Tidying Up

I've seen a number of memes floating around lately, some having to do with lofty lists of goals and others with quizzes, such as what type of onion dip are you. As it turns out, you won't find any of those here, not today, but I'm thinking of making a list of things I'm avoiding.

Blogging might be somewhere on there.

One thing I've avoided doing anything about is cleaning my desk. Oh, sure, I've thought about it and even admitted it needs to be done so I have a place to write, but that's nothing like actually doing it. The thing is, my desk is an excellent place to pile clean laundry, although it does wrinkle when left there for over a hour.

Since I was bound and determined to type at my desk this weekend I gritted my remaining teeth and sorted the laundry Saturday morning. Ah, the joys of fall underwear, which is indistinguishable from my summer fare. Once, when I was spent some time in Portland, I bought some flannel boxers up there, but like many things they've not withstood the onslaught of time.

Still, even removing the laundry left me with an extremely cluttered desk. It would take hours to sift through the paperwork and neatly arrange it in other piles to be filed later, so I made a rather unsteady tower, instead, and reclaimed enough surface area for my laptop, lamp, and coffee cup.

The sad thing is, after looking at the desk for over a month, it took me less than a minute to make it functional.

With that onerous task complete, I settled in to write, only to realize that my story had no better chance of success there than anywhere else I've been writing it.

3 comments:

Maggi NaNoSA said...

Housework. A Dirty word if ever there was one.
A maid, you say? Well, sure we could afford a maid, but…
I have found that when I have a maid, its almost like having another child in the house? Most times you have to train them… every week. And then you are still not quite satisfied with the work that they do. Not forgetting the guilt!
Here are two scenarios:
Maid is going to be here on Friday scenario one, so Thursday evening means you scramble around like a mad thing, trying to tidy and clean so the maid does not think you live in a pig sty. You take all the laundry that has been dumped into the way-too-small basket, start folding it neatly and place it back in the still way-too-small basket. At least now it has a pile that towers toward the ceiling rather than covering the lounge carpet! You pick up and put away things you didn’t even know you had. Climb over the feet of those lounging on the sofa watching TV. Grumbling all the time that you are the only one who ever does anything around here. In the bathroom, another disaster awaits. Toothpaste is drying around the mouth of the tube because some one did not replace the cap, so neither did anyone else! This has been going on for a while, as said toothpaste cap refuses to go back on tube. Grab one of your kid’s tooth brushes and start scrubbing frantically! (A word of advice; no need to use your own toothbrush when there are so many to choose from). By the time you’re ready to fall into bed, you are rather thrilled at what you were able to accomplish in just one evening, and wonder whether it is really worthwhile having the added expense of a maid. You can manage fine you tell your half dead self as you begin to dose.

Maid is going to be here on Friday scenario two. This one is as bad as the first, or maybe worse. Great, that means the place will be tidy for the whole… Friday? No seriously. Have you found that too?
If the maid is going to be doing her thing,(or would that be your thing/my thing)anyways, if she does the housework on Friday, it is fair to assume that the place will be tidy for longer than the time it takes her to leave, isn’t it?
No? Blow me down, she’s scarcely out the door and there are traces of the building of a peanut butter sandwich all over the kitchen counter. I turn around from waving her goodbye, and promptly trip over a stray school bag or shoe! It is really as bad as this. And then … the great attempt! This is where we all try desperately to keep our home tidy. We even wash the dishes after dinner on Friday night. (Pizza boxes get slung out but sometimes there are a few plates). Saturday morning, we have things to do places to go and people to see. This inadvertently means that we will get home late, or with shopping or both, and dump things where they do not live, and, because of our joint fatigued state… leave it all there. Sunday being the day of rest, is just that!
Monday comes along and we all start to slog our way around the house, in the kitchen, in the bathrooms… oh yes... we even have bedrooms! I am not so sure that I even want to go there with you though.
And so we wait for Friday to happen again, because the maid comes on Friday!

I am not sure that I want a maid. I am sure the household is supposed to be my responsibility. I am absolutely certain that I want to be able to cope. And that I am able to cope. If only I had a little help…

russ said...

The only time I had a maid it was a local girl I knew. She cleaned up once after a party and talked me into having her come in weekly and straighten things up.

Your scenarios are quite accurate!

After one week of cleaning, I kid you not, she quit. According to her I was intentionally making the house dirty to give her more to do. Little did she know that guilt had driven me to excesses rarely matched and that my home was staying cleaner than ever ... BEFORE she arrived!

Maybe that's it. Maids and house-cleaners might be no more than guilt-inducing devices specifically designed to make you responsible!

maggi said...

hmmm, on the other hand, they do give us time to play...ho hum hum ho...