#84 - I Like Tuesdays

Mondays always seem to be more difficult than the other days of the week. We are having to get back to the grind of things when we really should be recuperating from our weekend activities.

Actually, as I was raising my daughters during their younger years, I would be slightly thankful for Mondays because the weekends were so crazy with everything they "needed" to do that I was so happy to be back on schedule come Monday morning!

However, since I have battled with Addison's, and, YES, I do mean BATTLE, I've found Mondays to be an astronomical hurdle in my life. On the weekends, I try to do as much as I can and my "to do" list on weekends is always long. I'm usually pulled in a hundred directions while trying to live up to my own ideals of what needs to be tackled. This past weekend, I was standing on a ladder, caulking crown moulding in the formal dining room. Then, I had to caulk the chair railing and baseboards to prep them for painting. Then, I began the painting of the high gloss white to help it all "pop."

Then, I also worked in my former office. I say "former" office because it's not been MY office for years. After Hurricane Ike destroyed our home in 2008, that room became the catch-all room that makes me think of that show about hoarding every time I see it. Everything got shoved into that room because the office seemed to be unimportant when compared to the other rooms, so the office was treated with disregard as box after box and item after item was shoved into that space.

Over time, I had been sorting through the mess, but it was overwhelming. This past Sunday, my husband actually stepped foot into that office, after all these years, and he began to add his muscle power to move around the boxes and items that needed muscles to move. Together, we make a great team. It almost looks like this room will finally make a recovery. Of course, I told my husband that he would be able to get another salt-water aquarium in that space, if that room gets FINISHED from head to toe. Maybe this is the reason for his sudden interest in exploring his organizational skills. Whatever the reason, I am grateful to have help.

A husband and wife should always be a team in a house. Of course, I do the majority of the daily cleaning, but there are times when we need to kick our energies in together to make a marked difference.

It felt good to go through 25 years of married life's documents. "Honey, here's a receipt for that VCR we bought in 1989."

Well, it wasn't quite that bad, but it felt like it. Needless to say, I have discarded approximately 5 large industrial sized black trash bags full of outdated, unwanted, depressing, just-take-up-space kinds of paperwork. Every trash bag I filled to the top would prompt me to throw a little party for myself on the sidelines --- almost like a football player doing the touchdown dance. That was me.

Since I've already handled the yucky tedious part of having to go through every file drawer and every file, one by one, to decide what stays, what goes and what should be scanned. Several file drawers later, I am FREE. Now I have drawers that are better organized and that also have EMPTY ready to use pendaflex and manila folders. We are ready. All the junk files are gone. GONE! Out of my life!

I cannot stand PAPERWORK!

My hunky husband just made himself drastically sexier on the sexy-scale by deciding that he's no longer too good nor too removed to do such things in his own house. He stepped foot in that office and my heart sped up significantly. Watching his long lean muscles in action provided me with excellent entertainment. I really do feel as if he can do just about anything!

By the end of the afternoon we had cleaned out the office. It's nearly finished. Next weekend, we'll get it all wrapped up. We still have to rearrange the furniture and that will be tricky. We have a massive executive desk and an antique upright grand piano to move. It will be fun, but the "Relaxation Room" will be opened up and made easier to walk around in.

Meanwhile, all of this work and fun that I've had all weekend - oh yes, I also had my four year old niece stay with us ALL WEEKEND LONG and she is a very busy young girl, for sure.

Anyway, the weekend was finally at an end and as Monday morning began to appear with the sunrise, I felt drained to the point of being non-human. I was melting and unable to re-solidify. Not to mention, this Texas heat is unfair. Texas is accustomed to hot weather, but with my Addison's disease being difficult, the heat was magnetized and I nearly forgot how to sound words.

A fun weekend this summer with my youngest, Stefie.

My body just wouldn't cooperate. I woke up feeling as if I had just laid in bed after running for two days from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre dude. I took a double dose of my HC, but it's just not enough to send a full recovery that I wanted RIGHT NOW! I wanted my Monday energy BACK! I laid there and did have some internal wailing as I missed the good old Mondays I once had so long ago...drained, but still physically strong. Now, most Mondays find me bed-ridden. My body hits some kind of mysterious point where the drain for my life's energy has been pulled and my body is empty.

Allowing myself to lounge around is difficult. I'm one of those people who can't sit still for five minutes straight. I diddle here and diddle there and fidget a lot. But, Mondays are so exhausting that my diddle diddle is kaput. So, I grabbed a good book and tried to get comfortable in bed. I decided that the exhausted body would not recover from the exhaustion zone until it had been allowed to recharge by getting the rest it needs. So, I read a lot. I flipped through the recorded shows on the DVR and did some catching up on "I Survived..." so I will know how to get out of a desert after six days in my high heels that I used as a water bowl and ate part of the leather. I did some blogging. And, I felt a lot of frustration because there was so much OUT THERE that I wanted to be able to get up and tackle.

That great summer day with my oldest, Heather.

I guess I should try to pace myself on the weekends so that my Mondays aren't so horrid, but I find it worthwhile to do everything I can with my family and my husband while I can and I'll just take the Monday to recover as my body feels like jello for the day.

The great thing about Addison's disease is that when Tuesday rolls around, there's an excellent chance that I'll again have great physical energy and better mental clarity - maybe the double vision will have even disappeared.

So, I like Tuesdays. I really do.