House of Shame Progress Report - Shame no More

Well here I am to update my house of shame.  I can't really call it the house of shame anymore.  It is still a work in progress as I have yet to tackle my bedroom and the craft room (that one will be relatively easy as it just a matter of putting things where they belong).

So far, the living room and kitchen areas are clean and tidy and I've been keeping up on it so it stays that way.  Today I finished (well almost finished) the hall and the bathroom.  I think it is time to put the before and after pictures up so you can see what I've accomplished.  To those of you who regularly keep a clean house, you probably think I haven't accomplished much, but those who know me have a much better idea of my success so far.

Living Room

before

after

Kitchen



before

 

after

Hallway

before

after

before

after


I probably won't be posting any more reports on my cleaning project.  I think I've got the motivation to get the rest done now.  The bedroom will be a tough one but I'll take it small bit by small bit and the craft room will be a reward as I enjoy organizing it.

Toodleoo until next time.

If at first you don't succeed, try it the way your mother told you to in the first place.

House of Shame Progress Report - Day 11

I think I've found my mojo again after a few days of feeling pretty low.

As I did yesterday, I restricted myself to small tasks rather than looking at the whole picture.  My kitchen now looks presentable enough that I wouldn't be embarrassed if someone were to come for a visit.

It's not done yet, I still have work to do on the counters and haven't even begun on organizing my cupboards. I really need to get some window treatments.  Until I started taking pictures of the kitchen, I didn't realize just how blah they look without any curtains.  I did buy some a long time ago but never got around to putting them up - I hope I can find them now.

Hopefully I will finish the floors and counters tomorrow then I can move on to the hallway.  I've been moving things around and cleaning it a bit here and there, so I hope that will be done lickety-split.  Maybe I'll even get the bathroom done before the weekend.  Here's to hoping my mojo doesn't run off and leave me again. :)

Just in case you were wondering, yes, I have been keeping the living room tidy (even my end table!)

In the picture you can see Misty patiently waiting for her insulin shot.  If I didn't give it while she was eating, I used to have to hunt her down to give it.  Now if she hasn't had it, she follows me around or patiently waits on her eating table until I give it to her.  I guess she knows that those needles are keeping her alive.

"The only people who never fail are those who have never tried." Kung Fu

Road Block

I haven't posted for a few days now about my house of shame.  That is because I haven't done much at all.  I've been going through a rough patch and have only been getting the necessities done. 
If you know me, you know that I've been depressed pretty much since my hubby died.  The meds are keeping me pretty stable but every once in a while I have a major mood drop.  Thank God for my critters, they make me get out of bed to look after them and give me lots of cuddles.

Funny thing about being depressed is that my brain tells me that if I get busy doing something I will start to feel better but I just don't have the oomph to get started.  Then I feel more depressed because nothing productive was done.  After a couple days of this cycle, I found the necessary will to try to alter, if not put a halt to the cycle completely.  I decided to look at cleaning in a bit different frame.  Instead of looking at the whole job, I instead broke it down into wee jobs like piling my zentangle supplies into a neat pile and putting the dishes away.  By doing small things, I finally got a bit of cleaning done.  I am going to have to continue to make myself do small things until I climb out of this hole I find myself in.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

I'll keep you posted.

"The sun will come up tomorrow, there will be a brand new day tomorrow, come what may...."

Orphan Annie

Dreams

I wonder how many people have dreams that they don't remember.  Not those who say they don't dream but those who know they dreamt but don't remember any more than the feeling the dream left with them. I have both dreams that I remember with different levels of clarity and those that only leave me with a feeling.  The latter has been more prevalent in my recent dreams but last night I had one that I remember quite well.  This dream (or series of dreams) involved something bad happening to my friend.  I won't go into any details as I can't think of a way to discuss it without putting identifiers into the story.  The dream prompted me to write this post about dreams in general.

My dreams can be broken into 4 basic types.  Although I don't watch a great number of movies, I'll try to name a few that fit with each category.

The first type is the unknown.  This is the dream that is not remembered but leaves a lingering feeling and as such can not be likened to any movies.  The lingering emotion can run the gamut from terrified to very happy.  As there are no details remembered from the dream, the feeling has no glue so evaporates.  The time it takes to evaporate is usually quite short but can take hold and last for quite a few hours.  Once it is completely evaporated, it only leaves behind the knowledge that it was once there, knowledge that is stored in one of the many drawers in my brain.  These dreams could be divided into the remaining categories but I give them their own category because they are basically only emotions and because the dreams are only assumed to have been.

