I was telling her that I'm concerned that my hobbies are actually more like obsessions--more like pathologies. She kept disagreeing with me, saying that they are what make me wonderful and healthy and blah blah blah.

I got a little indignant and told her about my house. How incredibly messy it is--every surface is covered in art supplies. There are dried paint splotches in my bedsheets. My artwork is everywhere. That is why I always give it away. Because if I didn't, I wouldn't have room to breath.

She still didn't believe that it could be that bad. She said that she bet that if my mother was going to come visit, I'd have it cleaned up in no time. I told her it would take 2 weeks and she laughed like I was exaggerating. It was kind of frustrating, me having to explain how bad off things are. It's like she didn't want to believe.

So she gave me a homework assignment. I had mentioned how disorganized my desk is, so she told me to take a picture of it and email it to her. Then I had to clean it up and take another picture of it. Before and after. As soon as I got home, I took a picture and sent it to her. Immediately I was embarrassed and wanted to retract it. She emailed me back, saying she couldn't wait to see it clean.

I'm thinking she must think I'm a hoarder now, living in third degree squalor. A nasty, dirty person fooling everyone with my "put together" facade. I'm very embarrassed and wished that I hadn't even brought up the subject. But I felt like she wasn't listening to me. Every issue I bring to her, she downplays it like it's not that big of a deal, and I just go along because I don't know any better and I don't want to come across as whiny. I'm getting sick of it, I guess. I know it's not normal to have paint in your bed!

If I say that I think something is a problem, it would be nice for her to listen to me explain why before telling me I'm wrong.