I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

YramAL

The friend that I visited in Hawaii 3 weeks ago is going to be in Seattle for a few days, starting tomorrow. She's speaking at a conference at a local college. Her visit has forced my husband and I to step it up and get the guest room ready. We bought a new bed and moved some other furniture in, and got rid of a pile of stuff. I have discovered this fact about my husband after 30 years of marriage-if you give him a drawer, he will fill it! He is a secret packrat. Rather than go through stuff that is on countertops and the tops of furniture, he just shoves it in a drawer. Aargh. 

The weather might even cooperate for a Hawaiian visitor. It's supposed to be sunny here, at least through Sunday.

Mary 

riley702

I got it from my Dad. He was a ginormous packrat. He died in 2003 and Mom is still finding stuff she had no idea he had.

Ang7

I also have the "packrat gene."

It has been a constant struggle since we had kids.

Now the kids are telling me to "let things go."

Sigh.

Bren-2007

Hi Everyone!

Tim's a packrat too .. me, not so much.  I don't have a strong attachment to stuff.  Although I am very attached to my riding mower.

It's hot and muggy today.  We had to turn the A/C on this morning. 

We finally got the rest of the tick out of my ankle last night.  It hurt!

Rosemary .. have you heard any more about your SIL?

Otter .. thanks for the tick link .. my sis sent me the same one.  I was so worried about Lyme disease, she checked the CDC for me.

Hope you all enjoy the long weekend.

Hugs,

Bren

gardengumby

getting rid of stuff can be hard because so much stuff has memories associated with it in some form.  The frustrating thing for me is once I get up for it I can really get into getting rid of things.  Then my hubby goes through it and says, "oh, don't get rid of this or don't get rid of that", so I don't.  Then a month goes by and he starts in saying "why do we have so much "stuff"!!!  This time I'm waiting until he's gone, then it's just going away.  He'll never even know it used to be there....

RetiredLibby

I am a pack-ROUS. "Princess Bride" fans will know what that means.



I am organized about it, however. And I do conduct periodic culls of my stuff. I am waiting until I retire to conduct a final cull of my clothes. Work papers come later. Then the books.



The problem is that I love my stuff.



ROUS indeed.



L

YramAL

I am probably the opposite of a pack rat. I have gotten rid of things that I probably shouldn't have gotten rid of. 

I don't know which is worse.

Mary 

gardengumby

when you're planning on moving - the packratishiness is probably worse.  When you're staying put it's probably a toss-up.  But for sure there's never been anyone embarassed on TV by NOT being a hoarder...  

I love my stuff, too.  The books were the hardest for me - so they went first.  Work papers I keep only at work, now - and they'll all hit the shredder when I retire.  Work clothes will be last to go, and I'll keep anything that can be "useful" in my post-career life (silk shirts will stay ).  My next hardest are my hobby supplies - and I am a hobby kinda gal.  I've disposed of all my glass (but kept my grinder and other glass tools), my dye and dyeing supplies go next.  I'm keeping my sewing machine and much (but not all) of my fabric, and have already weeded out patterns I'll either never use again or never use at all....   Beads don't take up that much space, so I'm keeping all of my beading supplies.

jeezzzz - I'm getting tired just talking about it.   

kira1234

Another packrat here. It 's really hard to let go of things they have so many memories. We lost some things a few years ago due to a flood. So many memories I can never recreate. Pictures lost forever sigh!

Bren-2007

Gumby ... I am attached to my hobby supplies.  I've only gone through and sorted out my yarn once.  I did give a bunch of it away, but I hang onto all my beads and card-making materials.

Tick update:  We found three more on me today after I mowed the upper field and front yard.  I am so sick of these #$%^ ticks.  One of them was deeply imbedded in my belly again.  Thankfully, Tim was able to get the sucker out in one piece.  We bought some spray for the bedroom/office carpet and will do that tomorrow.  Also putting more Frontline on the dogs. 

I am at a loss for what else I can do to get rid of them, or prevent them from coming in the house or getting on me.

Aside from discontinuing my daily walks with the dogs and mowing my fields ... does anyone have any ideas on what to do about these damn ticks? 

Hope everyone is enjoying their Friday,

hugs,

Bren

riley702

Oh, Libby, you got me going with the Princess Bride reference! First of all, the ROUS

Rodents of Unusual Size - They exist!

Twoo wuv...

