A digital hoarder

OH --- so I perhaps found part of the issue with my email. Someone had mentioned it before, and someone mentioned it in the comments the other day. 

I don't have the pictures to share with you this morning, but here's what happened. I did a disk cleanup -- somewhere on my computer, I found that, and it cleared up maybe one GB. That's nothing -- I need gobs of space.

So, I went into the SENT folder in my email. Hmmm  --- I figured out how to sort them by size and got a chuckle. The first category that came up was HUGE (10 - 25 MB). Yep -- that's what the computer categorized it as. That's hilarious. 

And here's what has been happening over the years—yes, I know years! Do people clean out that folder? I know some of you do, but I don't usually. I've been saved in the past by being able to prove that I sent something. The same goes for the files in that IMPORTANT folder. I found very useful information there as well. Things I deleted elsewhere were in the important folder. 

But I started looking at what was in the sent folder, and OK— there were a "few" emails in there. I manually deleted some in that HUGE category, and can you believe that I deleted 25 GB of data? My email is now only using 75 GB of space, NOT 106. But I'm not done yet. 

I've tried to do a general delete in that folder, but it doesn't seem to work. Do I have to manually delete all the messages? I didn't have much time yesterday to play around with it, but at least I have space, and my computer should be much happier. 

Here's what causes the problem -- let's say that I send a message with a 10 MB attachment to someone. It saves that one message in the sent folder. If I send that same message with a 10 MB attachment to a group of 20 people, it saves the message TWENTY times. So, with all the group emails in the last couple of years and sending them my files, the space got eaten up!!! I doubt any of you will ever come close to having that same issue!

I'm unsure if there are any more HUGE files in that folder or if they are now only VERY LARGE (5 MB - 10 MB). Yep -- again, that is the terminology that GMAIL assigns these messages, which is hilarious. Now that I know, I may go in and delete those messages but keep the rest? I don't know. I just need to empty it for the moment. 

So when I get home again, I'll be able to tackle that folder once more and try to get rid of all those messages with attachments. OK -- I'll just empty the folder, but like I said, I can't just delete the contents as it seems to reach a limit and then stops. So, it may take several deletes to completely empty the folder. Then I'll check again to see how much space that freed up. Then, I still need to go through the inbox and delete more messages! I think I'm good with all the subfolders. I've gotten rid of quite a bit of stuff. 

I guess you could call me a digital hoarder! I collect stuff and don't even know that it's there until I hit a wall! 

Yes, I'm not home again! But this time, it's only a couple of hours by car. I spoke at the Georgian Bay Guild last night, and I'm doing a workshop today. Then I'll be home and no travel for a few weeks. Yeah!!!

Poor Murphy was beside herself yesterday. She was clingy and didn't know what to do with herself because there was no one to share the front window with her! What? Why are the stairs gone? Where's the little guy? And then, when I got the suitcases out to pack the quilts, she was even worse! What is happening? What about me? 

Lexi? She couldn't care less! 

But it was nice when I walked them in the morning because I was in the house before 9 AM, and both dogs had had their long walk. Yeah, high Maintenance—he was high maintenance!!!

Other than packing my quilts and the workshop supplies and reading a book, I didn't really do much. Gosh, all this traipsing around is exhausting. 

I keep forgetting to mention two things. YES, there is a virtual retreat this weekend. It'll be on Saturday evening and Sunday starting at noon. I'll put the links in tomorrow when it's easier. I don't have a mouse right now to cut and paste. How lame is that? 

Secondly, I have a REAL retreat at Springhouse (near New Hamburg), which is a beautiful facility. If anyone is interested in attending for a day or two or all five days, let me know, as I have a few spots open. The dates are May 17 - 22 . Send me an email if you are interested. elainetheriault@gmail.com

No one should be afraid to send me an email for fear of clogging up my space when it's the emails I send that are doing the job. But I now have LOADS of space, and I'm not done yet!!!

Well, I guess I should get myself together. I'm staying at a beautiful house on Balm Beach! I've been here before as when Kim originally bought the house, she used it as a quilt retreat house, and I stayed here twice before. I should get my butt in gear and walk down to the beach, but I don't think I have time for that. Yep -- I'm becoming a slug for sure!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!