THIS MORNING, I DELIBERATELY TOOK LIFE SLOW. No breakfast this morning. Sipping my hot herbal tea instead. INTERMITTENT FASTING? Something like that. Lunch will be my first meal of the day.
Planning on lots of veggies like Succotash. Snacks...not sure yet maybe an apple with peanut butter. Supper will be Spaghetti Squash with marinara sauce and green beans with sliced almonds. I weighed myself this morning and I'm off to a great start on my February food program. I'm dreaming of the day when I weigh 50 pounds less than I do right now. It mustn't be a pipe dream, but a reality to work toward. I must.
WORK BEGAN. After I started my day, I managed to switch out some storage tubs. This worked. The storage box I just bought yesterday was way too large for the UV Light. Shucks so I did some switching. The gift wrap tub was stolen to put the light into and a different tub I bought was filled with gift wrap boxes, shredded papers for fillers and beautiful spools of ribbons. All fit nicely. The light can go to the garage now. The gift wrap accessaries will go to the utility room because this storage box will not fit under the bed where the gift wrap paper rolls are already neatly stashed.
Some shuffling took place in the Utility room. Not completely done yet, but almost. The room is extremely crowded. The clothing rack and metal rack with shelves that holds small appliances were shuffled about freeing up some room so my old treadle sewing machine can be moved over to a different window. This new location will allow me to actually sew in place with the lid swinging open. Where it is right now I can't do that. The place where the sewing machine was will have my Eastlake table with a pretty lamp sitting on it. Sometime this week, I'll share a pic or two. Curtains will be sewed later for the room. I have the material somewhere. grins. Have to relocate the material. This relocation to our COTTAGE has some big challenges, but we're getting there.
I threw another bedsheet into the washer with a lot of bleach. Running on a very long cycle as I work at getting the yellow out of the sheet. When I was at TARGET, a bedsheet box for $5 from the discount bins was misplaced by someone on shelves in a different part of the store. This black and ivory colored flexible box was like the one I bought a couple of weeks ago and when I went back to the cheap bins to get some more of these sheet boxes, there weren't any. So when I came across this $5 one that looks like the one I bought before, I was delighted to place it in my shopping cart. Cha-Ching. Bingo. A victory.
I'll be working at getting yellow stains out of the bed sheets by laundering them on extra long cycles with bleach. When they are ready to fold up, I'll size them to fit into the bedsheet boxes. Nice and neat here we come.
I'm making progress on our HOME, but we still have so much out of place to where we appear to look like hoarders living here. It's embarrassing to say the least. Send in the intervention people to tell us we need help and therapy. Family members won't be crying as I protest their help. Even with the effort to get this place in order, it is draining to my mental health. I cheer myself on so I can go on. I've often wondered why this task is taking so much time. It just is. I have a new appreciation for others who have gone through this or are going through this chore like we are.
Downsizing into a tiny COTTAGE from a larger estate where years of accumulating lots of STUFF has happened has been a tough cookie for me to eat. It is life changing what we are doing as two old people. Better now then if we have to do this in a few years. With so many people passing away, death is a reality and I have to think seriously just how much time I want to put into this task.
As we go through things in the house creating order, items are going to the garage that we are going to keep, give away or try to sell. Doing this in baby steps. I had hoped to keep the Living room and Dining room looking like civilized people live here. Decluttering the rooms has taken on a whole different feel as I have to have some place to work as I go. For instance the storage boxes are beginning to pile up as I fill them then I have to place them in the proper room for storage.
I am extremely slow at this which doesn't help with getting it done quickly. We are blessed to have a roof over our heads, flushing toilets and running water. We have a place to cook/bake when preparing meals, eat, store food, store clothing, do laundry, sleep, bathe, and entertain skills and talents we possess. We have a place to sit when company comes over. We can grow a few vegetables and watch pretty flowers bloom on our property.
OUR COTTAGE is a blessing as we take another jab at saving money and live within our means. This is like playing a game to see if we can do it.
