Hangin' w/Scrubs @ the Compound

It's Monday and I am enjoying a semi-relaxing day off, having just wrapped up a big organizing job for another Military family yesterday.  42 hours over the course 4 days, we completed an entire 3.5 bedroom house: 7 closets, a large walk-in storage space, garage, Kitchen, Dining and Living room from basically, the movers having unpacked their stuff...to the finishing touches of hanging artwork and decor.  My legs are so sore, I'm skipping the chance to take Scrubs for an ocean front walk on a beautiful weather day, in hopes that tomorrow we'll have some good weather and I'll make it up to him...and myself!
Wendi had thrown a 'Meet The New Baby' party for her friend who lives in the same village of Porto Martins off base on Saturday evening.  I'd kissed the kids goodbye by 8:30A and returned home by 9:30P.  The Baby party guests were gone and I was surprised to go upstairs to see Wendi wide awake and smiling!....only because the latest I've seen her awake @ night in months is maybe 8P.  She proceeded to tell me she'd had a virtually no-nausea day and decided to take the kids on the (free) Rotator to Baltimore the next morning...for a week.  The thing about taking the Rotator aircraft is that you put your name in, pack up for your big trip, then go to the base airport, just hoping they call your name.  If they don't, you go back home with no trip to be had.  I was so proud of her for making such a spontaneous decision and the wherewithal to take that gamble with the 3 kids.
So, on Sunday morning, once again, I kissed the kids goodbye and headed off to organize for the day, as the family headed off to the base airport.  I wouldn't know until my return, if they got on.
I pulled into the compound @ 7:30P, to a very relaxed John putzing with all of his brewery bottles and what-not in the kitchen.  He said they got the last 4 seats on the Rotator and that they should be landing in Baltimore any minute.  They're spending the week with a close friend who lives in DC.  If they miss the return Rotator this Saturday (5/4), they will go for the next one running on the following Saturday (5/11).  My boys are due to arrive here on Thursday, May 8th.  Wendi is so sweet - she asked if it was really important to me that she be here when the boys arrive....or might it be nice for them to have their 1st 3nights/2days here with just their mom and meeting their cousin-in-law for the first time since they were 5 & 2 - then, meet Wendi and the 3 kids ages 5 and under.  Funny.  Either way is great with me, but I told her not to worry @ all, if she misses the 5/4 Rotator.
So...just last week, I got some photo's of what a normal day @ the compound looks like:

The boys are always donned one of many costumes:  Buzz Light Year / Spider Man / Super Man or Bat Man - playing with Lego's, Magnatiles, Cars, building Train Tracks, Reading or Coloring.

Abigail, joins in all of these play time events, but so far loathes wearing a costume of any sort.

 

Magnatiles - the best kids invention of the century!

While Isaac can spend long periods of time silently building or coloring, he often likes his younger brothers accompaniment to direct the imaginative play-time of such play-time.

....and whether or not Sidge plays alone or accompanies his older brother or younger sister - he LOVES to talk about it, and anything else that springs to his mind.  Often, he will sit a minute and describe in great detail what he is doing and why....or what he is thinking about and why.  Whatever he says, it is always with great fervor and hand motions.






Anyway, today was sleeping in late and getting caught up on emails.  I did work from about 12N-3:30P, getting the household laundry caught up on, the  house straightened up, dishes, sweeping, taking away trash and recycles, cleaning out the van, stocking up the Tupperware cereal containers and the Ibuprofen bottle and at least tossing the frisbie for Scrubs.  I enjoyed good left-overs from the party for lunch and even read out on the Terrace for a bit in the sun.  John came home from work @ the regular time, cooked up something fabulous to put over a salad as we went over options for creating a web-site for my Organizing business and ideas for a flyer to introduce myself to a new region in the USA.  The game plan is to work on it tomorrow night and Mianna will come for dinner Wednesday night of which I will use to belabor her with the job of first consumer critique.  Wendi skyped with us and it was fun to see Abigail so enamored with seeing us and seeing herself on the screen, as well as seeing Sidge napping and we all woke him up.
After that, John, being as big a movie buff as I am, invited me to join him to start watching of a quirky movie called Safety Not Guaranteed.   We ended up watching the whole thing.  What a wonderful surprise of a movie.  It. was. BRILLIANT!  Loved it.  I already want to watch it again.
I've got a lot of work to do tomorrow, in order to make John's job of helping get my website created to be as short and easy as possible.  So grateful he's taking the time and I thoroughly trust his ideas with his Graphic Designer background.  I should be up and running soon!
These are photo's of what today was @ the compound:

It was a good day off and I am praying that the weather just is done with all of the rain and incessant winds @ least for a few days!

Organizing for Overseas Military

I arrived at the end of September, and by November, word had spread that there was a Professional Organizer on base.  Hence, I have been inundated with work to date, and while the basics are similar, working inside a military community has offered new challenges to me, as a professional, thereby growth.  I love a good challenge and love to broaden my knowledge.
All of the base housing is the same inside.  This helps expedite the process, because I already know how to maneuver through each house, it’s just different stuff to organize.  As well, the system of their moves is the same.  They send all of their belongings in two shipments, the first is their clothing, personals and must-have daily items.  The second shipment is their furniture and bulk household.  Most of the calls I receive go something like this, “I PCS’d here two months ago and we just got our household goods this week. We are still trying to make sense of it all...I would really like your help.  I am warning you, you will have your hands full!”  Normally, my system is to work with the client, using the process as a teaching tool for their future endeavors and moves; however, this is the first time in many years that I have accepted jobs wherein the client has handed over their keys and booked my days to organize their home, while they are on duty.

This photo is typical in their process - the movers unpack everything for them.  They just arrived and have to start their new job on Monday morning!  For this particular client, she had been here a few weeks and was completely overwhelmed.  We met, she handed me her keys and ventured off for a long weekend in Sao Miguel, and.....

...came home to this!

 Having repeat clients hire me to help decorate, is also something new that has become commonplace here.  Those calls go something like this, “I just feel like I’m in a big hotel room.  All of my stuff is here, and put away, but it just feels so cold.”  Upon my return, I find their wall decor still sitting along the baseboards in each room.  They work full time and each weekend comes and goes with wanting to get things hung and arranged, but they’re tired from the week, as well as trying to acclimate to a new base, and new people, that spending their weekend on task at home feels overwhelming.  Although I have been coaching them along the way, to just hang one piece each weekend, it doesn’t get done, so they just invite me back for a day.  Together, we transform these cold houses into their homes, in a full day, but in entirety of up to 10 rooms.  We learn two things:  First, the desire to get it done hadn’t waned, but motivation only lasts in thirty minute increments.  It gets done because they trust that I understand their “how” and were comfortable letting me go at it.  The client I worked with in this way this past weekend, defined for me the process of this particular client-style.  Toward the end, she smiled and said, “I’m going to go to my bedroom and close the door for a bit.  I may feel to you that I am trying to get away from your constant movement.  While that would be an accurate assessment, it’s meant with great appreciation for everything you’re doing to transform this house into my home.”  We also found that we were equally happy to have booked my first round to work alone.  She was not a process person, but trusted that I understood her lifestyle and aesthetic, loved the results vs. my love for every bit of the process and the results.