Reflections on Peter Walsh's New Book

I am in the process of selling my house and also I am dieting with Weight Watchers. Peter Walsh points out that dieting and decluttering all go together in his book released this past week. Amazon got it to me on the release date, February 24th, and I have been enthusiastically reading it during planning periods while I substitute teach.

Peter also adds a third element to decluttering and eating and exercising--mindfulness. And so he launches a plan to work on all three. In this very thoughtful and might I add organized book, he takes twenty-two volunteers on a six-week program. 

From 9/14/12

My Decluttering

But decluttering has taken/is taking me much longer than six weeks.  Walsh uses a room-by-room approach to decluttering as I did when I went through Mindy Starns Clark's book, The House That Cleans Itself.  15 people got Mindy's book that she mailed me beginning HERE IN 2012.* Those of you who have been following my blog saw me prioritize areas to work on, Alzheimer's proofing the house as I went. Along the way I did get help from Pharis for the outside of the property #9. The last two areas, I never got to--the garage #11 and the workshop #10 as my caregiving days became more difficult and even house maintenance took a back seat to caregiving, a sad fact that I have had to remedy in recent days.  My Huntsville brother and Pharis were the ones to clean out Areas #10 and #11 and give me new purposes for those rooms--the garage has hosted three garage sales in 2015 and the emptied workshop is now the staging area for my move to Huntsville, Alabama (Rocket City) as the above banner suggests. The whole project has become a downsizing with rooms changing and furniture leaving the house as I have been chronicling recently.

My Dieting and Exercising

I started back to Weight Watchers at the end of 2011 as reported HERE. In 2012 I lost 25 pounds and I kept off 15 of it as the caregiving proceeded. Who knows! I might have gained all 25 pounds back! As I reported in that first Weight Watcher post, I chose 7 am Saturday as my meeting time. Spring of 2012 also saw a respite cruise paid for by family and on that cruise I maintained my weight. During the last years of caregiving, I chose caregiving above dieting, realizing that I was called to be there for my husband above all while also having to work to make ends meet. My husband did not want me walking outside and so I did get a treadmill that is going with me when I move and that treadmill might have helped my stress level. I might add that Peter says you don't need a treadmill, but because Huntsville is a colder climate, I might not be able to walk outside in the Winter. 

After my husband died, I went back to that 7 am Saturday morning meeting. Weight Watchers has been for me a great social and inspirational time. Why I even checked out Weight Watchers in Huntsville, Alabama last December.  This morning my total weight loss since 2011 is 31.2 pounds. Here I am today with my Lakeland, Florida leader. I looked all over this computer and my Notebook computer and could not find my "before" picture, but people are starting to notice the change. My weight loss is helping me decide  what clothes to keep as I downsize. 

In Walsh's book, he does not plug Weight Watchers, but I certainly want to and studies have showed that Weight Watchers is the best diet program around. 

Mindfulness

This area of the soul, the self, for me incorporates my Christian belief and I have been meditating on Scripture regularly. In fact, with a clue from Georgene who has often commented on this blog, I started typing up numerous Scripture passages to meditate on and apply. 

In my caregiving and in my widowhood, Scripture is precious to me--it sustains my days and nights. I also was helped by Staci Eastin's book The Organized Heart, a book that helps us Christian believers be mindful. See HERE and also HERE where I reviewed it. 

So you can see I totally resonated with Lose the CLUTTER, Lose the WEIGHT--with all three of the author's main points, plus learned so much more. 

New Insights from Peter Walsh

Before Alzheimer's came into the picture seven years ago (by my estimation), my husband worked, I would watch Peter Walsh on the Home and Garden Network's "Clean Sweep" in the summers before retirement when I taught in public school. (Those were the days I watched TV before my husband sort of took over the big TV.)  Peter would produce episodes like this one he has pictured on his LIKE* page in his native Australia. 

