Category Archives: Organizing/DeCluttering

February 12, 2022 · 9:55 am

Thoughts on a Saturday 2-12-2022

Giulia-flickr.com

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)

iStock

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…

iStock

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.

Insider

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.

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October 19, 2021 · 5:22 pm

Patting Myself on the Head

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I’m patting myself on the head a bit right now. I’ve been trying to get up to my art room for a week or more to clean up a bit and clear the decks to try the impasto painting technique. Excuses abound, as usual, but the fact remains I’m lazy. I’ve been enjoying lots of other things and just haven’t made the time.

This afternoon I finally went up there. I wrapped the Christmas presents I’ve made for friends, still sitting on the table where I brought them in from the shop. So now they are on another table, ready to go out the door when it’s time. :0)

I cleared off the drafting table so I have room to try the new technique. Right now it’s clean and clear. I’ll leave it that way until tomorrow, when I’ll gather the things I need to try the technique. I’m really looking forward to giving myself time to experiment and play, not worried about whether it will ‘turn out okay’ or not – just enjoying.

I hope that you found something satisfying to do today, too. If so, pat yourself on the head and enjoy some good relaxing. If not, give yourself a break and find something fun. It’s not too late :0)

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October 17, 2021 · 9:02 am

Sing It!

TheSilentConcert-badpsicsofbugsetc-fyeahshoebills.tumblr.com

It’s quite cool right now – 46 degrees F. and sunny here. It’s due to get to 74 this afternoon, so no complaints whatsoever from me. :0)

I’m pleased that the “ugly” Wonder Wart-Hog is up on the mailbox now, ready for the school kids to see it as they pass the bottom of the driveway on the bus tomorrow morning. I wonder if they’ll like it. My husband seems pleased with it, so that’s the most important.

Since I’m split between “should clean up my art room” and “should do some clean up in the yard,” I’ll try to devote half my day to each of those.

My art room is still a mess from the last ‘acrylic pour’ attempts (no success there yet), so I’d like to get it cleaned up and try to do one of the ‘impasto’ technique paintings with a pallet knife.

I’m trying to do a bit outside each time the weather is cooperative to get us ready for the winter.

Such a beautiful day! Enjoy your Sunday.

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September 25, 2021 · 10:10 am

Disorganized

A. A. Milne – E. H. Shepard – Winnie the Pooh – DreamsQuotes.com

Yesterday I started trying to once again clean up my art room. A lofty goal, and one that I occasionally actually DO. More often, I START – find something wonderful – and then spend the rest of the allotted time playing. :0)

We converted a third bedroom into my art room years ago. My husband built shelves that go all the way across one end of the room for supplies. On the other end of the room, he built more shelves. On the window side I have two tall sets of shelves…

Then there is the closet which has built-in shelves on one side and a plastic set of shelves on the opposite side.

I have two counters, one long table, and my drafting table.

My art room is a place that allows me escape. Alone time. Time to nurture, to dream, to experiment, to play.

Right now I have to tell you that it looks like a bomb hit. I am working to at least be able to walk through without falling over something or having to move a bunch of stuff.

I’ll do a bit more in there today. Maybe I’ll actually get something cleaned off!

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May 10, 2021 · 10:44 am

Thoughts on a Monday 5-10-2021

Lydie Steyer

I’m finding it hard to grasp that we’re already into May, and a third of it is gone!

Arkansas is having a ‘monsoon’ season this year. I’m growing some veggies in a raised bed square foot garden and they are loving this weather. It’s been cool and wet. For example it’s overcast, looking like it could rain any second, and is only 49 degrees right now. Friday I was able to share some spinach and lettuce with good friends. I’m planning to do my third harvest of the season today, if the weather will cooperate.

lettuce
spinach

Yesterday, after over a year of absence, I started accounts on Facebook and LinkedIn again. My accounts had been hacked and I couldn’t change my passwords or get any help from support at either place, so I gave up and closed my accounts. I missed some of the people I had met, so yesterday I created a new email address so I could sign up again. I have no idea of anyone remembers me anymore or will connect with me again, but I figure it’s worth a try.

