2023 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN Mrs SD

Florenceem

Got up at 5.45 to get a room ready for the carpenter. It was my craft storage ROD. I had to move stuff out and into the other ROD plus some went in our bedroom. Carpenter T arrived at 7.50.
Just before he arrived - I went into the bathroom where he fitted a door yesterday - I got locked in. Had to bang and call out to Mr F -  who is profoundly deaf. He managed to wiggle the handle and free me.
I told T about my mishap - he said - really - that shouldn't happen - went in there and was locked in - this time wiggling the handle did not work. T shouted through the door - you will need to get a hammer and screwdriver to take off the door jamb. This I started to do - Mr F wouldn't have been able to do it as he is not practical. When we could see the door catch - T said - that isn't going to work. I said - my neighbour is a handy chap - I will go and get him - he wasn't in but I saw a workman up the road - about to get in his van and drive away. So this woman in slippers and her 70s ran along calling please come and help - the carpenter is locked in the lavatory - couldn't resist - sounded better than bathroom. This big burly chap covered in tattoos followed me home and tried to release T - no good - so he went to his van for a jemmy and some other tool.
T had arrived early so he could fit 2 doors and finish early to get his weekly shopping. Splintering of wood filled the air along with a swear word which the workman apologised for. The catch was stuck - there wasn't room to use an angle grinder even when the door jamb was fully removed. Eventually T was freed and we had a battered door surround. Workman would not take the money I offered so we will put it in the collection on Sunday with our usual offering. 
I then had to rush to get ready for a 9 am meeting at SA. I came home to find that the road workmen had dug an even bigger hole and needed to do a bigger repair than anticipated. 
Water was turned off again and T finished hanging 2 doors and making good on the bathroom woodwork.
There was a lot of cleaning to do - I did in the house and Mr F tidied in the back garden where T had been getting the doors to correct sizes.
So it has been an eventful day.

weenancyinAmerica

Wow, @Florenceem - What a day. Glad you made it through and it wasn't you stuck in the bathroom all of that time or longer. I got locked in my sister's bathroom with no one else home and had to stand in her bathtub and call to a neighbor who was out in his yard. Asked him to call my sister who was at work about 20 miles away and she came home to get me out. Fortunately we didn't have to take apart the door - just the lock. I am still nervous when I lock the door at her house. 

I was up early today, fed cats and dog, did two loads of laundry, took roommate G to bank .Then cleaned up emails and added pictures from FaceBook to my Word file. I am finding it easier to copy and paste pictures in a Word file and then print-out as needed from there, than save the pictures in a Google file.

Got another box of books and magazines ready for the library. Later I will going to work at the library for about three hours, then pick up my prescriptions, and do a little shopping.

I am also getting bags of "presents" ready for the Easter dinner-birthday party on Sunday. Looks like it will be hotter even than we thought - 103F (almost 40C). We are having what is I hope a short heat wave. Next Friday is our book sale, and it would help if it was a bit cooler than that.

Keep cool everyone.

Liverpool_Anne

Hi all, yesterday OH got a text message from the neighbour at OH's house, A, to say something about the neighbours over the back doing something. He is Egyptian and his spoken English is excellent but honestly we struggled to understand the text and I suspect the predictive text didn't help so as OH had a free afternoon we thought we should go and see what the problem was. It turns out neighbours over the back had cut down an enormous conifer tree that A thought was ours but was actually theirs so no worries at all though they did have to take the fence out to get it but they have put it back. OH had a chat with A and thanked him for letting us know, he had got his 4 sons to go around for a fight if needed . As we were there and I had gone equiped we did some gardening, mowed the green area formerly known as lawn and did some weeding, mainly nettles and I was pleased to note there were no brambles in the areas I had worked on previously. Small steps but we filled 3 one tonne bags which would never fit in the small green recycling bin so we took them straight to the tip on the way home along with a smoke detector that was beeping. It was a sealed unit so will have to be replaced. I suspect it will drive the tip guys mad with the beeping but we did ask first . We also chopped a branch off the apple tree that was growing over the shed but was absolutely laden with fruit. The apples came home with us and I plan to declutter them into apple crumble tonight now I have cooled down from our exertions. I think it was the hottest day we have had this year here, 30° with very little breeze. We were both like wet dish rags .

@Brie that cot ad really made me laugh

@Florenceem what a kerfuffle. I got locked in my nieces bathroom once when no one else was home and had to climb out of the window to get out. Luckily it was on the ground floor

@Mrs SD I am sure all your hats and scarves will be appreciated whether they go to the cs or the homeless.

Right off to make apple crumble . Hugs to everyone who would like one

1261 - 1263 garden waste to the tip
1264 dead smoke detector to the tip
I might be back later if I stay awake long enough . Take care everyone
1264/2023

Floss

Florenceem that was one heck of a day!

I had a less exciting but still eventful day yesterday... when I got up there had been a Sahara rain storm over the car & garden furniture so that hot hosed off. Then I thought I could smell a sort of decorating smell, as if wallpaper was being stripped off, but no decorating going on 🤷‍♀️

The younger son & wife were calling on their way home from holiday to pick up his keys --about 20 minutes before they were due I tidied up the hall cabinet & got rid of cobwebs with my long duster. As I reached up, I saw six water stains on the hall ceiling, below the bathroom 😳 Cue a rapid removal of the bath panel but no leak anywhere. When they arrived son went up & found a leak on the toilet inlet valve so wrapped a towel around it! I texted my plumber who came out & sorted it. Now I have another stain, but luckily the problem was picked up within a few hours and it didn't happen while away, and the ceiling can be painted (eventually!)

oceanspirit

Tax return finished and submitted, papers boxed ready to go in loft.  Papers filed and some shredded so bedroom looks a little better - plan to do a bit more tomorrow as top of cod needs a clean and needs to be tidier first.  Finished up a few more things from food stocks as well so kitchen looks a little better too.