I watched some videos on YouTube about weigh loss to get inspired. It is amazing how so many others have achieved this. One lady showed the worked outs she has done. She truly stayed with her ambitions and reduced to a pleasant size. Over a 6 month period she filmed herself each day exercising so you could watch the endurance it took to reduce her size. I will exercise more in the near future as this task of downsizing must take precedence over exercising like this young woman did. I have hand weights to the side of my chair and am lifting them with various arm exercises.
I bought a foot peddler that is still in the box waiting for me to open and use. I shall do so.
Back to doing the household chores. When I am so far behind, it bothers me. In order to put a smile on my face, I truly have to think about it. It has not come naturally to smile. It can be done, so I will do it.
I need a smaller storage unit for a UV LIGHT we have that I'd like to keep clean and safe from breakage. Hubby wants a special box to keep in the back of our car to hold auto supplies. I hope TARGET still has some as when I last went shopping for storage bags for bedding, they didn't have anymore like I wanted. I suspect we should have purchased these storage boxes a few weeks ago when we first saw them. It seems like things quickly disappear right before me eyes. Wish me luck as we're going to journey back to Manhappiness as it is called to get several storage boxes. Perhaps for fun, we ought to stop by MARSHALLS.
One of these days, we will return to go to some shops that we don't even know about. I'd like to visit some fabric shops, some thrift shops and some antique shoppes.
On Monday, when we were in Topekaland, we wore out returning HOME before all of our shopping was finished. It seems that as we have aged, the tireds come on faster and more frequent.
MORNING FUN TIME ON THE COMPUTER. With cup in hand, I sipped on a hot herbal tea while researching about MAGNESIUM. Which is the best type for us to take? What foods should we be eating? I believe my Husband is deficient in magnesium as he has been having too many migraine headaches. With aging, poor diet, having no thyroid, taking certain meds, stress...our old bodies do not absorb nutrients like they should. Looking to find out what magnesium we should supplement our diets with as there are many types. Perhaps, all the types of magnesium we need is in the foods we eat.
It's his turn to have some labs so we are on top of knowing what levels our vitamins and minerals are at as well as TSH and A1c. When knowing that we have issues with staying within range of these levels, we MUST look out for ourselves. Doctors protect their careers and we are to protect our HEALTH. Amen.
AFTER THE MAGNESIUM NEWS, I went down the rabbit hole. 🐰🐰🐰 Onto what's in the news. I usually check what our President is up to.
Are Baby Gem Boxwoods suitable for Kansas weather?
Savannah Guthrie's Mother that is missing.
The gardens of President Washington's Mount Vernon estate.
Martha Washington's enslaved servant, Ona Judge that ran away and George tried to get her back.
Mushroom coffee.
Max Headroom. Remember him?
What are skirrets?
The Epstein Files
AND THE LIST WENT ON.
🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇
OFF TO MANHATTAN. Before we left HOME, tea was brewed and poured into oversize traveling cups with lids. When we go to Starbucks, the tea alone cost nearly $10.oo. Bringing our drinks from HOME saved some money. Also for our lunch we had a brown bag special from HOME. Banana and cashews plus pistachios. We have been eating out a great deal because of medical appointments. Instead of spending $50 on lunch we ate snack foods.
This month we are eyeballing a Profit Improvement Plan. We're looking for areas that we can stop the leaking of money. Getting stricter with turning loose of cash. Should we become tight wads? Yes. Better yet we should be FRUGAL.
We ended up going to Manhappiness straight to TARGET to purchase the storage boxes. They had them. Into the cart they went. Happy as can be.
We tried to get HOME early. I sat in my chair and fell asleep listening to something on the computer. Hubby wanted to try to fix homemade potato chips that don't have all the chemicals like the ones sold in the stores.
He did. They were delicious and difficult to not eat them. These are allowed on our Daniel Diet because of how they were prepared. Aren't we the lucky ones. Third day on the February diet.
