23 September 2015

When coat racks give perspective

It's all quiet in the house and my only day off this week is looming large with piles of housework and even though I vowed this would not happen, it is exactly how I will be spending the day after all. All around me I just see the wanton destruction that a decade's worth of family life has done to this place. This house is a large-scale reflection of what is happening to my face and body. No amazing family holiday for us in some wonderfully exotic location this summer, I need to work just to be able to repair or replace all the broken stuff.

Our jug leaks and the automatic off switch is broken so if it hasn't already lost its contents all over the bench, it threatens to boil dry anyway and all the curtains in the bedrooms are just hanging by a thread from being left down permanently because the pull cords are broken. We've killed another broom and there's something stuck up the vacuum cleaner pipe that can't be coaxed out in either direction. My guess is that it is two years' worth of loom bands. Our entry, I'll admit, has never been a particularly welcoming space, but it's looking like squatters took up residence in there. The front door is swollen from months of wet weather and we have to kick the door sometimes just to open or shut it, which is always good for a bit of dramatic effect when someone knocks at the door. For the third time someone pulled too heavily on our poor coat rack, and three weeks later, it's still on the floor, in the same spot that it was when it fell out of the wall, just with a few more coats and bags dumped on it because it's still the coat rack. I will fix it, three weeks is more than enough of a clue that no-one else is going to do it.

Strangers can tell that children live here because there's a waterlogged soccer ball rotting in the overgrown garden. Somewhere in the corner there's a neglected pet bunny. Children also live here because there's a purple shoe in the lounge that I just tripped over to reach the half-eaten packet of Chit Chats I left out from binge-watching Breaking Bad the night before. I'm finishing off those biscuits as I write this. It's my coffee. A family lives here because there's a pile of washing to sort but never any clean, matching socks to wear and discarded rolls of toilet paper on the bathroom floor even after many patient attempts to convert the last person to finish a roll to put it in the bin. A family lives here because there are photos on the wall of a young couple filled with hopes and dreams for their future. If the grubby walls and marked furniture aren't proof enough of realizing those dreams, there are also some photos of babies growing up right before our eyes and if I stop and reflect on those images, none of the mess, the broken bits and parts that just frustrate me even matter. He tangata he tangata he tangata. A tidy house can wait. Except for the coat rack. I am going to fix it now.

17 comments:

  1. Thank you Leanne, I really needed that today!

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    1. If it helps to know that someone else out there is having a worse day than you, my job here is done.

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  2. Renovating half our house has only highlighted that our garden and the other half of the house look exactly as you have described! Enjoy some time out my friend and put your feet up before the holidays descend!

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    1. Your house is a home, and I love being there. Enjoy your holidays too.

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    1. Glad you can relate. My kids are getting too old to blog about, housework is all I've got left.

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  4. I think more people should be as real as this. You are not alone. We have a growing list of broken things, like years worth of broken things. And it astounds me that I'm always the one that changes the toilet roll. They'd all prefer to use less toilet paper so that they don't have to change it. x

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    1. Knowing you, you'll find a way to repurpose all the broken things into something pretty cool. Those kids of yours are far too smart, are we the dumb ones??

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  5. Hiilaaarrriiiious!!! Totally understand your household ... its a reflection of mine, although instead of toilet rolls on the bathroom floor, I have mould taking up residence in places too high to reach, a mountain of clean washing dumped on the floor still waiting to be folded from weeks ago and not forgetting a front door that has a HUGE red love heart painted on it by my loving husband just to remind us that there is love behind this 'Good Life' home and that we shouldn't sweat the small stuff. Hope you enjoyed those chocolate biscuits. A nice hot cuppa would have gone well with those but your jug had other ideas!!

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    1. Are you my sister in disguise? Seriously, she has a painted heart on her door too and I always say she and her husband are like Tom and Barb.

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    2. Hee heee ... yes I succumbed to entering a temporary bloggers name just so that I can reply to your posts. I tried to be anonymous but it wouldn't send and repeatedly asked me to join. So here I am - part of the real life bloggers world :) PS 'Tom' is watching rubbish on TV whilst the washing remains unfolded beside him and I sadly have nothing better to do than think about how much washing there is to fold :) sigh!

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    3. I was receiving too many spam emails so disabled anonymous comments. Thanks for signing up just to comment on my blog though, I feel special. Quick tip - thinking about folding washing doesn't actually fold washing.

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    4. Yes well ... Its like making your bed, why do it when you are going to get in it later and mess it all up again. Same with clothes. Just leave them in a pile, sort out what you need and leave the rest on the floor!

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  6. I love that the coat rack is still the coat rack, even though it isn't! Hope you managed to get it fixed! Oh, and go and get a new kettle, you need to be able to have a cuppa!! xx

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  7. And yet another reason why I love coming here and reading your blog. Truth. Perfectly imperfect. Real. Life.
    Hope things are feeling better and you are enjoying the house and the family and the dreams - and the toilet rolls ;) xx

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  8. Loved reading this! You'll be glad when the coat rack is fixed. Sometimes we just have to accept that no-one is going to do that job and do it ourselves. At least that's what I find!

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