I'd rather be happy and stupid

I would love to put myself out here as a wonderful housekeeper. Wouldn't that be great? Heather's house is always spotless... but I'm messy enough that when my aunt comes over, I give her a beverage in a disposable cup. My sink is currently full of dirty dishes. I have a 2 compartment sink; Ron's side is empty and spotless. Mine is full.

Ron has his own counter, and it's got a lot more space than "mine". Somehow I can never get a hold on the things that clutter up "my" counter. The carpets need to be vacuumed and I have an actual cobweb or two (in my defense, they are on the high-ceilinged part of the house).

I just don't see it; and when I do a lot of times I don't know how to get started. If I can manage those two, then there's the energy issue. Yup. I am completely worn out most days by a part-time shift and running an errand.

Like today: We got up, went to Sam's club. I desperately needed candy bars. Normally, before the recession, I would have bought a couple hundred dollar's worth. Today, I got $50. I also got about 20-30 pounds of Driver Candy, including "Now and Later"s, which have proven popular today.

I lugged the huge sack of candy into the building in my giant tote bag. I stocked it. I also did snacks and marveled at the notes the maintenance guys have put up. They will be doing some work on Saturday and have verbally told us, called BOTH voicemails, sent an email, and left notes on the food machine and refrigerator unit. Oddly, they left a note on one unit, but not the other. Huh.

So, we get it already. Saturday is going to be a VERY early wakeup and then a fun trip BACK to work that night. We arranged a ride home with Chuck. He used to give us rides all the time when we lived close to work. Thank God we have a reliable ride home that night. Let's just pray that they actually turn on the power when they say they will.

So, we dealt with all that. I got the milk delivery and stayed pretty busy with snacks. Ron had to go "fetch" his own soda, but it was just a 12 pack, easily managed. He only knocked a couple things down in the process.

Then time to go. We went home briefly, and then left again about an hour later. Starbucks. Home again.

I was completely wiped out and took a couple-hour nap. When I got up, I called the Salvation Army. They would LOVE skeins of unused yarn. I arranged a pickup, told them "Two bags of yarn".

Now, I need to get into the garage, sort through my yarn, bring it in for Salvation Army pickup. But first, I thought, where would I put it? Normally I don't do very well thinking these things out.

I would LOVE to put myself out there as a savvy and intelligent person, able to make snap decisions. I'm not. Especially not on my medication. But, as I told Ron today, "I'd rather be happy and stupid". It takes an awful lot of thinking to do organizing, sorting, and cleaning tasks. A lot of energy. I would say 95% of the time I don't have the energy/smarts to do more than a basic load of laundry, and I still have a load and a half of clean clothes I need to put up. I also need to change the sheets on the bed.

Fortunately I was feeling pretty motivated, energetic, and intelligent. I figured out a good landing spot. I asked Ron if he minded me using it. He didn't mind, and was happy I had asked before just putting things down. I wanted him to be clear this is only for a few weeks, until my pickup.

We have both watched those hoarder shows and they scare me. I don't want to be that person. I don't necessarily believe it is always a variation of obsessive-compulsive disorder. I think it is a combination of brain hardware issues, and emotional issues.

I have tried to be especially vigilant recently. So, I picked up the obvious trash from this corner. Then I picked up some items and put them where they belonged. Then, I swept (tiled area). After that, I decided if I was going to mop this corner I might as well sweep and mop all the tiled area.

I picked up all the trash on the tiled area, then swept it. I mopped with some nice lavender stuff I got a while back, at Foodtown. I got this particular corner. I used to feed Bubba his wet food over there, it needed a good mop.

Once I got that I worked my way towards the back of the house. I got the cobwebs - I could actually SEE them today. That may make sense to someone.

I noticed I need to clean the baseboards, but saved that for another day. Today was just pickup-sweep-mop the tiled area. Later on I will be sorting through things in the garage and picking my favorite yarn. I have a couple of coffee cup boxes, they're about 18 inches square, by about 3.5 feet tall. That's a lot of yarn!

I plan to donate about 75% of it, keeping my "favorite, favorites". I have a few afghan projects I would like to get to eventually. I may even start one as a treat to myself, once I finish the sort.

Then, all the yarn and Salvation Army stuff (I have 2 big bags, and anticipate at least 2 more big trash bags) can go in this corner until pickup day. Yay!

I felt like such a smart, good housekeeper, especially when I poured the mop water into the toilet, cleaned the toilet, and sprayed down the wing walls on the shower area.. I just need to wipe that area down and a quick scrub and the bathroom is "finished".

Things don't look as nice as I'd like them to, but they look a lot better than they did. My husband loves me and loves life with me. We're both happy and healthy. I could have someone in the house without embarrassment. I'm happy.

I don't measure up to "normal", but for Heather I do a damned good job. Time to go eat and take my pills, but only after I finish the bathroom.