Scatterbrain

Sunset through my tree
Golden Downtown LA - View from my house

Santa Monica Beach - View from my house

Today I am a complete and utter scatterbrain. I cannot for the life of me stay focused or complete any one task I set out to do. Days like these make me crazy, as my to-do-list gets longer and each action seems more like a counter-action. Having my daughter home from school does not help either. The moment I start something it hear, “mom, I can’t find my big whale, can you find it for me right now”. Or, as I sit at my desk to respond to emails, or search through my pictures in the attempt that I may get them organized, Sadie will come inside looking like a chocolate Lab, instead of a Vanilla Lab, as she has dug a hole in the mud and rolled around in it. This is my life today. I am so frustrated at trying to get anything done, that I almost feel it would be more productive to lie in bed and watch a movie. At least I “may” be able to finish it, or at least I can pause it and come back to it later.

Since I started typing my silly blog, Sadie has knocked over a vase, stolen a flower and delicately placed all the petals all around the house and then began chewing on my favorite piece of furniture. Tomorrow won’t come soon enough, when Mad will be back in school and Sadie will be calmer (as Madison usually gets her all excited and she becomes quite mischievous) and hopefully I will be able to get something done.

I am reminded of a day when I was 8 or 9 years old and my mother told me to go play with my friends outside so she could clean the house. In the late 70’s kids could do that you know. Just go to the neighbors’ house, knock on the door and ask if Travis and Bret could come out and ride their bikes or walk to the shops to buy some lollies (aka candy), or walk down to the river and throw rocks. On this particular day, I remember Travis, Bret (the local brats, nicked named trouble and brat) and me wondered around looking for something to do and discovered that one of the houses on the street had just dumped a mountain of soil to landscape their front yard. It began to rain and I suggested we go for a slip and slide in the mud pile. OH my, what fun that day was. We laughed and played for hours on that mudslide, climbing to the top, sliding down on our bellies or bums, throwing mud at each other until we were literally covered from head to toe in mud. Once we finally started to feel the cold, we all went home. I stood at my front door, rang the doorbell and when my mother opened the door, her face lost all its color. Instead of seeing her blonde blue-eyed little girl, before her stood a wild native, the only white remaining were my eyes. My mother refused to let me inside the house, until she hosed me off on the front lawn – that was miserable, because up until that point, I hadn’t felt the cold. I guess, as with life, you only feel the cold when there are no more games to play.

Oh, to be a dog or a child, when your world is carefree, play is actually your work, and your mom will clean it all up when you are done.

So the tides have turned and today I am the grown up cleaning up the mess and getting nothing done.....