End of OctoberIf there's anyone out there actually fo

If there's anyone out there actually following this countdown journey with me, I apologize for my erratic postings.  There are things going on that are just beyond my control, and I'm working around them as best I can.
I am having to cut back on my ambitions for my Plan, but the end result - a clean and organized (mostly) house - is still the goal.  The worst room was the guest room, and I';m very pleased with what I accomlished in there.
I have exactly 5 weeks until Thanksgiving.  So, my semi-revised plan is to finish cleaning rooms by the weekend before, do a really good all over clean, and then pre.  As of now I might have anywhere from 15 to 22 here .. and as long as I can figure out where to seat them, the more the merrier!  (note: I will have my daughter in law, my stepson's girlfriend, and her mother all here to do the bulk of the cooking!)
I haven't been able to clean the porch as I hoped; but ALL of the cardboard that was piled up is gone, and the few "fragile" plants have been brought in.  That might be as good as it gets for outside.  I only have 4 areas I need to tackle, and 2 can be combined (and need very little unless I can find somewhere I'm comfortable with to donate more books).  So I hope I'll get at least some of the outside decorating done before the weather is too cold.  I'm sure it will have to be cut back this year, since I have much less help.
The last week before Thanksgiving I will start packing up bric-a0brac and photos so I'll have surfaces ready to decorate.  I'm leaving fall decorations up until Thanksgiving, but one more week and then Halloween gets packed away.

One thing I seem to have trouble with is focus.  I started out well; but I keep jumping from one room to another.  Right now I'm obsessed with changes I want to make in the den.  I have done part of what I wanted (because I had to move a big recliner so it wouldn't be absorbing the bulk of the heat from the wall heater as well as blocking heat from the rest of the room!).  I have a plan in mind for the rest; and I may just go ahead and start working on that today.  No one will be here today or tomorrow  so if that room is all in disarray it won't matter .. and if I get "stuck", the kids will be here Sunday and have no choice but help! LOL!

This has been a very bad week on several levels.  I'm going to try to get enough accomplished in the next few days to feel better about the few areas I can control!

COUNTDOWN PLANNING 101

HOW TO DESIGN YOUR OWN “CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN PLAN”

Over the years I have belonged off and on to many organizing groups and sites.  I was one of the original members to one group that is now BIG (and I’ve exceedingly happy for the lady who had a great idea and ran with it!).  And there are now many “professional” versions of this idea, many books published, etc.

They all tell you what to do.  Some have more detail than others.  They’re not all in the same order.  But the idea, of course, is to end up with a clean house and a calm holiday where everyone can enjoy themselves.

The problem I always have with all of these is (1) my list of rooms doesn’t match up with theirs.  Not a “big deal”, rooms can be substituted.  And (2)my time frame and other considerations interfere.  So I’ve had to use their basic ideas to make my own plan. 

I’m not going to tell you what my plan is.  I’m going to try to tell you HOW I made my plan.

The first step is to determine your starting point.  Are you starting in August?  October?  It’s up to you how much time you want to allow and how much detail you want to accomplish.  Here’s an example: I have multiple birthdays to deal with in October and November.  So trying to shop for Christmas gifts just doesn’t work for me.  I have money set aside in savings.  Also, I enjoy having a “wrapping day” rather than wrap gifts as they’re bought.  It’s up to you to decide your personal preference before you can incorporate it into your plan.

Another thing you will need to consider isif you are making gifts.  A lot of people don’t need a “how to” plan, they work on them all year.  But if you need more structure, then you will want to add time for working on your gifts.

Once you have your starting point, and have taken into consideration whether or not to shop early, and whether o not gift-making is to be part of your plan, the next step is to decide what areas you want to tackle, and how much detail cleaning/organizing you feel the need for.  Keep in mind – this is your personal plan.  You don’t have to go by what anyone else ways you *should* do, only what makes you happy!

