Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum
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Sunday, October 02, 2016

So late Thursday night

I came home to find my carpet in the hallway mysteriously wet. My air conditioning hadn't leaked, my kitchen and bathroom were dry, and there was no sign of leak from above, although that must have been where it came from. This is where being a hoarder whose home is in the condition of say, moderate hoarding at the moment, is definitely a problem, because of course the first thing a normal person would do is call maintenance (the perk of not accruing equity in a house, but paying rent) and they'd come over with a wet-dry vacuum or something like that. But I didn't. And it wasn't so wet that I thought it would dry by morning, or least by Friday night.

I think that was wishful thinking. And of course, being a librarian, I am familiar with the temperatures and timelines of mould growth, although fortunately we've had cool fall temperatures the last couple of days.

Yesterday was spent with errands for my friend and cooking several things for the week for him, but today I'm actually free till about 12:30 or 1 pm. So...the first thing I did on my agenda, after sleeping late till 10:00 (I didn't get home till 1:30 last night, picking up A), was check my finances to see about renting a Rug Doctor machine from Kroger, when I remembered that I have a small (very small) machine from the days of when I had cats and dogs that vacuums wet stuff up. It's a Bissell Spotlifter, and while small and close to the ground, not meant for a yard of wet, it did work pretty well. I got quite a bit of water out of the carpet (it holds about half a gallon in its tank, and I took out one and a half of those), and using the cleaner will probably help, as well. So we'll see if it can dry completely now. If not, I can go ahead and get a bigger machine that will go deeper. But this had good suction, lifting the carpet and pad slightly, so I'm hoping it's sufficient.

On the hoarding front, I got the book that my therapist requested I get, It's called Treatment for Hoarding Disorder Workbook (there's also a therapist's guide, and he has the last edition, while this is the second, and he said he'd get that, which sort of indicated I'm the only active hoarder he has at the moment). The authors are Gail Steketee and Randy O. Frost. I have a book on my Kindle by them, called Buried in Treasures: Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving, and Hoarding, also in the 2nd edition, and written along with David F. Tolin, who is listed first in the authors. I went ahead and put together a notebook for therapy, dividing it into various sections that go along with the book. Rather than write in the book, since many pages will be used multiple times, I photocopied the second chapter's assessment pages (the first of the exercises), and did a self assessment, and will go over it with my therapist next time. The notebook is big enough that the workbook can fit in there as well. It's a plain black binder, so I'll need a place to keep it that I own't lose it. Right now I've got it in my backpack, because I want to read the first chapter thoroughly before going back to therapy in a week and a half.

Today we're going to cook some more and I'll do my laundry over there. So I need to get together some laundry. And maybe, just maybe, I'll work on the bathroom or kitchen today, because frankly, my home is getting not just messy, but dangerous, as things are strewn all over the place. :( Just doing the water pickup earlier was risky; there was going between the wet carpet and linoleum, as well as the whole bumping into things trying to throw stuff away or empty the machine. Not good. And really, if I'm going to rent a carpet cleaner, I'd rather rent it for the whole carpet, and that's not doable right now. I am going to try to marginally improve, at least, before the next meeting with the therapist, though. I just have so much to do lately, the apartment has had to take a back burner, and even when I'm here, I'm overwhelmed and tired. So I don't do anything. Maybe I can get some things done this morning--at the very least, dishes. Yes, I'll start with dishes. :)

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