Green Goddess! (Not so much~)

Here I am, a few days ago, off to conquer the front yarden.  Stunning in my ponytails, gloves, apron and sneakers.  A true Willard beauty queen!  The grass did get mowed, the dogwood trimmed, the gladiola stalks cut back- but not without consequences.

I blame it all on 'Hoarders'.  If you never watched that show, it's addictive in a train wreck sort of way.  It focuses on people whose homes/yards/storages are so full of whatever that it is unlivable by normal standards.  Basically the premise is the same for each show- they call in a team of experts including a clean up crew and psychologist.  Sometimes animal control (those are the sad ones).  The person usually is faced with a deadline- 2 days or face eviction/ arrest/ child protective services etc.  The houses are amazingly cluttery- and I am a clutter-lover.

So, I was looking at the yarden, which was overgrown since our vacation, and the Rose Room which was packed with stuff.  I started feeling a strong urge to get things at least a little bit 'ship shape' before school begins, so I dove right in.  Vacation is a direct secondary cause of the cleaning spree.  Most people, that is most normal people I know, have a 'junk' room in their house.  Kind of a catch-all room for the overflow of things like wrapping paper, unused exercise equipment, presents waiting distribution, out of season clothing etc.  For some odd reason, neither of my sisters or my mother have 'junk rooms'.  As in they probably do not have junk drawers, or junk closets and I can attest that even their garages are organized.  Growing up everything had it's place- except my room which tended to devolve into a giant uncontrolled mess until Mother laid down the law.  Even my school desk was an overflowing desk-of-shame (I remember being exiled to the hallway to clean it during recess.  That was ok as I wasn't really keen on recess). I confess that I have problems with the house getting the same way.  The influx of stuff for sale, the things I hoard for art-making (not to mention works-in-progress and finished works with no homes..... what do other artists *do* with these things?  I usually stuff them into closets and suitcases), and the fact that we still haven't settled into our style all adds to the confusion.  And I won't even start on Grendel's room (the soon-to-be-library).  He's in Vancouver so I can't really nag him about it, and I don't want him coming home to a mess (sets a bad example).  sigh.  June Cleaver I'm not.

Anyway, I do like to clean and organize.  And I've always loved mowing the grass.  The Rose Room is now clean (but what to do with a stack of quilts and my big box of curiosities?) and awaiting guests (hint, hint).  The yarden is mowed but there was some mysterious something out there that has made me break out in hives.  Big lumpy itchy red spots (my left eye is all swollen again, like it was with shingles but puffier and no blisters Thank-God) all over.  I have resumed my pirate look, so we have a new theme for the Roadshow:  Pirate and Cowboy Sell Furniture and Paint.  No wonder people find us so funny!