I’m feeling a bit unsettled today. I don’t know what the deal is. But I do know this: cleaning, organizing, and purging helps me calm that feeling of unsettled-ness.
In fact, when I was a teenager and I would get one of those lovely days off of school…a snow day or a random holiday such as President’s Day, I would often spend it cleaning. Yep, I guess you could say I was a quirky teenager. There was something so calming and satisfying about scrubbing a bathroom and watching it gleam, or running the vacuum and seeing those beautifully detailed vacuum stripes running along the carpets. I knew I had done something worthwhile, something I could sit back and say, “Oh wow–that looks great. I did that.” Of course, back in the day, I was jamming out to Boston or Journey or Prince before he (?) was a symbol.
In fact, I can even remember thinking, “I hope when I grow up and married and have house, I will feel unsettled a lot so I will have a spic ‘n span house.” Now, if that isn’t a twisted line of thinking, then I don’t know what is!
Actually, I’m a pretty neat gal. Things get cleaned, I like to organize and declutter and I do this on a fairly routine basis. No overwhelming cleaning frenzy here. But right now, I am embarrassed to say that my house is a little bit of a wreck.
Or, perhaps it’s just my brain that feels like a wreck?! I have ideas floating here and there, a project to complete, one to begin, a desk full of papers, a kitchen counter teaming with school notes and worksheets from my kindergartner, and wood shavings piling up around the fireplace.
Any “good” at-home woman would just get off the darn computer and tackle it lickety-slit. Then sit down and read book or watch a soap or play with her kids. Not me. I have to perseverate on it for a bit.
Plus, writing about my mess actually makes me feel a bit better.
Perhaps what I need to do is download some rockin’ songs to my iPod–say some vintage rock ‘n roll tunes, pop it into my stereo, put on some sweats (who am I kidding…still in my yoga attire) and start cleaning!
Yes, that is in fact what I will do!
Coming Up on Leslie 4 Kids:
- Organization 101: The Family Archiver, Menu Planning
- Apraxia Monday is back with ideas on what you can do at home to help with speech and langauge
- Cute & Simple will chronicle my daughter’s gymnastics-themed party
- Tot Talk Tuesday will shift gears a bit to cover children’s literature
Leslie A. Lindsay 
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