Overwhelm

I'm a little overwhelmed with life and have been for most of the year.  In a week I will finally go to the allergist in person so he can tell me why I've been sick since last October.  We hope.  The house pisses me off every single day.  The contractor has been over a bunch and we will start bathroom renovations and general repairs in a few weeks.  Things are moving but it's just been so slow to the point of feeling like I'm simply spinning wheels.

I need to come up with something specific to do when I feel like I'm spinning wheels.

Unbelievably, I haven't been reading much.  I finally bought an actual book, and am enjoying it muchly.  And because I love my Kindle, I tried to get that up and running again.  I usually just have to charge it, but it got de-registered, and I threw an absolute fit because it's too old to re-register again.  AND it won't read the new Kindle files no matter what I do.  I'm more attached to that thing than I even realized, and lost my mind when I realized I'd have to retire it.  My husband bought me a new one, and I didn't even want it because I didn't think it was e-ink.  The photos on its listing page on Amazon make it look like an LCD screen.  Thankfully it is indeed e-ink and I think it will be a fine replacement.

Gen 3 vs Gen 12.  Oh my sweet keyboard Kindle.  I will use it until it melts or the sun explodes, whichever comes first.

We had to let Rhys go in August.  Not even ready to talk about it.

Tomorrow I have another day of so much to do.

A Sunday

There are nine thousand things we need to do before the wedding expo this Sunday, and my ADHD ass isn't going to remember more than four.  If I can manage to remember to write them down, they have a chance, but most of the time I don't even get that far.

Anyway I'm pretty disgusted with the state of the world, and it's making me even less able to function.

Good things?

I did get my continuous glucose monitor to work.  My FitBit is charged and telling me stories.  A friend wants me to build her a website.  The laundry is done.  The bedroom is tidy.  I'm experimenting with ChatGPT's ability to create plugins for WordPress.  Spring pages for my bullet journal are almost done. I'm learning lots of neat things from the people on Mastodon.  Dumpster is FULL, and we got most of the carpet out of the basement.

It's not all bad I guess.  Just like, 90% of it.

Dumpster - Day 1

The dumpster is almost full, which feels good until I remember that it's a lot of cardboard.  I usually burn cardboard boxes, but it's rained exactly twice here since January 1, so that hasn't been possible.  It really built up.  We did get a lot of other stuff in there, including the vinyl for this stupid pool.

I've always hated this pool.  We used it a handful of times, but it became such a pain in the ass.  My husband bought a whole bunch of PVC and other random crap in order to rebuild the pump, but never did it because we hate this thing anyway, and it started turning into a pond.  So, we drained it and I ripped out the vinyl.  I found five frogs.

We have so much work still to do on this thing, but this was a great start.

I am become death, destroyer of pools.

Decluttering - Day 4-6

Well, I powered through six days of decluttering.  On day 5 I was a bit sore, so I thought, "Let's take a hot bath!"  But the bath was too hot and I sat in it too long, and it triggered a migraine.  Day 6 was unpleasant, though I still got a lot done.

Not only is the basement much improved, but we also managed to get my sewing machine fixed.  Mother in law dropped it off for me, and husband picked it up.  $90 later, I have a repaired, cleaned, and tuned machine.

Mother in law will be back in a week.  There will be more decluttering, and hopefully more bringing things to the thrift shop.

Today we got a dumpster delivered, and tomorrow we start pitching in earnest.  We begin with the garage, and when that's tolerable, we'll move on to ripping up the carpet in the basement.  And that is what I'm really looking forward to.

Decluttering - Day 2 and 3

 Yesterday we packed my mother in law's car full of boxes for donation (Treasure Hound, Chantilly VA - they support animal shelters - foha.org).  Her SUV was full, and today we managed to fit in a few more things.  It was a long drive, but worth it to support their mission.

After we dropped that stuff off, we went and got more boxes, then home to fill said boxes.  Shorter day today but we got a lot done.  There is daylight starting to creep in, some negative space between items.

I'm a little frustrated though because we're getting to the "organize" part without being done with the decluttering, which means I need to actually make homes for all these things.  If I don't do this, the space is going to still look messy and I won't get the satisfaction of seeing empty space.  So tomorrow we need to rearrange some items, then continue with the declutter.

The plan is to assemble ALL the Christmas stuff in one place, sort it out, likely get rid of a lot, re-box and label.  Then, we can do the same with the seasonal decor.  And after that, deal with some of the other random stuff in the decor closet, then actually put things back where they go.  THEN we need to move "for sale" stuff into one corner of the room (the corner vacated by a pile of Christmas stuff).

Honestly, figuring out the logistics of this is exhausting.