Already a fan from back then, I enjoyed these gems from his book this week:

• Somehow, at some point, you became too large for your comfort.
• Given the environment we live in . . .  How can your body and home not get to this point?
• If the stuff you own is not helping you create the life you want, then let it go. My main job in Huntsville is to write that counseling dissertation on dementia caregiving. I do not need stuff. 
• Pitfall #1: Not seeing enough improvement. Oh yes. I can come home and be upset. Yet I look around and it looks so much different than it does before I decided to sell and move. 
• Pitfall #2: Lack of time. Walsh suggests you schedule tasks like you would any other appointment. I know that perfection is gone, but today I will pack-up my books which are not selling and donate them.
• Pitfall #3: Resistance from family. Had my husband still been living, I would have had to leave things the way he was used to. But since his death, my Huntsville brother spent time here in January to help me get repair projects underway and to clean out areas #10 and #11 of my home as I mentioned above.
• Pitfall #4: Isolation. Weight Watchers is such a great group of friends. They cheer you on and understand when you blow it. I do not feel alone. Also, I have learned to ask for help. 
• Task 1: DEVELOP A VISION FOR WHAT YOU WANT FROM YOUR KITCHEN. 
• Task 2: SEPARATE THE "BENIGN" FROM THE "MALIGNANT" ITEMS. Malignant items are defined as any items that make you feel guilty, sad, nostalgic or angry. 
• Task 3: CLEAN OUT YOUR FRIDGE AND FREEZER. 
• Task 4: CLEAN OUT YOUR PANTRY. 
• Task 5: CLEAR OFF ALL HORIZONTAL SURFACES.    

There are 11 tasks in all,  and this chapter ends with physical activities. The book continues with the bedroom, bedroom closet and the bathroom. 

Then Peter Walsh goes into meddling with my desk and finances. He suggests zones. Zone 1 should be the area by your desk. That has me thinking about getting rid of my four-drawer file cabinet and just keeping selected filing arrangements. Zone 2 represents material that one uses infrequently. I am going to label Zone 2 boxes for my move, put them in the workshop move staging area, and keep Zone 1 material available. The author tells you to back up your computer files. I have already been trying to change my email because I am moving from the Tampa area and cannot have a Tampa Road Runner email. I do like what he says about maintaining your changes and will perhaps discuss this in another blog post or when I move to Rocket City (Huntsville, Alabama). 

So this week I am all into Peter Walsh insights. Shoo away your extra shoes, he says. Yesterday I brought a dozen or more pair of shoes to put here by the music room in the school where I substituted. 

_______________________________________

Today we have rain today in Plant City, so I canceled my 7th garage/yard sale and am just working on my downsizing and putting the house on the market today. Besides, the 80th Annual Plant City Strawberry Festival is on and that is the focus in our area now. 

My deadline for having the house go on the market is March 9th and I have to get back to making my rooms look spacious, downsizing and packing. Might try to get to the festival sometime next week with friends from last fall's cruise I invited. Probably will put books into the car to donate when it stops raining, because books have not sold well in my garage sales. 

Carol

* One of my blogger friends (also a caregiver whom I interviewed) suggested I form a "The House That Cleans Itself" group on Facebook; that group is not as active as is the Plant City and Friends FB "LIKE" page that I regularly post on and which has 74 members. I am also following Peter Walsh's FB "LIKE" page now and we have messaged each other. His next book, I believe, is on downsizing for seniors or for your parents who are seniors needing to go to a nursing home.

Discombobulated With Caregiver Stress

Maybe I was a scatterbrain before becoming a caregiver. An Alzheimer's counselor even told me   blogging helps my stress. Here is my confession about my weaknesses and my often befuddled state. LORD HELP ME!

When you are a caregiver, you have stress. Could that explain why I cut my finger with Chef's Magic, went through the garage ceiling and accidentally swallowed my husband's pills and ended up in the hospital--all reported for the world to see on this blog!! Then there was the lost wallet on Good Friday in April--never found it to this day.

And clutter? Apparently you have to keep at this clutter problem. The thing is we have a great den with a pool table. Things get put on that pool table.  Put your supplies where your work is, according to organizational experts such as Mindy whose book I reviewed here. So cloth scrap material is by the sewing machine in that den. Now I am trying to sew a gift to be thoughtful and to save money and I need that pool table with its paper clutter cleaned off so I can cut out the gift. Shame on me! Too much clutter! Well I can't substitute teach this summer, so the opportunity to clean it off is here.  

Stress Indicators Recently?         

My digital camera went missing.  I didn't panic because I can take pictures with the iPhone. What is important is my husband. My digital camera was found in a box in the car.

