Write on!

If I'm a writer, why don't I write? No excuses here! Just do it!

I keep a little notebook of my daily choices. I enjoy checking off my list. I also list my "list" on CleaningHouse@ yahoo.com - keeping myself accountable by sharing with others. By noon I expect myself to complete the following: Vitamins (3 - 3 times a day), ear pills (2 - 3 times a day), water or tea - at least  6 to 8 cups a day, exercise - swim 10 laps or do some Yoga, Barleans Olive Leaf tonic - 1 tablespoon 1 time a day (Yuk! Tastes funny, so I water it down), Regular Morning Routine, emails, put clothes away, take trash to compactor, do "Patio Patrol" - cleaning up, snipping off dead leaves and blossoms, taking dog poop and putting it to a place where the deer will "get a whiff" and leave my plants alone, sweeping up magnolia leaves - many, many; paying bills, clearing off the kitchen counter (Flylady.net - a "hot spot"), fixing lunch, cleaning up.

The rest of the routine of housekeeping is easy when I do it "my way". I go through the house - all the way through - dusting with a swiffer duster or a microfiber rag and dust all the flat surfaces. Another day I go through and wipe all the glass surfaces - mirrors, tabletops, glass doors to cabinets, etc. Then I sweep and mop floors. I use a regular sweeper for rugs and I have a small, powerful sweeper with the cup that can be quickly emptied. (Bought it on QVC). I finally found that using a microfiber pad on Libman's refillable mop works best. Had to give up Febreeze mop - fumes knocked me silly and gave me a sore throat more than once!

Life goes on day by day with plenty of opportunities to "make a difference" in my surroundings. As Edgar Gibson says, "Your surroundings reflect how you feel about yourself." Wow!

So I go about my "daily routine" and fill the rest of my days with activities that interest me. I make choices now and got rid of "have to" thinking (again, thanks to Ed's guidance).

AAA and BMW

This morning AAA's towing service picked up my  '97 BMW 740 IL. The transmission needs to be replaced!

It was interesting to watch the fellow load up the car. The towing line was hooked up to the hook that is under the front of the car. Straps were wrapped around the tires and secured to the sides of the rack. Many specific steps were followed. 

I'm keeping the BMW because my son, Marshall Garrison, has incredible knowledge about BMW cars. He has taken a couple of his own cars completely apart and reassembled them using parts from other BMW's. So, I rely upon him to help me make decisions about cars.

Onward!

The Tea Room in Milford, Ohio

The Tea Room

Our http://www.meetup.com/ Healthy Choices group met at The Tea Room at 271 Main Steet, in Milford, Ohio. What a special treat! Fresh food, beautiful, vintage surroundings - a lace cafe window curtain, pretty napkins, delicate tea cups. 

We'll be going back for more wonderful moments of relaxation "over a cup (several) of tea". Their blog is: http://www.thetearoominmilford.blogspot.com/.

Falling

Fall Foliage

Fall has arrived! It's cold enough to put on long underwear and a sweater. Acorns are dropping, leaves are turning. The sprinkler system has been shut down and soon the pool will be covered with it's winter tarp. The final days of summer were burning up into the 90's. Grass turned to straw.

"Maintaining" is an action word for thie time of year. Found a check list from http://www.listbean.com/ for Fall Household Maintenance. This year I will remove the hoses from all the faucets around the house and cover the faucets with an insulated foam dome cover. Leaf removal will be done by the lawn service guys.

There are three furnaces which will be checked and serviced tomorrow morning. I will also call the plumber again to figure out what to do about drainage from the humidifier/ac unit into the sink drain. It filled up this summer and overflowed the sink in my office/studio. The drain pipe is off and a bucket sits under the open pipe. After unloading the bucket again and again, I finally shut off the air conditioning in "The Cottage" and endured the heat so that I didn't have to empty out the water! This is an example of procrastinating. However (rationalizing) I saved a couple hundred dollars on the Duke energy bill which will pay for having the drain fixed. Oh my!

Having three cars, too, is too much! The BMW is still sitting in the drive waiting to be hauled off for transmission repair. Acura Integra '88 is at the shop today. Something is loose or broken. Hoping for a quick repair so that I have something to drive.

I've got the crock pot filled with Trader Joe's roasted vegetables and chicken thighs. It's a delicious, hearty combination which I  put into four lidded bowls and enjoy for supper during the week. I still have brocolli and beets that I cooked in the pressure cooker.

I've enjoyed getting great bargains on http://www.restaurant.com/ for dining out with my Meetup friends. Last week I purchased about $150.00 worth of coupons for about $16.00! Wow! Trying new restaurants and going to old favorites ia fun! And, I often pack up enough of the "left overs" to have for lunch the next day.

