Random 5 for October 5, 2025 – Time flies, downsizing, fall cleanup, naps, Maxine

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Dang! How did we get here? – We are now in the last quarter of 2025. Seems like just yesterday we were welcoming the new year. I usually complain about missing July because it goes so fast but not this year. We have had a lovely September and October as far as weather goes, no complaints at all, at least not until the snow boogers up the roads.

The front with flowers (last years photo).

The front after cleanup

The official end to summer – We put the summer furniture cushions away this week and pulled the annual flowers. Some of the them were sad and past their prime but others were still plugging away. If I wait until the frost kills them, I am working in the cold so they went out blooming. 

It was like a miracle – I’m still downsizing. (I will be doing this until I die!) I have made my family and friends crazy with “daily specials” of things that I am sure they need (they don’t). I put a collection of stuff at my curb with a free sign. One item was gone in an hour, and the rest were gone in a day. I have found a new way to recycle. If I would plan more, I’d have a garage sale, but I do it in spits and spurts. My latest purge was a box of games we haven’t played in a decade (or more). Original versions of Trivia Pursuit (all my friends know the answers from playing it so frequently), Clue (Professor Plum did it with a candlestick in the conservatory!) and a few others are awaiting a new home.

Nap alerts – Activities should come with a nap requirement. Vacuuming requires a 30-minute nap while pulling weeds is good for an hour. It would allow for more efficient use of time. Nothing is worse than doing something, then finding yourself too exhausted to do the fun things on your schedule. Maybe you should do the fun stuff first but eating dinner first thing in the morning is a stretch. I could create a list. An hour of downsizing equals an hour nap and a mocha latte. Sounds good to me!

Maxine – I often seek guidance (and amusement) from Maxine. She’s my kind of woman!

So how was your week?

 

53 thoughts on “Random 5 for October 5, 2025 – Time flies, downsizing, fall cleanup, naps, Maxine”

  4. At our age, garage sales are too much work (IMHO). I love setting things out by the curb or in the alley knowing someone will snatch it up usually very quickly.

    I started purging in the garden myself. The dozens of little green tomatoes will never ripen before the first frost so I just pulled them out. Same with the zinnias. I’m tired of watering and deadheading and like you said, who wants to do that once it’s cold. It was 42F this morning and my fingers were practically brittle by the time we finished our first walk.

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  8. I like your “nap alerts”. I don’t take naps, but are you giving me permission to rest after I work for an hour? The days seem to go so fast. I don’t get as much done as I think I should because of all those rests.

    You have the perfect front porch, whether with flowers or all cleaned up.

    Congratulations on your continued downsizing. I haven’t done any for a while. I think about it a lot, though

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    • I was gangbusters during the summer then stuff happened but I’m back to tossing out again. If you don’t need a nap you are lucky. I run out of energy. I feel like a little kid who just naps right where they are in the middle of play.

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    • Depends on your road traffic. At the last house, we lived on a road that dead ended into a cul-de-sac so little traffic. Right now there is a detour so our road is getting more traffic. My next door neighbor took the first item. I saw her using it (garden cart). Made me feel good that it found a good home.

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  10. You are industrious! In fact it seems like you were just putting out the annuals and bumping your head on the front of the house where it juts out while doing so. Whatever became of that bad bump on the noggin? Didn’t you go for an MRI to rule out a concussion after you had headaches?

    I have so much clutter to purge it is not funny. I want to be motivated and come up with excuses – in the Winter, my excuse was even though I had two or three weeks where the driveway was a sheet of ice and ice melt pellets didn’t help, if I only made a narrow path to go run the car daily, taking out bags and bags of clutter and items I got rid of and break my neck doing so – no way! In the Summer when it was sickening hot outside, well I figured I could stay inside and be industrious since I am not walking, but it didn’t help as I was mad about missing my walk(s).

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    • You are younger and still have time. I’ve seen friends need to make quick decisions on downsizing and it’s not easy. I thought we did a lot of that when we moved here but we brought a lot of baggage with us. Some things, like the games, you think you MIGHT use again but nope. Mild concussion but no hematoma (all good). I still get headaches which is why I got my sinuses checked out. Maybe it’s lingering from the bump.

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      • Well, I will be 70 next year … I just need the space. I always think (and say), how did three people and a bird live here uncluttered and one person and no pets live here now and it is cluttered? Like my friend Ann Marie – they already downsized by going from a house to an apartment, but then he was falling so frequently that she was constantly calling 911 as she got a hernia a few years ago trying to pick him up – she’s very petite. She told me they have a very small assisted-living apartment so they had to downsize even more. And they had to get rid of their African Grey Parrot as well. That’s good as no hematoma from the bump – hopefully it all goes away soon and the headaches disappear.

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          • Yes, unfortunately that is true. I heard an expression today that I jotted down and even though it is true, I hope to not use it very often: “time is a thief that will eventually steal everything we love from us.” It was a man talking about his Black Lab’s death at 17 1/2 years old. I feel badly about her bird and she hinted at me, not asking, but saying “I just want him to have a home where someone is home a lot and will talk to him.” I didn’t bite though – they are large, messy and can live for many decades. I have nowhere to keep such a large cage either. She returned him to the bird store where they got him and he was sold to a young man a few weeks later.

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              • Yes, it is a happy ending. Ann Marie and her husband had heavy hearts the day they took him back to the bird store after having him for ten years. You have to have a space to put a large cage like that, plus she had him out of the cage every day on a wooden stand wearing an ankle tether to that stand. I do have my “pet” squirrels and I am keeping the faith and bought a dozen more bags of peanuts this morning at the grocery store. I still had some left from Spring that never got used. They are coming around after initially being so wary, even snubbing me. That’s okay as I stayed away all the time the sewer construction was taking place, so they likely thought I forgot about them.

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    • I don’t have that trouble at all. I often think that something may be wrong because I don’t have the energy I think I should but no one has found any cause. This week we’ll add a mum or two to dress it up until Christmas decoration time. I don’t do much these days. Just enough to celebrate the season.

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  12. I’m with you on downsizing. It seems I do a closet and feel great, but then I look somewhere else and start there. It never ends. I never understood naps until I got to a certain age. Now, I realize they are essential when you actually ‘work’ on something. As for curbside recycling, it is a huge thing here. Park anything that is free on the curb, and it’s usually gone in 24 hours. Love Maxine!

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  13. I love the idea of a nap but they never happen. I think the fact that we don’t have to put away the outdoor furniture and our flowers and bushes and trees stay beautiful are two good things about Florida. But the hurricane season pretty much cancels out those two things. Lovely front entry… now you can do pumpkins and mums! Maxine is my kind of woman too 🙂

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  18. Impressive front door area clean-up…….looks naked BUT with some mums and a punkin’ (!) and wreath you’re back in business!! Good for you doing some purging. I need to do that but the beautiful weather has been too beautiful to stay inside going through stuff to purge. We’ve been on the front porch with Teddy enjoying the cool, sunny days! My geraniums and morning glories as well as one or two other plants are still going strong but beginning to show signs of being “tired” so it won’t be long before THAT cleanup comes. Fall is my fave – LOVE IT.

    Hugs, Pam

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  19. I love Maxine. And now I know a real life Maxine ~ she’s 97 years old, lives alone with her puppy, Coco Channel. She walks every morning. A group of us meet for coffee on Monday mornings. She’s one of the group. I don’t know here well, but I’m impressed when I see her out an about every day. If I live another 30 years, I hope I have that much get up and go!

    Your house with flowers looks so inviting! Do you put out any fall color with mums?

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