My iPod went missing. I like my old iPod because I can get a phone call on my iPhone and turn it off and take the phone call or have them both on at the same time. I didn't panic about the iPod loss because I can listen to my podcasts, especially my Daily Audio Bible, on the iTunes on the computer. What is important is my husband and my being there for him. Sure enough that iPod showed up. It was right by the den's copy machine--camouflaged dark on the dark surface.

My keys to the DUI office went missing last Saturday. After several calls during the DUI break to get someone to the rescue, they were in the bottom of my purse! Does everyone just think I am flakey or what! Could it be that--

You work on organization all your life?! 

Today I have my husband at home and that is what is important. I am very pleased about what IS important. I am there for my husband who trusts me--a relationship we have built over our 14 years of marriage. The heart of her husband safely trust her it says Proverbs 31. Rather than my asking him,  he tells me if he is wet and I can change his adult diaper now in the bed--I am a skilled albeit stressed and befuddled caregiver. 

Chalk my scatterbrain up to caregiver stress or a character flaw, perhaps.  One day I want to get organized, but that day is yet to come.

Carol

Author of "The House That Cleans" Itself on TV

Excuse the flash on the TV, but this morning I enjoyed the 30 minute interview of Mindy Starns Clark  I had videotaped. You may recall that I have been blogging about her book for sometime and Mindy had sent me 15 books to distribute to people who read this blog. 

Mindy quipped that some people wipe their feet when they come in the house, but she used to wipe her feet when she left! Also, when she was first married she called for help because there was a raccoon in their bedroom after the window had been left open in their third story apartment. The help that came remarked, 

"Boy that raccoon did a lot of damage!" 

We do have critters in our neighborhood. A possum died in the backyard and Kenny said leave it alone and a vulture would get it. Sure enough--the the corpse disappeared leaving a backbone.  Won't leave a window open for a critter to come in! I have enough evidence of paper clutter still to deal with!  

Mindy said simply that she was housekeeping impaired. She writes detective stories, so, determined to change, she looked at the messes as a detective. She examined the evidence--those messes always seemed to happen the same way. Her house changed.  Her popular book, The House That Cleans Itself,  is now in its second printing. You can order it from my widget at the right. 

When my family from Alabama came for the Thanksgiving week, I was pleased that my sister-in-law noted some changes in the house because I had been implementing a house that would clean itself. (They also saw paper clutter of course in the den.) 

Mindy wasn't going to change, but the house would have to change, she said in this interview.  

I am not done applying her book. I still have changes to the house to make things simpler. The workshop is next. Hate to even show you the "before" picture of the workshop. Trying to be very careful what comes into the house now this season. This especially important because I never got around to the yard sale. 

Clutter at the Source

For almost a year I have been going through the book, The House That Cleans Itself by Mindy Starns Clark, one room at a time. This has been a humbling experience, because, Mindy sent me 15 copies of the first edition that I mailed to 15 of you who requested them. Some of you are in a Facebook group, The House That Cleans Itself, where we share our messes and successes. After a year you would think that I have it altogether. NO. I DO NOT, BUT AM KEEPING ON IT, FOLKS.

Although I am on the front and back yard officially, I have backed up to work on other areas in the house. Recently I wrote about the rug, and getting help to clean it. Such a relief!

It occurred to me that rooms in my home reflect "clutter at the source". I collect too many magazines, too much material and craft supplies and have too many clothes. There is too much mail in the house that maybe I can eliminate receiving. I need to deal with clutter at the source before it keeps invading our home.

From covers of magazines

Last week I have been tackling the magazines. I laugh as I saw all the magazine covers that promise you YOU CAN DE-CLUTTER or YOU CAN ORGANIZE. We think that we will read these magazines and so they pile up. Some of those subscriptions were "deals" when I bought something and keep coming because they are charged to a credit card. What a bummer! It is no great "deal" to bring magazines in my home that I will rarely read, even if they deal with clutter!

I was so proud of the recycled magazines I put out by the curb on Saturday.

I go through the whole Bible each year with a podcast called The Daily Audio Bible.
This morning I listened to and read along about Nehemiah's depression in Nehemiah 2:4. Like my concerns about our house, Nehemiah was depressed about the walls of Jerusalem. He went back to rebuilt and Scripture takes time to record each section of that famous wall being rebuilt.