I recommend you make a list of all the areas you want to tackle.  Then determine how many weeks you have to reach your goal.  For example, if you plan to start in the beginning of Septemberand you want to be done by Thanksgiving, you will figure on roughly 10 to 12 weeks (depending on the calendar in any given year).  If there are more areas than there are weeks, decide which areas can be either combined or eliminated.  You’ll make yourself crazy – and set yourself up for failure – if you try to cram too much into too short a time frame.  (If that’s where you are now – let it go!  You can’t do it all.  Do what matters most, and start earlier next year!).

You now have a rough outline of your plan.  The next step is to figure out what needs to be done each week.  This has to be based completely on your life style, your location, your family.  For example: many plans start with the front porch, because that’s what visitors see first.  And that’s fine if that’s what works for you or is what’s important for you.  But what if you start your plan in August, and you live somewherr that August is extremely hot?  Do you perhaps want to wait for cooler weather?  Do you want to do the porch when it might be time to bring “delecate” container plants inside, and maybe decorate for fall?  It’s entirely up to you, this is just a general guide of things you might want to consider.

Also, how much detail do you want to go into?  Are you having a big family get together and want to make big or special improvements?  Or do you just want to make sure everything is neat and clean and any needed repairs get taken care of?  I suggest you make notes of any ideas you have about different aareas on the list of areas to work on.  You can later cull it down if your list is over ambitious.

In listing ideas you must also take into consideration the time frame you have and anything that could come up that eats into your time frame (birthdays?  Anniversaries?  Doctor appointments?).  Do you work outside the home full or part time?  Do you work at home?  Do you have set or flexible hours?  Do you have to consider school – homeschooling, or carpooling, extra curricular events, etc.  Try to put as many of those things as you can on your calendar first so you can plan around them.

OK, back to the subject of what to do and when to do it.  In my personal plan, I work on less “important” rooms first – in my case, rooms that are not often seen by visitors.  I also keep in mind the weather.  For example, as with considering the porch, will a given area be too hot or too cool to do cleaning or organizing?  I personally do not include attic or storage areas, but you can if you want them tackled.  (I clean the attic in January while the bulk of what lives there – Chrsitmas decorations – is not in the way).  This is your plan, do what you want done!  Just make sure you take into consideration the comfort level of where you plan to work.

A lot of the planning groups and sites give you check lists.  While it’s good to be able to check off what you’ve accomplished (especially if, like me, you need that visual cue to keep encouraged).  But I also find those lists very cumbersome in that they include many things that either aren’t important to me or aren’t relevant.   You can go to any of those sites (google Chaistmas organizing), or you can make your own lists based on what is important in your home.

I’ve given you a basic outline of how to make a plan to suit your home and life.  It’s up to you how much detail you want to put into it.  Some people may work better with every tiny thing written down (i.e. scrub light switch plates).  Others do fine with a list that just says “this week clean the bedroom”.  You choose if you want to sort closets and drawers, or if that’s not important to you right now.  The whole point is to be ready for Christmas, not put your house up for public inspection!  Guests will inevitably peeop into the medicine cabinet.  Do you care?  Does it stay neat anyway?  (I broke a closet door, so the entire bathroom closet has to stay neat since it’s always “open”.  On the other hand, if they snoop in drawers, they *might* deserve to find a mouse trap!)

There are a few other things I recommend you keep in mind.

(1)     Nothing will go as planned.  Accept that, go with it the best you can.

(2)    Try to schedule “catch up” time into your schedule to make those unavoidable interruptions less stressful.

(3)    Include celebrations in your plan.  Don’t be so wrapped up in getting the house clean that your forget to make (or order) a birthday cake.  Allow time for fun!

(4)    Don’t be afraid to ask for or accept help if you’re lucky enough to have any available!

(5)    Keep in mind that the ultimate goal is a stress free holiday season. You have to decide what’s important to you and your family, and let go of what bogs you down if it’s not important to you!

