Start Where You Are

"Do not wait; the time will never be 'just right.' Start where

you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your

command, and better tools will be found as you go along."

-- George Herbert

This came in my "Inspirational Quote of the Day" e-newsletter today.

What perfect timing!

Over the past couple of years, I've become so inundated with stuff.  I am aware that a lot of this has to do with being my Mom's sole caregiver as she descended into the beginning & middle stages of Alzheimer's Disease.  I knew something was wrong at the start, but I could not get my Mom's doctor to listen to me.  Part of that was the fact that we almost always were his first appointment of the day, and that's when she was at her best.  I'm not sure what finally triggered him to take me seriously, but by then, the meds didn't seem to help her much.  As we travelled that path, I would go to her house in the morning, to make sure she took all her meds (she just lived a few houses away), then off to work.  When I came home from work, I would stop at home, drop my things & go back to her house for dinner, usually staying until she went to bed.  A LOT of junk gets to piling up with that kind of routine!  Then my one sister moved back to California from Australia, thinking she could stay at Mom's & give me a break.  At that time though, Mom was truly in the midst of AD, and it was just too much for us.  Our other sister came down from No. California to help, and with the help of my niece, who works in the elder care industry, we found a decent care facility.

My sisters helped me, almost doing a "Clean House" for me!  They got me 3 big cabinets from IKEA for the room that became christened "The Fabric Shoppe"...but we still had to use some plastic bins, as it wouldn't all fit in the cupboards!  For maybe 6 months, I managed to keep the dining room table & coffee table fairly cleared off & tidy.  Then I slowly began to fill them up again.  <sigh>

And then my Dad decided to clear stuff out of his house.  He hit the big 90, and wanted to make sure that we got the stuff he wanted us to have.  However, it really wasn't stuff that we wanted to have.  2 car loads of his stuff later, I once again had trails through my house.  I almost felt like I should post a sign:

PLEASE KEEP TO THE MARKED TRAILS.

WE HAVE NO SEARCH & RESCUE AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME

My couch is about 20 years old, and is in bad shape.  The recliner broke.  The dryer gave up the ghost.  There are piles of crap everywhere!  Yikes!!!

But....

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

On January 4th, I took myself to IKEA & bought a new couch, chair & ottoman, to be delivered and assembled on the 17th.  (I could assemble it myself, I have the technology, but it was a free deal, so why not?)  On the 15th, the big truck from 1-800-GOT JUNK should be at my house.  I will be pointing at that, and that, and THAT!

Wish me luck!