Status Report on The House That Cleans Itself

Hooray and hallelujah! Got Google pictures figured out! I can again download through my computer. You upload to the Picasa Web Album and then the the blog post. * 

Review. Last September I start applying steps from The House That Cleans Itself, by Mindy Starns Clark. Mrs. Clark sends 15 free books that I distribute to those who want a copy. One even gets mailed to Australia and one to Israel. Mrs. Clark suggests you prioritize your messes and make a map. I did this here, my first post in this series where you can actually see pictures of the house being transformed to one that is easier to clean.

Before Living Room

Today's report completes Area Five and begins Area Six. When I got the rest of the extra books out of the living room, Area Five, I put away a few Christmas decorations and dusted. Because there is no coat closet for guests in our home, I had two decorative hooks installed on either side of the piano where guests can hang up their coats.


After Living Room



I have put away my Swedish nativity scene on my sheet music stand which was up all year. I love Swedish things and have a Pinterest Board I share with a cousin called "Swedish Things". There are two angels left on the piano. Might change out what is on the piano from time to time. What needs to be finished in the living room? New mini-blinds and again the rug cleaned.  Time to play the piano more now!



Hot spot for catching things

Here you see "before pictures" of the family room/living room, Area Six. This long room has a fireplace and big TV on the living room end. The den is on the dining room side, with the kitchen/ laundry room jutting out from the dining area and a convenient door to the garage which houses our gas guzzler SUV. So clutter ends at this hub of the house as you can imagine. Fairly often I clean up the dining room table, but this pictured wall opposite the kitchen is a disaster currently.

When area is finished, let the entertaining begin! I can put out a buffet on a covered pool table and use the dining room table and card tables for places for people to sit.

On the other end of this long room is a very long seating area that used to be an L-shaped couch. The middle section was removed, and this useful but old couch includes a queen-size pull out bed useful for company. Recessed lights were added some time ago.


Unsafe "Coffee Table" by Hubby

Safety is a huge consideration for the Alzheimer's ready home. My husband watches a great deal of movies on our TV and our dog is right by his side. While I am gone hubby is able to operate the DVD and video players in the family room side of Area Six. Now his collection has grown considerably. It overflowed the small coffee table with the racks along side the coffee table.  Not a safe situation and I have been known to knock over a rack while hubby swears at the mess I have created. Should he become unstable on his feet when he gets up, he could fall and injure himself. He does not want to walk to a vertical stand to get a DVD. He wants it all there by him while he sits in his spot on a long couch. He even has a pillow in back and a pillow for his rear end. We will not change this. But the dog can be retrained. His water and food dish do not need to be in this area because someone could trip over them. .

Hubby and I were having breakfast on Saturday, January 12, at Buddy Freddy's, a local Plant City landmark. I asked him about his shabby coffee table and vertical racks overrun with DVDs. Would he like to check out Ikea furniture for another coffee table? He was agreeable. We went to Ikea in Tampa and he sat on a comfortable couch while I went shopping. (He knows he can call me on my cell if he needs something and he doesn't like walking.) I took a picture with my iPhone when I found what I thought we were looking for and went and showed him the picture. The furniture has two long shelves and I choose the black model. He said yes to my selection and after lunch, the box for his new coffee table was slid into our SUV. It is actually a stand for a TV, to be repurposed for hubby's coffee table.


Ikea solution for a coffee table/DVD storage

At 3:30 that Saturday we met our friends Sally and Jake for a movie in Plant City. After the movie Sally and Jake came over for an impromptu dinner that included Swedish meatballs from Ikea and coconut muffins I had made with coconut flour, coconut oil and dark chocolate. Jake put the wheels on hubby's new coffee table and then he came over for the day on Monday to work on it.

It turns out it was very complicated task to complete the assembly and Jake sort of gave up working on it I observed when I came home from substitute teaching that Monday. The pictured instructions were not written in Alzheimer's; two other languages were involved in the pictured instructions that did not include English words--Swedes designed it and Chinese manufactured it. You needed a lot of carpentry experience to put the dowels and screws in the right places. Wednesday Jake's son came over and finished the coffee table and a few other projects. We aren't telling Jake that his son finished the job, because of Jake's MPS. What is MPS? Male Pride Syndrome. With Jake's memory, he will just think he put our coffee table together and again we will thank him for his help and he did indeed help, the wonderful gentleman that he is. My husband is wonderful also, in that he will keep secret who really put this together. Hubby is already enjoying it as you see below. This is his furniture. Also below you see my paper clutter by the fireplace that I work on while hubby watches TV.

