failed multitasking

I have officially failed multitasking.

A couple of days ago, I was flipping through TV stations trying to find a show listed in the guide.   I couldn’t find the program.  It dawned on me that not only was I looking at the listings for the wrong day, I was looking in the wrong month.  I seemed to have misplaced February.  It all started with a vacuum cleaner.

I blame my upbringing.  When people may say “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”,  they are in fact quoting the women of my family.  It began (at least in this country) with coal furnaces.   Although these furnaces were a great improvement over fireplaces in every room, they spewed black dust over everything – or so I am told.  To combat this grit, my grandmothers (and most likely yours) cleaned non stop.  Grandma H. scrubbed (we’re talking on your hands and knees with scrub brush, bucket, and Spic and Span (Grandma’s weapon of choice)) her kitchen floor daily.  Furniture was dusted daily and curtains were washed weekly.  By the time I entered the world, the coal stove – still squatting in the basement – had long since been rendered useless and replaced with a clean, efficient gas furnace.  This did not mean the cleaning schedule was dramatically changed.  The only significant difference were the new dry cleanable curtains.  Grandma H. wasn’t the only one who took cleaning to an art form; Grandma S. was right there with her and training my mother who carried on the tradition.   All that to rationalize my excitement over a new vacuum cleaner.

My old Hoover upright still stood tall and proud but no longer – well – vacuumed.  My beloved long hair dachshunds, Gingy and Brandy had won.  Sure, the vacuum cleaner could push their shed hair into orderly lines on the carpet but I had to face the truth – she needed to be retired.  I started looking and found a sale on the Sears’ website (buy on line/pick up at store);  another Hoover and the exact model listed in my Consumer Reports 2009 Buying Guide!  I hit the buy button and the next day a bright blue brand new Hoover was in my living room.

Consumer Reports was right.  The new vacuum is excellent on carpets and the attachments revived my furniture.  I sped about the house, fur literally flying, dachshunds scurrying for cover and husband cowering.  A good day and money well spent indeed.

Everything would be fine and dandy, if it had stopped there, but it didn’t.  That one shiny new vacuum cleaner inspired me to take action on a chain of household projects – all those tasks I had been putting off bubbled to the surface (more about those later).  Thus I found myself standing in bewilderment in front of my TV wondering where February had gone and suddenly realizing I had neglected my sites, blog, and forums.  I had, as I have said before, failed multitasking.

I was however, able to participate in this month’s Polymer Clay Smooshers Guild on ArtFire challenge:

Please pop by the guild blog and vote on our next challenge theme.