Compulsive hoarding is a mental disorder that is just beginning to be understood. As a hoarder, I have acquired things over the years with a specific purpose in mind at the time of the acquisition, used some of those items for their intended purposes, forgotten the goal for different objects, but now that I find that they have outlived their purpose in my life I am struggling to rid myself of those same things.

You can read the start of my journey here.
Showing posts with label pod. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pod. Show all posts

Monday, December 20, 2010

Progress.

Not sure where to start.  

Things are going well, though.

The pod on the driveway? 

It's not there anymore. It was picked up last Wednesday. We are all so very thankful it's gone, and of course the neighbors are thrilled! The yard, the entire street, even, looks so much bigger with that thing gone! And do you have any idea how wonderful it is to be able to park in the driveway for the first time in 20 months? Let's just say we'll never take it for granted again. 


Last week, Mom helped me go through 20 boxes in the basement. Of the 20 boxes we sorted through, I only kept 4, and I'll eventually be going through them again and getting rid of more stuff. I just didn't want to take the time to do it now. Too much going on. So, like I said, Mom helped me sort through 20 boxes. I kept 4. For now. I'm looking forward to being well enough to sort through the rest of the boxes downstairs. 


I feel like I'm healing well. I feel well most days and had gotten to the point I wasn't needing the stronger pain medicines like I had early on. Then I wasn't thinking and was pushing the shopping cart this weekend when The Hubster and I were shopping. I was doing fine until I tried turning a corner. I felt it then and I'm still feeling it tonight. I haven't done much of anything yesterday or today. I'm trying to take it really easy, so I  can heal up from it, but it really irritated me that I did it without even thinking about things.


I really am feeling well overall, though. Much better than I expected to feel, and much, much better than I did after I had my c-sections. I am thrilled I had the surgery, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I just need to stay away from the shopping carts for awhile, so I don't overdo. I can do that. 

I'll be here sporadically while Mom is still visiting. I've never felt like I've gotten enough time with my parents as an adult, because we've always lived so far apart. Now that Mom's here, I want to spend every moment I can with her. It's been amazing having her here, and we're making lifelong memories. I want to be present for them, so I can store them in my heart.

So. That's what's going on in my life. I'll be back as I can. 


I hope each and every one of you is doing well!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

An early Christmas.

I am ever so glad it was warm outside today. Well. Warm for Colorado in December. It was in the 50s, and we needed every degree of warmth possible to complete our task, plus the space heater, but complete it we did.

The. Storage. Pod. Is. Empty.

My mother and my husband did the vast majority of the leg work with a little help from Hopper. We thought of hiring Frank the last couple of hours to help out. I wish we'd have thought of it sooner. It was a great investment, and he was a huge help. 


Our basement holds most of the contents of the pod at this point, but it does not feel like it will be impossible to get through the boxes, even though they take up a large portion of the family room. It's going to take awhile to get through the crafts and get them sorted. There's a lot of crafts, and while I have quite the craft area I will not have room for everything, so I will be paring down as I go along. I think it's going to be a case of "easier said than done," but I refuse to be intimidated. I will get through it.

I meant to take pictures in the pod before we started unloading, but it's just as well I didn't. By the time we finally finished, I felt like a Popsicle I was so cold, and I doubt my fingers would have been able to operate the buttons on a camera. Now that everything is inside, I'll make sure I get pictures before I start going through boxes tomorrow.

I know we have a lot of games that we'd gotten for the girls over the years, but realistically, I know we won't be using them all, and many of them are still brand new. I want to go through them, get out the ones I don't think the girls will use, and donate them to one of the local toy drives in time for Christmas. Hopefully, they'll bring smiles to a few faces this Season.

I'm exhausted tonight from my role in today's adventure. I didn't lift anything. I left that up to The Hubster and Mom. However, I stood in the pod for the 5 hours it took us to go through and delegated. The craft boxes went on one side of the family room. The games, toys, and other boxes that are going to require a bit more time to sort went on the other side. The books all went in the workout room. 


Speaking of books, The Hubster was in shock when we came across 13 more boxes of books after he thought he'd already moved all the boxes down to the workout room. He's positive he's not going to be able to fit them all on the bookshelves we have ready for him to use. He's looking at paring down, too.


Emptying the pod today has been an eye-opening experience. It's made us very much aware of what it is that we struggle with hoarding, and it's made us very much aware that we do not want to continue down the path we'd chosen. We no longer choose to go down that road. 


We've decided to take a detour that will lead us to our real lives. 


Merry Christmas to us.

Just checkin in...

I'm feeling much better than I expected to feel 11 days post-op. I am just so relieved to have the surgery out of the way and to be feeling the way I am. I definitely feel better than I did at this point in the recovery after my c-sections, so I'm quite happy about that.

When I went in to get the staples out last week, I asked the doctor, if it was okay for me to go through the boxes that The Hubster was bringing in from the pod on the driveway. She said that it was as long as I rested, if I felt tired. So I've been sorting and resting as needed. I've gotten through quite a bit so far, and I couldn't be happier.

We're about halfway through the pod at this point. Things have either been tossed in the trash, cleaned for donation, set aside for someone else, or kept for our use. So far, we're keeping very little except the craft stuff. And we're on such a roll that decisions are coming easier for me all the time. 

We're about halfway through the pod at this time. Tomorrow, we're going to get it emptied. We want it off the driveway. Granted, that means we'll have to put what remains where it will fit, and it will take up quite a bit of room downstairs and in the garage, but I'll continue to work on sorting as many boxes as possible, so we can get the basement cleared as quickly as we can. 


We're hoping to completely clean the pod out tomorrow and call the company on Monday to come and pick it up. The company has up to a week after we call to pick it up. That being the case, we will be able to park in the driveway before Christmas! We are SO thrilled with that! The driveway is going to look so naked once it's gone. 


That's okay.


Nudity has it's place.