Lazy-ish

There has been a pile of small kitchen towels sitting at the end of my bed for the last week.  I folded them last Sunday after they sat in the dryer for 3 days.  I sleep, make my bed, sleep, make my bed and each day I look at the pile and each day I walk downstairs to my kitchen without taking the pile with me.  The boys insulated lunch bags have been sitting on the hallway bench since Friday.  The plastic tupperware and warm ice pack still living inside.  I walk by the bench, look at the lunch bags and keep on walking.  The stack of magazines that need to be recycled; the glass of water sweating on the desk downstairs; the granola bar Max decided not to eat last week which still sits on the counter next to the candle I just lit.


I have a clean house.  The floors are vacuumed, the counters are disinfected, the bathrooms are addressed on a regular basis.  But I move the collection of shoes by the front door to one side - sweep that area - move the same collection of shoes to the other side of the hallway - sweep - leaving the collection of shoes to deal with another time.  My boys will sit on a stack of artwork they brought home from school and not even notice.  None of us knowing where to put the papers so all of us deciding to leave them until we discover a proper home for them.


How come some chores seem more exhausting to address than others?  I make my bed every morning without fail.  But bringing that pile of kitchen towels downstairs - ugh!  I buy and put away groceries practically everyday but throwing out the rubbery carrots in the vegetable draw - sigh!   I sweep the entryway almost every day.  But collecting the pile of shoes, walking them 3 feet down the hall to put them into the closet - yawn!


It recently took me 3 days to return a Redbox movie.  My dishwasher has been clean for 2 days and I am drinking out of a paper cup I found in the pantry.  Here is my thought process - if I reach into the dishwasher to get a clean glass, I will be obliged to unload the whole dishwasher and I don't have time for all of that, I just want a glass of water.


Am I lazy?  No.  Silly?  Probably.  Seems like I spend more mental energy not picking up or not putting away or not throwing out.   But honestly, it feels like I only have a certain amount of energy to contribute to running the show every day and those piles or stray objects move to the bottom of the list I don't even realize I am operating from.  I am not losing sleep over piles and random collections. Dust bunnies haunt me but a mountain of shoes by the front door does not.  So when you visit our home, gently put your shoes on the top of the shoe mountain and kindly move the pile of artwork to another chair and have a seat.  When I bring you a glass of water in a paper cup, you can smile, knowing the dishwasher is full of clean dishes. And when I come to your house, I hope you will show me your stack of junk mail that hasn't made it to the shredder.  I will feel right at home.