EXPECT UNEXPECTED HURDLES

Hi Guys,

Well, I was on a roll and then WHAM, smack in the face and now come to a sudden stop.

Had been tracking nicely, as I am getting the home front ready for 'if' or 'when' the time comes that I have to put the home up for sale at a moments notice.  Getting ready is imperative, as it will have an impact on the potential price I end up with for sure.

I had a plan to get the items from the side of the house sorted and dealt with and then deal with what was in the shed and was doing that quite nicely till my back went out.

When last I wrote, I was dealing with the stuff from the side that I knew not much could be saved, if at all.  I had this casual job at the time that re-injured my hip and back 'big time' and highlighted just what I could no longer do!   This was a major setback in more ways than one that I needed like a hole in the head.  All the years of work and effort that I had put in to improve my mobility was undone within a few short weeks and back to square one.

This is when you have to just take the knock and concentrate on what is important and prioritise in that order.  For me now that was about getting my health back on track, so I could finish what I had started.

This is what we got done back in mid January.

Zigis and a couple of his friends volunteered to help and here they are going in to bring the many boxes out to the backyard.



I had set up to sort through slowly under some shade to keep out of the heat.



This is some of what was carted out.
                         

This is just a small portion of what was tossed away.



My Viking Hat did not survive.



And here is the side now clear of all boxes.



                     

I knew much would be tossed, but I had to sort through to make sure I did not toss out any precious items.  My biggest fear was my home videos that I had been looking for.  And that fear was realised unfortunately.  Much had to be tossed, but a few home videos still  seemed okay.

Unfortunately, ants had decided these cassettes made for a nice warm dry nesting area and had to get rid of the ants first.  This took most of the day for them to realise and scatter to another part of the garden.  They were not happy about being kicked out of their nice cosy home.

Have copied what was left onto DVD and will do several copies just in case as back ups.  At least some of the precious moments in time have been saved.  I must admit that I did shed tears that much of the footage was lost.  However, one video that I wanted to find was of a dear friends wedding that I had filmed from in the morning to getting ready right through to the ceremony and reception.  Thank goodness that one survived.  The reason being this was important was that they had lost their copy that I had given them and the husband and a dear friend had passed away and my girlfriend was asking if I had the master tape still.  I am so happy that I am able to replace it.

Much of my designer clothing perished, but this item survived.  My monkey Versace shirt.  Up on eBay it will go.  Listed as "VINTAGE VERSACE Jeans Couture 'Circus Monkey Print' Aqua sheer rayon Shirt 90's".

                                  

  

Also, saved a few books, but not many.  Some of the books that were destroyed were old and of importance and irreplaceable and brought me to tears.  Not much can be done when fire or water get to certain items.  My daughters high school pottery and some items.





Due to being in pain and not being able to move, my work in sorting come to a complete halt.

Extremely frustrating to say the least.

Also, not overjoyed at the constant pain I now have to put up with, and if that is not enough, having to seek treatment to try and get back to being able to move normally again is taking a toll.  I will get there, but this has come at a cost, as in time, precious time that I do not have.  Time needed to sort.  Time to get things done that are now not getting done.

Seven whole weeks of lag in fact.

Am taking the appropriate measures to get my back on track.  Doctor, Chiropractor, pain killers, back brace and yes, even a walking stick.  Casual job has had to stop and now back to finding more suitable employment that wont do this to me again.  Will face this hurdle head on and deal with it I must.  Time waits for no one.  And this home wont sell itself.

It is these moments that tests our metal.

One would think that all workplaces have measures in place to keep workers safe from further harm or injury.  But life happens.

In the meantime, I just have to suck it up and do the best I can.  But the longer this takes, the less I am getting done and I was going great guns till this happened.  Hence, my frustration.

Oh, well.

Such is life.

Will be back to selling more via eBay.  A vintage 1950s Patio Umbrella being one in pristine condition and not faded or ripped.  Just smashing.  Hope it sells.  But not selling this one for a song either.  There will be a few items of interest that will are sure to be had.

Here it tis...

.... it's a beauty!

It is at these times when unexpected hurdles get thrown in front of you, that you have to remember to breathe and keep your sense of humour about you.  No point getting hot and bothered, as that is not going to resolve anything either.  I am just going to have to make do till I am able to move again and do what little I can as I can.

So for now it will be slow progress.

Around that time when I was sorting, we had these huge summer storms and this was the result from one that I thought I would share.  Just caught the tail end of this magnificent rainbow before it disappeared.

Fingers crossed that my progress wont fade away with it.

My back is not yet good enough to start the sorting again what is left from what was dragged out from the side, but am starting to do just a little at a time to keep me positive.

I will get this done by hook or by crook, one way or the other.  

Here's to getting my back better and the stuff out.

Till next time.

Cheers

Anita

CRY ME A RIVER.

Hi Guys,

New year, new day, new fresh start for many.  Happy New Year to you all.

As for my decluttering... well on my way now, but not quite there yet unfortunately.

This year is going to be my year I have decided.  Being both a Goat astrologically and that this coming year as of 19 February and born in the year of the Goat for the Chinese astrological calendar.  This has got to be a good sign.  Double Goatdom for me.

So, good things are going to happen as far as I can see.

If I say it.  It will happen.

I have realised looking back and taking stock once more that I have literally cried me a river in the last 9 years.

And the tears have streamed down for a lot of that time as well as since I have had this blog going to help keep me motivated to get to the bittersweet end.  That end will be when I can safely say, 'I'm done'.


 


The tears have flowed and no more so than today.

