I spent all day yesterday cleaning. It started with me looking for my camera, which had been packed up late last summer when our apartment was being remodeled and we needed to be elsewhere. Many of those boxes have been unpacked since then but there were still a dozen or so that had lingered around the apartment. I actually found the camera in about 20 minutes but I had energy and I felt like I was on a roll. Plus, looking around at all the clutter, it all seemed to be things I could do on my own.
I like to clean on my own. I actually hate having people around when I clean. Sometimes I listen to loud music or dance while I’m doing it. But even when I don’t, I’m a very disorganized person and trying to organize things takes a lot of brain power, which is diminished when I need to stop and talk to someone about what I’m doing every 5 to 10 minutes. Aaron likes cleaning with me because he is very good at organizing and delegating, which I respect, but his delegating, when I’m pushing my limits, can feel like he’s ordering me to do tasks, even when he’s very polite about it, so I get frustrated really quickly. I’d rather just do it on my own.
Having said all of that, I was quite happy when my aide arrived for the day. My aide, Celine, works with me from 2 to 6 every week day. Often, due to my disability, I don’t have the energy I used yesterday. And if I eat, I’m pretty much down for the count. So I didn’t eat. I drank a lot of fluids though, which I should always do, but again, when I eat and drink a lot, it can get be disastrous.
Anyways, I cleaned everything on my own. I made piles of garbage and cardboard and such – which my aide kindly took out for me. I told her she was an angel, because if I’d had to do that I’d have either put it off until today or I’d have collapsed. She also made my bed, did a load of laundry and picked up a prescription for me. Bless her. Together we made everything look so much better!
Before:
After:
After all that, I showered and ate a relatively large meal. I had an omelette with chia seeds, flax seeds, spices and three cheeses. I drank water. I worked on my website for a bit but I was getting tired pretty quickly. Not only had been working all day but I hadn’t slept great the night before. I considered fighting through it but I started getting a migraine and decided I’d rather be asleep. It took me longer to get to sleep than I expected but once I was in I slept a little under 7 hours. I got up and had a snack (olives) and later went back to bed to get some Aaron cuddles before he had to leave for work. He just walked out the door as I was typing this. He usually works at home these days but needs to be on site most of this week and then he’s off to L.A. for another work trip, so our time together will be relatively limited.