I will at least get a start on unearthing my office desk today. The poor thing is buried with the residue from several projects. Some have been going on simultaneously, but some of this STUFF is from projects that have been finished for awhile. It’s now to the point where I can’t find anything, or if I do and try to pick it up, things fall. UGH.
It’s a very good thing my husband didn’t marry me for my housekeeping skills. He is wonderful, in that he doesn’t seem to notice when things get awful, like my desk, but DOES notice it if it’s suddenly clean. That a wonderful survival skill for him – since he isn’t great about cleaning, or helping to clean…
This will probably be a several-day project, particularly since the Super Bowl is this evening. I will work on it a bit at a time. Eventually I will find the furniture under the pile.
Filed under Organizing/DeCluttering
Olga – Teplolino – Russian Thread Art – livemaster.ru – MyOwlBarn.com
In honor of the Super Bowl, we are officially ‘off the rails’ on our diet today. We’re looking forward to one of our all time favorite splurges – chili mac (chili with macaroni) with cheese and onions for dinner while watching the game. We may also throw caution to the winds and enjoy a bowl of popcorn!
If there were a competition for excuse-making for not eating right, I would win it hands down. No need for an actual official contest. But I’ll enjoy today to the fullest and then redouble my efforts ‘tomorrow.’ (Like Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind).
Our weather is nice again, though chilly at 38 right now. The sun is shining brightly. I’m hoping that the 60-70% chance of precipitation Wednesday and Thursday is in the form of just rain.
Enjoy your day and evening!
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Ooh! It’s pretty cold here in Arkansas today. It’s 24 degrees F. with a wind chill making it FEEL like 13. BRRRR! The sun is shining, though, and this is a one-day thing. Warmer tomorrow. :0)
I’m doing really well with my getting our tax stuff organized in the office efforts. I’m waiting for our investment stuff to be available for download and print. Then we can bag everything up for taxes and dump it on our wonderful CPA.
I made new spreadsheets for 2022 and will enter January’s information into them today. Then file that stuff, having decided to refine my filing system for less sorting at the end of the year. I’ll make the extra folders today, plus reconciling checkbooks.
Once that is done, the next step will be to find my desk again. The poor thing is buried alive with STUFF. You can see there is ‘something’ in that part of the room, but it’s not clear it’s a desk. LOTS of things to put away from lots of projects…
I’ve figured out a NICE way to tackle this stuff. I listen to music, write blog posts, then tackle whatever the project is. Work for awhile, get to a good stopping point, take a break and listen and type again. This way I get something good accomplished with some good enjoyment keeping my energy up.
2022 will be a good year for me to get serious about getting rid of more stuff. Seriously. I hit some roadblocks in 2021 on this, with our library not accepting used books and our wonderful Veterans Thrift Town not accepting donations. I will call both first to see if that has changed and then plan accordingly. If they are not accepting donations, I’ll have to find other organizations to get things to people who might be able to use them. Maybe our churches.
I hope you’re having a happy Saturday, too.
Filed under Challenges, Mother Nature, Organizing/DeCluttering
kiyoshimino.blogspot.com
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I was as happy as this sweet dog today at Lunch Bunch. When I started to open the door to the restaurant, my friend KAY opened the door! (she is the one who fell and broke a bone in her back about 2 months ago now, and has been on quite a ride trying to fix the problem and find a way forward.)
Her husband is watching her like a hawk, making sure she doesn’t lift anything and is doing all of the housework for her, as well. He’s a real keeper. She is very grateful, and yet was understandably glad to be out of the house and with friends. She ordered a couple of individual pizzas to take home so they could eat together.
It was such a celebration to be able to babble at each other, catching up, giving hugs, laughing, etc. My husband was on his best behavior, only becoming ‘deaf’ when Kay was telling us all her husband was doing to help clean the house. :0)
Aside from a truly enjoyable Lunch Bunch, the weather couldn’t be nicer. Sunny and supposed to get almost to 70 this afternoon. What a treat!
I’m making a note to get outside and walk around our yard this afternoon. We’re getting a cold front tomorrow, dropping our temperatures up to 25 degrees (high of 39 tomorrow), with possible winter storm on Wednesday.
I’m still grinning at my friends finally being able to get together. I’m rich in friends.
Enjoy your Friday!
Filed under Friendship, Mother Nature
Filed under Chainsaw Art, When Wood Comes Alive
Can you see me patting myself on the back? I also gave myself a gold star on my desk calendar. “Why?, ” you ask. I have gotten our tax stuff ready to take to our CPA in record time this year. All we are waiting for is our investment stuff. I can print it and then we’ll take our records and dump them on our very kind CPA who will magically churn out tax forms and send them to the government for us for another year. HOOOORRAAAAAAAY!
Tomorrow I’ll start new spreadsheets for 2022 on the computer and catch up on January. Since doing tax prep is one of my LEAST favorite things in the world, I am delighted that I have finally found a way to make it as painless as possible. My husband’s contribution to all this is to say, “Are we ready to take the stuff to Mike yet?”
It’s a truly stellar day today otherwise, too. Our temperatures are supposed to get to the 60’s today. It’s bright and sunny. The remaining snow MAY be gone from our driveway today. If not, SURELY tomorrow. (We’re due for a cold front Saturday and another possibly wintry event next Wednesday, so I’m hoping we’ll start with a clean slate driveway-wise.