Why today?

Well, I finally got to that part, around the side of the house, that I knew would be fraught with horrors for me and just knew that there would be more tears involved.

I wasn't wrong.




As for what has happened since last I wrote.  Well, there is good news,

I made it to Christmas with the home intact.  I am still not out of the woods.  But I made it through when I thought all was doom and gloom.  It has given me hope and that much needed extra time to sort through more of the stuff to get to my next and hopefully more carefree and enjoyable chapter of my life's journey and adventures.  I would like to be young and healthy enough to enjoy them rather than endure them if I can.

With that in mind I have been madly purging, tossing and sorting much more than I could ever have hoped for.  A few friends at different times have come over to lend a hand and that makes it go faster and more out that door.  I have to say yet again how blessed I am with the best and how much I love them all and that a simple thank you is just not enough and will have to do something one day to show them how much I have appreciated all the help I have received so far.

                         

I have sorted through papers and I have sorted what was in the corridor finally and now tackling the dreaded side of the house.

Once I have dealt with that, I will then deal with the last of the horror places, which will be the shed.

After that it is just what's left under the carport and the attic, but that is not so bad, as that means I am on the home stretch.

In the meantime, seeing so much of my stuff in ruin from damp and the weather has saddened me to no end.  Some things where fine and yet others were just beyond salvation.

Time and mother nature has decided for me.  I have to accept that.  But the tears fell.

             

I cry for many reasons.  Sadness above all else.  I cannot not cry.  It just comes.





Good news is I am slowly getting to that place of being closer to the finish line.  When I do move, I certainly do not want to move all the stuff that is no longer usable or needed.

But the worst is almost over.

I can see the home stretch ahead of me.... I chose to think positively and not negatively!

Once I have the shed done the absolute worst of the worst side of this journey will have been faced and dealt with.

Most of my nightmares will have been faced.  Whether I have handled it well or not wont matter in the future.  What will matter is the quality of life I will have and that I will have broken the handing down of this undone work with my generation.  I will have saved this hell from my children in their old age.

In the corridor there where things that brought up so much pain.  I was able to let that wash over me and get rid of the pain along with the items that had that pain attached to it.  Hard for some to understand, but we all feel emotions in so many different ways that it is not the 'what' that causes the pain that should be considered, but the emotion itself.  No matter what the emotional pain is caused by we all experience it at some time or stage of our lives and our personal triggers can vary.  This just happens to be mine.

In the meantime I will continue to wish upon a star and keep on plugging on the best I can so that this particular horror story has an end and a happy one at that no matter how exhausted and bedraggled I may feel.

Now out the backyard to sort through what has to be binned and what can be salvaged if much at all.  So not looking forward to this.  But I must.

Reminding myself to breathe in and breathe out and be kind to myself.

Hopefully next time I will be on the home stretch.  That's me making great strides towards that finish line.

 


And counting my blessings.

Cheers all,
Anita

ANOTHER YEAR COMES TO AN END & STILL FEEL LIKE LIVING ON QUICK SAND!

Hi Guys,


Just a quickie to keep you all updated.

Not much has been done in the way of decluttering the 'stuff' for some weeks now.  Have had the opportunity to work on the election just gone by for the body that takes care of the voting process. Very interesting to see in action and glad to know that our votes are taken care of.  Hence, this has taken me out of the loop of getting things done.




On the plus side, the kilos are slowly melting away, which will in turn help me with my movement, in order to get more done, as well as add to my general overall well being.

On top of this, I have secured a casual part-time come office/business admin/social media/marketing/etc position for the next 13 weeks with a review at the end of that time period.

I will also continue with my 'JUST CALL ANITA' bookings and get onto posting more eBay items to keep that 'D' Day moving forward.  Then there are my book/scripts I have to seriously do some work on.

It really does feel like living on quick sand at the moment as the goal posts keep moving as each opportunity comes along.  Little by little, I am making headway towards early May.  Still a long way yet to that day, but getting there all the same.

Even if or when I get to next May, I have started rethinking about where it is I should live.  I may as well try and have a 'nice' lifestyle while I am able to relatively enjoy it.  If I am to get my writing done, I would like a nice environment in which to achieve that.  Will keep you posted as to where I will land and when.

At least for the time being I have till late February.  There is still a shortfall, but not as huge as before and is the reason why I have to continue selling off my 'stuff'.  And that in itself is not a bad thing either.

I have taken to saying that I have cancelled Christmas.  What I really mean is, I have cancelled anything on the side of costing money part of Christmas.  The small family have agreed to not buy presents and not do the massive dinner, which we normally have after the Christmas Eve church service.  This year it will be simple as.



I do look forward to this pleasure once a year as we never have all the little extra's throughout the year, but this one year we can make do and have the following to look forward to knowing I will more than likely still have a home in which to celebrate in.



Here is an old favourite joke I heard from when I was very very young.  My darling Dad used to say this one all the time.  It just never got old to me.



Family and friends first.



Food and prezzies can come another year.




Well, just in case I get sidetracked or too busy to post again before the year ends, have a great Christmas to all those who celebrate and all stay safe over the holiday period.

Make sure you enjoy and keep on smiling.
                          


Just sharing a few images that I particularly liked.


    


    


I may get to write once more before the end of this year, but have a gut feeling that it wont be till the start of 2015.  So, remember, be kind to yourself during this time and the process of decluttering and just to breathe.

Inhale the love.  Exhale the rubbish.

Just do what you can as you can.

Merry Christmas and hugs to one and all.
Anita