O P I N I O N
LEMENADE
By June Lemen
Sometimes the simplest things can make life so much easier. I was having problems with a document at work, and when I was asking a colleague for advice, she showed me how to make my text cursor bigger and a color other than white. Wow! It blew my mind – it was just so much easier to highlight a field in a Google spreadsheet when you actually know what you are pointing to. It has made a huge difference in my daily work life.
So, when I sat down to write this column, I was all excited to set the cursor to large on my at-home computer, only my mouse would not cooperate. I changed the batteries and it seemed better, but that only lasted a short time. So, I asked Lucy about it, and she went and got another mouse as a diagnostic test.
“Mom, your mouse is dead. It’s really old, anyway. So use this one.”
What a difference.
The joy of working with equipment that works. It never ceases to amaze me.
Have you ever found a gadget that you did not know you needed until you got it? For me, it was an immersion blender. If you are not familiar with immersion blenders, they basically look like sticks, but they are upright blenders. If you put one into a pan of cooked vegetables, and hit the on button, voila! You can create the smoothest, silkiest of purees. And for someone like me, who eats and makes a lot of soup, this was a game changer. No more trying to either pour a pan of hot soup into a regular blender, which never works because you inevitably have more soup than the blender will hold. I also tried to blend my soup by putting a mixer in a pan of hot vegetables and stock — which worked, but also created a lovely polka-dot backsplash in my kitchen.
Immersion blender. A game-changer.
I am constantly trying new tools, to see if they make my life easier. One tool which did NOT change my life in the way that I wanted was one of these new-fangled bathroom scrubbers. It had a telescoping pole that you could make longer or shorter, depending on what you needed to clean. The one that I got — which had a detachable cord — needed to charge before you used it. One day, when it took 90 minutes to charge and ran out of juice after less than 30 minutes of working, I realized I was spending more time and effort trying to efficiently clean my bathroom than I ever had inefficiently cleaning it.
I kept that device it until I hired an organizer, because one of my goals in life is trying to keep as many things from going into the Nashua landfill as possible. And lucky for me, it’s a goal my organizer shares as well.
I hired an organizer because I have too much stuff and I want to get rid of a lot of it. I knew I would never ‘just do it’ on my own, but I did not know what to expect before hiring a professional organizer. I did know who I wanted to work with because I had met her before. She is cheerful, she is knowledgable and she struck me (before I started working with her) as efficient. That’s why I hired her. Of course I was worried about all the things people always worry about when they hire a professional organizer — will she gasp in horror at the sight of my house? Will she judge me? What if she simply walks into my house, looks around, then says, “No.”
Luckily for me, none of those things happened. Having an organizer is like having a fairy godmother who comes to your house, who helps you look at an area, and clean it out.
We started with my bedroom closet, and I went through every article of clothing, saying “Yes” or “Get rid of.” The fairy organizer had these Mary Poppins-type bags. They are not shaped like carpet bags, and I have not yet seen a parrot-headed umbrella come out of any of them, but they are Poppins-like in that they seem to hold an infinite amount of items. She took care of the donations, and I sorted, and then, by the end of two hours, I had a usable closet.
I thought it was a miracle, until we did it over and over again in various rooms of the house. And I have gotten rid of so many things that I truly did not want or need and this organizer finds homes for all of them! A particularly hideous statue went to the Rage Cage to be broken. She took old appliances to a place that recycles them. And many, many things went onto the Nashua Sharing and Giving pages, which I love.
I may not need or want these things any more, but if someone else can use them, I am game to give them away. Right now, I am trying to get rid of an old, upright piano that was at one time a player piano. The last gentleman who tuned it thought it could be turned back into a player piano. Or you can just play it. The piano comes with a lovely antique piano stool, my heartfelt gratitude, and goodd karma points. If you would like it, leave a comment.
And if you have too much stuff, hire a professional organizer. I’ll be happy to recommend mine.
You can reach June Lemen at junelemen18@gmail.com
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