Day lilies and irises

In case you are wondering, I am trying to document my yard.

I know almost everything growing in it (except the yellow flowers that are not daisies, in the littler bed down by the street).

I think I missed getting a picture of these day lilies (below) in bloom.

The bed of day lilies is actually a bit bigger than this picture shows.

And this year I added miniature daffodils between the day lilies, so there should be good pictures next spring. Assuming nobody (🐿 🐰) ate them.


But I did get a picture of these irises in bloom. There are clusters of irises many places in various beds.

I am not sure if I ever said - but  irises come/packaged sort of unidentified. And I like “like things together”. It makes weeding much easier. I have large beds and it makes things very pleasing to the eye. I like the style of masses/groupings.

So one fall we planted all the irises. All over the front yard. And then they bloomed the following spring. And we dug and replanted them according to color. I never remember which color is where, but when they bloom, they are all the same in each section.

Orange honey suckle, nicknamed “the beast”.

It is very good that I planted this on a very sturdy wooden swing set, years ago. Because it is now massive and very heavy.

You can see the dog rope hanging in the middle. The pup can play tug of war with herself. She also likes to dead weight hang from it by her teeth. And she also swings on it (by her teeth, jumping up and catching it as high as she can.)

The orange honeysuckle self starts all over this end of the backyard. One just happened to start right by a leg on the other side. I tied it, and it is happily growing.

These pictures were taken right as the sun was setting

 The light was very interesting.

I think you might have to click on each picture to see it. 

This is a small section of a large bed that runs the length of the driveway. You might recognize the stump and the millstone. These are the only Black Eyed Susan’s in the yard. They nearly glow in the dark, if you click on this picture. (That is the neighbor’s house.) 

You can see two flower beds in the picture. Both are near the street. 

The bed in the back of the picture very large. It has probably 20 trees in it. It is full of Ivy on the street half, then Lilly of the valley on the half on the right edge of the picture. Those two each hold their own, equally invasive. On the edge, after the Lilly of the Valley are hundreds of jonquils (in the spring) and a dozen day lilies, in the summer. 

The bed in the front of the picture has ivy near the street, a row of boxwood, a birch tree, red coral bells, the mystery yellow flower, a Rose of Sharon tree and sedum.

This is the garage window. It is a large window and a huge window box. There are six big pots in the window box. I do not put dirt directly in any of the (3) window boxes. They all have pots. There are light yellow petunias. White salvia and white geraniums in those pots. The bed is planted with boxwood and pachysandra. 

Husker Red Penstemon (blooms in spring)

It self seeded from the neighbor’s yard, in a great spot behind the Black Eyed Susan’s. It is a very nice patch. I weed, water and let it go to seed, so it will come up again each year.

I am trying to catch him before he hits 1000

SideHustleSchool by Chris Guillebeau is a short daily podcast. I would guess he averages under 10 minutes (each day) most of the time. He does a special longer version occasionally.

I did not start listening to SideHustle podcast when he launched on 1/1/2017, instead I began listening to his archives, starting with the first one/in chronological order, early this summer.

I downloaded all of them to my phone.  So there have been hundreds of SideHustle podcasts in my queue, all summer. I saw that as a positive, a fun summer thing.

I enjoy him very much. I like his voice, his humor, his personality and his education.  I have not decided to start a home based business, I am listening because of the variety of topics. All kinds of gift ideas and interesting concepts.

So all summer long, when I was caught up on my other podcasts, I always had Chris Guillebeau available.

As of this moment, I am on SideHustle podcast #750 which he recorded January 2019. So I am in the current year (yeah!) and headed toward the home stretch. He recorded #954 today, I am hoping to be current before he hits 1000.

If you are wondering about the math, 1000 - 750 = 250 / 46 = about 5 1/2 podcasts a day, which is usually under an hour. Very doable even if I only listen when I am out walking dogs.

But when I am current, I will really have accomplished something fun and educational and current, this summer.

Audible queue

If a book (mentioned anywhere) looks good, I have just started getting it on audible. 

If I start it and do not like it, I simply return it. I think returns must be done within a year of purchase. 

So then I always have a few books in queue, ready/available.

