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Fit at 50: Live Light

At any age, living light is a nice goal. At mid-life, most of us have experienced significant ups and downs, and acquired some baggage – spiritual, mental, social, emotional, physical, and/or material. The holiday season offers a great time to consider how heavy we feel, and how we might change this feeling for the better. […]

Personal Library Sort Started

Harmony at Home, Phase 3: 18 of 18 Sessions: Estate Disaster Relief Year 2014 Over!

It feels so good to say we’ve reached the end of the “Estate Disaster Relief Year 2014.” Phase 3, 18 of 18 sessions was completed on December 23, 2014. The estate management process has humbled me. A mountain way bigger than myself, it took a small team (myself, my beloved Karl, Edith, Hillary, and Melissa) […]

Personal Files Organized at Last!

Harmony at Home, Phase 3: 17 of 18 Sessions: Personal File System Created

The last estate management milestone of 2014 was reached on December 18, 2014. We now have the beginnings of a personal filing system where we can better locate practical papers (e.g. auto and medical receipts, house repairs), personal interests (e.g. newspaper and magazine clippings of fun things-to-do), personal finances (e.g. banking and retirement), and personal […]

Recovering Personal Files

Harmony at Home, Phase 3: 16 of 18 Sessions: Personal Unraveling… Reconciling

Seven years ago I left everything to care for my mom, a state away, living with dementia. My personal paperwork was packed, not to be seen again for a very long time (I still have several pallets stacked high with boxes from 2007). Since moving to our current home in 2009 with the effects of […]

The Study - Gets Sorted

Harmony at Home, Phase 3: 12 of 18 Sessions: KM Study Sorted

Today, we started sorting the boxes moved to our new Karl and Mary Study (just eighteen months ago this was my father’s reading room) – into groups of: stationery, personal files, and personal/family history. This will become a room for books, journal and letter writing, and personal and family memories. Moving forward with a listening […]

Yoga Room Reclaimed!

Harmony at Home, Phase 3: 11+ of 18 Sessions: Sweet as Pie

Just in time for a Thanksgiving Day celebration with family and friends, we made a final push yesterday to clear the sunny yoga room of estate boxes I had decided were *easy* – or, the easiest emotionally of the three groups we triaged months ago in March/April (the other two groups include The Box Room […]

Water Pitcher & Wine Glasses, on All Hallow's Table Cloth

All Hallow’s Eve, All Saints, and All Souls: Estate Magic

Karl and I hosted friends for a couple of simple suppers and one tea party over these last few days. It felt great – and grounding, to use the family china inherited from my ancestors as we remembered them and celebrated their lives in the past and present. The hospitality suggested by the ancestors’ serving […]

Forget-Me-Not Tea Cup with All Hallow's Table Runner

Harmony at Home, Phase 3: 8 of 18 Sessions: Family China Settled!

It was truly joyful to make some final (for now) decisions about the family dining and tea service sets I would keep (to use on occasion) in my dining room… just in time for All Hollow’s Triduum – Halloween, All Saints and All Souls days. Last Tuesday and Thursday we moved my mother’s (full), and […]

Silver-colored Tea Set Pieces

Transforming Tornado Alley: Family China and Personal Files: 6 of 18 Sessions

Since my mother passed away from frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) in 2008, I have referred to my family dementia-care experience as an unexpected tornado that hit my home (and it is taking years to recover from the devastation). Her death, followed by my father’s five-year decline, a marriage and a new home have me now managing […]

Serving Dish, Colored Glass

Harmony at Home, Phase 3: 3 of 18 Sessions: The Kitchen

People say the heart of the home is the kitchen. This is the category of estate stuff we are now uncovering, sorting, grouping, and deciding on. It is three-generations plus+ worth of kitchen and dining dishes, table dressings, cooking tools… This category cuts the heart open with memories of holiday family meals, the good, the […]