TC77

Lost my post again! 
Dvd/cd tower picked up this evening. And 5 items in donation hub bag or cs bag and 3 bags of stuff dropped at h and m for their-£5 vouchers 1336

weenancyinAmerica

Managed to get to the library. We spent almost four hours working there. Got three more boxes ready to go to the jail (total of 10 boxes ready now). Went straight home as was very tired. Will need to pick up prescriptions tomorrow. But when I got home roommate G was having trouble with a swollen leg. He wanted to go to the emergency clinic, though I thought we should go straight to the emergency ward at the hospital. After 1 hour in emergency clinic, Doctor there said to go to the Emergency Room at the hospital. Dropped him off there where about 20 people were waiting already. He is supposed to call and let me know what the doctor says and whether they will be keeping in awhile longer or if I will be picking him up in the middle of the night. 

Did manage to get the cats and dog fed. And me finally. 

We were going to go to the FamilySearch Center tomorrow, but that has been postponed till we know what is happening. I will be doing a lot of family history on the computer anyway this week trying to get three charts in Ancestry to match. 

Found out the temperature is supposed to go down to about 77F (or about 22C) next week which will be a good temperature for our book sale. We sit in the shade all day anyway.

Hoping for a calmer week.

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

1. Write a daily To Do list - only 3 tasks to include MMiM - do this before I go to bed

2. Commence ‘Operation Frog Tickling’ I have an acronym - I.R.I.S. being Identify, Research, Implement, Sign Off 

3. Implement a new sleep/wake up regime - start going to bed earlier (target before 2:00 a.m.) get up earlier (target by 9:00 a.m.)

4. Deal with ‘Urgent’ daily mail immediately & the rest at the weekend

5. Don’t put it down, put it away

6. If I spot a mini task deal with it immediately e.g. refill olive oil pourer or salt cellar, stitch up a hole in a garment etc

7. Continue to keep kitchen clean & tidy - before going to bed

The clouds never cleared but it was hot, hot, hot 🥵 DH fed the worms, set off for the Tip & returned without getting as far as the Tip due to really bad traffic. Metals & electronics - will be counted as 2 bags of stuff rather than individual items as DH will drop off tomorrow 👏 My contribution to decluttering was to deadhead my dahlia & deal with my mail 😉 Salad for dinner. Wudupa.

1961 - 1962 Metals & electronics - Tip

1963 - 1965 Kitchen recycling, paper recycling, drinks cans - recycling 

1966 Kitchen detritus binned

What an eventful day Florenceem 😥 Water, no water, water - hopefully the workmen will sort the water leak out asap 🤞& will tidy up after themselves & get the road fixed promptly🤞As to the saga of the bathroom door, I was very pleased to read that you weren’t the one trapped for a long time 😮‍💨 I do remember you saying that the door had proved troublesome for the carpenter. Your description sounded almost like a Benny Hill sketch 😉 although it sounds like it has all been sorted & 2 more doors hung 🥳

weenancy, pleased to hear that you didn’t have to climb out of a window 😉 A very busy Friday 👏Keeping everything crossed for cooler weather for your book sale 🤞

Just seen the time so am off to bed 😥 

MrsSD (a superwoman) 😇 🎖💐🤩🏅🦸🏅💐🏆 💐🍰🍾🌟⭐️🌟 💐🏅💐🏅💐💐💐🏅💐 ⭐️ ❤️🏅🍾🏅 📣🦸‍♀️💐 ⭐️ 🏅 💐 (✨✨ aka platinum stars) 😇 🏅 💐💐 

DH Awards: 🥇🏅⭐️💐,  perseverance medal 🎖️, 🥇 🏅🏅 😇

Decluttering Target 2023: 1966/2023

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £379.00

Siebrie

On Wednesday I went to the recycling centre with a carboot full. It was free, because it was all recycleable.
Yesterday I washed the three windows on the first floor, at the front of the house. It took me an hour; they were sooo dirty! I used a windowcleaner spray that was left by former neighbours when they moved away 9 years ago
This morning, I have made through-the-fridge soup, with the meat of three chicken drumsticks that I made for a meal earlier this week that didn't turn out as crispy as dds like. 
I found a blind spot Due to our planned (and dragging...) renovation works, I had put some books and other items in a large cardboard box on the veranda next to the kitchen door (it's not posh, it's just a small covered area). This morning I finally had the energy and time to open it. It's 10 books for donation to the village's free library chest! I told dd2 that it's her responsibility today to get those books there.
The box is now flattened and will be put out for Monday's paper recycling pick-up.
Behind the box was the extension cord for the swimming pool, which I cleaned and put in the garage attic. There was also an old bubble-blow thingy, which I emptied and put in the 'hard plastics' bag in the garage, ready to take to the recycling centre.
My programme for the church's monthly teenager group tomorrow is ready.
I have weighed butter for baking angel cakes later today and I will make a batch of granola after that. I know it's rather hot to put the oven on, but I'll feel happier when it's done.

vulpix

Greetings from Corsica. Scorchio,
 so far we have enjoyed Porto, Barcelona and Rome. Lovely food and company although just a bit too hot for us in the low 30’s. No complaints, it could be raining!

 I may or may not have interesting news about my book idea. I will spill the tea as they say next week. 

 Oh dear Mr V is wanting to go for lunch. Needs must. 

 Vx