I cannot control my husband's dementia, but I can take care of our home, one step at a time. Monday I am mailing letters to some of these magazines to stop them when the subscription runs out IF NOT BEFORE!  

YOU TOO? DO YOU BRING 

TOO MANY MAGAZINES 

INTO THE HOUSE?

15 Things I Like About the House That Cleans Itself

A donut tray

When I was substituting recently in high school culinary arts, I saw one of these things that Mindy Starns Clark likes up close, not just a picture in a book. Nope! Still do not want one of these in my house.

However, I do love fifteen things about the book The House That Cleans Itself by Mindy Starns Clark:

One. Hubby has gotten into the act and doesn't have problems finding things. He asked for a hat rack for his baseball caps and of course he got one.

Two. The coat hook in the living room by the piano works for hubby.

Three. The DVD "coffee table" we got at Ikea works for hubby and really if I hadn't started thinking along these lines, we could have never gotten it.

Four. I file broadly now. It is so much faster. The detailed filing can come monthly or whenever, and meanwhile it looks neat. All my tax information is together now and ready for the accountant.

Five. I make myself repair things as best I can within our limited funds. I go to Home Depot and Lowes now.

Six. I have permission to throw away all those magazines I haven't read. Who says I need to keep stuff for a potential yard sale that may never happen?! I can also give things away to people who can use them for real.

Seven. I keep cleaning supplies in rooms where I need them. Well I plan to, but haven't gotten to my "spring cleaning" yet. Each room will have its own cleaning list of what needs to be done and how long it takes.

Eight. If I have to have a cleaning service, which I have had twice in the last six months because of my back and carpal tunnel wrists, I do not have to clean up for them first.

Nine. I store everything where I use it and that saves so much time.

Ten. This works better for me initially than Flylady, although she has influenced me more recently with the 15 minute hot spot idea. I am better ready for Flylady after Mrs. Clark's book.

Eleven. I can have projects in process but just keep them hidden. I love having designated a temporary photo album table in the guest bedroom.

Twelve. I can live with imperfection. So many good-looking yards still have a few weeds.

Thirteen. There is hope that one can get a handle on the home clutter and messes.
Fourteen. There is a secret Facebook group as suggested by blogging friend Laurie where we discuss our messes and successes. You can join when you read the book if I am a Facebook friend of yours and you request this.

Fifteen. Author Mrs. Clark sent me fifteen copies of these books for fifteen ladies--you know who you are. Fifteen is a perfect number here because I have not felt so alone in this journey.

What do you like about this system?

Carol

Finishing Area #7 of The House That Cleans Itself



From Pinterest

Discipline is part of life. A friend said to me recently that she cannot be disciplined. I corrected her that she really is disciplined in some areas of her life. Habits carry her and new habits can bring new discipline.

I cannot get my way in this house because I cannot hire a lot of help and I cannot redecorate. It just won't happen like it does on a DIY TV program. The rugs will not be replaced and maybe I can clean them better. But I can be disciplined myself.

I chose to start the process in The House That Cleans Itself to be disciplined and certainly the house would be worse had I not started. I can say that I am not a slob anymore. I chose to do something. I can pretend to be a perfectionist, but I am so not a perfectionist and the areas that I went through will need work again. I do think, however, that this calls for Flylady's concept of the 15 minute timer. I spend time on the "hot spots". De-cluttering is a process while life is happening. There is so much freedom now in admitting this.

As life happens, there are other priorities than my clutter. Life is about bringing glory to God as I ask His help to be the best wife/caregiver and friend to others I can be. The book by Staci Eastin that I reviewed here, The Organized Heart, is all about priorities that are correctly placed. You can order it from the Amazon site on this blog as well as order The House That Cleans Itself. These two books have changed my life, folks.

Area #7 used to be so bad as you see  a month ago here. As I "finish" Area #7 I reflect on the impact of discipline and lack of discipline in my life. The guest bedroom is full of lack of discipline, but it is neater now. Things to solve later are there--some projects for "one day" and at the age of 68 I am not sure when that "one day" will be.

