low, but I don't think we are to be trapesing across this area to address those and it can probably be done in spring and then some more seed spread there. There's not too many of them, so is fine. Still better than big weedy, dusty, dirty rock bank and some shorter, dwarf bunny type grasses. DH and I need to get information on the weed & feed situation for the hydroseed area. I want to go out, when I go for my walk this morning, and take some pictures.
I understand about the butterfly bushes. My sister had one of those in her back yard in Reno and found it to be too much to deal with, and always getting too big for the space, so removed it. THey are very pretty bushes though! She has replaced some of her landscaping with other plantings which also attract humming birds, as she does a lot of photography of those. GLad Mr. Bear worked out for your yard work!
My goal is to get a walk in every morning here, outside, when it is not frosty. Because our home is on a hill, hence the view, it will not always be so wise to walk if it's the least bit slickery out there. But we are to have beautiful weather for the next couple of weeks.
I'm trying to decide if I will participate in an Etsy Ornament sale or not. I'm not sure I have time or desire to figure that out, it starts MOnday October 11th. I need to read what it says about it and figure out what whether to try to do it or not. I would like to actually produce some ornamemnts today and tomorrow and Sunday, photograph some items to list and get my shop opened up again.
Z.
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Post by michelle on Oct 8, 2021 0:59:23 GMT
Z, The items you brought back from Germany all sound wonderful! I use that putty to keep items from coming off Clair's Therapy outfits and also for a number of other purposes. I was wondering if I could use it to close up the front of a top that kind of hangs open slightly but decided that sewing it shut would probably be preferable. Today Clair and I went to the university to visit the students. She is so incredibly sweet and all of the girls just love her earrings and outfits. Also I have a number of cute stories about Clair that make them laugh. But most of all they just adore her and pet her as I sit and listen to them. They miss their home life and their pets but are upbeat about life in general. The counseling department sees the value in giving the students this bright moment to cheer them up. Clair was mobbed today. It's nothing for six or seven girls to all be sitting around in a circle spending time with her. I know how important this is for them and the appreciation they show is proof.
Your ornament making sounds so fun!!! I am going to get out Clair's container of holiday outfits to make sure that the Halloween on I made for her is ready to go. Also I need to go through her big bunch of bows and see what will work right now as these bows clipped onto her harnesses are very popular. Oh BTW, she was voted best dress of all the dogs today by some of the students.
The landscaping seems to be on the sane side! Congrats on that!!! Those butterfly bushes are really beautiful and get very huge. I just need to cut them back before I end up with a lot of extra work which is what I did this year for the first time. We bought some Russian sage bushes and planted them along the back planter. I got very excited when the bees came since I thought they were all dead due to the on going heat wave and the smoke--the smoke actually does kill numerous insects. However the forest pretty much burned down so their is a good chance that we will not have to spend an entire summer again like this one. My summer went up in smoke--literally.
Buttercup is whining about going quading. Hope you are having a pleasant evening!!!
Onward>>>>
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Post by zenamidievel on Oct 8, 2021 14:44:39 GMT
Good Morning,
I'm glad your visit with Clair the university went well. She is a super sweet dog.
Getting my days mixed up. Today I need to mail DD's package to her at college. She has come down with a cold, and this is Rush week for Sorority, which she wanted to do. I don't have experience with this except for my observation as an RA my second year in the dorm watching the girls go through this and it was stressful and emotionally charged situation. So am crossing finger for DD that it goes the way she wants it to, but am sorry she's not feeling her best for the events surrounding it.
Landscaping: Yes, all sane here. I asked my questions of the guy about the hydroseed got a reasonable answer, he will be stopping by today.
Found a good walking route which took about an hour yesterday, beautiful here.
Craft: Got base coat on on some ornaments and am proceeding with the graphic angels as well as attempting the 4-5 designs of ornate ones with same shape template and will attempt to get a couple more snowy churches done with the blue background. THen I need to fold card sets of recent 5 card set bird collages. THen I need to set up the photography area and do listings for all of these as well as sets of playing cards. This is a lot to get done in one day. The graphic idea seems to be good, I've not added the black lines yet though to them. ON the backs of these I'll do a simple snowflake design so there's something on the back. The first ANgel I did I call "Armored Angel" cause her embellishments look like armor. I have no idea whether anyone will like these or not, but it's fun to try.
Okay, maybe more later!
Z.
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Post by michelle on Oct 9, 2021 3:27:54 GMT
I am not sure about this post since I had to do something rather strange to even get to this point.
