I Organize You

After helping “Charlie” with his garage, he asked me to help his wife get her new apartment ready. I purchased new bedroom furniture, bedding and shower items for “Sandra,” then returned to help get all her items put away.

During lunch, Charlie’s wife began telling a bit about his life.

Charlie’s father was a physicist who was in the US Defense Department working on weapons of mass destruction. Due to his father’s responsibilities, Charlie spent his entire childhood under the care of the secret service. Bouncing from home to home, with a new last name each time he moved. WOW!

Sandra continued to tell how he ran off and joined the Marines at age 16. Ranking a Major in the US Marine Corps, Charlie fought in the Battle of Iwo Jima. She continued on with stories about their travels and hobbies.
I was in awe!!

Charlie gazed at his wife with such a loving look in his eyes. It was amazing to see a man care so very much about his wife. Not by anything he said or did, just his eyes. Stunning.

Sandra mentioned her back ached a bit. Charlie, speaking very slowly from the effects of his stroke, “Would you like me to arrange for a massage?”

In a flash, Sandra snapped back:
“Oh so now your gonna do something for me.
What the hell would I want anything from you? Your useless.”

Charlie simply pursed his lips, nodded to me, his eyes broken.

“Sandra, why don’t you eat your lunch so we can finish unpacking your room?” I stated in attempt to skirt what just happened.

Charlie went off for a haircut. Sandra and I went to her new room to get her items unpacked.

Charlie is an amazing man. He has told me he will always love his wife despite what her dementia is doing to her. My respect for Charlie grows with each meeting I have with him.
Hmmm … funny, I randomly chose Charlie’s nickname.
He is more than a good man. Charlie is a great man.

Sometimes what you learn from a stranger is priceless.

What have you learned from someone?

QUIZ TIME

Do not fret. It’s a fun, easy summertime quiz.

I think my hot sauce result was pretty much right on target.
Bit concerned that I did want to be relish. I hate pickles.
(not there is anything wrong with you if you’re relish)

You Are Hot Sauce

You are the life of any party, because you’re so good at bringing people out of their shell. You have a knack for helping people happily embrace their true selves. You are ambitious, driven, and fearless. You love taking risks. Your taste in food is 100% adventurous. You’re up for sampling any exotic cuisine or someone’s kitchen experiments. You live for trying new things, and you get sick of eating the same food (even if it’s very delicious).

“Charlie and Sandra” moved into their new senior villa about 8 months ago. Like many times, the move was very quick due to declining health reasons. Charlie and Sandra were unable to prepare or move themselves, and their family was unavailable. They relied on hired movers to pack and get their items to their new home.

Eight months have past and Charlie and Sandra still have a garage packed with items that have never been unpacked. Some items are keepsakes and collections lost amid the piles.

Both Charlie and Sandra use motorized scooters to get around, and all these boxes make it quite challenging. There are paths for them, though ideally these things need to be sorted and removed.

This was going to be another dirty job. Thought I would snap a shot of me in action – Bandana, respirator and ready to get messy. Some people think I’m crazy for doing these really gross projects, and this one was right up there with the best of the worst ones.

Then Charlie returns home after lunch, sees the amazing progress made in his garage and he begins to cry a bit. He tells me a bit of his story, how thankful he is for the amazing life he has had to date and the frustration he is beginning to feel for the loss of his wife whose dementia is becoming quite advanced.

At this point, I begin to forget all the nastiness of my job and I am thankful for being able to make a huge impact in Charlie’s life. His garage is cleaned out, keepsakes found and collections safely stored. The majority of items and boxes were damaged and needed to be trashed. Those things that could be used were donated and three crates of canned goods will be taken to Cherry St Mission, a local food bank.

Couple hours into this project I did think to myself:
“I must be nuts for getting involved in this.”

Though now looking back, it’s projects like this that truly make me realized why I do what I do: Helping people feel better about life.

Why do you do what you do?

Well, it took over a year to get our act together.
It’s all about timing.
Patience has paid off ………

Gas Pump Prices Rising.
Obama and McCain Square Off Over Poor Economy.
A-Rod’s Wife Files For Divorce.

Honestly…..How is your life?
Not the stuff you have.

Your life. Who you are.

Take away all the stuff surrounding you and take inventory of what cannot be purchased.

Stop reading the headlines and listening to the Top Story of the day on the news.

Start thinking about yourself and what you accomplished today to make your life better for yourself. For your family.
What did you do to challenge yourself?
Who did you make smile and laugh?
How are you helping others?

Stuff wise:
If you have a flat screen TV, XBox, Wii or Playstation3, you’re doing OK. (none of these are in our home)

If you have a computer, internet service, cell phone or Blackberry, I bet you’re ahead of where you were 5-10 years ago technology wise.