My mother in law is leaving Sunday, so we have three good days available to us.  I am hoping to get the main room pretty clear, the bedroom organized, and the closet filled with only seasonal decor.  There will still be stuff to move around, to sell, and maybe to go through again, but as she reminds me, she's coming back very soon.

As a little treat, I put ground effects on my desk.  The lights dance to the music.  It's stupid and I love it.

Decluttering - Day 1

Everything in this picture is going.  We went through at leas 15 boxes today and I'm keeping maybe six boxes worth of stuff so far.  A few of the boxes aren't even packed that well and don't have much in them.  It feels pretty good.  Lots of trash, recycling, donate, sell, and fabric recycling.

This wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  Probably because I have help.  If I were alone, it might have been more challenging.  No hemming and hawing about whether I should keep something.  I even threw away some broken tiles I have been wanting to fix for ages.  It hurt, but I did it anyway.

Today we started with craft supplies.  Once we're done with the entire room down there, we will do another pass and see if I can get rid of even more craft stuff.  I'm really eager to do so.  Still a lot to go through; I'm hoping we get the chance.  Sounds like husband's mom will be here til at least Saturday, so I think we can make it happen.

Yesterday you could hardly walk in the basement bedroom, and now it's about half cleared out.

Tomorrow I have a doctor's appointment, and will be home around 4.  We'll declutter for a bit, then hit it hard again on Tuesday.
 

Done

 It's done!  Everything has been deep-cleaned and put back more or less where it goes.  I'm very, very happy with how it turned out.  I didn't get to redo the chairs yet.  Tomorrow, if I have time.  Mother in law comes Saturday to help with decluttering, so we have to prepare her room.  The rest of the house is pretty clean.

My husband fixed the washing machine?  We've had two repair people out in the last few weeks and it had been limping along for about a month, but he cleaned a filter and all of a sudden the electrical problem isn't a problem anymore?  We're still going to have them work on it, but I did not expect this to make any difference at all.  Ok?  Now I get to do laundry all day tomorrow.  Yay, I guess.

Honestly I'm out of underwear, so definitely yay. 

Almost done

 Tomorrow, once the paint on the trim under the windows is dry, I'll trim the blue paint there, then I'll be done.  I deep-cleaned most of this room - I need to do the window in between the china cabinets, the wood cabinet, the buffet, and the other bench.  And probably the chandelier.  
 
We went to Joann today to check out the sales.  Nothing crazy, but I did buy some fabric for the chairs, and some for the husband's photography expo booth.  I forgot to get one of the fabrics I need for the latter.  Sucks.  But I'll be back there next week to keep an eye on the sales, and I'm not working on that stuff right now anyway.
 
After I'm done with the dining room tomorrow I'll try to list more clothing on depop.  I really need to get on that. 

Well, that hit different

 

 

I hate this paint color so badly.  I hate the work it takes to paint over it.  I hate the mess it makes.

I ESPECIALLY HATE the fine layer of dust all over everything after using the sander to sand the spackle.  You know why?  Because it looks like the aftermath of 9/11 and I'm a New Yorker so that traumatized me far beyond what I was expecting today.  I had to stop and clean the dust before I could move on with the work, because it was just too much emotionally for me to handle.

Each year on 9/11 I donate to a scholarship at my alma mater, set up by the parents of an alum who died on Flight 93.  And each year, her mother sends me a thank you card about it.  Those cards were on the dining room table, and got covered in dust.  

That was it, that was the last straw.   

So now it looks like an eerily clean construction zone.  I can't win.

Blue progress

The photo doesn't do it justice.  I'm liking the blue so much better than the yellow.  Tomorrow I'll try to take a better pic so I can sell the china cabinet on Marketplace.  We managed to get the rest of the chair rail off and patch the damage.  I'll use the power sander instead of hand-sanding, because doing that much physical activity makes me having coughing fits.  Yes, I have a respirator.  Once that's sanded, I'll prime and trim the paint, possibly also painting the molding.  Then Tuesday I can roll surfaces, and maybe this will look like a normal dining room.

If I can sell the china cabinets, I'll have enough to buy a table saw.  And I really WANT a table saw, so fingers crossed for me there.  It would be handy to have for making the built-ins for this room.  I can always rent one, but I'd rather have my own.  It would get a lot of use. 

Tomorrow I'll also be listing a bunch of clothes on depop.  I figure each night I can iron a bag of clothing and prep it for photos, then the next day I can photograph and list.  I have so many bags to get through, but this seems manageable.  I did one tonight and it was like nothing.  So I guess I'll just keep going like this and see what happens?  The key is to not let it get annoying.  Take breaks, and don't watch the listings for views, just set it and forget it. There are so many other things to worry about.

I'll give that a shot.