Spring Cleaning, OK a little Late!

As I sit in my office looking at the pile of winter coats that I have rescued from the overflowing closets on the main floor, I wonder how I could have let it pile up so badly.  I'll tell you why, or at least I will try to rationalize why.  "Try going one day without one juicy rationalization."  One of my favorite quotes from The Big Chill.

Let's see, there is the 10yo boy who had soccer games, talent shows, and art classes.  Then there is the 13yo who had band practice and recitals, student council events, and basically just needs her own personal chauffeur.  There is an 81yo father that goes to doctor appointments, needed hip surgery and rehab, and now cardiac rehab which I have yet to setup since I was busy working at the school my kids attend for one hour a day since there were no other positions available and I didn't want to lose my seniority.  Then there is my husband who usually is out of town at least one to two weeks a month and finds little things for me to do when I am usually at my busiest.  Not to mention the outside of the house that needed gardening and tending.

After all that is going on, somewhere I get to do my thing.  You know the thing that keeps me sane but that I don't have time for, making jewelry.  It is really more about the therapy than the actual making jewelery as I get to escape everything else and focus on what I am working on.

Well, as I started to get ready to tidy the house, I went on a frantic search for the carpet cleaner.  Oh yes, lest we forget, we also have two elderly cats that have digestive issues and leave surprises on the carpets for us to wake up to. So as I am looking for the carpet cleaner in places it shouldn't be, I opened up the closet and a pile of jackets fell at my feet.  The ones I asked my daughter to hang up before company came over, which by the way was for her benefit as it was her eighth grade grad party, no less.

I absolutely lost it.  I went up to her room and among the clutter of clothes in varying degrees of cleanliness all over, not to mention the life size poster of one of her favorite heartthrobs lurking in the corner that always gives my heart a stop when I enter her room, I informed my daughter that today was cleaning day!  I then proceeded to inform my son, who was faking sleep, that his room was also on the agenda.  I then went into my bedroom and decided that yes today was the day I was going to put all the winter clothes away so I could have room for the piles of summer clothes, half of which I probably don't fit in, but that's a different story.

What am I doing instead of this cleaning frenzy?  I am sitting at my desk dreading the actual act of cleaning up.  Yes, I know it must get done and that I am merely procrastinating the inevitable but I can't help but think this all could have been avoided if we all just went those extra steps to keeping our personal spaces neat and organized as well as the common areas.  Is it really too much to ask for?  Apparently, the answer is yes.

I remember some show and this woman using juggling as a metaphor for life.  Each of the balls is one aspect of your life.  The kids, your husband, other loved ones, pets, work, managing the house and yourself.  Life is basically being able to juggle all of these things in a practiced easy effort.  Yeah right!  Every now and then one of those balls falls on the floor while you are trying to keep the others flying in the air.  Usually the first to go is yourself, I could write a whole blog on that one but again, that is a different story.  I don't really mind the sacrifice because I have learned that I actually do enjoy being there for my family and knowing that they are taken care of since I will soon be sending off my kids to be contributing independent individuals, one day, just not now.  My dad will leave this world, hopefully peacefully and look over me from where ever laughing his ass off.  My husband and I will be able to remember why we chose each other and learn to live life happily ever after until he does something to annoy me and vice versa, should I care to be fair.

The second ball that usually falls is the managing the house.  Yeah so the dishes are still in the sink, the counters look like they were smeared with tomato paste, the carpets have tufts of cat fur and sometimes furballs and yes Delia, I also have clothes in varying degrees of cleanliness on my bedroom floor and closet. On every other chair in the kitchen and dining room there is an unhung coat or sweater, usually mine, that needs to be hung up.  There is usually a pile of mail on the kitchen counter which has been forgotten that needs to be moved to my office for further neglect. Doctor and Dentist appointments that must be made so that children can attend school.  A refrigerator that, well, I won't even go into that!

Somewhere something has to give.  Damn it all to hell, today is that day!  Although realistically this is probably going to take more than a few days.  Hmm...pool anyone?