it’s a blur...
Posted by admin on
Life seems so important in the moment. I worked hard to get the bathroom spackled, primed, painted, cleaned...Jon took down that hideous old medicine cabinet, Paul put up a nice new Hearth&Hand shelf I got half off from Target, and a nice black towel bar. I had spray painted the shower curtain rod black matte, so we hung the new shower curtain, and it looks decent in there. It always takes way longer than you think it will.
And, if you're old, it takes more of a toll than you think it will. Standing on the side of the tub to do top edging, whoa Nellie, thought I was going to slip and fall. I used muscles I didn't know I had, they ached mildly then screeched a little louder when I tried to sleep.
Oh, I do exaggerate. But it reminded me of when the kids were younger, and I would go into one of their bedrooms and do a seriously deep cleaning, along with sorting every little thing...the little ones would find so many fun things, then when we got that room all in order, looking spiffy, inevitably I'd walk into the living room and oh my goodness all the fun things they found, along with the work I didn't do in here: mayhem. I had let things slip in the rest of the house while doing this project, and dang, the floors still need daily sweeping, and mopping almost every day, with two Labs.
No, I couldn't get ahead back then, I simply tread water day in day out. It's a good thing there won't be a housework final exam to get into heaven, at least I hope there won't be. I will say this though: I DID tread the water, I didn't just float around on a floaty. I tried. I worked. I hated sticky, and crumbs, and dirty floors. The kids ate at the table and got washed up before getting down. They looked clean and neat when we left the house.
We did have a Couch Monster of clean clothes from the dryer, and we had the Laundry Mountain in the doorway of the laundry room. But I did try.
I do get extra points for fun, because I did like to take those kids on adventures. We liked picnics in the yard, and blanket forts and spontaneous trips to the beach.
Anyway. I found a lot of grumping and complaining as I did my little project. I would tell myself be thankful. Then I wondered if it was just a mantra, and if it were true, or I was just stopping the complaints but still being complain-y inside. hmmm. I wondered what would happen, right in the middle of the things I was furiously trying to finish, if I didn't get it done at all. Would it be the end of the world? um no, of course not. But I really want to get it done!
And it's done. The house is not as clean as I would like it, for having people come stay here, but I am sufficiently tired, and have reached the MEH point, where it's fine.
I will be heading to the pool soon, don't want to miss those water aerobics. I really enjoy it, and it feels so nice to get in the water and move. I can't move like that on land!
