Keeping on Task

I think I suffer from a disease...not really sure what it is called but I can describe the symptoms to you precisely. I have suffered from this disease for years...but my honey found out only recently that I was afflicted. Honestly, I think that many women suffer from this same disease...and may or may not realize it.

I find it extremely difficult to "keep on task". Now I have mentioned before that I am a very organized person. So when I see something out of place I have to fix it right then...not later...not when I have finished what I am currently doing...but immediately. "Middle age memory loss" coupled with the failure to "keep on task" disease makes for one very crazy day!!

I will begin by describing a typical day for me.

I wake at 5 am...that's probably part of the problem...make my honey some coffee for his commute, then sit down in the "Oprah chair", drink my coffee, and plan my day...usually with a mental list of what I want to accomplish.

Yesterday's #1 item was scrub the wood floors AGAIN. Now that the cardboard floors are gone I have been trying to keep the wood floors as clean as possible, but they have yet to look like the sample I saw in the flooring store OR the pretty colorful brochure that was handed to me. The never-ending construction dust has played a huge part in this...AND the muddy boots of the construction workers.

So I go to the nearly completed laundry room to retrieve a bucket and a terry cloth rag...then off to the kitchen sink cabinet for the floor cleaner...then back to the nearly completed laundry room for a towel to kneel on (I have no idea where my gardening kneepads are but they sure would have come in handy!). I begin to run water in the bucket...but alas the phone rings. I answer the phone, and after a few minute conversation I hang up. While I was on the phone I see some dust bunnies by the baseboard. I think...hmmmmm...better vacuum them up first. So I go to the closet in the kitchen to get the vacuum and I hear the water running into the bucket in the kitchen sink. I turn off the water and return to get out the vacuum. While vacuuming the floor I move the pictures of the kids that I have been meaning to hang on the wall...so when I finish the vacuuming, I get the nails and hammer, measuring tape and level, and begin to hang them. When finished I put the tools away and see the bucket waiting patiently in the sink. Oh, yeah...scrub the floor.

So I get on my hands and knees and begin the task of scrubbing. Now I have a large living room bordered with wood, a smaller living room, dining room, kitchen, hall and 1/2 bath all with wood floors. Not a small task I might add.

I complete the large living room floor and am half-way through the smaller living room when I get the idea to switch the rugs in the dining room and living room. So I begin to move the furniture off the rugs...I move the rugs...I see that there is more dirt to vacuum...I begin the vacuuming...I put the rugs back in there new rooms...I move the furniture back on to the rugs...I hang a picture in the dining room that was in my way...I move a small desk from the dining room into the smaller living room...I rearrange the furniture to see how it will look in the future after I purchase some bookshelves and a grand piano...I put the furniture back to how it will be until I purchase the bookshelves and grand piano. Oh, yeah...scrub the floor.

This scenario took place in just a fraction of my day. I continued with the "course of conduct" for several more hours before I FINALLY completed the floor scrubbing task. Exhausted, and with painful knees, I sat down in the "Oprah chair" to examine the result of my hard work. I get a really good reflection of light on the floor visible from the "Oprah chair"!

One positive side affect of the disease....I did manage to accomplish much more than I planned for at 5 am!!