Just Do It!

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Finally I've been well enough to get off my feet and get back to life! Bronchitis, asthma and stretched rib cartilage do not a fun Mrs. Nice Guy make.

After being virtually bed-bound for a few weeks, I woke up with energy and joined in a few family adventures. Then I spent the rest of the afternoon and all the rest of the weekend a whirling dervish of a domestic diva!

I cleared, cleaned, sorted, and purged--a place for everything and everything in its place.

I also learned something very interesting. Rib pain slows you down, and when you are a disorganized thinker like I am, this is a good thing.

I am a list-maker, over-thinker, heartbreaker--don't you mess around with me. (Sorry, Pat Benetar is one of the other voices in my head who sometimes makes unexpected appearances.) I like to daydream, fantasize, plan, list, and diagram almost everything I do. Mostly, I get stuck in the fantasy stage. But eventually the ideas make it down to paper--every last detail. That is not to say that I follow each of the maps I create, I just like to make them. But after weeks of being an invalid, I was ready to jump into action and I had so many plans in my head about what I wanted to do with my house. Ordinarily, I would laze about with some tea and my Filofax and plan out my day. Then by 3pm, my plans would be laid out in writing, and I might be too tired to actually get the work done. Or there might be other distractions--like my daughter or TV.

But not this weekend, dear readers. This weekend, I hardly gave thought to any plan. I simply saw one corner of the house I wanted to tackle and tackled it. Simple as that. Then I moved on to the next project. And the next.

It was great! Usually, when I have about 4,362 plans in my head, I want to do them all at once. I end up starting lots of little fires and completing almost nothing, leaving the house a complete and utter wreck. But my poor bruised ribs have actually served me well because they've forced me to slow down, take everything one step at a time, and now I have about 7 completed projects, instead of 4,362 half-started ones.

This weekend, Mrs. Nice Guy, Former Invalid: cleaned and organized her closet, reorganized the linen shelves, organized Mr. Nice Guy's closet, tidied Little Girl Nice Guy's toys, did about 5 loads of laundry and even put it all away! (the laundry usually sits for a week or so), tidied up the bookcases, dusted all the rooms, reorganized my vanity/dressing table, and with the help of Mr. Nice Guy, tidied the kitchen, dining room and swept all floors.

I realize that this is probably totally unimpressive to most people who are in general clean, tidy and organized. But this is a major triumph for someone who is by nature lazy, but likes to give the appearance of being tidy and organized. I think I may have cracked the code to keeping house. Don't plan it--just do it.