A Growing Pile of Do-It-Later

Do you have that extra piece of furniture in your room? You know the one. In most of my bedrooms it’s been a chair. Once it was a desk, and another time just the top of my dresser, but it’s always there. In this bedroom, it’s my bed.

Under that picture is the end of my daybed, with a railing high enough to hold all that stuff even when I slide my feet under it in the night.

I like a neat bedroom. Especially with my writing desk in here, I spend a lot of time in this room. It needs to be comfortable, and minimally distracting so I can write. It needs to be restful so I can sleep. Keeping my room clean is one of the few housekeeping techniques I generally feel I’ve mastered–put things away when I’m done. Do a little each day. Vacuum as soon as my carpet starts looking like it needs it. My kid has been known to complain that she can’t keep her room “perfect” like mine.

She hasn’t had that complaint lately.

I was thinking this morning that the pile on my bed is a good barometer for how my life is going, much like the pile on my desk only more sensitive. My desk stays pretty clear unless all hell is indeed breaking loose. It has to–I just have too much work to do at my desk to let it get all cluttered up. Many times I have stuff I should be dealing with stuffed into cubbies and folders for later, but the desk itself remains clear to a point.

Not so the bed. That’s just clothes. Nothing will get ruined by my leaving it there, and when I’m at my desk it’s behind me and I can’t see it so it’s fine.

There’s the coat I hauled out for a cold morning, and for some reason didn’t put away. There’s the hat, worn for a bad hair day, didn’t put it away. Fingerless gloves on top of the pile–I’m having a cold morning so those are now on my hands. There’s the shrug I bought because it was fuzzy ($3 at a thrift store, worth it!) and the straps of my pretty bag I carry as a book bag when my purse is too small. I think I put it there because there’s something I need to deal with in there.

Underneath it all, camouflaged and lying in wait, is Skidoo, the colossal rainbow squid. And, of course, there are cats lounging in the sun, but I didn’t put them there and I won’t be moving them. Yes, I didn’t even make my bed this morning. Not my fault–there were cats on it when I came back from making coffee.

I don’t even know how my bed reached this point. I swear I cleared it off last Sunday, so how am I there again already?

Whatever. I know what I need to do today. That pile is just ridiculous. I’ll add it to To-Do list.

At least when I’m writing a to-do list, I’m writing SOMETHING?

Oh, and editing goes on the To-Do list as well. Rants on that subject are imminent, I’m sure.