I Became a Hoarder Overnight

 Without much foresight, overnight my house began looking like a hoarder's home. It all began when I decided to tear out the carpet in my bedroom. For years I would look at the carpet and wish I had a hardwood floor in my bedroom. I mentioned it to my daughter and son-in-law and they decided to make my wish come true. On one of their visits they tore out the carpet and it turned out to be more difficult than I thought. The floor where the carpet was torn out had black blotches! After all the pieces of carpet were bagged I ended up with a lot of garbage bags that did not fit in my trash bin.

I found out that for $3.62 I could buy yellow tags to put on the trash bags so the bags could then be picked up by the trash company. Like six chubby soldiers, all in dark green, the yellow tagged bags were lined up on the curb! And then they were gone! 

The room had the original oak floor but it needed to be sanded and finished. My son-in-law located a young man to come out to give us an estimate. As the case of any project, they seem to multiply and instead of the one room I decided to have a total of three rooms sanded and finished and the work would begin Monday the 13 of November.

Now, my job was to clear out every room and as I brought loads of clothes from drawers and closets, papers, folders, and everything off of bookshelves I quickly filled up the front room. I tried keeping the area in special sections; everyday clothing, underwear, socks, jewelry, scarves, shoes, etc.  I clocked three miles and I still had not finished emptying the rooms. My family arrived on Veteran's Day to finish moving the heavier items like my computer, printer, file cabinets, bookshelves, dressers, desk etc. Loads of music cassettes tapes and music discs I sorted and even though I hated parting with my music, I knew I would never listen to them so I said goodbye to Bublé, Sinatra, Dean Martin, Virginia Lopez, Ricky Martin, Beethoven, Jerry Lee Lewis, Arthur Fielder, The Mills Bros., Juan Gabriel, plus many other artists. A set of Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus will help some couple mend their relationship! There were many discs of religious hymns, Greek music, polkas, Christmas songs by different artists and easy listening for relaxing that joined the Goodwill box! This whole blog could be filled with the many CD's and cassettes I got rid of, so I am only listing a few of them!  I kept about ten that I hope to listen to someday, but as my daughter said, "You can listen to whatever music you want over the internet!"

Sorting through my books was even more difficult but I did manage to donate some of my books and DVD's to the library, while the rest were put in a bin for Dream Books. Someone else will enjoy reading my books! I kept Isabel Allende, Manuel Ramos, and Kurt Vonnegut plus a few other favorites, and I still have many books in the shelves downstairs that I will need to sort through.

The dressers are in my garage in case I have a garage sale or put them on Facebook! For a couple of weeks I will sleep in my front room with all my belongings and then comes the work of getting everything back in its place! I went from a three-bedroom home to a studio for a few days but the floors will look great!

I now have eight trash bags ready for pickup on my trash day and somehow I feel lighter and more at peace! Getting your floors done is one way to downsize! 

With the help of my family, the rooms are now empty and the floors will be refinished.  In a few weeks my family will return to help me put everything back in its place. And then I can relax until I decide I want to tackle another project!

"Does your stuff and things around you represent 

who you are today, or who you were in the past?"

The Uncluttered Angel

A Foreign World

 I was flipping through the many Netflix offerings and when I saw My Octopus Teacher, I clicked on it. I did not know much about octopuses other than while in Mexico and in Europe I had seen it offered in meals. Not being a daring type, I never tasted it though I did eat Squid once and found it to be chewy and tasteless.

From the Internet I learned that an octopus has three hearts, blue blood, eight arms, suction cups on arms, and can become different shapes and colors. The largest are 30' long and weigh 600 pounds, have no bones in their body and with eyesight as well as man's. They are also gentle.

The documentary is filmed underneath the ocean and the speaker follows an octopus that looks about a foot long but much longer when it swims with its arms floating along behind the body. Every day the diver would submerge to the beautiful, alien world. He photographed the octopus at rest, fighting enemies, camouflaging by using different tricks and becoming friends with the photographer. One shot looked like a mass of shells stuck to a rock until the octopus burst from his hiding place. Seeing the many colorful fish, the kelp forest and a different world was amazing. The photographer made me wonder how he could hold his breath for such lengths.

Seeing the octopus fight a shark came as a surprise when the octopus did  clever move by getting on the shark's back for safety. What could the shark do but give up! Another time the shark was able to bite one of the octopus' legs but it grew back in a few months. The sad thing is that the octopus the photographer was filming did not live long. Not quite a year and it was sad watching the octopus fade away. This is a great documentary and I recommend watching it because it gives one a different view of life in another world!

"Octopus can fish for prey while deciding what

color and pattern to turn, what shape to make

their bodies, be on alert for predators and aware

of how far away their dens are."

Sy Montgomery

recommend it just for the idea of seeing another world.

Now That is a Hamburger

Today at lunch, my friend was served a hamburger stacked with lettuce, tomato, bacon, and onion rings. It was huge and in order for her to eat it she had to do it piece meal; picked every thing off until she was left with the meat and buns! We laughed and wondered if anyone had a mouth big enough to eat the large burger.

When we saw something different on the appetizer menu we were convinced  to order the deep fried garlic dill pickles served with ranch dressing. Neither one of us had ever heard of pickles deep fried in a batter and we found them to be so-so and I know I would never order them again. My lunch was a salad with four small quesadillas and, compared to the hamburger, bordered on being plain and boring.

We picked Chili's Bar and Grill because it is half way between our homes. An enjoyable lunch passed by quickly and when we decided to pay we used a small screen at our table. I swear these new-fangled electronic gadgets are unbelievable. Not only could we play games, we were able to see pictures of desserts, and we could pay our bill and receive a receipt without ever needing a waiter. We were both amazed at how simple it was using the small electronic device on our table.

After we left the restaurant, we continued our conversation outside by our cars. It was a marathon of different subjects and we would probably be there still if our backs and legs hadn't gotten tired of standing!

"A friend is one of the nicest 

things you can have and one 

of the best things you can be."

Douglas Pagels