Sorry I haven't posted in a bit but have been off my feed with a chest cold of sorts that threw me off my routine. Feeling better now, thank you!
Now back to cleaning house! I've known people to work off a good mad by cleaning--actually have done it a time or two myself. But I'm more likely to dive into the chocolate (or something else!) or the computer. Putting things in order is more task than I want to devote brain cells to at the time. Actual cleaning, however, is another thing. It's a good release of energy. But most of housekeeping, for me, is being organized. And therein lies the rub!
When I was a young mother, organizing things wasn't so hard. We didn't have that much to organize. I remember going to the local Ace Hardware store (a form of entertainment to us back then) and coming home with bags and bags of "stuff" only to have it completely disappear within the confines of our house--a sure sign that what we bought was more along the line of everyday necessities rather than superfluous to our needs. But then there came the day...........
I distinctly remember getting a phone call from my husband while I was working a week end job at a real estate office. "I've found the perfect place to shop!", he excitedly told me. "And it doesn't cost anything!" Turns out, he'd found the village dump! Here he could shop to his heart's content often discovering perfectly good items discarded by others higher up on the food chain than we were. Of course, some items weren't "perfectly good"--but good enough so that with a little effort on his part they could be brought up to speed for our purposes.
And so began his "collections". I never said a whole lot because most of it went into his garage--a territory I rarely set foot in. That, and I figured, he had a right to do with his time what he chooses; a right to make his own decisions without my interfering.
Meanwhile, I got into crafts. And we all know we need "stuff" to produce crafts. It didn't hurt that my mother was also a crafter whose favorite place to shop was the local hobby store. From there she'd buy large bags of merchandise they'd packaged together and sell at a good price to help move in newer merchandise. She might not know exactly what came in those bags but she was sure at least some of it would be useful "down the road".
And heaven forefend that one should need something while in the middle of a craft project always in the middle of the night after the stores had closed! That more than justified buying and storing a little bit of everything in the store to have on hand just in case that would be the one thing necessary to complete the craft! And so began my "collections".
Both my husband and I, while not raised during the Great Depression, were children of parents who were. One didn't throw out anything that could possibly have some kind of life or useful purpose left in it, "just in case" one fell on hard times and couldn't afford anything better.
Add into this mix children, pets (I've never known a cat to clean out its own litter pan and the invention of the automatic litter pans is a euphemism at best!), time demands consistently required to perform activities outside the house and it's a wonder anyone can maintain a clean surface for any real length of time!
I'll continue to explore this more tomorrow (the chickens need to be let out and I'm anxious to check on the new baby recently hatched). Now that I'm feeling better and getting a bit more sleep at night, I should be able to devote more unclouded brain cells to this subject!
Peace and love,
Carol
No comments:
Post a Comment