I have to laugh at myself. Once upon a time I saved shoulder pads thinking I could make a quilt with them! Who ever does such a thing? Finally I threw them away and then came a project idea. You can make angels with shoulder pads! I might make one, but saving shoulder pads does not meet the criteria in the graphic of this post.


Bed cleared and more to do

At last I can have overnight company again with less embarrassment. It feels good! I moved a little closet into this room that was stored in the workshop. It used to be in our popup camper that we gave away last year and we never went camping with it. The new owners have not expressed interest in this closet and so here it is in the corner with right now a clock and a box on top. There is a cable cord in this corner and we can put a TV on top when we have company. My rocket scientist brother will like having a TV here when he comes my sister-in-law says. I need to find a good container for gift wrapping as you see, but that will come. Also, have stuff on the wall side of the bed to do something with.

What are your thoughts about rooms that have too many unfinished projects and too much stuff in them? I really have clothes closets to go through. I have a quilt to make for my husband's oldest granddaughter and photo albums to finish for my husband. Projects bring joy to my life and I love making gifts for others. I do have a place to store projects now--the guest bedroom.

One day my husband may refer to area #7 as the guest bedroom rather than as the craft room. One day it may be ready for a professional caregiver such as blogging friend Laurie has staying in her home. I better finish projects so it will be ready. I will need a chest of drawers where I have the project table, will need to go through the closet and the shelves, but it will work. The carpet is already new here as we had repairs to a moldy wall once and insurance covered the new carpet.

Without being totally "finished" with area #7, I need to move on to area #8 in our house, which is the front yard. Spring is coming and every year I never seem to get a handle on weeds because I am so overwhelmed with the inside of the house and now my responsibilities as a lovegiver/caregiver for my husband who has Alzheimer's.

Weeds you will not have dominion over my front yard any more!

Repairs for The House That Cleans Itself

Except for mowing the lawn, hubby can bark orders to get someone out to fix things at the house with his Alzheimer's impatience. And so it was we had our garage door fixed twice recently, and we are still not happy with the expensive repair that didn't fix the problem. I now push the button to bring the garage door down, and then have to push it again quickly so it will not open immediately. I have to do this when I come home in the garage and when I leave with the garage door remote control. One feels that the garage door people just want our money for a whole new door.

In 2000  when we first married our tastes in shopping were so different. This was before the Alzheimer's entered our home, Home Depot and Lowe's used to be my husband's favorite stores. He was always buying tools and using tools. We both had more income then and could buy more. I went along with all the fine things he did for the house those first years because we were fixing our retirement home. He put up fences, installed a doggy door in the workshop, made a compost pile, made a wonderful mail box stand on our property for four homes here in the country, put up shelves for me, painted rooms, and made a workshop for himself that carpenters who have worked here since envy. But Home Depot or Lowe's was never my favorite place to shop. I liked places like second hand shops, antique shops and at times the Mall.

Home Depot purchases
for repairs

Hubby no longer really shops. He will stay in the car or sit in the store while I shop. But if I was to be serious about The House That Cleans Itself and the suggestions in the book, I needed  repairs and would have to go to those places he used to love. We hadn't been charging at Home Depot, but one can spend $300 for supplies and pay $50 for them over six months without being charged interest. So I actually stepped out of my comfort zone and shopped at Home Depot and racked up $300 in supplies. And then I had to take back items because I am not an experienced Home Depot or Lowe's customer or handiperson for that matter. The sink faucet was wrong. New lights didn't need to be replaced over the vanity, but our clever carpenter just went into my husband's workshop for a quick fix and was able to put in two sockets for my electric curlers and hair dryer. I took back the other light fixture with only one plug to Lowe's and got a refund. 

Hidden now behind existing light

I didn't realize this solution was possible, but our carpenter saved us money. Now I can plug in both the hair curlers and hair dryer and fix my hair at the vanity in the bedroom. Actually all I have to do is turn the light switch on and light, hair dryer can be turned on and curlers are all on. I use hair spray at this station rather than in the bathroom where I put in my new hearing aids. (I do not need hair spray on the hearing aids.)  I love this vanity for makeup and hair now! Guests do not see all of my hair and makeup stuff in the second bathroom they use. My station in the master bedroom is now complete.

The carpenter then installed new mini-blinds in the living room. The old ones were essentially broken.

