Gina--That was the first thing I thought of, too! I'm going to email her links to a couple online "concentration" games. I'm not sure how much it will help, but it sure can't hurt. Talley Sue--Your description of looking at a scene is almost exactly what my friend has to do. It is a combination of observing and memorizing. The only pattern is that the six or so objects are chosen from the same group of about a dozen. But they are in a different place each time and arranged in a different way. And there's not enough to put them into groups or clusters. I never knew that about typing--how interesting! No wonder I can't type more than about 50 wpm; I'm still doing it letter by letter. Seeking--I learned about spatial organization in college (I'm a writer/editor) as one way of organizing a description. That's exactly what my friend has to do--remember how the objects are placed within the space. But unlike writing, in which you have time to organize your thoughts, she needs to do it in a matter of about ten minutes. I know from working with her on documents that it takes her a long time to organize her thoughts, so having to do it in a few minutes is causing her some trouble. Flyleft--Here's an analogy: You are the boss of a cook. You walk into the kitchen (for about 10 minutes) and have to remember where each piece of equipment is, what it is used for, and where it's positioned in the room. Then you have to instruct the cook what to do on each piece of equipment and the sequence in which to use each piece. The speed and ability to use each piece of equipment are timed, and points are deducted if the cook does something wrong (the cook does exactly what you tell him to do, in the order you tell him). So not only do you need to know where the equipment is and what it's for, you have to tell someone else to use it properly. (A similar analogy would be a doctor doing triage in a room full of accident victims.) Chiefneil--Are you saying you can teach an old dog new tricks? ;-) I didn't know that visualizing an activity will cause the same brain function as actually doing the activity. I think that's the key. I suggested that she "practice" by making a 3D model that she can work with at home. I tried to come up with a "story" situation like you describe, but she didn't seem to understand what I was getting at, and I think it confused her further. But I hadn't thought about involving other senses. I'll have to give that some more thought. Thanks everyone for your responses and suggestions. I have a feeling that the best method will be practice, practice, practice.

It was fun to check in with this forum for the first time in quite a while and see this thread on the first page. I appreciate all of the comments, especially the newest ones. So let me share what I've been doing about organzing my lifef. I have been struggling with the "control journal" concept since I posted this thread over three years ago! for starters, I dislike the name, "control journal." The system seems inflexible. And something that I don't care for about Flylady is that there is a high level of emotionality in that system. But I will admit that she is spot-on about many things and I appreciate all of the insights that I've gained from that system. But back to "control journal" I prefer kitchen binder or household binder. Maybe I'll call my the household binder. But that's not the point. I do have a white 1/2" binder with all of my zones and lists in it... it just looking at that binder every day that is a huge challenge for me. I have seven children and my days seem to bring me such a variety of things, many unanticipated, that it's hard to keep everything on track. Plus, I'm a lazy soul, so it's hard to get me moving. But of course, if I'm not going to work the program then it won't work for me! Just a last week I found a Franklin Covey planner on clearance at Target, so I finally took the plunge to organize my time better. This is a smallish size #4 planner in a six-ring binder, so it doesn't give an hour-by-hour breakdown of the day, but it does provide two pages to a week, a two-page spread for the entire month, and then lots of other forms for a lot of different purposes. Before, I've just used the fridge calendar to keep track of activities. That was hit or miss (things didn't always get recorded). Plus, it's inconvenient to take the enormous calendar off of the fridge door and write things down in front of the computer (we get so much schedule info via email). Now, when I'm going through email, I take my planner with me. That makes it so much easier. And rather than writing things on post-it notes and sticking them to my microwave door, my coffee maker (the really urgent reminders go there), or my key ring (see how zany I was) I jot things down in the planner. So for the first time in the 20 years that I've been a wife and mother, everything is being written in one place. However, we still put notes on the coffee maker when something is very, very important. I make myself read the planner while I drink my coffee in the morning. And now I feel so guilty about not using my control journal *household binder* in three years that I will take that binder with me and my planner and my cup of coffee every morning. Something else that I also do with my *household binder* is put paperwork that needs immediate attention into it so that this stuff doesn't get lost. I noticed on the Franklin Covey website that you can buy "Forms Wizard" which is software to create personalized planner forms. I would love to take my Flylady zone lists and make forms to fit into my planner. By the way, I am a stay-at-home mother and my planner doesn't leave the house. both binders stay on my microwave oven during the day. I read Julie Morgenstern and liked her notion that time is like a closet that you fill with tasks, rather than a real closet that you fill with stuff. It helps me to see my time more concretely. Something else I'm learning is the importance of goal setting. That seems to be a Franklin Covey focus as well. I personally have had such a difficult time (throughout the years of raising my seven children) of actually accomplishing anything for myself, that I really just gave up trying. But about a year ago I decide that the extra weight had to go. So I have lost 55 pounds. That has been my focus in life. But now I can shift back to the household since one of the most important issues in my own life is finally being dealt with successfully. I need to revisit Flylady, I'm sure she's added new ideas to her program. I will check back to the forum for more advice and encouragement on how to get it together and become more organized. Thank you for your posts, I appreciate reading anyone's story, even if it's still in process, of how they created a system to manage time better.

I have a suggestion regarding garbage bins. We have our garbage picked up twice a week. We started with one garbage can, as our family grew from 2 to 4 we added a third can. I had noticed our house getting cluttered and producing even more trash. If I did a good clean-up, I didn't have enough space with only 2 garbage cans. So we bought a third. As the years went by, hubby and I retired, kids went off to college and their own apartments, and we started to actively recycle garbage- putting a compost pile in for our vegetable garbage, sorting out and recycling plastics (even plastic bags), metal, glass, newspapers and cardboard. Now it's just two of us and we barely fill one can each garbage day. But it's nice having a couple of "spares" in case I go on a gigantic cleaning and toss-out binge (or not).

"There will definitely be some hiccups but could they be major?" Yes. "I would be hiring higher end well reviewed contractors throughout the process" Yes, and why exactly would these busy subs put the work of the General Contractors that give them several hundred thousand dollars worth of work every year behind for your onsie project? "Will there be contractors that mess things up and don't do things properly for the next trade to come in?" I promise. "Will there be things that are being done wrong and I won't even know?" Oh, you're going to know. You can't miss that big fat red tag the local division of inspection will post. "Once you have all blueprints are things relatively straight forward for each trade if they follow plan properly?" No. You have to know how to coordinate trades with each other. "Will trades or contractors not take me seriously and take advantage?" They'd be stupid not to. You're one little project one time. Who cares if you're angry and upset? What, you're not going to hire them for the next house you build twenty years from now? You have no relationships with subs. No relationships, no leverage. No leverage, big trouble.