Cleaning up

[Kay/NC]

Today started out really rainy in Carolina.  Winn decided he was going to help his Mommy check the pigs, and all they had was walkthroughs, so that was fine.  He is a big boy now.m

a while later, caught the hired man coming through the yard, and awinn was with him...they were heading to clean stalls.  I asked if they wanted a snack.  He said, " I really want a peach!" 

Went in and peeled three peaches into a plastic bowl, so they could share.  We said goodbye, then hopped into Mike's truck, so we could get here and start cleaning out the old farm shop.  

You can really tell when you follow someone like our son, with his ADD.  Just a wreck...and Mike has pretty much throwing things on top of that mess for three years now.  

We grabbed a brunch at the house, then headed down the lane to our old barnyard.  He has bushhogged quite a bit, so it is not quite the jungle it was a few weeks ago.  Still a lot to do, but Rome wasn't built in a day.  

We carried a full pickup body to the dump, and his big dually is pretty much full of metal to recycle.  I straightened and swept.  Moved things he has to go through to one side to sort, piling thme in a corner and on the workbench and some tables son left behind.  

He came and hauled away his old jet ski and boat trailer.  Had told him they had to go a few weeks ago, and texted him when we got the tires blown up today.  Got his feel for what he wants to do with a ratty old tractor my father gave him.  

It is coming out of our shed, along with a parts tractor we have been cannibalizing.  That will give us way more space for our newer stuff, and then we see where we can re-build a section of side shed on the shop, that got gone in Isabel.  I am voting for a lower roofline this time.  

It is amazing what you can get done in three hours.  We stopped whehe trucks were full, snd our backs were getting tired of the concrete underfoot.  

This is the difference in me now, and me when we last lived here twenty years ago.  I would have pushed to finish the job, and worn us both totally to a frazzle. 

Now, I can fight the OCD compulsion to notice the un-done, the still-a-mess...say, "We did great today!"  

I guess it has finally sunk in, that our messes are very patient, and won't go away if we have to wait for another rainy day.  

[Husker-J]

I need to get cleaning up myself.  As someone who has ADD myself, I can relate, although I have (sort of) learned how to deal with it, and turn it to my advantage.  I have a list of 'things to do' with little baby steps of what to do at any one time.   When I find myself with a half hour or more of free time, I check the list, and do one of the steps.   It might be something as simple as re-hanging a gate that fell off the hinges so I don't have to carry/drag it, or cleaning off a tractor, an area of the shop, etc, etc.

Dumb question, but does your son have the variation of ADD, where he loses track of time?  For example, he might be working on a project, then something else grabs his attention, then another, and before you know it, he's running way late?  That is my problem, I finally had to just learn to work around that.  If you want any pointers, I can give a few suggestions on how to (try to) work around that.

I also have piles of stuff in the shop, much of which is just clutter that I need to find a place for, and some that just needs thrown out.  However, cleaning with ADD goes like this:   Put the hammer away, put the level on the shelf, oh, THAT'S where my chalkline went, I better put it where it belon.......ooh, did you hear that bearing squeak?   I better get a grease gun (pump pump pump), OK, I'll put the grease gun up.  Now, what was I doing?   Oh, well, if it was important, it will come back to me, I think the bus will be here soon with the kids, so I better get ready to meet them.

I just hope in 20 years, I don't just have another 20 years of stuff piled up.   I have a home-made welding table that is something like 6X20, and have maybe 2 square feet of open space on it.

[Kay/NC]

Well, including being born 13 days late, in the hottest July in history, he has never gotten anywhere on time in his lfe...so, probably! 

Cannot blame all the wreckage on him, as a house tenant before him had free run of the barnyard...BIG mistake! Mike was totally flummoxed by it.  Didn't know where to start.  

I stood and analyzed the parts of the piles pretty quickly, said, " Start with loading the three washing machines into your truck for the recycler." He topped that load with more metal debris, and we got $74 for that load.  

Second load got $54, and we salvaged a potentially useful satellite dish, too.  I have actually got it to a couple - hour job,mto straighten and sweep the three corners we left for last.  Mike will have to sort most of the workbench and table contents.  There are a few razor knives and such, I might snatch for my workshop up the lane.  

I am not exactly ADD, but I do say I am easily distracted...in that, " Squirrel!" sort of way.  I can organize other people better than I can myself....

[jasminespr8940632]

Well done to you for deciding to clean up! In order not to spend the whole day on it, you can do a little bit each day. Honestly, I tend to put off cleaning as well. I never do what I'd promised myself to, and there is even more trash and mess. That's what happens in my office too. In such cases, I prefer to call a cleaning service to get it done for me. I only turn to a proven company that has been bailing me out for years now. On their website cleansolutionllc.com you can read about all the services they provide. If you keep things tidy around you, your life will be tidy, too.