The house has a long family history. It was a small vacation place and my dad winterized it and expanded it. After my parents moved to Florida they house swapped with my sister and her family because she had kids and was a year round resident. My mom and step-dad are in her old house. After a partial roof collapse from ice my sister expanded it more. Now it is a large 5 bedroom house on the lake with full basement. My mom, my nephew and his family, and I also have houses here, not on the lake. In the past few decades my sister lost her husband and one of her sons and the other son married and moved into his wife's house.

Yes, the house is way more than she can handle and her son does help with snow plowing and repairs and such. No, she will never move out. The house will go to her son at some point. The rest of the siblings visit, but none of us live here.

I gave her the head's up that I was headed to her house after work. She came to my house and boxed up all my late DH's stuff after he died, frankly before I was ready. She did a bunch of rearranging at my other sister's house to clear her clutter just this last winter! It is fine and well for her to boss us around in her big sister role. I'll ask her how I can help to deal with the house later and see how she reacts. girds loins

Things are better then they have been at my house. Energy levels have a lot to do with things. For me the 15 minutes at a time works really well. I have my am routine - plus 15 minutes of something else.

of course, I recently realize d that I have been going out too much. I need more recharge time at home. and I am not sure how that is going to happen , because I like going out and hate to miss things. But I also noticed that when I am tired - the first thing that goes is the house. And the messy house adds to the stress....

Anyway, I hope that the problem is energy for you sister, laura

We just cut HPF's hair for the first time in five years. She's sitting in the chair, delighted. I'm a little sniffly.

I used to go years between cuts. It is such a wild and free feeling when you lose the locks!

HPF looks pretty excited in the FB pictures.

I hope it goes well, Laura. Sounds difficult but also like she might be willing to listen.

Well, from now on, for any trip longer than 24 hours I will get a petsitter to reassure Percy he hasn't been entirely abandoned. He's the calmest cat ever when I'm home. When I'm gone I suspect he just hides.

Yeah, it was a definite change for me but it is what works with Puppycat so I just need to accept it.

Laura, my mother is not a hoarder, but she has had huge difficulties over the last 10 years or so cleaning and keeping up with the accumulation of crap. It's like a perpetual shame cycle, the worse it gets, the less able she is to deal with it, and the less able she can manage it, the worse it gets.

I spent some time telling her that what is going on is not something she needs to be ashamed of, that there are professionals that can help and no one will judge her. I got her hooked up with a professional organizer (found through the Professional Society of Professional Organizers or some such) and they've spent some time building a trusting relationship and it's a process that takes some time, but it's happening. This is her site, it gives you an idea of the scope of professional attributes to deal with these kinds of issues. [link]

So about 1 1/2 hours before my pdoc appointment I got really anxious and worried and kept rehearsing justifications for why I think I need what I need.

Of course that wasn't needed. Dr W is a really nice doctor and we talked about different things. Although I didn't really get to bring up my concerns about SAD because time got away and I was so nervous about other stuff.

Anyway, he wants to see if my anxiety is fueling the depression. So I've got a prescription for .5 mg of Klonopin to take every night. I'm staying on Seroquel and I have an appointment to see him in a month. If things don't get better or if they get worse I'm supposed to call him and he's going to start me on Celexa.

I'm also going tomorrow to get full blood panel and tests for my thyroid, Vitamin D and B12 levels and I think iron levels.

So, I have a game plan and I feel better.

So, I have a game plan and I feel better.

askye, Good! I'm so glad you've gotten a good doctor.

Askye, glad to hear!!!