Feb 09 2010
Burning the Evidence
When we moved into our home two and a half years ago, I had a pile of papers to file or shred. Two and a half years later, I had 6 paper grocery bags full of piles of papers to file or shred. I accept the fact that office assistant would not be a good job for me.
We have had an entire week of snow days and every day I have thought, “I finally have time to clean the office.” This thought is always thwarted by my complete lack of focus when it comes to cleaning. My feeble efforts did not accomplish much. I would shred a few papers here and there, file a few items, and then get distracted by the tasks that demand my attention daily: make lunch, shovel, feed the dog, wash the clothes, shovel, go to the grocery store, bake a cake, shovel.
Last night, I told Dale my plan. “Tomorrow, I am going to focus solely on cleaning the office. After I feed the dog, go for a run, take a shower, eat breakfast, I will focus on the office and will refuse to do anything else. I will ignore the laundry piled on the sofa in need of folding. I will ignore the dog when he scratches on the door. I will ignore the children when they ask me for something to eat. After two and a half years, I will get the office clean. Which means, you will have to handle everything else.”
Dale did not receive this proclamation well. After a bit of teeth grinding and scowling, he informed me that if there was anything in my head that I expected to get done, I needed to write it down. “Including making sure the kids eat breakfast and lunch?” I asked. “Yes,” he replied.
Remembering to feed the children is one of those daily events that Moms assume Dads will remember without being told. I continue to learn that this is a bad assumption. Yesterday, I returned from the grocery store at 2:00pm and the kids began to complain to me about being hungry. I asked Dale, “Didn’t you tell them it was time for lunch?” He replied, “No. I wasn’t hungry. I went for a run.”
So, I made Dale his list again: feed the children, shovel, let the dog in and out, shovel, oversee piano/homework/room cleaning, shovel…
This morning, he rebuked me for being all talk when he discovered me putting a pot roast in the crock pot. However, after that unscheduled delay, I got to work. At 7pm, I finished. My office is clean for the first time in two and a half years.
There is no sign of the disaster it once was, because I’m burning the evidence.
mugs you truely have a gift…i thought mamaw and myself were writers but you truely have a blessing and gift….very inspiring….
Nissa…Thanks. I wish someone had saved copies of all the crazy and funny skits and songs your mamaw wrote.