Thursday, October 28, 2010

Opposites.....

I need to clone myself. One person is not enough. There needs to be at least two of me. Mind you, looking at the house, I could do with an abode cloning too. There is certainly enough stuff here for 2 or 3 houses, and I am sure you all have the same problem - what to do with it all. Back when I was young, we snapped up any old furniture from grandparents or parents. Hah. Now we are stuck with the lot. Forever. Those were the days when you bought a lounge suite which lasted your entire life, with a few recovering episodes along the way. Not any more. We live in a disposable world. (And have you any idea how expensive it is to have anything recovered? And how few upholsterers there are left on the planet? )

I keep having this dream where I have a new house and NOTHING to put in it, and I have to start from scratch. Ahhh.....dreams are good. It will never happen, of course, because I happen to like old things too. But there are two sides of me, which is why I need to be cloned. The one wants clutter and stuff, and piles of books and crafty things. The other wants a simple home, with order. Unfortunately the two are at war with each other today. And living in a war zone of my own making is not a comfortable thing.

Part of me loves the mountains. The other part loves the sea. I love too many things and there is not enough time to do them all. Sewing, quilting, scrapbooking, photography, adventures, woodwork, writing, reading, people, gardening.... the list goes on. The energy and the legs, however, do not. So two of me would work out quite nicely, I feel. One could rest while the other one moves. Perfect.

Extrovert. Introvert. Talkative. Quiet. Leader. Follower. For heaven's sake, I am Mary and Martha rolled into one. Actually, I am more Martha, but we will not go there now.

All my life, I have been the person who does things. Makes things happen. After the mindfulness workshop, I gather I am supposed to stop the doing, and start the being. I am a trifle confused. However, I now have a book which will explain all. I hope. I don't want to stop the doing part. Well, I could slow down a little more, maybe. Hmmm.

On a practical note, today I actually hemmed the curtains for the french doors in the kitchen. Making curtains does not make the list of the top 10000 things I love to do. They are up as I speak. The goal for the day was achieved. But the other me kept sidling off to edge quilts, make coffee, phone a friend, sit on the couch and entertain the babes and their parents this afternoon..... anything rather than finish hemming. I even waved the duster about for a while. But by nightfall the curtains were indeed up. Something is finished round here. At last.

Actually, thinking about the two sides of me - they can be totally summed up by the fact that I love freshly baked croissants with Boursin cheese (soft white cheese with black pepper, not the garlic one) and jam (jelly to my US friends). Sweet and savoury together. Perfect. Opposites and all that.

Now I need to go and hunt for more red binding. One of me will be back.

6 comments:

  1. I know what you mean about having a shell of a house you can start all over again with. That would be fab. I like sweet and savoury, too - fruit cake with cheese, or cheese and marmalade sandwiches. Yum.

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  2. A cloned house? Yes, please! I have the exact same schizophrenic hoarder / declutterer thing going on. The hoarder side always seems to get the upper hand as stuff seemingly proliferates all on its own, without any encouragement from me.

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  3. Yes, well, I am quite certain that there should not be two of me. Oh dear! My poor family. What? We don't get to see the curtains freshly made and already hanging on the french doors in the kitchen? I just found some slipcovers at a discount house and am seriously considering them for the Volkswagons I call furniture in the living room. You make no distinction between jelly and jam in England? (Jelly wiggles and jam doesn't here...which reminds me that I just bought the most delicious imported blueberry jam from Denmark. I think I'll go make toast.) You just know that I feel like chatting when I leave this long a comment...sorry!

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  4. I understand Linds. May I just say that I enjoy, immensely, visiting with both of you!

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  5. It is always entertaining to stop by for a visit!

    It's so true about the upholsterers - it's true that it costs more to re-do than to buy new - which will not be of the quality of the old. Sad.

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  6. I think most of us can relate. Do you think if we had that perfect orderly house we would want to be in the midst of the clutter? I think I would! It's similar to going to a hotel...it's great to have it clutter free, but I always love coming home and being surrounded by the things that mean something to me.

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