Daily Ooos: Tuesday, December 28

[tanteva]

Good morning O'Family! Or ... I guess I shouldn't call it morning really. Had a snooze party this morning, and didn't drag myself out of bed until 10.30. (Well, there's something you'll never hear Chris say!) I had big plans for today, now I slept several hours away. LOL

I've started a decluttering project. Some of you might remember that I found a Youtube channel just before Christmas. That woman is so inspiring, and she says just the right things to make me believe it's possible to get a tidy home. As most of you know, I have ADHD, and you live all your life thinking you are not able to organize and keep your home suitable for human beings. I have realized that it's because I've never been taught how to do it. Or rather, how to think. Anyway, this woman has ADHD too, and somehow, she can break things down to "my level". Like one thing she said - that many people think they can't declutter, cuz they need all their stuff (even though they clearly have too much and the house is a mess). That's cuz they only look at the surface, and on the surface are all the stuff they really use. The key is to look beyond the surface. In the back of the cupboards, in the closets, in the boxes in the back of the storage room, in the yunk drawer.

Yesterday, I cleaned out my two junk drawers in the kitchen. And it was proved it was a while since! Found a Christmas card from a friend, with a baby photo of her son ... who is turning 13 on New Year's Eve. So ..... 12 years since I went through that drawer! LOL I know have some kitchen stuff in one of the drawers, and the other is empty, until I know what to store in it. I understand this is a project that will take a while, I've even dedicated the whole of 2022 as my decluttering year. I'm gonna take it slow, and let it evolve.

So ... are you like me? Suffering from what Fly Lady calls CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) or are you a neat person?

Oh, and here is the channel I was talking about:

https://www.youtube.com/c/OrganizedClutterbug

 

[tanteva]

Personals ... but first of all - THANK YOU everyone for all the nice words you said yesterday about me doing this!

@LSlycord "Let It Go" ... Sounds like I just should steal that phrase from you, with all my decluttering plans. LOL But to be honest, I'm thinking I need a word or a phrase that focus on the goal ... But I don't think I really like TIDY as a theme word. LOL ... Have to think about that.

@BrightEyes I have actually done the "Don't buy any yarn" once before, I think it was 2018. No problem at all. That probably says just how much yarn I do have already - cuz I do knit or crochet at least one hour every day. LOL The funny thing is that I found yarn I had forgotten I had. Will have to check and see if my edition of the box of War and Remembrance have the "making of". I'm not sure, I have a Swedish edition.

@tjscraps I do hope your furnace is up and running again! I was complaining on how cold it was yesterday, when I went out to the mail box ... and it was only -11C.

@bcgal00 Hope your daughter is feeling better and that it's not Covid! Tell me, what cook books did you buy? I'm always looking for new ideas.

@Susan - s3js If I win the lottery (which I won't since I never play LOL), I will get a big caravan and sell the house and start living on the road. Just go where I want to (which will be a problem since I don't have a license - but I hope Urban can join me and do the driving). Nothing wrong with dreaming. I have this thing I do, when I feel fed up. I check the ads for jobs as a librarian that Urban could apply to. Then I check what kind of house we could get in that town for the money we would get if we sold this house. Then I look up the town, what restaurants there are, stores, sights. For an hour or something, I imagine us having another life, and then I go back to reality.

@Cherylndesigns Have fun and enjoy your company!

@faerywings HUGS!!! Hope you got the tree down if you needed it to be. If not, maybe you could do it all together, as a sort of therapy?

 

[faerywings]

Good morning, nope never would I be able to stay in bed until 10.30. I woke up at 4.30 this morning and was so grateful that I actually slept.

Eva, thank you so much for doing this. I mean it!

I am better today in some ways. The anger is calming down a bit and I am amazed at how Scott is handling this. Don't get me wrong, he is wrecked, simply gutted. But he wrote closure letters to Leah, Ian, Arlene. He read them aloud to us, asked if he should change anything. Everything was incredible well stated. Laid all of his feelings out for reach of them. Arlene's was mostly thanking her for being in his life, and that he still loves Leah and wants Arlene to make sure that she is safe (no self-harm since she threatened that the other night). Then he closed the door to any future contact, there is not going to be any sort of "it was such a mistake, I miss you, come back to me" from her. Said they made that bed. Lie in it knowing what you did.
He dropped off her things last night, including a knife that had belonged to her father. He felt that even though it was a gift, it wasn't his place to keep it.
Gary and I are in awe of his strength and maturity. He is being much more mature than I am.

