End of Week

It's been an okay couple of days. I've been doing a bit of sorting (really not much) more moving around from one place to another lol. Husband took several boxes to the charity shop on Thursday. Really quite pleased with all that went. I am starting another box. I just have to work out where to keep it as it seems as I declutter a place, I end up stacking more things that need to go. At least things are leaving the house. 

I had my Asylum Lake meeting on Thursday. It went on for quite a while but was quite productive. I'm still not sure how/whether I fit in. I'll give it a while longer and then see. It seems the people involved are a lot more knowledgeable than me. I feel a little...beneath (not sure that's the right word!) them. I am in charge of social media and seem to be doing an okay job, so I suppose that's something! 

Friday, I went for a walk in the morning and then did a few household things. I messaged with sister in the afternoon. C had some good news and bad. Good news - our brother-in-law's (Sister D's husband) latest scan says he is still cancer free! That's fantastic news! They have finally booked a little getaway and I'm hoping, fingers crossed, they will be able to go. They haven't been away since before Covid. The bad news, Sister C was supposed to be on holiday last week, but they had to come back early as her good friend J's husband passed away. It wasn't unexpected, but sister C wanted to support J as she was such a big support to sister C when she was looking after Mum. 

It will be a quiet weekend here. We are going away camping for a week starting next Friday so we won't be going far this week. What are your plans for the weekend? 

Photos from a walk in the woods

Wednesday

Thank you so much for all the lovely comments on the decluttering. The support certainly makes me want to keep going and keeping track of the items leaving the home. It's a new month and there are already some things in the donate box!

The days keep plodding along, nothing exciting, which is, I suppose, a good thing really. I've been out walking each day. The weather is getting a bit warmer now so most days it's fairly pleasant to be out walking. I'm still going to Asylum Lake and going early as I'm continuing on with my beaver photography project. I am definitely going to rethink my walking options next year. Today I had my small photography group meeting. It's getting easier to talk to people each month though the group is getting smaller! We were a group of seven when we began, now we're just down to the three of us, but it seems to work well for now. Last month we did a small project picking a colour and taking nine photos of that colour. I dithered and changed my mind and finally ended up going with yellow. The photos aren't that adventurous though and I did tell the group that (in the future) I wanted to try to do any of our projects on subjects other than nature unless that was the chosen theme! We'll see how that goes!

Here are my yellow photos. 

Tomorrow is a busy day. My walking friend and I will walk in the morning, but then we'll meet again at 1pm to work on our plant inventory. In between those two things I have to pop in the shops for a couple of things, I need to get a couple of items ready to ship and it's clean the bathroom day tomorrow (yuck!). In the evening, I have an Asylum Lake meeting. It sounds like it might be a long one. It's downtown where I don't like to drive (with maybe iffy parking) so I have asked husband if he will drop me off and one of the other members to drive me home. I'm such a chicken.

May Decluttering Totals

As I mentioned before, I didn't do as well in May as I had hoped BUT we did go away for 10 days and a long weekend. I am continuing with the decluttering, so I'm trying to focus on the positive and keep moving forward. 

CRAFT - 7

MAGAZINES - 4

BOOKS - 58

MISC. - 20

The craft items - shaking my head. The books, well I'm really pleased about those! I am definitely finding them easier to get rid of. There are still a lot in the house, but the bookshelves are beginning to be a bit more manageable. I haven't purchased any more new ones and only a couple of used ones (non-fiction) that I plan on looking at and re-donating). 

June is going to be another rough month, I think. We're going away for a week in June so that might cause a bit of a decluttering wobble, but I am going to continue on. Hopefully, that craft total with be a little higher. 

I think at the beginning of the month, I had said that I wanted to get the front porch organised and cleaned off. It is almost finished. I will have it done by the weekend. Husband built the bench (that has an area for storage). I have taken care of all the boxes that had gathered on the porch. I chose which ones I would likely use and recycled the rest. I have yet to clean off the carpet and take care of a couple more items. I will have it done by the end of the week. We have a rubbish pick-up first Friday in June so there are a few things that are being put out on the curb for that. Husband is also going to take a load for donation at the charity shop this week too. I'm really pleased with the progress. 

Speaking of progress. I am quite pleased with the state of the living/dining rooms. I have been working on them for a while, and they are beginning to look a lot more how I would like them to look. There's still a bit to be done, but they are coming along. 

I wish I had a house-y photo to show, or even a decluttering photo, but I keep forgetting to take any. 

