Maintainers Weekly Chat August 24 - August 30
 

Motivated by our experience last week dealing with DW's parents' home, we got some 20 items from our basement to the curb this week for FREE for anyone passing by. To date, 16 are gone. Even though it's a small step, it feels terrific to get rid of 'stuff' that my kids would have had to get rid of at some day in the future.

Bill :cp: for getting some stuff out! I too have to start planning for our "retirement" move by clearing out a lot of accumulation, both in our storage locker and our basement.

I have a more relaxed work week so am starting to catch up on household and personal and business matters. Personal trainer comes on Wed., new will to sign on Thurs., and the dog is getting a bath at the groomer's Fri.

I have picked the plants that have to come out of the garden and am waiting for DH to complete that task. Then I will transplant all the others that need more space, less sunlight, and will prep the part that will become lawn. Weeding will get done sometime next week.

I am picking up money owed to me from the massive cat sitting of the previous 3 weeks and also from the temporary dog walking clients. then I can pay the last installment of our property tax on the weekend. I'm also caught up on all unpaid bills of the last week. WHEW!

Good week all!

Dagmar :cool:

My brother made the following comment on Facebook, "Other than Allison, not throwing things out must run in the family." It's true. I do not keep things that have no use to me any longer. I hate clutter. My motto is "everything has a place and everything is in it's place." I only allow the animals to leave things (toys) laying about the house.

DD and SIL may be coming tomorrow to pick up a piece of furniture we had made for them (litter box furniture) and will stay for dinner. They are moving into a house this week. This may be the last time I'll see them until Thanksgiving, which really isn't that far off.

What a timely post. I'm just back from a week at my mother's house, and all I can think of, when I'm there, is that eventually we'll end up emptying it. It's not crammed with stuff but she doesn't live like a minimalist, either. She does list stuff on Craig's List regularly. And I must admit, I'm still storing boxes of books there and also more classic wool & cashmere sweaters than I'll ever wear, which all need to be pulled out and given away or sold.

Inspired by that, I culled some stuff from my closets for eBay over the past weekend. I also reorganized my jewelry in three spots, and polished about 40 silver items, though I still have another spool chest of jewelry to sort through and label.

The back-to-school feeling at the end of August is contagious and makes me want to undertake projects.

It must be contagious! Dh and I talked this weekend about getting rid of/ selling/ donating items. That's about as far as we got though I did throw out some stuff.

I'm at work (inservice) and first official day is tomorrow. I've got the chills and I'm paranoid I'm getting sick. It doesn't help that dd sent me a text before 4:30 a.m. saying "call me". So, I called and have been up since. Her car was broken into last night and she was understandably upset. It's also her first day of school so not a terrific start.

Dh went out of town till Wednesday so Ellie is on her own during school hours (in a crate of course). She has decided one pillow on the couch really doesn't need its stuffing. I was hoping to go to body pump tonight but we scheduled an appraiser at 5:00 pm as we are hoping to refinance (fingers crossed that the house appraises for enough!). So, I'll have to go to the gym after assuming I'm not sick or crashed....

I'm in the process of turning down 6 weeks of 2X per day cat sitting. The monetary reward is not worth ruining the last weekends of summer and Thanksgiving. I want some time to sit on my deck and look at the sky. Before I have to wear a parka to do so. :lol:

And I'd like to get my kayak out at least a couple of times before we decide whether we have to pack that activity away for good (bad back and shoulders for me and bad knees for DH).

I have looked up two cat-boarding places for my client and I hope she takes my advice to go see them and to send the cats there for the 6 weeks she's away. None of her nieces really want to stay at her house that long any more and I don't want to commit to that amount of time for the reasons I said in my first paragraph. The cats will have much more company and stimulation every day, get to spend time roaming the cattery with each other, and there are medical staff available immediately should one of them fall ill. that's a whole lot more than I and some of my client's friends can provide for such a long time period.

Over all I think it's the best thing for the cats. I hope my client agrees.

Dagmar :tired:

Dagmar, does kayaking bother your DH's knees? I hope not - I was looking forward to taking up kayaking when my knees finally get too bad for hiking. I'll have to be fully retired before I have time to do the giant purge I've been dreaming of. I have tried doing it in little 15 or 20 minute increments but it just doesn't get anywhere.

