Thursday DECLUTTERING!

[Heather W]

This Week's Challenge: Common areas- any space used by your whole family. Bathrooms, kitchens, laundry areas, family rooms, etc.

School Challenge: Take a supply inventory. What will you need to stock?
For me today:

• get everyone up and ready
• eat breakfast
• hit the road to WV
• pick up my mom
• head to the state park- another hour away
• have lunch and enjoy the park
• figure out dinner
• take my mom home
• head back to my inlaws
• keep after the meltdowns throughout this process

That is pretty much my day. Please pray my kids make it through this day- especially my younger two. We had multiple meltdowns after a four hour doctor visit yesterday and an hour and a half ride back to my inlaws (who live like 30 miles outside the city...).

This idea was too much. I just want my mom to have a good time. Thanks!

Have a great day where you are!

[Jen in OK]

Good morning!

Praying you can all have a good time today and your mom will love the visit, Heather!

We are home most of the day.
*laundry
*PTE/grocery order--after the new credit card comes
*text about not volunteering today--it overlaps with dd's camp
*swim team
*dd to sewing
*fair work
*library

I think that's it...just random picking up and cleaning in between helping with fair stuff mostly!

Have a great day today, friends!

[Paige P]

Good morning, all

Heather -- hope your day goes well today, that the kids can enjoy, and that your mom will be blessed!

Jen -- enjoy being HOME

MICHELLE -- I cleaned out my pm box



Here:
* We're home most of the day, too.
-- well, Katie's at work, and after work, she has her final interview to become a Team Leader Pretty fantastic for a 17 year old rising senior
* math. Just math. We've started working on that in hopes that we'll be finished by early May next year..... Trying to prepare for next summer's plans
* clean up -- the playroom/schoolroom is a disaster! I hauled out boxes of clothes, and stuff is still scattered everywhere. Plus, Ben has legos everywhere.....
* clean house, too. That needs doing. Extra kids yesterday had a major lemonade spill, so the kitchen is YUCKY and needs mopping and cleaning well. Hardwood floors need cleaning.... It's just that time. And we have time today.
* and some point, I need to get to WM for a new coffee pot. Ours has been tempermental and quit. Jim fixed it, and now it's broken again.
* work on veggies for the freezer They're coming in pretty well now (not tomatoes or butter beans or corn yet, but everything else....)

That's the general plan for today -- cleaning, laundry, veggies, .....

Ya'll have a great day!

[Angela Rose]

Good Morning Ladies,

HW- Praying for a peaceful and enjoyable day with your Mom. Praying she will feel loved and that your kids are ok too.

Jen - Have a great day at home! I hope the fair prep goes well.

Paige - Way to go Katie!

I had a melt-down last night shortly after Dan came home...thankfully, he is an understanding man. Yesterday was just rough.

I am feeling more like myself today, which is good!

so far:
breakfast
talked over some calendar things with dh.
told the kids if they bicker all day about Monopoly, that the game is going away!

up next:
shower/dress
laundry - I have lots to fold, lots
spend 30 minutes cleaning
spend 30 minutes decluttering (probably the school dresser)
reading - Have a two chapters of "The Read-Aloud Family " to finish before tonight, but it is an easy read.

this evening:
early dinner at 5pm.
Ash has dance from 6-8pm.
I will drop her off and then go to my "Mother Culture" book club meeting
Dan will pick her up
He has "walking Wise" in our garage tonight too. Someone else is leading (they take turns) and will be in our garage at 8pm.

I need to work on school plans, for real!

[ShayChristie]

Good monring!

Heather, hope the day exceeds your expectations!

Jen, I hope your day meets your expectations!

Paige, I'm ignoring your garden updates. I love our climate, but your early garden does produce some jealous twinges. Until I remember I'd have to be outside picking and then canning in the extreme heat I just can not handle. I will be doing our harvesting and preserving in late-August to early-September.