But I do have a bit of good news to share. Caitlyn and Gary are driving down to the rat rescue to pick up three new babies! She made sure it was ok with Scott, she knows the babies take a lot of time and need attention in the beginning and wanted him to be ok if she was busy with them and not him 100%. He is so happy for her and while he has no attachments yet, he knows he will eventually.

The tree is still up, I don't have it in me to get the boxes out of the attic. I am even more relieved that it is fake-- it can stay there forever and I will ignore it as long as I have to. But at least I am not wanting to take it and throw it against the wall.

2022 Theme:

 

[faerywings]

I am still reading all of your posts, I am really sorry I cant do personals, not yet but soon I will.

 

[LSlycord]

Good morning ladies! I have a day of cleaning ahead. I hate cleaning. But if I don't work, I can't justify paying cleaning ladies. So, today I will clean. Since my friend is coming to town tomorrow I need to get things ready. Fortunately, the guest room gets very little use so it is always in pretty good shape. Just a quick refresh in there. But the rest of the house needs more. LOL

We are supposed to hit 80* today and for a few more days. It is beautiful. This part of Florida is my favorite thing. I also want to get my vision board done before tomorrow...I'm a bit anal on things like that. I don't want to do it after 2022 begins. I'd say that I'm getting eccentric but I've always been like that.

 

[LSlycord]

@tanteva I am changing my 2022 word to Release! I had a Facebook friend who shared her word and one of her friends said that they had wanted to use "Let It Go" but that wasn't one word. So they came up with "Release" and I am stealing it! I'm quite pleased.

@faerywings so proud of Scott! You have raised a good man!

@bcgal00 hope Jen is feeling better today and that, whatever it is, you don't get it. Sounds like you have had some perfect days with reading, watching birds, playing with dogs and buying a few things for yourself.

@Susan - s3js we have been giving the kids very explicit instructions in the past year on what money they will have available if we die now and what they would need to think about. We are three months from having two adult children. That certainly seems odd. Have considered a trust as well. If both Brian and I die young, there will be some money for them. If we live to be old, we will probably use most of it up. I'm hoping for the die old part. But a trust seems like perhaps a good plan. It is bad enough to figure out what things a person needs to keep in just family photos and furniture without figuring out what in the world to do about money.

@Cherylndesigns I'm so glad that you've had all of this time with company. But will be glad when you are back with us regularly!

 

[sabinaraye]

Good morning, Ladies! Like Eva, @tanteva - yes I'm definitely like that - living in a CHAOS situation most days. Thanks for the link to the OrganizedClutterbug channel. I too have AADD and it's been a long haul trying to keep my home and studio from floundering under all my stuff, which I happen to like collecting.
@faerywings I sympathize with you and what you're going through. Stay strong! I really like your 2022 Theme. It's on the button.

My word of the year is COURAGE. I know I'll need it because things are sort of upside down for me right now. I'm keeping cheerful, and it's not fake, it's genuine, but there is an underlying layer inside of me which I'm taking deep breaths to avoid examining too closely. I'm having a CTScan tomorrow to see if the chemo therapy did its job properly, and I'll only know the results on the 14th of January. Again, I'm a natural optimist so I continue my days as per normal, and it's served me well until now. Yesterday I made vanilla spelt muffins, and they are delicious. So that's what I'm having for breakfast. I wish you all a great day and I'll be popping in once in awhile today to see how everyone is doing.

 

[tjscraps]

@tjscraps I do hope your furnace is up and running again! I was complaining on how cold it was yesterday, when I went out to the mail box ... and it was only -11C.

We got it up and running! A plumber came (plumbing/heating is the same people here) about 10 am and we had the heat working by 11. Turns out the cold air from the cold air intake was so bloody cold it froze up the diaphragm that expands to let the gas through to the flame (it was frozen tight). Warmed that up, moved the cold air intake and we've had heat ever since! Such a weird thing to go wrong, but when it's that cold - and the wind must have been coming right at that side of the house and into that pipe to do that.

The tree is still up, I don't have it in me to get the boxes out of the attic. I am even more relieved that it is fake-- it can stay there forever and I will ignore it as long as I have to. But at least I am not wanting to take it and throw it against the wall.