My latest project – after putting the house back together after new carpet and porch flooring – is to switch my winter clothes for summer ones. Funny timing, since we may be setting a record for the coolest May we’ve had since I’ve lived here, but I’m in the middle of it now. I have the actual clothes switched. Now I’m trying to get things organized, plus I’ve promised myself I will try things on, going through for things I can donate.

We are continuing to enjoy getting healthy, individual portion meals from Real Food and from Stu’s Clean Cookin’, both of which have opened in the past year in Greenwood.

Calvin & Hobbes Mailbox Decoration

We haven’t been putting up mailbox decorations for awhile, due to the chaos in the world. We finally put up my favorite recently. I think we can all use a hug.

I hope that you are having a good start of a new week, too.

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May 3, 2021 · 9:02 am

It’s Monday

Giphy

I’m waiting for my coffee to kick in. It’s overcast and rainy-looking. Severe storms are forecast for this evening, so I’ll need to get out to my garden and do a second harvest in case we get the hail they say we might.

I’m also going to try to finish getting things put back where they belong after our new carpet and flooring project. Even though I’m sleepy, I’m smiling every time I see the carpet and walk on it. It’s nice. And new, And clean. I also love the way the porch floor looks like weathered wood. I have my side of our entertainment center in the living room to straighten out and then things will be done. Hooray!

The garden was looking strong and healthy the last time I checked. I’ll try to share some pictures with you. I have all appendages crossed the the storms this evening won’t break the plants. One year we had bad hail that battered things so much I had to cut everything WAY back. Then the weather turned really warm and the early spring plants gave up the ghost.

If you’re feeling sleepy too, I hope we can both wake up and enjoy the day.

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May 2, 2021 · 3:18 pm

Almost Finished!

Steemit

I’m getting ready to do some serious relaxing.

I finally finished getting our office back together after the carpet installation. I went through everything, trying to make it easy to find things. My husband will let me know if I was successful the next time he wants a new highlighter or something. Fingers crossed.

This is the main area in question. If he wants dividers for a notebook or tabs to go inside them, or whatever. I’m hoping he can simply go look for a couple of seconds and see that all the stuff for notebooks, dividers, and files are together on one shelf. Same for pens, pencils, tape of all kinds. etc. We’ll see. You can see that Amber is worn out after helping me organize.

My desk is newly cleaned.

These are things listed on Amazon – used books, and then my Amazon Handmade stuff.

This is the way the office looks as you look in from the foyer.

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May 2, 2021 · 9:47 am

LAZY

Signs of Wisdom

Our new carpet and porch vinyl installation was finished up by Friday mid afternoon. Aside from walking around smiling, we’ve been trying to get things put back where they belong. We had to empty out all the furniture, filing cabinets, etc. to do the install, and all that STUFF had to go SOMEWHERE. That ended up being EVERYWHERE – living room entertainment shelves, dining area floor, garage, my art room and the guest room upstairs, etc.

Friday I concentrated on making sure that we could make our way around the house without falling over anything – clear paths, places to sit down, place to eat, etc. My husband very kindly got my computer working again so I could work on getting over my computer withdrawal. :0) I also brought the drawers to my desk down from the guest room upstairs. There are 15 drawers in my old style roll top desk, so I made a lot of trips up and down stairs – good exercise, but a bit hard on this old woman.

Yesterday we moved all the files back into the office. We have two 4-drawers file cabinets and one 2-drawer cabinet. We got most of them back in. I’m working on one drawer today that was filled with OTHER STUFF – trying to go through it and get it better organized, and give away or throw away things.

Today I’m also concentrating on getting our supplies shelves fixed. Right now, the entertainment shelves in the living room are jam-packed with things from the office. I’m going to try to go slowly here, again trying to get rid of some things, but mainly to organize them so that my husband can find things. He has a harder time as the years pass, so I’m trying to look through things with an eye to where would be the easiest, most straight-forward place to store whatever supply it is – pens, rubber bands, tape, staples, etc. so he can walk up to the shelves and pick it out right away – or at least, that’s the plan. I’ll take my time.

We’re supposed to get rain today with more tomorrow, so yesterday I also took the time to check on my garden a bit. I planted some elephant ear bulbs I received in the mail. I may harvest a bit from the veggie garden this afternoon in case the weather people are correct. That will give me some good breaks from the reorganization of the office.

Have a great Sunday!

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April 8, 2021 · 9:03 am

Yeah, You Wish!

