Again, just “live” for myself, hoping that by having the goal of having something to blog about later, I’ll get something done.

9:41AM Sunday, 3/14 – I actually got very little to no sleep last night, mostly due to not taking a sleep aid and not trying terribly hard to get any sleep. But I didn’t do anything that could pass for housework. I’ll head out in three hours to watch Duke play for the ACC championship. So I will try to get something done in 3 hours. I’ll start with the new dog bed I got for Herman. As with the last dog bed, Aremid is trying it out first. I’ll be moving it to the bedroom, but I’ve got to clean out the small section of the bedroom where the new dog bed will go. I’ve done a little cleaning up of the bedroom in recent weeks, but it is still a disaster zone. (I shall not be posting any “before” pictures.)

10:05AM – Yay, that’s done. But Herman doesn’t want anything to do with it for now. That will change tonight, I’m hoping.

10:22AM – Doing a load of laundry consisting of stuff that previously resided near that spot. Yeah, gross, I know. It was mostly socks, which are the apparel that most-frequently goes missing on me. A great many lost socks were found this morning. It was very emotional.

11:11AM – Cleared off the layer of various stuff from the top of the dresser. Shockingly, this stuff including…lots of socks, likely from a long-ago attempt to match up my socks, which was largely unsuccessful, because the attempt didn’t coincide with checking the floor. I have realized that most of the stuff that was there that belonged in the bedroom could easily be hidden away in the nightstand drawers, which have been mostly empty for the last three years.

Inspired by how well my glass cleaner worked on the dresser mirror, I tackled a not-prioritized-anytime-soon task. I did a quick, but dramatic, cleaning of my living-room window to the porch, which included an area of the vinyl siding around that window and the front door, and the front door itself. I’ll have to tackle the rest of the porch sometime soon, but I’m pleased to have tackled just a little. (I figure people walking by and assume I’m a renter with a really crappy landlord. No…that’s not my excuse…my excuse is all the stuff I’ve outlined in pretty blunt detail in here over the years).

…

3:13PM Sunday, 3/21 – I’ve done very little since last Sunday morning. And now it’s like I’ve taken two steps back, because I have to attend to basics–going through mail, cleaning up the living room again, doing lots and lots of laundry. Can’t worry about tackling much else.

3:42PM Load a laundry and reviewing a mortage-refinance option. (Unfortunately, a refinance probably does not make sense unless I expect to be here at least another five years.)

4:36PM Remembered to make pet-sitting appointment for a day-trip to Charlotte. Remembered to think of ways to help my pet-sitters advertiser their new business. I shall post about them soon to aid in that effort! (Lots of mail to go through, reminds of lots of to-dos.)

4:42PM Reviewing info from Carolinas Medical Center. That’s my day-trip for the end of the month, for an orientation class so I can get on their transplant list. Note to self: need to find out what I need to get a “Dental Clearance”

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2:02PM Sunday, 3/28 – Two weeks pass very quickly. Not much of anything done in the past two weeks. Today, I’m pre-occupied by this couch saga, where the saga is pretty much the compilation of all the zaniness associated with my neighbor leaving town (surgery textbooks, anyone?) My friend will be by later to try to help get that couch out of my neighbor’s apartment and into my house. In the meantime, I will attempt one good hour of housework, which will probably just entail living room cleaning. After moving my couch last night, I discovered a whole mess of stuff, consisting mostly of old mail and dog hair.

2:42PM – Cleaned some of the living room floor. Vacuumed the carpeted hallway.

3:12PM – Listed neighbor’s textbooks on half.com.

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4:43PM Sunday, 5/2 – Wow, and, just like that, a whole month is just gone. The sad fact is, with dialysis and struggling to stay well just to go to work, it’s extremely tough to mark out some time to make progress with household stuff. Doing the bare-minimum of laundry and litter-scooping and trash-taking-out and mail-reading is often as victorious as I can manage to be.

Housework was a significant challenge for me pre-dialysis. It’s more significant of a challenge now. That doesn’t mean I’ve given up or I accept that I can’t do better. I’m trying to explain how hard this is; I know it’s very difficult for most people to relate.

Anyway, I just tidied up about 2/5 of the kitchen, which, for anyone who knows how small my kitchen is, will hardly seem like anything at all. It was something.

5:20PM – Did half of the dishes. And it wasn’t even that many items. But without a dishwasher and little counter room to dry them, I struggle with this task. It is easier with the nice, deep sink I got a year ago. On the other hand, it’s also true that, in all the years I had a dishwasher, I struggled to get the dishes done.

And that brings me to a common theme…why do I challenge myself with situations that are clearly beyond my capabilities?

Why did I get a place without a dishwasher when I know I struggle to do the dishes?

Why did I get a place with a tiny kitchen when I know I struggle to cook in a big kitchen?

Why did I get a place with a yard when I know I can’t even manage the inside of a living area?

Why did I get a place with so many things wrong with it when I know I can’t even manage a newly-built, nice, mechanically-sound, structually-sound living space?

5:34PM – Posting. It’s not so much about housekeeping as it is about general patheity. Oh, well.

Probably worth revisiting Housekeeping Post #1. I got some good comments there.