It is rare that I see a book reviewed or mentioned in a podcast and think “that sounds good”. 

Most often I think the opposite. 

If it is a classic, many times I have already read it.

So when a title does sound good, rather than putting it on a list, which I might forget I even have, I simply use an audible credit and put it in my library.

Charging station, really good gift idea

https://authenticallyemmie.com/2019/07/everything-on-sale-day/

I love her pictures and posts.

I have never purchased anything she has featured, previously, but I jumped on the charging station when I read her post in July.

The station has been “charging central” on my kitchen island ever since.

Yes it has a lot of cords, but they are much more organized and visually appealing than the multitude of long cords that were there previously. (And I was always worried the pup was going to chew on one of the long cords.) It is nice to be able to set the device in the slots of the station. We have mostly iPhone cords attached, but I think there are two android which also work on our headsets.

The (now) 11 year old was here this past weekend and loved it. Her mom was here also and thought it was great.

I ordered one for them, also, shipped directly, they should have it Monday.

Honeysuckle (bush with the delicate white blooms)

This is a bush. It is growing in a hedge row on the side of the front yard. 

The row has a variety of things on it, we planted, and also some self starters. 

They are all big and green and totally blend together.

These white blooms are very small and delicate, I only noticed it,  because we were trimming branches in that section of the yard, right when it was blooming.

Anyone know what this is please?

Plant identification help please - they are not white daisies

Every year I wait for this to bloom, to confirm it is white daisies. 

By the next year I can’t remember what it was and I wait for white daisies.

This year, I PAID ATTENTION. 

And I was shocked it is not white daisies.

Looking thru pictures, once upon a time, there WERE white daisies in that area. 

But comparing the leaf, to my actual white daisies, it is different. 

Anyone know what this is please?

hibiscus (the big pink bloom in the middle of the back bed)

Weeding the long, back bed that is now mostly Hosta, earlier this summer, this looked like it might “be something”.

In other words, I did not pull it as a weed, I left it.

I thought it might be a peony, but comparing leaves to Peonies on side of house, no match. 

Yesterday it had a bud. Today it had a bloom. A big bloom.

Anyone know what it is? 

I am guessing in the hibiscus family. 

Ode to a pig

He is still standing, but very fragile.

I appreciate him each summer, because the end is coming.

When my husband put him out this spring, the pup came flying around the corner a few days later, and had a total freak out. She thought he was real. She jumped in surprise. And so much barking.

Genealogy blogs

I keep my genealogy documents in red three ring binders. I have a lot of binders. And most of the documentation is on closer family members - My parents and grandparents, the greats, aunts and uncles, the greats, etc. I also have  a lot of things on my computer. . I save documents, pictures, invitations, news clippings, obituaries, etc.

My mom has a friend whose genealogy research is all hand written. Binders and notebooks full.  (She is in her 80’s).

So where my binder has a copy of a death certificate, hers has handwritten notes on what the death certificate said. To be honest, I shake my head at that methodology.

I question what is actually going to happen to all that handwritten data. But I also wonder about mine.

My kids, my brother, my niece and nephew live in a very digital world. I would assume it will continue to get more digital. And decluttering and downsizing  will continue as the trend.

I am not sure if I have mentioned, I am scanning family archives of pictures, steadily, to both preserve and share them.

It started with pictures of my brother, which I scanned and texted to him and  his kids.

Then we made a trip out of state to my husband’s cousin. And we scanned pictures for two full days. We bought a flatbed scanner that hooked up to my husband’s laptop. He scanned and labeled every picture. We saved to both the lap top and drop box. We are the only ones to have copies of all those pictures.

And I have been scanning documents.

Those pictures and all my documents and the facts and stores about each person, require a home. Family trees are needed to explain. Everything needs to be organized and readable/understandable.

I needed a digital structure. I wanted one that could be private, was free, and was easy for me to use. I wanted something that could be opened on any phone or computer with no special program needed. I wanted something that could be printed into a book if wanted/needed.

So as I write, I am in the process of putting all my information and documents and pictures in a blog format for various branches of the family.  I put each branch on its own separate blog, for ease of volume and use. But I can link between the blogs, which is quite handy. I am using lots of tags and links as I go.

