Most of the time at home, I’m treading water, just managing to keep the family fed and clothed. Ever since I started working on the dissertation and pretty much dropped any regular routine in terms of cleaning, etc., the house has gone to pot. I pretty much kept to my usual routine of coming home, making dinner, eating, and then either vegging out or doing some writing/research. I did not do housework–none. I left it all for the weekend. But then, on the weekend, I’d feel after a hard week at the salt mines, I needed to spend time with the family and/or veg out. This weekend, I decided to start truly digging out, one small area at a time. This weekend’s target was the kitchen cabinet where we store food. I labeled all the spices, rearranged all the cans, threw out stuff from 2003, and now have a good idea of what food I have and don’t have. Like oregano–I don’t have oregano–good to know.

The house seems overwhelming taken as a whole, but spending just a couple of hours on a small project like a single cabinet or countertop (and yes, I could spend an hour on a countertop) makes it seem more manageable. Maybe in 5 years, I’ll have tackled the whole house.