YA DONE GOOD!! cleaning out closets is a bummer cause ya gotta take everything out...then if you paint...ya gotta wait for that to dry before you can put back in...I've got TWO pantries in my kitchen that need gutted and painted...wanna come help me Ya Ya??

Hi Betsy! Glad to "see" you again too! How goes the new job? And Sheryl, great job on the Christmas gift bought! You're doing better than I am this year...for some reason, I am not even a little bit organized as far as gifts go this year! I have to mail a wedding present for a cousin who got married at Christmas (will do that today), and I'm working on a baby afghan for another cousin who is pregnant...hopefully I can get that mailed to her *before* the baby comes, as it was supposed to be a shower gift! Obviously, I really need to be back here on a regular basis, so you guys can help me stay organized! ;-) Julie, congrats on the sprouting flowers! My hubby won't let me do any more outside planting until he gets the yard spruced up, so it will probably be awhile. ;-)I bet things growing in your basement really make you "itchy" to get out and start planting stuff!! Married life is great...it's really great to be working toward the same long-term goals with someone else (and sharing the bills too!). LOL My husband is wonderful - but I knew that long before I married him, so I expected no less. That's the nice thing about having dated for so long before we got married - we knew each other very well, good and bad, so we both knew what to expect. He's still my best friend, not just my hubby, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. ;-) My dogs are doing well - getting older, unfortunately. Vashti (my doberman) is 8 this year, which is the average life span for her breed. I can tell that old age is starting to get to her a bit, so we'll see. My collie is getting older as well - we don't know her exact age, but she was older when I got her. We'll probably lose both of the "girls" within a couple of years, sadly. But we'll enjoy them for as long as we can. :-) Gabriel (my dobe/lab x) is doing well too - he's around 6 or 7 now, so still in his "prime". He started having seizures a few years ago, and still has them, but otherwise is healthy. All the dogs *love* the huge yard we have now, and more room in the house to spread out. We were pretty crammed into my first house, and they've all adjusted quite well. It helps that we moved into a neighborhood where everyone likes/has dogs - my collie isn't such a problem when she has to go out and "bark" good morning to everyone. ;-) As for the new house - uh...slowly but surely is our motto. :-) We worked pretty hard on the basement this winter, getting my husband's pool room all decorated and organized with bookshelves and such. We still have a couple more shelves to buy, and then it will be pretty much done. We've also been creating a "movie room" adjacent to the pool room - painting and moving furniture in and such. It's starting to look really great too! My hubby reorganized our storage room, and it works much better now for all the holiday/seasonal decorations I have - that was another project this winter. So we've been steadily working away. Our next project is working on the lawn, and getting a storage shed built in the back yard, so we can clean his mom's stuff out of our garage (long story), and get that space back for our cars, and a wood-working area for him. So lots of plans and lots to do...but well worth the work. As for the main floor - organization is badly needed in a few areas. My office is a mess - I've been working on it, but it needs a lot of help. My closet needs "help" as well...and we have to figure out a better way of dealing with clothes at night. But we'll get it all organized eventually. If that wasn't long-winded enough, here's my "report" for the rest of the weekend: - I showed my husband the shopping lists I created on my PDA. One for the main grocery store, one for costco, one for "miscellaneous" and one for the pet store. So he knows where to add things to the list that he needs - and he made use of that yesterday to add his things to the list. He also added his things to the calendar, and where I had "What's for dinner" reminders on the calendar every day, he made a note with his requests. LOL - He saw that "Vaccuum" was on the list for yesterday, so while I was out running errands, he vaccuumed for me, which was helpful. - I also scheduled an alarm to go off at 9:00pm every night to remind me to work out. Hopefully that will get me moving again. The one bad thing about marriage is that I've gained about 20 lbs since the wedding...time to get back to working out again and get healthy, for both of us! - I looked for a bill-organizer, but couldn't find one, so will have to order that online. - Got some more laundry done, but not put away. - Made my bed this morning. - Cleaned the kitchen last night...not as well as it should have been, but getting closer. - Got 2 of my aquariums cleaned - will clean the goldfish tank tonight So I got some little things done...a good start. And I followed my morning routine this morning, and was much more organized. I know what's for dinner tonight, and I have my list of "to do's" for my lunch break all ready to go. So I'm starting out organized this week - I just hope I can keep it up! :-)

I lost 35-40 lbs last year and went thru the same thing. Little more drastic size change -- I went from a 14 to a 3-5. It is depressing to throw away perfectly good clothes --just because they are too big. You should be able to have some things altered to your new size. But whatever you do --- don't keep them "as is". The best motivation is having tiny clothes in your closet. I watch my weight carefully -- 2 -3 lbs up and its back to the stricter diet for a few days, Thats the only way I can stay in control. Congrates on your great weight loss!!!! How did you do it?? Cathy

Oh yeah, this has been a tiring battle. Silver, I feel for you. It is discouraging. I found them in one of my oriental rugs. I very thoroughly vacuumed both sides of the rug, the the floor underneath it and also steamed the floor. I sprayed both sides of the rug, too. Since then there is no sign of them returning to that rug. I have thrown out hundreds of dollars worth of sweaters. The moths really love Eileen Fisher. I discovered the Eileen Fisher actually will repair moth damage for free, provided it is not beyond hope. Are you using the cold, hot, cold method? First freeze the clothes in the freezer for a couple days, take them out and put them in the dryer on the highest temp for 10 minutes (max) and then put them back in the freezer. It also helps to put things out in the sun. In the winter, I have hung stuff in the garage when it is bitterly cold out to freeze the larvae. The most expensive loss for me is a Donna Karan suit that cost about $600 and was never worn. They also got into two camel hair coats. What a mess. AAARGH. Along with the pheromone traps (I caught one moth so far), I am using herbal sachets to repel them. Don't give up! Get those rugs out of your house. If they are worth saving, send them out to be cleaned and moth proofed. I check my rugs weekly for any damage and vacuum often. Oh - be sure to wrap the vacuum cleaner bag in a plastic bag and get rid of it right away. This is war!