sitting outside my back door from the boys playing in the rain and mud on Monday and praise God for the lovely early start to the wet season and the lovely green lawn that should be dead and brown at this time of year. Instead I grumble. "more washing"... "grass all through my washing machine"... "guess I'll throw in the incredibly sandy clothes from a couple of weeks ago that are still waiting to be washed because I don't want my washing machine filled with ick"... "I bet they've left something out in the yard that I wont find until it's sat there so long it's wrecked"...
Yep, before 9am I had all those grumbles go through my head. I had others too about being the lowest priority in the family for sleep... about brothers frightening each other to the point of tears... about the lawn being too long because of all this stupid rain (yeah, I'm fickle)...
But I'm trying. Lets see here... I have a washing machine that works well, I have enough clothes for the kids that using 2 or even 3 or 4 changes in a day doesn't throw things into chaos, I got some sleep which means we have come a long way from all our sleep problems of the past, I have 3 boys who are so loving and forgiving of each others annoyances, and that rain, it may have made the lawn grow incredibly fast but everything is looking fresh and clean.
Now, on to today's imperfection... This one glares at me like a giant witchy wart on the end of my nose. This one takes up too much of my time.
This is the end of my kitchen bench. It's always like this. If you come over and it isn't like this then it's because I've hidden the majority of it somewhere. Now, lets see what's there.
I see Lion's new RoboChamp Lego game (which is super fun and easy to play).
I see the resurrection eggs that the boys got to and took all the bits out and now I need to go through and make sure the bits all go in with the correct verses.
I see Lion with the Long Legs waiting to have his tail stitched back on... Again.
I see a couple of playgroup creations of Dragons.
I see a mug that originally had a bunch of spare change that I rifled through for tuck-shop money but now it has nikko pens, a tube of dettol cream, a peg, a paintbrush, a pencil that has never seen a sharpener and probably more.
I see an empty spice jar that I have been meaning to pass on to a friend.
I see Wolf's safety goggles.
I see colouring in sheets from church.
I see a roll of gaffer tape and a roll of masking tape... cleverly stacked and disguised as another pen holder.
I see some Christmas cake papers.
I see sleepy spray and sniffle spray.
I see a single baby sandal.
I see a stubby cooler.
I see blister bandaids.
I see a door stopper.
I see my pencil case.
I see a massive pile of papers, magazines, stuff, stuff and more stuff.
It's hard. Wolf says I have Flat Surface Syndrome. I can't have flat surfaces around or I freak out and fill it. Then, once it's full I fill it some more and some more and some more until it's overflowing. I try to work through it and clear some of it away but it seems that as far as I get through is to make what's there into piles of like items and then my plan falls apart. I hate seeing this every day. I hate searching through it for my sunnies, keys, whatever I have put there and need again later.
So that is my imperfection... one of them... one of the many.
Anyway, I skipped a day but Kate at Picklebums didn't... go here to find her post from today and check out her post from yesterday too. But the biggest celebration is happening on her post from Monday with the links to all the imperfect people piling up... kinda like my bench, only in a far more organised manner.
Clever post.
ReplyDeleteI've just spent the afternoon tackling the boys toy room (which really is the whole house) and complained to Brett that it doesn't look any better even after I removed a large amount of it.
And my kitchen bench looks a bit like yours. Kids (and I) seem to make a large amount of clutter. Sigh.
The end of our kitchen counter, next to my computer, always looks just the same! It really is maddening sometimes, but I've decided that perfection is boring. I mean, just look at the interesting variety of stuff in that pile (I don't know what some of it is though, being American and all...dettol cream? Stubby cooler? Gaffer tape? Sleepy spray? Also, what is a tuck shop?)
ReplyDeleteI have Flat Surface Syndrome too!
ReplyDelete"Flat Surface Syndrome"-- I love it! Nurse Boy must have it too. I like everything to have it's place. Nurse Boy often says, "Does it even have a place??" Drives me crazy.
ReplyDeleteMrs. NB
Oh I have that flat surface syndrome too!!! I try hard not to, I tell myself that I'd like to live in a minimalist space and that I should get rid of all the junk that is lying around, just toss it.... but I think... deep down, I am not really minimalist and I really need to just embrace this part of me, then, just maybe... I will find some middle ground. :)
ReplyDeleteIt makes me feel so much better to see that someone else has just as much clutter lying around as I do! There's just not enough time in the day to straighten it all out, and then it multiplies overnight!
ReplyDeleteI see signs of a happy, busy family!
ReplyDeleteI also have FSS. That's why I got rid of all flat surfaces. I can't be trusted in their presence. That and chocolate.