The pitfalls of being a neat freak

Being a neat freak isn't the easiest thing to be.  Couple that with perfectionism and you have one lethal combination.

Today I decided that I was going to straighten up the kitchen, finish the remaining laundry and then spend the day playing with Ellie.  I can say I played with Ellie a little bit if you count me walking around the block while she rode her bike as playing.  Now that it's quarter to four I think I had yet another day that was a flaming failure.  I accomplished a lot, it just wasn't what I had planned.

After Ellie and I circled the block on her bike she decided she wanted to play with her jump rope.  I tried to show her how it was done, but there are just some things that kids don't catch on to until they're developmentally ready to grasp the concept.  Ellie wants to jump rope but she's just not there, and I realized that at 33 32 (I keep forgetting my age and have thought I was a year older than I actually am for the past month, this has happened in the past as well.) I'm just not the jump roper that I used to be.

I'm not sure how it happened, but after I looked back into the garage I was suddenly inspired to sweep it and in true If You Give a Mouse a Cookie form, I wound up spending my day cleaning the garage.  It's almost entirely swept out and it's been reorganized in many areas.  Cobwebs have been vacuumed off of toys, rubbermaid totes and various items that have been in the garage.  I gathered all of the recycle paper and filled our can.  I sorted stuff for Good Will and set other things aside for the trash.  I have determined that I will scream the next time a grandparent or great aunt decides to give my kids more bubbles.  I have at least a gallon of bubble soap which my kids almost never touch.  I have seen more termite swarmer wings that I care to recall and I have determined that my lovely family needs to stop leaving their boots, soccer cleats and sneakers in the garage.

If I wasn't a neat freak, I think my day would have been much different.  My perfectionistic tendencies didn't help either.  I probably could have walked away from the garage after a few minutes of sweeping if I wasn't determined to try for a perfectly organized garage.  The garage isn't done and I still have work to do in the house.  Poor Ellie didn't get the one on one time with me that I had planned on either.

Maybe someday I'll learn to take it easy.  God only knows when or if that day will come.