Pack With Me, Plus Real Time Update

Good morning. Sharing the latest video that went live this morning at 7:00 a.m. You can watch it HERE. I mainly video’d our getting ready process and picking out what to wear on our 2 weeks of vacation where the weather was all over the place. A little bit of a chatty vlog as well.

REAL TIME UPDATE.

Well, this week I had to stop and take care of my home office. I have been feeling “out of place” in there and it wasn’t feeling like home anymore. I was feeling the need for a dramatic change. I considered moving the room around. I even dreaded being in there. It just was not comfortable and I was feeling a bit smothered. I took a pen and piece of paper and tried to note all the things that were out of sorts or not working for me or not functioning like I need them to. It helped to write it down and make a list.

I decided not to completely reorganize the room (too much trouble) even though I needed and wanted a different experience or aura, but I just tried to fix the things that were truly bothering me. All of these really have to do with space and functionality mainly.

• Files for family member (bills) that I am in all the time, I could not reach.
• Not enough space on my desk to work
• Need to have calendar and planner accessible but not in the way
• Feeling all junked up – too much pending stuff in my work area on my desk
• My chair is hard to get out of and somewhat uncomfortable and I under these conditions I was up and down a lot

While I would have liked to have moved my desk around, it would have involved moving and the replacement of so many other things in the room including a filing system, recliner, walking pad/treadmill, and all my wall pics. It really is set in the best possible way right now – I tried to convince myself that anyway. I think if I had a laptop I could move around the house and be in various areas and it would seem different – maybe one day I’ll have a laptop again but not right now. So I gave up on moving the room around and the few changes I made seemed to help my brain and outlook and comfort level and how I saw the room as my workspace. I’m happier in it now.

All I really did was move some things off my immediate desk area, move in a little shelf that I had in my closet that I really didn’t need in there anymore, added some files on the top of the little shelf and put my planners and “to do” folder underneath. I put all my “to do” stuff in one folder, along with my planners, to eliminate the clutter as I cannot work with clutter and it distracts me. All those “to do” items had been lying in a pile on my desk which I constantly wanted to look at and sift through over and over. NO! That’s a waste of precious time.

So Family Member’s files are ON my desk now so I can see what’s due and be in reach of them without getting up and down constantly. I have room to work on my desk and my planners are not hogging up the space but still reachable.

Now this area below looks better now that I moved Family Member’s files off of it. I have my own set of “working files” (on the left below) – things I need to access often or are pending. And now instead of having two sets of files, this area is less crowded. I don’t need my files as often. Maybe once or twice a month. And on the right there is the “to be filed” stuff. I only file once a month but I park it here quickly after opening the mail, or when George prints something off for me and then just file everything where it goes all at once in the filing system that is in the middle of this unit below. It’s dark and hard to tell it contains files.

So I’m feeling better about everything and have been able to work more efficiently and enjoy being in my office without feeling all junked up and uncomfortable. Except for the chair. I need to do something there. It has been fine for short times of being in it, but I’m in it more often now that I am home, doing the videos, the planning, blogging some, organizing/paying Family Member’s bills, etc. Until I can find an appropriate chair – probably an office chair that will fit under the desk but yet be easy to get out of, I will have to endure this one. I have two pillows in it to make it cushy. We’ll just have to see what we can come up with there. I’d like to maybe find something second hand. I’ll definitely have to try it out to see what will work for me. This chair is pretty but it’s not functional for me anymore now that I am in here more.

Other stuff going on. We had dinner with my sister and her family Monday night. Went to get Family Member in Lebanon and then back to Opry Mills to eat at SaltGrass. We finally got to do Christmas. It was a little embarrassing to wag around Christmas sacks at the end of March but we all just laughed knowing everyone was staring. My sister shut the barn doors there as everyone was looking and watching us open in the restaurant, lol.

Family Member gets a perm today so I’m doing all my “morning coffee sit-down list routine” this afternoon at 2:00 while that is going on. I’ll probably just sit in the parking lot or find a nearby cafe. I will be doing my devo, World Bible school (grading, answering emails, adopting), Facebook birthdays wishes, checking the weather, and probably doing some reading.

I have started a couple of new books. One is a devo book about explaining difference in your body, spirit, and soul (see my side bar on this vlog where I have a good reads widget -might be at the bottom if on cell phone or iPad). I forgot what it is called. The other one is Unlikely Story by Ali Rosen. It was one of the free Amazon Prime monthly downloads. So I can kill 2 to 3 hours easily before being bored. I also have computer game apps on phone and iPad.

Originally was planning to shop but just don’t have anything I’m in the market for and really don’t want to spend any more money after vacation. I’ve also ordered some things on Amazon recently: a couple of photo albums which are for my grand children one day. I needed two different types. One that holds a lot of 4×6’s but then I needed some that would hold other sizes as well. The 4×6 ones holds massively more amounts of photos so I won’t need another for a long time but just needed a different one to hold the other sizes. Combination of the two will hold me for a long while on this project.

