I Need Minions

I've been hard on myself for having an entire free afternoon to work and getting very little working time, according to my stopwatch, but I realized why that's happening yesterday. When I work too long, I get too into the story and just read instead of making changes, or else I feel too lazy to actually make changes and figure it's fine the way it is. Then I find myself having to go back and fix something earlier. If I take frequent breaks, the work goes better.

The trick is, I probably need to spend my breaks doing something more productive than checking in on message boards. I need to get back into my house cleaning project. My last task turned out to be more complicated than I expected. I was cleaning out the bathroom drawer, but then organizing that required organizing the makeup caddy on the countertop, as well as the basket I use to hold hair stuff (barrettes, hairpins, etc.). I now have the countertop mostly fixed, and having everything together like that is saving me lots of time in getting ready because I don't have to search for things. I just have to re-tackle the drawer now because a lot of stuff got dumped in there while I was straightening the counter. But taking so long to do this means I've lost all momentum. I can see why I have such a problem with housework and organization. It's very easy for me to lose enthusiasm and interest when there's something else that catches my attention, like a book I want to work on. Plus, there's the motivation factor. A book might earn me some money, which I rather desperately need. Cleaning house just has the benefit of making me feel good when it's done, but then it has to be done all over again.

What I need is the army of minions, like on Downton Abbey, where they all scurry into the room after the family has left and tidy it up. I'd need a bigger house for that, though, because in this house we'd keep bumping into each other and having other people around would drive me nuts. I might be able to shut myself in my office and let them deal with the downstairs, and then they might be able to tackle the upstairs at night when I'm in bed, but an open floorplan doesn't lend itself to staff that takes care of the rooms you're not in while trying to remain invisible. Really, what I need are Brownies (like in folklore, not Girl Scouts -- unless they bring Thin Mints while cleaning my house).

Now to see how much I can accomplish this afternoon. There's a homeowners' association meeting tonight, but a lot of drama exploded on the mailing list for that yesterday, which made me think the meeting isn't something I want to deal with (I think I'd rather deal with a session of the US Senate where the drama is about something real and major than any meeting in which relatively petty things are treated with drama worthy of the United Nations). So I ran next door and gave my neighbor my proxy so I can skip the meeting. I'd rather remain blissfully ignorant about the pettiness of my neighbors so I can keep living with them.