I hate that I can’t run. So much so that I wonder if, as soon as my body has recovered from childbirth, I will start running for exercise, simply because I can. Of course by then it will be December. But that won’t deter me. I’ll leave baby with Brian for a half hour or so and take a nice jog in the crisp wintery air. I can see it now!

Last night we watched the new show “Hoarders” on A&E. Disturbing. I don’t think I can watch another one. I kept wondering how one person can accumulate so much worthless junk, never clean it up or let go of it, never admit there is a deep-seated problem. It’s such a fascinating illness, and so sad. This one woman had a 2000 sq foot home and had filled it almost top to bottom with “bargains” and crap. She placed an oversized level of emotional value on “things.” Another guy had a teensy little studio apartment which he had filled mostly with actual garbage — pizza boxes and soda cups, etc. The floor was not visible. They had to use a big shovel to clean it out.

The worst was the food hoarder though, who looked to also be a fledgling cat hoarder, too. A whole house full of spoiled food and cat shit. Glad I watched that one on a tiny box on my computer screen and not in HDTV in the living room.

It makes me wonder if this illness is unique to Americans, or to countries where people live in relative comfort and with access to so many material goods. Probably not. Even in this country, both the rich and the impoverished can become hoarders. It’s an external manifestation of an internal psychological problem — the chaos inside demonstrated outwardly with a completely chaotic living space. And it’s also one of the hardest disorders to treat and cure.

Watching that show makes me want to clean house. I love having a tidy home. I’m not OCD about it (I guess the other end of the spectrum from hoarding), I don’t vacuum the ceilings or anything, but I do like to have things put away where they go and wake up to an empty kitchen sink. Not easy when you have the schedule I do and are also pregnant. My hormones are clamoring for me to nest. Pretty soon I probably will be vacuuming the ceilings, and washing the baseboards, and dusting everything.

Speaking of nesting, the baby’s dresser arrives today, as well as the new switch plates I ordered for some of the light switches. Still need to re-do the closet in her room, and finish the guest room, install new lighting fixture in there, decorate the shade for the lamp in the nursery, etc etc. Busy busy bzz bzz.