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Tuesday, July 15, 2008

ohhhhh booooyyyyyyyy

Well, the crunch is on......tooo many projects going on at work with a July deadline, party with a July deadline. Exercise and painting are hurting. Exercised yesterday and trying desperately to get back on schedule. Ate too much, too and gained - ugh!

Better go before I get too stressed thinking of it all..

Friday, July 04, 2008

Happy 4th and decluttering

Happy 4th of July. I hope that it is safe and happy for everyone. As for me, I will be home with my pups. One is okay with the fireworks but the other one goes truly berserk - through doors, fences, whatever. He will be on Xanax but still needs someone by his side.

Today was a beautiful day. I cannot believe how quiet it is and how many birds are singing their hearts out. I just wanted to relax and listen all day. There were things to be done - that didn't get done yesterday.....

4 days off from work. What a dream. With the big party coming and so much work still to be done on the house and yard, I was thrilled to have 4 full days to make a dent in things. Yesterday, no exercise in the morning :(. Started with breakfast and then in to the study to start on the tasks.

Call SS - can the checks finally be stopped? They are promissing in August. I believe them - truly, truly. At least the hold time was less than 10 minutes. Everyone else probably thought they were on holiday. I gave it a try and got lucky.

My Driver's License is due and, since the last two times I renewed by mail, I have to show my mug to get it renewed this time. Went on line to get an appt - 2 weeks away.

Party stuff - Called the florist. Couldn't get through. Printed out the 5 page contract. Read it through again. Signed it. Went to bank. Got Cashier's Check. Went to Post Office to mail with Cert of Mailing. Went to BevMo to check out some of the party alcohol and bought the Sloe Gin, Tequila Rose and some of the wine. Wondering how I will keep the champagne and white wine cold for the party until I hand it over to the bar and how I will get it down to Monterey with my luggage in the small trunk of my car...........

Called Doggie Camp to make the reservations for Thomas and Smokey. They now have Doggie Bungalows - 8 X 16 square ft of air conditioned comfort - all their own. At 7AM, the doors open and they can run all day in their 2500 square ft yard or lay in the bungalow if they get too hot. They have a little pool to play in, too. At 10PM, the doors get closed and they are inside to sleep for the night and safe from any night creatures. How spoiled can you get? No wonder they never want to come home!

Went to help SIL with some stuff, headed home and then out for Niece's birthday. Fun with the family and enjoyed the pub atmosphere and being with the family. By the time I got home, I was so tired, could only think of bed.

This morning, as I mentioned, it was so nice and just the right amount of cool crispness to the air. I took the dogs for a walk and Thomas was so good - not even barking at the dogs on barking row - that I took them around again! I was just reluctant to go inside and out of the beautiful quiet, coolness.

We had breakfast and I took a break to work a crossword puzzle. How sleepy I was! Took a nap and woke up at 2PM! I guess I needed the rest. But so much to do. Went in to call the florist who had said he would be in this morning but, of course, it was afternoon so I missed him.

Checked out Bev Mo online and worked some more on the party budget and wine decision-making. All of that took longer than I expected.

Finally, got outside to work on decluttering the garage some more. Decluttering has consisted mainly of flattening old cardboard boxes and filling the recycling bin. This is the 3rd round that I am overfilling the bin (and they only empty every 2 weeks) and I am still not finished. Was hoping to be done today but, alas, there are still more boxes and it will probably take one more round of overfilling the bin before I am done. Some of those boxes have been there a long time. One of them today said, March, 1994! Can you imagine that I didn't use it for at least 11 years (the first three, I believe it was in storage holding books). I can't imagine what I was thinking that I would need so many boxes. Under the boxes, there have been a few other things to take care of. Found a big bag of plastic bottles for recycling. Am hoping that the recycling people are there tomorrow so that I can get the bottles out of the car. Managed to get the lamp off of the floor and up into the overhead storage after getting rid of some of the cardboard boxes.

My dream is to get the bikes hung on the wall (and eventually get the tires fixed so that I can ride them), get the shelves cleaned off an partially turned into a pantry. Turn the remainder in paint and house repair storage and/or put up the extra shelf to hold the paints and house repair stuff, get a pegboard up for the tools. Hang the white board, bulletin board and mirror, move out the treadmill or chair from the living room and use the treadmill in the garage (with the chair in the living room) or in the living room (where I can watch tv while I walk and also walk the dogs) and the chair in the garage. And, aside from the chair, lawnmower, tool rack and a few chairs, have nothing on the floor of the garage. Emptiness! hummmmm........ I can sweep more often and keep the spiderwebs down and use the garage for something other than empty box storage! It is a big dream but I am hoping to accomplish it this summer.

Now, I am just working on SILs stuff and a little party stuff and hoping for a calm 4th (as calm as it has been all day) and then on to some of the other tasks tomorrow, including a good strong effort at the backyard and working on the guest book which I hope to get 90% finished this weekend. In the weeks ahead, I still have the dog's vet visits, eye doctor, dentist, DMV and party stuff to finish as well as the two massive projects going on at work. Want to finish sooner rather than later so that I am not exhausted for the party!

That ends my tale of decluttering. Now just have to learn how to declutter the blogs! :)