LoveThisPic.com

My body is letting me know that today might be a ‘take it easier’ day. Yesterday my husband and I did some cleaning out of our shop.

It was half as large as it is now when we first had it built. Now it’s 64’x24′. It’s a wonderful place. We have been able to set up some ‘work stations’ in there, so we don’t have to move so many things when we’re working on our projects.

It’s also large enough that we can be kind of sloppy about how much we keep out there. My husband started the clean out yesterday. Then he came and got me because about 25% of the shop is ‘mine.’ We cleaned out a whole lot of ‘stuff’ that should have been thrown out a long time ago. My husband burned it in our burn barrel, so now it looks like someone might care about the building – hence, my body complaining. :0)

Several of the yard critters we have made over the years are badly in need of a spruce up. Sun, wind, rain, and temperature changes are really hard on things that are outside. (We discovered that most recently when one of the shutters on the front of the house simple fell off the screws and anchors attaching it to the brick and shattered on the rocks below.)

I have cleared my work table now and will work on a critter we call a “box turtle” first.

This is when he was freshly painted, several years ago. Now he is in MUCH need of a thorough washing and extensive repainting. I’ll work on him as I can, and then put him back out in the yard, bringing in another critter to refurbish, working my way around the yard.

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February 12, 2021 · 1:47 pm

As Good as it Gets

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February 12, 2021 · 10:33 am

Thoughts on a Friday in February

MAN v FAT

It’s harder to stick with a rational, mature eating plan when the weather is yelling for comfort food. It’s 17 degrees F here in Greenwood, Arkansas. February is always our coldest month, but I was beginning to believe we wouldn’t have much of a winter this year. Hahahahahahhaha! Our highs are in the 20s, we have ice everywhere, our deck is a skating rink unfit for old folks to fill the bird feeders, and our 650+ foot long, STEEP driveway and the road that runs in front of our place are not encouraging travel – even to retrieve our mail at the bottom of the driveway. The forecast is for ‘dangerous cold, and snow Sat – Monday, then again Wednesday of next week. Did I tell you I HATE February?

VectorStock

I’m trying to be the “mature adult woman” that I’m supposed to be, NOT stuffing my face while continuing to earn my gold stars on my desk calendar for exercise. I put on my sweatshirt, sweat pants, puffy vest, knit hat, and gloves to go out to the garage to put in my time on my elliptical trainer. The good thing is I feel very proud of myself if I manage to get my time in out there each day. The yoga in the afternoons is easier.

Yesterday I finally got the seeds planted for my spring garden. The seed starter tray is sitting on our dining area table where the seeds will get the best sun. I’m watching the tray like a mother hen, hoping my seeds will sprout and then do really well so that I’ll have healthy, good-looking plants to put into my raised bed square foot garden the first week of April.

I am planning to continue my efforts to clean and reorganize my art room today. So far, the only clean area is my drafting table. Today I’ll tackle this table.

I hope you’re having a good Friday. Maybe we can start a petition to do away with February…

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February 9, 2021 · 10:05 am

Some Progress, More Coming

Drafting Table When I’m Working – 1
Drafting Table When I’m Working – 2

When ideas are coming fast and furious, rattling around in my poor brain until I’m dreaming of them, it’s a relief – and so much fun! – to spend time zipping from one idea and medium to the next, shoving things out of the way enough that I can keep playing.

Every once in a while, though, the adult emerges and looks – appalled – at the mess I’ve created once again. The stern taskmaster says that I MUST clean things up before starting anything else.

I went upstairs several days ago. intending to at least START with the tractor in there, but got some ideas for new magnets and I simply gave in to the need to play. I had a GREAT time, got the magnets finished, priced them yesterday and put them into the basket I take back and forth to my local booth in town.

I then listened to the taskmaster and decided to at LEAST get the drafting table cleared off.

Drafting Table Cleaned Off – 1
Drafting Table Cleaned Off – 2

My plan is to continue my cleaning efforts up there today. at LEAST getting another table cleaned off.

Happy Tuesday!

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February 8, 2021 · 9:49 am

Cleaning my Art Room?

