Marilyn Bohn | Creative Organizer

For over a year I put out food in our garage for a stray cat that was hungry. My neighbor who was also a cat lover asked what we should do with him; either have him put to sleep or fixed so he wouldn’t add more kitties to the cat population. I said to have him put to sleep, but she said he needed a chance. She took him to the vet and I picked him up. After that he was very afraid of my neighbor, but became friendly with us.

We coxed him in the house where he would eat and sleep in the deep cold of the winter. He was an inside/outside cat who soon loved us and we loved him. We called him Carl. He was one of the best cats we have ever had. After being at the vets he just never acted very well. We had him checked out and he was diagnosed with feline aids.

He had the sweetest personality, never minding other cats who would hiss at him, staying close to home, coming out in front of the car when we came home and then jumping in when we opened the door. He would come to the downstairs window to be let in and then would just lie at our feet for the evening.

This past week my son-in-law Rick took Carl to be sent to heaven. (It needed to be done and we just couldn’t do it). He brought him home and my husband dug a grave and buried him way out back under the apple tree with the other cats he has buried there through the years. Carl needed to be put to sleep as he had become so thin and unhealthy. We loved our Carl and for the two and one half years we were privileged to have him for our cat he brought us much joy and happiness. The vet estimated he was about 14 years old but it is sure hard to see a friend leave our home for the last time. By giving this cat a chance we were blessed many times over.

I am not one to wish my life away but I must say I am glad that I won’t have to repeat a week ago. I took up the linoleum in the kitchen/dining and carpet in an additional area of our home. Tile workers came and laid tile, so for six days we were in chaos. From the ripping up, taking everything out, putting everything back and cleaning up afterwards it was a big mess.

I think because I organize homes for a living I am always trying to find ways to organize my home and pass on tips to my clients. One thing that was helpful when I had these floors tiled was the way I organized the process. Before taking up the carpet that was in a room extending from the dining room and the linoleum in the kitchen and dining room I moved what could be moved before tearing all of this out. When I found items I no longer wanted I put them in a donation pile or in the trash. I boxed up items I wouldn’t need and in other boxes I put items I thought we would use during this time. That saved a lot of effort later. When we needed something I knew where to find it even though two rooms were all stuffed into the living room.

If you are remolding any area of your home I say may the force be with you!

I was organizing a home the other day and a woman asked me if my home was organized like I organize other people’s homes. I assured her that it is. When I got home I started looking in my cupboards and drawers to make sure what I had told her was true.

I have four drawers at the end of my hallway and I started looking in them. I was agog and aghast at what I saw. When did things get out of hand? The extension cord drawer was a mess. I ‘folded’ each one and put a Velcro strip around them to hold them in place. An empty toilet paper roll or a long twisty tie works also.

In the next drawer I donated some suction cups that don’t work very well. It was always iffy if they would hold. I got rid of some old spray paint that I haven’t used in years. I have some in the garage and these were almost empty. Why on earth was I holding on to the cans I wondered?

In the next two drawers I rearranged the table clothes and placemats; I took out my warrantees and put them in my wonderful FreedomFiler filing system. (You can find this product on my web site at www.marilynbohn.com on my home page). By putting the paperwork where it belongs it freed up space in my drawers.

Later I found another bonus from my organizing jag. We were prepping the walls and floor to have tile laid. I needed safety goggles, a drill, a large drill bit, spackling paste and all because I had organized these drawers I knew right where these things were. I would have been clueless. Even as a professional organizer of homes and offices I find things in my home that need organizing. And what a bonus to find things I forgot I had or didn’t know exactly where they were.

I went to get my hair cut by my darling hair stylist, Samantha. I told her my hair has been feeling so dry. She immediately asked questions about the products I am using on my hair, and suggested different reasons why it could be like this.

She then washed my hair twice instead of the usual once. (Isn’t that such a great feeling to have someone else wash your hair)? And she conditioned it. She is an expert on hair and it made me feel good that she took special care of me, listened to my concerns and gave suggestions on how to help my problem.

As a professional organizer of homes and offices I am an expert in the organizing field. When a client indicates a concern about an organizing problem I go into the ‘let’s solve this problem mode’ just as my expert hair dresser did for my hair.

The other day I was in a woman’s walk in closet but there were so many clothes and things on the floor it was a walk in, in name only. The first thing I did was to pick up everything off the floor and make a decision while it was in my hand of what to do with that article. Next we went through every piece of clothing hanging in the closet and donated, recycled or threw away unused items. The clothes left were hung in groups of likes. Blouses, pants, blazers, and skirts were hung next to others of the same. Next we took everything off the closet shelf and dispatched them to their rightful places. To be able to see hand bags it often helps to hang them.

This is an article writen by Nancy Kirk of www.Kirk Collection.com I thought it was worth sharing.

On Labor Day, crowds gather around a large statue commemorating the role of labor in the building of our city and our country. The sculpture features men pouring molten metal from a vat into a mold. The union leaders make speeches, the politicians make speeches, and the rank and file union members applaud before heading off to the nearby Labor Day Festival or home for a barbecue.

As I thought about labor today, all the images that came to mind of people working hard were of women I met this year. Women who worked in the way too many hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities I have spent time in this year - either as a visitor or a patient.

I’ve watched thin wiry women move patients who weighed twice their weight. I’ve met women who worked through the night, comforting, soothing, washing, cooling, warming, treating and turning their patients.

I’ve met women who gave showers, washed feet, cleaned wounds and ministered to the bodies and souls of people who wanted to be somewhere else.

I’ve been honored to know women (and some men) who felt the body is a sacred vessel and who understood that all of its functions are miraculous, even the parts many of us would find disgusting.

I think many of us dread the day we won’t be able to control our basic bodily functions and that we will need someone to wipe our butts. What we fail to recognize, is that our very helplessness can sometimes provide the opportunity for another person to give the gift of care with dignity.

I think most of us feel comfortable with the idea we may need to care for someone we love - a child, a parent, a brother, a sister, a spouse. And when we have to, we find depths of compassion and ability we didn’t know we had.

But there are those among us, who bring these same skills and compassion to the care of strangers. They labor as strenuously as the factory workers depicted in the sculpture. They are often at the bottom of the medical pay scale. They may or may not have representation by a union. But there is no question they are labor and deserve to be celebrated on a day like today.

But these people, the nurses, LPN’s, CNA’s, techs, patient assistants and others who populate our hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities, deserve their own holiday. Maybe it should be Dignity Day, to focus on the work they do which helps people maintain their dignity even when a mind is lost of Alzheimer’s or a body loses it’s ability to respond after a stroke.

I’m not sure they are ever going to put up a statue of someone wiping an old lady’s butt, but if life was fair, they would.

This is Nancy Kirk with your Monday Minute on Labor Day.