Just stood there and cried...

Sorry to hear you are struggling Deb, I hope you’re not undertaking this huge task alone, do you have friends and people from your church to help ?

Take it one step at a time and please look after yourself x
 

Just stood there and cried...​


Man, I so wish I could

I'd love to conjure up a good one on command

Just can't

Gettin' mad just ain't the same

I've had a good cry maybe two times in the last couple decades

What a release!

I bet Deb feels better for it
 
debodun said:
Which is very unlike me. I am a pretty even tempered person, but lately it seems everything is fighting me. Anything I try to do, I end up hurting myself or making a mess.

This weekend I dropped a wooden pallet on my foot packing up the garage sale.

I get tangled up in my clothes and put them on inside out and backwards.

Then I had a cactus that rotted and was trying to dispose of it by wrapping it in several sheets of newspaper and still got stuck.

I tried to pour myself a cool beverage and the glass fell over and I poured the drink all over the kitchen counter.

This morning I was clearing out the weeds that had over-grown around the house foundation and when I got inside, I was covered from shoulders to shoelaces with little burdock-like seed pods of some plant. They were frustrating to try to pick off cloth.

Finally I got the garbage together for pick up tomorrow and couldn't even open new trash bags to use for the coming week. It's like there's no opening at ether end (like the plastic bags in the grocery produce). That was the last straw.

I am growling, throwing things that frustrate me and crying. The more I try to do, the worse it gets. It's like suddenly I'm physially incompetent.
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@debodun everything you have said in your post is happening to me too
We call it 'Murphy's Laws' here in Oz
ac7797412ea860e66a07ef7b1c2a2617.jpg
This pretty much sums up my life but I keep going as you will @debodun putting one foot in front of the other
 
Debodun, I am sad that you are finding things a struggle.

Calm down, slow down, sit down, I believe that you are at
a point where you think that there is not enough time to
get it done and are trying to do it all in one day, when you
have plenty of time to do it slowly.

I only wish I could offer to help you, but I am too far away.

Read the lovely messages from your friends and then do
what we all suggest, pick the ones that you like and have
at least an evening "OFF", do nothing.

Mike.
 
SeaBreeze said:
I think you're overworked too Deb, you're likely over-tired and just doing too much. Your body is getting weaker because of it, and it's stressing out your mind. Be careful so you don't hurt yourself, and don't sweat the small stuff like opening the bag, or spilling a drink....it happens to all of us. Give yourself a break and take care of yourself first.
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Yes see about yourself first. I dropped a spoon of peanut butter when I was making a sandwich yesterday and it landed on the door of the kitchen cabinet. It was the same color as the cabinet! I first thought how dumb but I cleaned it up and added some extra honey to the sandwich! Did not bother me anymore!
 
Thanks for all the well-wishes and advice. :love:

Adding to my problems - yesterday afternoon I decided to mow the lawn - it's getting pretty shaggy with all the rain. I was doing okay until I came to the sidewalk. Now I've mowed that lawn hundreds of times and this time the blade hit the edge of the retaining wall and bent it 90° from the plane of the blade. What a job walking it back 200 feet to the garage with the bent blade making it a rototiller. I had to tip it forward and do it that way do the bent blade wasn't poking the lawn.

Silly me - I thought I could either bang it straight with a hammer or bend it back with pliers. No way. I couldn't budge it no matter what. Then I thought I could remove the blade, take it to the hardware store and get a replacement. I practically did a hand stand in the blade bolt with my socket wrench and that didn't budge, either.

I called the guy who usually services my mower, but it's probably been 5 years since I needed his services and he isn't doing it any longer. I then called the hardware store and asked if they knew someone locally that did lawn mower repair. The clerk gave me a name and number. When I called him, he said he only does it part-time and his garage is filled with mowers waiting to be repaired and he probably couldn't get to me until next week and then I'd have to bring it to him (which I can't).

Next I tried my cousin (the one that helped get the dressing mirror down from the attic). I got his answering service, so I left a message. He usually calls right back, but after 2 hours I was getting worried. Just about 3 hours later he called and guess what - he's on vacation in the Adirondacks and won't be back until Sunday evening, but he gave me 2 other people to try.

The first one never answered and apparently doesn't have an answering service. The phone just rang and rang.

The second man I called seemed disorientated and had slurred speech and there were loud sounds in the background. When I identified myself and said my cousin (his name) referred me to him about my lawnmower, he said, "I'm sorry." and hung up, Now I was thinking as I stared at the phone receiver, what was he sorry about - that he didn't think he could help me or sorry that I was related to my cousin?

Now I'm becoming more and more tense as I seem to be stymied wherever I turn.

Fast forward to today -

A man from church called that I had contacted last week about donating blankets to the city mission. He said he'd stop by and pick up the blankets. I was telling him about my lawnmower and he said he'd look at it when he stopped. He got out his socket wrench and in less than a minute, he had the blade off. His wrench didn't look any larger than mine, but it did the trick.

blade.jpg

Then I called the hardware store and asked if they had a blade for my mower. Of course they didn't, but said they could order it and it would be in tomorrow or Friday.