Breakfast was oatmeal, blueberries, sliced almonds, almond milk, hot herbal tea. Lunch was our sack lunch with snack foods. A spoonful of peanut butter was my evening snack. Supper was vegetable salsa with the homemade potato chips.
On Day 4, we will eat more veggies. SO far so good on this diet. When we were at the stores, I caught myself looking at sweets and have to turn away reminding myself that I am staying away from such for another 19 days.
You know when I think about it and things are revealed to me about the world we live in, it can become overwhelming to me. I can't put it into words. SO I won't try right now.
I know that God is good and He is worthy to be praised.
~d
GROUND HOG DAY. 6 more weeks of wintery weather. I forgot that today was this special day. grins. Now how did I do that? We won't be having any biscuits, sausage and gravy today as it is a TRADITION on ground hog day. Skipping it.
I heard that the ground hog saw his shadow meaning more cold weather to endure. 6 more weeks of WINTER for sure. 6 weeks. A lot can happen in 42 days. May it all be good.
I found myself at Gentsler Eye Clinic having a YAG procedure on my left eye. This eye procedure went relatively rather fast. Check-in, sign off on procedure, wait, go to laser room to receive some eye meds, back to the lobby until the Doctor is ready to perform the YAG. More eye meds applied by the nurse and then placing my chin in machine holder. Nurse held my head steady and my eye was zapped. You're done. I slipped my sun glasses on and left with my driver to go eat lunch and do some shopping.
The driver was my HUBBY. We went to JASON'S DELI for a huge salad. We're on Day 2 of the Daniel Diet again. I missed not having boiled eggs, but was alright not having meat in my salad.
We went to a medical supply shoppe to see if they have a special pad to sit on as my tailbone is injured. They did and I'll try it out later today. While we were in the store Ralph Hipp came inside to do some shopping. He retired from Topeka television in 2022, but was a celebrity for 30 years. Kind of neat to see him in person and he appeared to look so much younger than what he did on the tele.
During the month of FEBRUARY I'll participate with another 21 days of the Daniel Diet/Fast as I prepare to lower my A1c for labs later in the month. Staying strict with this food plan of no animal products, no sugar, alcohol or coffee. Herb teas and water are allowed.
I started out the month of January with this fast and didn't make it through the entire 21 days. I allowed sweets, meat, bread, etc. at three different occasions. I took off 12 pounds, but put 5 back on after the 21 days. This was probably water loss to begin with. I'm eager to give it another whirl. I maintained keeping 7 pounds off.
First day of this DD/F was a breakfast of black-eyed peas. Lunch was bell peppers, onions and potatoes cooked with avocado oil. Herbal teas. Water. A handful of pistachios. Supper was popcorn, apple and spoonful of peanut butter. Snack was a small bowl of oat cereal with almond milk.
It'll take about three days before a pound budges off.
2nd day of diet was no Breakfast because of medical procedure. Lunch was a huge Jason's Salad. Snack was cashews. Supper was a large baked potato with salsa and chili beans. Water and herbal teas.
I fell asleep around 8:30 waking at 10:30 and now I am trying to go back to sleep. Hate it when this happens. No telling when sleep will return. Until then, I'll blog and read the news.
After 2021 started, I began focusing on losing weight. With the efforts to eat more plant based, non-GMO food, not highly processed foods and organic food, I have slowly come to realize that the selection of foods I have eaten for years were extremely limited. This food journey has been eye opening to what I should be eating.
This go round of dieting will include more dishes that others advertise to eat from plant based recipes. This should be interesting as well as informative for me. I will strive to get out of the rut I have gotten into by eating the same ole same ole. I haven't been very creative and I think I have been lazy on the verge of scared to try other foods that God created for humans to dine on. Learning how to prepare meals with no sugars is like learning a foreign language. I have struggled at changing the way things are done.
Now to relax about change. We're one day closer to Spring. I think if I busy myself with other things besides thinking about food so much that the time will fly and flowers will pop through the ground before I know it.
FEBRUARY! I think of the colors pink and red with lots of hearts. The middle of the month is Valentine's Day!
