Falling behind in the spring cleaning department

I made some pretty bold declarations when the pandemic first closed everything down. Fortunately, they were only in my head, so I’m guessing I can’t really be faulted for my lack of follow-through.

There were people who announced through social media that they had just completed cleaning out their millionth closet, organized piles of trash and donations and were going on to do even greater things before the lockdown was lifted. I was not one of those people.
I’m not even sure if I could qualify those people as being close friends. Nice to know them, but if they were really close friends, they would have taken the risk and ventured over to my house to work their magic on my closets.

It’s not that I wasn’t happy for them and rejoiced in their sense of accomplishment; it’s just that I wasn’t going to compare their home improvement projects to mine.

Apparently mine need a lot of mindful planning and contemplation before executing. What can I say? I’m a thinker, not a doer. Some might qualify that trait as being a procrastinator, and that’s OK with me.

Just think of how disappointed I would be right now if I had power washed the outside of my house early this spring while trying to wait out the pandemic. All summer long, the road in front of my house was being demolished and rebuilt and no doubt would have made a fine mess of my newly cleaned house.

Since I resisted the temptation to do it before the end of the lockdown, I now refuse to start the project because winter is coming. Granted, we still have a lot of good weather days left this fall, but I’m back in thinking mode, and we all know that process can’t be rushed in me.

Some people take great pride in being able to accomplish things like checking off items on a to-do list. I prefer to make my to-do list, give it some time thinking about it and then conveniently lose it when my head starts to hurt. I know it’s not very productive but with the time and effort invested into it, I feel like I’ve done a lot of work and I try to take pride in that.

I’m sure next spring will have to be the year to update my landscaping and finally power wash the house. I suppose the deck should be stained, and the garage needs some cleaning. Honestly, I haven’t even started thinking about these projects and my head hurts.

What I really need to do is spend more time cultivating the friendships of the clean freaks who got so much done this past spring that they will have nothing to accomplish next spring.

I get giddy just imagining the sense of pride I can instill in them by letting them take over my projects. I’d better start thinking about that now so that I’m ready when next spring finally arrives.