Andrea, I found the book you recommended (Being Mortal) on Audible, and I got it. I probably won't start listening to it for a week or so, but it will get "read" way sooner than if I actually had to read it.

Michele, hope you are not getting sick!!

Saef, congrats on the reorganizing you were motivated to do. I reorganized one food cabinet last weekend.

There were seven extra people and a large dog in my tiny house over the weekend. I felt like I couldn't even move. I'm starting to relax a little now that I'm back at work.

Alice, that's cool- I "read" books on Audible all the time myself, and actually listened to, rather than read, Being Mortal. The reader's voice suits the book perfectly, too. I prefer to listen to books rather than music when I am weight lifting, and also when I'm riding my bike, driving, or taking a long (for me- I don't do 40 mile hikes) walk.

You all are now making me feel thoroughly guilty for not decluttering and yard-sale-ing this summer like I told myself I would do. We have sooo many old electronics (either nonfunctional or just outdated), no-longer-appreciated decorative items and toys that aren't played with gathering dust in my house. Someone wrote a book a couple of years ago with a title like "Does This Stuff Make My Butt Look Fat?" with the premise that a messy house promotes overeating. I didn't read it, and think the connection is probably weak at best, but I definitely feel like I'm not in control of my environment when I look around our family room.

We took a load of stuff to the Goodwill over the weekend because we're in the process of packing up to move back to Boise. The urban experience was fun, but I'm ready for less traffic and fewer people.

Starting tomorrow, we're petsitting for friends who have two older Basset Hounds and three cats. I realized it's been 8 years since we've had a dog. It should be fun hanging out with them. One has occasional seizures, which is kind of terrifying, so we're hoping she doesn't have one on our watch.

Had a weird experience last week. We went to Winthrop, WA, for the night just for fun. Did some hiking near a town called Twisp. When we got home the next day, we heard that a fire had started two hours after we left Winthrop in the area where we'd been hiking, three firefighters had died, and the town we stayed in, Winthrop, and Twisp had been evacuated. Kind of freaky. With all the smoke everywhere we go, seems like the whole northwest is burning.

That is super scary, Sheila! Glad you weren't there for that. I've had several seizuring dogs over the years-- it can be scary but it's scarier for you than them. I'm sure the owners told you what to do?

I feel okay today.... My weight was down 3 pounds overnight so I'm not sure what my body is up to. Yesterday was a comedy of errors though. I was worried about dd in Texas as it was her first day back at school-- her car was broken into the night before, she had a rough first day with kids (she teaches Special Ed) and she didn't feel well at night (complete with 101 temp).... I wasn't feeling great either and I was waiting for the appraiser to show up at 5:00 pm (which messed up my regular exercise plans). At 5:03 I get a phone call from a guy wanting to set up an appraisal. I'm like... uh.... I'm expecting someone any minute... he was confused and said he was told to set one up. I went ahead and set it up (getting his name and phone number this time unlike appraiser number one) for tomorrow. Then, I didn't know how long to wait for appraiser number one.... he never showed....

Drug myself to the gym after dinner and then took a shower-- set off the smoke detector which wouldn't stop.

Hoping today is a better day..... it's our first day with students though they won't come for library classes for a few weeks.... though, they will come on school "tours" and I'll be on "display".

Dagmar-- what did your cat people say about your suggestion?

Michele She probably won't reply to me until we're well into September. Her trip starts on the 16th. I was quite surprised to get such a big lead time on the sit as it is. Nice lady and super organized at work but not so much with other stuff.

Dagmar :cool:

Re: Audiobooks

I've discovered the Overdrive app that allows you to borrow a wide range of Audio and E-texts for free provided you have a library card. Even better if you have more than one as the books available through each will often be different.

Nice to have something to listen to during exercise besides music after I've exhausted my regular podcasts.

My brother has been in the hospital since Monday night. No idea what is wrong, just something with his liver and can't keep food down. He has had cluster migraine headaches for the last five or six years, so we are afraid it has something to do with the medicines he has taken non stop for years. I'm pretty freaked out.

Prayers for your brother, Shannon. Is he local to you? My dd goes in to the doctor today for her mysterious bloodwork results and we are concerned that she might have something similar (liver damage due to migraine meds). Prayers for them both.

Shannon, I'm sorry to hear about your brother. His liver may be able to recover, though, from whatever it is.