May 28, 2008

Saying hello to family - with photos!

I take photos every day. My camera goes everywhere I go. Hey, it’s Hawaii! I always know there will be something I want to preserve or share as I go about my day. You, my kind readers, get some benefit from that, I hope. My photo-essays are my favorite posts, sharing little slices of everyday life in Hawaii. Living here is almost like being on mini-vacation every day, capturing photos of all the wonderful things you see and do. Today I’ll be inspecting a home near Diamond Head, which has picture-perfect views no matter which way you look. Maybe I’ll share some fabulous scenery with you next time I sit down to blog. I capture a lot of moments from my ho-hum daily life, too - pictures of the beagle and my neighbors and growing things in my garden. My son and two other family members read my blog, so the photos I publish are one way of letting them know what’s going on in my life. My blog is a big secret to most of my family, though. This is my space to vent and ramble and speculate. I can’t talk openly about family if I feel like they’re reading over my shoulder, so I haven’t shared my URL with them. It’s been nine years since I’ve seen most of my family. I still love and miss them all, but we’re a quirky family and some of them are downright weird. They make good fodder for my blog, but I would never embarrass them by sharing their real names or letting the entire family know that I talk about their craziness. I stay in touch with them via snail mail and phone calls instead. Most of my letters and cards have a few pictures inserted. How cool would it be to have some Photo Cards printed for my little quick notes to them? I could use one of my weekly self-portraits for that. Not the one last Sunday when I didn’t brush my hair, but maybe the one from last month where I was leaning against my car. That one makes me look pretty good, I think (you can’t see my roots, right?) I really like the borderless, full-color card I’ve shown you above. I could see my sister or one of my aunts cutting the front off of that one and and framing my picture after they’ve read whatever was inside. Mine wouldn’t say “Season’s Greetings,” though. The inside of the card can be whatever I want, because photo cards can be customized to say what you’d like them to say. I’m thinking mine should just say “Aloha from skeet,” because that would leave plenty of room for me to write a personal note catching the family up on my life. I have a drawer full of blank cards that say “Aloha” or “Mahalo” on the front. I never use them because they’re so impersonal. Maybe I should assign those to the pile of stuff for my garage sale and get some photo cards that I would actually use instead. Hey, two birds/one stone: I’d get rid of some more clutter and have a better way to stay in touch with family. That works for me!

Technorati Tags: family, greeting cards, photo cards

May 26, 2008

And still more progress!

As promised in my last post, here’s some more de-cluttering progress. I took the above picture of part of my desk a couple of weeks ago, then lost my nerve and didn’t show it to you. I can show it to you now because I took the next photo today.

There’s still a lot of work to do in my office. It took a couple of years of depression and neglect for things to get into such a mess. The re-organization is coming along nicely, but is far from finished.

And now, a word from my sponsor. Well, not really. No one is sponsoring this post. But the nice folks at Gloves In A Bottle were kind enough to send me a sample of their shielding lotion to try out. Y’all know that dehydration is one of the symptoms of my medical condition. That’s more than just thirst. My hair, skin and nails suffer from the lack of moisture. I’ve been handling great stacks of paper every day while organizing my files and catching up my books. Every gas receipt and phone bill is being filed in the proper place so I can compile my expenses and get my taxes caught up. Every report has already been entered into my work logs and journaled in the books. Old files have been purged and I’ve shredded hundreds of pages of sensitive documents. I’ve handled thousands of pieces of paper just in the last week. Paper sucks the moisture out of my skin, so I’m keeping Gloves In A Bottle on my desk and I apply it every few hours while doing this work. It’s a shielding lotion that goes into your skin and helps protect it from inside out, as opposed to conventional moisturizers which merely coat the outer layer of skin. Using Gloves In A Bottle has kept all of my paper-handling from drying and damaging my skin. It doesn’t leave a sticky residue when applied and has not made any smears on my paperwork because - well, how can it? It’s not sitting on the surface of my skin, it’s inside. It’s probably available in a store near you, so use the store locator and get yourself some. In the unlikey event that there’s not a distributor nearby, you can order it from their website. It’s good stuff. You should try it!

As I said, there’s still a lot to be done in the office. Here’s the part of my desk I didn’t show you in the “after” photo above. It’s a three-tiered tray system that sits to the left of my monitor and should have inspection order forms and a few other things neatly organized and close to hand. Yeah, I know - you can barely even see the trays right now. I’ll probably remedy that tomorrow. Maybe someday soon I’ll show you my whole desk in a single photo.

