I admit my housekeeping skills are questionable. You know where I would rather be...in the garden. I would rather be weeding than, let's say, dusting or vacuuming.
But, the mess is more than just a little country dust or a little country dirt.
I blame the state of the house on the active renovation of Matt's bedroom (why not?) and a few other side projects.
The idea was to start and finish one, time-consuming project - Matt's room. Still incomplete, Glenn and I veered off working on an expanded storage area/craft room in the basement.
Did I say basement? Oh, I should not even mention the basement, but since I did...ours is a true basement - you know, one of those below ground level, dungeon-type caverns that presides, unassuming, below the main living area of the house. The place where the farm clothes and boots hang out (mud and all), the place where the wood furnace resides (not used in the summer, but the firewood and fire-starting material are stockpiled), the place where all the recycling accumulates (aluminum, plastic, glass, tin, miscellaneous paper), the place where the laundry hangs to dry in the winter (I rarely use the dryer, "Duck!"), the place where three freezers are lined up (got to keep all that garden produce and beef somewhere), the place where Glenn's workshop is found (cluttered with tools, paint and lumber), the place where odds and ends of furniture are warehoused, the place where the summer canning is stored, the place where the second washer (delegated for those filthy work clothes - the ones soiled with mud, oil and manure) is hooked-up and the place where the tidbits of 'junk' are dumped.
The basement is not very large. As you can imagine, organizing such a space is quite a Herculean task. Now, squeeze in a craft room - one up side is that I will have a fitting work place to return to an old interest - creating stained glass.
Mind boggling is an understatement!
Somehow, when you go to clean/organize one area, you usually make more of a mess before you make it better. Now, multiply that by several, ongoing projects and you (meaning I) have a house that has a chaos problem. And, there are still those farm chores that have to be done daily. Furthermore, do not forget the time that flies. Fortunately, I am seeing improvement - a little, very little every day - hurray!
The best part, though, is that I can walk out into the yard and, like today, eye my crepe myrtle in radiant bloom, despite the presence of Japanese beetles who have been known to eat every last flower bud (I carry a jar of gasoline for just such encounters), and I am happy.
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| fuchsia-colored crepe myrtle |
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| notice the crepe-like petals - Amazing! |
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