Crazy Cat Lady Chapter 2 - Groundhog Day

Florence_J

Hi CCL,

I have had to do a lot of catching up with your diary as I've been busy this week, so here are a few points on what I have read of yours.

1) I believe it is a medical must that you have some time away, as just before I returned to work I went away with the OH and his family and I felt my anxiety just sort of click off, and I felt that I could face anything afterwards.

2) I feel strange too about Chester Bennington. I can't claim to be the biggest Linkin Park fan now but he and his music was a very important part of my life at one point and I feel like I have lost someone that was important to me as a child/teenager.

3) regarding your house and the cleaning. Ultimately it should be your choice how your house looks as the clue is in what I just said, it is YOUR house. Personally I would be horrified if someone purposefully cleaned before I came round, I'm not the Queen I don't warrant that sort of service.

BUT it should not be down to you and you alone to clean the parts that do get cleaned. You are a teacher so you do more than a full time job doing your full time job.

I don't want to sound unduly harsh to your partner and kids as I wasn't always a saint about tidying up, but maybe presenting the situation in this way will make them think....

SITUATION - Either they help tidy the house in a proper, organised way, and can continue to treat you like a cash machine, OR because you are forced to hire a cleaner they will have to take a hit with the clothes/phones/meals out/treats/take aways/pocket money in order to pay for the cleaner.

I hope you are well and congratulations on not only surviving another school year but also getting promoted. Tell your self sabotaging voice to do one because they were wrong.

crazy_cat_lady

Morning all :coffee:
I think I've slept more over the past 36 hours than is entirely natural for any human being (apart from dh) but I feel back to normal this morning at least. Or as normal as I ever get
I even did my bit of shopping and exam work in between naps yesterday so I feel as though I had some small victories in between recovering :rotfl: I just can't switch off - even when I've promised myself a full day of slob and sleep I still do stuff like the washing, dishes, rubbish etc, and people wonder why I want a break away from home...
Flo - thanks so much for your kind words and taking the time to write such a lovely reply to me. I have decided to get a cleaner as it's not worth the hassle of this constant fight with the rest of my family. I get to feeling quite unappreciated sometimes - especially when I'm tired and then I feel guilty for telling the rest of them that they take me for granted (like I'm full of my own self importance).
I'm still gutted about Chester Bennington - I've spent a bit of time listening to early Linkin Park stuff and reliving my early 20's. I was so massively into music before grown up job and family and they were one of my favourites. I just don't have the time for music like I used to but still think they are fantastic. What a shame - he's a big loss - and whenever anything like this happens (like Chris Cornell) I start stressing about dh again. He's not well, whether he believes it or not, and I hate not knowing what the future holds for him and us. Some days I feel fine, some days I think we can't go on like this any more. I know nothing in life is perfect, but I worry that dh is so withdrawn all of the time. It is who he his though...
Anyway. Onto other stuff - today we'll be off to visit my mam for a bit of a catch up. I also plan to finalise this skip hire. I've already got 3 bags of rubbish sitting here and I plan to get another 3 today at some point so I should get on and organise somewhere to put it all I need to do a load of washing and hoover through. Tiny bit of exam related work to finalise and that's it.
Booked the four of us a weekend away yesterday - looking forward to that. Just a couple of days in the Lakes but it is partly the break I am so desperate for. This time next week I'll be packing up ready to go to London again for a few days with exam stuff and I'd like to think the house declutter will be done before then - but we shall see. There's plenty of time as long as I don't waste it sitting on my bum making plans and then doing nothing about it.
Right. Time for me to get on and get some stuff done for the day...

Orange_Ena

Yay, congratulations, you made it. And breathe

So glad you've booked a few days away and that you are getting a cleaner. I honestly don't know how you manage everything. But I hope you're not going to be one of those people who cleans before the cleaner comes!