Now I need someone to bolt it back in place. Maybe my cousin when he gets back from vacation. Meanwhile, my lawn is growing and growing and it's going to be hot and muggy this weekend.
 
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I can't offer any more advice than what has already been posted (good advice, by the way), but when I get overwhelmed I do a one hour visit to the "salt cave". I don't know if you have one near you, but it's very calming and you feel regenerated when you walk out. In the meantime remember: this too shall pass.
fullsizeoutput-35.jpeg
 
debodun said:
Thanks for all the well-wishes and advice. :love:

Adding to my problems - yesterday afternoon I decided to mow the lawn - it's getting pretty shaggy with all the rain. I was doing okay until I came to the sidewalk. Now I've mowed that lawn hundreds of times and this time the blade hit the edge of the retaining wall and bent it 90° from the plane of the blade. What a job walking it back 200 feet to the garage with the bent blade making it a rototiller. I had to tip it forward and do it that way do the bent blade wasn't poking the lawn.

Silly me - I thought I could either bang it straight with a hammer or bend it back with pliers. No way. I couldn't budge it no matter what. Then I thought I could remove the blade, take it to the hardware store and get a replacement. I practically did a hand stand in the blade bolt with my socket wrench and that didn't budge, either.

I called the guy who usually services my mower, but it's probably been 5 years since I needed his services and he isn't doing it any longer. I then called the hardware store and asked if they knew someone locally that did lawn mower repair. The clerk gave me a name and number. When I called him, he said he only does it part-time and his garage is filled with mowers waiting to be repaired and he probably couldn't get to me until next week and then I'd have to bring it to him (which I can't).

Next I tried my cousin (the one that helped get the dressing mirror down from the attic). I got his answering service, so I left a message. He usually calls right back, but after 2 hours I was getting worried. Just about 3 hours later he called and guess what - he's on vacation in the Adirondacks and won't be back until Sunday evening, but he gave me 2 other people to try.

The first one never answered and apparently doesn't have an answering service. The phone just rang and rang.

The second man I called seemed disorientated and had slurred speech and there were loud sounds in the background. When I identified myself and said my cousin (his name) referred me to him about my lawnmower, he said, "I'm sorry." and hung up, Now I was thinking as I stared at the phone receiver, what was he sorry about - that he didn't think he could help me or sorry that I was related to my cousin?

Now I'm becoming more and more tense as I seem to be stymied wherever I turn.

Fast forward to today -

A man from church called that I had contacted last week about donating blankets to the city mission. He said he'd stop by and pick up the blankets. I was telling him about my lawnmower and he said he'd look at it when he stopped. He got out his socket wrench and in less than a minute, he had the blade off. His wrench didn't look any larger than mine, but it did the trick.

View attachment 176991

Then I called the hardware store and asked if they had a blade for my mower. Of course they didn't, but said they could order it and it would be in tomorrow or Friday.

Now I need someone to bolt it back in place. Maybe my cousin when he gets back from vacation. Meanwhile, my lawn is growing and growing and it's going to be hot and muggy this weekend.
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My biggest problem with removing nuts from bolts as i age is that despite the wood splitting i do, i don't have the same upper body strength as the man or 'impact wrench' the bolt was put on with; At least when changing a tire i can apply leverage on the tire iron with a foot to get the temp spare on. My first step is to clean around the nuts on any tire or machinery and then spray with mechanical lube like WD-40. A lawn mower would have gotten a bunch of gunk around the nut holding the blade over time. But unless you think it will just ad to your frustration you might try putting it back on. Putting stuff back together is usually not nearly difficult as taking apart. And you should be able to tighten it enough to hold till somebody else check and maybe tighten it more. But i repeat---only try it if YOU think you can tighten it without getting frustrated, you need no extra stress right now.
 
Thanks, Pecos. I try. I do not have the skills or smarts of the usual person of my age. I always lived with my parents and they handled all problems that came down the pike. After they went to their reward, the last being my mom in 2006, I was left as a 54 year old mental toddler. I may have book smarts, but no social or street smarts.
 
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feywon said:
My biggest problem with removing nuts from bolts as i age is that despite the wood splitting i do, i don't have the same upper body strength as the man or 'impact wrench' the bolt was put on with; At least when changing a tire i can apply leverage on the tire iron with a foot to get the temp spare on. My first step is to clean around the nuts on any tire or machinery and then spray with mechanical lube like WD-40. A lawn mower would have gotten a bunch of gunk around the nut holding the blade over time. But unless you think it will just ad to your frustration you might try putting it back on. Putting stuff back together is usually not nearly difficult as taking apart. And you should be able to tighten it enough to hold till somebody else check and maybe tighten it more. But i repeat---only try it if YOU think you can tighten it without getting frustrated, you need no extra stress right now.
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Good advice with the WD40 feywon, we always have some in the garage, and I've used it for my mowers and many other things. Works very well!
 
Do you think you might need a different style of mower for the new property. It looks quite large.
 

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