19 June 2018 - Entering Grey Gardens...

[scenicdesign71]

I finally broke down and hired a Taskrabbit to come over today and help me clear out my disaster area of a room.
I'm torn between:

(a) feeling like I should start tidying before he arrives, in vain hopes of making this unspeakable mess somehow perceptibly less embarrassing; and

(b) still feeling so paralyzed by the scope of the task that I'd rather just wait and let his arrival around lunchtime be the catalyst to goose me into action.

Yikes.
Wish us luck...

<snorkelling emoji>

[KathyB]

Good luck! I'm interested in what happens because I've got a similar problem with my townhouse. I'd love to hire a housecleaner, but I'd need to clean (meaning pick up everything) before having someone come over to do the vacuuming, dusting, bathroom, etc.--largely because it's impossible to vacuum the floors when you can't see them. I completely understand the comparison to Grey Gardens (maybe I should get a cat or two).

In other news, I am finally getting my porch light replaced today! 

[DiveMilw]

Best of luck David! You can do it!

[scenicdesign71]

Thanks, guys!   

Well, that was something of a false start: due to various issues on his end, my helper had to postpone yesterday... and then, this morning, cancel altogether.

The upshot being: I've been crawling along at a snail's pace since yesterday, all by my lonesome, and am now mulling over whether to hire someone else or just keep muddling along by myself.

Though slow, my progress has actually been pretty steady. So I'm thinking that, for the time being, I'll just go it alone until-or-unless my motivation really starts flagging to the point of being ready to give up.  Which, for now, doesn't seem to be imminent.

Also, a friend invited me to travel upstate next week for some R&R, so I do want to be finished by Monday.  But even at my current unhurried pace, I think there's a pretty good chance I can make that happen without help.

[scenicdesign71]

As a reward for finally diving into this, I found a BroadwayBox discount code and bought myself a cheapish ticket to Girls and Boys for tonight.

The play sounds mildly interesting, I've enjoyed Carey Mulligan in the few things I've seen her in before, and I'm intrigued by Es Devlin's set: a realistic apartment interior dipped entirely in robin's-egg blue paint, which then gets "painted" in realistic full-color by projections from time to time.

Depending how much longer this cleanup takes, I'm thinking I might look for some other cheap-but-interesting tickets and keep treating myself over the next few evenings.

[DiveMilw]

That sounds like a fine plan.  Sometimes you can jump start anything you've been putting off by giving yourself little rewards the entire way rather than wait until you finish.  I really should take my own advice and tackle my room.  I've done bits here and there but there are many more bits to be done!