Into Darkness

I was born with very poor vision.  The fact that I could see "clearly" at something 3 inches from my face is probably all that kept me from being "legally blind".  From early in the first grade - only 5 years old - I had to wear "coke bottle" glasses.  
For a brief spell when I was in college I had contact lenses.  That was before the days of "soft lenses" or disposable ones; but oh! the freedome they gave me.  But when I went to work in an office the freedome ended .. my eyes could not tolerate the dry air and flourescent lighting.  So back to the thick lenses, but at least I could have them tinted to help with glare.
At some point, maybe 20 or so years ago (I really do not remember except that it was during the time we lived in Edenton) I had a "spontaneous detached retina" in my right eye.  I had surgery, but it left me with a mostly blind eye - only some peripheral vision.
Fast forward another 20 to 25 years, give or take a few.  I developed cataracts.   Apparently they had been developing for quite some time; but without eye care insurance, I was a long time between appointments.  When I got to the point I could no longer ignore my fading vision, I went to an eye doctor - who promptly sent me to a surgeon. 
I had some sort of minor tear in one eye that had to be repaired, resulting in 6 weeks of no computer, no reading, no bedning, no heavy lifting. Once I got past that, I had the cataracts removed - one eye in December, the other in January.
For a very brief wonderful time, I could SEE!  I still needed glasses for reading, which was extremely hard to adjust to.  When the cataracts were removed, the lenses in my eyes were replaced, an it reversed my vision from near-sighted to far-sighted.  Never again can I read by simply holding a book close to my face.
After recovering from the cataract surgery, I went to a regular eye doctor to get prescription reading glasses.  I actually could "make do" with dollar store readers, but needed something better in order to keep working.
That's when I was diagnosed with glaucoma.  At that time, it was not noticeably effecting my vision.  That was around 5 and a half years ago.  The doctor then told me he thought I'd be completely blind "within my lifetime" (based on me being in my early 60s then and with at least a 20 year or more life expectancy).   He did not tell me how fast my vision would fail without actually being "blind".
I now see a glaucoma specialist about 3 to 4 times a year, and have a bunch of different eye drops to control pressure.  But the fact is, my vision has deteriorated drastically.
I can no longer drive (and technically no longer have a valid license, although the one I have expires in December - as long as no one were to run it with DMV, because it was revoked at the end of September).  Sitting here at the computer is difficult and frustrating.  One of the effects is that everything "fades" .. so light blue print is impossible to read; also anything small is impossible.  Watching television now is just listening and seeing a blur of colors (if I really want to "see" something, I have to sit or stand within about a foot of the screen; it's still blurred, but discernable).
I walk through my house and see mostly shadowy areas with pools of light where lamps or windows are.  I know my house well enough to know where things are (and absolutely Haate for anyone to move my things around).  I'm learning what things are more difficult to do (have you every tried to put toothpaste on a toothbrush when you literally couldn't tell where or how much you were getting?  Trick: squeeze the toothpaste onto a finger, and then squish it onto the brush).
I can no longer take my husband's blood pressure or temperature; and God help me if the alarm on the cycler goes off, because I can't read the screen that says why.
The people in my life day to day don't really grasp my frustration.  The one friend has been helping me go through freezer and pantry, to get rid of things I know I'll never use or are out of date.  I think she vaguely "gets it".  And my daughter in law has helped me go through mail and such; but she lives 2 hours away and they don't have time to visit.  My husband isn't really able to comprehend what I can and can't see; but then, he has multiple health issues, including dementai.  I'm satisfied for him just to know who I am.
Even when people close to me begin to understand what I can and can't see, they still don't really grasp what it's like on a day to day basis.  I want to clean my house, but literally can't see if a given surface is clean or not.  I go through the motions and hope for the best.  
I can't sew any more.  I actually can put my face close enough, and with a finger guiding, I can run the machine.  What I can't do is get thread through the tiny hole in a clear bobbin so I can wind it; or rethread the machine.   And no one really has time to just sit there with me to do that.
My world is gradually getting darker, and there's nothing I can do about it.   I trip over things I can't see (like that legs to my husband's bedside commode - they spraddle out, and I've broken a toe on it before, and always afraid I will again)..
It's barely daylight now.  Time to stumble through another day in my faded, out-of-focus world.
There were so many things I thought I'd get to do when I retired.  Instead I'm 24/7 caretaker for my husband, and no longer able to enjoy most of the things I wanted to do.  I don't resent caring for him (but will admit to being very tired).  I just feel sad  And very alone.