I am using blogger, because I am use to it.

I will give access to extended family who are interested.

So I am not sharing the genealogy blogs  here, but I wanted to mention the idea.

And if you happen to know of any genealogy blogs like this that are open, I would be interested in seeing them.

Here is what I have come to realize:

I should be wearing my newest athletic shoes as my crud (painting, walking in fields) shoes, not an old pair on its last legs.



In 2012 or 2013, I bought 3-4 pair of identical athletic shoes.

This was after I broke my foot and had to switch brands/sizes. (I donated all of my former athletic shoes, so I only had 3-4 brand new ones.)

I put orthopedic inserts in all 3-4 pairs.

I labeled/used one of the brand new pairs for dirt and paint, even though they were pristine.

That was a hard thing to do! Think about putting on a new pair of shoes and painting with dark brown paint.

So those new shoes started to look old pretty quickly -

Last week those crud shoes were so tattered that they are now unwearable. The back of the heel, on the inside is too worn.

The other 2-3 pairs are still in good shape. (I wear them evenly, switching between the pairs. And most of the time I am wearing sandals, Keens, boots. It is not like I live in athletic shoes.)

So clearly I wore the crud ones a lot. A whole lot. Field, yard, painting.

And if I was smart, I would replace crud pair with new pair (and wear the pristine ones for crud again). Because they are the ones I wear the most and would have the most support.

Garbage man cometh

Knowing that the garbage man is coming, Mondays, is very motivating.

We had 13 tall yard bags full of clippings and weeds by 7pm on Sunday.

I got up and weeded in the far (other) back corner Monday morning.

I covered myself as best I could, wore my Muck Boots, and then showered with Dawn as soon as I was done. It was major poison ivy territory. 

I did not pull Ivy. I tried to pull everything but Rose of Sharon and Poison Ivy.
I will go back Wednesday and spot treat the poison ivy (and try to avoid the Rose of Sharon). 

My spot treating procedure involves putting a wooden paint stir-er stick under the poison ivy leaf to hold it and then dipping a foam paint brush in Round Up Concentrate (with no water added) and then "painting" the leaves. It is a slow process, but very effective. 

By noon on Monday our count was up to 16 large paper yard waste bags, plus two full cans. (Plus a full recycling can.)

The 16 bags were distributed to neighbors' curbs, because we are pretty sure there is a limit for one house. So three lucky neighbors' houses have 4 bags each. (Thank you).

I am taking it easy the rest of today, because I had three straight days of pretty hard labor and I am tired.  My body is physically tired. And it is supposed to rain. Hopefully. Because we really need it.

Six tall paper yard waste bags

Filled 2 1/2 on Monday

Filled 3 1/2 on Saturday

Plus filled the garbage can on Saturday.

I set the sprinkler up in the morning, long section in the back (that is now mostly filled with Hosta). 

I ran errands while the first section soaked, weeded it while the next section soaked. 

Worked from about 10am until 4:15pm Saturday. 

A bit more to finish on Sunday. 

Saved comments - book titles - Jill and Lisa Eirene

https://sassypear.com/2019/07/25/bonus-post-a-good-quote/#comments

I wrote:
I purchased this book from audible this morning. (I am not sure if I will like it, but they have a return option, so if I don’t, then I will just return it. That option has allowed me to try different things.)

And yes, I have returned – Mrs. Sherlock Holmes: The True Story of New York City’s Greatest Female Detective and the 1917 Missing Girl Case That Captivated a Nation
Book by Brad Ricca. I tried three times and just could not get in to it. But every time I read a synopsis, I swear it is something I would/should love.

I realized almost everything I have listened to this year (books and podcasts) has been nonfiction.

I went thru all of Gretchen Rubin’s again. I did Marie C and also the Swedish Death cleaning one. Then I did Gretchen and Elizabeth’s book club selections (Inheritance and Small Fry) which were excellent. I love their take on book club – assign book, everybody reads, they interview the author.

I think I might like to find a podcast that does some type of similar book review thing. (I sort of outgrew the book group’s in town that I used to love.)


