Cleaning things out.

Blueberry bushes on Moon Road in Rochester, Washington.

I've been going through paperwork and all kinds of stuff in order to find some order in the chaos that has ensued from children moving in, moving out, moving in and moving out. haha. There sure doesn't seem to be an empty nest syndrome in my future. Maybe some day I will get to experience that. I'm not really complaining. I don't mind the company most of the time and they are pretty good at sharing the space. I can't say it's been rough because it hasn't. It's been fun spending more time with the babies.

Tonight I was going through a collection of things I had saved for various reasons. I have some patterns for furniture, ideas for crafts, scraps of paper with things the kids said, and some things I thought were cute and might want to use someday. Saying all that to say...tonight's blog is something I had saved to recopy because I find it humorous. Now mind you the numbers are based on whenever this was written and the paper it is on is pretty yellowed by now, so I'm sure it was quite a few years ago, but the idea is still humorous and if the numbers were adjusted I am sure the ratio would remain the same. So without further ado, here it is:

I'm Tired

Yes, I'm tired. 

For several years I have been blaming it on middle-age, iron poor blood, lack of vitamins, air pollution, water pollution, saccharin, obesity, dieting, underarm odor, yellow wax build-up, and a dozen other maladies that make you wonder if life is really worth living.

But now I find out it isn't that.

I'm tired because I am overworked.

The population of this country is 200 million. 84 million are retired. That leaves 116 million to do the work. There are 75 million in school, which leaves 41 million to do the work. Of this total, there are 22 million employed by the government. That leaves 19 million to do the work. 4 million are in the armed forces, which leaves 15 million to do the work. 

Take from that total the 14,800,000 people who work for state and city government and that leaves 200,000 to do the work. There are 188,000 in hospitals, so that leaves 12,000 to do the work. 

Now, there are 11,988 people in prisons. That leaves just two people to do the work. You and me. And you are sitting there reading this. No wonder I'm tired. 

LOL.

Ay yi yi

Sorry. I had to make up some jam today, and freeze the rest of the cranberries, and paint the trim in the hall, and there just isn't enough time in the day sometimes.
Please accept this filler blog in place of the real thing.

How about a couple of pictures of a mail box in Grayland? Well, actually it is three.

Fly Lady

I decided to join the flylady campaign, but it's already annoying me. I don't want to post sticky notes all over my house. I already get up and get dressed to the shoes every day because I really can't do much unless I have on my regular shoes. Foam shoes don't work for me unless I'm in slipper mode. I have to have lace-up shoes in order to do very much because I need the support.
I don't care about shining my sink everyday. My sink is the least of my worries as far as getting things in order go. I do my dishes every morning because I like to do dishes while waiting for my coffee. I do skip an occasional morning, but only because there might only be one plate in there. Jeren and I use paper plates a lot. It's easier on both of us.
I don't need to be reminded to do the little things. My house is mostly clean, just cluttered because of too many projects, too much stuff and not enough time. (curse the computer here)
I think I will adapt things to my own needs. I think I will just adapt my hour a day program, making the increments smaller.
I don't want to keep a notebook, but I do think I will go back to lists. I am going to post a list on the refrigerator, scratch things off, add things on and work on things one at a time. I am going to use some of her ideas but adapt them to my situation. I don't work days, I work nights. I don't go to bed early because I am not home yet. I don't need to lay my clothes out every night. They are on the chair in the bathroom every morning because I place them there when I shower for work. I don't change jeans everyday and I use my work shirts more than once, too. Even so, I know right where my clothes are. (in the dresser, the dryer or my basket, depending on when I did laundry.
I already have good daily habits for cleaning.
I do laundry just about daily. I fold the clothes as I take them out of the dryer. Don't get me wrong. There are days when I "freshen" them a dozen times and forget to go fold them, but they don't get taken to another spot to wait for folding. I clean up after myself as I cook. I put things away when I'm done with them. When I leave a room I take any dishes I might have use there. I put my coffee cup on the counter before I go to work.
It's not the cleaning I need help doing. It's the dealing with many years worth and seven kids worth of stuff to go through, assess, throw out, keep, sell, give away. It's also putting back all the little pieces that got separated when kids didn't pick up a toy or game properly. It's rearranging while I remodel and fix things around the house. It's a whole yard of things that go undone when I'm working a lot or busy with family and friends. It's learning to allocate my time and not procrastinate.
She has some good ideas.
I just need different angles on them.

Do I want to fly?