End of the Month

As I write this it's the last day of May. How the month has flown by! The spring and summer months always seem to do that. It's just winter that drags on by. The weather here has been up and down. One day I'm wearing summer clothes, the next I'm putting on my gloves when I'm going for my walk in the morning. Perhaps June will see things evening out a little more. We haven't put in the window air cons yet and usually by this time we have. Not that I'm complaining. The heat was on longer than usual so the bills were higher for longer. The longer we can keep the air con off the more the bill will even out. It is supposed to be hot Monday and Tuesday (80+F/30+C) but then will cool down again to more manageable, open windows only temps. 

I've been walking each day, getting my dailies done and, well, honestly not a whole lot more. I am behind on so many things, that it's all feeling a little out of control. I am taking tomorrow to stay home and get some things done. I think I need to re-evaluate how I spend my time. At the beginning of the year, I did say that I wanted to work on time management this year and, although I feel as though I am getting some things done, I still feel as though I'm not using my time as wisely as I could. I still want to give myself time to enjoy my passions, but I also want to be more productive!

A few things that have made me smile this week

Somebody left this painted stone on the trail this week

Flowers

Last sunrise on our camping trip

Baby A made me smile this week. We've had a couple of video chats. She is certainly blossoming with her personality right now. A little goofy, independent, a bit adventurous with a good imagination. I hope she continues to be so confident :)

What made you smile this week? 

What has made you smile this week? 

Procrastinating the Days Away

The title says it all. I haven't been getting much of anything done. I haven't had a lot of energy. My decluttering totals for this month are...well, pretty dismal. I still have a few days left though so maybe there is hope for me yet - if I get a burst of energy lol. I felt a bit...off today when I got home from a walk, as though I was coming down with something, but I don't think I am. Probably just a case of staying out too much over the weekend (watching wildlife, not partying lol). 

I have made lists for the last couple of days and though I've struggled and procrastinated, I have got the things on the list done. Just not a lot extra though. I haven't even felt like going for a walk, though I have been getting out. Just. Husband is busy this weekend, so we won't go for a Sunday Adventure, and I'm tempted just to sleep in and have a nothing day. Perhaps that's just what I need to catch up on sleep and such to get another burst of energy. 

I am hoping that husband will finally put together the storage bench I've got for the front porch so I can finish getting that organised. It was my main goal for the month of May and I'm pretty close but I need for the bench to go out there as I want to store boxes for shipping in it. I have quite a few boxes out there and what won't fit in the bench will go in the recycle bin. I think I've said this before, but it is a screened in porch (no windows, but screen protection around it - a really good American thing that stops bugs from getting in lol) and in winter husband puts thick plastic over the screens (which can be removed) so that the snow doesn't get on the porch and it is protected. It is my goal to make this a functional, usable space instead of being somewhere where things get put until we work out where they can go!

I think I've gone on for enough for now lol. Like my life, it feels as though this post is all over the place!

'My' tree is looking quite green now!

Back from Camping

We're back from our camping weekend. I say camping but we were in a mini cabin though it was on a campsite in one of the state parks. The weather was ok. We had a couple showers late Thursday and one on Friday but mostly it was dry but pretty chilly. We had all packed for the weather though, so we bundled up. We take a fan heater with us as it has electricity though this one did have a heater inside. The cabins are pretty small. They basically hold two lots of bunk beads, a small counter with a small fridge and this one had a microwave. There is no water or toilets, those are in the campground block. 

This cabin has been upgraded and does have a small deck area with a picnic table. Not shown in the photo is the firepit. The campground was quite busy, and it was quite loud at times. A bit people-ly for me. The beach and nature area was a small walk from the campground, across the road. I got up really early and went there to watch the sunrise and the Egrets that gather on the beach in the morning. I was mostly by myself then so that was nice. 

A few more phone photos from the trip

We all had a good time though I am tired and a bit achy. I spent far too long in a funny sitting position watching as the Egrets got really close to me where I sat. I didn't want to move as I didn't want to scare them. I have aches and pains all over lol. I took a nice warm bath and a couple pain pills when I got back. Hopefully a good night sleep will help!

I've got to get back into the groove of things. We have a little less than three weeks before we go off for our week trip so I need to get as much done as I can!

I hope everyone had a good weekend. 

Drizzly Wednesday

Ugh. What a horrible drizzly day it was today! 

I did manage to get out for a bit of a walk. I suppose at least it wasn't pouring. It was just drizzling, a mist hanging in the air, at least while I was walking. Later in the day it was mostly raining on and off. I did make a list last night and stuck to it, checking off all the items on there. No major decluttering was done but I did pick out 10 items for donation (on the list). 