You can hardly see them, but they are there.

The carpenter put up a new shelf in den to get that power strip off of the desk. One of the women in the Facebook private group for The House That Cleans Itself had a yard sale and ended up giving me this shelf for my devotional area. Before this shelf, chords competed with my Bible study area.

Power strip up and away

I love how my Nook and Kindle just look like books, but are getting charged in the meanwhile. It was essential that I have a separate area for my devotions, or I would get distracted by the computer or the TV. Now Mrs. Clark, esteemed author of The House That Cleans Itself, would camouflage those chords, but I can't do it all, folks, and this shelf works for me in our den.

Finally, the deck in the back yard was stained. Who was the carpenter for repairs that my husband used to do? Jake's son who learned from his dad and he did a great job! Jake helped his son while hubby just watched TV and I was gone. How nice to come home to a finished vanity area in the master bedroom and a finished devotional area and the other repairs!

Not afraid of Home Depot any more, I got plants and soil for the front yard at Home Depot. Yard work is coming my way for Area # 8 and perhaps before the guest bedroom Area # 7 is fully finished. Our climate is beautiful this winter. Who wouldn't want to garden in pleasant weather and catch the weeds before the April showers come!

Sigh! My tastes in shopping are now changing!

New Updated Edition of The House That Cleans Itself

The updated version The House That Cleans Itself by Mindy Starns Clark came Wednesday. That first version has sold over 100,000 copies. Wednesday I sat down on the deck to read the updated version, enjoying nutritious Plant City strawberries, a small avocado and a few almonds. Double treat of food and book The additional subtitle of the updated edition  is "8 Steps to Keep Your Home Twice as Neat in Half the Time". You can order that book from Amazon at the lower right of this blog.

The first thing I was curious about was the donut tray. Did she have it in the second book? Yes she does.



p.  184 in first edition vs. p. 52 in new version



My  Leaning Two-Step Sorting System

I thought about the difference in the 2007 and 2013 editions. In six years the author has been living this book and writing novels. That jelly rack or donut rack holds her research. It's probably more sturdy than my Office Depot file that helps me with the two-step sorting. My drawers pictured include Pending, Correspondence, Receipts, Health, Toastmasters and Taxes. It is so wonderful to now have all my tax information together. These are not projects, but broad category sorting that the author recommends. The white top box includes my daily mail that I sort through once a week and were it not for the paper clutter in Area #7 I am fairly paper clutter free now. However, I do not want a donut rack in my home. It is not pretty. But I do have projects to finish and Area #7 (the guest bedroom disaster area I blogged about earlier this week) can help house projects. What Mrs. Clark's donut or jelly stand translates for me is horizontal places for projects. I do have horizontal spaces in Area #7 on a wall rack that can house sewing and other crafts including photo albums. She suggests:

Create a project area in a different room where anything left unfinished after one sitting will be left alone until I can get back to it. (p. 52)

The updated book does seem to ease up on some suggestions in favor of concepts. Her COVERT
system takes a backseat (chapter 20) to her emphasis on 8 steps in chapters 4-11.  The 8 steps are:

1. Become a detective. She asks you to try to be detached, analyze the evidence of the problem, figure out the reason, and figure out the root cause. I saw evidence that I had tried a system, that it had gotten out of hand and I couldn't maintain it with all going on in my life, including adjusting to my husband's Alzheimer's.
2. Change the house to fit the behavior. This point was emphasized in the first edition that I wrote about earlier on this blog. (See labels for The House That Cleans Itself on this blog to read about what I have done beginning last fall.)



Stained rug

3. Create a first impression of clean. She covers sight zones, but also adds the concept of "inevitable invisibles"which she defines as

   those things that contribute to an overall feeling of disorder or disrepair--staines, tears, rust, grayed edges and nicks--but that you rarely notice because you've been living with them so long that they have become invisible to you. (p. 62)

   An example of one is our rugs which were professionally cleaned, but moisture deep down eventually came to the surface so the surface of the rug was no longer clean. We have our own expensive carpet cleaner in for repair. I will get a lesson in how to operate it when I pick it up, since my husband no longer cleans our carpets as he once did.
4. Think like a hotel. The author covers stations, up and away, and barnacling (the tendency to pile stuff on horizontal surfaces) so you can't easily dust.
5. Aim for simplicity. She again asks these three questions about stuff::

   1) Is this item worth my time?