Yesterday, we headed outside to work on that area in teh pines. It's all dug up, most stumps are pulled, probably find a few more littles ones and roots as we smooth it out. We also chipped a bunch of flitches that had rotted, at least until our chipper's radiator blew. Sigh. Need to see if it can be fixed today since it has cooled overnight. We have two piles and we got one cleaned up and I tore up the ground since the blackberries were trying to get hold. That will be smoothed over and seeded as well. Just need to do something with the second pile. Grrr!

I also weeded in the garden. The weeds have been horrendous this year and I think it's my fault' I tried to make a "compost" tea out of last year's weeds. I filled two tanks with weeds and covered them with water and let them sit in the sun. Well, it was late in teh year, so I ended up letting them overwinter. I figured it would only make it stronger with all that extra time to rot. We spread the water over the garden this year and the solids were removed to the working compost pile. Well, my garden is overrun with grassy weeds this year! Like, UNBELIEVABLE crazy weeds!!! There must have been weed seeds in all that mess. I didn't strain it because I don't remember the weeds being seedy when I put them in. It's nuts.So I'll be spending a good bit of my summer pulling weeds. Just what I needed to add to my list. We are mowing and trying to mulch as often as we can to help control future sprouts.

Today's list:
-woke up with a phone call from USPS, my meat chicks arrived
-went back to sleep. It was an ambien night and I have a heck of a hangover this morning. Took it too late. sigh...
-Nick went to pick them up
-Ben is getting the brooder ready
-chores are just being started after a late breakfast
-Nick's transcript will be done this morning!!
-I have a chiro appt later.
-depending on weather: weeding in the garden or freezers/laundry
-need a dinner plan! My back-up is IP pasta.

Supposed to be cloudy with a high of 77. Shouldn't be muggy and it's quite cool right now at 66.

Oh, and my BuJo has been missing for a few days. Starting to drive me bonkers...

[Robin in Colorado]

Good morning, y'all!

Heather, I'm sorry yesterday was so hard. Praying today will go smoother.

Jen - I'm envious that you get to be home most of the day! Things will continue to be crazy here until a week from tomorrow, then it looks like I can get back to focusing on the home front.

Paige - Go Katie!

Shay, wow! That compost tea sounds like something I would have done.

Right now while my Chai concentrate is cooking, I am dealing with the packages that came as a result of the fraudulent charges to my account. It appears that I am responsible to send them back, which includes dealing with the noncommunicative business. So fun. Anyway, I shower in a couple of minutes, then take Elvis to the groomer. As soon as I get home, we will jump in the car and run up north. One of my former roomies and his kids are in town; his daughter is playing in a soccer nationals tournament and we are going to go watch. When I get home from that, I will take the bird to the groomer, and then take B over to Costco to pick up a backpack (she needs it for work).

While the rest of us are at the game, Belle is going to pick up some meds and groceries and take them to my mom, and then she has an orthodontist appointment. Her mouth has reacted to having braces on again, and she has big canker sores on her cheeks and gums and is in a lot of pain.

Yesterday I was on my way to the contact lens lab, actually on time for a change, and noticed the man in the next lane was driving erratically. We stopped at a light and I looked over at him; he was trying to get my attention. Turns out he had "lost feeling and control" of the left side of his body and was driving himself to the hospital, but his GPS wouldn't get him there. He knew the general direction. I know the hospital - we were not near there. Long story short, I ended up following him back across town, directing him by K and I pointing out the window when he should turn. Not the best solution, I know, but traffic was heavy, he was in distress, and I had to think quickly. We got him into the emergency room, and went back on our way. I am pretty sure he was having a heart attack. I called 911, but they had to keep transferring me because we traveled across 3 city limits from our start to the hospital, and we were at the hospital before they could figure out who was responsible to respond to the call. It only took a few minutes to make the drive even though the roads were full and it was several miles. I was only 15 minutes late to my appointment.

Have a great day!

[MichelleTN]

Heather -- praying for yall! Hope yall have a GREAT time.

Jen -- hope your credit card gets there soon. Yay for mostly home!!

