Monday, March 4, 2019

Daughter Leaves on Monday


Dancer making sure that the table stays uncluttered!
Daughter went back to Berkeley, today.  I woke up around 9:30 a.m. and had a cup of tea, then made waffles for breakfast.  She ate one and I ate one, but, I sent the rest of the waffles home with her, so that I won't be tempted by them, as well as the leftover Thai food, the last piece of birthday cake, and the salmon steaks I had cooked and frozen.  She also picked several oranges from the tree to take back with her.

Shortly after breakfast, I drove her to the airport.  Her flight was at 1:00 p.m., but she needed to be at the airport by 11:30 a.m.  I dropped her off and came home.  On my way inside, I checked my mail box and collected the two pieces of mail that had been delivered.  As is my usual habit, I put my purse and the mail on the big dining table, only to be reminded by Dancer that I had told myself that I would keep that table surface cleared!  So, I dealt with the two pieces of mail, right away!  And, before I put my purse away, I cleaned it out!  Yay, me!  It still weighs more than a purse should, and I probably still carry more than what I should, but, there's nothing in there that I don't want to have with me!

Later in the afternoon, I called the eye doctor's office, as I had received an authorization letter from my medical provider; it was to authorize the upcoming appointment which had been made for later this month.  I confirmed the date and place (a different office than where I had gone, earlier), and that there was parking available at the site.  I have three medical appointments scheduled for this month and a lab test which needs to be done prior to the first appointment.

After that, I changed the bed sheets on my daughter's bed, vacuumed the bedrooms, my bathroom, and the hallway (again), took the recycling out to the recycling bin, and took the trash can and big recycling bin to the curb for collection, tomorrow.

I also cleared the surface of the small dining table that is in the family room:

Family Room Table
This is one of the first flat surfaces I encounter when I enter the house because I tend to come in from the family room (the garage is a detached garage situated at the back of the house).  This is my "landing pad" where things I bring in tend to be dumped (unless I go through the room to dump things on the big dining table!)  It is also where I put things that need to be taken out of the house. It is fine to have a place to dump stuff that have been brought in and a place to gather the stuff that need to be taken out, but, too often, these items tend to make this table their permanent home and that is what I would like to avoid!  I want to keep this table looking like this to the extent possible!  Those are dehydrated pomegranates in the copper colander, by the way; I should use them to decorate a wreath or something, but, until I do, they sit in the colander!

Daughter called to let me know when she arrived at the Oakland airport.  From there, she takes the subway to Berkeley and takes a bus from the Berkeley station to her apartment, or, sometimes, walks (a little under 2 miles).  Today, she said she took the bus from the subway station, as her backpack was very heavy.

After evening tea, I watched news, did a load of laundry and hung it up to dry overnight, had leftovers for dinner, and did some knitting.  There were a couple of other programs on TV that I also watched while I knitted and did paperwork.  Finally, I started tidying my bedroom, dusting the top of the chest of drawers.  I was tempted to procrastinate on that and put it off until tomorrow, but I didn't!  Still to do - the bedside table/night stand, the top of the dressing table, and my desk, which is piled with stuff, once again!  Cousin P called me in the evening and we had a nice chat.  Later, cousin N texted and I texted her back.

All in all, it has been a productive day and I am pleased with what I was able to accomplish.

Today, I am grateful for:
- Daughter had a safe flight back and a safe rest of the journey to her apartment
- I was able to make her one of her favorite breakfasts before she had to leave
- Being able to send food back with her
- A dry day and even a little sunshine in the afternoon
- All what I was able to accomplish, today


To Do List for Monday:
- Take daughter to the airport - DONE
- Remake daughter's bed with fresh bed sheets - DONE
- Do a load of laundry - DONE (hanging up overnight to dry)
- Vacuum the bedrooms and my bathroom - DONE
- Take the trash cans to the curb - DONE
- Start tidying my bedroom - STARTED (dusted top of chest of drawers)
- Paperwork/pay gas bill - DONE
- Call Dr's office - DONE

To Do List for Tuesday:
- Bring the trash cans in
- Mail the gas bill payment
- Put away the dried laundry
- Handwash the grey sweater
- Tidy my bedside table - top and 2 drawers
- Buy eggs
- Put gas to the car
- 30 mins. of paperwork
- Do dishes

How was your Monday?  Did you have a good start to your week? 


21 comments:

  1. I hear you and am right there with the flat surfaces getting cluttered. I am easily distracted and will start a chore, stop midway through and start something else. I have to actively tell myself to finish something before beginning something else. It does not always work!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's that "I'll put this down here for now" way thinking that is my downfall! It tends to remain there and it gets lonely, I think, and calls other stuff over to keep it company, because the next thing I know, there's a whole group of them, on all the flat surfaces! My half-sister was telling me that she spends 10 minutes or so, every night, putting things away, before she goes to bed. I need to train myself to do that!

      Delete
  2. Oops! This is a bad habit I need to work on too. The dining table and also the corner of the kitchen worktop have definitely become 'dumping grounds' for me. Your table with its lovely polished top looks great, with or without Dancer

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Angela. My mother bought me that table. :) Oh, the convenience of setting things down on the first available flat surface! LOL! I need to train myself to put things away as soon as I come home, or, at the very least, before I go to bed at night! I think my problem is I don't have designated homes for various things, so they tend to sit on the flat surfaces until needed! In order to find homes, I need to create spaces, which, in turn, means having to declutter!

