A Woman’s Work Is Never Done

I’ve discovered a few interesting things this week. One is that I’m still more upset about my mom’s passing than I thought. I know this because I can’t stop cleaning. I do that when I’m upset or angry or both. Another thing I’ve discovered is that you have to make a really big mess in order to do the kind of deep cleaning and reorganising that I’m currently engaged in. In other words, the place looks like H.E.Double-hockey-sticks. Except in a few corners where I’ve actually finished. This is hard work!

Another insight I’ve found is that I have an awful lot of UFOs lurking around that I’ve completely forgotten about. These are invariably beading projects that lost momentum when something didn’t go right or I just lost the enthusiasm. I’m kind of over beading at the moment – except including them occasionally in my knitting. My evidence for this is that I haven’t been wearing much jewelry at all lately. Even worse is I’ve totally stopped buying beading publications and only picked up a few larger seed beads and the components for stitch markers. I don’t even feel compelled to go into the one bead shop that I can walk to from my house! (Yes, I’m feeling ok. Not even any dizziness or fever.) This has all been good for my budget. OK, I lied. More than likely that it has just been redirected to other things. Unfortunately it’s not good for depleting my overly-large bead stash or the UFOs that sit in boxes forlornly. I’m not ready to get rid of anything yet though. I’m sure the love will come back eventually. If not, beads don’t usually get stale or go bad while they’re waiting. A little tarnish on the findings maybe. But I can polish that out.

The last and most important thing is that it has been made abundantly clear to me that it’s impossible to ever finish cleaning! One part is done, another gets messed up. Clean that up and another area needs help. Fix that you’re back to the first spot again. Food gets cooked; dishes get dirtied. Clothes get worn; they get soiled. Even areas of your home you rarely enter still get dusty and covered in spider webs. Round and around and on and on. No wonder I only worry about the surface mess most of the time until I have a big urge like the one I’ve got at the moment. Probably also the reason why I found things that have waited to get sorted out for a very long time. Like, say, 10 years?

The good thing is that there are only the two of us here now. No kids or pets. And one of us is gone 9 hours a day, 4 or 5 days a week. Of course that means that a larger percentage of the dirt accumulation is…ahem, mine. But since I do most of the cleaning too, I guess that works out alright. T-Man does more of the yard work and home maintenance stuff while I do more of the inside chores including cooking and laundry. We have a balance that works for us. Neither of us are neat-freaks or big slobs. Somewhere in the middle perhaps. Like I said: balance.

Meanwhile I have to go bake some cookies for the weavers’ guild meeting this evening. With any luck they’ll eat them all and there won’t be any to bring home. And yes, it’s raining. Good thing I have a ride.