And my favorites:

And

RetiredLibby

HAHAHAHAHA!!!!! I was hoping someone would get ROUS! I LOVE "The Princess Bride" -- it is one of my all-time favorite movies, right up there with "Casablanca" and "Roman Holiday."



L

rosemary-b

I save books and craft supplies.

I have five boxes of junk in the hall to take to Goodwill. The pile grows. Someday...

Now if i just had a man who would say," As you wish."

otter

Bren, do you use any type of bug spray on your legs?  I can't go outside after early June without spraying "Off!" or Cutter's on my ankles and lower legs.  I do it because of chiggers, which are horrible here; but DEET repellent would also work against ticks.  I know,... it's bad stuff, with lots of possible harmful effects, etc. etc.  But, seriously -- if I can't use DEET to keep the chiggers and ticks away, I can't walk down our woods roads or around the ponds or anywhere.

Ideally, you would wear light clothing and spray the DEET on the fabric; but I grit my teeth and spray a circle of it directly on the skin around each ankle and each knee.  The little monsters crawl up the grass blades and brush and wait there, legs outstretched, so they can grab ahold of anything that walks by.  The behavior is called "questing" (pic is courtesy of JP Pest Service's website -- http://www.jpmosquitocontrol.com/control.html):

As for all this talk about hoarding -- my parents were famous hoarders.  I think the only reason they didn't end up on TV was because they weren't psychotic about it.  They didn't save gross things like empty pizza boxes, and there were never any dead cats hidden amongst the piles. 

Seriously, ... they were pretty good about organizing their "stuff" until my dad's Alzheimer's caught up with him and my mom just got too tired to care about putting things away. Until then, everything had a place.

Organized or not, all that saved stuff is now haunting my sister and me.  We are still trying to sort our way through it, more than a year after our mom's death and nearly half a year after Dad's.  The trouble is that my sister and I have those same packrat tendencies, with varying degrees of expression of the "organizational" gene. I think that's all I'll say about it here, since we never know who reads these boards.  <sigh>

I hope everybody has a great weekend.  Stay cool!

otter

riley702

"As you wish."  *swoons* 

For non "Princess Bride" fans, that means "I love you." And it's the guy who says it.

Ang7

BinVA~

I am so sorry about the ticks.

My daughter does not want to go down in the woods now since she had Lyme.

I can't say I blame her.

I really don't want to put Deet on her as she is only 7.  I am also on a quest to find a good alternative.

We use a bug spray Cutter Advanced?  It has Picaridin in it which they say is safe for kids.

I do have to reapply it often on them. 

This weekend the whole family will advance on the basement.  Hopefully the packrat will not prevail...

I am already feeling sorry for myself.

Enjoyful

Inconceivable!

Is it just me or is the tick population exploding?  We rarely saw a tick when I was growing up but now they're everywhere.  It's got to be a direct effect of climate change.  Yes, extreme right-wingers, I'm aiming that comment at YOU.  Hahaha!

In other news, my pelvis is healing nicely and I'm walking around with a cane now.  By this time next week, I shall be caneless!  I hope!

Good morning, all! 

suzieq60

Hey Scoot - glad you are on the mend.

6C here tonight - winter is on it's way. Snowing down south and cold winds - love it. Steve has to get up @ 4:30 am tomorrow, so I'll be up cooking him brekky I guess - sigh.

Talked to Annie today - they are settling in nicely - baby sounds just perfect - wish she'd been that good.

Hope you all have a nice weekend.

Sue

Bren-2007

Hi Otter,

Thanks for the info.  I use Off spray with DEET all over my pants before I walk the dogs or mow.  The SOB's still find me and get on me.  I'm hesitant to spray it directly on my skin ... that stuff is so slimy.  I wonder if the Frontline on the dogs is actually killing them or just making them fall off and crawl on me.

Scoot .. Glad to hear you are feeling better. 

Susie .. The baby sounds adorable!

Ang ... I can understand how your daughter feels.  I cringe every time Tank runs off into the woods when we're on our walks.  My paths in the fields are through the woods and open areas.  Mostly I just watch out for snakes.

Well ... we're mowing and weedwacking today .. yay! more f-ing ticks to deal with.

Hope everyone has a great three-day weekend!

Bren

crazy4carrots

Remember the Teddy Bears' Picnic?  "When you go down to the woods today, you'd better take lots of Deet".

