3rd Week of November

I know my posting on this blog has become very eratic, even though I started it (this year at least) with the best of intentions.  Seems my life is too unpredictable these days.  I just muddle along the best I can.

However, despite my getting "off" my own Plan, things have come together fairly well.  I have given some degree of attention to every room, and a bit more to the areas most in need.  There is no room in my house I'd be embarrassed for anyone to walk into (although the back bathroom is "iffy", but that's because that's where the litter boxes are! LOL!).

I have sent many many boxes of "stuff" out the door to be donated somewhere.  I've forced myself to part with an awful lot of books -= and have more to go - because my vision has gotten so bad I can't read them.  There will be some I'll keep, in hopes that someday there will be such a thing as a person who actually has time to sit down and visit with me, and go through  (or just read aloud) some of them.  Same thing goes for notebooks.  I seem to collect them!!  I sent an entire box full .. at least 15 ... out the door.  I kept 4 or 5 big fat ones, in hopes of either getting someone to go through them with me, or being able to pass them on to someone who will appreciate them.

I also took on purging a huge amount of paperwork.  When I had sorted it down to about a quarter of what I once had (and hope I didn't throw out anything that was actually important), I had a niece help by going through what was left.  That pile is now about a quarter of what it was - much more manageable!  All of that purging allowed me to clean and organize the storage system in the closet behind my desk.  And, I no longer have piles of papers and other *stuff* on the floor!  

The outside of the house is a different story.  There are still dead plants on the porch.  The door that fell off it's one hinge (bathroom linen closet) is still on the porch.  One "bookshelf" (actually, the top section of a china hutch) that I completely emptied is on the porch.  My Halloween cat and pumpkin are still there.  Because my husband can't be left alone (I don't even like to be out of range of hearing him), I can't take those things to the barn and no longer have "help" with anything.

Today, I'm "cheating".  I'm hiring a housekeeper, just for the one day.  She will clean everything front front hall to back hall (and I will do those areas myself) and she will do an excellent job.  Then I will only have to keep up with manntenance ... I have company coming Saturday night, then a fair sized crowd (14) coming for Thanksgiving.  And then it will be time to start decorating!!

This is the first year in many years that I have waited until Thanksgiving to start Christmas but it's a very unusual year for me.  With DH's declining health plus dementia, and my own failing vision, things have gotten both more complicated and less so at the same time.  I can never go anywhere, so most of the time it's just me here .. no reason for the house to not stay clean once I do it.  But until at least January, I have to refrain from finding some other areas to purge and organize!