Like most of the creative people I grew up around, I'm a bit of a slob. I cheerfully admit this on my Facebook page with memes like "My house looks like I'm losing a game of Jumanji!" and "My housework style can best be described as 'There appears to have been a struggle...' "....
But ask me where something is, and I will often be able to go to a specific place in the mess and pull out whatever you asked me for. The system appears to be total chaos, but somewhere in the dark recesses of my mind, I remember exactly where I last saw something.....
Unless someone else in the house has moved it in an effort to "clean up" for me.....
And since we're all different people, they put the item where they feel it logically belongs, such as a packet of clothesline that I purchased in the spring, while I was out of work after a surgery. The intent was that I would bring in the metal clothes line support from outside my kitchen window, take off all the blackened clothesline that it came with many, many, MANY moons ago, and then re-string it with the new line.
In April, however, the metal pole was solidly frozen into the cement block that supports it, so I set the clothesline on the table until the ground thawed - and have never made it back to that project, as it's been so cold and wet, I haven't wanted to hang clothes on that line. The clothesline packet has been sitting silently on a corner of the kitchen work table, reminding me that it must happen, but other, more pressing duties have been getting done first.
Then, this past week, when I discovered that a slightly musty smell in the corner of the front room was an Australian Outback coat that was put there dry, but has gotten moldy because of all the humidity, I discovered that my other clothesline, on the front porch, had dry rotted. I've decided that the line I've been mostly using because it's at least under a roof needs to be replaced. The clothesline on the table will no longer mock me because it will be in use, holding things like a heavy oilskin coat (which is cleaned by a vinegar and water solution and a stiff brush followed by hosing it down, making the one article of clothing weigh almost as much as yours truly) so they can dry without shrinking in the dryer.
I started looking for the clothesline almost two hours ago, as it was no longer on the corner of the table. Either someone else has decided to "clean", or I, in a story-induced daze, have moved it to another "logical" location. I naturally start with looking around the various things in the kitchen, through piles of important mail, stacked according to which family member they belong to, then look in all the places I would have moved it to if I was thinking about the current works in progress (as there is always more than one).
No luck.
Next, I try to think about the other members and where they may have moved a roll of clothesline. None of the more logical spots yield the clothesline, and I'm soon back at the table, looking at the spot it was all summer, recently scrubbed clean by a helpful hand....
My eyes travel around the kitchen, and as I text the only family member currently awake, I'm opening drawers and cabinets, just systematically looking EVERYWHERE. The hubby has seen the clothesline on the table and heard my jokes about "finding the time", but didn't move it. By now, I've moved on into other rooms, and on a whim, open a tub with our camping gear still in it that has been left in the front room until camping season is done for the summer. Someone must have thought the clothesline was for taking camping, even though we have enough camping rope to hog tie a whole football team, as there it is!
I check to find that my whole "grab the clothesline and re-string the front porch" scheme has used up an hour and 45 minutes of my day. The laundty that I started, wanting to hang it on the clothesline, is sitting in the washer, done its cleaning cycle some time ago, mocking me.....
And, as I walk back into the kitchen and survey the mess I made searching for the clothesline, I pray that I don't die before I get this straightened out, because I'm hearing a familiar line from a lot of crime dramas on television....
"They ransacked the place!"
But ask me where something is, and I will often be able to go to a specific place in the mess and pull out whatever you asked me for. The system appears to be total chaos, but somewhere in the dark recesses of my mind, I remember exactly where I last saw something.....
Unless someone else in the house has moved it in an effort to "clean up" for me.....
And since we're all different people, they put the item where they feel it logically belongs, such as a packet of clothesline that I purchased in the spring, while I was out of work after a surgery. The intent was that I would bring in the metal clothes line support from outside my kitchen window, take off all the blackened clothesline that it came with many, many, MANY moons ago, and then re-string it with the new line.
In April, however, the metal pole was solidly frozen into the cement block that supports it, so I set the clothesline on the table until the ground thawed - and have never made it back to that project, as it's been so cold and wet, I haven't wanted to hang clothes on that line. The clothesline packet has been sitting silently on a corner of the kitchen work table, reminding me that it must happen, but other, more pressing duties have been getting done first.
Then, this past week, when I discovered that a slightly musty smell in the corner of the front room was an Australian Outback coat that was put there dry, but has gotten moldy because of all the humidity, I discovered that my other clothesline, on the front porch, had dry rotted. I've decided that the line I've been mostly using because it's at least under a roof needs to be replaced. The clothesline on the table will no longer mock me because it will be in use, holding things like a heavy oilskin coat (which is cleaned by a vinegar and water solution and a stiff brush followed by hosing it down, making the one article of clothing weigh almost as much as yours truly) so they can dry without shrinking in the dryer.
I started looking for the clothesline almost two hours ago, as it was no longer on the corner of the table. Either someone else has decided to "clean", or I, in a story-induced daze, have moved it to another "logical" location. I naturally start with looking around the various things in the kitchen, through piles of important mail, stacked according to which family member they belong to, then look in all the places I would have moved it to if I was thinking about the current works in progress (as there is always more than one).
No luck.
Next, I try to think about the other members and where they may have moved a roll of clothesline. None of the more logical spots yield the clothesline, and I'm soon back at the table, looking at the spot it was all summer, recently scrubbed clean by a helpful hand....
My eyes travel around the kitchen, and as I text the only family member currently awake, I'm opening drawers and cabinets, just systematically looking EVERYWHERE. The hubby has seen the clothesline on the table and heard my jokes about "finding the time", but didn't move it. By now, I've moved on into other rooms, and on a whim, open a tub with our camping gear still in it that has been left in the front room until camping season is done for the summer. Someone must have thought the clothesline was for taking camping, even though we have enough camping rope to hog tie a whole football team, as there it is!
I check to find that my whole "grab the clothesline and re-string the front porch" scheme has used up an hour and 45 minutes of my day. The laundty that I started, wanting to hang it on the clothesline, is sitting in the washer, done its cleaning cycle some time ago, mocking me.....
And, as I walk back into the kitchen and survey the mess I made searching for the clothesline, I pray that I don't die before I get this straightened out, because I'm hearing a familiar line from a lot of crime dramas on television....
"They ransacked the place!"
No comments:
Post a Comment
This is to COMMENT ON THE BLOG, not TO SELL YOUR STUFF!
If you insist on commenting that "you need this", be prepared to have your comment deleted PARTICULARLY IF YOU ARE ANJU SHUKLA!!