There was snow this morning on the surrounding mountain tops but it was a spectacularly lovely cool fall day today. It's just so wonderful to have fresh air! I have been having trouble focusing lately which makes progress on chores very slow. I did some office work, got the rest of the stuff put away from yesterday's shopping trip and then went outside to do my daily raking which I actually enjoy.
Glad you found a nice walking route! The crafting sounds like it is going to turn out better than anticipated. I bet the armoured Angel is a big hit. Not much else has gone on worth chatting about since the power went off and stayed off for quite a while. I did some house cleaning during the outage, walked the dogs, and then sat and read my book. Also made Paper Tiger piles. Organized my office area. Such an improvement!
Hope you are enjoying being back home!!!
Onward>>>>
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Post by zenamidievel on Oct 9, 2021 13:31:58 GMT
Good Early Morning,
I think I'd accidentally added pages and pages of blank to my last post, I edited and deleted that portion. Maybe that was the issue? Hooray for clear air and fall weather, I love the fall.
The graphic angel ornaments are CUTE!!!!! It so fun to do the different color combinations on them. I will write down m favorite combos so I can repeat. My mom said they have a stained glass effect, which is true. I will post an example photo once I get the sealer on them and am aready to do the photography. I'm going to do search on Etsy again just to see what I see, pretty sure there's no angels quite like them. The idea here was no faces, no hair...hence hair color. So each angel has 6 colors that are used. I use the same color for praying hands as the face, then there is the halo, wings, neck of dress, both sleeves, base of dress. They can have wild colors, for any part, including the skin, this is what makes them fun/unique. On the back used two colors from the front, for lines and dots of simple snowflake, initial toward the top at the hanger area, year and number. I will remove the satin red hangers from them and replace with jute as the color is more neutral will look best with all, not be distraction. On this note, it is possible that I could make some "WSU" angels, as I believe I can get a WSU on the yoke area of the neck of the dress. If I do that, I can use crimson and gray for the dress, white for halo and wings, use skin color for face and hands. THese could have hair and eyes and mouth also, or not. eyes, mouth, hair can be added easily to this template, it's just a different thing then as apposed to the graphic look.
Yesterday I mailed a package to DD with German candy to share with roomies, and a t-shirt in a color I hope she likes. Picked up our non delivered mail, grocery shopped , made stuff for what we're taking to the game for tail gating today, pinwheels, ham and cheese sandwiches and picked up some fried chicken as requested. I do not like cold fried chicken, hence the sandwich making. So there is a game today.
Home: DH assembled his standing desk, which is petite, and and attached felt to the feet, and it is great. Now he can stand, watch t.v., see the view out windows, have coffee, be on computer in the morning. When we are having company, it slides right into the coat closet in the entryway.
DH bought and set up the Roombas. I was skeptical, these things are weird! However the base for it is out of the way, it came out and did it's "mapping" yesterday of the upstairs. I thought the running of it was annoying, however it did do a good job on all the hardwoods and all looked better and I didn't have to do it! I cannot believe it is a substitue for vacuuming the carpets however. While it does pick up surface stuff, vacuuming would still be in order. It was weird how it would find it's way back the base, park itself, for cleaning out, or recharging.
Unpacking: We are not completely unpacked/organized yet. THe den is full of carp and for some reason the kitchen island is full of carp as is the entry way chest near kitchen, this must all change! Down stairs, DD's stuff is still overflowing, boxed and other. If DH's Sports Illustrated magazine collection of 40 years was not taking up space in guestroom three closet this would be less problematic. Also DH had a bar put in downstairs, with a Kegorator, and then ordered the wrong sized keg, too big, wrong tap, and all of this contraption stuff is not setting out, in a galvanized wash tub, in an in appropriate area.
Well, I need to check the weather and get ready to go this game today, thankfully it's an early one, and I think is supposed to be good weather.
Hope your day goes well!
Z
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Post by michelle on Oct 10, 2021 4:46:21 GMT
Z, Your crafting plans are fantastic!!! It will be fun to read more about them. The Roomba sounds helpful. I wonder if it just runs around when it wants to of if it is programmed. For me it would probably be like another dog that gets in my way which is something I am used to.
Today I had it in mind to get thirty things accomplished. I managed to get 15 done. It would have been more but I spent a couple of hours outside working on cutting back a bush, fixing some small holes created by the dog gardeners and cleaning up my bird feeding area. I will have to get out there tomorrow and get my decorations all put away as it is supposed to snow/rain on Monday. However tomorrow is going to be another beautiful fall day!
