Why Am I Here?
Doing housework can be either a protracted process or a whirlwind of activity depending on the day, time and urgency of the need for the cleaning evolution. I dislike cleaning chores some more than others. I would rather clean the toilet than do the dishes and I always ask my husband to do the vacuuming if he is around. Actually, on any given day it does not occur to me to dust or vacuüm or sweep the porches unless I happen to come in the front door and notice the leaves or whatever on the steps or landing. I am reminded of dusting when the dust clouds off the night stand when I move a book. I do notice the bathroom more often compelling me to wipe out the sink before I wash my hands. However, noticing the need for housework does not mean that I will do it that day or even the next or next. It usually takes an uncomfortable sense of disorder and some sneezing or coughing because of pet hair floating in the air.
If I did a little each day as my sister does and stayed on top of things these housecleaning evolutions would not be needed. I sometimes attempt to operate this way but one lapse leads to another and I am back in my usual routine. These cleaning operations are sometimes initiated because I have an impulse to do it then. The whirlwind comes out and I put my head down and go for it. Stay out of my way!
Most of the time I decide the day before and [1. possibly] get started the next day usually by culling the piles of magazines and clearing away the items that clutter the oval table between our chairs. However, the next task could be initiated when I take something to the bedroom and then start putting away clothes that are in the clothesbasket on the chair. [3. the clothesbasket that has been there several days] Next I may pick up a glass for the kitchen and a towel to put on the bathroom towel bar. Some days I manage to complete one room before moving on to the next and other days I will get diverted before completing a room and move on.
For example yesterday I was clearing the table between our chairs when
- I noticed the table fountain
- remembered the light needed adjusting
- sat down to see about the light
- needed some tweezers and small tools from the studio
- walked through the laundry
- stopped to check the dryer
- walked through the garage to the studio
- turned on the studio light and fan
- fed the fish
- turned on my computer monitor
- checked my mail
- checked Google Reader
- checked Facebook and wrote some wall posts
- left the computer
- exited the studio
- encountered my husband who asked me to close the garage door for him
- headed for the room air filter I wanted in the house
- took it on the driveway to clean
- carried it to the house shutting the garage on my way
- set the air cleaner down in kitchen
- started loading the dishwasher
- remembered I had gone to the studio for something but not what it was
- made some tea for my husband [4. sudden virus attack]
- replaced a pillow case on a pillow for my chair
- noticed the fountain
- remembered that I had gone to the studio for tools
Meanwhile, I had not finished the bedroom or the dishes or the clothes in the dryer or the piles in the living room, but I was hungry and went to make a salad.
This is virtually a reflection of my processes when cleaning, although I admit to preferring dishes to toilet.
If I tracked my misdirections, distrations, and redirections when I embark on cleaning a room or the house, it might well be more ‘scattered’ than yours. And yet, amazingly, EVENTUALLY it all gets done. But not very often.
I think when I was younger I may have been better at it…but I am trying to be more aware of the need for focus on such things. Thanks for commenting.
Onedia, After reading your posts on Adult ADHD – I have to admit I certainly fit a lot of the characteristics – so I certainly understand! I had joked about this with friends for years. Some days I go into a whirlwind of activity. Others I find it better to just sit down, and relax with my cat on my lap. When all my disorganization gets to be too much it helps to remind myself to just focus on one thing. Thank you for reminding us to see the humor in our affliction.
Karen, I do not think of it as an affliction…it is two sides of the coin. On one side I am intelligent, creative, coloring outside the lines person, on the other side I am a bit distracted, disorganized and sometimes even bewildered. It just means I have to work smarter when the ADHD side of the coin is up….
Well I lived 40 years of marriage and probably my nearly 15 years as single adult in this manner. In my old age I have a housekeeper, and I’m not too fussy. she makes the beds fresh sheets, etc., cleans all floors, dusts high and low, sometimes alternating with cleaning window sills.
Ihave had two and each are a tad different. What it to mpush me to do the keep the clutter more up to date. I have 10 sealed boxes of clutter ready for the Salvation Army, whenever I get around for calling them.THere is some pretty good stuff in it, but then it is the Stuff we saved for 40 years that doesn’t have to be dusted.
Further, I could easkily do 10 more boxes if I pulled out all the closets and sheds
I don’t care if they wash the floors on their hands and kness, or use a Swifter. They vacuum and really clean the bathrooms. I do the washroom/dog dish etc.
Thanks, Carol, for reading the blog. Ahhhh to have a house cleaner again! Loved coming home on Fridays to a clean house for the weekend.
I admire you for having the discipline to tear yourself away from the computer in #11 and return to any tasks! My whirlwind of cleaning would have stopped with Facebook. I don’t have a domestic bone in my body, so I can relate. I too miss my house cleaner!
Well, I actually had nothing more to keep my attention and I did remember that I was doing chores before. I could have stayed if I had some emails to answer or several comments to respond to.
Actually, my daughter seems to have gotten the Martha gene and the Writer gene and the really intelligent gene but failed to get the ADHD gene