House cleaner Wednesday

[susandennis]

The cats left me alone last night until about 3:30. They tried to convince me it was time to wake up but they didn't try hard. When the alarm went off and I opened my eyes, they were playing quietly next to the bed with some toy from the living room.

Now, Biggie is taking toys out of the bin, one by one, chasing them around until he loses them and then getting another one. The Smalls is eating his second breakfast.

I need to put away clean dishes, scoop out the litter boxes and get dressed. When the house cleaner gets here or before if she's running late, I will set out. I have a few things for Goodwill and I'll pop in to see if they have any good things for me... And then Costco. Inhaler, Kleenex and gas. Then a stop by the post office to mail my tax stuff off to the CPA. Big doin's!

I realized last night that I have now slipped into a new phase of life. There are physical things I can no longer due because I'm old and/or fat and/or not strong enough. There are plenty of physical things I can do. But, now, there is a gray area. Things I can do if I want to badly enough OR can/should toss them into the first pile if they are not.

I'll get up on a ladder if I really really need/want to but, honestly, I should not and, if it's something I don't care about, I will definitely throw it on the pile of I'm too old to do that any more.

I have one web cam up high on top of some kitchen cabinets. It's plugged into an electrical outlet up there. The only way to 'reboot' it is to climb up there and physically unplug and replug. There is not way in hell that that is a safe thing for me to do. There was a time when it was nothing. Easy peasy. Now it is perilous. But, last night I did it - hopefully, one last time, and installed a smart plug so I can now reboot from my phone.

But, I could just as easily have been on the kitchen floor in agony with a broken whatever or two.

Now I'm going to keep a list. Stuff that I need to get someone in here to do for me. Then, when the list gets healthy, I'll hire a Task Rabbit or the like to come in and polish off the list.

Getting dressed and cleaning out litterboxes is still in my safety realm so I'd better get on those now.

Comments

[restoman.livejournal.com]

I seem to have slipped into that same phase of life. I am only 65, but at nearly 300 pounds, with a bad back and osteoarthritis in my knees, there is an increasing list of things I can't or shouldn't do anymore. Of course many of those things are things I wouldn't want to do anyway, like snow shoveling and cleaning behind the toilet. Still I do not like being dependent on others. Fortunately my housemate, Ricky, is only 31, tall and strong. Lately the housecleaning has been getting done by my friend, Bob, to pay off a debt, but I like having that work done by someone else, so I may continue the arrangement.

For years I have been fond of saying: "Growing old is a Pain in the ass, but it sure beats the alternative."

[hopefulspirit.livejournal.com]

Ladders scare the hell out of me. I have some of the same worries but it's mostly due to living alone. I worry about falling off a ladder or tripping down the stairs and laying there for hours. I currently have three bulbs out in the track light above my kitchen because I can't reach the thing to change them, I need a ladder, but I don't particularly want to be on one so I've avoided doing anything about it. I can't do that much longer though, at some point that fourth bulb will be out and I won't be able to see a damn thing. I don't think I've heard of Task Rabbit, I'll have to Google it.

[christalin80.livejournal.com]

Glad to see the neighborhood is being watched over. He is on his perch, king of the castle.

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

I was going to suggest a smart plug but you were already there!

[kk1raven.livejournal.com]

Keeping a list and periodically getting someone to do those things for you sounds like a smart idea.