When I started this whirlwind of activity I wanted to do one house job, one office job and one yard/garden job each day. That’s not terribley practical because some chores move along more effectively when I dedicate big blocks of time to them. It took me most of a day to get all of my inspection files in date order and get them journaled, then put them in alphabetical order for filiing, so I didn’t break up the job to clean closets or pull weeds. I’ve managed to maintain a steady pace in each area of labor, though, except for the three days that rain kept me from working outside. Today I did the hall closet and started cleaning and organizing the shed in the front yard. Yesterday I did the pantry. There’s great variety of items in my pantry, so there are several types of items on each shelf. Generally, it breaks down like this: snacks and convenience foods on the top shelf, canned goods, sauces and syrups on the second shelf, herbs, spices and seasonings on the bottom shelf and gum and candy in the little hanging basket. There are a few frequently-used medications in there, too (the rest are in the hall closet, which you’ve already seen.) I threw away two rubbish bags of stale stuff that had been lost in the back, some herbs and spices that were past their prime and a couple of cans that I thought I gave to the food bank the last time I purged and refilled my evac kit. One can of tomato paste had a swollen top, a sure way to get botulism. Why is it always tomato paste? There was a mysterious sticky puddle on one shelf. Not a clue what it used to be, but it’s gone now.

Tall and bulky items are on the floor of the pantry - oils and vinegars, a couple of bottles of liquor and some unopened wine, cereal, Lance’s kibble and biscuits. Can liquor go bad in the bottle after it’s opened? I don’t really drink, but I have a bottle of B & B and a little rum for cooking. Both were opened several years ago. Maybe I should toss them? I washed Lance’s bins while I was cleaning the pantry and didn’t refill them yet, so the kibble bag is sticking out of it right now. Every time I open the pantry Lance checks to make sure the good stuff is still at beagle-eye level. My fire extinguisher is right there, too, where it will be easy to grab if I ever need it. You do have an extinguisher in your kitchen, don’t you? If you don’t, would you please get one very soon? Do it for yourself and your family, and because it will make me happy, too.

My next kitchen chore will be to sort through my dishes and assign a whole bunch of them to the garage sale/charity truck pile. Needless to say, there is entirely too much stuff in my kitchen!

Technorati Tags: cleaning, clutter, de-cluttering, organizing

May 25, 2008

More progress on de-cluttering

There’s a problem with letting clutter accumulate. Well, actually, it creates a lot of problems. Here’s the one I’m thinking of right now, though. See the stack of washcloths between the two stacks of towels? There are - wait a minute while I count - forty-one washcloths. There are a few more in my bathroom - maybe three or four - plus some in the laundry basket. Let’s say I’ve got about fifty washcloths. Why in the world would a single adult living alone need fifty washcloths? She wouldn’t, of course. But if she frequently shops, sets the booty aside to deal with later and then forgets about it, she might not remember that she bought a cheaper-by-the-dozen package of washcloths. She might forget that several times and buy them again … and again. When she finally starts de-cluttering her home she might find some WalMart bags with stuff she bought. One them might be in a corner of her bedroom and contain a twin-pack of deodorant and some hair gel in addition to a jumbo pack of washcloths. Maybe there was another hiding in the floor of the guest room closet containing some washcloths along with a sympathy card that was never sent and a few other bits and bobs. There might even be a full, unopened pack in the hall closet, hiding behind some towels that are in such disarray that no one has a clue what else might be in there. That’s how it could happen, maybe. Just speculating, mind you, but it could happen that way, couldn’t it?

My decluttering frenzy has continued on a daily basis. I tackled the hall closet today. Sheets, tablecloths, towels and washcloths can now be found when needed. The biggest chore in the closet, though, was two shelves packed with a miscellany of health and beauty products. I found prescription drugs that were years out of date. Lots of stale over-the-counter cold and sinus remedies, too, and crinkly tubes of antibiotic ointment, dusty bottles of eye drops and multiple bottles of hydrogen peroxide and rubbing alcohol with a little product remaining in each. I have lots of first aid supplies. Super-sized sterile bandages from when I burned my foot, ace bandages and self-adhesive wraps and plenty of regular old bandaids, of course. I filled a large rubbish bag with all of that stale, out-dated stuff, plus body lotions in which the oils had gone rancid and shampoos that had turned funny colors. I’m happy with the results. There were several little baskets in there, but not enough to actually organize things, so I improvised with some boxes to handle the overflow. Each is labelled and things are sorted by type so they can be found quickly. Next time I have a large burn or am bleeding profusely I’ll peek in there and know that I have enough wound dressings to last a week. It won’t be a problem if you forget your toothbrush or floss or razor when you come for a visit. These are good things to know.

