February 16 2016

February 16 2016 Greetings My Friend I have about had it with slipcovers for the chairs in the sitting room. I have used slipcovers bought from a store, old quilts and comforters, even sheets. They all looked nice as long as they stayed in place. The slipcover we bought looked good too but with so many dogs the cover was difficult to get on and off. I felt the slipcovers allowed us to keep the furniture clean and gave the room some color. Recently I started telling Junior that all my attempts to keep the covers clean which included a cover for pets is a pain in the neck. I wanted to have furniture that was nice and did not need covers and would be easy to keep clean. At present we can’t afford more new chairs. My recliner I had bought from Lazy Boy a couple of years ago started to rip. I had thought that microfiber meant it was durable. The chair has a lot of life in it so Junior found some upholstery fabric and spray glued it to the seat and the feet of the recliner. It looks like it was made this way. We are contemplating some other ideas for the other chair and glider in the sitting room. The TV room now is all leather furniture so we are able to wipe the chair and loveseat down. My thought is to keep a towel over the other furniture seats in the sitting room. As money becomes available we will buy leather. Again the upkeep will be easier. The other thing I have noticed is the leather recliner I bought Junior 17 or 18 years ago still looks good. It has one small rip in the arm. Each time I have to rework these things I find that I can refuse to change or learn to be flexible. Being flexible is easier than moaning and groaning and venting to each ear I happen to cross. I have found a way to be flexible with Junior’s clutter he leaves for me to stumble around. I have learned he truly can not see the struggle that this clutter brings me. A blanket statement about cleaning it up means move one piece of wood to him and he is proud of the work he done to help me. If I am able to I keep the area clean from clutter and slowly I have learned to see that this clutter is helping me to have a bit more agility. I have to think out each step, find something near to hang onto and I am making my way around better. The floors in the house are clear other than in the kitchen where he is working so that helps quite a bit. Sometimes the kitchen is way to hard for me to deal with so I ask Junior to do the cooking and he does. I have learned to make my requests short and sweet. Junior is able to process this easier than trying to make a more indepth request. Asking him to clear me a pathway is too difficult for him to process. To me it is a simple request but through the years I have found a sweeping statement is difficult for him. Junior is learning that I struggle sometimes doing things I have always done and that the think it out process is sometimes hard. For a while he could not understand why I knew how to do things and then I did not. The more we learn about my ataxia and chiari the more we understand what brain fog is. Life right now is teaching me how we all process information differently and that does not make us stupid just different. And that is okay. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet