Project Declutter and the Tale of DS

Food was good yesterday and so far today. Yesterday I was at a friend's house for a gathering after the burial of her mother. Lots of dangerous food there but I made it through mostly because I was focused on the people and not the stuff. Focused on what was important. This friend has been a real rock for me and it was good to be able to be there for her.

Project Declutter is coming along nicely. I have the kitchen looking normal again, and it's rather satisfying. There's still paper on the table but I haven't found a place for it yet so it will have to stay for now. This is a major issue for me, clutter. Best way to deal with it is in small bites, which is exactly how I am going about it. Tomorrow, I'm going to go through my closet; and if there's time my dresser. I will take out anything I haven't worn in a long time and that doesn't fit. It will go to the Goodwill or some other organization. My closet is a horror and I can't find anything in it right now. I have to deal with it so I shall. What will be next? Stay tuned.

I've tried two more teas. Li Zi Nutcracker a green tea that was strong in taste and very satisfying. I enjoyed this tea a lot. Then there was sublime Needle a white tea I found to be a little too light in taste but DD enjoyed. DD likes tea almost as much as I do. Her particular favorite is Twinnings Prince of Wales, a pretty good tea that I enjoy too.

This blog focuses a lot on my self improvement efforts. That's because the previous two or three years of my life were focused on taking care of anything but myself, which was chronicled in the previous incarnation of this blog. Here's the quick and dirty synopsis for those who never read it. For more than 14 months I was the primary caretaker for my son who has high functioning autism and bipolar disorder. During that time DS was not always stable with respect to his Bipolar illness, he was in fact hospitalized twice. He was also so behaviorally disordered due to a series of horrible school experiences that he was being schooled at home with the help of a visiting teacher, an occupational therapist, a speech teacher, a visiting psychologist, and towards the end a 2 different specialists who were trained to work with autistic kids. I would travel around town with him taking him places to keep him busy and to teach him tasks of daily living. We'd go to stores, bowling, all sorts of things. We'd to crafts, bake, cook anything I could think of to keep us going. We watched a lot of TV. It wasn't until the autism specialists came that things got a little better for me and I got a little respite to simply sit on the computer or just be alone for a little while. But often even then I was needed to help. It was a bad situation for us all. Our marriage, always a wonderful one and a strong one bent under the strain, but held thank God. In the end we were forced to admit that DS had to go to a residential school. We tried to place him in a local school that was in a town some distance away from here but they wouldn't take him, so this was the only way. He didn't want to go at first, but went in the end.

It took time but we all have adjusted to the new way of things. DS is happy at school, thriving and doing very well. He is learning, growing academically, socially, and emotionally. He has not been this stable since before his teen years. (he was very stable before he turned 13 then all hell broke loose). The school is two and a half hours from our house three with traffic. We speak on the phone almost daily, we see him once or twice a month. It's hard but we know it's for the best so we live with it. Love makes you strong.