Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Keeping Up

I'm not doing a very good job of keeping up.

Keeping up with this blog. Keeping up with other blogs. Keeping up with the laundry. Keeping up with the Christmas knitting. Keeping up with the Christmas cards I swore I would have made and addressed in July.

I'm not doing a good job keeping up with the bathrooms, which I now enter with eyes shut. Keeping up with the copy I'm supposed to be writing for the Winter Auction fundraiser at school. Keeping up with my reading. Keeping up with the stuff I'm supposed to be sorting to take to Good Will. Keeping up with the attic. The pantry. The closets.

I'm not doing a good job of keeping up with the fridge, which needs a good scrub, or the floor, which needs a good mop, or the yard, which needs a good raking.

I'm not doing a good job of keeping up with my letter writing and package mailing. I'm not doing a good job of keeping up with my Christmas sewing.

So what am I keeping up with? Well, this weekend I went to a conference in Nashville and spent time with old friends, many of whose children have grown up or don't have children at all. It is an amazing thing to hang out with people who don't have kids. Their homes are filled with interesting pottery in low places. They use the good plates for brunch. They have brunch. They have lots and lots of hardback books, because their paychecks aren't going for private school or orthodontia. They look ten years younger than they actually are.

Oh, it was wonderful. But weird. And now that I'm home, I don't want to do housework. I want to read poetry and go look at art.

But instead, I'm cleaning Jack's room and contemplating braving the bathrooms to get that horrible mildew off the bathtub. Tonight I'm driving to Charlotte so I can get up early the next morning to watch Jack's choral performance, then rushing the two hours home to pick up Will. I need to get in a quick trip to the grocery store so there will be stuff for the boys' lunches tomorrow and Friday.

So mostly I'm keeping up with my dream of that day when I actually get caught up on everything and then will be able to keep up with it all and still make room for art and poetry.

I think this will require a paid staff, don't you?

7 comments:

Ali said...

Do you hear the chorus of 'me too' from here?

Unknown said...

Just hang a sign that says
"my house is a work in progress - when it is clean it means I worked faster than it progressed!!"

And remember Jackson Pollock probably started his art career in a bedroom just like the one you are cleaning now, so don't think of it as tidying - just creating another blank canvas!

Have a nice cup of tea and keep smiling!!!

daisymum

Anonymous said...

Oh, LOL. People with no kids at home live in a parallel universe where they can actually decorate, not just maintain damage control.

Kate:)

Tracy said...

Decorate? I think I missed something! Unless lead pencil drawings on walls and orange crayon on cream coloured carpet count!

I realised too late that going out for breakfast with my husband was a wonderful thing ~ it's now something to dream about.

Keeping up...hmmmm...that would be why I was up before 5am finishing a book. Not because I felt the pressure, but because it was on my to-do list and it was a good time to do it...rather than the dishes and wake everyone up.

Anonymous said...

"interesting pottery in low places"...lololol!! Reminds me of the days when my brother and his wife had no kids...it was like taking our toddlers to a china shop...eek!

As for the keeping up...are any of us every 'there'?

I tend to have certain jobs which are paramount and others which get done eventually! :)

Angela said...

There is a wonderful poster produced by the British Government during WW2 which I have by my PC - it simply says
"Keep Calm and Carry On"

Cheer up - there are dozens of us echoing Ali's "Me too...chorus"
blessings- Ang x

Left-Handed Housewife said...

Thanks for the great comments, everyone! It's so nice to know I'm not alone. I think we should have a contest--who has put off the most stuff the longest. I do feel I'd win in the long run, but I'd have some mighty impressive competition.