And

http://www.110pounds.com/?p=57160#comments

I wrote:
I normally a classics person, but I am sort of running out of classics.

My recent reads are Gretchen Rubin and Elizabeth (her sister) podcast book club selections Inheritance and Small Fry. Both great nonfiction books (and not normally something I would pick). I loved them.

So I got #1 and #6 from your list, from audible, to try (they have a return option, so if I don’t like, can exchange within a year). Maybe nonfiction appeals to me right now.

Thank you for mentioning them.

Shading transplanted perennials

Monday morning, working in yard, it was seriously hot.

I made a shade cover for the blanket flower plants we moved, and put a trickle of water on them, so they stood a chance of surviving.

It is working!

I have my stone wall back. Munstead Dwarf Lavender and a clematis.

A few years ago we dismantled a small stone wall that was around a small flower bed in the front.

The landscapers had just plopped the stones on the ground. Eventually everything was sinking and sliding and grass was growing up between rocks.

I regretted taking that wall down as soon as we did it. But at the time, I did not know how to fix it.


When we removed the stone wall, years ago, I tried very hard to get poppies to grow in this bed. I planted them at least three times. If they would have taken off, then the wall would not have been needed. It would have been a mass of poppies with the iron tree in the middle.

But poppies would not grow. So then I transplanted lavender.

Today, Sunday, we rebuilt the little stone wall in the front. And it is sturdy. It has paver gravel under it and it has a row of wedge shaped pavers under it too. The pavers are buried; the stones you can see sit on top the pavers.

It was a lot of work, with more work needed,  but I am very pleased.

This is the newly replaced curved stone wall. I need to add dirt and tidy up the dirt on the grass side, and replace the mulch.

We made  the bed slightly smaller than it was. So, I had to dig up/relocate the blanket flowers.

(I will post a picture. It was very hot here yesterday/today. I have a shade cover rigged up with a lawn chair and a kiddie pool to protect them.)

There is still Dirt around the outside that needs tidied, but the wall is built.

And I am so very very pleased to have it back again.

Hose is now neatly hidden behind the bushes, can't see it from the street

 Here is my hose holder, hidden behind the bushes in the front.

The stones piled next to the hose holder are holding a chipmunk trap. It is a kill trap, in a stone house, so it does not snap a dog or a cat.

Lisa Brennan Jobs' memoir Small Fry.

Lisa Brennan Jobs' memoir Small Fry.

This is the second book in the Podcast Book Club by Gretchen and her sister Elizabeth.

The first book:
Dani Shapiro's Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love.

There is a podcast, with Dani participating, which discusses her book:
https://gretchenrubin.com/podcast-episode/212-dani-shapiro-inheritance/

Okay, I have to say, so far they are doing an outstanding job in picking books. Both of these are books that were totally new to me, not something I would have found on my own, and I enjoyed both of them hugely.

Next week, I think, Lisa will be a guest on their Happiness podcast and they will discuss the book.

I listened to both books on audible.

Making the first wall

This is a hand tamper, an 8" worked perfectly for this project. Digging the trench, we over dug, back filled and then used a hand tamper to get the bottom level (vs trying to dig a level bottom).

In the bottom of the next picture, you can see the edge of the driveway. The picture does not show it well, but there is a slight "hill" from the driveway to where you can see we dug the trench.

We put a wall in so that hill became level with the surface of the driveway, creating a flower bed.

I dug most of that trench and then could do no more. Stones were too heavy. Bags of stone were too heavy. I have major blister on palm of each hand. 

(The stone in the back of this picture is leftover from the front of the house and used to be in walls and paths in various places. We did not use any of that stone in this wall. It went to a wall we built in the front, I will post pictures.)

They make stone specifically to be used with pavers. It is small and dense and compacts very well with hand tamper.

That is a 14' 2"x4" wrapped in white plastic. My husband put level on top of it, and then could see level-ness of the whole wall at a time. 

Massive rain forecast, we covered the dirt pile. 

We tapered the end and there will be a path down into the snake pit at that end. On the left side you can just see the pole of the basketball hoop. On the left side of that pole is the trellis. So that end of the wall, is tucked into the edge of the trellis (for safety).


