I am fortunate enough to live in a comfortable, ranch-style house. For about fifty-six years, I’ve lived in this house. For the past nine years, I’ve lived alone. Which is okay. My house has a garage, a living room/dining room, kitchen, three bedrooms upstairs, two baths, and a nice connecting hallway. The basement is equal in size with two rooms that can be used as bedrooms, a very large “family” room, a bath, and the workroom that serves as a repository for some of the exercise equipment that I own – a recumbent stepper, a Total Gym 2000, and a TRX. It also has my large, upright freezer, my washer and dryer, Larry’s basement workbench, as well as shelves for extra stuff.
Now, when I say stuff, I MEAN STUFF! Married for sixty years and now alone for more than nine, we accumulated lots of stuff. And, as important as it all was at some given time, some of it has not lost its luster. So, I have a rule: Something has to leave my house, every day, and NEVER come back. During the last couple of weeks, my success with that rule has been this. My large TV set is gone, as is the low table that was never put together because we didn’t have time. It was going to be a table in my office (from which the TV departed), to hold two printers and their paper. But, both are gone (the TV and the not-put-together table), and I’m glad. My office has my small desk, a curio cabinet, and shelves for part of my extensive library.
I should tell you about The Big Room. Larry built a 500 square foot room for me. It is wonderful. It houses a second wood stove in one corner surrounded by a white wicker set of furniture (love seat, two chairs, and a coffee table), my art table in another corner, a supply cabinet and other art supplies in the corner that leads from the house to The Big Room, and a really nice two-piece desk in the fourth corner. The desk has overhead shelves; it is where the HP LaserJet 4000 and the Brother Color printer are resident. But, I don’t use that desk any more; I use the desk in my office (a former bedroom).
When I worked away from home as the assistant to the Department of Pharmacology Chair at the Colorado’s School of Medicine, I was organized. I had responsibilities at home (husband, kids, meals, house, church, dogs), and I had responsibilities at my job. All neatly organized and in place. No apparent chaos.
Now, I live alone and, it seems to me that, my life is in CHAOS. I cannot point fingers at anyone but myself for this chaos. And, so, I decided that, to start with, my (former bedroom) office needed to be completely overhauled! My faithful “keeper,” Rita, and I started by removing things from the office to make way for the rearranging of everything. With the TV and the table-in-a-box gone, we had more space in which to work. But, of course, everything we took from the office had to go somewhere. My hallway is wide enough that I can store boxes on one side of it, leaving plenty of room to navigate from the back of the house to the front. So, of course, where did the stuff we took out of the office go? Into boxes, carefully labeled, on one side of the hallway. And, we still have more to remove from the office, but that will have to wait a bit.
The workspace on my desk is rather limited – truth-be-told, it is very limited. With the computer, a printer, a shelf that holds items I use daily, there is little room to actually work. So, I started thinking (and some would agree that that is a dangerous thing for me – Larry used to ask me “Are you always thinking?”); but, yes, I decided that maybe there would be a way of adding a top to the existing desk top to give me more workspace. You know, just screw on a piece of laminate-covered wood and give me twelve more inches, all around. I talked with HM Keith about this, he said it was possible, and he would check into that possibility.
I’m guessing that this project was in the back of my mine, all of the time, because one morning, I woke thinking (thinking, again) – wait! I have a perfectly good desk out in the Big Room that is no longer in use because computer guru Roger took that old (really old) computer away. Instead of adding to the desk top for more space, why not simply (well, we all know that nothing is simple) switch rooms. Move the office out to The Big Room and get rid of the little desk. Well – that should take until the last of October, not that we have anything else to do during that time. I involved both computer guru and handyman in this decision – they thought it was a very good idea.
Did I say this already? A back surgery had been planned for me for July 1 – that didn’t happen. At first, it appeared that September might be the next possible time. However – and, this is a BIG however, three of my physicians are advising me that this is a really dangerous thing for me to have at my old age. I respect their opinions and advice. So, we have another process in place to see if the surgery can be avoided. So, with that hope, I really have plenty of time to do this work.
I will have to have significant help from all of my helper people: my computer guru, my handyman (HM), my “keeper,” and anyone else who wants to offer assistance. I will make every effort to be comfortable and take it. My plan is to follow the changed health plan and get stronger so that I can do more of the work. I believe that if this is what is to be, then it will happen. So, think (there’s that word, again) good thoughts for me and this reorganizing adventure. My house and I will appreciate them.
Be Safe and Be Well
The Cranky Crone
Thoughtful comments are always welcome.
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