There
are three people who will laugh and know right away the meaning of “I’m
stuffing the dog beds.” Years ago when
we were moving out of the home our children had grown up in there was a frenzy
of activity on the final day. No movers
for us. We were just going a few miles
up the hill from Pasadena to Altadena.
We had hired a few big guys to help us and we had all our girls
helping. Most of it was moving boxes and
furniture, but it was twenty-five years of accumulation. Plus I will now out myself as a bit of a
“collector.” I am not a hoarder
- and I know this because mostly my stuff is quite organized and useful, or
might be some time in the future! The
location for most of these treasures was a basement that was really like an old
cellar. When the house was built in 1908
it had been accessed from the outside.
Somewhere along the years a remodel put stairs leading down from the kitchen. Let’s just say that our children made the
basement into a haunted house more than once, and just the steps down, past a
crawlspace lit by far off outside screen vents, creeped people out.
To
be fair to myself, I had spent hours sorting through (I swear I did throw some
things out) and boxing most of my supplies.
Oh, I forgot to say I’m a bit of a crafter, or crafting supplies
collector, but that is another subject.
I think you can see that this is an area that I didn’t really want any
help preparing (meaning I did not want my husband anywhere near this stuff.) He had the garage - I had the basement! The other bit of a “black hole” was the
laundry room. Of course, there was the
easy stuff in there like the washer and dryer, ironing board, iron and laundry
supplies. But there were also some of
the drawers full of an assortment of useful tools and misfit fit pieces you
might need. Doesn’t everyone have a junk
drawer (or drawers)? We also keep the
pet supplies in there.
The
stage is now set for a moment my daughters will never let me forget. I might add at by way of explanation, that I
am a combo of a big preparer, with lists galore, and a bit of a loose cannon
when the moment finally arrives. At this
point in the move I was all over the place tying up loose ends and answering
every question. In my over-preparation I
had wanted to make sure the dog beds were clean and had new stuffing, not
wanting to move dirty dog beds. I know,
many people would just throw out the old beds and get new ones, but not this
child of a depression era mother. I had
taken out the old stuffing, purchased new stuffing and washed the covers, not
quite finishing (another subject) with the re-stuffing before moving day. When it came time to move things from the
kitchen and the laundry room I ran into the laundry room with the stuffing and
shut the door. Unfortunately, I was
needed to answer a question and one of my daughters found me on the floor in
the process of stuffing. When she
exclaimed, “What are you doing?” I answered, “I’m stuffing the dog beds.”
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| Shanky Girl our visiting dog |
She
was, as most would be finding their mother on the floor of the laundry room
midst dog bed stuffing at the height of moving day, incredulous. After exclaiming, “What?” several times she
ran to get her sisters, muttering, “They’ve got to see this.” I, of course, did the only thing I could at
this point and finished the task. This
moment has been brought up occasionally over the years, usually when I am way
off task in a group endeavor. Although,
I feel like what I’m doing is legitimate, I can see a pattern. Which is why I was able to catch myself the
other day in a “stuffing the dog beds” moment.
 |
| This is after I'd already thrown some things out! |
We
have been re-doing big sections of our back yard for months. Like many
household projects, it has expanded and taken over much of my time. Now, the
finishing details are colliding with our travel to our son’s wedding and our
return to host a reception in our garden.
I have so much to do in so many different areas that my lists have
lists! Having the whole house and garden
ready, and leaving my animals and garden care organized for the house sitter is
my priority. Yet I found myself in a
full on “stuffing the dog beds” moment and again, once I had started I had to
finish. For months I have wanted to
clean out a storage box of yard equipment by the back door. Every time I opened it I thought about it,
and several days ago I impulsively dumped out its contents. This is no quick task as it involves throwing
things away - always hard for me because I am worried that I might throw away the
loose glove then find the partner, or the loose lid might go to something or “maybe
I’ll need that someday.” As I sat on the
terrace surrounded by the random contents I had dumped out, I realized that it
must be somehow soothing to me to take on a task where I can see an end, when I
am in a stressful, seemingly endless endeavor.
Now I have an organized storage box and a little insight into why I can
get off track in the middle of a long project.