We are still in process . . .

My current podcasts

Do the Thing with Melissa Urban (not all topics are whole 30 related)

Gretchen and Elizabeth (Happier)

Liz and Sarah (Happier in Hollywood)

The Moth

And I am still on This American Life app listening to their archives in order.

Hosta

I got up early Saturday morning and drove to Home Depot.

It was a ways away, but a successful trip.

Large selection of Hosta all at $2 a pot. I bought two more flats, 20 additional Hosta.

Came home and planted.

So I have put 46 Hosta in the backyard in the last two days.

Very pleased.

We also took out two small weird trees that were casting shade on my Perennial bed in the backyard.



I have mulch to spread.

I have weeding to do.

I have one small bed in the front that is 2/3 sorted and 1/3 messy.

I have blanket flowers to replace and possibly lavender to replace in the iron tree bed, which is my smallest bed (and also causes the most problems).

So I am getting there, and hopefully the weather holds. It has been nice low temps, so fabulous for yard work.

Bose

So I now have a pair of Bose (below).

And they work very well for me. The Best Buy guy set them up for me, before I left the store.

I wear it around my neck all day. I do not feel the collar around my neck (at all). And I find that collar very handy. Because I can let the buds hang down, loose, but have them handy to use.

If I have a phone call, I take it through the ear buds almost all the time. I listen to podcasts and audiobooks through them too.

If one of the kids calls, I can be doing something while I listen.

I use them while out with the dogs or in the garden.

I took me a while to get use the blue tooth. But I have the hang of it now, and do fine.

Story Worth

https://thebloggess.com/2019/05/07/tell-me-a-story/

Sarah and Liz have mentioned StoryWorth several times. I think Sarah's stepmother, who might be the only parent she has left alive, is doing this as a project for Sarah's daughter Violet, I think.

So, I wanted to mention it here, because I think it is a fabulous project.

Moving plants

It took a lot of effort over two days, but I moved the majority of the grape hyacinth from the back yard to three concentrated areas in the front.

I said “the majority” because I am sure I missed dozens.

As I am planting in the back, if I find bulbs, I will recognize/move them Immediately.

And the ones that still get missed will simply bloom next spring and I will find/move them then.

That will be welcome, because the ones in the front will have already bloomed (more sun) and I will know where I need to fill (next year).

I would guess I moved a several hundred bulbs.

So I am getting a lot of arm work.

We are solid mud here. So much rain. Both days I had to hose myself and dunk the dogs in tubs and pools.

putting old family photos in my red genealogy binders

Yesterday my mom helped me file pictures.

It rained all day, we were not able to move the grape hyacinths as we had planned.

I had a wide variety of photo pages, all archival safe. So pages made to hold 3”x5” vertical and horizontal, 4”x6”, 5”x7”, and 8”x10”. These were left from photo albums. And I was very happy to use them. Although now I need to order more 5”x7” pages.

We sorted pictures, only the ones I had in the computer room, put them in pages and then inserted pages into the corrected tabbed section of the right genealogy binder. So all the pictures of my grandma, are in her section with her papers.

My mother and one of my aunts had labeled almost all the pictures. My mom  and my aunt are both approaching 80.

All of this is because I am the youngest/last one. I am the last one who will know who any of these people are and how they fit together.

We took care of all the pictures I had downstairs. Upstairs is a metal cabinet full of pictures. Going to work my way thru that cabinet too. And my husband is going to have to help because a lot of that metal cabinet is his family’s pictures; all of his mother’s pictures came here when the boys cleaned out her houses. He went thru and scanned and emailed many identifiable pictures to his brothers, pictures of their immediate family. But he has done nothing long term, archival. Because every picture from his family is not labeled, he has procrastinated. That will leave our kids with a mess. And they do not know who many of those people are. My husband is the last one also. (We have the only kids.)

One of the genealogists at the library has two big bins of pictures where she does not know who anyone is. She has older relatives still alive, she scans pictures and puts them on an app where she wants all her extended family to log on and help label pictures. So far no one is participating. I think they are spread across the country so in person labeling is difficult. She needs to get on a plane and go to her oldest relatives, with the pictures.