Two days ago I went to my art room full of good intentions to clean things up and organize. I’ve been reasonably productive lately, so things are really a mess. :0)

I started with my drafting table because that’s where I do most of my work. As I cleaned it off, I got some ideas for new magnets to make for sale in my booth in Rags & Roses. The cleaning stopped as I started gathering the things I wanted…

Raising Children Network

Today I will go up and see if I can actually finish cleaning off the drafting table, as well as tackling more of the art room…

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February 6, 2021 · 4:44 pm

Art Room Honesty

Full disclosure – if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you already KNOW what a slob I am, and along with that, a lousy housekeeper. I decided that my current project will be cleaning up my art room – AGAIN.

The only time my art room is clean is when I’m not in there and have no current art projects going on. I have some images I took for my shops on Etsy, and they look really good. But nothing is happening in those images. :0)

I started cleaning in here this afternoon. I decided to start with my drafting table. I made a bit of progress, but then got caught up in a new idea for painted magnets. I started rummaging around, gathering things to try my new idea.

Under here is a drafting table, believe it or not.

And under here is a nice work table.

My art room has actually looked worse before. Sometimes it’s a challenge to walk from the door to the drafting table. :0)

Tomorrow I’ll show you more of the cleaning project, plus progress on the new magnets!

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January 25, 2021 · 10:08 am

Pat, Pat, Pat

Clipart Library

Yesterday I truly earned a pat on the head.

THING ONE: I FINISHED my part of our 2020 tax prep. It is in an envelope waiting for some investment statements to be available online and printed, then it will be taken and dumped, with relief, on our CPA for processing.

As a part of this, I started spreadsheets for 2021, made some improvements to my filing system, and threw some stuff away. I also discovered that there was, indeed, a DESK in my office, under the huge pile of STUFF.

Note: The big white envelope on the right side of the desk is the tax stuff that is almost ready to go!

THING TWO: I finally went through the big laundry basket I use to haul things back and forth to the booth my friend Carla and I share at Rags & Roses Collective in Greenwood. It was an absolute mess, full of packing materials, display supplies I can never quite put my hands on when I’m trying to put new things in the booth, products I had brought home, products that needed to be put in the booth when there is room, etc.

The thing remaining is the counter area where my computer is. I’ll clean that up today and then celebrate by giving myself some time to play in my art room this afternoon.

Every once in a while, I do something GOOD! :0)

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November 25, 2020 · 10:21 am

Thoughts on a Wednesday 11/25/2020

So Feminine

Mother Nature played the Big Bad Wolf last night, huffing and puffing and trying to blow our house down, first with a tornado warning and then with a severe thunderstorm watch the remainder of the night, but we seem to have come through fine, with no damage we have seen so far.

The reason for the histrionics was a cold front, lowering our temperatures quite a bit. Right now it’s gray and 40 with a nippy wind, but it’s supposed to warm up to the mid 50’s this afternoon. It didn’t freeze hard last night, so we still have our plants.

This morning we will head to the exclusive emporium of Walmart in an effort to gather goodies for our lazy celebration tomorrow for the two of us. We will try to get a rotisserie chicken, potato salad, and baked beans. I hard-boiled some eggs this morning in preparation for making deviled eggs tomorrow. We’ll also get some raw veggies – because life goes on after Thanksgiving gorging – and we’re enjoying those with Ranch dip for a snack in the afternoons in our efforts to lose the lard.

My efforts to cull our books are going well. I have my shelves upstairs in my bedroom cleaned out now, down to the books I want to keep mainly. (The only other candidates for culling are my art books, and I’m not ready to let go of them yet.) The guest room shelves are no reorganized and neat. We are selling several books each day, so I’m happy with our efforts to get rid of things at the moment.

I’m not sure what I’ll tackle today yet. There are SO many areas crying out for attention it’s hard to choose, but I’ll tackle something. I will also choose a container to fill with a combination of peat moss and potting soil – ready to receive my elephant ear plant bulbs when the first freeze zaps the leaves. I will keep the bulbs in the garage, ready to put out in the planter again in the spring.

I hope that your Wednesday-before-Thanksgiving is a safe and happy one!

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November 22, 2020 · 9:32 am

Cool Rainy Sunday

http://gildadeiladri.tumblr.com/ – Gifer

It’s 44, bleak and rainy here this morning. A wonderful time to be inside and dry, with a cup of coffee, family, and lots of animals.

