Domestic affairs!

Right about now my domestic life is in tatters.  Seriously.  It is a bloody miracle that I actually have clothes to wear in the cupboard...mind you, my cupboard rivals Oprah's, so there will always be something to wear!

But seriously - I have never prided myself on being a domestic goddess.  If I had the choice of hanging out with my mates or tidying my house...mmm, mates for sure.  If there was a choice between, say, reading articles from educational reviews to keep my professional registration as a psychologist or..clean my house...hell, pass me those dusty bloody reviews.  I would rather have root canal than be a domestic goddess.  Now the reality is in Africa I was very blessed to have Patricia in my life.  She was my Godsend.  Blessed woman she is.  If I could have packed her in my luggage and brought her over with me I SO would have! But here - there is NO Patricia.  There is Olga.  Or Janka. Or Esta.  Or Magda.  But NOOOOO Patricia.  And here is the thing - Patricia knew me like the back of her hand.  She left me notes telling me what needed sorting.  She moved my furniture around.  She ran my house. And she left my life so much richer for having her in it.  We laughed like drains when we saw each other.  She had keys to my house and she was a gem to me.  How I miss you Patty!

Back to my (un)domestic bliss...my mate Pauly D used to get so infuriated with me as I am just unable to be on time in my personal life.  If you invite me for dinner, 9 times out of 10 I will fly in at 100kms an hour...late...fashionably late most time...but sometimes just plain old LATE!  I have a fridge magnet that says "if you're there before it's over, you're on time!!!'  When I think back to it now - I probably started being late on purpose to piss PD off...and it never failed to work...I used to have to bite my bottom lip and not say anything to see how long it would take him to make a comment about me being late...and often it was in the first 30 seconds!  Love you PD! And so my lateness is just symptomatic of my untidiness.  Seriously.  I do not know how it is physically possible for one person..just little old me...to make so much jolly mess!  It is never unclean mess - it is just 'not-putting-my-crap-away' mess.  I just took my laptop through to my bedroom to finish this blog post and realised my bed is not made from this morning and the pile of clothes I picked up off the floor this morning and put on the bed. Yip, you guessed it.  They are going right back on the floor tonight!

Most days I exasperate myself.  When friends ask what am I doing with my weekend - I inevitably start off with 'chores'...which 99.9% translates to 'tidying up my mess'.  I seriously think this is a psychological disorder...the inability to put shit away!  And I never ever used to be like this...no idea where it has stemmed from in my old age!  Maybe that is why I liked small houses - meant that it had to be kept tidy otherwise you could not get in the door!

So as I look around my chaotically untidy room I find myself thinking that it is probably a good thing I live on my own...I would not be very good at leaving space for someone else to put their things...or making sure my life was neatly put away...at least I do hang up my towel after I shower though - Margs beat it into me over my lifetime...hang up the bloody wet towel after your bath!!!!  Love you Margs.

Now the real question is what have I learnt from this experience and how am I going to do better in the future.  After all, life is about constant self-improvement. Thank goodness I still have lots of lifetime to improve in!  So here is what I think I need to do.  Simple really.  Sell everything, give the rest away and  go live in a forest.  Um...nah!  I just actually need to get my worklife under control.  That is actually what needs to be done.  Because when you get home at 945pm like I did tonight and you have some dinner and you watch something mindless to allow your mind to slow down before bed...the very last thing you bloody well feel like doing is taking out the dustbin or folding up clothes off the washing line.  Maybe that is part of the answer - I can actually just wear my clothes from the washing line each day - then I never have to put them away!!!  But I seriously do need to get the worklife better managed.  Because when the work life balance shifts and you are dedicated to doing things properly and you feel personally responsible for your job and you passionately want to make a difference each day...yip, you guessed it my friends.  That is the moment when the domestic goddess fails EPICLY, when chores become bores and the dishwasher never gets unpacked.  And even though it might sound mundane - when your immediate physical environment is out of kilter, so to are you.  I want to stay home and nest all weekend - doesn't that sound delicious...who is joining me?

Sleep tight my fellow (un)domestic goddesses and gods - life is too short to always make sure you have matching shoes!!!! xxx