I am getting SO FRUSTRATED with the curse of "almost" that seems to be plaguing this house.
The outside is almost weeded.
The downstairs freezer is almost cleaned out.
The garage is almost organized.
My homeschool plan is almost done.
Adam started working on his office. He has piles that have been sorted. But did he finish? Nope. But it's almost there. Almost. Grrr.
It's gotten to the point where I don't think the girls honestly know what it looks like to truly be "done" with something. They see "close". A lot.
It was really apparent a few days ago. Madison's room is where a lot of those little tiny toys like Shopkins and Splashlings and Squinkies and Mixies and whatever new collectible she may have picked up while I was looking the other way live. It's a really big room, so a lot of playing happens there. She and Reagan set them up in little scenes. Then they play with their American Girls and sort their clothes. And within an hour that room is trashed. After a couple of days, it's unbearable.
Anyway, I'd had enough and sent her up to clean it. She whined and complained and dragged her feet. After an hour or so she bounced back down and announced that it was clean.
I went upstairs and it was SO NOT CLEAN. Seriously. I mean, the center of the floor didn't have any toys on it. But everything else was sort of haphazardly pushed to the edges, jumbled together. I couldn't believe she honestly thought she was done. I called her upstairs and asked why she would tell me it was done when it clearly wasn't. How could she think she could get away with that lie?
Easy. She didn't think it was a lie. Look at Adam's office. Piles along the perimeter from his "almost" clean out. Look at our master bedroom. Boxes and piles around the perimeter from my organization project that's "almost" done. Look at the dining room. The floor is clean, but the table is covered with stacks of workbooks that I'm "almost" ready to put into our binders.
"Almost" is our curse.
I cleaned out my car, as I do weekly, this past Saturday. Normally it's a clutter clean, a vacuum, a wipe down and maybe the windows. It's clean, but it's an almost clean. Saturday was the day when I'd just HAD ENOUGH and I decided not to stop at "almost". I was going to finish. I was going to finish ONE FREAKING THING. I wanted DONE.
So I deep cleaned the car seats. I did all the nooks and crannies. I actually did this very cool detailing trick on my windshield that got all that grainy glare you see in bright sun off. I REALLY cleaned.
And at least that was one job that wasn't "almost" done.
It's not the biggest project, but I'm taking on almost. Let's get it done, right down to the details.
