Bust the Clutter Week

I am overwhelmed. I feel like crawling deep in a hole and pulling the opening of it in after me. For six months of the year, seven days a week, I know exactly what to do and where to be. No sense feeling guilty about what is not getting done at home because I am not there. I am running a campground. It is not all that difficult a job. What it is...is time consuming. The park owns you, every waking moment and you can bet on being woken a number of times during your sleeping ones. Even the days with fewer hours are spaced such that nothing can really be accomplished before one has to be back "on the job". The exhaustion comes not from hard physical labor, but from the mental pressure of literally have NO day off for over six months.

If you were one who "loves camping", this job is one to ruin that inclination...because you are NOT camping. Toward the end of the season, you are, quite literally, surviving. We had exactly two campfires this year. Why? Well, if one sits outside one is on duty regardless of the hours posted. In fact, if one turns of the lights and goes to bed one is still on duty if someone decides to knock at the door.

Don't get me wrong. There is much about this job that is wonderful. The rangers are great to work with, at least on this lake. The campers we deal with are primarily families and fishermen, not troublemakers. The campground is beautiful, well kept and shaded. We have a great relationship with our regulars and it truly is a unique way of supplementing income for a couple with the capacity for working well together (which we have) and living in tight quarters day after day without murderous inclinations (which we can). It is simply....being tied down so long is wearing, mind and soul wearing. It is simply...it is over "all of a sudden" ....and it is a little hard to get one's bearings again. Because...


When it is over and the gates swing shut behind the last camper...you are literally weary to the marrow of your bones.

You return home just when the seasonal changes are about to make sure your days are literally numbered for any outside work that needs to be done. And you don't feel much like doing it anyway. There is always the inside and always "all winter". And every spring you look around at what was not accomplished "all winter", know you are going to have to leave it undone again, and...feel overwhelmed.

So....I have decided to have a Bust the Clutter Week. I will feel better getting something accomplished. Looking at something accomplished is going to give me impetus to do more, I am sure. And I will do it the same way I motivate my granddaughters when we have "cleaning time"....with games. :) Any of you who wish to join me in the Bust are welcome. :)

Today's Goals:

1) Throw away 50. (Grab a garbage bag, go through the house and do not stop until 50 items are in the trash)

2) 25 "Outta Place". (Pick up 25 things in the house that are "out of place" and put them IN place.

3) 20 Junk the Junk. (Throw away 20 things in the Junk area of the house where way too much is piled up because I "might use it someday". I won't. I haven't yet. Throwing it away).

There. That is a good start. If I get that done, I might just do the whole list a second time today. :)

If you decide to play this game with me this week, let me know!