Ladies and gentlemen, I am back because I couldn't wait until I am ALL done. I am dying to report on my partial progress because I can't even quite believe myself when I look at what I have accomplished. I mean... I was a total housekeeping disaster, but no more...

I was hospitalized in September, for a few days, and my car was broken into when parked outside (the county hospital didn't allow electronics). Stolen were - an old mac with a brand new keyboard, an old low end android phone, and a new ilod touch. I haven't bought a computer. I have bought a high end android phone at last and am happy with it. I have also bought a middle of the range a android tablet and a bluetloth keyboard for it, hoping that it would be like a computer for less money, but haven't quite gotten used to it, so I posted a request for an old laptop on freecye, and am hoping that someone responds. If not, I will consider chromebox since my needs aren't elaborate, but I haven't read reviews of it yet.

For now I use the smartphone and have been lurking and posting a bit. I caught up on PM, except that I do not see a PM from Confused... which I swear was In my inbox. I can't believe I accidentally erased it, but if I did, I apologize!

So for several months I have been working and working, and working yet more, on getting rid of unneeded stuff, buying needed stuff, and organizing what I have. I will describe my accomplishments and later post pics.

1) I no longer have bottles with medications and supplements cluttering what little counter top space I have in my kitchenette. I have bought a basket at Target in which I store my current bottles ( I take Lithium again, a long story why, Elavil, synthroid, and metformin for prevention of diabetes which is a genetic disease that runs in my family, and I also take supplements - folic acid and melatonin for breast cancer prevention, feverfew herb for migraine prevention, areds flr macular degeneration prevention because I am at risk, vitamin D, fish oil). The basket sits inside a kitchen cabinet, and each Saturday I fill a weekly tray with pills and capsules. I used to keep that tray on the counter, which was far better than keeping multiple bottles, but then I decided to keep the tray in the cupboard as well, taking it out when I need it (I don't forget). Now, the kitchenette looks like a place to eat and cook and not like a mini nursing station.

I also bought three different brightly colored metal tubs from the Container Store (my favorite stor and placed extra supplements (new bottles that are unopened) in one, extra medications or prn medications or simply medications I no longer need In another and OTC drugs In the third. All tubs are in a kitchen cabinet (no little kids so no risk from not locking drugs). Finally, I bought a very nice green square basket from the Container Store (CS) in which I only keep imitrex, the drug used to abort migraine attacks (I get fewer of them now thanks to prevention, but I still get some). Imitex sprays come in a paper box with lots of sheets of instructions. I opened each box, recycled the boxes and Instructions, and placed ready to use sprays, and nothing else, In the basket, which I also keep In a kitchen cabinet. Imitrex helps the most if taken as early as possible, and, strange as it may sound, every second matters, so now I am no longer wasting that precious time looking for the box and feeling for the actual spray in the middle of instruction sheets. A victory.

I got two very large plastic cereal keepers from the CS. I poured inside them cereals from different boxes from Trader Joe's, dried raspberries and slivered almonds, and shook to mix it all up. Now I have breakfast at the ready, and all of it lives in a tall but narrow cupboard above the stove, fitting it perfectly. Ideally I want to also eat omelets for breakfast, but I am not yet ready to start cooking, so for now cereals with almonds are a perfect solution.

The left side of my fridge (next to the counter which is betwee the sink and the fridge) is now outfitted with Umbro magnetic holders I got from the CS. The long ones hold tall kitchen utensils such as ladles and the short ones hold pens and short kitchen tools such as cheese cutters and vegetable peelers.