After 2 full weeks of lost housework (I was too sick), I was determined today to get some work done. With a promise of part two of a movie we started last week on Netflix (Neverland), the girls and I set out to get a huge job done by 6 pm, or at least started. Teenager #2 has been spread out between two bedrooms for probably 6 months, and doesn't seem to like her own bed any longer. Teenager #1 is being driven crazy by Teenager #2's constant mess in her room (they were sharing the master bedroom in our house). So, today we started moving her into one space.
First of all, I had to empty my stuff out of the closet in the basement room, so Teenager #2 could use it. I had most of it done already. I moved my own stuff to the hall closet. Secondly I had two corners of Teenager #2's new space full of storage stuff that needed to find new places to be. Lastly, we had to clean up her mess in both locations so that the move is physically possible.
I learned something about my 14 year old daughter today. It is something I should have figured out far before now, but it isn't something I ever wanted to accept. My daughter is unable to organize herself. She is organizationally handicapped. She tried today. Oh yes, she tried, but my little artist is too much like her father - the most she can organize herself to do is a small project and its finite details. That could be making a castle out of Ensure cans, or knitting a hat, or cooking a meal... However, when it comes to looking at a huge mess and figuring out a plan to make the mess into an organized functional living space, it is beyond her. The best she could do is pick things up and put them in bags and bring them to her new digs. Everything is mixed together. She can't find anything and tends to borrow other people's items because hers get lost... then she will likely lose the borrowed item and so forth. I found about 4-5 pairs of missing scissors!
I guess it is time to stop beating her up for this wiring that she has been given. She can't do it. She would like to be able to do it, but it isn't what she can do at this time. For now, it is good enough that she got her stuff to her new room in bags. We can sort those one at a time later, and hopefully I can help her set up a system that will help her to stay more organized, and to be able to keep track of her things better.
It feels good to have accomplished so much, even though it isn't finished. My body was calling for a nap, but I pushed through it and just kept at what I was doing. I think tomorrow I will be better off for it, and hopefully a little stronger.
