Chaos

I am sitting here in my studio surrounded by chaos. In one corner a cabinet on wheels with an antique lathe bolted to the top sits with a 10 foot piece of quarter round leaning on one side, and a ladder and trombone case behind.  In another corner a folding table rests against the cabinets along with a stack of miscellaneous shelves and a 3' x 7' piece of particle board. Somewhere behind this house of cards are parts for the glass cutter and a large plastic bag filled with full size sheets of mat board. Next to my chair a wet paint roller, cans of paint and the telephone sit on top of a large plastic bin filled with who knows what. The top of my desk and drawing table is littered with bills to pay, half completed projects, paint chips, and tools. Two vacuum cleaners, together with hoses and tools partially block the only exit . . . and around the corner it gets worse.

I moved everything out of the 300 square foot room in the basement that was my father's shop for 60 years so I can paint the floor. This is one of those projects that has taken on a life of it's own since beginning two months ago with preparations for the tool sale. One thing led to another and now here I sit in the middle of a mess.

In keeping with "one thing leads to another" mentality, I decided it would be fun to sponge paint over the boring gray I painted on the floor yesterday even though it will add days to the drying time. I'm already in this far, why not live in confusion a little longer.

If this was the only mess in my life it might be easier to tolerate. There is also a partially dug 35 foot trench and incomplete landscaping project in the back garden; a pile of soon to be recycled wood from the work benches removed from the basement on the patio; my daughter's sewing projects in the family room; and yet to be sorted boxes left over from Gary's office move in the guest room.

Just in case anyone suspects me of sitting around eating bon bons instead of completing projects, I spent last Saturday morning working on the issue of dangerous crosswalks between our house and Mt. Tabor Park; last night I attended the neighborhood association meeting; tomorrow I am involved in a half day board retreat for the SE neighborhood coalition; and next Saturday I volunteered to be in charge of e-waste at an all day neighborhood clean up . . . I almost forgot, we are supposed to usher at church on Sunday.

Maybe this is all about learning to live with chaos.