So, a lot of you know I was homeless for five days in July of 2017. I was getting to the complete end of my rope living out of the car with kitties and puppies alike. I had made a decision to give it just another two days and then I'd have to give up my pets - all of them. That hurt almost as much as doing it would have.
I decided to treat myself. Parked the car where I could see it (since I had to leave it running) and got an actual breakfast at McDonald's. I opened my computer to find an email from a dear, dear friend, stating they had a place for all of us to stay. One call later and I had a home to go to.
Didn't finish breakfast (not from the lack of trying) before packing back into the car and heading south. Less than an hour later, I was walking through the door to a fully furnished, BEAUTIFUL home.
Still beautiful, but the truth was, it had a ton of junk in it from the owner having declined so badly that he couldn't care for the house or himself. No matter, I thought I'd be able to handle it. A month before, I could walk up a short flight of stairs with a forty lb bag of pet food. Surely, I'd be able to clean the place once I got better...
But my legs didn't really get better. Then I crashed - nutrition problems from my gastric bypass.
I kept trying - on good days, I'd get started in earnest. Trouble is, the first step is take things apart and that would be about as far as I'd get. Making things worse, not better. Kitties do not help - but it was all the large things, the physical labor, that I just could not get done.
So things went - until I learned I would have company in a month or so. I had to face reality - I could not do the simplest thing - I couldn't clean the whole house.
My savings took a hit - that's what it was for - but I hired all kinds of help. People to just cart out the junk. A wonderful lady to clean until things sparkle (she keeps eyeing me... ). A fantastic couple to get the yard - and even moved a lot of furniture! A friend's kids to help with a lot of the little stuff (she didn't tell them I planned on paying them! )
The visit came and went - and went really well. Well, I'd have preferred that the house be spotless rather than just clean but I'm mostly useless so we settled for clean - they were impressed so okay, really clean.
Got permission to donate the living room furniture - it goes away all nice and shiny on Tuesday. My new, I CAN GET OUT OF IT BY MYSELF recliner arrives Wednesday. All carpet is GONE! (To my tiny credit, it was only one room left - I had gotten most of it already). My shiny new, no springs poking out (that was recent, to be fair) BED is all set up and I slept in it for the first time last night.
Oh, there are still a lot of things to do. More stuff to go into the storage room (which is much neater now!) and an entire shop I get to clean ALL BY MYSELF this fall (it's not urgent and I WANNA play with the tools!). But the worst is by far over - everything is so nice! The kitchen is almost perfect (vinyl floor tile should stay DOWN!) and I can do so much now.
I have an office/craft room now - well, it was here the whole time but there was no way to use it. I probably should have taken pictures - no one would believe all the 'handrails', a bed, boards, hand built carts, and a car load of screws in everything! But now, I'm sitting up and typing!
Anyway, I've prattled long enough.
GOD IS SOOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!
I decided to treat myself. Parked the car where I could see it (since I had to leave it running) and got an actual breakfast at McDonald's. I opened my computer to find an email from a dear, dear friend, stating they had a place for all of us to stay. One call later and I had a home to go to.
Didn't finish breakfast (not from the lack of trying) before packing back into the car and heading south. Less than an hour later, I was walking through the door to a fully furnished, BEAUTIFUL home.
Still beautiful, but the truth was, it had a ton of junk in it from the owner having declined so badly that he couldn't care for the house or himself. No matter, I thought I'd be able to handle it. A month before, I could walk up a short flight of stairs with a forty lb bag of pet food. Surely, I'd be able to clean the place once I got better...
But my legs didn't really get better. Then I crashed - nutrition problems from my gastric bypass.
I kept trying - on good days, I'd get started in earnest. Trouble is, the first step is take things apart and that would be about as far as I'd get. Making things worse, not better. Kitties do not help - but it was all the large things, the physical labor, that I just could not get done.
So things went - until I learned I would have company in a month or so. I had to face reality - I could not do the simplest thing - I couldn't clean the whole house.
My savings took a hit - that's what it was for - but I hired all kinds of help. People to just cart out the junk. A wonderful lady to clean until things sparkle (she keeps eyeing me... ). A fantastic couple to get the yard - and even moved a lot of furniture! A friend's kids to help with a lot of the little stuff (she didn't tell them I planned on paying them! )
The visit came and went - and went really well. Well, I'd have preferred that the house be spotless rather than just clean but I'm mostly useless so we settled for clean - they were impressed so okay, really clean.
Got permission to donate the living room furniture - it goes away all nice and shiny on Tuesday. My new, I CAN GET OUT OF IT BY MYSELF recliner arrives Wednesday. All carpet is GONE! (To my tiny credit, it was only one room left - I had gotten most of it already). My shiny new, no springs poking out (that was recent, to be fair) BED is all set up and I slept in it for the first time last night.
Oh, there are still a lot of things to do. More stuff to go into the storage room (which is much neater now!) and an entire shop I get to clean ALL BY MYSELF this fall (it's not urgent and I WANNA play with the tools!). But the worst is by far over - everything is so nice! The kitchen is almost perfect (vinyl floor tile should stay DOWN!) and I can do so much now.
I have an office/craft room now - well, it was here the whole time but there was no way to use it. I probably should have taken pictures - no one would believe all the 'handrails', a bed, boards, hand built carts, and a car load of screws in everything! But now, I'm sitting up and typing!
Anyway, I've prattled long enough.
GOD IS SOOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!
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