Saturday, August 21, 2021

Saturday, August 21, 2021

Tonight's picture was taken in August of 2008. As you can see, Mattie was busy creating within the small confines of his hospital room. You may not be able to determine what he was working on! But I know ALL TOO WELL! He was creating a tissue box holder, by adding decorative tiles to the sides of the box, and then he glued the box together for me. This tissue box remains on my nightstand after all these years. 

Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins. 

• Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 37,667,889
• Number of people who died from the virus: 628,276

My day started at 7am and now it is after 10pm, and I am still working. Peter rented a U-Haul this weekend to move some of our items on our own. We rented a U-Haul two weekends ago to move all our plants and everything out of storage. There are things I prefer to move myself (which can only happen if the move is local).... such as clothes, china, personal items, Foundation materials, and memorabilia. I learned after moving my parents twice that the more you can move on your own, the more control you have over the process. As it is, I will be digging out for some time at the house. 

Peter loaded the U-Haul twice and drove back and forth twice! I loaded our car with all my non-hanging clothes. Every one has a favorite item, mine are sweaters. I have a sweater in practically every color and style. I have collected them over the years and like other items I love, I don't part with them. So I have A LOT of sweaters. 

While cleaning out one of my kitchen shelves, I found Mattie's Penny Passport book. Mattie absolutely loved this book. Every place he visited, we would create a souvenir penny!

Mattie's collection!

In fact, when we took Mattie to NYC to begin his experimental treatment, we bought him a new penny passport book at the Empire State Building. 

Unfortunately, Mattie did not live long enough to fill this book. I think this empty book is quite symbolic for the many years and activities that were robbed from Mattie and us. 

Mattie kept his PEZ dispensers in the kitchen! Notice the three sharks teeth too! Mattie dug through the sand at Calvert Cliffs Park (in Maryland), and found them himself!

The way this photo came out, it almost looks like a whirlwind effect around the photo. I did not do that on purpose, yet it definitely felt like a whirlwind. 

You have to understand that moving anything out of our current complex is challenging. We have to open and hold multiple doors, go up and down steps, and down an elevator to get to our car or U-Haul. It isn't an easy carry and would be impossible without some sort of cart. 

In the afternoon, Sunny and I got to the house. Before I unloaded the car, I had a ton of sweeping and mopping to do because we have had non-stop contractors in the house. Including closet installers on Friday. 

On Monday we have 6, yes SIX electricians coming to work on the wiring of the house. That is how significant an issue we are talking about. 

Any case, I carried my clothes from the car to the kitchen and began organizing them before carrying them upstairs. I got a work out today. 

The Container Store installed my closet on Friday, and the put the shelves up very high. Too high for me. So I decided to try to lower them on my own! Big mistake. This Elfa system may look easy, but to me it was impossible to re-hook the shelves. I had to get Peter involved because if I did not, I most likely would have broken the shelves or made a hole in the wall. 

I am working on getting organized. Since Mattie's death, I do not do well when things around me are chaotic. It makes me very anxious and then I can't focus on anything else. It will be another full day of moving items with the U-Haul and car tomorrow!