Calm discussion and future plans

I successfully managed to not lose my shit at my kid the other day. And we even had a decent discussion once they'd calmed down. I think it surprised them when I did not holler back at them and their accusations against me.

When they were more receptive to having an actual conversation, I explained that I feel it wasn't worth it on my end to respond in kind to them when they were angry, that it would have accomplished absolutely nothing other than getting us both riled up to the point that somebody would have gotten hit. And unlike my kid, I know how to fight, so it would have ended up being them.

During the talk I reminded them that they are not innocent in the matter of the disaster we are living in, that I need their help and that how they respond to my requests for help really doesn't do much in terms of making me want to continue trying to get things cleaned up. I get that a lot of the mess is mine, but the kid adds to it. 

I explained to them that one of the reasons I have let the kitchen go for so long is that it's because I got tired of having to clean before I could cook anything, and that the deal always has been that if I cook, they have to do the dishes after and clean the kitchen, and vice versa if they cook. Obviously, I don't mean that they have to clean the entire kitchen in the state it is currently in, but they at least need to clean ALL the dishes and make sure the counters and stovetop are clean. Which hasn't been getting done.

Back at the beginning of the whole pandemic shut-down, I managed to get a lot of the house cleaned up. It looked really good! But it's all been undone, due in part to having a kid who does not pull their share of work around the house. Sure, they spend a lot of time in their bedroom, but when they aren't in there they are leaving their own mess behind. It really sucks so have spent so much time cleaning to have it pretty much completely undone.

So, I'm trying again to get a lot of the clutter out of here as best as I can. Tomorrow is garbage day and it's also a day where I can put out the recycling. I've received a lot of cardboard boxes over the past couple of weeks that really need to get out of my living spaces, so that will be done, thankfully. I'm also hoping to get a lot of the crap into bags and out of here. There are some items I'm getting rid of that really can't go into the weekly garbage, but a friend of mine has offered to help me take it to the dump once I've got those things out of my apartment - she can't handle stairs due to have a badly buggered knee, and I live up two flights of rickety old stairs that I have days where I can barely handle them.

The kid and I have made tentative plans that involved switching bedrooms - I've got the larger bedroom right now, but when they start getting everything they need for streaming they will need all that space. As I am going to be completely removing my dresser out of my bedroom, that will free up a LOT of space, and all I will need is my bed and a dresser...and the dresser is a maybe. I can likely pare down my collection of socks and underwear down to where they can go into a couple of bins tucked into the closet. The kid's room has the larger closet too, and that will make a GIANT difference in putting away my clothing. And I'll be nice and let the kid keep my blackout curtains in my current bedroom - they'll need them way more than I will.

Anyhow, enough procrastinating. I've got garbage bags to fill!