- July 24, 2012
- 20 Comments
- Life of Jenny, Lucy
PROOF: I can clean!
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I thought it’d be fun if I made a time lapse video of cleaning my office.
CLEARLY I HAVE LOST ALL COMPREHENSION OF WHAT IS FUN.
#1 – CLEANING IS NOT FUN
#2 – WATCHING someone clean is ALSO NOT FUN.
But I did capture my progress anyway, because once I get an idea in my head…. fugghedaboutit.
That’s my office/guest room.
Our guests have to “sleep” on a foldaway.
It’s like a right of passage. You haven’t fully LIVED until you’ve had to sleep on a foldaway.
It makes me feel good to know I am helping fulfill rights of passages.
?
I am going to point out the fact that I have a pink/peachish dresser with teal accents in my office.
I know it does not match my red wall.
I KNOW.
Sheesh.
It was my childhood dresser.
Peach and teal was HOT in the 80′s.
And it’s a really cool dresser and SOMEDAY I will paint it a color I am not yet certain of.
Two hours in and I’ve made some progress… and Lucy found project to work on.
PERFECT.
Let’s take something out while mommy is cleaning…
Now Kevin wants in on the action. He’s in the way more than the three kids combined.
I have a dog that thinks he’s human.
When the kids are at school Kevin often joins me in my office. He usually sleeps on my feet under my desk.
Which is actually rather nice.
Crazy dog. I kinda think he’s kinda cool.
EXCEPT THAT WHEN I DROVE UP THIS AFTERNOON HE STOOD IN THE YARD WITH HALF A RAT HANGING OUT OF HIS MOUTH.
A RAT.
I gagged.
By this point Olivia joined me in my office. She’s watching something on the iPad.
WHICH HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH CLEANING.
I am so alone.
But I aaaaaam making progress, even if it’s hard to tell by the picture, and even though no one is helping me…
I worked from 1 to 6 p.m. Sure, I facebooked and drank coffee and helped decorate a cape and stuff, BUT STILL.
I got to a point where… where… well… where I can now go into my office without crying.
Confession: I can’t think when things are too messy.
And sometimes messes make me cry.
Because I can’t think.
And when I can’t think…. I CRY.
It’s a vicious cycle, really.
I have tried and tried and tried to be OK with mess… and I can’t.
I can’t.
I just can’t.
A clean space is my happy place.
Clean enough.
It could be cleaner/organizeder… That basket on the pink/peachish dresser is full of 2011/2012 schoolwork from the kids… to sort… burn?
The bag next to the basket is a gift for a friend I should have mailed over a month ago.
How do I even have friends anymore?
And I didn’t do much to my desk except move papers around to different, more organized “feeling” piles.
There’s a lot of thinking and strategerizing that happens when one cleans one’s office space… bills to pay, papers to file, documents to shred… business cards to put somewhere, notes from the kids to feel guilty about tossing or not framing, cords, cords, cords… pencils without erasers…
At one point Lucy looked up at me and said, “MOM.” (She speaks in all caps. Really.) “LIVI AND I DECIDED WE WANT TO KEEP THE HOUSE ALWAYS CLEAN. WE WILL ALWAYS PUT ALL OUR STUFF AWAY.”
Cute.
And within 10 minutes… let’s just say there are countless popped balloons and toothpicks all over my front porch.
…so if you come for a visit —–>>> WEAR SHOES.
And remember, we can always pull out the fold away.
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20 Responses to “PROOF: I can clean!”
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I spent a good part of the day cleaning yesterday – and it does feel good. I wish we could keep it that way all the time. The 4 kids don’t feel quite as enthusiastic about that plan as I do.
I just made the kids their own to-do lists. They feel all important now! We’ll see how long before the high wears off
I started playing a game of “I Spy” in your office. I spied:
1) Candlewarmers
2) WarmZe bottle warmer
3) Lowes/Whirlpool water bottle
4) Kiwi cape (ok, that one was a little hard to miss)
5) Osh Kosh gift card
6) EBay green iPhone case
See, cleaning CAN be fun. Want to come tackle my office next? It looks eerily similar. Although I just got rid of my pullout couch. Apparently people at my house hate rites of passage.
You must be a detective! You are GOOD!
My detective skills were aided by the fact that I have that same stuff sitting around my office right now. Buuuuuuut, I’m still gonna pat myself on the back because I AM good!
I had Gramma come watch my kids (toddlers) while I cleaned MY office and, man!, it took as long. 5 or 6 hours, and I still have SO much sorting and purging to do!
I know. I even hesitated to write this because the close cousin of my office is the file cabinets in my basement – AAAAAGH!!!! It LOOKS clean, but there’s a beast sleeping in all those drawers!
Oh, I don’t even know what it looks like to have a room that clean or to have an office. May I borrow yours, please?!!
YES! BUT YOU HAVE TO LIVE WITH ME! I’ll pull the couch out
I read somewhere that it should take about a year to clean/organize an office COMPLETELY. I’m assuming they mean do ALL the shredding/filing, complete all the half-started projects/scrapbooks/systems that are supposed to keep you more organized, reorganize/purge the bookshelves, sharpen all the pencils and test all the pens, and get rid of all the dust bunnies. So I figure the longer I put it off, the more time I have to do the job the RIGHT way.
Jen. I 100% believe that with all my heart. I feel like I need a month of 8 hour days to clean to the point I will feel content and truly CLEANED. Years of papers… many of which I am sure can be shredded. And emotional stuff… I’m a bit sappy and it’s hard for me to let certain things go… And you are right…. ” the longer I put it off, the more time I have to do the job the RIGHT way.” Hahahaha!
I can’t think in the midst of a mess either (I’m also prone to crying – secretly and all alone – over it too … but shush … don’t tell … okay?
I think it looks fantabulous! BRAVO!
It’s our little secret…. totally. I won’t say A WORD.
I saw it on Twitter and had to come look. I retweeted…this is good stuff.
WAnna come work on my corner?
I’ve been cleaning for two days (sure, there might have been a bit of FB and Twitter too)
MWAH
Does Kevin do windows? Let the sun in.
Oh, honey. You call that a mess? You would not be able to put two thoughts together in ANY room in my house. I know this, because *I* can’t either. Man, when school starts my littlest will be in full day for the first time, and the mess here? It’s going DOWN!
Jenny Jenny Jenny, have I taught you nothing? Cleaning AND photographic evidence of it?!?! What were you thinking? Ahaha Looks great! I wish I had an office in my house…I used to have a nice one before we moved to camp… such is life.
)
I am glad I am not alone in not being able to think in a mess!(and the fact that my 6 year old also speaks in ALL CAPS as well).
Are you for hire?
Thanks for stopping by and leaving such a lovely comment, Jenny. xo