I also ordered a labeler. It’s the turquoise thing on top of this table here. I’ve not used it yet. Haven’t really had time, as I’ve put the videos and the other house projects first. I DID go through that drawer there and put “like things” in these little packets and I plan to label each of those and then start labeling things (jars) in the kitchen area. Excited for this. It hooks up to an on line (app on my phone) label system by blue tooth I think. I’ve not tried yet but anxious to get to this when I can capture some time.

This drawer was getting out of hand, and now it will be so easy to find things. I love it! I did not clean this out on video. I wanted to go ahead and tackle the drawer. I’m way ahead on videos so I’m trying not to vlog too much for a while. I do however, have about a half of a video vlogged already but it’ll be over a longer period of time. I needed a break anyway.

We are also having life group over on Sunday so I’ve found my lasagna recipe, made out the grocery list, and I’ve been working on the house some. Today is my vacuuming day at the house while Dexter is at doggie daycare but I have to leave here at 11:30 to take Family member to lunch and for 2:00 perm appt and the appt will be long so it’ll be late afternoon when I return. George said he would do it for me, which I appreciate. I may be able to squeeze it in but am doing my video work this morning, exporting and uploading a vlog to YouTube, so I can keep on schedule. Tomorrow will be a cleaning and catch up day, Friday we will go to the store for life group cooking essentials, Saturday I’ll actually cook the lasagna and Sunday is when everyone comes over. Also is supposed to storm that day.

Anyway that’s what I’m up to. The month will soon be changing to April and that brings a new quarter and a new bucket list. All those things are on the list and I’ve failed again at getting PJ’s hemmed and a puzzle worked. But I’m having fun doing what I want anyway, there’s just not enough hours in a day to do what I want – even now that I am retired. For two to three years, I kept rolling things over until retirement and it was so much that getting 50 hours back in my week still doesn’t cut it, lol. But it’s all good. The Lord reminded me that having 24 hours a day was what He created for me and that I would need to adjust because it is not going to change in THIS LIFE. He’s right, we need our rest and we have to work to do HIS WILL and find balance in all the things that we want and need to do.

A Family Member has asked me to help her clean her house again. I quit trying to help with that after I was blasted for saying that I was cleaning it. She thought everyone would think she lived in filth. I told her no more than an 80 year old that can’t see well would. No one would be judging her for that. Since she barked at me for saying I was helping her I just quit helping and I do not mention the person I’m helping by name, as I promised. Of course no one is stupid and can probably figure it out but anyway it just protects me some from personal confrontations. I’m about “personal confronTATED” out, lol. I mean really.

I don’t mind helping *some* unless there is negativity over it and then I’m done. One thing is for sure. I won’t be keeping up two houses on a weekly basis. So if she needs that she’ll have to hire, but an occasional fridge clean out or a windex or toilet swish, or counter rub down – maybe, and maybe a once a month or two vacuuming session but I’m not starting a routine of cleaning over there on a constant basis. I did not retire for that. I am not signing up for that. Matter of fact we probably should have her hire someone as we tackle a lot of things this quarter. Like I said, I don’t mind helping but I’m not going to be sufficient as a FT housekeeper in two places. Not gonna happen.

Again, family member really needs to be at assisted living before it’s too late and we have to decide for her where to be, or the government will have to decide depending on fate or situation at hand.

George and I will be busier this quarter doing some extra things and also painting and cleaning out some things on top of what we already have going on and so I’m not sure I’m going to be available to be over there much. We’ve put painting off for about a year now so we could do it in retirement and get a good stretch of time to do it.

I just try to stay away from anyone that is negative. It is not good for my already somber personality. I cannot endure constant negativity so I try to stay away from ANYONE that does the following: the moaning and groaning of surroundings, never being happy with anything, the constant having to walk on egg shells so as to not upset the applecart, the continual put down of people and judging them, the constant longing to fix everything a different way because it’s never satisfactory as is. No subject is safe anymore so I endure in silence when I am around such people and then retreat away in a hurry.

Ok that’s all my “spill” for now. I’ve probably said too much but you know, it is what it is. I have a lifetime of stories to tell and I know for a fact that other family members tell their side to others. I have proof! So here’s mine in the most delicate way I can tell it. I’m trying but to be honest most of my trying days are over as my head has been bit off, spit out, chewed, yelled at, talked about and in return I’ve tried to be kind in just dealing with it all. We have been thru so much in the last few years. I challenge anyone, said Family Member or any other person or family member to give me a hard time about anything said here and I WILL meet you HEAD ON! :-). The tribe has spoken.

If you read the blog here and still want to watch the video, you can watch it here. See you Saturday, Lord Willing and the tornadoes don’t come.