I'm Special Needs

There were several things I thought of and wanted to remember in the hours I laid awake, and, unsurprisingly, I have forgotten all of them. But I remember one thing I wanted to remember from last night. Picture schedules.

Picture schedules are a series of pictures to help with a routine. For example, one on a child's desk might have pictures of buying lunch, putting homework folder on teacher's desk, hanging up coat, and putting backpack in basket. Or you can have one for toiling routines: pull down pants, sit on toilet and wait, use toilet paper, pull up pants, wash hands, dry hands, throw paper towel in trash. You get the idea. They are awesome for people with limited ability to understand or remember what to do.

The problem for me is not with understanding what to do. Remembering is a big problem. And being organized and efficient.

My evening routine: change clothes, wash my face, floss while it dries, put on acne medicine, wash my hands so it won't dye my clothes, brush teeth while it dries, put on moisturizer, dry the water from around the sink.

This is what I do lately: change into night clothes (good start, way to remember that), go into the bathroom, pick up my toothbrush, put it down, turn on the water, think, wash my face, pick up my toothbrush, put my hand on the soap dispenser, stop (whew, haven't brushed with soap yet), put down my toothbrush, put on acne medicine, open the medicine cabinet, close it, wash my hands, open it again and get the floss, floss teeth, brush teeth, go to bed, feel tight and dry skin, get up, put on moisturizer, back to bed.

Thus a 10-minute routine becomes a 20-minute routine. 

(These astounding powers of cognition are also applied to driving, by the way.)

Ah, the wonder of Red Bull and ibuprofen. My headache just went from an 8 to a 4. Red Bull tastes disgusting, but I'm considering it like medicine that I have to take for now, just like if I had to drink cough medicine. Bottoms up.

So today I will make a picture schedule for my morning and evening routines. Morning is not as bad as evening, but I do have some trouble with makeup. I forget what comes first, and I waste time thinking it through logically to figure out whether I should be using mascara or foundation at this point (the ladies know the right answer here) and whether I've forgotten something altogether.

It's a good thing cognitive strategies are second nature to me. I think some people would cry if they needed a picture schedule to get ready for bed. I save my crying for other things.

Oh! I lost some hearing and had tinnitus last night, lasting about 30 seconds. It was in my left ear. Brief and hopefully not foreboding.

I think I'm on my own this morning. My friend went to work. My sister is in the shower right now, so she must be leaving within the next 30 minutes. There's no other reason she would be awake. It's not even noon.

I want to get out of this house! I'm sick of being stuck on the couch. I'm sick of feeling crappy. I'm bored and lonely.