Housework for the Homebound (part/attempt 3 of 3)

HOUSEWORK
(First of all, if you're baffled by the notation in parentheses in the title, I'll offer a brief explanation.  I was having trouble with the site itself, as well as  a cute little child deleting what I had composed to post.  I'm hopefully going to be a little more successful with this attempt).

I have always considered myself a good housekeeper.  Not fabulous, nor would I ever let someone come through with a white glove, but still a decent housekeeper.  Let's put it this way:  You could eat or stay at my home and be comfortable and know you would not get sick from staying here or eating here.  I kept up on the cleanliness factor even though some things got behind, like cluttered closets or gross garage, put-off paperwork or cupboard clean-out.  I do pride myself on being able to come up with an organizational system, I'm just lacking in the motivation to maintain it.  (How DOES that garage get so ridiculously cluttered?  That's another topic for another post, but suffice it to say, I border on being a hoarder of sorts.  If I MIGHT use it in the future, I should hang on to it, right?  Reuse, repurpose, recycle, redeem.....). 

ADAPTATION
Since I've been sick, my entire household is askew and getting worse by the minute.   I've learned more about prioritizing and adaptation.  I've learned to actually do a few things a little differently, but mostly, I have just had to concede that I will be able to catch up when I'm better.  I started running out of energy last fall and with my big collapse in early April, so there will be plenty to catch up on when I have some energy back.  I'm so grateful that I will not have to go back to being employed outside of the home when that time comes, as we've pretty much had to adapt to not having any income from me (not that I was making money hand over fist, but it was still a nice little cushion). 

My older brother who lives in Bellingham, Washington, has a medical/health condition which prevents, or limits him, from doing much of the day-to-day tasks in life - much like my current condition.  He has been staying at my house for the last 2 1/2 weeks.  I would NOT be letting ANYONE stay at my house who was not completely aware of my many physical limitations and so I completely appreciate his tolerance of my filthy house.  I DO try to accomplish one housekeeping task a day.  If I can do more than that, I'm ecstatic.  My goals for the week are these six things (take Sunday off of "housework").

• clean a toilet and a sink
• run a load or two of laundry
• run the vacuum once in our bedroom and living room
• sweep the kitchen floor
• take out the trash
• sanitize the kitchen counters and sink and check for "science experiments" in the refrigerator

(all of which I used to be able to accomplish in a matter of a couple of hours)

If I can get these things done as well as get the kitty litter box scooped a few times a week and things like that, I'm feeling pretty accomplished.  Even though I'm hardly ever actually cooking a meal, it's still been a challenge to keep up with the dishes.  Especially so with my recent exacerbation of lower back problems.  It just hurts so much to bend over every time to open up the dishwasher, pull out the bottom rack and load it, that I've left it open most of the time (partly in hopes anyone else will feel more inclined to load their own dishes) so I don't have to do as much bending.  Washing things by hand eliminates the bending, but I still get the pain in my back from standing for that additional amount of time.  I'm going to have to do something about strengthening my back so I can get these things done when I find a few minutes of energy in the day.

If I have to go somewhere, I do have to take the Guarana (plant based caffeine supplement found at nutrition stores) to be able to have the energy and stamina to get to a doctor's appointment, church or the such.  On these days, if the Guarana hasn't completely worn off by the time I'm back home, I like to take advantage of the situation and perhaps change my sheets or do some dusting.  Score!

I guess it's all becoming just a little more mentally overwhelming to me because in the past, Jenna has been able to help out a little here or there, but now she has a full time job being a nanny and isn't able to help me at all.  She is nannying 24/7 right now for two weeks and has had to come over HERE to have me supervise the little girl while Jenna takes a power nap!  She will be moving to Portland soon as well, so there is not much hope she'll be able to do much to help.   Since I HAVE been able to figure out how to prioritize better, pace myself better, as well as just mentally and emotionally let go of my higher standard of cleanliness, I'm not going to be driving myself insane in the meantime. 

This house is just too big for us now.  It's 2700 square feet (5 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths) of dust collecting space.  We will hopefully be able to sell it soon and get into something smaller with a master bedroom on the main floor (if more than one floor).  In the meantime, that is my motivation to get to decluttering.  If I can add and get through a closet or a box of paperwork a week, I'd gladly give up having clean and unstained grout on my tile floors, the absence of doggy footprints on the wood floors or soapscum-less showers for awhile.

I used to really not liking doing housework much at all but I still was compelled to have it just so.  I would have to play some real perky, dance-able music and burn a scented candle just to tolerate it.  Boy, have things changed.  What I would give right now to have the energy to just be ABLE to make my house shiny and clean again.  BUT, it's going to be ok because I know I will get better and have my house back to how I like it.  And anyone reading this, you'll be able to again visit without fear of illness or injury.