My Tireless Retirement – Week 171

 

Hello friends!  This past week began with our Independence Day holiday, a lot of good food and a very late night as our neighbors were popping off until well after midnight.  I stayed inside and kept my nervous kitties company until it was over.  Jack took refuge in the downstairs hall closet while Stella stayed upstairs under my bed.  Toward the end they came out realizing nothing bad was going to happen to them and hung out with me for another hour until all was quiet and we could go to bed.  It is safe to say I have a love/hate relationship with this holiday.  I love what it stands for, but I can do without the adverse affects it has on animals and some people, especially our veterans.

 

NY strip steaks & macaroni salad for the 4th!

The deck refurbishing project was put on hold as our weather was all over the map.  We had a two day heat wave followed by a windstorm and a duststorm and then a thunderstorm with rain.  I was happy about the rain, but it means I am going to have to do some re-sanding.  Before I could do that however we got another heat wave so I decided that Mother Nature was trying to tell me something so I acquiesced and enjoyed some downtime.  After such a busy month of June I figure I had earned it.

Clean & sanitized

Sunday was my day to wash up all of my bedding and remake the bed.  I vacuumed my mattress, gave it a Lysol spray and then turned it.  After washing the mattress cover in bleach and hot water and running it through a hot dryer until it was thoroughly dried I put it back on the bed.  Then I remade the bed with all of the freshly washed and dried bedding.  Every time I clean the mattress I’m always amazed and rather disgusted at what the vacuum cleaner pulls up even though I always have it completely covered and I regularly wash and bleach that cover.  So gross!

 

I invested in some replacement lids for my Pyrex food storage containers.  I was able to get four lids from Amazon for $12.99 which may sound expensive unless you price the containers themselves at the store.  The lids have gone up a lot in price recently, but so have the containers.  I do feel it is better and less wasteful to buy these lids rather than buy new containers, especially as I use them practically every day for meal prepping and storing leftovers.

 

Before I went into work on Monday I had the pleasure of replacing the worn out gasket on the kitchen sink drain basket.  Finding water in the bottom of my trash can a couple of times had clued me in that this task had come due.  While plumbing rates as one of the lowest on my list of fun things to do I am blessed with the ability and knowledge of knowing how to do a few things.  Long ago my dad taught me the basics – “All you need to know is $h!t runs downhill and payday is on Friday”.  I took it from there.

 

Done!

Cleaning up and reorganizing the garage last month let me also know that I already had everything I needed to complete this job in the garage.  A new gasket and some plumbers putty as well as a few tools from the toolbox and in less than a half hour I had it done, my tools put away, the sink scrubbed clean, my hands scrubbed clean and the rest of my mess cleaned up.  I was very happy to have that job completed and no more drips or water in the trash can.

 

Monday and Tuesday were my only work days last week with Tuesday being the most exciting when I took a large group of nineteen seniors whitewater rafting.  Yes, you heard that right we went down the Payette River on a big rubber raft and we had a blast.  Afterward we stopped off in a little town on our way back to the Senior Center and had dinner and it was really good.  I have the best job ever!  And they pay me to do this!

 

The storage area in the back of the closet is practically empty 😊

Even though I took in a HUGE load of donations to the thrift store a couple weeks ago I am still finding stuff!  I went through the downstairs hall closet and removed two jackets I never wear anymore and the last of my beer brewing supplies.  I went through the junk drawer and found a few items to donate and toss, went through the OTC medicine bin and found a couple more things in there to get rid of and I even let go of a few more sentimental items I realized aren’t really all that sentimental to me anymore and haven’t been for quite a while.

 

My junk drawer

In the pantry I got rid of some excess packaging and added that along with this week’s junk mail to the recycle bin.  The blue wheelie bin is full of recycling and ready to go to the curb for pickup again.  I also shredded some more papers with sensitive information on them.  Paper clutter is never ending, I tell you.

 

This guy has been getting a workout in the last month

More recycling heading out of here

I decluttered 80% of the cat toys from their basket in the living room and kept only the ones I know they play with.  I took about a half dozen toy mice and placed them inside the catnip bag I keep on the top shelf of the pantry where the kitties can’t get to it.  I’ve been giving them one each day to play with and they are enjoying that very much.  It’s been fun to watch, ha, ha, ha.

 

While dodging the heat I was able to use up some more craft and office supplies I had on hand to update my dayplanner so it now includes calendar and planning pages for 2026.  I’ve also been working on a lot of future planning as well as some 2026 vacation plans that may come to fruition.  Even though we are only halfway through this year I’m also thinking about and mapping out next year’s household budgets so I can have a good solid plan well ahead of the upcoming new year.  I feel like the better prepared I am the more successful I will be.

 

Another bag full of donations & I'm hoping to fill up this box too

And that was that!  How was your week?