For those of you who are wondering what I am talking about let me share some information and enlighten you. I know, I know it's really thoughtful of me and you are welcome for this educational blog.
We'll start with a photo:
Now we'll add come context or back story if you will. Last Tuesday I was getting dinner into the crock-pot. I was spending much of the late morning/early afternoon at A's school volunteering, Kaylee had a a make-up music lesson that evening and Bradley wasn't entirely sure what time he would be home, so a crock-pot meal was the perfect solution.
As I gathered the needed items for the recipe and I went into the fridge to get the roast out and something caught my attention, a streak on the top shelf of the fridge. I'm not exactly sure what it was or how it got there but the next thing I know I'm removing everything from the top shelf of the fridge and putting it on the counter and the top shelf of my fridge is now in my sink. On the counter you can't see is a stove top with a pan with some olive oil, the counter next to it had some chopped garlic and onion with some other seasonings and needed sauce ingredients to pour over the roast.
I was now distracted, disorganized, "Squirrel'ed!" whatever you want to call it. I realized in this moment that I am like this more times than not.
- I go to get a tupperware container out and the next thing I know my cabinet is empty and I'm wiping shelves and re-organizing.
- I put away towels and my linen closet, or the girls' linen closet is emptied onto the floor and everything re-folded and organized.
- I hang a coat in the closet and I'm going through bins of mittens/hats/coats on hangers and pulling out what I've determined in that moment we no longer need and can be donated.
The list goes on....you don't even want to know what happens when I decide to put my girls' laundry away for them, or clean their rooms for them (tasks they normally do themselves each week). Goodwill and some other crisis centers in our community hit the jack pot.
On this crock pot meal day (remember that is all I was doing...trying to get a meal in the crock pot before I headed to A's school) I got the meal in the crock pot and then cleaned out my entire fridge, which had just been done 2 weeks prior (not cleaning out of food, that is done weekly, but the scrubbing down of the inside), all because I saw 1 streak. ONE!!!
This is what I do. ALL. THE. TIME. Am I alone? Probably not. I might be crazy. Probably not, or if I am it is due to something other than cleaning. However, it does make me stop and laugh. As I stood in my kitchen looking at my mess (because it has to get worse before it gets better) I thought about how I would prioritize things to not get off track, to make sure I got things done efficiently rather than making a bigger mess as I went and it taking that much longer.
I'm a list maker. Bradley says if there was a Hoarder show for list-making I'd be on it, which is probably true and a little ironic. See I carry a notebook with me always, both around the house and in my car/purse when I leave the house. If you looked in it you would find lists:
- My weekly menu, followed by my grocery list
- Blog ideas
- Gift ideas for my kids
- Story ideas
- Ideas from my Moms Group at Church
It's like Pinterest without needing technology. I LOVE lists. When I worked I would write a list of what I needed to get done each day, in order. I would strive to follow that list. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm flexible, so if something unexpected came up I could easily fit it in and keep moving. However, I had to go one task at a time, if I stopped, in the middle of a task, to look at email I'd be thrown off, because of course there would be some email that I knew would take me 1 minute to complete, that would be done and I could get back to my task.
The ironic part to this is that I don't like clutter. I can't even watch the show Hoarders because it gives me anxiety. I'm not sure where this stems from. Growing up I had to clean my room and help clean the house, but I also know that it is in my DNA somewhere, because if it was just an environmental thing from childhood surely I would resent it and be the complete opposite...or maybe somewhere in the middle.
So why do I share this story? I share it because as I stated above I'm sure I'm not alone. I'm sure I'm not the only one who starts one simple task and ends it by having completed 12 that you didn't even know you needed to. We Mom's are busy. We are well intended with our actions. We are hard on ourselves when we don't need to be. We can give ourselves grace. We can take time to refocus. If we want to tackle 217 things at one time, we can do that to. We just need to step back, maybe take a photo, and have a good chuckle at ourselves.
