Chugging along

I'm feeling quite pleased with myself this week. For one, I've spent more time in the office this week than in the last few combined. It feels good to have finished a few things and caught up a little. Of course, there is still a ton of stuff waiting, all of which is important and top priority! I've been working in the non-profit sector long enough to know that this will always be the case, no matter how many hundreds of hours I plough into it! I've been struggling lately with fatigue, pain, apathy etc, and just generally feeling out of sorts and not up to scratch. I was wondering if it was another step down in my downward trend, but I guess I was just tired and needed rest, as I'm feeling OK today (after 3 consecutive days in the office), and, as I've said, had a reasonably productive week.

Of course, my house is still somewhat shambolic, but not as bad as it can get. Thanks to Fred piddling in places he shouldn't my floors are quite clean, as I was forced to wash them (he was only desexed recently, so has extremely pungent and lingering wee), I did some washing up this morning, and unless you open the fridge door, everything looks sort of tidy in the kitchen!

I can't wait until I get my free money from Mr Rudd, as I plan to have some professional cleaning done. It might only last a month or so, but if I could just get the place thoroughly de-slobbered, dusted, washed and fluffed up, I will be much happier. There will be another slow decline, when the money runs out, but I'll deal with that later on!

That should leave me free to just concentrate my energies on work for a while, and I hope to get a few big things finished. I've had some projects on the backburner for up to 12 months, and some items on my To Do List for almost as long. I'm really over of looking at the same items every day and not crossing them off!

I really could do with some admin assistance in the office, but so far volunteers aren't cutting it. I suppose it's a bit much to ask for a senior level administrator to come and work for us for free - oh, that's right, that's ME!! It's a bit of a Catch-22: I need to find the time to apply for the grant/get the sponsorship that will give us the money to pay the wages for the admin person that will free me up to do the stuff that gets us the money......................

Fortunately, I have some colleagues that are just as motivated as I am - and with much better contacts - so these things are coming together. It's a great feeling, especially when the Major Sponsor calls up to see how things are going, and I can tell him it's busy, many things happening, puppies here, new clients there, fundraising here, sponsorships there.... it's times like this, when I know I'm on the right track and doing the right thing.

It's energising in itself, to a certain extent. But I have to be careful. I seem to have gotten into a cycle of feeling fit and well --> doing lots of stuff --> getting tired and sore --> not able to do anything --> sleeping, physio, sleeping --> feeling fit and well etc etc.

I'm also (touch wood etc) sleeping OK lately. That, of course, helps enormously. I managed to cope with the neighbours yelling and screaming at 2am Wednesday morning, and then throwing up and falling over a bit later on. They don't do it so often these days, so I don't get so riled up about it.

And Dexter and I are working better together now. We are in a "rebuilding phase", after he heartlessly threw me off for Rach and Andy, and we're going quite well. I wish I didn't have to have him on the lead all the time, though, as he works so much better off it! It plays on his fear of abandonment, I suppose, so he heels beautifully - until I have to pick up the lead again! Ah well, one can't have everything.

And finally, King Fred is doing great. As long as I don't leave anything cloth, paper or leafy on the floor (towel drooping off the rail, recycling box, swept up pile of leaves not yet scooped into the bin), he wees in his box. Given the opportunity, however, he will wee on the aforementioned objects. Not Dexter's bed, the carpet, Dexter's various mats in the kitchen/sitting areas, or the blanket he's taken over, but anything on the laundry/bathroom floor or under the bench in the kitchen. Now that I have him pegged, I might just be able to avoid further incidents . He also doesn't like chicken and venison flavour Dine cat food, but likes the turkey casserole and the roast chicken flavours of the same stuff. No biggie, as it's only 99c a can, and I have about 10 more kilos of the dry stuff! It's just funny that he has such varied tastes.

So that's me. Us. Poddling on. Chugging along. Doing OK.