I like getting my greeting cards early so I have them ready to give to my LOVED ONES, especially my HUBBY. We're discussing where to eat the week of Valentine's Day. When it comes to food, my Sweetheart is all about FOOD. A BEEF MEAL of some kind. Probably chicken fried steak. On the other hand, I'm frillier like a box of chocolates, beautiful flowers with a sweet, mushy greeting card.
I believe we'll pick a day where the weather is nicer than freezing and go early for our Valentine's Day TREAT. A day where the roads are not as dangerous with ice and snow.
WHAT DO I HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH DURING THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY? Celebrate Valentine's Day, celebrate three grandsons' birthdays and continue tidying inside the house especially in the Dining room. This is the month for that.
Each month, I'm working on something pertaining to downsizing plus deep cleaning a room.
With the cold, winter weather, cleaning and organizing the house is what I need to be doing. When this is done, the Kitchen cabinet fronts will be polished and the floor scrubbed back to a shine. Easy enough? Not for me as I am extremely slow getting anything done. Weak, lacking energy and extreme fatigue. It's an ongoing dilemma. An ongoing mystery.
With all the reading I do, I believe these days I MUST SUPPLEMENT with vitamins, minerals, enzymes. A must. I have to keep a closer look on my labs. For so many reasons my main doctor doesn't stay on top of my levels like I know is needed. This is where WALK IN LAB comes in so very handy. Out of pocket expenses occurs, but sometimes I need the assurance that I am on track and not off the charts.
When the thyroid hormones do not get into the cells you are bound to feel it. Fatigue occurs along with many other symptoms. I have so many it makes my head spin. I did not know that having the thyroid removed due to having thyroid cancer would affect my energy level this badly. I survived, but I am not thriving in this category.
I want to know why I have hypothyroidism symptoms and nothing seems to improve my condition. If my Endocrinologist APRN is going to suggest that I have my primary physician run tests, then he has just passed me off to another medical doc that is not specializing in thyroids.
I'd read that Doctor's have to defend their careers and patients have to defend their health. I so agree. We have to watch out for ourselves.
February has made it and it is back to mindful eating for me. I'll allow some sweets and meats around Valentine's Day. For the rest of the time I will take into account portion control and variety.
I came across a really neat sight about SALADS. I would like to try the variety of salads out. Still working at downsizing my house which includes my body as well. This is a daily thing. Now to rest in it and not be so uptight about food.
I ended the month of January by getting COMPLETELY caught up with the laundry. Tadaah. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. I did it. sigh. exhale. SHOULDN'T I GET A TROPHY OR SOMETHUN?
I have a basket of towels, underwear and socks to fold and put away. That's pretty good considering how many loads I did so I was caught up. I'll get this taken care of today and take a deep breath. I AM FINALLY CAUGHT UP. Now to move full force into getting the Dining room tidied. Oh my.
The temps are going to be in the 40s and HUBBY said he'd wheel the boxes of dishes out to the garage. He won't freeze. Saturday the temps were in the teens. Too cold to be out in it.
With this week in the 40s/50s, we can haul boxes to storage. One more room will be organized. The table cleared off. I will be pulling the Blue Garland china out from under Grandma's Hutch and placing the entire inventory on the table to box up. The antique casseroles with lids will fill my Grandma's cabinet. A safe place for the collection.
As I morph and figure where to store my things, I am in a whirlwind of tension. If I don't have these things in the first place then I don't have them, but I'm not there yet. I have to take things in phases, but I don't want to be stuck. It sure seems like I am. May February be a productive month of getting more settled in our Retirement COTTAGE. Oh Lord, I beseech thee.
I will take LIFE one day at a time, but have a view of the big picture. I have to get further along with the STUFF. What a problem to have when there is such turmoil in the world.
HAD A EARLY MORNING START so HUBBY COULD GO TO A MEDICAL APPOINTMENT in Manhattan. Another day out in the cold. Unbearable temps. Spotting a few snowflakes flying through the air reminded me that we are suppose to have snow this evening, not early morning.
