take ten

My Aunt Louie is the queen of cleaning games. Her sewing room at her house is infamous for being a bit untidy. It's her dumping ground and the room that gets the door closed when company comes over. But when she's ready to hit it she sets a timer and tries to Beat The Clock. She'll work like crazy on one counter or table top for say, fifteen minutes, getting it cleared before the timer buzzes.

She has played this game as long as I can remember, and even with no kids living at home, she still plays the game. It's a good one. And with that said, I'd like to dedicate this post to my Aunt Louie.

I've created a cleaning game of my own. It's called Take Ten. I mostly play it on my Clutter Counter. The counter top that serves as the catch all for EVERYTHING in our lives. In the deepest part of my heart I want this counter clear all the time. But it never is.

So I started playing this game, Take Ten. In one round I try to take and put away ten items as fast as I can. The ten items go quickly: a hair band, an envelope to throw away, reading materials to put together for a later time, a marker to put back in the junk drawer.

I only do ten items at a time. So the counter isn't overwhelming this way. Once I've made it to ten, I walk away, and will Take Ten the next time I'm passing through.

I was telling my sister about this game over the phone and how clever it is. She told me Aunt Louie would be proud. And then I confided in her, "Annika. I have been taking pictures of the clutter counter for days now, getting it ready for the "after" shot on my blog. But I can't keep up. I add ten as fast as I take ten." It gave us a hard laugh and we decided the only silver lining is that it isn't as bad as if I had never removed ten items at a time.

But I think I have sort of resolved that this counter top is the equivalent to Aunt Louie's sewing room. It's going to be a work-in-progress as long as we call this house our home. I'll still play my clever game, but when you come to my house and it's covered in random junk, you'll know at least I'm trying...