Look at the current price of a few common items in US$/gallon:
Pepsi/Coke $5.33
Minute Maid Orange juice $6.99
Propel Water $7.68
Monster Energy Drink $12.80
Blue Moon Beer $14.22
Starbuck Frappucino Iced Coffee $20.48
Evian Water $21.19
Robert Mondavi Chardonnay $28.16

Current International Gas Prices (US$/gal):
Australia $6.56
Japan $6.75
UK $8.79
France $8.80
Germany $8.88
Netherlands $9.90
Italy $8.96
Kuwait $2.39
Saudi Arabia $1.69
(well, I guess there’s no shipping costs to the last two)

Sure, we all want to pay a fair price for gas.
Compared to other nations, we are doing pretty good with gas prices.

Gas sold for about $0.31/gal in 1959
($2.18 for today’s inflation).
Now it’s about $4.15/gal = 90% increase

Oh, Coca Cola sold for $0.05/bottle in 1959
($0.35 for today’s inflation).
Today it’s $1.50/bottle = 328% increase

Hmmmm….no one is complaining about the price of Coke or Pepsi.
And energy drinks are flying off the shelf.

Bottled water … Remember, Coke and Pepsi start out as bottled water before the sugars and colorings are added. Bottled water is a cost savings to the corporations, though they charge the same for water as other products. Interesting.

You will not find me complaining about the economy or the gas prices.

I just can’t get involved in the negativity.

I’m an optimist and full of the belief that times are challenging, and you must rise and meet challenges.

How do you feel about today’s headlines?

What a fabulous week!

I caught the first fish, nice size bass (just for you Soul baby!)

Jacob caught his first fish:
a sweet, little perch .

Finally, Matthew caught his first fish:
a baby bluegill.

All the many fish caught were released, except for the small pike we continued to catch. These guys are overrunning the lake and quickly became eagle food.

It was amazing to watch this eagle swoop in an snatch fish out of the lake. AWESOME!!

The UP of Michigan is a beautiful area. Put it on your list of places you should take the time to visit at some point in your life.

What is another place that you recommend to visit?

Just some good ‘ol fashion R&R with my boys
….Oh, and we will be catching a fish or two.

Here’s the beast we caught 3 yrs ago.
Matthew and Jacob were so proud and excited.

What’s your summer vacation plans?
(Winter vacation plans for those southern hemisphere fans)

Recap: We began with “Tammy” and her newly aquired investment property in need of a clean-out (and a bigger dumpster). The attic was finished first (click here) … so on to the basement portion of this project

The before and after pictures:

Tammy had told me in the beginning that the old woodburning stove in the basement was going to be listed on ebaY. During the entire project, as I came across items that might be ebaysaleable (it’s a word now), I would set them aside.

Tammy ended up with:

• a nice collection of cross country skiis sets with poles
• wooden highchair
• several old glass jars and soda bottles
• some sort of unused scooter
• an antique seamstress dress model thingy.
  

The items I placed curbside seem to be disappearing as I quickly as I set them out. Hopefully the items will be put to good use in their new homes.

TWO dumpters later, Tammy’s property is cleaned out of all the old past stuff left behind. The house looks and feels soooo much better.

Me … I was one grubby looking, sweat dripping puppy. Probably should have had Tammy take a picture of me. Boy, I love getting so dirty you have to really scrub the mud off.

When was the last time you got really, REALLY dirty?

Kinda felt a little bit like Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs on a recent project.

With the housing market as it is, purchasing a home for real estate investment is probably never been better. Homes are sold for bargin prices, add a bit of remodeling and you’ve got yourself a nice investment. You can sell it for a profit, or rent the home for continued income over time.

But … the first thing that you need to do is clean it out of the stuff left behind from the previous owner. This is the continuing story of “Tammy” who hired me to clean out a home she recently purchased for investment.

Here are the before and after pictures from the attic:

These areas were covered by paneling innocently leaning against what was thought to be walls:

During this project, I was very respectful of these belongings. They had served their useful purpose decades ago and I sensed something everytime I entered the attic. Most items were placed into the dumpster, though there were a few things placed curbside to be collected and used by others.

Tammy’s attic is all cleaned and swept out. Lots of extra wood was found which she can use to refurbish the home to match the trim.

As I write about this project, I get an odd feeling, though I know the work I did was appreciated by more than just Tammy.

Have you ever experienced poltergeists?

Apparently the feeling of optimism caused by the combination of lighter evenings, the prospect of holidays and memories of childhood summers is at its peak on June 20.

According to the research this has been worked out using the equation:

The formula was compiled by Cliff Arnall, a psychologist and former tutor at Cardiff University who said the main aim is to ‘get people talking about what makes them happy’.

Note: Arnall is also the dude, an expert in depression, that decided that January 21st is the gloomiest day of the year.

I don’t know if there is something to this, BUT…..
I wasn’t too happy on January 21st.
And I am super, duper happy now.
Hmmmm….maybe there is something to Cliff’s formula?

Get out there and enjoy the weekend!

How you feeling about the start of summer?