Horror Story

I'm much more susceptible to horror than your average person. I'm still deeply traumatized by a Stephen King mini-series I saw as a pre-teen. I hated every minute of it, but couldn't bring myself not to watch and see how it ended. Since then, I've developed a lot more---I don't know---self-control, or more likely, self-preservation. Now I know better than to even watch a scary commercial on TV, so if one comes on, I'll either leave the room or close my eyes and hum like an idiot. But NOT an idiot with nightmares!

So it's been rather ironic that I've been living in my own personal horror story these last few weeks. A malevolent Presence has been lurking in my upstairs. I tried to ignore it. I tried to stay away from it. I tried to never climb those stairs and become vulnerable to its evil attacks, but to no avail---it reached me even downstairs and bound my spirit in inescapable chains of darkness.. There was no eluding the Presence.

Guilt.

Oh, the horror! Guilt lurked in my upper story, ready to gobble me up at the first opportunity. No matter how much I resisted, I could not vanquish it. Desperation drove me to try my last option, my last hope. I would climb those steps of doom and do battle with the Presence face to face.

No! Don't go towards the Mess.

But I must.

It's the only way.

See, all those weeks of nice, tidy, respectable existence downstairs, I'd had a horrible, dirty secret. The two rooms upstairs were an absolute disaster. One that loomed with ever-increasing urgency, because I need to get the rest of my attic crawl spaces insulated before winter. You'd have to be a mountain climber to even get up the stairs! Something had to be done.

So two days ago I put on my big girl panties and forced myself up the stairs to confront the lurking Presence of Guilt. And what do you know, it wasn't quite as horrific when faced head on. Turns out that the horror of Guilt only held its power as long as it remained a shadowy specter in the recesses of my mind.

The Long Storage Room of Doom

The Menacing Killer Vegetable Room

I'm still not finished with the second room, but everything is ready for insulating in the first, and I know the second one won't take too long---IF I don't try to avoid it like before. When will I learn that procrastination only makes things worse? Hmmmmm?

I don't know either. Oh, well. I'll figure it out later.