I couldn’t bring myself to take a photo that showed the whole closet “before.” The picture above was about half-way through. I had emptied out most of the stuff that was in the bottom of the closet originally - dog-bath towels and throw rugs and vacuum cleaner attachements and such. Then I used the floor of the closet as one of my sorting bins. Most of that is sick room supplies left over from when I was taking care of Dad. There are suction syringes and tubing, feeding tubes, catheters, and even a cheap, plastic stethoscope used to make sure the feeding tube hadn’t gone astray into a lung. There are braces and thumb splints for each phase of the tendon problems in my hands. Most of this ended up in the rubbish bin, but the tubing has various hardware uses (and is in the shed now) and the stethocope is with my first aid supplies. The gallon jug of hand soap is still right where it started.

I’ve worked on my office some more, too. I’ll post about that in a little while, after I eat some supper. It’s been a busy day and I need to re-fuel.

Technorati Tags: cleaning, clutter, de-cluttering, organizing

May 18, 2008

What have you been up to, skeet?

I’m so glad you asked! I was just coming around to tell you. Remember my new committment to doing stuff on a daily basis to de-clutter my life? I finally picked up some momentum on that quest a few weeks ago and I’ve stuck to the task this time. The last few days have been spent on the most tedious chore of all - organizing my office! You probably can’t tell from the photo above, but it represents signifigant progress. That’s the work table in my office - the table I haven’t been able to use in ages. I used to do my property drawings there, and enter my inspections into the books and put my bank deposits together. See the bin in the picture, and the stack of paper & stuff next to it, and the stand-up file over at the right? That’s all that’s left of four boxes of stuff that needed to be organized or gotten rid of.

This is one of the smaller boxes. It contained mostly mail, though there was other stuff there, too. I pay most of my bills online these days, and some of them at various service centers as I travel around the island doing inspections. It’s an efficient bill-paying system and there’s really no need to open the paper bills, so they’ve been accumulating for quite a while. They’re mixed in with junk mail, a weekly local paper, some magazines I intend to read someday, and numerous other bits of detritus.

I spent most of one day shredding junk mail and envelopes. I filled two large rubbish bags with the results, then realized I’d never get done if I shredded everything. Thereafter I only shredded credit card applications and other things that might be useful to identity thieves. Everything else was either torn or disposed of whole. That made the work go much faster. I’ve filled five or six bags and the rubbish bin is full, awaiting pick-up on Tuesday morning.

I’ve also sorted some stuff for a future garage sale or charity pick-up. That computer got badly burned by a virus. I need to remove the motherboard full of sensitive data, and then will offer the rest for parts. The box is full of cables and cords. A rice cooker and some clothes have also been added to the pile. I expect it to be much larger before I’m through.

I stirred up a lot of dust and dog hair beneath the table and in the supply closet. My allergies are acting up (of course,) and I’ll probably need some acne treatments to counteract the grime my skin has absorbed. Small price to pay, though. I’m feeling good about the progress I’ve made and am committed to staying on top of things better once I finish the big clean-up. I’ve let the enormity of the job overwhlem me for way too long, but it’s really not all that bad once you get started. That was the hard part!

Technorati Tags: cleaning, clutter, organizing

May 14, 2008

Schwim - the other dog

The last time my friend was away from home for a while I kept her beagle, Gwen, while her big dog went to a boarding kennel. We thought that handling both girls plus Lance might be a little difficult for me. Schwim is a Weimaraner and gets on great with Gwen. She’s older and can get snarky sometimes, though, so we didn’t want to risk a dogfight when there was just me around to separate them. She had a great time at the kennel.They have a large fenced area where she could romp with other big dogs. She “holds back” when playing with the smaller beagles, so it was nice for her to have a chance to throw caution to the wind and have some fun. My friend has been staying in my guest room just lately. All three dogs have been getting along just fine, though it took a few days for Schwim to convince Lance that she was not a potential humping partner. The beagles can be somewhat scampy at times, but, overall, I’ve been happy with the way everyone has been behaving.