Yes, the tick population has increased and is spreading -- northward!

Scoot -- So happy to know you are once again mobile, and will be even "mobile-er" soon.  Get back on that horse -- well, second thought, maybe not THAT horse!  Speaking of horses, I'm mighty pleased that "I'll Have Another" has won the Derby and the Preakness, and fingers crossed, will do it again at the Belmont.  Canadian-owned, with a jockey who earned his stripes in Vancouver, the horse is a great great grandson of our own Northern Dancer (whose studdingly successful post-race "career" has helped produce 95% of the great horses running today).  And just like Northern Dancer, whose potential was well-hidden when he was sold for a pittance as a yearling, I'll Have Another has been a great surprise to his owner, having won all 5 of his last races.

Hey, I love horses!

Oh yes, my DH is a major packrat.  It's a "Well...you never know when it might be useful" conversation in our house on a pretty much daily basis! 

jancie

Scoot - great to hear from you - glad you are on the mend!

Right now I could shoot my dh!  He invited a guy over from the congregation for dinner.  I had not cleaned my house this week so instead of seeing my horse I am stuck at home vacuuming, mopping, dusting.  Now it is raining buckets which means I will have paw prints all over my newly mopped floor.

I told dh that he had to go to the store if he wanted me to cook dinner for company tonight.  Decided I would make it easy and have homemade lasagna, salad, garlic bread and this scrumption dessert.

I take green apples and dice them and then I put them in a pan with cinammon and sugar.  The topping is made of ground hazelnuts, kirsch and honey.  I put the apples in a puff pastry shell and then dollop the hazelnut mixture on top and serve it with ice cream.

I won't be able to come here much today unless I get my housecleaning done.  I also want to go to JoAnnes as they have simplicity patterns on sale today 5 for $5.

rosemary-b

Scoot

You keep on using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

In my day movies used to be called books.

ETA: Ack, television used to be called books. Can't even get my quotes right!

rosemary-b

My DH brought home chicken thighs. I hope he cooks them. I want a nap. My friend adopted 3 kids and we went to their Baptism and party.

bluedahlia

Hi ladies, so sorry I've been away so long. I have been off the Mirapex for 2 weeks and only now am starting to feel human again. Bad side effects on the stuff, bad withdrawal symptoms coming off of it. To top things off my puter went bonkers and my son finally got around to fixing it for me. I haven't read back. How is everyone.

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaacccccccccccccccckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

rosemary-b

Hi Blue

It is good to hear from you.

jancie

Blue - you were missed!!  So glad to see you back. 

scuttlers

HAPPY DANCING! CART WHEELS! CRYING TEARS OF JOY! MAY OPEN SOME CHAMPAGNE! WILL DEFINATELY BAKE A CAKE! I FEEL LIKE SUNSHINE ITSELF HAS RETURNED! LIFE IS ONCE AGAIN WORTH LIVING WITH A SMILE!



MISSED YOU OUR DEAR BLUE! WELCOME BACK!

Marple

Hi (((((Blue))))), it's good to see you've posted. 

suzieq60

BLUE BLUE BLUE - YIPPEE - we missed you SO much. So glad you are finally feeling human again. Boy some drugs have bad SE's - not fair.

Just got off the phone with my insurance co (not the people I work for). The pool pump has blown up - not literally - but it's triggering the circuit breaker. I've been outside doing experiments to make sure it is the pump. Took the salt chlorinator to the pool shop yesterday for them to check that, it was ok so I had to make sure it is the pump and not the power point. It's the pump for sure. I found my original receipt would you believe and just called and registered a claim. Have to call the pool shop tomorrow to come and get it and do a report. A new one is 1,200 and I have an excess of 250, but the pool shop guy said yesterday that seeing I get member discount it would be less for me, but that they would charge the insurance co the full price, so I will probably get out of it for no cost. Meanwhile - hoping it all happens quickly or the pool will go green.

Fed the man and sent him on his way. I think he's decided getting up at 4:30 to go and play golf is a pain. He got new clubs this week and wants to give them a good try out. He might stop playing with these every other Sunday blokes soon I hope.

SO HAPPY BLUE IS BACK!!!!!!

suzieq60

Blue - one good thing happened while you were gone (this is to save you reading back). I am a grandmother again - born 4 weeks early - Nicholas Stephen 7lbs.