Happy dreams are the second type I will discuss.  A happy dream is like the movies 'Mary Poppins', 'Patch Adams' and 'Rio'.  These are by far my favourite type of dream.  A happy dream can wake me with the sound of my own laughter and/or leave me with a smile on my face and a good feeling.  Unfortunately, these are the least frequent of my dreams and the amount of detail is usually fuzzy.  As the clarity of details directly relates to the length of time the memory of the details and its accompanying feelings last, the fuzzy details of a happy dream mean that it is gone from memory quite quickly.  But still, a happy dream just before waking for the day gives the day a bright start.  These dreams don't benefit from sharing as they aren't as much fun in the telling as they are in the dream.  I like to keep these ones to myself so they can't be lessened by the narrative.  They are to be treasured as one would a rare gem that you only get to hold for a moment.  Maybe that is why mom only said that bad dreams need to be told (explained later on). 

The next two types are similar.  They are the 'bad' dreams and the nightmares.  Although I imagine some people would lump these two together, I like to think of them as separate types of dreams. 

The 'bad' dream is one that leaves me with a feeling of sadness, anger or dread.  Movies that come to mind to describe bad dreams are 'Old Yeller', 'The Green Mile' and 'Ghost' to name a few.  It may be that someone I love is dealing with a family problem, that someone is sick and/or dying or any of a wide variety of topics.  The amount of detail varies so the length of the resultant feelings vary as well.  It is in this category that includes the dreams that result in my calling the person involved.   Bad dreams are the most frequent of dream types that I experience.  I have to wonder if I have these dreams because I'm depressed or if the dreams cause the depression.

Nightmares are the horror movies of the mind.  As I don't watch horror movies, my comparisons are wanting.  Something like 'The Birds', 'The Ring' or possibly 'The 6th Sense' might fit.  For me a nightmare usually starts out as a good dream that turns into one that has me screaming or paralyzed with fear.  I have woken from such a dream by the sound of my own scream or with my muscles frozen into place and I find myself unable to move them for fear that something will happen if I do.  It is these dreams that are the exception to the clarity equals duration rule.  I may not remember much of the dream's details (possibly because my coping mechanisms kick in), but the feeling of fear or foreboding after the dream can last for a full day or more.  I have had some nightmares that I can still recall with an amazing amount of clarity many years later.  The nightmare can cause me to fear going to sleep or to fear waking up.  I get out of bed immediately so the dream can't return or I go back to sleep with the hope that the nightmare will continue and the end will be less terrifying. Thankfully, nightmares are infrequent occurrences at this point in my life.

My mother told me this remedy for bad dreams and nightmares when I was a child - if you tell someone about the dream, then it can't come true.  For some reason this remedy became engrained in my coping system.  Although this is most likely just a story told to comfort a scared child and I don't consider myself a superstitious person, I always tried to tell my bad dreams to someone.  During my married life, the person I told was Howard.  I always felt better after telling him but there were times that the feeling would linger.  There have been times that I've dreamt about someone so vividly that I have had to call them just to hear their voice and reassure myself that they are ok.  Usually during these calls, I end up telling them about the dream.  Now that I am alone, I don't tell anyone (except maybe my critters) about the majority of my dreams.  Sometimes a dream will come up in conversation and, even though there may have been a lot of time between the dream and the conversation, I still feel a sense of relief that the dream has finally been told.

I wonder if any one else can identify with any of my dream types.  If you're reading this, I hope you will make a comment about your dreams and/or what you do to handle the emotions they leave behind. 

I know there are a lot of books on the meanings of dreams but I'm not sure that dreams have any meaning.  I think that dreams are just your psyche dealing with stress, other emotional problems or trauma you may be experiencing.  What do you think, do dreams have meanings?

Until we meet again, I send wishes for all your dreams to be happy ones.

House of Shame Progress Report - Day 4 and the Monster Bug

Hello again and welcome to my nightmare.

I've hit a bit of a wall in cleaning the kitchen and hallway.  My problem is that I can move things around to clean but I don't know where to put all the stuff that has accumulated.  A good percentage of the stuff is Partylite products that I want to keep.  I know I'm going to have to bite the bullet and either sell, donate or gift a lot of it as I just don't have the room to store it here.  I think I'm going to have to beg my sister and friend to come visit so they can help me decrease my stash (I was going to say de-junk, but to me it isn't junk).


As you can see, I have made a bit more progress here.  The table is cleared and a nicer tablecloth and a centerpiece replace all the junk.  You can see a bit more of the counter and the white drawer tower has been moved to a new home where I can use it to store all the critter treats (instead of some here and some there).  I still have a lot of work to do in here.  After I finish cleaning, I want to re-organize my crappy cupboards.  At the speed I work, I figure I have another week before this is finished.  I probably won't post daily while working in here but I'll keep you up to date periodically.