Then I came home yesterday and found this mess in the living room. The beagles were in the kennel while I was out. Schwim had the run of the house.

I asked her who could have done such a thing. She gave me a look of wide-eyed innocence, but had nothing to say about the matter.

I picked up a piece of shredded cardboard and held it to her face, asking her if she was the culprit. Her guilty look was the canine equivalent of a confession. She was very sorry to have caused a problem andshe’ll never do that again. Right?

Technorati Tags: dogs, Schwim, Weimaraner

May 10, 2008

Still rolling along

I’ve been working on my security door for a couple of days. I live on the Leeward Coast, the dry side of Oahu. We don’t get much rain, but the ocean is just a few blocks from my home. Rust is an inevitable part of life even here. My poor door has not been looking very welcoming, so I tackled it this week. On Thursday and Friday I sanded. I know you can’t tell in the picture, but that’s the door after many hours of sanding by hand and with a belt sander. I didn’t make much headway. This morning I taped the hardware and draped sheet vinyl all around the door.

As you can see, the paint looked pretty promising as work progressed.

The sun was very bright on the door while I was working. I thought the door was looking pretty good until I saw the pictures. What looked like a nice solid coat was thin and spotty, so I knew I’d have to do a second coat. This photo makes it easy to see which part has already had two applications.

The outside of the door was finished. I moved the draping and started on the inside surface of the door. You can really see the splotchiness of the first coat here.

I can see a few areas that will need touch-up, but I’m pretty happy with the job. The door is looking much more presenatable.

Next up - reed screening to be wired to some ugly chain-link fencing.

Technorati Tags: chores, home maintenance, painting

May 8, 2008

I’m on a roll!

I told you a few days ago that I was working on the carport roof again, and that I was determined to stay motivated to do things around the house. Today I finished applying the roof coating. Here are some of the other things I’ve done in the last few days.

Those are my inspection report files for the last few months. They are all entered in the books and have been alphabetized. I hope to finish purging the file cabinets in the next day or two so I can get these filed away. I have more than four years of files in the office, but the file cabinets only have room for about three years, so the older files will be archived and stored in the shed.

I bought this patio table last winter and have had it sitting on the front lanai. I finally got the chairs and umbrella to go with it. Yesterday I moved them out into the yard and created a little eating/relaxing area next to the carport. I need to scoop up a bucket of sand next time I’m out so I can put it into the umbrella base. Darn thing keeps trying to blow away!

This is Lanai Lavender Star Verbena. I potted it and it’s sitting on the Lanai next to the front door.

Isn’t this a beauty? The tag says it’s Kupi Kupi, an indiginous fern. I can’t find it online or in my native plants book. I put two of them in my rock garden.

I also added two kinds of lavender to the corner between my herbs and ginger plants.

The garden shop was out of bell peppers, so I’ll go back for those later. I’ll use them more than the habernaros and Hawaiian chilis that I planted. I also added two new basils, a Chinese parsley, marjoram, sage and French thyme to the herb garden.

Many people aren’t aware that having depression doesn’t necessarily mean that you sit around all weepy and sad all the itme. Sometimes you just sit around. That’s what I’ve been doing for several years. My depression is characterized by lethargy. I call it couch sitting, though sometimes it’s in front of the computer or in bed. My house and gardens have really suffered from neglect. I seem to have turned a corner though, so I’m working hard at holding onto the drive and keeping things going. I’m really pleased with the things I’ve accomplished in the last few days.

Technorati Tags: chores, gardening, yardwork, home maintenance

May 5, 2008

Getting in Gear

Long-time readers of skeet’s stuff might remember that on New Year’s Day of 2007 I was applying a coating to my carport roof, but was interrupted by a near-by brush fire and then by rain. Inclement weather kept me from getting back to the job for a while, but then I found other excuses. Regular readers also know that I’m easily distracted and frequently don’t finish what I start. I’ve been working hard on that lately. I’m determined to accomplish one task towards fixing up the house, one neglected office chore and one yard or garden chore each day. Over the weekend I finally got back to the carport roof. I used up all of the coating I had on hand and will pick up some more to finish the job next time I leave the coast (probably Wednesday.) I’m committed to finally finishing the roof before this week ends.