Not on the list, but done, was sorting through a mini photo shoot I did for daughter, Baby A and SIL while visiting them. I got the photos sorted, edited (straightening and what-not) and added to a shared album. It feels good to get them done as usually (and still am) I'm behind sorting through the photos I take. Baby A is adorable, but she doesn't really like having her photo taken (a family trait ha ha). She didn't cooperate too much. 

Tomorrow will be a busy day. We are planning hoping to get away after the guys get home from work. I have to tidy the house (ha ha), go and get some food for the weekend, go to the post office, fill the car with petrol/gas, go for a walk and pack. At least at the end of it we'll have a relaxing weekend. We are just spending it at the campsite. It's a lovely one, the state park/beach/nature pond is opposite the campsite. I'll spend my time taking photos and reading, the guys will probably relax and sleep lol. As long as the site we picked hasn't changed, they will be putting up their hammocks to relax the day away. 

Puddle from today

Luckily, there doesn't look like rain this weekend. It won't be hot but it will be dry and I'll be thankful for that!

Mid-Week

It always seems that, however tidy I leave the house before we go away, it needs to be tidied again when we get back! I must admit that I did bring back a few things for resale and have to take care of them. Daughter and I went to some garage sales while I was there. She was looking for some things for Baby A. I found several things for resale that were really cheap. Some of the prices were ridiculously cheap and others were a little more than she wanted to pay for used clothing. It seems Baby A grows in leaps and bounds and doesn't seem to wear things for long so there isn't a lot of point spending a lot of money on clothes. We found some really nice things for her and a lot of places were only asking 25-50 cents per item. You can't beat those prices!

Anyway, I did bring back a bit so that needs to be put away. I am caught up on the washing and all clothes are back where they should be. I feel as though I'm a hamster running on a wheel. I'm a little out of practice with the list writing so I need to get back on it again as I can feel my time management surge out of control again. 

It's going to be another short week all round. Next weekend is a holiday here in the US (it's one of the few holiday weekends shared, though for different reasons, in the US and the UK) and we are going away camping for a long weekend. We'll be leaving on Thursday night and coming back on Monday. So, there isn't a lot of time to get things done this week! The decluttering this month is not going well. I need to get back on that too. I want a nice and clean space (free from most clutter) before Baby A comes in July. 

I did get out for a walk this morning, just beat the rain and also missed a stunning sunrise. I only caught the end of the beautiful colours in the sky. Sigh. I do like longer days but - yikes - as sunrise gets earlier and earlier it's harder to see one! \

Been Away

Time sort of got away from me again. 

We've been to daughter's the past week and just got home tonight. I've read a few blogs and will have to steadily play catch-up. 

We had a lovely time. Baby A has grown SO much and is into everything! She can say a few words now and is very independent, wanting to do everything herself though gets frustrated when she can't do the things she thinks she should. I really wish we were closer. I was so pleased that she did seem to know who I was, and it didn't take her long to warm up to me. We had lots of fun times and cuddles. It was hard to say goodbye, but thankfully we will see them in July as they are coming for a short visit to Michigan. 

Daughter ended up taking the whole week off, so I got to spend lots of time with her too. All in all, a really lovely week. 

Trying to get dressed!

Really liking the new-to-her doll and shopping trolley/cart that I found for her. 

Social Week (for a not social person)

It's been quite a social week for me. I'm really a social introvert and find it really hard and draining to socialise with people. I can't be the only one! I am, however, very glad I participated in the social events this week. 

First one was something for my Asylum Lake board group. Later this month there is going to be a history walk and talk at Asylum Lake and the gentleman doing the talk offered to give the board members a preview. Really glad as I won't be there on the actual day! This man, M, was so knowledgeable about the history and where old buildings would have stood. It was so fascinating. I could have listened and walked with him for hours! 

I really enjoy history. It was one of my favourite subjects at school. I wonder about all this land has seen!

On Wednesday I had my small camera club group meeting. I still find it a bit daunting, but it gets easier each time and it's fun to talk with other people who enjoy photography. Also, on that day I had the Asylum Lake board meeting. It was long but quite interesting. I still feel a bit intimidated as I feel the other people know a lot more about the community happenings, but I am finding my feet doing the social media for the board. It's something I can do and I don't have to interact with people lol

Today I walked with my friend as she is back from her travels. I have enjoyed my time alone. I'm not quite sure how to move forward. I really enjoy just wandering by myself, but I enjoy walking with her too. I think I might just stick with what I was doing - three days walking with her, two days wandering by myself. That might change depending on what wildlife/birds there is about. 

Hope everyone is having a good week. Do you enjoy a lot of social interaction or do you find it difficult?