THE PROJECT

Last week I invited my Tiny Writers over for tea.  I figured that since I'd recently swept up all the dog hair it was time to let people into my house.  Seriously, this dog sheds heavily this time of year.  You wouldn't think a 20lb Pug would create all these tumbleweeds of short yellow hair.  But I digress.  Tea involved the kitchen. My two tiny writer friends were in my kitchen.

I'm not especially proud of my kitchen.

I'm not ashamed of it, but it's not my finest moment in there.  I've always struggled to get the kitchen tidied up and clean, but it's been worse lately.  Ever since I started riding the ol' Effexor train, I haven't been much interested in food.  This makes involvement in the kitchen very awkward.  It also makes for kids who might have to learn to cook but that again is another story.  

The kitchen has become my symbol of avoidance.  The table is not a table anymore; it's The Place Where Junk Goes To Die And Stay There Because I Don't/Can't/Won't Deal With It.  Also I have minimal cupboard space, so I keep the pots there.  

My Tiny Writer Friend, Lynn, asked me how I felt about that table disaster.

"Terrible.  Awful.  I hate it."

"Wanna do something about it?"  She had a bit of a twinkle in her eye...

Today she came over to have a look around and take some notes.  I was late to my own house because um, my watch is broken and I was at my counseling session and, um, didn't know what time it was, sort of.  Yep, let's face it - organization is not what I'm famous for.  

(I'm actually not famous at all but see, there I go branching off into other subjects again!)

Lynn's a thinker. She's got ideas.  I'm ready to put the plan into action.  I want to improve my life and not feel so mentally frazzled all the time.  I'm not saying that having a well-run kitchen will stop me from grinding my teeth all night, but at least I won't feel like I have to avert my eyes every time I want a drink of water.

Y'know what I mean?  No really, do you have this too?  It's okay.  You can be honest here.  Let's talk about this.  We live in a world that values accumulation, but how much of it do we really need???  How do we feel when we look at a mess of stuff that we don't know what to do with?

As Lynn said, it's about control.  There are so many things in our lives that are not in our control.  Husbands.  Children.  Critters.  The weather.  Our neighbours.  The price of food.

But we actually can control our kitchen cupboards!  It's true!  We really can!  I know it's hard to believe, but it's true!

Interesting that this happens on the same day as my counseling appointment.  What to control, what I'll let control me, what I'll let go of...

Tomorrow Lynn and I are going to go hunting for shelves and bins at the thrift store.  And there will be pictures of The Kitchen Project.  If I put it up on the blog, then I have to go through with it, right?