My lap has been like Grand Central Station, first with 95-pound-Amber wanting to get up in my office chair with me as I type, (we have hugged three or four times already today) then each of 2 cats – Abby and Smoke – and sometimes both at the same time!

Today’s project is to repurpose the shelves in the guest room. There are still a few books on the shelves and a stuffed closet (my off season clothes and extra bedding, etc. I’m going to try to make things more organized and accessible while doing some good cleaning.

I don’t have to cook today! I don’t MIND the actual cooking – it’s the ‘figuring-what-to-have-for-dinner’ problem always hanging over my head that gets to me. Since we have been getting lots of HEALTHY frozen meals from REAL FOOD and STU’S CLEAN COOKIN’ in Greenwood, I only cook on the weekends, simplifying my life considerably. Today we’ll have the 2nd half of the chicken fingers meals we enjoyed at Lunch Bunch Friday plus more of the sausage/egg/cheese bake I made yesterday.

Yesterday I vacuumed our first floor tiled areas (kitchen, pantry, two half-baths, dining area, and utility room) and I got an entire dog’s worth of hair along with the usual stuff. With our temperatures getting cooler, I am HOPING that the dog will decide that she NEEDS her hair to stay warm and quit tossing it on the floors with abandon.

I hope that YOUR Sunday has lots of sunshine and happiness. If not, stay safe, warm, and dry.

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November 21, 2020 · 2:50 pm

Thoughts on a Saturday 11-21-2020

My bedroom shelves

I now have 57 books to sell on Amazon, and the majority of ‘keepers’ are out of the guest room and onto these shelves. There is a bit of fine-tuning to do, both in these shelves AND in repurpasing the shelves in the guest room, but the big part of the work is done now.

I may decide to shed a FEW more books here, but there won’t be many. I am pretty much down to my ‘keep’ collection here now.

I’m going to rest a bit and then I’ll start cooking a sausage, egg, and cheese keto bake from Suzanne Ryan of Simply Keto for dinner.

We’re having a very cloudy day today. A cold front is coming through this afternoon, tonight, and tomorrow, bringing wind, rain, and cooler temperatures. We will probably have to turn off and drain our irrigation system before next weekend, when freezes are forecast.

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November 20, 2020 · 9:12 am

Friday 11-20-2020

Miguel A. Landestoy – Bored Panda

Good morning! I hope your day is shaping up to be a fun one.

We will join our good friends for Lunch Bunch today. I’m looking forward to being able to catch up with what is happening in their worlds. One of my Lunch Bunch friends called during the week to say that she does NOT have to have surgery, so today will be a celebration. Two other wonderful friends are recovering from their surgeries, so I’m feeling very grateful today.

My ‘cull-the-books’ project is continuing, although slowly. I will make an effort to clean out several shelves in my bedroom today. I’ll take pics to share when the project is finished.

Have a happy, fun Friday!

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November 19, 2020 · 9:44 am

Thoughts on a Thursday 11-19-2020

123RF.com

This is my favorite time each year, where my husband is FOUR years older than I. This all changes when I add another year in March, but for now until then, I smile. I think it’s quite endearing that he reaches all the hard birthdays before I do, thereby making it much easier for me.

We had a really nice birthday celebration yesterday. I basically just went with the flow, doing whatever he wanted to do. He particularly liked the pineapple upside-down cake, so that felt really good. He ate two pieces!

Today we (at least “I” ) am back to our eating-good-food-with-portion-control eating plan. My husband wants to eat more of the cake – and I think he should feel free to do that. He is at his goal weight now. His blood sugar is under good control right now – and it IS his birthday week.

We preordered more meals from REAL FOOD in Greenwood last night and will pick up our meals on Monday.

For Reading Addicts via Cathy Ruggiero

I have sold over half of my paperback collection of Janet Evanovich books now. It’s a bit bittersweet because I like her writing and her sense of humor, but I’ve read each one of these twice or more and it’s time to share the wealth. We’ve sold two books so far today that we’ll mail at the post office later. I will try to get another shelf cleaned out today.

My decluttering/purging project of the moment is to combine my collections on the shelves in my bedroom, plus the ones in our guest room. I don’t know if I can make that much free space in my bedroom, but that’s the goal.

