Sunday, June 23, 2024

A rainy, gray weekend is in progress. Good for basement sorting. We actually took care of the bulk of the messiest basement storage room yesterday. LOTS of trash. Some of it pains me to throw but though it has meaning to me, it isn't suitable for donation and neither I nor anyone else in the family has room for it. Yesterday made it clear that we need a dumpster at least for a couple of weeks. There was a lot of stuff that we had transported from our former home 10 years ago and never opened. I threw most of that away except for pictures which I am not sorting through now but am transferring into plastic bins.

DH is doing all the heavy lifting as I am not allowed to lift more than 5 pounds with my arm.

Today will be more sorting and dumping, hopefully moving into the second storage room. The third challenging area is the garage, then closets and room straightening. Since I slept well last night I don't feel so negative about getting it done as I did yesterday at this time.

But I started back on the naproxen for my arthritis this morning which I had stopped a few weeks ago because the tirzepatide had such a dramatic positive anti-inflammatory effect. My feet, knees, hips, and hands were all screaming after less than 3 hours of work yesterday. Just from standing and sorting small items. Clearly we are going to be physically limited in how much we can do each day. 10 years ago when we moved from the home we had lived in for 20 years I was working full-time and getting the house ready on weekends by doing this stuff all day. I just don't have the stamina anymore.

Still a bit hungrier than I have been for a while but not terrible. DS helped me make one of our favorite healthy meals: deconstructed pizza (basically healthy pizza toppings in a casserole) yesterday. Very tasty as always and we have another meal left. But did I mention that I had to have a refrigerator and a stovetop repair over the last few weeks? Yesterday the oven wouldn't heat up so we had to bake it on the gas grill. Argh...

Time to go out for the usual Sunday morning breakfast. Have a suasive Sunday!

Last night we were watching David Letterman's interview of Charles Barkley (his series, My Next Guest Needs no Introduction). Charles talked about turning 61 and the real impacts of aging. I do feel there was a sea tide change in stamina at 60. Its not that we're doddering, but you do have to bow to your body's need for rest. Feels like overdoing it takes a much longer recovery time than before. DH has always been very strong and can walk forever. I can see that he can still do whatever he's always done, but maybe he's going to need a nap afterwards now. :) I can't run the household like I used to and work full-time. It's either or.

Does your purging give you any satisfaction or sense of freedom Liz? We have so much nonsensical stuff. When I finally tackle it, feels liberating!

Holy mother of pearl, the sun is out!!!!! We are heading out to my parent's house. They requested Papa Murphy's Pizza for lunch. They live in a very rural area, so we always bring lunch from venues they don't have easy access to. There's a burger place in their little town that's pretty good and a Dairy Queen in the next town over. That's about it.

LizAnne, We are hoping our children find their someones also, because both have expressed that desire. Our daughter dates both men and women, and we are completely on board with either a sil or dil one day. We just want her and her brother to have a loving partner in life.

"Either-Or".

So few words to express such a monumental truth.

Greetings all

It's overcast here. There was a bit of rain last night which I know because of the muddy dog footprints on the floor. Reminds me that one of my chores for the day is to brush them and groom them a little since brother and his dog are coming tomorrow. His dog is a rescue Pomeranian (not pure bred) with a long coat which is always beautifully brushed. My dogs look like ratty mutts even though they are purebreds with fancy pedigrees.

Liz I commend you for getting on with the basement. It's a ton of work to sort even the little stuff. My next such project is going to be the linen closet. It is stuffed like a turkey but there is very little usable in there plus much that is unknown. Plan is to give old sheets and towels to the pet rescue place. There is a brand new unopened comforter cover in there that I can't remember why i bought it.

