Thursday, October 28, 2010

The Trail of Destruction

Or Why My Living Room is Such a Mess

jewellery - I take it off and leave it in front of the computer

teacup - well, I suppose it actually LIVES in front of the computer

new phone box- bought a new phone, the box and packaging are still all over the floor.

photo frames and baby books and wall hanging tape measures - My 'to-do' pile, several years old in places, starting with LENA's baby book...

sewing - my favorite top and skirt, Erica's favorite overalls.

Pile of school notices and sundry papers - things to look up on the computer.... it never ends.

Erica's dressing gown - Why?

overflowing toy cupboard, kids' desks - a large part of the mess in this room is the desks, they just LOOK messy even when they are tidy, with all the bits hanging off them. The toy closet overflows as soon as it's tidied.

Halloween bag - mid-Halloween preparations, we have a box of costumes, a bag of toys and games and decorations

Dry laundry - and wet laundry, dirty laundry, folded laundry, always always some laundry to do!

piano, guitar, drum kits, Rody horses. - The piano and guitar don't look half bad when they are in their place, musical instruments enhance a room, I think. The double kiddy-drum-kits are a bit much, and the damned Rodies, the goddam rodies! Blow them up, they deflate, then sit around looking at me accusingly and taking up space! Guess I should toss them, but it seems such a waste.

spare clothes - all are guilty, but especially K. Jeans at the end of the sofa, suits hanging on the wall. ALL leave socks lying around, jackets and warm sweaters. Winter is worse, of course.

birthday present, wrapping paper - a job on the go, got a party to go to, yay!

Halloween costumes mid-repair - another job on the go, hence in the TV part of the room, where I will theoretically get around to it while watching TV. However, if you read my last post you'll realize that never happens, so the jobs on the go tend to pile up!

remote controls, cushions - GRRRR!!!! I remember my mother also had a thing about the sofa cushions on the floor. Now I get it, it's just SO unnecessary! And my Dad had such a thing about the remote controls that he actually CHAINED them to his chair.

nebulizer, magazines, iphone - in front of the TV, where I give Erica her medicine. Either I play with the phone while she watches TV, or she plays with the phone while I read.

GENKAN is just as bad at the moment:

AFWJ Journals, recipes to be filed - two big boxes of AFWJ Journals, that I WILL get time to look through one day. And I WILL get around to filing those damned recipes, they just all look so delicious!

work bags, kanji's mail, jackets, things 'to go somewhere' undelivered mail, recycyling, spare tables, Kanji's never-ending portable wardrobe relocation project.

potties and bath chair - to be cleaned and stored

tables - yes, TWO tables in the hall and genkan, waiting to either be used for a party, or returned to the shed.

recycling - another thing that lives in the shed, to be taken out when I get the time

shoes - okay, they belong in the genkan, but not in this state! Five people and several different shoe categories means most of the time, you can't see the tile floor.

bags - handbag, medicine bag, empty shopping bag, work bag, kindy class bag, puppet bag! I think I need to rethink where the bags go...

coats - supposed to be hung in the portable closet by the spare room door, but often just strung over the nearest spare table!

KITCHEN of course, has issues too:

plastic kitchen - Erica's toy kitchen, but seems to fit better in the kitchen that where it was in the study half of the Living Room, and it seems more appropriate.

baking and cooking ingredients - for parties, piled on the table rather than put away, as I am going to use them soon

tissues, scales, magazine, leftover food - always tissues and a magazine on the table, scales are a recent addition since I started calorie-counting, and leftover food comes and goes. often cookies and cakes. All this stuff often ends up on the freezer during meals.

medicine boxes, cookies, playdough utensils. - sometimes on the table, sometimes on the freezer.

oil, teapots, water bottles - on the bench between the sink and the stove. Always the dirty oil, sometimes a bottle of clean oil, two teapots and various water bottles waiting to be filled.

scissors - I had to remove them from the drawer when Erica found them, so they are now cluttering up the windowsill.

Windowsill - crazily wide in a Japanese kitchen, traditionally you put pots there.

miscellaneous junk - every house as a place for this unameable, unplaceable, but undisposable STUFF!

overflowing aprons and lunch mats - I settled on a nice basket-on-a-shelf neatness technique, but it's not working, it keeps overflowing.

recipe books - always one or two out lying on a bench somewhere, though the actual shelf is quite neat at the moment.

Purpose of This List: nothing really. But later it was worth its weight in gold when Amy got all morose and complained that it would be better if she didn't exist, because then her mess wouldn't be there messing everyone up and putting Mum in a bad mood. So I said to her, Amy, I just made a list of the mess in the room, because I know that one day, when you are all gone and I am at home alone, I will think about how messy it used to be... and miss it, so I made a list so I would always remember the shocking state of our living room when all my little girls lived in it!


5 comments:

Clare Maree said...

Okay, so why are you describing the state of my house?
Believe me, Rachel, you are not alone.

Rachel said...

Just came out of the 'what am I doing today' train of thought, which led me to think of how when I walk from the computer to the kitchen to get another cup of tea, ten million things present themselves to me that have to be done...

...read a link on the 'disease of perfection' apparently stalking society, and while I don't entirely agree (I think the problem is the underlying insecurity) I thought I'd do my bit towards helping other imperfect housewives out there know they are not alone!

anchan said...

Love the last paragraph!

A wise, older friend once told me, instead of getting cross about having to walk around the house picking up my husband's dirty socks, just be thankful that I have a husband!

Sammy said...

If we were tidying the house instead of writing/reading/commenting on blogs then our houses would all be much cleaner!

Rachel said...

That did cross my mind Sammy. So I went and got another cup of tea instead.