Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Rainy Mondays or Tuesdays or Whatever

During rainy days, instead of sitting back and reading or watching TV, I let that Puritan work ethic define most of the hours as I discover lots of little chores to complete indoors.  These are chores that I put off because they usually offer little reward when they are finished and many of them are tasks that I will have to re-do again and again in the months ahead.  It seems that I have this impracticable goal of getting everything tidy and pristine permanently.  All I need to do is just try hard enough.  I naively think that once things are straightened I just have to use some self-discipline and they will stay straightened indefinitely.  After all, there are no more children or pets to rearrange my life.

But there IS still me, myself and I!   All three of us are like dervishes with a consumer fetish.  I have an endless dyslexic reading habit, leaving small piles of magazines, bits of mail, brochures and maps, to-do lists and various books (even with the Kindle) upon coffee and bedside tables and counters.  The piles grow in height until they start to lean, then slide and then in gay abandon tumble to the floor in a loose fan of spontaneity.  You are about to enter the dark world of Tabor, which guests never see!




I have an endless photography habit and leave my cameras, lenses, filters, binoculars, batteries, chargers and manuals in little corners and on shelves, where I place them out of the way but not out of sight, until the photography bug bites me again with a special angle of the sun or sunset or tweak of bird.  The tripod must not be closed into compaction and stands with legs askew to trip unwary visitors (or burglars) at the front door, because who knows when I might need it?  (That elephant artwork was done by my oldest grandson and will hang in that space until I die.)


My camouflage jacket will hang carelessly over the bannister until warm weather prevents me from using it at all.


My huge, it IS huge, walk-in closet becomes a repository for a small pile of garden garb worn just that morning that is not dirty enough to put into the laundry but it is still too dirty to put away.  (This habit is a hangover from living on a farm where one saved work clothes for just a while longer.)  My closet also has the overnight bag, from a recent visit to my daughter's, that I have not yet unpacked, sitting in the middle of the floor.  Then there is the exercise apparel draped over a chair that sometime in this century I will wear once again for a brief session in the basement in my attempt to remain forever young.


My box of purses sits on the floor under other containers just to the side since the transition to spring causes me to go through a series of selections of ugly bags before I finally settle on something to get me through the summer.  None of these are designer items, and therefore, they are really ugly.  (Not to say that designer bags are always lovely, and not to say that with courage I could throw half of these purses away and never miss them.)

The kitchen always needs tidying up, but we actually eat at home, so that is and always will be a normal endless task.

The garage has a fertility corner where pots reproduce like rabbits and garden tools form a tangled clutter like wall flowers at a Sadie Hawkins dance.  I restack them once again.  For some reason, long after fall has retreated, dried leaves tuck themselves everywhere and must be swept out monthly.  Various plant stakes and wire supports tend to lean away from the wall where they have been carefully hung to grab me with devilish glee as I unload groceries, so on a monthly basis I tuck them flat again and again.

And, one of these days, I will remember to get at all those cobwebs that weave and wave on all the hanging light fixtures hanging nine feet above my head and which I only notice five minutes before company arrives.

Bring on the rain.  Rainy days never ever get me down.  I am too wicked, and anyway, there is no rest for people like me.

25 comments:

  1. I have piles too, cameras always in a corner ready to be grabbed and piles of magazines i need to sort through and take to the library.

    Maybe pack rat traits are those of creative people ;). Sounds good anyway...

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  2. I find this revelation of clutter in your life strangely comforting. I'm looking around me right now at the rat's nests of papers and books surrounding me and thinking about how I'm going to have to clean the grit and dust throughout the house that have accumulated in our absence after a trip to the Mainland.

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  3. I enjoyed the tour inside your home. I have piles hither and thither as well. Your pictures are wonderful and those camera goodies need to be near at hand.

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  4. This is me - also.
    Just trying to be different
    and it has not happened.
    I share quotes
    and think
    "that is what I need to do?" :)
    With much family here over the last 3 weeks
    seems the laundry is endless
    and still trying to put away
    Winter clothes...

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  5. There's a reason i'm a "messy" mimi.

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  6. I feel much more normal now! Thanks for that.

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  7. I admit to doing the garden clothes thing...and the book and magazine thing.

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  8. Unfortunately I am too OCD and too much of a perfectionist to allow much clutter, which means I spend a lot of time picking up and putting away I just need to.
    But as for gardening clothes, there is a special bench in the laundry room/mud room where they get stashed and are only washed when they are REALLY dirty.

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  9. I 'm with Hattie! Oddly comforted.
    Love the mental image of reproducing pots.

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  10. I 'm with Hattie! Oddly comforted.
    Love the mental image of reproducing pots.

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  11. I try to keep one room neat, the living room, so I can retreat without thinking about the rest!

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  12. All of that stuff reveals your eclectic interests. You're braver than I am by showing photos of all your stuff.

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  13. I've discovered there's an advantage to being very forgetful and living in a tiny house - I must be tidy and have everything in its place or face hours of frustration trying to find things. I don't have a lot of 'stuff', there's no room and it's too hard to remember where it would be.

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  14. Oh no. The avalanche of piles when they slide onto the floor. Been there! If I am doing well, I even pick it up.

    The purses. Make sure you look in every nook and cranny before tossing or donating. It is such a great feeling to find lost money.

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  15. I have a little den and it gets to be quite muddled at times. The picture of the tripod reminds me that mine has been left set up in the guest room for several weeks. I can't even remember why I had it out in the first place.

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  16. Good to know about you, and now I feel okay about the piles of stuff I leave all over! I think I'm still messier than you, though.

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  17. Before I forget....no, you were gifting the family with a lovely meal. Yes, I would have fallen on my face when the check arrived. Very fixed income here for me. Glad we have G still working.

    What fun. And here I thought, having met you and your husband, that your house wouldn't have once single thing out of place....did I say that? Mine looks more lived in than yours because of the growing stacks of books. :)

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  18. I knew that I adored you and now I worship you. Never would I have dreamed that you had corners of clutter in your life which makes you damn near perfect.

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  19. My corners of clutter are more like ever-growing piles of detritus. Yours look decorative.

    Blessings from Dalamory
    www.freda.org.uk

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  20. Now if those piles were in my tiny apartment, I wouldn't be able to walk thru... my piles of books n clothes are always in the way- but I hate packing things too far away so you can't hurry n get them.
    I have little major clean time- still spending over 50% of my time away from the house. Last time I was tidy here was before I started working nights- In the dark it's harder to get motivated for me.

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  21. I am very much the same with reading material. At any given time, I have 8 or 10 books at bedside, a couple of magazines, maybe a newspaper, and odd bits of mail. As for clothing, my baseball caps have a tendency to spread out across the house when I'm not wearing them.

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  22. Loved this post and the tour! I think your home is cozy! Can I come over and read on a rainy afternoon?

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  23. RYN: You are so funny. Yup, did I mention a broken toe? LOL Nope, he thought he could save it but an ex ray found a cavity underneath. And a cracked tooth next to it. Now I am one of those fanatical tooth brushers with brushes everywhere and floss rampant. I'm displeased about the cavity, but I am grateful it wasn't bad enough to have a root canal.

    Tape your toe loosely to the next one, and wear big shoes. Good luck, did I say that.

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  24. I thought it must be the two of us who are related, but after reading a few of the comments, I see that I have a few more relatives here.

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  25. I love love love this post!!! I thought you were writing a detailed description of ME. :) I am so glad there are others 'out there' that share the same personality traits...

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