If any of you are here in Cincinnati, a great site for antique/collectors is http://www.ebth.org/ Everything But The House. Great sale going on this week - a house in Indian Hill. I guess you could buy and they will ship it to you. Check it out and start bidding.

http://www.catalogchoice.org/ is a site where you can sign up to get rid of all those unwanted catalogs or mail that arrives in the mail. I sure hope it works. I'll continue to minimize the amount of uninvited paper clutter that is sent here.

Healthy is as Healthy Does!

As I age I feel like I am living my mother's latter days, understanding more and more what it means to be alone (we all are alone). I am more aware of aches and pains that are bothersome. My ears ring from tinnitus even though I have continued taking the "no-ring" pills from Walgreen's for more than a year - usually 6 a day.

I do what I can to stay healthy. My "breakfast of choice" is a bowl of blueberries every morning followed by one soft-boiled egg, a piece of toast and a cup of Sportea.

Lunch is often a tuna fish salad combo with sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes and a few sesame crackers.

Dinner is healthy, too. If I'm not out with my Meetup dining friends, I may have some chicken/vegetable crock pot stew or a fish dish. I like salmon, tuna and other fish. I do like to eat a delicious hamburger "once in awhile". 

For exercise, I swim ten laps in the unheated pool followed by a steam bath - very refreshing! When the pool is closed, I do some Yoga stretches or walk around the driveway several times a day.

A daily nap is important, too. After lunch, I usually rest for awhile - approximately twenty minutes. This energizes me so that I can continue on with my daily tasks.

Going for acupuncture treatments helps to keep me healthy, too. I also get Vitamin B & Vitamin B Complex shots once a week. Then, for staying mentally healthy, I stay in contact with Edgar Gibson of The Strategy Group for half and hour by phone (phone counseling) each week, too.

My choices for "Healthy Living" add up, day by day, so that I can look myself in the mirror and see the results - a healthy, happy, 73 1/2 year old "Widder Lady".

Onward!

Hooray for Freecycle!

After watching too many episodes of "Hoarders" on A&E and on TLC, I'm inspired to "take charge" of lingering clutter than hides in my garage and closets. I listen to the conversation of the people who hold onto their clutter. Most of the people who are considered "hoarders" seem to be HORRIFIED being labeled as "hoarders" even when the evidence is surrounding them! 

Extreme examples are shown on the programs. Some hoarders become hostile if anyone "touches" his or her stuff! Some of these people climb through and over huge piles of stuff which is often laden with trash, or even worse, animal or human waste. Ugh!

I watch to see if I can find some insight to "holding onto stuff" or not being able to get rid of "other people's stuff". Topping the list of reasons to hold onto something is "I may need it or I have a use for it" or "I'm recycling." I do believe a lot of guilty feelings emerge when some of us can't find a way to recycle something!
All these feelings can lead to obsessive behavior and more reasons to hold onto stuff.

Accumulating, collecting, gathering all seem to be part of the "nesting" instinct or "getting ready for a rainy day". And, not to be ignored is the constant bombarding of our brains to "buy and try" - from our computers, TV's, radios, newspapers, catalogs and nudging from friends, family and neighbors. Enough is not enough!

Whatever it is - we are hunter/gatherers. It takes a lot of  time, money and energy to constantly be bringing in and taking out stuff!

My favorite Yahoo groups are: Cleaning_House, Freecycle East, Freecycle Cafe. Flylady also is a good site for constant encouragement and methods for keeping our lives and homes in good order.

I've been reorganizing/decluttering the 9 cupboards on the back wall of the garage. Having cupboards with doors that close over the stuff is "out of sight - out of mind"! Now, it's on my mind to clear out the clutter "big time"! Since I'm not planning on moving away from here, it's "on me" to do the job.

The trash bin now has several garbage bags loaded with clutter. I've listed items on Freecycle and have already had an old Addressograph and two heavy boxes of steel address plates picked up this morning. (This is a perfect example of OPS "Other People's Stuff" - late husband's political campaign work way back in the 50's!).

Plastic Picnic Plates for a Boat

It's time to "take a long, slow, deep breath" and ease into a quiet evening. For inspiration, I'll watch another episode of "Hoarders" on A&E!

The awful feeling that comes when "it's gone" and "Oh my! I wish I hadn't given that away," gradually subsides as time passes. It's better to think about someone else using it and really enjoying having the items - something they have really wanted! My worse thought is thinking about MY STUFF  piled up in the home of a "HOARDER!"

It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. It's gone and I'm free of it - it's "out to the Universe". Onward!

Seasonal Items 

Donated to Clermont Senior Services

Emptied out, almost!

September Trees

Maple, Spruce, Oak and Grasses

"The Cottage" Spruce and Pine

Magnolias, Grasses, Oak and Spruce