Hannah Is Back

 Hannah came home this afternoon for a few days. It's nice having her here, but of course, I had to clean my room.

I do this every time she comes home. I clean my room, make space for her futon, and vow to keep it clean, which lasts for a week or so.

As I was cleaning today, I'm trying to identify where I'm going wrong with this cleaning business. I'm in my 60s, I have had my own place for 40 years, surely by now I should know how to keep house, it's not rocket science, is it?

One thing that I've noticed is that I focus my cleaning on the areas that everyone uses. The kitchen/dining area, the bathroom and toilet, the corridor and the entrance are the areas I clean a lot. I'm also spending a lot of time trying to get the tatami room to look nice, as I'm still hoping to get students, and that is the room I will have to use.

My room is always the last place to clean. I think I have too much stuff in my room. The TV is in here as I'm the only one who watches it, and there's no living room. My desk and a lot of books are in here as well. I actually spend most of my days in here, which is rather depressing.

At the moment, we don't have money to change anything in this house, and whatever money we get, the first things that need to be done are the water areas, kitchen, bathroom and toilet. Once that is done, I'm hoping to build an extension onto the dining room and have a small living area. 

It's a dream! 

What can I do now to make things easier and better for me? This is what I've been thinking about today. Dreams are great, but the reality is that the money just isn't there, and even small jobs cost an arm and a leg. 

One thing I'm planning to do after my trip is to sort out this big cupboard; there is too much stuff in there. Do I need ot keep everything in there? I have two big plastic drawers of off-season clothes. I think I'll buy some plastic boxes that are insect-proof and then store the clothes in the storage place. I have another big drawer of sentimental things; I don't know what to do with that. I don't need them nearby, but there is some comfort in knowing they are near. I've already put some things in the storage area. Can I let the rest go there as well? It's just next door, but I worry about the conditions in there, hot and humid in the summer, with lots of critters running around the place, but this house is about the same.

Time to think about these things.

Just a video of Fred looking out the window.