The landscape was sobering where the scenery is speckled with snow covering the grounds. A dull grey sky canopies above. Looks like WINTER. Sorry, the ballad Home On The Range doesn't sing true today where the skies are NOT cloudy all day, because they were all day. ALL DAY.
I sat in the lobby waiting for him. 40 minutes later he appeared in the lobby announcing he has a sinus infection. Nothing that a little shopping couldn't help.
The doctor's office is near TARGET so we went. Wanted to get some more under the bed storage bags for bedding. They did not have any of the kind I purchase just a few days ago. WHAT??? You're kidding. Nope. They had a whole new line of brightroom accessories, but none like I had previously bought. WHAT??? I'm not being very flexible. This messes with my plan of how to store more bedding. There goes my 'EVERYTHING MATCHES' plan. Right out the window. humph.
Okay, back to the drawing board.
The weather hindered the shopping. Too cold. From Target, we went to the grocery store for cottage cheese, green beans, sweet potatoes, chicken breast and a few things not on the list. Thought we'd best get HOME since it was snowing and blowing by now. Had to pick up Hubby's prescription in a different town. I noticed a THRIFT SHOPPE a few doors down so I buzzed in and took a look at what they had. For little of nothing, I purchased a couple of books. Library stop and then on HOME. Charlotte's Hinger's book, The HEALER's DAUGHTER caught my eye so this be the one to check out. A Novel of all things.
Of all the places this book's story could have taken place, Nicodemus, Kansas is mentioned. Looking forward to reading a novel for real.
In this cold, my body gets so stiff I walk funny. Getting in and out of the car took a toll on me, but I managed to get 'er done. The afternoon tireds started affecting my old body so I knew it was time to go HOME craving SPRINGTIME. Ready to sit inside our little COTTAGE away from the maddening crowd. Feet up. The cold does a number on my thought life that wonders to other places on planet Earth where the temps are in the 70s. Where might that be?
HOMEWARD BOUND. HOME, unloaded our spoils and rested. Laundry to follow. Since it's the week-end, I'm psyching myself up for finishing the laundry and having the Dining room look like a Dining room again. I have used the table for a CATCH-ALL and it sure did. I am being methodical concerning the plan of action to getting THINGS done. I have to get caught up with ALL the laundry before I can allow myself time to draw or sew. Laundry is ongoing, but I don't usually get so far behind that I cringe at it every time I walk past the Utility room. It calls my name even when I ignore it. Look the other way.
How to make LIFE as interesting as possible takes a bit of mind crafting.
After I washed my hair and combed it out, I decided that I needed a cut. Not a trim, but a full blown cut. I did the butterfly cut on it where you comb the hair forward and make a pony tail at the forehead. I did then I cut off a couple of inches. I took the hair down, combed it out, took a leap of faith CUTTING close to 8 inches off. That was fast and nearly painless. Snip and just like that it was significantly shorter. I liked it knowing it needed a good cut.
By Summer it should be the length that I am very comfortable with. Hair grows approximately 1/2 inch a month.
✅ Haircut off my TO DO LIST.
This evening will be MOVIE NIGHT. Not sure what we will watch yet. I suppose that will come to me when the time comes.
With each passing day, I seem further behind than I want. I don't think it's my imagination. The Lord knows I am trying to GET THERE, wherever that is. If I were to take everything that needs to be removed from the house so we'd have a minimalist appearance, I'd have to get rid of just about everything. I can box it up and stack it in the garage then when the weather is more old lady friendly, I could go through the boxes deciding what to sell, pricing it or do something with it other than being in a box.
January comes to a close. February is a blink away. SO ready for it and warmer weather. This Sunday, the weather is suppose to be nicer. I will need to go to the store and get the rest of the Valentine cards needed. First thing Monday morning, I will need to go mail my Mom's Valentine's gift. The cards will go out a little later in the week.
HEALTH: Perhaps these arm exercises will help me.
