clean house, messy mind

While Dave was away this weekend, I cleaned the bulk of the house thoroughly. He loves Christmas and decorating and hoopla and there was too much dirt and clutter around to make that an enjoyable job for him. So I surprised him with a fresh, clean slate on which he can make holiday nonsense unimpeded.

Even though I worked really, really hard, the kids’ rooms still need the mama’s go-through (the boys only get so far even when they make an honest attempt). Their bathroom needs a thorough decontamination. (Why are boys so careless in the bathroom? You think you’re done with potty issues once diaper duty is done. But no. Apparently, no.) And my art studio set up so beautifully once I moved home from the studio has attracted a huge pile-o-clutter.

There’s always something to do. Fact: I will never keep up with it. Not the housework.

Not even the things I enjoy: the reading, the writing, the painting, the editing, the writing, the writing, the writing. Missed a day yesterday (already!) on the Mad at My Muse Challenge. It’s abundantly clear it’s not my muse that fails me. When the poems don’t get written, I’m the one not showing up.

I showed up this afternoon, though, egged on by a new activity I’ve launched at Read Write Poem: Revisionaries. The task for today was to use a line from an old poem to start a new poem. My attempt is posted at “i am maureen” (leave a message here if you need the password).

It’s good when you’re mind’s a bit (a bit?) chaotic and messy to have these little pieces of accountability. It’s the same reason I’m so pleased to be working with a fellow artist a couple times a month to play with paints and papers and glues. (The picture in this post is one of the experiments from today’s art session. I like it because it was a process of layering on and rubbing off, and I like it because I see a blue dragon in it. Do you see the blue dragon or am I losing my mind? The texture of it, if not the dragon, is clearer when you click on it.)

While I’d love to do lots of visual art in between our meetings, I’m telling myself there’s value in it even if it’s sporadic. Maybe I should just change my name to “sporadic” and be done with it.