Why I Don't Leave the House

2/10/2017

I like my house.  I like the "old lady" look and feel of it.  Walls decorated with my mother's needle points and embroidered bell pulls and pictures.  I love the collection of my cups and saucers, even though I detest dusting them - leave them alone and the dust isn't so noticeable!  Some of the cups and saucers are from my teen years.  Where ever we traveled, I bought a cup and saucer.  And, no not those junky ones that have pictures of the city you're visiting.  Beautiful ones.  The kind you would feel proud to use for tea and maybe even coffee.

I like the comfortableness of my house.  It's the kind of house where you can put your shoes up on the coffee table, or even the sofa - no problem.  By most people's standards, not that I care a fig about that, it's a cluttered house.  Perhaps, but it's also a house filled with memories, 30 years of them to be exact.  Our children were young when we moved into the house and now they are grown men.

Since we adopted the puppies last summer, if and when I leave the house, I'm never sure if the house will be standing when I return!  Okay, a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much.  They are doing an excellent job of bringing up "treasures" from the basement that they have ruined and have to be thrown away.  It's amazing what they can do with just a cord.  And, Daisy (terrier) loves two things, not necessarily in this order: (a) barking and (b) digging.  I'm hoping that she will outgrow both of these habits, but it might take some time unfortunately.  

And, if I do leave the house, I really have nowhere to go.  Oh, I could go to the library and read one of my books.  But, I can also read at the house, have another cup of coffee and remain in control of the dogs.  I know excuses, excuses.  I could go to a store, but unless you're going to buy something why go?  Does anybody actually got to a store to just browse and not buy?  Seems doubtful.

I feel protected in my house.  My house is safe and does not judge me.  I don't have to answer the door and I can hang up the phone from a call soliciting old clothes, money for this charity and that one. From a mental viewpoint, I should leave the house, possibly every day, even if my time away is minutes, rather than hours.  I love to shop, but I have Amazon.  Why should I fight parking lot drama at a mall, when I can get everything I desire, shipped to me?

I have tried volunteering, but the opportunities I tried, weren't successful for me.  I suppose I could keep trying to find the right "fit" for me, but there is a lot holding me back.  The skills of which I was once so proud, have been somewhat diminished since 2013.  Oh to be sure, I can still type like the wind, but have trouble remembering what I've been told to do.  Jeff has to remind me often that he asked me to do "x" and all I can do is stare back at him with the "deer in the headlights" look.  What is he talking about?  I have the best of intentions, but most of the time have trouble following the instructions and/or directions!

I have gates all over the first floor keeping the dogs contained in small spaces.  My goal and hopefully theirs (but I doubt it) is to start thinking about taking a gate or two down, to see how it goes.  I think they are, for the most part, past chewing on furniture (notice I said most), but are happy to gnaw on anything else that they can find.  This morning, when I woke up, the girls had gotten into Jeff's jeans and had emptied his pockets.  So, now there is change all over the floor.  I can never be sure what is going to interest them during the time they wake up and make enough noise, so that I have to get up!  It's definitely a crap shoot.

Happy Friday everyone.

P