I’m not the world’s most professional painter. I poured the coating onto the roof in big dollops, then spread it with a roller. It splashed a few times. I’ve managed to get most of the stuff off of my feet, but there’s still some under my toenails. My “good” slippahs will be retired to “yardwork slippahs” and I’ll pick up a new pair for casual running around sometime soon.

All of my gardens have been weeded, I’ve removed the little patches of weeds that have popped through the weedcloth under my gravel-covered yards, put some new plants in and repotted some others. My office files are much better organized, but still need a lot of work. Tuesday’s agenda: purge office files of older inspection reports, paint front door and prepare a small plot for an extension of my herb garden. I might also get some fresh gravel spread in Lance’s yard (I lose a little gravel pciking up poops, so I have to refresh it from time to time.) Sometime in the near future I’ll start painting the entire interior, and make the new curtains I want to have ready to hang once the painting is finished. I figure if I tell you what I’m planning to accomplish it I’ll have to actually do it, right?

Technorati Tags: chores, household stuff, procrastination, roof coating

March 22, 2008

Win a $20,000 Renuzit TriScents Home Makeover!

I added a screened room to my home a couple of years ago. It’s a lovely room, and gave me space to move my washer and dryer out of the kitchen so I could remodel it. The kitchen is all original to my thirty-five year-old house, except for the twelve year-old stove and refrigerator. It was a bad design to begin with and it hasn’t aged well. When I built the new room I also had a new lanai built across the front of the house and down one side. Oh, and I landscaped the yard, added a shed and had a new roof installed. That’s how far I got before I ran out of money. I thought I’d have enough set aside to start the kitchen remodel by now, but business has been really slow for over a year, so it’s just not happening. My contractor told me it would cost “about $20,000″ to replace all of my pipes, install new wiring, knock out the half-wall between the kitchen and living room, then install all new cabinets and floors. That is exactly the amount up for grabs in the TriScents Home Makeover Contest. Coincidence? I don’t think so! I think I’m supposed to enter and supposed to win. Otherwise I might end up living with cracked tile floors, sagging cabinets and a lousy design for another ten years. There’s no guarantee that I’ll win, of course, but it’s certainly nice to dream about, don’t you think? If I don’t take the prize myself, I’d like one of my friends to win. Is there any among you who couldn’t use a $20,000 makeover for your home? If we all enter there’s a pretty good chance that one of us could be the winner, so here’s what you need to do. Take a picture of your home and write a short essay (no more than 250 words) or make a two minute video explaining why your should have a makover from Renuzit® TriScents™ and Tanya Memme (yeah, that Tanya Memme - the one who hosts Sell This House on A & E.) You’ll have to show your home, scabs and all, because if you’re going to enter to win you need to show them that you really need a makeover. You have until April 30th to enter, but you should do it now because they’re limiting the contest to 3000 entires. See what I meant about there being a good chance one of us could win? Those are great odds! You should see official rules before you submit your entry, just to make sure you’ve got all of the i’s dotted and t’s crossed, but really, there’s nothing hard about it. After you’re though checking out the contest, make sure you download and print the coupon for a Renuzit® TriScents™ Starter Kit. It’s quick and easy to do and will save you a couple of bucks you can put towards a new lamp or some knick-knacks to go with your new design when you win the contest (I don’t win it, of course!)

Technorati Tags: contest, home makeover, Renuzit TriScents

March 19, 2008

Beagles at play

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Lance and Gwen are from separate bloodlines, but are the same age and were raised together their first few years. Lance has been with me for the last seven years or so, but he and Gwen and Gwen’s big sis, Schwim the Weimaraner, like to get together for visits. The girls’ mom is off-island this week. I’ve never been very good at handling Schwim, so she’s at a doggy spa this week and Gwen is with me & Lance. The beagles are like kids turned loose on the playground, romping and rollicking until they’re both just too exhausted to go on. It’s a happy week for me too - laughter is good for the soul.

Lance is the taller one with the blue collar and some white softening the brown of his ears. Gwen is shorter, plumper and has a daintier face and a redder tan. I hope you enjoy their antics. You can see the photos with individual captions in their flickr photoset.

Technorati Tags: beagles, dogs, pets, photos