2022 Theme:

View attachment 363451

I love your theme for 2022! Big hugs to all of you, and yay for new babies!


I am itching to get my trees down (yes, plural) but probably not today, we are headed to the big city (Calgary - about 90 min away) to visit with my grandpa.

I'm on week 2 of no work (Christmas break). I've done about an hour of work from home every day, except Christmas day, but being able to sleep in and catch up this way has been great and much needed as I was very (very) burnt out. We have a new vaccine mandate at work that is in effect Jan 10 and a few people are being predictably terrible about it. Mix that with hubby having huge health issues, and I was diagnosed with a spot of skin cancer so the worry that comes with that ... it's been a stressful couple of weeks. The skin cancer looks to be pretty minor and they are doing surgery to get rid of it in January, that should be the end of it but that C word is sure scary when you hear it about yourself. All of this is to say my one little word for 2022 is HEALTH. In the past this would mean losing weight to me, but now that I've done that a couple years ago it's time to focus on actual health and not the diet industry's version of health (losing weight), and get us healthy. DH has another round of antibiotics coming for his stomach bacteria infection - the first round didn't touch it, but he needs to get on it before it causes him to lose any more weight (he lost 40 lbs in 4 weeks in November/Dec).

 

[tjscraps]

Oh! Forgot to reply about the CHAOS thing - I am in need of decluttering, I just tell myself I don't have time (because I'd rather be scrapping or reading). That's great that you found a way to start @tanteva! We bought a bigger house in June so now there's room for all the junk and it's just hidden better. I need to declutter it and go through it .... maybe later in 2022 lol

 

[BrightEyes]

Morning, all. Think sleeping in might have affected many of us. I woke up at 3AM, rolled over and slept until 7:30! I am usually up by 6 or 6:30. I should run a few errands today... they are talking about snow in the forecast. It has been snowing in the mountains but might be here in the valley by New Year's Eve. I plan on staying home and off the roads by then.

I spent last evening reading "Seeing Red" by Sandra Brown. I had got it during one of the library's Bag of Books sale ($5 per bag filled with as many books as would fit - mine usually had 15-20 books) before Covid hit. I thought I had read it but realized I had not. Had to LOL ... if I read a bit of all the books in the book piles, I will never get them winnowed down and will be reading until 2023 at least!!! Going to have to come up with a different method of sorting the books into keepers and donations.

Sounds like a lot of us are hoping to de-clutter in the new year. @tanteva and @LSlycord - I really like the word "Release"... says it all in one word.

Oh! Forgot to reply about the CHAOS thing - I am in need of decluttering, I just tell myself I don't have time (because I'd rather be scrapping or reading). That's great that you found a way to start @tanteva! We bought a bigger house in June so now there's room for all the junk and it's just hidden better. I need to declutter it and go through it .... maybe later in 2022 lol

LOL... yes, a bigger house and more places to hide stuff!!! We had winnowed down a bunch when we moved into this bigger house, too. Then DH added shelves in the garage and that was even more places to stick things! BTW, I am keeping you and the family in my thoughts and prayers and hoping that they can get your Hubby's infection under control! So glad they got the heater working for you...

@sabinaraye I will be thinking about you and hoping for good news when you see the doctor after the CT scan. <<< hugs >>>

 

[BrightEyes]

@faerywings Scott has shown what a wonderful man he is... writing the letters and then trying to move on from it. His returning everything to her is a mark of how mature he is. I admire his courage and his understanding that he needed to close the door to any future contact with them. I know your heart is breaking over what he is enduring... as any mother's would. You and the family are helping him by being with him and listening when he needs to talk or just being there with him and offering him love and silent support. <<< hugs >>>

 

[tanteva]

Oh! Forgot to reply about the CHAOS thing - I am in need of decluttering, I just tell myself I don't have time (because I'd rather be scrapping or reading). That's great that you found a way to start @tanteva! We bought a bigger house in June so now there's room for all the junk and it's just hidden better. I need to declutter it and go through it .... maybe later in 2022 lol

Oh, be careful. Houses fill up quickly! We have a huge house. Full to the brim.

 

[mom2triplets04]

@tanteva I've been a fly baby for years. I just can never get my house decluttered. Thanks for the youtube channel will check that out.

@faerywings 7 am wake up here every morning. But luckily the kids didn't have school so my dog actually slept till 9:30 so I was able to take a shower at 7 and then go back to sleep until I heard her scratching in her cage.