I have very few pictures of myself as a child.

I have a few of my brother too. Last night I scanned and texted his pictures to my brother, my niece, my nephew. With the exception of his senior picture, my brother had never seen any of them.

And they might all be pictures I took, as a child. They look like a child’s eye. (We are six years apart).  Very candid pictures, just point and shoot. There were pictures of his 1st, 2nd, 3rd birthdays a couple early Christmases, that he did not know existed.

I have a few more that I will scans and send.

I did not hear from my niece but my nephew and his girlfriend thought they were hysterical. And I think scanned photos are more valuable to them than printed photos. (I have an office quality scanner). And it was free. And now his pictures are in a file on my computer.




I have been scanning and loading pictures on Find a Grave also. Relatives and also straggler photos that do not really have a place.

So when I have a random picture, that I do not really care about, friends of my grandparents for example, I scan it and load it to their (person in photo) grave. It gives a purpose to those stragglers.

My great uncle had two daughters and was divorced from their mother when they were very young. I had a picture of the girls together at age 2 and 3. It might be a picture their families have never seen. It is now attached to their graves.

I have been loading family pictures (attached to graves) too.

My red binders

My dark red genealogy binders all looked alike. There are about 20 binders now. Each houses a different section of my extended family. My husband’s family too. There are contemporary binders, my immediate family, my brother’s, my cousins’ families have binders too.

Middle went thru last night and put labels on the end of each one. And we lined them, across the back of the computer room counter.

So now I can tell which is which, and they are easily accessible, I think that will promote filing.

My mission is to have every piece of genealogy material in those binders.

All the papers are already filed. I add more all the time.

I started on pictures yesterday.



Anne just wrote about her own process-

https://altopower.wordpress.com/2019/04/30/2019-research-project-progress-report/

Sedum

I had been hunting for sedum for days. Finally found good supply and bought six. Came home, set the pots where they were to be planted, went back for six more.

Then it rained all day. It stopped when my husband got home from work.

I dug, he planted. And we added the last of the miniature daffodils. Big job.

It is suppose to be mild and rain the next three days. So I really wanted to get it all in now. I had to take the hose to my shovel and boots, that is how muddy it is now, everywhere.

My grape hyacinth is nearly spent, but still findable.

Soon, moving it (all) to the front of the sedum/miniature daffodils area. With it all in one place, it will really show.

sorting and storing the little holiday stuff (so that I USE IT).

The Christmas stuff is in red and green bins in the attic. Decorations do not need to be see thru bins, because they have been sorted and I USE everything that is in them. My husband can easily find them, they are red and green.

I have a huge fall piece and a huge Thanksgiving piece that are in the attic too. I will show you when I get them out for those seasons.

And the big plug in pumpkins are also in the attic.

The hanging holiday stuff (like for the kitchen picture rails and the hook on the backdoor and my bathroom), are in a couple places (basket in living room and oldest's closet and my closet). This is because of size and weight.

The rest of the holiday stuff, including the pieces I use on the counters, in the bathrooms, are in the top of the cupboard under the stairs.

I culled a few things, but mostly, I took a hot mess, that felt like it might come down on ones head every time the doors were opened, and divided it into categories.

As each season rolls around, I will evaluate what I have and where I use it. And if I am not going to use it and I don't particularly like it, it is going. Like there are a lot of things in the Halloween box that are definitely going.

The pumpkin on the top shelf, with the blue tape, needs rewired. I have extension cords that can be used. My friend's husband will be here in a couple weeks and will be able to do that for me.

I had all these boxes in my garage. I use this specific size a lot for things around the house. I pretty much wiped out my stash of this size. And my husband had to get a ladder and move the top shelf down one level, but I am very pleased.

Girls helped me get photos in albums and extras in boxes

So I am caught up on contemporary/kids albums again, I think.

We have photo storage boxes where the extra pictures go. We caught those up too.

Middle sat down a year or two ago and divided up the old pictures of the kids. Duplicates of what are in their albums or ones that just did not make the cut in the days of film. They are in tidy storage boxes. 