More Safe Coffee Table My Husband Loves

Now Tuesday in the middle of the coffee table being put together, we had the meltdown written about earlier. That day hubby decided that he no longer wanted to go to the Senior Center with Jake on Tuesdays. Jake could just always hang out at our house, hubby reasoned. Well hubby has forgotten about his meltdown and rebellion and yes indeed will continue to go with his buddy Jake to the Senior Center on Tuesdays. Problem solved.

When all the "hot spots" and clutter in the family room/dining Area 6 get solved and dusted, we will be ready to entertain for dinner and playing pool without my embarrassment. Yeah!

Carol

* Paying $2.49 a month to have more picture space. See picasaweb.google.com.



Father of Star of Les Miserables Has Advanced Alzheimer's

To read about Hugh Jackman's father having advanced Alzheimer's, click here. Hugh of course is a star in the "Les Miserables" movie.

I sent a note to Mr. Jackman (via George Vradenburg of USAgainstAlzheimer's.org) on my Facebook page and have already received a thank you from Mr. Vradenburg.*

Amazing film, Les Miserables, and I loved the book years so so many years ago. Loved the musical movie, the images, the message of forgiveness and Hugh Jackman's acting.

Hubby and I saw this film in Plant City last Wednesday afternoon. It was only $6 a person and there were maybe five people in the theater including us. Not sure how much culture we have here in this Southern town or if it was just a bad time.

During the three hour movie hubby just kept asking when we were going to leave this movie. Something would happen in the film, and he would say is it over?  First he told me that I owed him four movie choices. Then he raised it to six movie choices that I owed him. I kept feeding us popcorn--not a good choice.

Hubby loves the idea of going to a movie, since he watches them at home. The problem in going to a theater with him is finding just the right movie for him. I thought "Lincoln" would work because he likes the History Channel, but he didn't like it.

This is where we are with Alzheimer's. Selecting movies is like selecting a meal at a restaurant. He always has me select. Easier to select meals than movies. Starting to select his clothes now also.

Carol

* If you are my Facebook friend, you can click on my Facebook link on my wall. Or you can click on "Like" Plant City Lady at top right and the link is on there as well. You do not have to be a Facebook friend to "Like" this blog on Facebook and then it will appear in your feed when a new post comes up in case you do not have a blog dashboard. (People who are following The House That Cleans Itself  most of whom have that book have a private Facebook group where I am posting pictures I can no longer post because Google doesn't take pictures from my computer any longer.)

Beginning Area 5 of The House That Cleans Itself

Today I am staying home to be with hubby, work on the house and attend to my "to do" list. I better make this post short.

Books, books and more books!  And how to part with them! Our den used to have more books before the pool table. We gave away several floor-to-ceiling bookcases of hubby's theological books and sold others to Baker Book House. That was five years ago before Alzheimer's was officially in the picture.

Now it is my books I am dealing with. Novels can be sold and checked out from the public library. Other books can go to Mae's Bookstore Paperback Exchange--right across the street from the above sign in Plant City.  

Books have ended up by the piano in our living room, my current room to work on. I posted this picture in the private The House That Cleans Itself group on Facebook. You can ask to join that group if you too are working on your home and we are Facebook friends. Start by "Liking" at the top right of this blog.

Some books are really good for "re-gifting".  For example, I have been taking subject area books to school when I substitute. I brought books and materials for teaching English to other languages when I substituted in one of those ESOL classes recently; boy was I glad because there were no lesson plans and I had something to do. Yesterday I gave five books to the Reading Coach at a middle school where I taught. By the way, yesterday I was delighted to talk with a teacher who has been through this book and the system is working for her and she is working the system.

Some books I might use on this blog--health books for example. What to do? I am putting them in one of my now empty bins and storing them under the pool table.  Flylady in an e-mail says this week,

HOUSEWORK DONE INCORRECTLY, STILL BLESSES YOUR FAMILY!

I exceeded the limit on photos on Google and am trying to see what I can do about it. I can post pictures that I have already posted, but not new ones from my computer. This is such a shame because the last post with pictures of the master bedroom here has had 86 views to date. Also, on advice from several trusted people am looking into monetizing this blog. Any suggestions for photos and monetizing?
Added mid January 2013: Picasa Web Album allows me to download from my computer. Still trying to decide on monetizing, especially since I am now paying $2.49 a month to add more pictures.