ONE
TWO
THURSDAY. Temps were about 25 degrees outside. It's not going to hit the 40s until next week so I'll concentrate on interior cleaning and organizing while dreaming of SPRING with lovely flowers, green lawns and lustrous trees a bloom with leaves.
What a nice thought to have warming my heart and lifting my spirits. I frequently say we are one day closer to SPRING. It helps me get through the shivers of WINTER. pause.
On Wednesday, I went to lunch with a friend and we had a good visit and conversation. Ate at a small eatery where it was quiet and easy to hear one another speak. It was almost like a Spring day outside so getting around was pleasant. Wonderful to get out and about and also have a meal with my friend.
Hubby stayed busy at HOME while I was out. He hung a framed buffalo print I bought him awhile back. His kids call him the GREAT WHITE BUFFALO when he has played table pool. The nickname stuck. So when I saw this print, I had to get it for him. Well, he got it hung up in our TV room. He shuffled a lot of boxes that I still have to organize, but until I get there, the boxes are grouped together waiting for that big day. Also, he wrapped and boxed up our antique depression glass Madrid Pattern dishes that I have collected through time that need to go to the garage for storage as we rethink what we are doing in the Tinyville COTTAGE. A GREAT HELPER! I continued to work on laundry.
THE GOOD NEWS IS.......I am just about finished with getting caught up on the dirty laundry. My blood pressure lowered and a feeling of contentment appeared. I am amazed how this makes me feel. I have a load of sweaters drying right now as I type. A load of white blouses and shirts are being laundered for the second time as I am working at getting the yellow stains out. When the sweaters finish drying, the whites will go in the dryer. A load of towels will be washed and I discovered a basket full of bluejeans. That will probably be two more loads. I have a nice white bedspread that I want to launder THEN I will be finished? All caught up? ALL CAUGHT UP. I will celebrate tomorrow for sure. Wait a minute. I forgot the basket in the closet so I will work that in. ABOUT 7 more loads. Can I get a witness?
The never ending laundry basket is never empty for long. I just can't seem to get there today. One more day or two is needed to empty that basket. Nothing better to do on an ice cold day in the neighborhood.
A sign of LIFE is a basket full of dirty laundry! We're living the dream. grins.
~d
WITH GETTING OLDER, I can tell that my eating habits have changed when it comes to food. I have found that I can go until noon or so before really wanting to eat. Intermittent FASTING by some. If I eat a late Breakfast meaning it's a Brunch then eat around 3 for Lunch, when the Supper hour arrives, I may not have an appetite. A simple, light meal will do.
The Delaney Sisters comes to mind where they would have had a milkshake for their evening meal. Humm. Sounds favorable. I'm not sure my HUSBAND would go along with this. Shall see. May give it a go.
This evening after a long day out shopping, we're munching on cheese and crackers for the meal. It's been a while since we did this. My energy level faded after we got home and I still had groceries to put away. I'm fading. I'm fading. I've faded. I am faded. Done. Kaputt.
We're buying more veggies these days when we do a grocery haul. We bought quite a few veggies and they are not all fitting into the fridge. It's ongoing trying to fit all the veggies in there after we increased our intake of vegetables. Being creative on ways to store food has taken an effort for me to make it happen. Still trying various ways to have order inside the fridge.
I may have to switch the utility freezer back to a fridge for all of our veggies and fruit stash instead of a freezer. Another project to consider. The utility unit can be either a freezer or fridge.
So far, I have three weeks of menus figured out from the groceries we bought today. Breakfasts are either eggs with toast and fruit or oatmeal with fruit and nuts. Cereal is rare, but doable. A plate of celery, apple slices and peanut butter is another great one then there's cottage cheese plus fruit. Yogurt, the same.
Lunches are simple. Suppers the same. I usually fix three items per meal. A meat, a vegetable/fruit and a grain. Left-overs are rare. Mixed salads usually on Sundays.