I hope you have a nice Thursday planned. If not, I hope for something wonderful to surprise you. :0)

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November 17, 2020 · 9:06 am

NICE Tuesday

F. Scott Fitzgerald – keepinspiring.me

It’s 44 degrees F. and sunny now, with a high of 70 for this afternoon. NICE!

Yesterday afternoon was calm and still, so we burned the pile of branches we cut down after the fiber optic people had to remove huge parts of our trees that were encroaching on the new lines they were running. The main part of what was cut down is down the hill some. We’re just going to ignore THAT group. THIS one was where we need to mow in the future, so it couldn’t be left alone. There is one pretty large section of log remaining. I will roll that down the hill when I’m sure it’s safe.

My ‘cull-the-book-collection’ efforts continue. I told you I listed 47 books on Amazon last week. I’ve sold about half of them now. I continue to go through my collection upstairs, basically one shelf or more each day, to try to get down to the books I will continue wanting to savor. It’s hard to get rid of ANY books, as far as I’m concerned, but it’s time to share the wealth and pare down the space needed to house my fiction. I’m trying to clean and reorganize things, as well – a good character-building exercise.

We have lots of errands this afternoon, and a beautiful day to be outside, both doing necessary things and working in the yard.

I hope that YOUR Tuesday is a nice one, too.

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November 16, 2020 · 9:48 am

Thoughts on a Monday 11-16-2020

William Cullen Bryant – keepinspiring.me

It’s sunny and 50 outside. Just beautiful.

Stephen King-Camping-EcoCampPanchgani-Wordpress.com

I told you recently that I’ve started going through my book collection, trying to ‘share the wealth’ with books with which I can part, either by trying to sell some on Amazon or giving books to our local library for their twice-a-year fundraisers. One of our errands today is to mail the books we sold at the post office. I’m trying to go through at least one shelf each day. I would LIKE to get to the point that most of my personal fiction collection is in our bedroom…

PART of the area cutting off our view

This afternoon I will try to cut down some of the ‘stuff’ that is between the civilized portion of our back yard and our view. We have a LOT of it, and I’m not sure how steady the footing is where I will have to cut things down, but I’ll check it out today.

I hope that your weather is beautiful and that you have a wonderful day.

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November 12, 2020 · 3:10 pm

Decluttering/Reorganization

CoolFunnyQuotes.com

This is my problem no matter WHAT I’m going through.

Right now I’m going through my bookshelves upstairs. I have my permanent collection of books by favorite authors, plus books on art. I really try to concentrate, because I really don’t NEED all these books, but it’s hard to part with any of them.

The latest hard decision was my collection of Janet Evanovich books. She has a really wonderful sense of humor and makes me laugh at the characters she has created plus the situations in which they find themselves. I’ve read them all several times, though, and it is time for them to find new homes.

I listed 47 books on Amazon yesterday and sold 5 of them so far. I picture other people either discovering her for the first time – delighted looks on their faces and laughing – adding to their collection, or plugging in gaps with books they don’t have in the series. It’s a win/win for all of us.

So far I have one empty shelf. I am about to head upstairs to continue my efforts.

I hope that you are surrounded by favorite books, authors who bring you joy.

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November 11, 2020 · 11:55 am

The Love of Books

ThoughtCo

I’m enjoying re-rereading part of my collection of Nora Roberts books lately. Happily, I have a good number of them. Diving into them is a wonderful escape from the challenges of our world, personal problems, or just to revisit a wonderful experience, learn something new, relax.

I am going through my books once again, culling out those that I probably won’t read again. I will sell some of them and donate the rest to our public library which usually has fundraisers a couple of times each year.

Since I am definitely not Suzy Homemaker, I have gotten on some old clothes, have dust rags and damp cloths ready to clean up my shelves as I gather books to get rid of and attempt to reorganize my collection.

It seems I am ruthless each time I do this, but I have to admit there are books that will be someone else’s choice on ‘redistribution’ after I am gone.

I’m so lucky to be rich in books! :0)

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September 25, 2020 · 10:07 am

Messy House

CoolFunnyQuotes.com

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September 10, 2020 · 3:33 pm

Today’s Project Only Half Done

One Green Planet

I’ve been upstairs in our master bathroom most of the afternoon. I have filled half a leaf bag with things I’m throwing away. I have things I can donate to others. I have gone through ONE of the floor-to-ceiling shelves, pulling everything out and going through, deciding what needs to be done. I have cleaned the shelves and put things back. I have taken things downstairs to be thrown away. A bag of things is by my office chair to be added to the donation list. Other things have been moved elsewhere.

