Cleaning The House Nurtured Me
A month ago (really? a month already?) I posted about how much I hate chores. However, after a certain point, a dirty / messy house drives me nuts too.
So today, to nurture my creativity, I used my time to wash bedding for us and the dogs, vacuum, clean the kitchen, pay bills, and do paperwork. It wasn’t fun or glamorous, but my energy was really good. That helped a lot and I resented it far less than usual.
I did have some playtime. . . sort of. My favorite boy toy has extra camera equipment he either doesn’t use or doesn’t like anymore. So he’s been digging things out for me to try and patiently answering questions despite some snippy attitudes on my part.
I tried out a different tripod as my cheap one doesn’t ever sit quite level and is easily knocked over, say if a dog were to run into it. I tried two different heads on it – a regular ball head and a pan tilt, which has handles on it. I thought I’d like the pan tilt better for its handles as the ball head is only adjusted by moving the camera itself and is pretty stiff (my boy toy never used this one). But no, I think the ball head was actually easier to use.
I also tried out his macro lenses in these pictures. The basil and fly were taken with a 100mm macro lens, the beagle with the 180mm macro. Both lenses bring up an incredible amount of detail. Since my boy toy isn’t using either one much anymore, I’m adding them to my camera bag until he wants to use them again.
So that’s how I nurtured my creativity today! I tried some new equipment, got some lessons in using it, and cleaned the house so I can relax and work on my stuff without all the dog hair distracting me.
Did you ever notice when there’s too much dog hair around, it starts to swirl and clump like it’s trying to make another dog? And how much hair can three dogs shed without being hairless? Better yet, is there any limit to how much dirt they can track in? The answer to that of course is NO.
To see everything I’m doing with my 31 Days of Nurturing My Creativity, click here.
To see what others are doing with their 31 Days project, click here.
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I am a backyard adventurer, philosopher and observer, recording my life in journals and photographs. Visit my blog at www.livingtheseasons.com.
Living The Seasons 
When the house is a mess, I can’t be creative or think of anything else until I make our surroundings acceptable again. I also have to wait for that spurt of energy to get it all done. But it feels so great to see the house afterwards!
You’re so right about that! It’s funny too, because a few weeks later I had a post where I nurtured my creativity by cleaning the house. It was dirty, my energy was high, and I actually resented it less than usual.
https://livingtheseasons.com/2014/10/05/cleaning-the-house-nurtured-me/
I know what you mean. At some point, it is better to get the cleaning out of the way so the mind can get back to the creativity. Great shots with macro, especially the Beagle. :)
I think he’s the most photographed beagle around! But yeah, it would have been harder to sit and work on photographs that day because I really had the energy to clean. I think that’s why I resented it so much less than usual too. And it’s just nice to have a clean house.
I used to get my best ideas when I was in the kitchen for creating the recipe to preparing the dish. K Kneading, rolling out and shaping dough are some of my favorite ways to coax ideas. I’m not able to do it as much I used to, but…my Directed Studies thesis was on bread!
Making bread is the best way to stimulate creativity! I don’t make it much anymore either, but I loved the act of doing it. I’d forgotten all about that.
I do have a strange urge to clean when I have to do unwanted paperwork/writing. Suddenly I need to work in a pristine environment. Unlike when I am doing for pleasure writing when I can work in total dusty chaos.
There is that also! It’s much easier to pay bills than work on a crummy project. Thanks for stopping by!
Housework can be therapeutic and can also stimulate creativity. Agatha Christie said she got her best ideas while washing the dishes. I agree, if the house is too messy I can’t be creative. (Cats tend to leave a lot of hair around as well. I’m sure our cat leaves enough to make another cat!) Glad you had fun with the new (to you) equipment.
Your comment really got me to thinking. Usually I resent the housework so much, but I didn’t yesterday. I think it was because my energy was high and I would have resented more sitting at my computer than being active and getting some of this other stuff done. You’re right about housework stimulating creativity. I especially noticed it when I had the garden. I think it’s just being physical and doing something with our hands that triggers it.
I had three cats at one time and they WERE trying to clone themselves with all that hair.