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Strange to say it, but yesterday I noted an internal sense of calm. Two weeks of vacation has done wonders for my mental state.
I got an email from work today and my innards didn't immediately erupt into nausea. That's a great sign.
I did have an intense dream this morning in which two houses in my charge were both badly infested with roaches, due to my neglect of the problem. This is either related to stress or to my realization, upon coming home yesterday, that my house mouse problem is worse than I had realized. In my dream, I did deal with the problems, but it was quite difficult and disgusting. The bottom line, however, is that I need to get my act together with respect to this house - more than then topical work I've been doing.
Toward that end, the dishwasher is running.
Post-vacation, the two thoughts in my head are:
1) I must create. #2022repeat
2) Discipline means freedom. #stoicism
For the second, I am tired of two things:
- Mount Clothing in the bedroom (aka the four foot pile of clothing on my bureau)
- The Mad Scrambles to neaten up the house before guests arrive (as in, clear off the dining room table, make it so that the kitchen isn't a near-total disaster, throw out all of the garbage, etc.)
I don't want perfect, but I'm tired of Mount Clothing & Mad Scrambles. Acknowledge: these are first world problems.
Mount Clothing
So, last week I sifted through the closet and brought out a bunch of clothing to either to go upstairs (to wait for warm weather) or get tossed (old and worn, etc.). That made enough room for me to deconstruct Mount Clothing and I have now managed to keep clothes off of the bureau for almost a week.
Mad Scrambles
Mad Scrambles are tougher.
One key element is that I have (once again) accumulated a massive overabundance of Tupperware, despite giving it away at holidays & birthdays. I need to cull.
I have a slight logistical problem. If I throw out a worn Tupperware bowl, I want to also throw out the matching seal. So until I find the matching seal, I keep the bowl. I don't want to end up with a bunch of seals-without-bowls. So it is taking longer to cull than it would if I simply tossed everything.
Another element is that I don't have enough room in my kitchen for staples-that-I-rarely-cook (e.g. rice, lentils, beans, millet, oats, etc.) and all of the other food I buy to avoid cooking the staples. I have room for an array of small appliances (e.g. rice cooker, Instant Pot, Air Fryer, Crock Pot, Vita Mix, etc.) because of a shelving unit acquired in 2021, but the shelving unit is stuffed with grocery items, which makes it hard to get to the small appliances.
My kitchen island is covered in a great pile of grocery items. I have four bags of groceries that I can't put away because I have nowhere to put them.
My dining room table has still more grocery items.
During Mad Scrambles, things get put into bags, which end up piled in my bedroom and on one of the living room couches.
Again, REALLY TIRED of Mad Scrambles, because they always result in more mad scrambling and clearing off of the bed to sleep.
No, I'm not a hoarder.
The kitchen has very little storage. The primary storage for this kitchen (as designed in the 1960s) was an 8-foot countertop-height cabinet which my parents removed and took with them when we moved to Glastonbury. That left this kitchen with very little storage space, so I am struggling to keep a well-stocked kitchen that's not covering every surface.
Bonus, I dislike doing dishes, so the disarray compounds during weeks when I don't fill the dishwasher.
I do like to cook, but it's an uphill battle when the kitchen is in disarray.
Long story short: discipline in the kitchen will go a long way toward freedom from mad scrambles.
Back to it, then.
I got an email from work today and my innards didn't immediately erupt into nausea. That's a great sign.
I did have an intense dream this morning in which two houses in my charge were both badly infested with roaches, due to my neglect of the problem. This is either related to stress or to my realization, upon coming home yesterday, that my house mouse problem is worse than I had realized. In my dream, I did deal with the problems, but it was quite difficult and disgusting. The bottom line, however, is that I need to get my act together with respect to this house - more than then topical work I've been doing.
Toward that end, the dishwasher is running.
Post-vacation, the two thoughts in my head are:
1) I must create. #2022repeat
2) Discipline means freedom. #stoicism
For the second, I am tired of two things:
- Mount Clothing in the bedroom (aka the four foot pile of clothing on my bureau)
- The Mad Scrambles to neaten up the house before guests arrive (as in, clear off the dining room table, make it so that the kitchen isn't a near-total disaster, throw out all of the garbage, etc.)
I don't want perfect, but I'm tired of Mount Clothing & Mad Scrambles. Acknowledge: these are first world problems.
Mount Clothing
So, last week I sifted through the closet and brought out a bunch of clothing to either to go upstairs (to wait for warm weather) or get tossed (old and worn, etc.). That made enough room for me to deconstruct Mount Clothing and I have now managed to keep clothes off of the bureau for almost a week.
Mad Scrambles
Mad Scrambles are tougher.
One key element is that I have (once again) accumulated a massive overabundance of Tupperware, despite giving it away at holidays & birthdays. I need to cull.
I have a slight logistical problem. If I throw out a worn Tupperware bowl, I want to also throw out the matching seal. So until I find the matching seal, I keep the bowl. I don't want to end up with a bunch of seals-without-bowls. So it is taking longer to cull than it would if I simply tossed everything.
Another element is that I don't have enough room in my kitchen for staples-that-I-rarely-cook (e.g. rice, lentils, beans, millet, oats, etc.) and all of the other food I buy to avoid cooking the staples. I have room for an array of small appliances (e.g. rice cooker, Instant Pot, Air Fryer, Crock Pot, Vita Mix, etc.) because of a shelving unit acquired in 2021, but the shelving unit is stuffed with grocery items, which makes it hard to get to the small appliances.
My kitchen island is covered in a great pile of grocery items. I have four bags of groceries that I can't put away because I have nowhere to put them.
My dining room table has still more grocery items.
During Mad Scrambles, things get put into bags, which end up piled in my bedroom and on one of the living room couches.
Again, REALLY TIRED of Mad Scrambles, because they always result in more mad scrambling and clearing off of the bed to sleep.
No, I'm not a hoarder.
The kitchen has very little storage. The primary storage for this kitchen (as designed in the 1960s) was an 8-foot countertop-height cabinet which my parents removed and took with them when we moved to Glastonbury. That left this kitchen with very little storage space, so I am struggling to keep a well-stocked kitchen that's not covering every surface.
Bonus, I dislike doing dishes, so the disarray compounds during weeks when I don't fill the dishwasher.
I do like to cook, but it's an uphill battle when the kitchen is in disarray.
Long story short: discipline in the kitchen will go a long way toward freedom from mad scrambles.
Back to it, then.