I did get a few items decluttered but put away some things that I know should have been put in the pile also. Getting myself to work on the Paper Tiger was very difficult but I forced myself to do it. Tomorrow will be more of the same but I think the worst is behind me. I keep having to set my timer but do it for varying times from 25 minutes to three hours which seems to help.
I hope you had a fun time at the game!!!
Onward>>>>
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Post by zenamidievel on Oct 10, 2021 14:44:13 GMT
Good Morning,
Good work on your list, 30 things is a lot of thing on paper tiger and decluttering too.
We went to the football game, weather was fantastic, and our team won, yay!!! Nothing else was done because the drive there and back is over an hour, it's a tailgating thing, all day ordeal, but was fun.
May plan for today is all Etsy related and a bit of side/house stuff as I can accomplish it.
More later,
Z.
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Post by michelle on Oct 12, 2021 2:34:36 GMT
Z, I hope you got a lot of crafting done. Glad you are enjoying the football games!
I have been crazy busy forcing myself to get through the pile of Paper Tiger items. I will skip the details. I kept track of the items completed and think I am on about 50 for the last three days. Yesterday was spent working on PT and also scrambling to get all the summer decorations put away before the predicted snow. Sure glad that go taken care of because it only snowed slightly today but the wind was howling all day long and it was extremely chilly. Actually it helped me to concentrate on the remainder of my items to get done. Tomorrow I still have a couple of hours to do to finish. Hooray!!!
DH decided to include me in on a big project of his so I need to concentrate on that for some time tomorrow. At least I am going to leave parts of it for him to do instead of charging onward and doing it all myself. Not saying that he is spoiled but.....
Time for me to finish up the day. Hope you are having a pleasant evening!!!
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Post by zenamidievel on Oct 12, 2021 14:23:51 GMT
Good Morning,
Sorry I was MIA.
You are doing well to get through the projects facing you! You can do this! I hope you meet your goal!
Recent TaDas: -got the kitchen island clear of stuff. There is still one more pile but it is DH's and it is very small. Much of the island had become stacked with carp again, he has his standing desk now, there's no reason to have that stuff on the island all the time. -rearranged a drawer in the oak hutch which sets in an "L" shaped nook off the kitchen facing living area. This allowed for the top of that to get cleared off and some of the items distributed to the rearranged large drawer and the two smaller upper drawers. This was very good, and so no that is cleared off except for key holder, spare change catcher, and decorative bowl, holding DH wallet, phone battery and more keys. -Moved empty boxes to the laundry room bench to get them out of living area of house -moved a leftover smallish lamp to the laundry room counter, which also got mostly cleared off, so we can leave that on at night instead of the overhead all the time. Moved one excess chair from guestroom three to guestroom -the plumber came to fix our master shower we've not been able to use yet, waiting on a part, only to realize he'd adjusted it the wrong way when he was here the last time! So now we can use the master shower! -DH took another load of cardboard to the transfer station from garage -DH got that massive beer keg emptied and got an appropriate sized one that fits where it should so I'm happy about this and not having all that carp/situation setting about on top of what is still left to deal with
Craft/Etsy -Picked up one initial print job from new Staples printer location, that went well. Dropped off another job yesterday, they did a test print so that should go well also, I am encouraged! I realized I was out of CHukar cards and it is Chukar season. -I took the red satin ribbons off the angels and added jute twine, then I re-used the satin ribbon on some left over metal quilt block ornaments I had previously had made on Shutterfly. They had sent these massively fat ribbons which were dumb looking, and I'd never bought replacement ribbon. -photographed new bird collage cards, all the angels, quilt block metal ornaments and got all listed into Ornament section of the shop. The photgraphing and listing takes time, but even if no one buys these ( no one did last year) at least they are available for purchase. -There is a shortage on the Staples 110 pound white card stock! I still have a box/supply of my own and should be enough to do what's needed. -went to the craft store and got some crimson and gray paint so I can do the "WSU" angels in same style as the graphic ones been doing -sketched out a darling/semi-graphic style teddy bear that will fill up these 4" round circle ornaments. THe bear can wear a vest with a bow or a smock with ribbon tie. I think they're going to be super cute and I'll make the prototypes for my great nephew and niece first then do a couple for the shop if they come out cute, I think they're kind of adorable! I'm also seeing about doing a rocking horse, same type of thing, not sure on this,but I'll complete a some more angels and the bears first. -Todo: I need to sort my decks of playing cards and get them photographed and listed as well today in "Puzzles and Games" shop section.