I’m going to get our mail as soon as I finish this. I’m hoping to get a couple of things we ordered.
I’ll do my yoga this afternoon with a clear conscience that I’m almost up-to-date on the office stuff and have earned my salt for the day.
Filed under Attitude, Thoughts on a ________
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“’Owl,’ said Rabbit shortly, ‘you and I have brains. The others have fluff. If there is any thinking to be done in this Forest–and when I say thinking I mean thinking–you and I must do it.’”
– A.A. Milne, ‘The House at Pooh Corner’
“An animal’s eyes have the power to speak a great language.” -Martin Buber
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Series Description
“J.D. Robb’s popular futuristic In Death series features police lieutenant Eve Dallas and her tycoon husband, Roarke. The series is set in mid-21st century New York City and, occasionally, off-Earth. The books are primarily police procedures with a focus on the romantic relationship between Eve and her husband. The first book in the series, Naked in Death, was published in 1995 and the series now includes over 50 titles. Like most mystery series, the In Death books do not have to be read in order, but character relationships do develop over the course of the entire series.”
(I now have the 53 paperback books in the series. The 54th comes out in hard back this month. I was just able to preorder the paperback that will come out the end of July of 2022.)
Most times I get a new one, I re-read all the others, just to immerse myself in her life and that of her co-workers and friends. (I’m on # 41 now – “Devoted in Death.”)
I find her a fascinating combination of strengths and weaknesses. I like the way her mind works, trying to get inside the minds of really bad people who kill others. The victims become ‘hers,’ and she will do whatever is necessary to bring their killers to as much justice as the law will allow. As all of us, she has her quirks and weird fears (such as she is creeped out by dolls). Each of the books brings out something touching and/or personal about Eve, Roarke, their relationship, etc., where she lets us inside a bit more.
I have read that Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb is quite wealthy. I can’t think of anyone who deserves the good things life has to offer more. Long may she reign – and WRITE! :0)
Filed under Favorite Authors & Books
Lots of excuses – so little time!
Due to –
my weight is up and my disgust with myself is up, as well.
Thankfully, although our driveway is probably the last snow-covered place in Greenwood, the snow IS melting and our snow tires are equal to the task of getting down the driveway (changing from ‘drive’ to ‘first’ before starting down) and hurrying a bit to get past the steepest part of the driveway to the melted places on the way back up. We are no longer snowed in and our weather is really nice now. Maybe Mother Nature has decided to give us a bit of a break after slamming us with a thick layer of ice before the snow.
I AM trying to do a session of yoga each day, although I’m having to shame myself into it, rather than doing it as habit as I was doing awhile back. There is something about winter that encourages me to do things that are sedentary – reading, working or playing on the computer, listening to music, taking naps – all nice things, as long as they are spread out between more mobile activities. Even starting to get our tax stuff together is sedentary!
My new meme will be, ‘SHUT MY MOUTH AND MOVE MY REAR!’
Filed under Watercolors I Love
Sent by a dear friend.
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Tara Turner – Beautiful Distortions Wall Art
Filed under paintings I love, Tara Turner Art
One of the reasons we built our home on top of a ridge line over 30 years ago is that we treasure our privacy. We get really hostile when people come to try to sell us stuff, convert us to their religion, etc. We really love our friends, but really appreciate it when they call first to make sure we’re not in the middle of something before they come. Being on top of a steep incline discourages most people from coming up.
I feel the same way about phone calls. I don’t really like talking on the phone. Since my husband had a couple of strokes, it upsets him when I’m on the phone for some reason. Sometimes it’s unavoidable, but he is upset for quite awhile, and makes me angry yelling at me about it.
We have an answering message on our home phone that helps us out quite a bit. It answers the phone automatically – asks people who know us – and aren’t selling anything – to hit # (I think). This eliminates all robo-calls because they can’t respond to that request. It also is a bit intimidating to have to jump through the hoop, unless you know us and don’t mind the aggravation. When the symbol is pressed, the phone then rings for us in the house and we answer. Otherwise, we aren’t bothered at all and don’t know someone tried to call.
I’ve actually had some people who are calling legitimately be laughing when I answer, and ask where THEY can get the answering recording.
Today, a person called. I answered to find she was selling something. I asked her if she listened to the answering recording. The bottom line was that she ignored the fact that we stated we didn’t want calls like hers and hit the symbol anyway. When I told her I wasn’t interested, she continued to talk.
I very carefully got her name and her company, plus her phone number.
I then called the company and asked for the manager. When the person got on the line, I calmly told her that if anyone else from her company ever called us again, I would call the Attorney General for Arkansas to report them. I gave her the name of the employee, the name of their company, their phone number, and the time and date of the call. I explained that the employee ignored our recorded message, bypassed our system, insisted on giving me her spiel when I told her right away I wasn’t interested, and didn’t want to give me her information. I explained that we went to some trouble to enter our phone numbers on the “Do Not Call List” and then to purchase the recording so that we wouldn’t be bothered. I gave her our information and had her read it back to me, adding it to a “Do Not Call List” for their company.
The manager apologized, but it seemed to me that she was just giving me lip service to get rid of me and that they would continue doing whatever they needed to do to reach as many people as possible. I will keep the information just in case someone else from the company calls again.
Filed under Pet Peeves
creativeartworksblog 