Household duties are varied and diverse and as anyone who has let things slide even for a few days knows, they must be met constantly to ward off disaster. The primary housekeeper (usually a woman) goes through each day doing her chores automatically. Fanfare or accolades are not expected since daughters have always been cautioned: "A man just works from sun to sun. A woman's work is never done."
The keeper of the broom and rag needs to be always in motion and on the alert for things out of place, sticky or exist solely to leave a mark. Other occupants of the house, including pets glide along creating a wake of disorder and debris. Even while we sleep the house forms dust and cobwebs to greet us in the morning sun.
Efficiency experts suggest fixing things as the occur on the first pass to avoid going back to a task. They obviously never had a husband who keeps a peanut butter knife poised unwashed on the jar, a favored cup imprinted with fingerprints or a private snack bowl. Our very bodies, especially during a heat wave, create mountains of damp laundry. Aunt Hazel was a farm woman with flock of demanding, egg producing chickens, a slop bucket for the pigs and a cantankerous husband who liked his whiskey. I do recommend her morning policy of “airing the bed” and in late afternoon fluffing up the feather tic for a quick nap.
Stopping for frequent breaks and remembering to celebrate your artsy side is a good way to balance things. Bobbin-olive has the perfect journal for the chore-weary person. Prompts will stimulate lots of topics for writing so consider this an order to jump off the bandwagon of housework and let your imagination out to play.