Good luck with the decluttering too, it's so lovely getting rid of stuff. One of my favourite things is going to the tip to get rid of stuff. If they put a little C0sta there, I'd go weekly :rotfl:

SpekySquarehead

I read that the vast majority of enjoyment of a holiday comes from booking it and looking forward to it. Glad to hear you're feeling a bit more human.

crazy_cat_lady

So, we got to my mam's house yesterday and there was nobody there, and the car was gone. I presumed she'd gone out for the day so sent her a text but I haven't had a reply from her so I'm starting to wonder if she's gone on holiday and not bothered telling me Honestly...
I decided that me and the kids would hit the shops for a few hours - I'd planned to do it later in the hols but we had time and we were all out of the house so they are all happy and stocked up with clothes and shoes in the short term.
I also made enquiries about a skip and I'm hopeful that I'll hear back from them before the end of the day. The black bags are starting to stack up and I really want somewhere to get rid of them all. I feel like I have a bit of decluttering momentum on the go so I want to keep going. I'm sure I'll feel much better when it's all done and then I can sort out the cleaner to help me stay on top of it.
Have been busy this morning with dentist and shopping, plus the daily bits of housework that always need doing. Now I'm just settling down with a cuppa and relaxing before I make a start on a couple of hours of crochet.

crazy_cat_lady

Stupidly excited about the fact that there is a skip on our driveway and that I can fill it up with rubbish. I'll be back later...

crazy_cat_lady

Oh.My.GOD. :eek:
The skip is already full. I hired an 8 yard skip, which is a full size builder's skip and I thought that would be plenty enough, but it isn't. We're not finished either. The living room, loft and ds room are done. I've done a bit of the kitchen and a tiny bit of our bedroom, and dd has done most of her bedroom but we are out of space in the skip now. It is full to the brim and I can't see any way of sneaking anything else in there at all. I have been wondering if we should get this one collected and hire another one straight away just to get it done and out of the way, but it would mean sacrificing the mini hot tub break I was hoping to have with the kids. DD doesn't want me to do that, but I kind of don't want to leave the job half done now that we've made a good start on it. I think we're only just over half way through to be fair... I'll think about it though. I keep thinking if the house is decluttered enough then I would hire a hot tub for the garden and enjoy it. But it still isn't a break away from real life...
There isn't anything else to report. Literally the entire day has been packing bags of rubbish and throwing them in the skip. We stopped briefly for an hour to eat pizza but I am way too fat and too old for this intensity of work that's for sure. I'm going to be aching all over tomorrow. Between me and the kids we have completely emptied the loft, the big rubbish from the garden, decluttered the living room, dismantled ds cabin bed and emptied everything in there. Shattered.
And I'm sleeping on the sofa tonight as well because we haven't put ds new bed up yet - and his walls and carpet need a good clean. Ah well. At least it is a lovely tidy living room that my mother probably wouldn't nag me about (although she might say that it needs decorating now it looks a bit tidier).

Eager_Elephant

Crikey CCL - you are really pushing on with this declutter/mass tidy up!!

Do you have a rubbish tip near you? if you do could you fill the car and do shuttle runs which would work out cheaper on petrol than a skip.

I think you need to continue as much as you can while the motivation is there - does DH have any money that could be put towards a break for you all/the cost of the skip?

crazy_cat_lady

I don't do things by halves EE. Once I make a start on something I like to keep going until it's done. The only thing that has stopped me tonight is physical exhaustion. I half like the idea of the tip but I prefer the idea of my rubbish being properly sorted and mostly recycled if I use a skip. Not sure if the tip do that, but I could look into it.
As for DH, you probably already know what an awkward conversation that would be - but I'll see. He seems to be in an ok mood at the moment.

PurpleFairy26

crazy_cat_lady wrote: »

I don't do things by halves EE. Once I make a start on something I like to keep going until it's done. The only thing that has stopped me tonight is physical exhaustion. I half like the idea of the tip but I prefer the idea of my rubbish being properly sorted and mostly recycled if I use a skip. Not sure if the tip do that, but I could look into it.
As for DH, you probably already know what an awkward conversation that would be - but I'll see. He seems to be in an ok mood at the moment.

Our tip pretty much everything is recycled, there are huge skips for each element and on,y pure none recycled stuff goes to landfill. I assumed all were like that now, although I guess I've never really thought about it before. I'm like you, I like to know stuffs not going to landfill.

Well done on the promotion, lovely to see you back on the small things thread. The break sounds lovely too