We don’t really have bad pics, because with digital, no more problems. Thumb in picture, closed eyes, photo bombing, made contrast/lighting are all things of the past now with digital. But even still, I end up with extra pictures.

Those extra pictures go in storage boxes by child. And there are a couple boxes with extended family. So they are neatly organized.

I still have the old old old pictures to organize. But I have a plan for those (photo album pages in my red binders). So one day they will all be organized too.

Mrs Wilson on PBS

I really enjoyed it. So did my husband and mother.  True story. It is on pbs website for a short time and then it will be gone. Three parts.

Books with clean-out topic

Outer Order, Inner Calm (audio book)  by Gretchen Rubin came out a few weeks ago.

When a new season of a TV series comes out, especially if there is a long break between seasons, I often rewatch all the previous seasons before the newest one. So I get a lot of bang with a new season. BBC seasons for example might only be 4-8 shows long. Just watching the new season is a flash in the pan. Watching all of the seasons in order, refreshes my memory, gets me in the groove, creates anticipation, and makes it an event.

I did the same thing with Gretchen’s new book. I relistened to all the previous books from her happiness series first. When I finished all the old ones, I listened to the new one. I REALLY re-enjoyed all the old books. The new one too. It was short, but good. It was a bit like a longer podcast.

Then I listened  The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondō. I had watched the series on Netflix, but had not read the book. It was good, but I wondered about her childhood the whole time. OCD? I realize it is a different culture, but it seems like something was not quite right. There are good suggestions in both the TV series and the book. I disagree with a lot of things she says, but in a mild way.  Both (book and TV series)  are good, worth the time, but I spent most of my thought process (of the book) in the psychology rather than the tidying.

Then I listed to The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter Book by Margareta Magnusson. Also good. Written by an old lady whose has cleaned several family homes due to death or downsizing. I did not dwell on the psychological. I enjoyed the pace and the stories.

It might be an age thing, or the fact that I did not have to clean out either grandparent set. And I have no messes in my future. My husband and his brothers did their parents. My brother will do my father. My mother has already done as much as she can. Things that go to other people are already to them.




I listed to all these audio books as I walked dogs, cleaned the kitchen, sewed. Ear buds thru my phone.

The cleaning aspect of these books - I enjoyed all of them in a low key way.

BUT they all pitch way too much.

I wish they would have used the terms rehome or recycle or repurpose 100% of the time.

There is very little that actually needs pitched.

The post office cubbies, re-purposed.

I had forgotten this picture.

The cubbies were not big enough for most that I tried to do with it over the years.  If they had been wider, so useful for gaming stuff.






Now -

(My husband made a base with feet, for it, drawers from the $ store. So handy and functional.) 

Easter egg trees

Someone made me one as a child.

A small branch with many off shoots, painted white, stuck it in a cottage cheese container with plaster of Paris. And I have the idea/memory that the collage cheese container was somehow on Easter colors. So either the company had an annual tradition, or it was decorated.

That year, with the tree, I think somebidy blew out real eggs and dyed them. And hung them on the tree. I think the tree made it several years.

And I loved that tree. Probably this was when I was preschool age. We moved when I was in the middle of first grade, and I think it was long before that time.

And I may have made a tree when my kids were little, or maybe I just thought about doing it.

I sort of rediscovered my wire tree. It used to hold necklaces in my bathroom. Now it is on the island in the kitchen.

And I am looking for seasonal things to hang on it. Not every season, just some.

Clearly wanted to find small/lightweight eggs for an Easter tree.

(I found smaller type hanging eggs at JoAnn’s. I paid $17 for 36 eggs. They were on sale 50% off plus I had a 20% coupon. Shockingly high prices on their hanging plastic eggs. Nice colors.)


Very pleased with it.

I really like Easter egg trees. Very glad to have one again.

Gretchen and Elizabeth book club - Dani Shapiro's Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love.

https://gretchenrubin.com/podcast-episode/207-go-to-the-doctor

That link will take you to the podcast where this book selection was announced. And the show notes will also give you the dates for their activities including an author visit.

I listened to  Dani Shapiro's Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love on Audible.

