What a perfect day for a new year's resolution, right? It's the first day of October -- the first real day of fall in my OCD book (that 22nd of the month thing never works for me). It's beautiful outside -- a clear, crisp, early autumn day -- and I've had a perfectly lovely walk. It's the first day of a five day week-end for me, and that's because it's also almost Rosh Hashana -- the first day of the New Year if you happen to be Jewish. I'm not, but whatever. A lot of firsts, and the children are gone. The perfect time to begin the full house overhaul.
So . . . I've been up in the library. I took a lot of stuff up there to sort in June and left it all over the floor. It's October now. (No, you guessed it, I'm not really OCD. More, uh. . . shall we say. . . "relaxed?") But we can't do the sunroom ceiling until we move the furniture out of the sunroom, and we can't move the furniture out of the sunroom until we have a place to put it. Time to clean up the library.
I get one side of it pretty much done, and decide to wash the hardwood floor before I tackle the other side. I start kind of squeezing the mop around the fireplace, and it gets covered in ash. I must have decided last spring that the fireplace could wait until fall, when it really had to be cleaned. Well, as I just said, it's fall, right? But I'm not in the mood to tackle the fireplace, not when I see that wet ashy water. So I just kind of mop it back under the fireplace screen.
The I try to push the bucket via the mop handle and knock it over. Now there is a complete bucketfull of ashy water all over the hardwood floor.
And God forbid a single floor in this 90-year-old house should be level, so it all dribbles toward our bedroom.
I slosh through the water just in time to turn up the area rug in the bedroom. Then I grab the roll of paper towels (I've even been cleaning WINDOWS) and start dumping them everywhere. The water is kind of deep for a paper towel cleanup, but since it's full of fireplace ash, I don't want to use even my crummiest towels.
My husband, who has been working on the yard all morning, comes out of the shower. His closet is surrounded by a moat.
"NOT A WORD!" I mutter. "NOT A SINGLE WORD."
To his credit, he utters not a word.
I'm done now. I'm thinking that it took me four months to do the east side of the library. That gives me until February for the other side. Except that we really do need to do the sunroom ceiling, because otherwise the heating bill this winter is gonna be, like, $1000 a month.
You know, I am a deeply spiritual and mystical person. I am SO NOT MARTHA.
13 comments:
You've just convinced me not to start any kind of project today. That seems to be how they all go. I agree, sometimes it is definitely, why do I even try? Pamela
Beautiful fall days are not made for cleaning. Maybe you could continue to procrastinate until winter when it's too cold to be outside enjoying the weather. Stacy
This reminds me of the several pile of clothes on my bedroom room that was suppose to go in the drawers and some need to be ironed. Oh well, tap-tapping on my laptop is more exciting.
"I am SO NOT MARTHA."
LOL!!! :-D
I love October too..it means I get to put up my halloween display soon!
(and that soon means either tomorrow or Monday!)
Gem :-)
http://journals.aol.com/libragem007/JournallyYours
That makes 2 of us who are so NOT Martha! You made even a frustrating mishap sound comical though. Thanks for sharing your foibles. Fireplace ashes fall under the traditional roles of male/female--it's your dh's responsibility!
So Not Martha!
LOL
eweeew what a mess!
Put a Smile on your face and a song in your heart.
Wishing you health, happiness and laughter.
TJ~
http://journals.aol.com/paisleyskys/PaisleySkys
http://journals.aol.com/vaultofsecrets/MoonDancer
I think that you should add "cleaning up the library in a timely and efficient manner" should be added to one of the lists in your previous entry!
Robin, this is the most relaxed writing from you I have seen in a long time - makes me smile! Enjoy the laughter and all the ashy water. I can imagine you saying a couple of the things on you list of seven most frequently uttered phrases, and "I'm freezing" isn't one of them!
And frankly, my dear, who WANTS to be Martha??!! I moved in a month ago, and still have stuff all over the place. I have come to a horrible realization, btw, namely that it wasn't just my kids who were messy. Oops.
Vicky
http://www.livejournal.com/users/vxv789/
PS - Your husband sounds like a smart man ;)
I wouldn't say a word to a wild-eyed woman holding a mop either. Virginia and I have a joke (considering there are two people with menstrual cycles in this household). Sometimes she asks me something, or I ask her something, and the other will say (depending on the time of the month and the tone of voice) "just tell me what answer you're looking for, anything you say... anything at all." Somehow it's funnier in person.
:):):) judi
Here's to the not Marthas of the world. Long may our clutter stand.
My heart is with you. It sounds like some of my more disasterous cleaning experiences.
Jude
http://journals.aol.com/jmorancoyle/MyWay
Too funny. When I read "OCD" so closely attached to the word "my" in something you wrote, my mind began frantically searching for another phrase it could represent. You are so not Martha and so not OCD but that's probably why I like you so much.
I've taken up windows recently too due to a recent spate of warm weather and infusion of fall energy. I ached so much after the ladder climbing yesterday that I fell into a hot bath and barely recovered to start some more today.
It's no fun to clean if you don't make bigger messes for yourself to deal with while you're doing it. That's what happens to those of us who are NOT MARTHA... Lisa :]
This is exactly why I avoid cleaning. lol
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