Gallery was fairly busy yesterday. A peculiar family of 6 adults came in. They opened up the jewelry case without my assistance and then were grabbing things and trying them on. Then the old man needed the restroom. Then one girl wanted a mirror to try on earrings. I got the feeling they were trying to get me to move away from the jewelry case so they could grab stuff. I stayed right there but it took multiple instructions to get this young woman to the mirror. They finally did buy some things but took forever, picked up pretty much everything, were in and out of the case, back in it while I rang up sales, and overall made me nervous. I don't think they got away with anything but it was stressful. Very needy energy sucking people. Fortunately there were plenty of fun people as well. The street is now resurfaced so summer traffic will return.

Still a few things to do on The List. Today is do or die since brother arrives tomorrow though not until 7 pm.

hey Lizanne we are glad to have you in our little group. Hope your DS new friend turns out to be the one.

Peps yay on the shows. Winning isn't everything but.......

Diane S

Thinking those folks were, indeed, trying to obtain a substantial discount using the group distract and lift tactic.

As I get older and my frontal lobe's social filter fades, it becomes so much easier to just tell it like I see it and I probably wouldn't hesitate to tell the creepy family to get their pea picking fingers out of my display case, and is why I have no business being in back of a counter that requires civil communication.

149.8

Yay, Liz, sorting and dumping; quite impressive. Do do set some time limits on projects, especially those that keep you on your feet- arthritis is the devil. Does the naproxen take care of it?

Stamina- that's the right word to describe the difference between then and now moving. I knew I wasn't nearly as strong as I was at 40, but being flat unable to "push forward " when I want to finish is putting a real drag on getting through my lists.

Very hot and sunny today and a good reason to take the day. Maybe sort and toss - but, then again, maybe not. OK, most likely won't.

Rather, I believe I will just have a nice lunch and then an after Church nap...

Down 5 lbs. the first week on GLP 1 meds - impressive. Like I said, I didn't go down mu*****alories from what I was doing the previous 2 weeks of charting and watching what I eat. I know I will go up in dose but do believe I'm feeling some of the intended effects! I like the thought of all of the anti inflammatory effects. Like many of you, I have many more aches and pains since menopause and they have only been getting worse. I thought it was mainly the extra 50 lbs. but now I'm thinking there is more to it. My hip was hurting like crazy before my pelvic prolapse surgery and went away immediately after that. I still get bad lower back pain and am not sure why. Thankfully knees and hips are good. Mom, Dad and brother all needed hip replacement (some more than once).

Liz, we need to do the exact same thing with our based! Thankfully I did a massive clean out when we moved into this house 5 years ago. DH did not when we got together so he has a $hi#load of stuff to toss (think baby clothes for his 24 year old daughter, his wife's wedding dress (which I actually gave to his daughter last month in case she wanted to make something from it for her own wedding) to who knows what else!

Thin Lizzy, I didn't realize you were a newish member. I'm an old one but had quite a bit of a hiatus after my first husband died and I got remarried. I just recently returned to the fold. My how I have missed these people! Only my stepdaughter has found her forever person. My middle son was in a 3 1/2 year relationship and we thought he would marry his partner but it didn't work out. He is only 24 and it was his first real relationship so I know it was probably for the best. My oldest DC would love to have a partner. I hope it will happen for them someday. They need to love themselves first though. My youngest is 21, in college and has been dating the same person for about 1 1/2 years but they don't seem too serious (too busy I think).

Diane S, try not to worry about the house, the dog, etc. for your brother's visit. I bet he couldn't care less about all of that and just wants to spend time with you. If he does, then boo on him!

I had stuff in my basement that I moved from my grandmother's home to my mother's home to my 20 year home to here. I finally threw it away today because it has been in boxes all those years - I will never look at it again nor will my children. Hard to give up stuff sometimes.

It really is difficult to toss some of that stuff

I have my Great Aunt's diploma and yearbook pre WWII era. She never married, and was in many ways a second mother to my Dad and his siblings, and another Grandma for me and my cousins. My cousins kids and my kids knew her a little, and know her through our stories. But what will happen to the few things she left us when I am gone? It's these types of items that I feel some sadness for. If my China ends up in a thrift store, some other family can enjoy it with my blessing. But who will love the cherished items that only carry sentimental value for a select few of us?