Monday, January 22, 2024

The Weekend

Red Kiwi

M gave me a red kiwi to try.  I realized, later, that I should have cut it crosswise, into slices, to show off the redness a little better.  The redness is in a ring, around the center of the fruit.  The fruit wasn't as acidic as regular kiwis, but, the taste was rather bland.


Rosy Apple

This is another fruit that M gave us to try - an apple which has rose colored flesh!  I forget the name of the apple.  I gave the apple to my daughter to take back with her and she took this picture after she cut it, this weekend.

Saturday was a rainy day, here.  Light showers on and off throughout the day and very gloomy.  But, the garden and the newly planted trees in the parkway got a good watering.  I wrote my blog post about the parkway trees, emptied the dishwasher, folded and put away some laundry, cleared the family room coffee table and dusted the furniture.  I also decided that I could declutter one CD of Christmas music that I had bought years ago.  The songs are not traditional Christmas carols and while it provided something to listen to, it was not one of my "go to" Christmas CDs.  

One of the questions in the decluttering book, in the Living Room area (which I applied to the Family Room) was, "Do you have out-of-date electronics? A huge CD or DVD collection?"  Yes/No

My answer to that question was "Yes".  I don't know what qualifies as a "huge" collection, but I counted my CDs and  I have 76 including the one I just decluttered.  Some of the CDs are double CDs and I counted them as two CDs.  Is that a huge collection?  I don't know.  But, I listen to most of them from time to time.  I have a two-drawer CD holder which has space for 56 CDs and the remaining 20 are in a plastic shoe box set on top of the two-drawer unit.  Both CD storage containers fit on one shelf in the  shelving unit I call the "entertainment center" (apparently, another out of date piece of furniture from what I've read!)

The author suggests uploading the CDs to a play list.   As I told one of my friends, I didn't know how to do that, but, I asked my daughter and she explained how one makes a playlist.  But, then, she went on to explain how the playlist has to be stored online (or as a file in your computer) and it sounds rather complicated to me! What happens if you don't have internet service for whatever reason?   I think I will continue to keep my CD collection!  Maybe I can declutter 20 CDs so that the rest will all fit in the two-drawer unit!  

As for DVDs, I have two.  BUT, I have  31 VHS video tapes of movies!  Talk about out of date!  They all fit on on shelf of the entertainment center and, yes, I have a video player (a dual video/DVD player) and I do watch some of the movies from time to time, although I don't watch them that often, anymore.  I don't subscribe to any streaming services, so, unless a movie is playing on TV, I tend to rewatch a movie from my collection of tapes.  

I am not including my daughter's collection of DVDs and CDs in my count, above.  Her CDs are with her and her DVDs (and there are one or two VHS tapes, too) are stored on one shelf 

Sunday was cloudy, but, dry.  I cleared the folding table in the family room and spread the newly washed table cloth on it.  Then, I put away the rest of the laundry, tidying the linen closet as I did so.  I didn't try to declutter any of the clothes, but, I did declutter one scarf, because I received a new scarf as a Christmas gift from one of my cousins.  

Later, I video chatted with my daughter.  

This weekend, I am grateful for:
- The rain we received on Saturday (more rain in the forecast for Monday)
- A day to dry out on Sunday
- M bringing us new fruits to try
- Working appliances
- What I was able to accomplish in terms of housework

The weekend's joyful activities included sleeping in, relaxing, and, of course, video chatting with my daughter.

Plans for Monday include:
- Start tidying and cleaning the kitchen (the room of the week)
- Bake a loaf of banana bread
- Meal plan

How was your weekend?  What are your plans for Monday and the week ahead?  Do you have CDs and DVDs/VHS tapes?  What would you consider to be a "huge collection"?

19 comments:

  1. I was glad to read about the two new trees in the parkway & nice that they are two different types. I am always in awe of the variety of apple types in the grocery store although I do tend to stick to the ones I know I like, too expensive to risk not liking. Sounds like you are making some headway with your decluttering. We do have quite a large collection of movies; Mr Man's favourites on are BlueRay which requires they are played on a specialist player in his home theatre room. My Christmas movie (DVD) collection is fairly large & I like it so I won't be parting with any of those because I do watch every Christmas season. Streaming services are very expensive.

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    1. I checked on the new trees, today, and they seem to be fine, getting watered by the rain which is a bonus. I tend to buy whatever apple that is on offer that particular week! Most of the time, I like it. Growing up, apples were a novelty. They had to be imported and when I was about 5 years old, the government put restrictions on imports.

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    2. Sorry, Mary-Lou, I meant to say something about the collection of DVDs; sounds like you enjoy watching them and that's a good reason to keep them, isn't it?

