As with so many, my options are getting more limited. I have a little flexibility right now, and I'm doing my best to get prepared.
I'm going to sit here and try to write down everything I can think of, about how to survive. I'll try to come up with specific stuff, not just generic.
This one turned out to be about working with your house, your environment.
I hope y'all like it.
I've struggled with depression much of my life. In accordance with the thesis of this diary, I'm going to try to avoid obvious stuff.
a. If you are someone who gets depressed and lets things pile up and get all cluttered and dirty, I understand that. I do that myself.
However, it's pretty reliable that if you decide, for no particular reason, to tidy up some; it will cheer you up.
This is not logical. This is not rational. It's visceral. It just works. You don't have to think about it. All you have to do is get up and start doing it.
Start with something small. Start with something that's been bothering you. Like, that inordinately long Guatemalan scarf I have tacked up over my south-facing window, that's all covered with dust? That I have hung over all of the spackled spots? I really should find the vacuum and the brush attachment and vacuum it. If I thought that would be fun, I'd do it right now. But I don't.
Start with something fun. Try to reframe "fun." Once you get started, there will be no stopping you.
What will make you feel best? Forget about the rules they programmed into your head. Will dusting your computer monitor make you feel better? How about washing the wine stains from the table?
Just let it happen.
I should go and find the shop-vac, and then go and find the brush attachment, and vacuum that sucker! That would pick me up no end, as I look at it a zillion times a day (it's just to my left as I sit here typing), and every time; I kind of think; "Miep, why don't you at least take it down and shake it out and put it back up, or maybe something else, even if you cannot find the brush attachment to the vacuum?"
Well, yeah.
I think I know where the shop-vac is, though. That's a start. I might have dropped the brush attachment behind something I'm afraid to move, though. Like the gas oven. Not sure. I know I've lost some things back there. Like that nice stainless serving spoon.
Thus a simple act like vacuuming becomes complicated. But you can do this, depressed Kossacks. It's just a matter of tunnel vision.
First: decide on the task. #1: find the vacuum cleaner. Since it is relatively large, it's probably not under something, other than maybe your table. Maybe you put it in a closet? O.K.
You found it?
Good. The brush attachment may be of a larger problem. Now, do you have an appropriate extension cord?
Yes? Good.
Now I am presuming that you have some kind of plastic pipe extending from the vacuum cleaner with which you can suck.
Yes? Awesome.
That is all you need to vacuum many things. Flexible fabric, such as my Guatemalan scarf, isn't workable with the Straight Tube technique (better to take it out and down and shake it), but you can do lots of stuff this way...holes...cracks in floor...corners...computers...windowsills..
And think of how much better you will feel, once you've actually removed some of this dust and other indeterminate detritus from your environment?
Note: do try to pick up the big stuff first. Pieces of ruined stuffed animals your gave your dog, stray twigs he brought in on his tail, junk mail that didn't hit the trash can, etc...all of that will clog up your nozzle, and then you have to figure out how to get it back out again (I recommend ripping apart a few coathangers and prying them together with your handy pair of beatup pliers you found on the street while bicycling, though.)
Okay, enough with vacuuming. Where was I?
Oh, yeah. Depression. Well, we did vacuuming. Next I think I should talk about windows.
We all need windows. Some of us have the good fortune to have a lot of windows, like me. And only one of them is broken, from when my dog freaked during thunder and tried to escape. Yay Me!
Of course, having a lot of windows means you get all of that heat moving in and out easily. This must be addressed.
Some windows are more equal than others. My windows below the Guatemalan scarf on the south catch a lot of sun this time of year. Thus, I only have them covered with clear plastic tarp at the moment. An overlay of a nice white muslin curtain will help, too, to keep in the heat, and still let in the light.
My western facing windows get to have a blanket or quilt hung over them. In other words, I take a piece of thick, attractive fabric, sew loops into the corners, screw in hooks over the ends of the windows, and hang the fabric piece there when appropriate. Easy to take up and down.
In the winter, that means whenever I want to keep heat from escaping via the windows. But I also take it down when the sun is coming in through those windows.
(note: I'm well aware that a lot of this is not workable if you're employed and gone during the day. I'm working on the assumption that numbers of people who are not employed are going to continue on the uprise.)
Hmmm. Well, making progress here. We did clutter and vacuuming and windows. That's a lot.
I could talk about floors, but one tends to be stuck with the floors one has, without some substantial effort to change them. I'd personally prefer Saltillo tile floors, but that's just me. I like something I can clean and throw stuff on. But throw rugs are slippery...and we are all getting so old, aren't we?
I hate carpet though, because it is toxic and it gets so ugly and dirty so soon.
My floors in this place are old pine boards covered with nicer heart of pine wall paneling. I know this makes no sense, but it was free. At least it isn't slippery, although it's getting kind of splintery. I did not make these floors. The guy who did it is dead now. It was an interesting idea. Anyway, he did the work of scrounging and flooring, so he's got my eternal props for all of that.
Okay, next. Roofs. Roofs are hard. Roofs are expensive.
If you run into trouble with this, you can just put a tarp up over the leak and tie it down on both sides.
If you have roof problems, and can get enough money drummed up to do it at all; buy into a rolled steel roof. It will outlast you, including if you get bad hail. My mom paid for mine, on my 800 square foot house. You can get them in different colors; mine is peanut butter shaded (less glare than white).
But white is good for reflecting heat.
Okay, that's enough for tonight.
Thanks for listening.