@tjscraps will say a prayer for you. I have these spots that I keep going to the dermatologist to check out as they are all over my back and stomach. He keeps telling me they are age spots and they are caused by the sun so I need to stay away from the sun.

@BrightEyes How is that author Sandra Brown. I don't think i have read her yet but I do have a few on my LOng LOng TBR list. I have enough books in my house to last my entire life. Yup, I collected a lot at library sales. I'm always reading but I do read slow. This year I only read 35 books. One year I read over 100 but that's when I didn't do anything else but read.

Today - I actually sat down and meal planned the week and then went grocery shopping. I never meal plan. However, I do set up like Tues is always chop meat and Sat is always take out. So then I alternate chicken, beef, sausage, etc. I then struggle with side dishes. I brought my one daughter with me and we stopped at Popeye's for lunch and after I ate my classic chicken sandwich I almost fainted as it was 25 points on Weight Watchers. I only have 21 for the day. Crazy. I didn't even have my dinner yet. oh, well! Guess I will learn not to eat something before I look up the points.

I set up my bible planner for the year. I am going to be doing a bible recap for 2022. I've tried reading the bible before but have only read Genesis and gave up. So I'm going to attempt it again.

I also set up a planner for digital scrapbooking to keep track of what I purchased and also the challenges. Hopefully it will help to keep track of what I have purchased and use it more.

Hubby just signed us up for showtime so I'm going to watch Dexter Season 9.

 

[bcgal00]

Good afternoon ladies. I spent the morning reading, going outside with the pup and just puttering around. Darrell got all his forms done for pension so hopefully in the next 4-6 wks it'll kick in. I wish he'd gotten them filled out sooner but nothing I could do about it...ugh. He's becoming a worse procrastinator than I am LOL.

Heading to physio in a bit so hopefully I'll get some additional stretches and exercises to do to help my back. I'm back to work tomorrow but at least its only 3 days and then its a long wkend. Yay. I'm sooooo over working and really want to quit once we get our finances figured out and get the house on the market.

We'll binge watch some shows later, I'm getting into my warm jammies when I get back from physio and want to just relax tonight, no house chores today (there are some to be done of course but I don't feel like it, so as Eva said....CHAOS is me too LOL).

@tanteva I ordered Fresh from The Vegan Slow Cooker, Liv B's Vegan on a Budget, Vegan for Everybody and Love Real Food.

I'm going to enjoy my coffee before I have to get ready to go out and warm the car up first b/c it is really cold out there.

 

[tjscraps]

@tjscraps will say a prayer for you. I have these spots that I keep going to the dermatologist to check out as they are all over my back and stomach. He keeps telling me they are age spots and they are caused by the sun so I need to stay away from the sun.

I will take the prayer thank you! This spot is on my chin, my dentist referred me because it changed color. I didn't actually think it would turn out to be anything because I've had it for all my adult life, but the changing of it was a bit concerning. Got it checked out/biopsied and turns out I need to get it off so it doesn't grow into anything further.

 

[Cherylndesigns]

I'm SO lame and I apologize. Our visitors leave tomorrow - we have to get up at 5:30 in the morning to drive to the Arkansas airport - an hour and a half away. Shoot me now. You all KNOW how I hate to get up early. I yi yi yi!!!

Sorry I finked out yesterday, just didn't have a minute to do anything. I wanted to jump on late last night and check to see if anybody else had done my challenge and they had.

Eva @tanteva you were the perfect person to take over for Chris @faerywings !!! Thanks for jumping in and doing it. I was lucky to even get on here for a few minutes last night.

We all made it into town this afternoon and went to some of the little local shops. We love shopping local. I bought Steph a couple of things and Asher a new hoodie, but didn't get anything for myself. Then we went for coffee/wine. They didn't have any of my wine (I'm sure because of the "supply chain") how I HATE that phrase!!! Adrienne and Steph got their martinis, though. I gagged down some rose' and we had to wait over an hour to get two sandwiches! Adrienne got very angry and they didn't even say they were sorry. I KNOW any help is hard to get these days, but really? She left a really nasty review online. Sorry for the rant. Merry Christmas. BWAHAHA

I'm raising my right hand - I solemnly promise to be back and raring to go - hopefully tomorrow night, but for sure Thursday!

I have to get ready to go to bed now and hope i can sleep - can't wait to get up with the chickens.

Hugs