Luckily it’s still (just ) January which kind of implies that it’s a good time to start with a first blog.You know…beginning of a new year, pursuing a new interest, setting new goals… But now it seems a hellava lot tougher than I thought because what I really want to do is simply bulldoze right in here with things that are not necessarily beginnings. All the thoughts that circle around in my head, causing me to pull aside the covers just before sleep snatches me and scribble them down on a scrap of paper next to my bed. Thing is, I never again look at those scraps. So here goes, …
Along with all the readiness stuff that most people go through at the beginning of each year, like buying new school shoes, stationery and uniforms and calculating the cost of that gym membership you have been avoiding for the last 10 years, I find new beginnings quite stressful. Stressful because there is always so much stuff and though we know that for each new thing we buy, we should rid ourselves of the old, I am useless and pathetic with chucking. I am not a chucker. I have papers and files and boxes and baskets of STUFF that I don’t need or want or will ever ever miss, and yet I simply cannot get round to getting rid of it. I mean, for heaven’s sake, I have summaries of notes that I made for exams that I wrote probably 20 years ago and have absolutely no relevance to anything or anyone or is ever likely to but every time I look at the file, I get this sense of nostalgia and longing. And then I go into the kiddies’ rooms and try to do a real spring clean because they have all moved rooms and need to purge and what do I ? I re-pack clothes that are aged 2-3 (though my youngest is now aged 8-9) in a see-plastic crate that I pack on top of their cupboard. For what , I ask myself? I dunno. Maybe they’ll want to look at them at some stage so that they can come to their own realisations of how cute they once were, without me having to talk about it all the time.
And then of course there are the pictures. You know, the millions and gazillions of drawings and marks and stuck-on-sequins and glued- feathered pictures and flipping annoying pastel things that every time you touch them , they rub off on your hands and then when you look into your rear view mirror when you’re reversing up the driveway, there is that royal blue powder stuck to your eyebrow cos you rubbed your eyes while trying to decide what the hell to do with all the stuff and it really looks like nothing at all but it was YOUR child’s first collection of art and so you must keep it. Ja, I know what you’re going to say…don’t say it , PLEEEZZ. I have every sort of art container and homemade-canvas-holder with see through plastic on one side to house all the drawings, and flip files and scrapbooks and refillable frames and still there’s more.
It drives me all bloody nuts.
So this year, I decided to salvage my sanity and spring clean. And I mean a thorough spring clean -like my cupboards, their cupboards, the linen cupboard, the laundry cupboard, the kitchen cupboard, my hubby’s cupboard and whatever other cupboard I find inside another cupboard. Because then I will feel aired and refreshed and ready to take on all the new challenges that new year’s bring. Like blogging.
But part of the deal I made with myself was that it must end in January. That’s in 2 days time.
Bugger.
So now I’ll just add this stuff to my blog. I’m going to blog about it. I’ve decided that all the things that bug me are going to be blogged about because then I can share them all with all of you and feel like they’re not only hoarded in my house.
Okay, so I’m not going to (ever ) get done with the spring cleaning and so I’ll just get on with my blogging. Tell me your January stuff and I’ll catch up with you soon.
From bugger to blogger.
Think I’m going to love this blogging thing.
Niki Malherbe 