Home: -call landscaper -another e-mail to home builder on questions -keep sorting and looking through pictures here and start hanging some, make decision about others, the boxes need to come in from garage -there is still den, guestroom three and some boxes out in living room downstairs to organize, work through, put away, etc.
Hope your day is off to a good start.
Z. -
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Post by michelle on Oct 13, 2021 0:55:30 GMT
Z, Impressive list of TaDas! Your crafting post was such fun to read!!! I just looked at your Etsy site again and am so impressed with it and the wonderful reviews you have gotten. The cat is still my very favorite piece!!! and I loved seeing it again. It was such fun to see the items that you have used as your avatar. I could go on and on!!!! Another kind of not productive day for me. It seems like small things can derail me but I am forging on anyway. I worked on DH's project today so my PT items languished. Tomorrow is another day! Also worked on EMP due to the wind event yesterday that caused significant needle casts. I managed to rake up four large contractor bags of pine needles from La Mariposa. Tomorrow I will spend time working on La Fiesta. It is a much larger area but probably has less pine needles. However, I am so glad I have stayed on top of this raking throughout the summer. I can't imagine how many bags I would have now if I hadn't done so. Also I hope to finish up those very stressful Paper Tiger items tomorrow. It's rather odd to have two jobs now that AA is only working one day a week. I am not sure that this is working at all for me. When I have too much stress I start acting out by online shopping which has started up again and has reached the out of control region. If I don't get it under control the Hoarder TV crew is going to show up here for a filming. Yikes!!!
The Associated Students of the University of Nevada (ASUN), the student government for UNR, is a big supporter of mental health initiatives and heavily promotes Take 5 to Stay Pawsitive which is the event that Clair attends. They want to take a group photo of the dogs and handlers. I might do that. Not sure as Clair just loves all dogs so is quite bratty in that type of setting.
Hope you are having a pleasant evening!!!
Onward>>>>
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Post by zenamidievel on Oct 13, 2021 15:47:27 GMT
Good Morning,
Good job keeping up with the raking! I understand about the stress resulting in certain behavior for certain! I have mine, believe me. I thought you should be doing less now, not more with the office? Maybe I should not ask about this? Eeks...hope it decreases. Thank yo for looking at my site! IF you were to e-mail through that, I'd mail you some cards for free!
House: -yesterday I got more pictures hung, different areas, just a few. DH says he doesn't care, but he does care, so this makes selection and hanging challenging. We do not care for the same type thing always so I'm trying to hang things I know he won't mind. There are many pictures that have been culled to be taken to Goodwill against one wall. -made clarified butter to fry Schnitzel in, this came out great! It looked/tasted like it was from a restaurant, and I made German Potato Salad, which is mainly potatoes dressed with a mustard, distilled vinegar dressing and bacon bits. -found the receipt for a holiday picture I do not "need" bought from Tuesday Morning which is by the craft and Staples stores, put the receipt and picture in the car so it's in there next trip. I need to do this with grocery bags as well so I have them for shopping. -I dirtied 3 x as many dishes necessary in that cooking process, but I washed them all and got put back away!
Craft: -got the base coat which is a nice blue, on a huge number of ornaments so I can do angles, bears (brown and polar, will look cute with both colors) and a couple snowy churches. -got pointillism floral and 3 different sets of the tiki cards posted in shop. THere are more cards to get posted. -made a couple marketing posts on facebook page linking to Etsy site, and one on Instagram
ToDos: -hang some more pictures -try to get DD's stuff organized and condensed from Guestroom 3 -I might go buy a chair for the downstairs family room..something not super involved from an inexpensive place -get frames for some pencil art I bought WSU themed for Bar area so We can get some pictures hung in that area -paint ornaments, list a few more decks of playing cards.
Z.
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Post by michelle on Oct 14, 2021 3:05:17 GMT
Z, the German food sounds wonderful! Glad that it turned out so well. I hope you are enjoying getting back into crafting.
Today I worked on Paper Tiger remnants. This is slow going because many of the procedures are being revamped and they were quite complicated to begin with. I am forging on and believe that it will be much better for me to be able to do the Admin work. Actually I was doing so much overseeing and correcting of AA that I had started doing a lot of it myself and found it much easier to follow and actually quicker. I had more to say but deleted it. Fortunately for you.
The raking continues. Today I spent almost three hours raking in La Fiesta. Possibly some minutes could be deducted because Buttercup insists I throw the ball for her when I am doing any type of outside work. If you are wondering how a dog insists---> she has a really loud barking thing she starts to let me know what I am supposed to do. I did a couple of loads of wash.
Hope you are having a relaxing evening!!!
Onward>>>>
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