I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that I respond to gardening just like I do with everything else. I love watching the different colors and shapes unfold as new blooms appear every few weeks, planning how to introduce more riotous color in our backyard. But actually getting dirty and doing the work in this hot, muggy weather . . . well, I’m not loving that part. Whenever we finish weeding and everything looks just right, I want it to stay that way for a while. But it quickly gets out of control – all over again. I know weeding and pruning aren’t once for all duties, and that’s what rubs against who I am.
You see, I’ve never been good at doing the uninspired, daily tasks – like cooking and cleaning – the ones that you do one day and then have to repeat the next day. Nobody paints a wall or sews curtains or hangs pictures better than me. I revel in the big splashy jobs that showcase my creativity. It’s those routine things that trip me.
My poor husband happens to excel in the department of being a steady, consistent plodder. He carries a lot of the load that I drop, usually without complaints. And please, it’s not that he expects me to do all the housework. When we first married and divided things up, in a moment of insanity, I volunteered for cleaning the house. Steve cuts the grass, buys most of the groceries, and does half the cooking. I’ll put off my cleaning job for several weeks, and then when someone’s coming over, it suddenly becomes an overwhelming and urgent task. So now I’m instituting a new plan (in an easy-to-remember acronym) and I’m rather proud of it. I will attempt to do one cleaning task every day so it doesn’t grow into a monster. So far, I’ve accomplished my goal 2 of the 4 days since I started this new regime, so I’m batting 500. A big improvement over 0.
Here’s my plan:
Monday – Mop and vacuum floors
Tuesday – Toilets and bathrooms
Wednesday – Wash clothes
Thursday – The Outside
Friday – Furniture polishing
I’ll let you know if it works. (Just a tip: you might want to lower your expectations).