      Delete
  3. Glad your daughter made it home safe and sound. Sounds like you two had a great birthday visit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Live and Learn. We did have a very good visit and, in between all the eating out and shopping and daughter doing things with her friends, we've had some good heart-to-heart chats about various things. :)

      Delete
  4. I have a table that seems to collect all sorts of stuff. Sad. When everyone was home we used to eat there daily, now it is a place just to put stuff when we come in the door. Sigh.

    I'm glad daughter got back safely. How long will it be until you see her again? It sounds as though she comes quite regularly. We'll be going to see my daughter in May. Seems like a long time away. Hope you have a good day!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I very rarely eat at the table, myself, these days, Sharon. Even when my daughter is home, we prefer to serve to our plates and sit on the sofa to eat! Maybe we should both start eating dinner at the table?

      I'll be seeing my daughter, again, in July (unless we do something over the Memorial Day weekend at the end of May). She'll be coming down twice in July - at the beginning of the month to attend the Anime Expo

      Delete
    2. Oops! My reply published itself before I was done! Daughter will come down in early July to attend the Anime Expo (over the 4th of July holiday) and, again, towards the end of the month to attend a work-related conference - she'll fly down early to spend the weekend at home with me and then, I'll drive her to where the conference is being held.

      I bet you are looking forward to seeing your daughter in May. I know you'll have a lovely visit with her.

      Delete
  5. Hi, like your blog but you don't have a subscribe by email button or a follow button!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Susan, thank you for visiting my blog and commenting. I thought I had a follow button, because there are a few followers, but, I guess it disappeared! I don't think I've ever had a subscribe by email button. I am not very good at setting up a blog - in fact, my daughter set this up for me. But, I will see what I can do to add a follow button! Hopefully, I won't end up deleting the entire blog! LOL!

      Delete
  6. Hi Bless, I've been doing many of the same things that you have. My sheets are drying out on the clothesline right now. I also pulled some weeds and vacuumed the rugs. I plan to mop the floors and do some paperwork, too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad to know that we've both been doing similar housekeeping tasks, Stephenie. I have always enjoyed reading about the lives of other women, not necessarily biographies of famous women, but published journals and autobiographies (even if fictionalized to a certain extent), that offer a glimpse of the every day lives of ordinary people, throughout the years. We have always cooked and cleaned and done the laundry, gone out to work as needed, and taken care of others, whether we wanted to or not! I think that is why I like reading blogs, these days. :) I need to mop floors, too, and clean the bathrooms, but I am trying to spread the cleaning tasks over the week. I think it works best for me, with my energy levels, etc. Hope your day is going well. Stay dry, with all the rain they are forecasting!

      Delete
  7. Dancer is one spoiled cat! Hehee look at the way he sleeps on the dining table. :)
    I have a habit of going through mail right away and shredding unwanted stuff. So I don't have a table as a dumping ground. But my spare room acts as the dump for bigger stuff.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, Dancer is definitely a spoiled cat and he knows it, too! LOL!

      You are what I want to be when I grow up, Nil, a very organized lady who deals with her mail, right away! I added 2 more pieces of mail that came in today, to the pile! They need to be filed, but, I am not ready to do any filing, yet! :D

      Delete
  8. I moved my laptop this morning to my desk to free up some space on my dining table. Then I proceeded to use that freed up space to make some cards. This week I would like to clear off the table entirely and move it out to my craft room once more. I have done my quota of cards for this week, so maybe now I can attempt to do some scrap book pages in my craft room, and set up my little wooden table as a dining table. I switched them out before Christmas because I needed to sit extra people for Christmas Eve dinner, and I have never switched them back. At least when I am working in the craft room, I can close the door and walk away.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, that is the nice thing about having a craft room - one can close the door on all the creative mess! I hope you'll have some help with moving tables, Susan. Well done on getting all your cards for the week done! I just realized that I should have made and mailed a card to my cousin who had a birthday on Sunday! Oops! It'll have to be a belated birthday card, I guess!

      Delete
  9. Dancer obviously regards himself as a superior form of clutter!
    Flat surfaces - the kitchen counter inside the door, the island counter, the coffee table in the family room, the little cupboard in the front entrance, the top of the clothes dryer, the bed in what was once our son's room, my dressing table, DH's office, and so on. Oh we are so lucky to have many places to keep clutter! Of course we take advantage of them, too. There would be no fun if I didn't have something to clear off once in a while and give myself a pat on the back! But I don't like to see the desktop on my computer cluttered. Any more than three items at the side of whatever picture I am displaying at a given time and it is time to send something to the "trash" bin on the dock. Now the mailbox ........

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dancer says he likes cleared surfaces because then, there's more room for him to stretch out! LOL!

      Ah, yes, the more surfaces we have, the more stuff we find to put on them!

      Delete
  10. It's always a relief to get that phonecall to let you know they've arrived home safe and sound, isn't it.
    I hope you both enjoyed your time together. X

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It sure is, Jules. There's the potential for so many things to go wrong or something to happen, that I worry about her safety until she calls to say she's home, safely. We had a lovely weekend, together. Now I get to look forward to the next visit! :)

      Delete

Thank you for visiting my blog and commenting. Your comments are much appreciated. Please comment in English. Thank you.