I swear I can't believe the amount of laundry I do each week. There are only two of us living here now. Where the hell is it coming from, and why am I not keeping up as well anymore, and why do the socks keep teasing me with their hide & seek game?

I used to wash dishes 3 or 4 times a day. I stood at the kitchen sink for what seemed like hours on end. Thank God for my new dishwasher!! It surely takes a load off me. In just a few minutes I can have it loaded, and when the dishes are washed, I can unload and put them away in another few minutes.

I can remember a time in my life when I could clean our whole 3 bedroom brick ranch house with basement, in one damn day; in just a few hours even. Now, we live in a 3 bedroom doublewide without basement. To clean the way I like to clean, I must rest a lot in between chores. It takes me more than just a few hours nowadays...more like a couple days!

I know I am moaning. All you women out there who do everything, or most everything, feel free to moan right along with me, as we get up the garbage, fill the dogs' water bowls for the umpteenth time, take the dogs out, pay the bills, send the thank you notes, make sure the package gets in the mail to the kid, call the parents, plan the menu for dinner, cook the dinner, throw the wet clothes in the dryer, clean the vent, dust the furniture, call the furnace guy and the vet, and switch appointment days at the doctor's office. Then we'll fold and put away the dry clothing, clean the sinks and toilets in both bathrooms, and the tubs and showers.

These are the daily things I do on my days off work, or, in the morning before I go to work at the hotel. The deep cleaning of carpets, purging of files, etc. and so on, comes every 2-3 months 'round here because I'm crazy that way.

I need work done on the outside of our lovely home as well. I want to have a gravel driveway created, with wooden timbers on either side for our vehicles. There's way too much mud around where we park at present, and it's pissing me off. In behind the drive which will be in front of our house, I want to plant some greenery/shrubs, to beautify the area around the gravel. There are certain types of shrubery that can be planted now; and what with the mild weather we are having, it should be a fine time.

I had been working 32 hours a week at the hotel when I asked my employer to cut my hours back. She has allowed me to have Mondays off for the month of January. I would that she keep my schedule the way it has been this month, 3 days of work and 4 days off. I work a lot at home as well, and I kinda' need my schedule at the hotel to remain the way it is at present. We shall see what my future holds there...

I've been limping quite a bit of late. My knees have gotten worse. They are both done for! I know I should have checked with another specialist about having something done about all my suffering before now; but, I have put the whole thing off because I realize that even after surgery, the physical therapy will be another kind of hurdle to get through. Also, with Sam's work schedule the way it is, I will have very limited help here at home while recuperating. So far, within the past 8 years or so, I have gone for physical therapy for my knees, as well as other parts of my body. I have taken treatments of cartilage shots in my knees, and before those I had cortisone shots a couple different times. I resort to wearing knee bandages when I go to work, so that when I do have to be standing for a length of time, I can manage better. It is getting to be more hellish each day! Sooo, I am going to phone my family doctor and ask him to refer me to an orthopedic surgeon at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, in Winston Salem, North Carolina. I suppose I could check around to see if a home health nurse could come and assist me during the days following my surgery. I dunno'; I simply dread this whole process. However, things are getting bad enough for me that I don't have much choice. Something must be done.

Of course I do make time, I must make time to come here. I come to this place, this haven, where my personal computer sits atop an antique dining table made desk, which belonged to my great-grandmother Sally Mae many years ago. When I am here, I think. I study. I learn and wonder. I reach out to the world from here, and the world reaches back to me. I discover through reading about the lives of others within the blogging communities, that whether I am in misery or full of joy, I am not alone. For this, and for all of you, I am grateful. Goodnight.