   2) Does what I get from this item provide a fair trade-off considering the time I'll have to spend cleaning and storing it?

   3) Do I want to spend another second in the future fooling with it, or do I want to get rid of it now so it will no longer cost me a single moment of time? (p. 99 in the 2007 edition and p. 81 in the 2013 edition)



BEFORE picture shows my good potential,
but just collection of projects to go through
 and not any active projects.

6. Explore the "why". You have to discover why you are housekeeping impaired. Mrs. Clark discusses several senarios, or whys. I am thinking through the evidence in the above photo that point to poor housekeeping.  
7. Make it a team effort. I must admit that I have a hard time with this one because hubby does very little now and I do not have troops to rally. Perhaps I will step up and ask for volunteers especially in the yard, garage and workshop.
8. Put God at the center. She quotes Proverbs 16: 3 which says,
   

   Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.

Certainly the LORD has been helping my efforts as I go through this house, and the discipline of prayer and Bible study is so important to me. I want God to be at the center of my efforts each and every day. I know He is guiding my caregiving of my husband and I know people are praying for us.

My husband's memory is slowly leaving his mind and I realize that I need to make photo albums soon before I finish Area #7, the guest bedroom. Lots of photos are in that room and I set up the same table that was in Area #4 as a project place now. Usually I would do a project in the den or on the dining room table, but now I have a project place picking up on Mrs. Clark's suggestions. I am now trying to get a photo album of some sort done for my husband by Valentines Day. It is the green drop down one at the right pictured below--much easier than a Creative Memories album, and it will fit nicely on his new DVD coffee table.

Station for creating photo albums

Love having this place to work that is not in the sight zone. When we have overnight company, it will be changed.

The updated book emphasies label makers. I have an Electronic Dymo Labelmaker and am ordering Dymo tape for it so I will be able to mark containers in the home.

This 2013 edition  of the book also has a glossary of terms and a chapter on yard sales. It was so much fun to read this book and gain new concepts about my housekeeping and de-cluttering efforts.

Carol

Blog Announcement

I read a lot of blogs and comment on many of them. People make money on them. Barb and my pastor have suggested I do the same--that I monetize Plant City Lady and Friends. So this post is to announce that I will have monetized this blog (if you all buy something) by the middle of next week. You can buy books I recommend  through Amazon by clicking on the Widget at the right. I may change those books for time to time, but here are the first ten I have selected.

Mindy Starn Clark's updated edition of The House That Cleans Itself is on that Widget. I am reading the updated edition now, and of course have been blogging about the first edition since last September on this blog and have a YouTube talk on the first edition. I was the first to put a review of the new book on Amazon and of course will blog about the updated edition on this blog.

The Organized Heart by Staci Eastin I reviewed here. Recently the Housewife Theologian also reviewed this book here. Although she doesn't write about Alzheimer's, Staci's book has brought so much calm in my Christian life.

Dr. Mary Newport's Alzheimer Disease: What If There Was a Cure? is a top viewed post here on this blog (over 250 have read this post) and you can buy it off of my new Wiget. Early on in my husband's disease even before her book came out I was in contact with Dr. Newport.

My first book review was The Coconut Oil Miracle here. The world seems to be upset that I write about coconut oil here, but it does help a lot of ailments, and anedoctablly it slows down Alzheimer's and helps with our loved one's mood.

A Promise Kept is a classic for married folks dealing with the dementia of their spouse. I bogged about keeping your marriage vow and this book here.

I'm Still Here is a book that haunts me and I look for what in my husband is still here. .

Learning to Speak Alzheimer's is a "go to" book for me. Probably will write about it and need to master the concepts in this book.

I often use two classic books, Mayo Clinic Guide to Alzheimer's Disease, and The 36-Hour Day, which I have included on the Wiget. Both are too big to review here.