This site was called to my attention today. I'm wondering if I want to try it or just keep doing my one hour a day plan. My plan works pretty similar to hers but maybe it would be nice to have the group motivation angle. I wonder if maybe I should change my plan to 15 minutes a day or 30 minutes a day. Some days, out of the three hours I set as a goal in my plan, I can only do one or two. There are various reasons for this.
For instance:
Today I didn't even do one hour at anything. Here is what sabotaged me.
1. David called after work last night and asked me to come over so we could discuss something.
I went over and they had an issue they wanted me to help them figure out. We did that and then visited while I held the baby. We ended up talking until 2:30am. That got me home at 3am. By the time I wound down I didn't get to sleep until almost 4.
I woke up around 7:30. (probably because of habit, since I used to get up each day at that time before Jeren got his truck.)
I played on the computer until I fell back asleep about 8.
Keri called somewhere in the middle of my sleep. I fell back asleep again and slept until 11am.
That only leaves me three hours until time to start getting ready for work.
I got coffee and did my hour on the computer.
I realized that I have to go do some banking stuff. That means I have to leave at 2 instead of 3.
That means I need to get in the shower as soon as I'm done with this blog.
That means my only accomplishment today was my exercise because if I have to eliminate hours I eliminate by importance. My exercise is more important to me than housework, yardwork or other tasks.
So today my hour a day (three hours) plan didn't work. I have a couple of days like this a week. Sometimes more.
Still, I am getting things done. Just not anything much in the last three days. I have trouble on the weekends because Jeren is here. It makes it harder when there is someone around.

I'm still working on it, but I'm wondering if I should join the flylady program and do smaller increments. It is a fun forum. It is free unless you buy stuff from the store. (I personally want the timer. I don't like my current one.)
I think it would make things a little more manageable and if it feels too slow to me I can just up my pace or use the extra time on my yard. I really want a garden this year with more than just tomatoes.
I like the part about dressing to the shoes. I have used that tactic for years. You get a lot more done if you dress and put on shoes. Just trust me on this one. She has that on her page and I can tell you from experience that it is very true. And those foam shoes do NOT work for me. It has to be lace-up or a work style shoe or boot. You WILL get more done if you have on good sturdy shoes. I put my shoes on my feet first thing, unless I exercise first. Then I put them on immediately after.

There's really only one hitch to her program.
I just can't decide if I really want to shine my sink everyday.
Everyday.
But I'm thinking about it.

What I did today. (because of yesterday).

My name is Sheila O.
I am a Craigslist addict.
Please help.

Yes. I admit it. There's just something about the free ads that I can't resist. I have gotten a lot of nice stuff by perusing those ads. I have also had to, at times, take stuff to get stuff. This could be dangerous, because I am already enough of a pack-rat without any help WHAT.SO.EVER.
One day I wanted a few cookbooks. I had to take six huge boxes of books and National Geographics in order to get the three books I wanted. I actually found a few more books in those boxes that I could use. There were three sets of encyclopedias. I did keep the oldest of those. (World Book. I then donated most of the books and some of the National Geographics to the thrift store and took the rest of the National Geographics to the recycling bin.

Yesterday I was talking on the phone to my daughter and she mentioned an ad. I had just seen it, too, and we decided to go get some of the stuff they had. We got there too late for her to get the cupboard full of canned goods and a couple of the other things we wanted, but I was able to get a few nice things, like an extremely rusty milk can. I'm ok with the rust. I will wire brush it down and then paint it cute. I was happy to get it because it reminds me of my grandmother. I also got three really nice fake plants.
Here they are after taking their shower.


There were two plastic bins I wanted for storage, but people were coming like flies to outdated yogurt, so I quit going through them and just took them how they were. I also took the hose reel, complete with hose, a garden stone, a planter, a nice fireplace screen for David and Nicole, an old wool rug that I want to use at the back door and a mirror.
My daughter got a really nice sewing cabinet complete with a machine and lots of accessories. She was very happy about that. She also got a nice ironing board and a couple of birdhouses.

So today I spent the day going through those two plastic bins, washing everything and then sorting it. I actually got some pretty nice stuff in those two bins. I didn't take pictures, but there are a couple of fish that I was going to throw away. They are the type that people used to put in their bathrooms in the seventies. I really was going to throw them away. Really. But then while washing them I noticed they were hand painted, probably in some ceramic class like I used to take and had initials and a date. 1964. They are white with gold (as in gold, not yellow) accents. Oh heck. I will take a picture and show you tomorrow. Why am I now keeping them? I don't know. Refer to one of the above paragraphs. I think it's because of that.
My name is Sheila O.
I am a pack-rat.
Please help.

The other thing I did today was rescue this piece of mirror


from this frame.


The explanation to that is another blog. I'm working on it.
It's kind of emotional to me, although forcing that mirror out in one piece was somewhat therapeutic even if my fingers are a little beat up from the acid. I will explain later. I can't do it tomorrow. I have to work. I will aim for Friday.
But trust me. I was determined to save this small piece of mirror.
I'm not crazy. Really.