Perfectly Mellow

All my little ducks in a row

"You must be so organized!"

How many times have I heard that from curious onlookers as they have watched me waddling through the store, ducklings in tow.

Really? Organized? Well, I suppose you could say that my house is usually tidy, and we do eat three meals a day, and we have clean laundry hanging in the closet.

But, if you really saw me at work, you would be scratching your head in wonderment.

Match of the century!

You see, there is a great battle going on inside my cranium, much like the contest between Godzilla and King Kong.

I am what you might call a "creative perfectionist," or a "perfectionistic creative," whichever makes more sense. One side of me is dressed in a Soviet-style uniform and answers to the name Comrade Dobrovska, and the other side is dressed in a long, gauze gown and wears flowers in her hair.

So some days I want to carry a clipboard and a whistle, and other days I just want to sit and philosophize and pick daisies. This means that I have a lot to overcome from the morning on!

I love the flower girl "song"

If you saw how I cleaned a room, you would understand. Comrade Dobrovska tells me that things must be perfect, so I strap on my apron and press my eyebrows together and dig in, and then the Flower Girl in me shows up and I begin to reminisce as I pick up a photo to dust it, and I might grab a small child and kiss her and then talk about the photo with her and, just when I realize that it's almost lunch, Dobrovska shows up and scolds me and I have to start cracking down on the whole house full of kids, who have been hoping that the Flower Girl would rule the day! 

Now, my prefectionistic self loves, loves lists and plans. I will spend hours perfecting them and then printing them out and copying them and handing them out to my troops children and then setting them down while I give the pep talk and set them off. But it isn't too long (sometimes it takes even a few days or weeks) before the creative side of me gets really tired of my new routine, so I have to give it a break and breathe for a while, which is really happy for me until...

...I realize that things just aren't getting done! So I ask Dobrovska to stop by and we consult together.

Thank God, I can still pray. And I have to! This is why I might allude to a schedule around here, but I try (although I have slipped before) not to recommend any certain way that I do things or that anyone else should do things, simply because I am always finding a better, or at least a different, way of doing them myself.

So, if you have come here to find out just how everything should be done, you will have to forgive me; I am still learning how myself!