For the first part of the school year, I was able to get into a good little routine on the days I spent alone. Typically I have 3 days a week that I can do productive things like cleaning house, mopping floors and the infamous, ever growing laundry piles in peace and quiet, without additional disasters popping up in real time created by the little people. I really shouldn't fault them because they get their messiness quite honestly. Who knew not picking up after yourself or failing to putthings back where they belong were genetic traits passed from generation to generation? I can only fault myself. They got 2 bad things from me - the formation of their jaws and their messiness! Everything else bad had to come from their father, right?
I am a messy. There, I said it! I hate it, but I am and the past few weeks have thrown this messy into a complete tailspin, at least that's what my house is screaming at me.
I had a pretty good routine going until my first dentist appointment 3 weeks ago. That one day of change to the normal maintenance that I might do at my house set off a whirlwind effect in the cleaning department. Since then, I've spent 2 days of the following weeks mostly devoted to dentist appointments and as I mentioned yesterday, I have another - the big root canal - on Thursday. Will my house ever forgive me for leaving it to its own devices for so long?
Unfortunately, anyone who knew me as a child and teenager can attest that I've always been this way! My room was a constant wreck until I just piled everything that was on the floor on the bed and started putting it away. Seriously, we're talking all day process. Imagine that same person trying to keep up with my own messes and the messes of the little tornadoes that rip from room to room and even to the garage and backyard. Utter chaos! I always wonder when I walk into friends' houses that are seemingly spotless where they hide all their stuff when they know company is coming. My stuff doesn't hide well.
Beneath the skin of this messy is a perfectionist who longs to have a house that stays clean. She longs to have the decorating of this house complete. I keep trying to tell that perfectionist inside that one's not going to happen, but she doesn't listen very well. I do almost have a panic attack every time I open the garage door and see the scooters, bikes, shoes, trains, and various other droppings left behind by all of us! I can't just blame the kids. I'm totally just as much at fault. I have paint cans, tools, half finished projects just glaring at me as I pass by them.
In my mind, I'm really going to buckle down and get rid of so much of the clutter, all the useless objects that we don't use or need. The various things that have been moved from house to house for 6 years and have yet to be put to use need to go. Sadly, I have cleaned out quite a bit, but someone once said that junk expands to the space allotted. I can attest to the truth of that statement. Junk somehow replaces itself and multiplies. It's a vicious cycle! The problem I have in attacking the junk is I don't keep up with the every day mess well enough to focus on long term solutions.
Oh to have a genie in a lamp that I can rub and have just 1 wish granted! I would wish that every object in my house knows where it belongs and when it knows it's out of place, it would become alive like Buzz and Woody and all of Andy's toys and get back into its assigned place. That's not too much to ask, is it?
I think I hear the dishwasher calling...and the dryer...and the kitchen table...and...
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