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  2. The apple is very pretty. We got rid of some CDs a few months ago when we were moving furniture around. However, we don't play them much. They are kind of out of sight out of mind. I say if you play yours, you should keep them. Most libraries have DVDs you can check out. That's where we get some of our movies or TV shows that we watch because we don't have any streaming services except Amazon.

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    1. It is a very unusual looking apple, isn't it?
      I used to borrow videos from the library (back before they switched to DVDs,) but, for some reason, I never borrowed any DVDs! I am not quite sure why!

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  3. We have a gigantic collection of both CDs and DVDs. I took every single one out of their jewel cases and inserted them into large CD binders .In fact I have 3 different binders for music and another for DVDs.

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    1. Now that sounds like a good idea, Anne! I know my daughter has some of her CDs in a binder! Maybe I'll do the same!

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  4. M does bring you different types of fruit for you to try. I have never seen a red kiwi or rosy apple like those.
    When I said I only have clothes to declutter I didn't mention my large collection of DVDs and CDs and I don't feel like parting with them even though I don't play them apart from Christmas music. I have got rid of VHS tapes and video player though.

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    1. M finds (and buys) different fruits to try. He mentioned a pink pineapple with a price tag of about $50 per fruit! I told him not to waste his money!
      Glad to hear that I am not the only one with a collection of CDs and movies! I guess we get to define what is clutter and what isn't. I have my VHS tapes on one shelf and I guess, as long as they all fit on that one shelf, they can stay. :)

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  5. My dream is to own a top of the line CD player/radio and install it in the kitchen where I can listen to CDs while preparing meals. But the cost is extreme and I haven't seen another I fancy, and we do have an ancient radio in the kitchen. Anyway we have an excellent system in the living room, it's just too far away, that's the problem. So I don't listen to CDs as much as I would like. We only have half a dozen DVDs which are never watched, and some CDs with video or photos. Yesterday I decided to take a look at some photos from a trip to Australia back in 2007! I'm not sure why I keep them on a disc and not on the laptop. We also have a large number of cassette tapes, which can only be played in the living room, as the very ancient radio doesn't play them any more!

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    1. Could you buy a small CD player to keep in the kitchen to play your CDs while you prepare meals? My "audio system" if you can call it that, is in the family room, but, if I turn up the volume loud enough, I can hear it from the rest of the house. Although, if I want to, I can unplug the unit and move it to any room in the house; it's very portable.

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  6. If you use your CD's then, no, I don't think it's too many.
    It sounds like you still find them useful and enjoyable so keep them :)
    One thing though, you do not need the internet to access anything that has been previously downloaded to your phone or computer. It's already on the hard drive.
    As far as getting it onto your computer, If you have a disk drive in your lap top (or you can purchase a portable disc drive) then you won't need the internet to down load the music either. I have a macbook so I just loaded the ITunes software from Apple and then I inserted by CD's into the disc drive and uploaded my cd's into my ITunes program which sort of organizes the CD's. Anyway, that's what I did with my music and it was not hard.
    But if you are happy with how you are doing things then stick with it :)
    I did get rid of most of my DVD's but I kept a few.
    And I did keep my complete box set of all the Murder She Wrote episodes lol
    ;)

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    1. Thank you, Debra, for explaining all that. I am basically computer and technology illiterate! I think I'll continue to keep the majority of my CDs (at least as long as they still make CD players!). I might weed out one or two as I listen to them and decide I don't enjoy listening to them as much.

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  7. Gosh, the red apple looks a little scary! I have had red kiwis in Japan and rather liked them. I agree that the effect is better if cut in rounds.
    Ella

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    1. My daughter sent me the picture after she cut the apple and called to ask if it was supposed to look like that! LOL. I remember the first time I had a blood orange, I was told not to worry, that the oranges are supposed to be that red color!

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  8. What a beautiful looking apple! How did your daughter say it tasted?
    I have too many DVDs and CDs. I am going to sort through them, but as for putting them online I'm afraid that something would happen and I'd lose them completely. I suppose that's something to think about.

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    1. It is a colorful apple, isn't it? She said it tasted rather mild, not very sweet.
      Well, yes, even if I store the music as a file on the computer, what if something happens to the computer? Maybe the files are backed up and stored somewhere, but, it seems less trouble to hold on to the CDs. If nothing else, I can use them to hang from the peach tree, in the summer, to (hopefully) keep the birds away from the fruit! Storing the CDs in a binder, without the cases, might be an option and it will take less space.

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  9. I've never seen an apple with pink flesh before. It looks very appealing. I never heard of a red kiwi, either. M must come across all kinds of interesting plants, flowers and fruits in his career!
    I'm not in a very good decluttering mode at the moment, but the time will come. It's the season of undone projects right now. Put it down to the weather! But at least the days are getting longer.

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    1. The apple is very colorful, isn't it? I think it will look nice in a fruit salad. M does find some interesting fruits to try.
      "There is a season for everything", isn't there? :)

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