Tidying Up

Procrastinator’s Pace

Ahh, the guilt of procrastination. It freezes me at times. Take the past month, for instance. I see this endless list of things I’m ‘supposed’ to do, things I’ve brought upon myself, but I don’t do them. I don’t know why… surely I’d feel more free if I completed these things. But, I’m still here, stuck. The guilt causes me to avoid things I love as a sort of punishment – if I can’t honor my personal commitments, why should I allow myself to blog? Or take new photographs? I’m not sure there’s logic in it, but it’s the way my brain works sometimes.

I wish I could organize my personal life as easily as I can my work and school lives. I rarely fall behind when I am accountable to someone other than myself, when I have a manager or teacher to please. Why can’t I award myself the same respect and discipline? Why can’t I do the same for friends or family?

*sigh* Maybe admitting this will make me feel accountable. Maybe I’ll actually complete those commitments someday. It’d surely be better than wallowing in this guilt.

Small Apartment Blues

I don’t know what to do about my apartment. I don’t know where to start when it comes to organizing it, and I think I’m the only person who really cares what the place looks like anyway. We have limited space, too many possessions, and no desire to clean up or finish unpacking.  The real bummer is, Christmas is just 6 weeks away, and I don’t know if we’ll have anywhere to eventually put the tree! Our tree didn’t make it out last year partly because of a lack of space, and we have even less room at this new apartment.

It’s not like I have some big design plan, but it’s getting really depressing living this way. There are days when I’m not at all excited to go home after work. Maybe that’s part of why Jon and I go out to eat so often and go shopping so much, other places feel more comfortable and relaxing than our own ‘home’.

Renting storage space somewhere might help a little, but wouldn’t solve the overall disorganization or cleanliness problems. It’s a double edge sword for me… I’m upset and frustrated that the place is always a mess, but if I put in the work to clean it I end up resenting the other people who live here because I think to myself… “I really can’t have made more than 1/3 of the chaos, so why should I clean all of it?”  I know that’s not fair, they’re entitled to live their preferred lifestyle too. Their priorities are different than mine, and that should be perfectly fine.

I guess I should just focus on my half of my bedroom, where my desk is located. It’s not much better than the rest of the apartment at this point, and it’s the part of my 1/3 that I spend the most time in. *sigh* Why does being an adult include so much boring and tedius crap like housework?! (Don’t mind me, I may just need some sleep…)

Hi, Neighbor!

Sometimes, I think think the ideal situation would be for me and my husband to live right next door to one another, each in our own little 1 bedroom apartment. We’d be happily married neighbors! A connecting door between our living rooms would be fine. He could decorate in the “1980′s lawyer look” (black shiny metal and glass, over stuffed seating) he likes, store all his collections of things, and be as messy as he wanted. I could pretend my apartment was a cute little city loft and paint the walls bright colors and shop at cool antique stores for furniture. Maybe someday when we get a house he can just have the basement all to himself and I can set up the upstairs my way. That’d be ok too.

Also, I’m weirdly sensitive to invading other people’s time and space, even my husband’s. Currently, I’m supposed to be unpacking stuff in the kitchen, but I dislike the idea of moving around the things he already unpacked, and I feel especially odd about moving my roommate’s stuff. Like earlier today, I moved some of his food storage containers to a higher shelf to make room for the spices, and it felt weird, like I should ask permission first.

Maybe it’s because I want to treat others how I’d like to be treated, and I really don’t enjoy finding my stuff rearranged without my advanced consent. When I was a kid, my mom used to reorganize my bedroom while I was off at school. It didn’t make me angry or upset really, I just found it chaotic not knowing where my stuff was, and I’ve never liked being surprised like that.

Maybe I just need to take a ‘big girl pill’ and get over myself. I can’t live in a bubble, even if I’d like to some days.

Fresh Start

Ahh, nothing like a fresh start, eh? It’s been a while since I’ve written a regular blog, and I’ve missed it. I’m not profound, or exciting, but it’s nice to have an outlet for all the things my brain bothers with.

The spring cleaning around the apartment has been relatively successful thus far. We’ve got a long way to go, but it’s going better than last year. My husband finally started looking through some old boxes, boxes that haven’t been opened since they were brought into the apartment nearly three years ago. There’s loads of his childhood goodies in them.

The highlight of my afternoon was reading through the copy of My Book About Me he found. He’d filled out when he was six years old or so, and it’s absolutely adorable. It turns out that his favorite sport is rollerskating, and he’s glad he’s not a giraffe. *grin*

On Saturday night my brother and I saw Blue Man Group at the Xcel Center. One of his coworkers bought tickets back in December but was unable to attend, so we got to go for free! It helps that everyone my brother works with adores him. Anyway, it was a great way to belatedly celebrate his birthday. I’m quite glad I’d taken vacation time over the weekend!

The show was not quite what I expected, but still a ton of fun. I think I probably enjoyed the novelty of the opening act more than the Blue Men though. The opener was Mike Relm, a DJ who spins music AND videos simultaneously. He’s ridiculous! If you ever get the chance to see him in action you won’t regret it.

Here’s a sample: Continue reading