I Need Therapy!

Before you all skip to the bottom and start cracking jokes about the seemingly obvious nature of the title, read on.

Now, I will admit it, I am a terrible housekeeper.
I know, I shouldn't have any problem keeping up with the housework, because I'm a stay-at-home-mom, but this is my one biggest down-fall.
   My husband will attest to this.
I may get completely caught up, once every other month, but if I let one thing get behind, I wave the white flag and stare into the growing chaos as if it's my first day on the job. Cleaning and keeping the house as "neat as a pin" (whatever that means), is not my forte.

This is quite painful for me during the winter months, and here is why.

    I need
    DIRT.

I will explain. I need to be outside, working. I will weed, rake, plant, burn, prune, cut, and water until every part of my body hurts. This, my friends, is my happy place.

I literally have to drag myself, KICKING AND SCREAMING, to do dishes, laundry, floors, toilets, etc.
No matter how rewarding it is to get it all done, I still have a difficult time getting myself to do it.

Getting dirt under my fingernails is therapy for me.

Now for those of you who don't know, I currently live in an apartment. I said...

I

live

in

an

APARTMENT.

Let me rephrase that...
I do not have even a single square foot of earth that is my own to do what I please with. Therefore, I am handcuffed. All I can do is buy as much dirt and pots and planters that I can possibly fit onto my front and back porches, which are small, to say the least.

I will make mention here, that this is very high on my list of reasons, for why I need to find a house. Possibly top 3.

Today, however, I found jobs for myself. I didn't realize how desperate I was for some "therapy", until I found myself with an old plastic kitchen utensil in hand (because all gardening tools are in storage), scraping and scooping old, wet, stinky, mildewy and compacted leaves, out from under "our" section of the fence running behind our building, which by the way, has been our cocker spaniel's favorite spot for bladder relief, through the winter. Don't worry, the untensil has now been retired from it's former kitchen duties.

Here is our poor pooch, looking lost as he wandered out to relieve himself, and couldn't find the usual rotting leaves.

I then removed all the little gifts from our grassy areas, that all the resident doggies have left us throughout the last few months. I will refrain myself from being descriptive here, and just let you know that we must be very, very, VERY, loved to have received SO MANY "gifts". Yet another reason I need a house.

So tomorrow, you will probably find me outside again, washing windows, sweeping the porches and walkways, prepping my flower pots and who knows, I may even be asking the property manager if I may plant flowers around our entrance signs, free of charge!

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and this woman is in need of therapy!