Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Mid-Week Catch Up!

21 Bags of Donations Waiting for Pick Up

Early Monday morning, around 3:30 a.m., I woke up to the sound of rain falling outside my window!  A steady drip-drip.  At first, I couldn't believe it was rain I was hearing, so I got out of bed, walked over to the family room and looked out the sliding glass door.  The back porch light revealed that it was, indeed, raining!  Not a very heavy rain, but a steady shower.  Enough to wet the ground.  It was still raining when I fell back asleep just after 3:45 a.m., but had stopped when I woke up later in the morning.  We needed that rain so much, especially since the temperatures are back up in the 90s, this week (tomorrow's highs are supposed to be in the triple digits). 

Monday afternoon, my daughter went back to Berkeley.  I sent her back with one of the 10 lb. bags of sugar I had bought last week and lots of leftovers from the prayer gathering dinner.  I put away a few more items and took the trash cans to the curb, but for the most part, I rested.  I was having some problems with my asthma flaring up, so, took it easy.

Tuesday, my nextdoor neighbor called and came over for a visit.  I sent her home with the rest of the pineapple pie.  She laughed and said I was always giving her food.

I also called my doctor's office to request a refill on the antibiotics, as my sinus infection hasn't cleared, yet.  I was told that the doctor will want to see me if the infection doesn't clear after the second round of antibiotics.  Between the sinus infection and the asthma flare up, I decided to take it easy and did the minimum. 

Salvation Army called, too, on Tuesday morning, to remind me that I had scheduled a pick up for today (Wednesday).  So, last night, I kept all the bags ready at the door for pick up in the morning.

This morning, they came and collected the donations.  I had told them 15 bags when I called to schedule the pick up and that's what they put on the receipt.  But I actually had 21 bags, because I found a few more items to add to the donations.  They didn't mind having to carry 6 additional bags of stuff to the truck.

The two young men who came to collect the donations were funny!  I had piled some of the bags on the sofa, as can be seen in the picture, and they pretended to lift and carry out the sofa along with the bags!  LOL.  I told them I'll be getting rid of the sofa set eventually, but not today!

My living room sofas are 20 years old and need replacing, but that's for another day!  I am well aware of how these things go - once the old sofas are replaced, the shabby drapes will need replacing and then the walls will appear even more in need of a coat of paint and so on and so forth!  I am not well enough yet, to do any major redecorating.  So, "shabby chic" shall be my decor for another year, or so. 

I have been working on office stuff for the most part, today.  In between, I did a load of laundry and ironed one square table cloth; over the years, I've found that it is best ironed while still quite damp. 

Wednesday's To Do List:

- Office work - In Progress
- Donations pick up - DONE
- Load of laundry - DONE
- Iron table cloth - DONE
- Empty dish drainer/put away dishes - DONE
- Put away big rice cooker
- Put away big serving dishes in bottom of china cabinet/tidy bottom of china cabinet
- Take stock of items (paper goods, etc.) needed for the December almsgiving (I think all I need are some white paper napkins)
- Watch tonight's debate.

Today, I am grateful for:
- The donations being picked up
- Being able to donate more than what I said I would
- Being able to work from home
- Sunshine and warm weather
- Leftovers!

How is your week coming along?




10 comments:

  1. YAY for rain! Finally! I can't believe you're going to get temperatures in the triple digits again. It's late October!

    Sorry about your sinus infection and asthma. You really ought to rest as much as you can. Your body's ability to fight those infections has been lessened because all of the chemo and other stuff you had to be subjected to for close to a year, Bless. REST.

    It must feel nice to have all those donations out of the house! I agree with the "if I do this, then I'll need to do this..." assessment. I have the same problem with my kitchen. I don't want to replace our dishwasher because then I'll have to replace the countertops and floor tiles (long story), and then replace the cabinets, which will lead to major remodeling worth tens of thousands of dollars. So I keep the crappy old dishwasher. Shabby chic indeed!

    I always wonder how your daughter takes all that food on the plane with her. Do you pack a cooler that she checks in?!

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    1. Nathalie, all the cooked food is frozen and she just packs it in her carry on luggage (she usually doesn't have any checked luggage). The food stays frozen during the journey.

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  2. Isn't it great to be able to give and recieve food? Sometimes it's more like love in the plate. I bet the Salvation Army were glad of the stuff. They are amazing people. I know what you mean about the sofa - that's why I'm hanging on to making cushions (and the cost!) Take care of yourself with those sinuses. x

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    1. Lyssa, my daughter has commented that food is how I show love. Giving and receiving food ranks quite high with me. :) Salvation Army will probably be back before the end of the year - I still have more stuff to give away! Just have to get it all sorted.

      Thanks. Hope you are feeling well, too, and the cold is getting better.

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  3. So 15 bags contain your 500 decluttered items from the end of July? But you had 6 more bags. Did you find even more items to declutter? What did you toss? If you decide to have another challenge, count me in. I need a kick start to help me.

    Hope this next round of antibiotics gets rid of those sinus infections. They are not fun. And I hope your asthma settles down. Looking at that list of chores you accomplished, I don't really think you can call that "taking it easy". You and I have very different ideas of relaxing. Ha

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    1. Susan, the 15 bags contained SOME of the items I decluttered. The other 6 bags contained items (clothing and books) which I had decluttered earlier but had kept aside for my daughter and my friend to look through before I donated them and additional items such as the skirt I pulled out of the closet that morning.

      I still have additional items to declutter. I am planning to call for another donations pick up before the end of the year. I will be happy to post another challenge. :)

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  4. I'm delighted to hear that you had some rain (it must have sounded wonderful to you), and I just hope that it lasted long enough to make a little difference to your garden.

    20 years is no big deal for a sofa. We had one quality set for at least 30 years and it was still in good shape when we found someone to give the sofa to and someone else, who was painting for us at the time, was happy to take the chair for his workshop. If the style had been plain, I would have bought good slipcovers for both pieces, but the curved shape of the backs and the curve on the arms made it impossible to fit covers well, although I did have some at one time.
    Bushlady

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    1. Bushlady, the rain did help, but today's 100F temperatures probably cancelled all the benefits!

      I have sofa covers my mother sewed for my sofa set, but they are torn and tattered, themselves. A certain cat sharpening his claws has taken a toll on the upholstery, as well. But I've draped shawls and a crocheted throw to hide the worst of it and the chairs will suffice for another year or two.

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  5. What a great haul for the Sally Army! I can quite see why the collection people were tempted to minimise effort and just take the whole sofa! :o) (And I don't think any of your decor looks shabby.)

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    1. Thank you for the kind words, Lady Ella. I still have the same set of furniture, even though the upholstery has been shredded because a certain kitty used it to sharpen his claws!

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