Paige -- WAY TO GO KATIE!! Yay for mostly home day for y'all too!

Angela -- sometimes meltdowns help Glad you are more yourself today!

Robin -- oh WOW on man!! And that is so wrong you have to be responsible for packages!

I have a whole list of projects I need to work on. We will see how that goes

I was feeling good about getting things done/cleaned out. Now I have these piles of "outta here" stuff. The house looks as junky now as it did before I started cleaning out.

Part of me feels like I should keep the stuff and continue cleaning out (adding to the pile). Then have a yard sale (when it's not 900*). Then put that money back for Christmas or use for the photo albums I need.

But part of me just wants to load it in the truck and take to goodwill and be done.

Maybe instead of sitting here whining I should go move some stuff in carport around. Then get ds2 to haul those outta here boxes out for me. (While it isn't to hot yet). Sit them in carport (on a table & covered with a tarp) until I decide. Yeah maybe that is what I will do.

Sorry for my rambling.

Ok moving (from my porch ) to the carport to see what I can do/move.

Have a GREAT day!!

[Paige P]

Robin That is CRAZY!!!!!! I'm glad you helped that poor man!

Shay -- that much weeding would NOT be fun

Michelle -- I do the same thing with piles (thus the MESS in the playroom right now), but at least you know it's leaving one way or the other


I'm still sitting here
After a discussion with dh this morning, I got to looking at our various hotel rewards points and see what hotels he needs to stay in over the rest of this year to get us extra "nights" stays for our trip west next summer (assuming we can find hotels at these places). Well, that's been over an hour of hunting And, then there are the ones that cost 15,,000 points for a stay in most of the country, but in Page, AZ, (one place we want to go), the same room is 50,000 points That's ridiculous!!! (it's because it's the middle of nowhere and there's no competition!). Yikes!

Now I'm going to go shower and truly start my day

[MichelleTN]

Shay -- you have been major busy with all that wedding etc!!

Paige -- YIKES that's crazy points

• carport swept out..main part
• moved some junk to road..city will pick up
• some boxes moved out to carport table
• covered boxes with tarp
• listed all my math stuff for sale on hs group page (probably won't sell but I am trying)

I was soaked when came in. Already feels like 96.

[JoelleH]

Good morning!

Kids are at camp again for the day. Ds will be going to a friend's house afterwards to swim. He is excited since he couldn't swim while his boot was on. Hopefully he is careful and doesn't rebreak anything. That would be awful.

A friend is coming over after lunch. She's been struggling with infertility and we're going to chat about all that goes along with that. Hopefully my experience will be helpful to her in some way. I think this is one of those situation where God uses our past trials to help comfort someone else. Hoping to don't say anything inappropriate/distressing. Sometimes I'll blurt something out without thinking.

So far today:

• Drop kids at camp
• Water plants
• Little bit of tidying
• Sent a few texts

Still to do:

• Finish tidying
• Dinner in crockpot
• Write some bills (mail when I pick up kids)
• Write a few lists for next 6 weeks (brain dump, etc.)
• Visit with friend
• Pick up kids and mail bills
• Look at photos more? (I have about 2400 photos from my mom - I'm using a sorting box from Creative Memories that holds that many photos, and it is about full )
• Zumba at gym tonight

Robin - glad you were able to help that man! Yikes!

Paige - you're coming west again next summer? Weren't you here last summer also? Fun! Hope you figure out hotels.

Michelle - I vote for just getting rid of the stuff. I hate doing yard sales. To me it doesn't seem worth it unless you have big items that will get you money and make it worth it to sit outside all day. I always view it as time being money. Great job on having stuff to get rid of!!

Shay - ugh to all the weeds! That is why I decide not to garden. I hate weeding. Keep up the good work, though!

Angela - glad you are feeling better today. Enjoy book club tonight!

Jen - enjoy your time at home

Heather - hope today goes well. What park are you going to?

Time to get moving - friend comes in 2.5 hours. Have a blessed day!