Lately I've been feeling down about our house. I hate that it's not clean and organized. I hate that the dishes sit in the sink. I hate the clutter on the counters and on the tables. It's weird because I used to be very clean and well organized. When we lived in Chicago, the apartment(s) was almost always neat, the dishes were done almost immediately, the floor was vacuumed at least once every two weeks. I also cooked - a lot - and had time and energy for my garden which produced way too much food for two people. Now, however, I can barely keep up with keeping the counters and the tables clear of clutter. Vacuuming is mostly reserved for when we have people coming over whom we don't necessarily view as family, or who have allergies to our cats. Our dishes are almost always piled up in the sink, and it keeps getting worse from there. (the toilets and tubs are usually clean though - I'm still somewhat obsessive about that). My mom and brothers wonder what changed. We joke a lot and say it's just me conforming to Tim's way of life, but mostly that's just in fun. Even when I have the time, I don't have the energy to clean or do yard work, or even play in my garden. Even when I'm not busy at work and am having a slow week (like last week), I'm often emotionally exhausted and don't feel like doing it. Often my job takes up 6 days a week to do activities, too often it takes up 7. I LOVE my job, and don't want to give it up anytime soon, but it wears me down. Because Tim doesn't care that much, I've just started shrugging my shoulders and leave it alone. I think if I could get some help with it, I would do it more. I've always like cleaning, it gives you such a sense of accomplishment, but I don't have the energy to do it all on my own anymore. I've even joked that I need a wife just to do the housework. Maybe now that Tim has that job at GRCHS we could hire someone to come in once a month or so to do a little something just to ease my stress.