Getting social!

This summer I have worked very hard to get together with people I don't see often but care about deeply. I can't really entertain at my house, because I can't get it reasonably clean. So I've been organizing outings with friends and so far I've had people join me at several outdoor concerts at our local library, go to an outdoor presentation of a Shakespeare play, go to the county fair, and meet at various parks. We even had our neighbors over, but sat on the front (relatively clean) porch. I'm working on getting the inside clean, but that's not happening anytime soon since there is so much work needing to be done. I am in a kind of fatigue remission again, and I know from past experience that I can't count on my health once fall comes around and I'm working again and it gets dark earlier and earlier. So I am trying to be with my friends during the summer when I have time to take naps when I need them and still have time to be social with my buds.

Draining the life out of me

I have spent over 40 hours each week for several weeks now, just deep cleaning my house. I'm still not anywhere near completion, and there's not a single room that's completely done. I've worked in the office, kitchen, and dining room. I see improvement, but I also see that no one else in my family is lifting a finger to help or to maintain what I've accomplished. I am allergic to dust, and I hate to spend hours and hours picking up after other people. Since I put my things away where I can find them again, it is not my stuff that I'm having to clean up and put away. The more I clean, the worse my mood becomes and the more depressed I am. I am between a garbage pile and a trash dumpster. It drains the life out of me to spend so much time cleaning, but it also sucks the life out of me to live in clutter and be surrounded by piles of stuff. I seem to loose either way. But I can't continue living like this, because it is affecting my health. I am trying hard to make my home a place I can stay and be comfortable in, but it's taking a toll to have to spend my limited energy on cleaning and see my family be so indifferent even though I've explained repeatedly to each of them how important this is for me. I guess they just don't care about how the house looks, being able to find things, etc. But the hardest part is realizing that they care so little about what I need.

It's been awhile

I have had many computer problems, but hopefully they are resolved or are resolving. I have been busy taking classes and learning teaching strategies. I've also taken advantage of my time off work to get together with the friends I don't get to see very often during the school year. I've been cleaning my house for hours each day, trying to get it to the point where it is reasonably close to the way it should be so that I can continue to live here comfortably. Since I am the only one in my family of 5 that is bothered by clutter, I've been unable to communicate effectively with them about how important order is to me. I've tried to enlist their help, but although they say they will do things, they don't follow through so for now I am doing everything myself. I can keep up with the daily things and make very slight forward progress in cleaning and organizing. However, all the time that I spend on that makes it impossible to fit in the studying and writing I really want to be doing. I don't like spending my time on things many people could do at the expense of losing that time that could be used for things only I could do. But I have no solution figured out yet.