My husband won’t be able to tell I’ve been upstairs or done anything. It will probably take me through the weekend to finish going through the second set of floor-to-ceiling shelves, medicine cabinet, and then clean the bathroom. THEN my husband will mainly notice that our counter top looks neater and that the rugs have been vacuumed.

I’m lucky that he DOESN’T notice a lot of things. Lots of people would go crazy with all the STUFF we have, or the fact that I’m such a lousy housekeeper.

Having him finally notice a difference when I’ve been cleaning for several days is good enough. :0)

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September 3, 2020 · 11:06 am

Thoughts on a Thursday – 9-3-2020

Bored Panda

Good Morning!

We MAY finally be getting a reprieve from the rain and some cooler temperatures soon! I couldn’t be more ready. The humidity is 98% right now, according to the local weather website. It’s like pea soup outside. We still have the doors open, getting what breezes we can. I’m ready for fall.

First thing this morning I cleaned out the aquarium. These two goldfish have the award for messing up their water faster than any other fish on the planet, I think. Even with the new, fancy, three-part filter, the water was terrible this morning. Thankfully, I can change things out in about half an hour now.

The water is now clean enough that when I take a picture of the aquarium, you can also see parts of the kitchen behind it, PLUS the reflection of the dining area window on the other side of the room. :0)  I’m trying to teach them to say, “Thank You,” when they get into the sparkling clean tank, but no luck so far. I would even be happy if they did a cartwheel or something, or blew some bubbles at me. They only do THAT when I feed them. The thing I DON’T want them to do is roll over and play dead…

 

 

Today I will try to register for my Amazon Handmade account and see what happens. I am hopeful I can get lots of questions answered so I feel I know what I’m doing.

Amazon Handmade

I have started two leaf bags:

Leaf Bag # 1 is for things to donate to the Disabled Vets Thrift Store in Fort Smith.

Leaf Bag # 2 is for trash.

 

I received an email that we are supposed to receive our first week’s delivery of BistroMD meals tomorrow! We have both chosen the diabetic plan. My husband denies he has Type II diabetes (he says he has a sugar problem). He thinks only people who have to give themselves injections are ‘diabetics.’ Since we are both trying to stay away from any added sugar, we feel this is a good choice for us.  I will let you know how it goes.

My ant stings/bites/welts are almost gone now. I have a couple of spots I still need to put anti-itch ointment on, but I’m back to normal, otherwise. If things dry out a bit, the revenge murdering of ants commences tomorrow…

PestWorld.org

Have a happy Thursday!

 

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August 26, 2020 · 9:43 am

Laura?

Tricolor Heron_Green Cay Wetlands_Scott Helfrich_The Natl Wildlife Federation Blog

I’m not sure if we’re JUST getting rain today, or this is the first of Laura’s impact on Arkansas, but it looks like night outside right now. Rain is imminent, so I’ve scrapped my plans – at least for the moment – on doing another session of clean out in the greenhouse.  The forecast is for HEAVY rain, gusty winds from today through Friday. UGH.

My husband got our yard mowed again, for the first time since the last storm made it look like a sudden, violent fall, with branches and leaves all over the yard. It took me three days to get that cleaned up enough so that there was a chance he could mow once it dried out some. I hope that Mother Nature is not looking at this as a great chance to do it to us again –

Happily, my sister-in-law is enjoying her time at Topsail Beach this week! She shared two beautiful photos she took of the sunrise this morning –

 

I’m hoping she’ll kiss a sandpiper for me.

 

I’m not sure what I’ll do today, since it looks like my plans will be rained out.

Our wonderful plumber installed a new water pressure tank in the well house for us yesterday. There is a clear difference in our water pressure, plus lots of hot water on demand EXCEPT in our shower upstairs. My husband suspects we have a bad valve. I have no head for things like this, so that doesn’t mean much to me. I got all soaped up last night and then had to rinse off in COLD water. We had good pressure and hot water in the lavatories up there, but NOT in our shower. I’ll check the guest room shower today to see if there is hot water there. We have a new shower head on the way. One way or another, we will be able to take wonderful hot showers for granted SOME day…

I may scoot outside and see if I can get my greenhouse session in before the rain starts…

I hope that you are staying safe from wildfires and storms where you are today.