I also got a bit done in the hallway.  Not really enough to warrant a picture, just moving things around, moving the critter crates to the garage and giving it a good sweep.  My problem with too many treasures extends to the hall and bedroom as well.  Honestly, sometimes I think I'd be better off just lighting a match to the whole mess!  Do you think the fire chief might think it a bit odd that my craft stuff and a few precious items just happened to be outside when the house caught on fire? :-P

While I was taking one of my breaks from cleaning (I tend to take a lot of them) and playing around on the computer, something too horrid for words caught my eye.  I saw what looked like a massive hairball on the living room floor.  As I was grumbling about having to clean it up, it MOVED!  It was the biggest, ugliest caterpillar like thing I've ever seen.  Longer and thicker than my finger, it was almost the size of a short cigar and about the same colour.
If you know me, you know how much I absolutely detest bugs.  Beetles have always been at the top of the most hated bugs but this one freaked me out so bad that I think it just might have topped my hatred of the horrid hard-shelled ugly beetles.  If I hadn't been home alone, you can bet I'd have been screeching for someone to kill it and get it out of my sight!  Unfortunately, I couldn't think of a way to get Kayla or the cats to get rid of it for me so I had to take matters into my own hands.  I am still shuddering when I remember the very quick trip to the toilet with a squirming yucky thing in a handful of Kleenex.  You can bet I flushed that damn thing down and kept flushing a few more times just to make sure it was gone.  Then I almost burst my bladder as I really didn't want to sit on that toilet just in case it wasn't gone.  Luckily for me, common sense prevailed before I ended up in a puddle of my own making.  But you can be darn sure I checked to make sure the monster hadn't crawled back up from the depths of the sewer system.  'shudder'  I'm pretty sure I'll be having nightmares tonight.
I posted a picture of the monster on FB but I just couldn't bring myself to look at it again here.  I'm hoping someone can tell me what it was so I know if I need to call an exterminator.  As it left an inky black spot where I had disturbed it by moving it with my shoe, and it looked kind of spiky, I'm pretty sure the critters didn't bring it in.  I wish I could convince myself otherwise though as if it let itself in, then maybe its family will come looking for it. 'major shudder'

I don't think I'll be watching Hannibal tonight - I think a fun kids movie or maybe a romantic comedy is more in order before bed.

I was just scrolling through my recent posts and I realize that I hadn't reported on how my son fared after his accident.  The day after he was injured, he still went to work and tried to do his job one-handed.  I told him he was an idiot for doing so but in honesty I think he is amazing (an amazing idiot).  I hope his bosses appreciate his work ethics.  To make a long story short, he is now in a cast as his arm is fractured and is on light duties at work.  No way would he even consider taking time off.  I am so proud of him.

Toodleoo for tonight.  Have pleasant dreams, I know I won't.

House of Shame Progress Report - Day 3

A dreary day today, at least for the majority of it.  The sun was shining when I got up but it wasn't long before it went behind clouds and stayed there.  I figured that if the sun could take the day off, then so could I.  OK, so the sun wasn't completely out of service so I did compensate by doing a bit more cleaning and even remembered to take the garbage out for pick up tomorrow.  About 2 minutes after I took the garbage out, the skies opened up.  I'm thankful that I didn't get caught in the downpour!

I started clearing off the dining room table after breakfast and found a disposable upholstery cleaner I'd forgotten I bought.  The task of cleaning off the table was immediately forgotten as I searched for something to try it on.  I decided to see if it could make my recliner a bit more presentable as the headrest and arms are showing a lot of wear.  After one try on the my opinion is still reserved.  It does look a bit cleaner but is very streaky.  I guess I didn't apply the solution evenly enough so will have to give it another go.  That won't be happening tonight as the cleaning solution is very stinky!  As a result of my chair being damp from the cleaner, I wasn't able to use my computer until now so had to find something else to entertain myself.  I suppose I could have done more cleaning than I did but instead I opted for working on a couple of puzzles and watch some more Hannibal.  I also spent a few minutes sitting with Kayla and watching out the window to see if I could see what she found so interesting.  I'm no wiser as all I saw was a whole lot of nothing going on!

As you can see in my picture, I did manage to get a wee bit done in the kitchen.  At least now I can see most of the ugly table cloth on the dining room table and although you can't really tell in the picture I did get some of the counter cleared off.  I only use this plastic tablecloth to protect my heirloom table when I'm doing crafts on it.  I haven't done that since my friend visited Easter weekend.  I really didn't think it had been that long since I had cleared off the table - shame on me! 

I may get ambitious and do a bit more in the kitchen before bed (yeah, right! who am I trying to kid?) but for now, I think I will check out my FB and maybe play a game or 2 (or 10) before I head for the pit.  I'm still trying to recover from my sleepless Sat night and last night wasn't the best sleep ever as I kept waking up every hour or so.  I hope I sleep much better tonight as I have to get up early tomorrow for the SaskTel repair person.

 

As a reward for my living room looking so much better (and to compensate for the stink from the cleaner) I have all my candles lit.  I love how they can make the house feel so much more inviting with their warm glow.  I think that when I finish the kitchen/dining room I will reward myself with some flowers for the table.

 

Until we meet again.