Thursday, October 16, 2008

Writers Workshop Thursday: What do you love to create?

The thing I love to create instills peace, harmony and balance. The thing I like to create has restorative properties like nothing else I know. It is a creative process as well. There are so many things that are born out of my favorite creative process that it has to be the most wonderful thing in the world.

What I like to create is:


order


I wrote it small because I realize that it is difficult to understand. It is also sometimes viewed in an ugly way as 'controlling' or 'freakishly detail oriented' or 'a prescription for mutiny'. You'd think that if I like to create order in my life that I am a germ o phobe or maybe one of those people whose homes always look perfect and smell of fresh linen.

Sigh

If only, you see I have a husband and a dog (do you know how many times I had to type the word 'god' before I typed dog? 3, weird) and they are orderless, with out order, rhyme or reason almost 100% of the time. I have to threaten bodily harm to the XBox or the DVR recorded soccer games to get P to actually not ruin what I have cleaned.

When I have created order my body relaxes and I look around the room (not the house because there is no way in hell our whole house would look nice at once) with a sense of accomplishment. I can see the reasons that I like our home. My mind calms down and I can see the fun creative and decorative things I'd like to try. When my home is in disarray, all I can think about it cleaning it. It taps me on the shoulder (or slaps me in the back of the head depending on how bad it is) when I am trying to read or cook saying "I'm messy and I look like crap. If you won't fix me I'll make you miserable." Oh, and it does. I will trip over P's soccer team jersey carrier, I'll kick the door on G-dog's crate and scratch myself in the process, I'll track dead leaves into the house. It just keeps getting worse.

When I have cleaned and all is in order, the house brightens and the birds chirp and a choir of angels sings...of course this is all in my head so maybe I am crazy.

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have written something for you over at mine. xx

Jen said...

I totally understand, I like to create order to but it I have had to let go of this a little with what is going on in my life. Kids don't really understanr order as I do.

Anonymous said...

I love that I'm not the only one out there feels like the mess speaks to her! It's 'in-yo-face' attitude really gets me riled up. I feel all itchy and hot and mad at the same time when it's unorderly. Great post!

L.R. M-J said...

Ok, I have the solution for you...take my current point of view, it solves everything....We're Camping, Who Cares!!...see? dirt, leaves and other sundries get tracked in--no bother--dishes pile up after one meal, fly tape (yes, like in a barn) & boxes are my decorating theme...bah, who cares? We're camping! And all is right in the world. ;) Ok, that and I told my anal retentive organizational self to take a holiday for the next 2yrs while I work on this...err..project!

Lex the mom said...

Ah, yes, the order. I do miss wanting that - wait, did I ever? There may have been a time.

This chaos thing I get from my kids, it kind of makes it easy to let some things slide. How many times should I reorganize their toys and books before I realize they won't do it themselves - at least not yet. Even after 12 years or so, they still don't do it & live in a pig-sty & love it (my 14 year old son...). Yuck! Now I understand why my dad was so disgusted with my bedroom. ;)

And "Keep your toys in the bedroom" is frequently ignored, especially by my daughter. But, she does clean up when she's asked to.

My order comes in putting my things in their place. That's enough until the kids are grown & on their own. I dread that day, though.

Los said...

I'm good with order with some things, and not so good with others ... I can put a good plan in place to accomplish something ... however, I'm a packrat, and tend to keep everything along the way ... my wife HATES that about me.

Melissa said...

AMEN to order...too bad I never know what that's like in my house...with 4 kids and 2 dogs....arrrggghhh!!!!

Sarah Mae said...

I seriously need part of your DNA.

Live.Love.Eat said...

I agree. When my kitchen is clean and everything smells so nice and the patio doors are open and the fresh air is blowing in, I feel like all is right in the world and I get tp messin' up the kitch again!

FROGGITY! said...

thanks so much... i think little lady is feeling better now (phew!)... but we're keeping our fingers crossed.

hope your day is going well! cheers!

Julie H said...

Ha! Add 3 kids and 2 cats to your mix and that's why I'm crazy!

Weeksie50 said...

I would love to create order but I would just mess it up somehow..lol.

Rhea said...

Oh, man, just wait til you have kids. They seriously destroy order.

Amy said...

I agree, it's so nice to get things in order, but then those precious offspring of mine just cause disarray as fast as I get it done. *sigh*

Kori said...

Oh I love it when the birds sing and everything is in perfect harmony in the ONE room that is clean. lol

I have no order just a routine. It works. Have a great day!

Suburbia said...

I can't get my thoughts in order if the house is a mess. I drive myself mad because inside I want to sit and relax but I can't until I've cleaned up! Weird!!

Lindsay said...

I'm with you. When my house is clean and orderly I feel mentally so much better. The first thing I have to do when my daughter gets ready for bed is clean the den, because it feels so good to sit in a clutter-free room and chill after she's asleep. If things get too disorderly, I get batty.

Snooty Primadona said...

Order has become the elusive butterfly at our house. Like you, I live with a M A N and a hairy, constantly shedding cat. There is no such thing as clean and orderly. Except for right after the maid leaves, for about an hour, lol.

Great post!

Becky said...

Crazy or not I totally get that. I love order and things at my house are never orderly. Loved your post :-)

Trooper Thorn said...

I don't care for order, but I do like to create something that makes people laugh.

thanks for always stopping by.

AFRo said...

Hey Stranger! I'm right there with you... I'm actually borderline OCD on the order thing. I cannot relax without it and in my house it is next to impossible to achieve which is probably why I feel like a crazy person 99.9% of the time.

Great post though!

BS5 Blogger said...

Enjoy your cathartic battle for order. Poor old P and G-Dog getting in the way!

Meaghan said...

Wonderful blog. Order...how much would i love to get that in my life..alas not gonna happen anytime soon

-Meg

Katy said...

Hey there, thanks for Following my blog!

I have had a good read of your blog and love your sense of humour and honesty and look forward to reading it in the future, have you entered my giveaway yet? Don't miss out.

Emily said...

I'd LOVE to create some more order in my life, so no judgement!

I started from a place of complete chaos though, so I'm trying to reach some sort of happy medium.

KatBouska said...

Yeah...so definitely DON'T start a home daycare k?? The chaos kids bring sometimes sends even me into a tailspin and I am not the most orderly. :)

Unknown said...

I have to say...I'm glad I don't have that one...cause I would probalby curl up into a ball and cry every day, cause my family sees order and space as a canvas for more chaos...Great post though...

As Cape Cod Turns said...

My mess is speaking to me so loudly right now I can barely type. Just needed to catch me up on some Jen! I am having trouble loading your page. I have to go hit the previous days stuff to get it to come up. Weird blogspot thing.