 

 

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August 24, 2020 · 10:19 am

Thoughts on a Monday 8-24-2020

source unknown

Isn’t he beautiful?

 

My project of emptying out our ruined greenhouse is coming along. I figure that in a couple more days of filling up the wheelbarrow with salvageable things and gathering one leaf bag full of trash, I’ll be down to the tables we set up. Once the greenhouse is empty, we MAY leave it to the fall for the final take-down of the structure. It’s too hot now for two old people to be laboring in the sun for long.

 

Meanwhile, I cleaned off my counter space in the garage so that I can set up a seed-sprouting station with grow lights. We will get a new switch for one of the lights at Yeager’s today while we’re out. We already have a nice grow light. I will continue reorganizing the ‘stuff’ UNDER the counter so that I can THEN arrange the supplies I need for the grow station. Between this and a wonderful video my friend, Cathy, sent me about growing hacks that I can do on the window sill or on the deck, I hope to be able to grow several of my own plants to put in the garden this spring, rather than having to buy them at the store.

My diet and exercising efforts have been going well. I’m using all the work pulling and hauling in the greenhouse as my ‘elliptical trainer’ exercise, and then doing my usual half hour or so of yoga stretches daily.  I am continuing to lose weight slowly, and am almost into ‘new territory’ on weight loss.  To date I am down 40.2 pounds and 33.2 inches. I plan to lose another 30 pounds or so. My husband has agreed, since we will finish our Month # 2 boxes of the South Beach diet soon, that he will try not to fill the grocery cart with things we are trying to avoid that call to me from the pantry. I hear, “Linnnnnnnnnnnnnn-dahhhhhhhhhhhh…” over and over coming from the greasy, salty, delicious chips of various types, cookies, and bread.  He has agreed to eat what I fix, as we transition to all DIY meals soon.  He only has about 7 more pounds he wants to lose, but the keto diet is also good for his Type II diabetes, so he SAYS he will cooperate… We will have DIY bacon-wrapped hamburger patties, sliced tomato, and spinach tonight for dinner.

Our wonderful plumber, Travis Hawkins, is TRYING to get to us this week some time with a new water pressure tank for the well house. With the pandemic, and our kids going back to school, he has been working non-stop on modifying all of the water fountains in all of the schools so that they are safe for the kids to use without transmitting the virus. He has also had people with NO water, or water leaks, and that beats out our small problem of low water pressure. He is the best guy, and we are lucky he is trying to fit us in.

My heart and thoughts go out to California, with the wildfires, and to the people in the path of the tropical storms/hurricanes.

Stay safe and well.

 

 

 

 

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August 9, 2020 · 4:33 pm

Sunday’s Project – My Art Room

The combination of zipping into my art room, doing a project, and zipping out again, plus having other projects take priority, resulted in a mess in my art room.

I just got some new wooden earring blanks that I have ideas for, but decided that my art room deserved a good straightening up and cleaning before I started something new. As you can see, things are in a mess.

 

 

I spent quite a bit of time there this afternoon, and think I did enough good that I can begin the new earrings tomorrow with a clean conscious. –

Here are the AFTER pics –

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August 2, 2020 · 9:59 am

Hahahahahahahahah!

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Hahahahahahhaha! I love this. :0)

Today is a nice day.

I just finished chatting with our son, who lives in Thailand. He is such a good communicator it’s almost possible to forget how far away he is. The last time he came home, the trip took 24 hours, with the flights and layovers. :0(  We talk almost every day, chatting about this and that, and it adds so much quality to my life. I’m very lucky to be so close to him in all ways except geographically.

It’s cool enough that we still have the doors open, front and back, creating a nice breeze. We will have to close up soon, but I love to air the house out!

Today’s project is gathering more things to donate to Veteran’s Thrift Town in Fort Smith tomorrow.  I’m hopeful that we can make several more donations as I try to go through the house with an eye to getting rid of stuff again.

I hope you have a wonderful, relaxing Sunday.

 

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