It is non fiction. Read by the author. And very well written. Really enjoyed it.

In process, I have steadily been cleaning/sorting

The computer room, in the background, looks bad, maybe even worse, but it is not. A lot of what is sitting on the counter now is actually empty. I had to get nearly everything out, to see and to sort. I think I will be back to an empty counter shortly. It is moving along steadily.

Also in process is the DVD clean out.

We are all visual. If I put it all back in a cupboard, it will never get done.

The box on the left contains the DVD's that we are selling.

The piles on the right are the ones to watch. The big pile in the back are the ones middle has to watch. The little pile in the front is my husband's. If it were up to me, they would all go in the box and be out of here this afternoon. . .

So far my husband has watched one, The Usual Suspects, and then it went in the box.

The pile of VHS (farthest right) needs watched also. (I found a friend with a VHS. And we are going to borrow and then sort thru them.)

We suspect most/all of them are left from when we used to records TV shows to watch later. That was mostly at the old house I think.

One of the those tapes is labeled. It is the final of Voyager (Star Trek) which aired in 2001. That was a prized tape in its day.

The DVD's we are keeping, at this point in time, are all in these baskets (below).

That has been a process also. Because this is where it started - - -

It was not easy figuring out what to do with the hole where the TV used to be. It was a BIG hole. And I wanted the space to be useful.

It was not possible to get two more matching doors to close the top (like the cupboard on the bottom). 

Between lumber and baskets and paint, it was about a $200 project.

This is a list of kid skills. It is a good list. Great summer project. Great family time.

I am not sure how often this happens, but at least once this week

Middle is traveling with a friend. Flights were yesterday.

They did carry on only.

When they arrived at their final destination, and were getting their carry ons out of the overhead compartment, someone had taken middle’s friend’s Case.

They were both on wheels. They were both purple. But they were not identical.

Friend’s had a luggage tag on it. The one that was left, no tag.

So there are two lessons right there.

1. Put a luggage tag on everything, even if you are not checking it.
2. Tie something unique on the handle of everything. Ribbon, bandana.

I know they turned wrong case into airlines. I know they filed claim for missing bag.

I know that by the end of the day they had the correct bag. I don’t know how they connected with the other passenger.

This might happen all the time, but it was new to me.

We put bandanas and tags on checked luggage. But not always on carry on.

And this absolutely could happen to me because if I am flying by myself,  I usually stay in my seat until other passengers have unloaded and left. Then I get my case out of overhead.

I am assuming this is exactly what happened yesterday. The person who grabbed her case was probably one of the first off the plane.

And we are usually traveling with solid black pieces, like most everyone else. So if this happened with PURPLE, could absolutely happen with black.

Gentle Leader

This is for the neighbor's pup, who is a Golden. She will be ONE in March. About 65 pounds and very solid.

She likes to tug. Tug of war with a rope. Pulling anything with her chest. Urge to TUG is strong in her.

She would be an excellent service dog pulling someone in a wheel chair.

It has turned cold in Indiana. We have had snow on the ground. We have ice patches.

As you can imagine, after having a very bad brown lab knock me down (last fall) and having my knees come thru with no problems (miracle). And with all the arthritis diagnosis -  I am very afraid of falling.

Youngest lives with a dog that also is very strong and has an urge to tug.

That dog has a Gentle Leader.

It is a figure 8. Two loops. One around neck. One around snout. They are connected in middle under her chin and that is where the leash clips.

Pup is very fluffy. So the loops aren't as big as you would think.

Youngest walked our neighbor's pup one time and said - needs a gentle leader.

What the leader does is take away the tug feeling.

When they pull against the leader, it simply turns their head toward you.

They end up looking at you. And their head is pointed the wrong way for the walking forward feeling. They don't like it. They stop pulling. Actually they never really get started pulling. It is highly effective.

And we have noticed they LOOK at you more, looking for cues.

No, they are not a fan of having something on their face. And have to fit properly or they will rub their face against the ground and pull it off.

It does not interfere with their panting. They can drink with it.

We do not leave it on, we put it on with a leash for a walk. We take it off as soon as we get home.

We leave her regular harness on her. They are the same color.