An early morning Lab was done for my TSH. Afterwards, we went to eat at First Watch. Across the street is HOME GOODS. I couldn't resist. We strolled the aisles leaving with some tea in a cute tin. Over to the grocery store for iced tea which I spilled losing half of my Husband's so I poured some of mine into his cup. The lids are not always placed on the cup tight enough and oops. Next was GOD'S STOREHOUSE. I found a few small dolls for my collection. By this time, it was Lunch and we had fish. Aldi was the last Topeka stop. We stocked up on our veggies and fruit, ground turkey and grass-fed beef.
On the drive HOME, we drove through Silver Lake where they have a DG MARKET. Since I hadn't been inside, I decided that I would look for some cottage cheese. Nice store for a small town. No CC so we left and drove HOME. We rested a little while before having supper then we put the groceries away. I put a load of laundry in. I am whipped. Truly tired.
No NAP today and I hopefully will sleep like a rock tonight. AND all God's people said, "Amen."
~d
Took the snow to the kitchen sink and held a burner to it and it wouldn't melt. Is this physics or is something else going on with the snow. I hadn't ever tried to melt a snowball with a lighter before so this was a first.
The snowball did not melt. It remained solid. Hummm. Felt like a Science Project Experiment. Remember those?
HEADING FOR THE HOME STRETCH with the laundry. Aiming for the end of the month to have all the laundry caught up. I think I'm going to make it if I continue at the speed I'm going. I'll let you know if I make the deadline. With the extra non-slip velvet hangers at hand, I am making progress.
When working on something that takes time and patience, it certainly helps to have to right frame of mind. By the end of the week, the loads of laundry should be finished. PTL. I'm embarrassed at how much I allowed to accumulate. How'd that happen? It just did.
When I look at our main closet, I think I need to do some rearranging. Hubby no longer wears dress shirts to work, but has a nice stash of tee-shirts for warmer days and some sweatshirts for the cooler ones. Dress sweaters are few, but then he doesn't wear them often. The dress suits are just hanging there taking up space, but ready for when needed. He has them. I can switch where they hang onto a smaller, more condensed area in the closet using the hanging rod for my dress blouses. His sweaters and tee-shirts are folded and not hanging. His dress slacks and jeans are hanging on a lower rack. It would work to rearrange until further notice. When working at fitting into a small COTTAGE things morph as you go. Hang loose and keep morphing.
As I got to the bottom of one basket filled with white shirts and blouses, two of my husband's white, dress shirts were there. They had a horrible ring around the collar and armpits. I really didn't believe I could get the stains out as I have SHOUTED the shirts before. I was going to get rid of them and buy a new white shirt until I washed the shirts in long, cold cycles with Clorox bleach several times. The stains came out. Washed them several times and after they dried and were hung they looked practically new. Alrighty then. I'll keep them.
After I get further along on the getting settled into the COTTAGE, I might do a swap-per-roo in the closet. The main things we wear are sweatshirts and bluejeans when we are at HOME. Occasionally. I like to dress up some. SO I need the clothing I presently have. As the weather warms, I'll do another round of thinning out the clothing.
While the weather is so cold and I have no desire to get out in it, I am working on this and that. The laundry is a priority. I folded some bedding and placed them in storage bags. The gift wrap has made its way to some storage bins which fit nicely under the bed. I need another box for ribbons and gift bags. Menards will help me out here.
HEALTH. I'm off to have my TSH checked because since January 1st, I changed the way I take my thyroid meds. I originally take two pills in the mornings on an empty stomach. I started with one pill in the morning and one at 11 o'clock at night. I'm doing well at remembering to split the dose like this. Curious if my TSH is optimal so I'll be checking tomorrow and of course doing some shopping. I needed to see if splitting the Armour Thyroid was a better way to take the meds to see if my energy levels were better throughout the day. Armour has T3 (the energy hormone) in it along with T4, T1, T2, Calcitonin and something else that my mind draws a blank on. It isn't so controversial these days to take naturally desiccated hormone as it has been. Simply looking out for myself as I go. My thyroid journey has been a complicated one that I have found out things on my own verses what an Endocrinologist nurse hasn't shared with me. Frustrating.
