Thursday, January 29, 2009

and you decorate my life







And After

Yesterday, I sent them all upstairs to tidy their rooms. It was a relatively quick process for the boys - toys in the toy box, books on the bookshelf, clothes in drawers. Priscilla, however, paced herself, dawdled. She would not be hurried. "I think we should call this chore decorating, instead of cleaning," she told me. You can call it sky diving as far as I'm concerned, is what I thought, but what I said, was, "That sounds perfect."

For nearly two hours, Priscilla "decorated," while singing loudly, Away in the Manger, Little Drummer Boy, and yes, of course, The Van Lear Rose. She avoided for the majority of that time the "in your face" all over the floor mess, choosing rather to focus her efforts on tying ribbons around the necks of her stuffed animals and moving her wall stickers from over her desk to over her bed. "I've decided to hang my dresses on the other side of Mary's," she yelled down to me. And then I smiled, because Priscilla, my sweet, sweet girl, is exactly like her mother - because when faced with a monumental task, I am also drawn to random side projects such as sorting through markers, counting game pieces, organizing shoes and shirts by season and color.

I have piles, loads, mountains of laundry to wash. I best get started and that I will... in just one minute. But then again, maybe first ...oh, I'm sure I'll think of something. Bake a cake? Frame some photos? The possibilities are literally endless.

I am the Fly Lady's worst nightmare.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOve it!!! My sister is exactly the same way.

Kelleylynn said...

Wonderful! Part of the process in their learning. I admire your "hands-off" approach. Slowly, I am learning this.

I met your mom and dad -- they are delightful. Although, it was at the end of a 3 1/2 hour liturgy/ordination(s) service, we could not talk long. I hope to sit with them more this evening before or after the lecture. You know, I have an open invite to come visit :) Indeed, an honor

Kelly said...

I am the type of person who likes to have a "project" to work on. Even if I rename cleaning the house to make it sound more elaborate and meaningful, less of an every week type of activity, it becomes more enjoyable and more fulfilling. I can totally relate to Priscilla's task renaming.

Kris Livovich said...

Oh these last two posts. The Elia and I are just like you. Bake a cake? Go to a museum? Catch up on reading your favorite blogs? There are so many better things to do than actually work! And Priscilla's decoration looks wonderful, by the way.

Anonymous said...

We are also entering that same stage. It is fun but BUSY. I love the picture of your kids. So cute!! My ideal was to have 2 boys and 2 girls but I got 3 boys. Maybe I will have granddaughters someday :)