Finally, I put my book, Getting Off the Niceness Treadmill, on that Amazon Widget. Here the book is cheaper than its original price on Amazon. (However, the cheapest way to read it is a Barnes and Noble eBook, folks.)  See http://www.gettingoffthenicenesstreadmill.com/index.html 

Beginning Area # 7 of The House That Cleans Itself

Once there was a couple who loved having company including overnight company. They had bought their dream home in 2001, during the first year of their marriage, and it would eventually be their retirement home, they hoped--not too big, but big enough. Now she also needed room for sewing and a few other projects, so he calls this room the "craft room". She wants to call it the "guest room" and had her husband install shelves on the wall for her stuff.

It is the junk room and we are that couple. It is in our house-- Area #7 of my blogging about applying The House That Cleans Itself, by Mindy Starns Clark.


Can you make out a bed there?

Once there was a plan above.

My sister-in-law said on July 5, 2008, "Life is not long enough to organize everything." I found her great quote going through clutter. And I found other stuff misplaced as well! Do not, and I repeat, do not expect a report on Area #7 anytime soon. I will either get busy on this "ginormous"* mess, or get discouraged along the way.

It was a pleasure to have company recently and Areas #1-6 were finished.

Above you can see the dining table set for company and the chandelier that my husband put up before Alzheimer's.

Area #6 Small Garbage Can and Carol's Station by Hubby

Our dog would always invade an open small garbage by my husband's DVD coffee table, but now it is not accessible to him. Hubby calls me to sit by his side and I don't have a coffee table for my things, but a side table, what author Mindy Starns Clark calls a "station". I do not share my husband's interests in movies most often, but I have made myself a station here for things I read, magazines, newspapers, and have a lap desk for my notebook computer that I can put on my lap while I sit by his side. He is just happy to have me there and I m happy to have my station by my side to entertain me.

Monday night I spoke at Toastmasters. The title of my talk and Power Point was "The House That Cleans Itself" and I so went over my time limit. The talk was videotaped  for all the world to view my "ginormous" messes and modest successes. I brought extra junk bunkers to give away and got some takers at Toastmasters! This talk is on YouTube at: http://youtu.be/tlM_DbNkOwc

Hubby of course went with me to Toastmasters and then we went to the Olive Garden for a late supper. Both of us take half of our meal home now. Over dinner he forgot about my long-winded presentation because of his short-term memory. This is why he sees the same video from his collection over and over again. Maybe if I show him that YouTube, he will remember. Have to get photo albums together for him soon, and there are photos in Area # 7 that will help me.

Do you have a room like our guest bedroom?

Carol

*"Ginormous" is a word from Marianne's blog here.

Junk Bunkers Don't Belong in The House That Cleans Itself

Junk bunkers kill progress. It's the truth. You think it looks neat, but you DO have to go through what is in them. Here are some of my junk bunkers I am no longer using on my husband's pool table.

Not Going to Use These

Quick! I got them off of the cleaned pool table. In the background at the top right on the floor you can barely see two black hanging folders boxes that I actually use in teaching. Those black hanging folders contain back-up plans should my LCD projector break or the electricity go out while I am teaching a class.


Here are some pictures from stores that sell junk bunkers.

Michael's

Hobby Lobby

I also posted a picture of junk bunkers from Staples on December 4th. Sometimes I bought those junk bunkers from such stores. I think that maybe Flylady coined that term, but often I got them from yard sales thinking I had a real "find"! You certainly cannot dust them!

Just wait until I tackle Area # 7 of  our home--the guest bedroom. I always use it for junk, and when we have company I hide the junk elsewhere. Why before his Alzheimer's my husband built shelves on the wall for my junk baskets! How unsightly! Like our master bedroom, Area # 4, the guest bedroom will take a lot of time. I am embarrassed to show you, but I will show the before pictures when the after pictures are done for Area #7. Please be patient with me, because I do work outside the home--4 1/2 days substituting in public schools next week and then Saturday teaching six hours of a class for DUI offenders. (So glad that I can work when I want to or need to for income.)

By the way, Area # 6, the Dining room and Family Room, is as done as can be now. Again the carpets need to be cleaned, and I would like to have the fireplace inspected for safety because in the 12 years we have lived here we have never had a fire in it, although hubby says we have. Alzheimer's twists your memory.

It was a pleasure to have company last week. I showed the dining room table in the private Facebook group for The House That Cleans Itself. You need to be dedicated to your home to get into that Facebook group and it helps to read the book. The new edition of this book will be coming out  in February and I will review it on this blog.

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.