NOW WHAT???? - August 11, 2011

I am still very agressively still looking for "normal" yet!! I have almost hit the mark of being a "widow" now for six months. It still SUCKS!!

I have been dreading all the "firsts" fast approaching!! It will be "six months" on September 07. It will also be Max's 67th birthday on September 25. I know I have to learn to get over these "days". I have learned I definitely do better when I have people around me. 99% of our "dear" friends have made no effort of so much as a telephone call since the day of Max's services.

I also am just plain lonesome too much of the time and so very much appreciate having company. I am now looking very much forward to a very special visit from Debra Hall who lives in Georgia. Ironic, friends who live two blocks away have not even called, but yet Debra is getting on an airplane and coming to visit me next month. She will be here from Thursday to following Wednesday and I can not be any more delighted!!
I am almost giddy with excitement even!! Wanda in Canada has been trying to find a free time to come and may yet this year also!!

I just can not wait for Debra to arrive!! Company and a stitcher!! Can not get any greater than this!!!!

I have been very busy. Karen (she is daughter of man who shared the room with Max while he was in the nursing home) has become a literal "sister" to me. She checks on me daily and has come to help out while I have been down sick since I lost Max several times. Karen's husband went out of town two weekends ago for a four day trip. Karen came here each day at 10:00 a.m. and stayed till midnight each of these four days.
She is a real power house when it comes to cleaning and organizing. She could only be better if she was a stitcher and could understand all the "beloved" treasures we collect. Max's room was the "catch all" that he named "THAT" room. The "Hoarders" television show had nothing on this room whatsoever!! That thing was packed floor to ceiling and wall to wall to the point it was actually very dangerous for me to go near. Much of this huge pile could have easily fell on top of me and trapped me and I fully realized this and finally just avoided this room no matter what. Karen charged in there and started to drag things out to me where I could begin to sort them. Did not take too long and my legs began to ulcerate from me being on them too long and weep so I had to stay seated for the entire four days. It did not hamper us too much as there were boxes upon boxes that just needed sorting. I believe Karen pulled about twenty-five 40-gallon big trash bags full to my trash tote before the four days ended with at least six trips to Good Will additionally. What a difference these four days made. The room is again very nice, but I still have a few more boxes that I want sorted and removed as soon as I can get them done. Karen believes there is at least a dozen fully packed boxes of simply stash in that general area. My "Stitching Sanctuary" is now also loaded with about a dozen fully packed boxes of stash to be gone through.
Hopefully, I can get to all these in next week or so!!

Now, I suppose these pictures are all out of order, but they will be sort of explained under each.

I have also started at least a dozen new stitching projects that I will picture in my next posting!!

Now, what am I going to do with all this stash I know I will never use. I have big large tubs of fabric and shelves and shelves of charts and books and countless boxes of things. There are fifty or more kits that I know I will never do also. BIG PROBLEM is I have no idea of how to go about trying to put these things up for sale and/or give away. Kathy K. originally had a great plan of doing a simple 20 items each week and clear them out to just re-post another 20 items. This was fantastic idea, but I would be spending the rest of my life doing this. I do not want to be overwhelmed with posting pictures and bookkeeping of who gets what while waiting for checks to arrive to send all these things out to their new homes. I only intend to charge $1-$2 for most things along with actual postage. It just does not seem worth it as I am now looking at such a large amount of things!! Any ideas???
Above is the beginning of the mountain of trash bags Karen placed out for collection two weekends ago!!

Above is just some of the many Mill Hill kits I have found thus far. I know there are many, many more. I have already seen many doubles.

Above is some more of the Mill Hill kits I have discovered. I do NOT intend to get rid of many of these, only the duplicates.

Above is the bookcase that I have NOT been near since some time prior to the accident in 2002. Many caregivers added charts and books to these shelves. I do not even have a rough estimate of what and how many are on these shelves.

Above are the same shelves from above picture. Can you see how each shelf is bowing in the middle of each shelf. I fear some thing is going to snap if these charts are handled too much!! The blue basket on the left is full of new "tuck" pillows in Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas patterns. God only knows what all is where!!

Above is a picture of the middle of the room in my "Stitching Sanctuary".

I used to have my lift recliner in this left corner and always spent my days and evenings in there. When Max's condition worsened, I had to start spending every moment Max was awake right with him as no one could predict what he might decide to do and thus I moved my six OTT lights and magnifying lights out to the main living room along with my lift chair.

I have since found I enjoy the big screen television over the fireplace and am most comfortable in the living room and plan to just stay in there. I only an a bit unhappy with the fact that I must put every little needle and thread away each evening or my living room begins to appear a bit "messy" and "unorganized". But, I am learning to pick up all my stitching things each evening before bed and simply making it a habit now.

Well, above and side ways, (one of these days I will learn how to edit these pictures) is another shelving unit that is crammed full of various fabrics.

I still have large plastic bins full of fabrics as not one more will fit on these shelves. Got to get better organization.

Please send me all your ideas on what I should do to find all the boxes, upon boxes, upon boxes of stash a new home as soon as possible!!

I have vowed to my self that I will find "normal" again and get my life re-organized again. For years, I was one of the worst obsessed compulsed perfectionists any one could imagine. It was BAD!!!! I guess I sort of lost this with the accident memory loss, but it seems to be re-emerging a bit again. I sort of hope it will, as my life surely needs organization!!

Love and Hugs!!

Deborah