A SHOPPING I WILL GO. Very low on the veggies. Need to fill the fridge with fruits and veggies. As February 1st comes, I'll be mindfully skipping the carbs to see if I can get my A1c down. Over the last 5 years our eating habits have changed dramatically. Carbs are not the diabetic's friend so I keep in mind that I not eat very much of these. I have my battles over the sugar intake. No problem skipping alcohol, soda pop and sugary fruit juices. That should account for something. Right?
SIMPLY PUT...I wish the settling into the COTTAGE was completed and I didn't think about it so much. The energy I use could be used for something better. I give myself this WINTER to get the house inside settled in. Come SPRING, the garage will be tended to so we can make it a temporary storage closing out a unit we pay for. Summer, we'll continue with whatever. There might be thinning out of CHRISTMAS DECOR. CHRISTMAS IN JULY.
I know I am the type of person that entertains what needs done and I have a time relaxing while waiting for it to be completed. Sigh.
Peace out and stay warm,
~d
WINTER SNOW ON SATURDAY
The BITTER cold brought the WINTERY white stuff
to decorate our corner of the world.
My mind wonders on how to decorate the house, how to arrange furniture, what colors to use. While it's so cold outside the main thing right now is to get the inside of the house functioning no matter what.
~d
BITTER COLD OUTSIDE as we traveled to Manhattan, Kansas for a medical appointment for HUBBY to have some stitches removed from his chest. Good news, the leison that was removed was not cancerous. Praise the LORD.
We left HOME early enough to go to TARGET to pick up some items that were needed for furthering our 'GET ORGANIZED' CLUB before going to the medical appointment. Hubs dropped me off at the front door and I waited for him while he found a place to park our chariot. We shopped, checked out then walked from the TARGET building to the parked car. It was brutally cold my bluejeans were uncomfortably cold by the time I sat in the car. My face was turning beet red. The temp was about 7 degrees. Too cold for comfort.
While shopping, I looked high and low for wool dryer balls so I wouldn't have to use dryer sheets when doing laundry. Found them. I wanted something to hold wrapping paper for tidying up my stash such as an over the door shoe holder. I saw where you use a shoe holder to hold rolls of wrapping paper cutting the bottom of the pocket out so the long paper rolls are held in place. Flour, sugar and baking soda. More non-slip velvet hangers. I picked up a glass utility bottle with pump for liquid laundry detergent. On a clearance shelf were two canvas oblong boxes for wrapping paper. Thought about it and decided to purchase them as I think they will be sturdier than the shoe holders. Only $4.50 each.
Went to the doctor's early and he got in early. Nice when that happens. We'd plan on heading HOME after the appointment since it was so cold. Arrived HOME safe and sound, unloaded our supplies and took a nap.
Woke up, had supper, continued tidying the house doing some laundry and watched a movie with some hot chocolate. We were expecting snow around 6, but it didn't show. A little disappointed. There's always tomorrow. This week-end will be icy cold.
Hubby just looked out the window announcing that it is SNOWING! That's good. It's a beautiful snowfall.
I assembled the new wrapping paper boxes. As I was filling them with all my wrapping paper that was tucked in the corner of the utility room, I hadn't realize that I had so much paper. Tomorrow I'll stick the boxes under the bed. Some order will take place as I am a member of the 'GET ORGANIZED' CLUB. I think I will need to get another container that will fit under the bed that holds all my ribbons and paper gift bags. I have quite a collection. Whahooo. Getting NEAT is a work-out for me.
Over the week-end, I'll continue working on LAUNDRY and tidying up the house. I will transfer my antique Madrid Depression dishes into plastic storage tubs. That will be another goal reached. Making slow progress, but progress just the same. As the month comes to an end, the laundry hopefully will be ALL CAUGHT UP.
We had left over turkey pot pie for supper so tomorrow we'll have turkey sandwiches and maybe turkey with noodles for another meal. Gobble gobble. 🦃
