Thursday, July 26, 2007

My inability to stay on task...

I think I have "adult onset ADD". Is that really a condition? It seems that I just can't see a job to completion. I'm talking about housework...mundane chores like cleaning the bathroom, organizing my workspace, doing laundry etc. I will work nonstop for several hours and not a single thing will be completed. Lots of things will be half done to perfection, but nothing completely done.

I am the sort of person who likes work that has a beginning and end...you work at the task, finish it and it's done. That's why I like art so much! You create something and get to enjoy it or sell it for someone else to enjoy but you don't have to pick it up again and start over on the same piece - you can make ANOTHER one, but the first one is DONE! The laundry gets done for literally 2 minutes and then it piles up again. It's never actually conquered. Same with every other household task. Dust happens. So does dirt. People eat. It's just the way it works. I have always struggled to keep up with my house. I wouldn't say my house is dirty, it's just lived in and Martha would not be proud. She'd probably tidy up if she visited. I'd let her.

That's another thing I don't understand. People who get offended if someone tidies up when they come over or folds their laundry if they're sitting near a pile of clean duds. If you come to my house and start to fold my laundry on my couch - yes, I have a "laundry couch" - I will bring you a basket to stack it in...and hug you. The underwear part would embarrass me, but I'd get over it!

So...since I think I'm not the only one that has this "problem"...the problem of not being able to keep up with all of the chores and responsibilities of keeping a home, I wrote a little thing...it's with apologies to the book by Laura Joffe Numeroff...If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.
It goes a little something like this:

If you try to clean the kitchen,
You will walk to the sink and step on a wayward lego.
After you scream in pain, you will take the lego to the lego bin in the family room
And notice that there are dirty socks on the floor.
You will pick up the socks and walk them to the laundry room
Only to see the wayward diamond earring in the corner
That you had believed to be long gone but had actually stuck to your sweater
And shaken loose while being put in the washer!
Giddy with this discovery, you will call your husband
Who will be happy to hear the news and
Remind you to pick up his dry cleaning.
You will go to your bedroom to replace the earring in your jewelry box
And see that the pair of earrings now needs cleaning and drop them into the cleaning solution.
While leaving your bedroom, you will ponder what you were doing and
See your husbands drycleaning in the basket by the door.
You will take the items to the car and notice a permission slip on the back seat.
A trip to the school is needed.

** There is more, but I deleted the remainder to preserve it for an idea that I have...

To all the husbands who come home and wonder what we did all day because nothing looks different...we did quite a bit, thank you very much! :o)

OK, I'm done! I have some cleaning to do!

3 comments:

Laura said...

Life forges ahead regardless of our abi with ability (or inabilty) to keep up! If only we could be recognized and appreciated more for the mundane and repetitve tasks that we accomplish each and every day! What a happier world in the realm of motherhood it would be!

While you mention your personal struggle with laundry, one might attribute the same principle to something more personal as diet and exercise! If I could only see the end result today instead of these miniscule advancements only to be seen on a weekly or monthly advancement. Ugh! Your principle of "work that has a beginning and end...you work at the task, finish it and it's done" is a wider spread problem than your bleach and stain stick will ever know.

Love the personalized version of the poem!!

Terri said...

Ha! moments, more like aha moments!

What about us women who would rather read about cleaning on-line--occasionally even printing out tips--without actually getting out the vacuum!

Love your blog--press on my on-line friend!

Gillian said...

ROFL!!! that's my life!!!!
how did you know ;o)