How To Get Completely Derailed

Are you guilty of this?

It all started this winter, when I found my daughter creating a makeshift desk in her bedroom out of stools and serving trays. I mentioned to her that she could probably have my desk, seeing as I have sat at it a total two times in the last three years. She was thrilled about the idea. The kid has been bugging me about it ever since.

Then spring came. And went.

We plunged into summer swim team and camps, as I continued to promise this desk to her every time she anxiously reminded me.

“There’s just never enough time!” I’d say. She’d sigh in irritation.

Fast forward to this past Saturday, the very first morning we had nowhere to be. The girl woke up nice and early and was inspired to make this change now. Once I eventually got out of bed, she had already cleared out and “rearranged” her room with piles of crap pretty much everywhere. She was deep in the project, once I arrived on the scene.

This was not my plan for the morning.

Two hours later, we had packed up her American Girl dolls, all their clothes, chairs, bunk beds and tea sets. We had sifted through clothes and toys from years ago that had been tucked safely under her bed or jammed in her closet or stashed in baskets and containers. Now we had somehow created a bigger mess with tubs and furniture spreading from her room to the hallway…

Great.

We ran out of time, so we left the carnage behind as we spent the rest of the day out of the house. We returned around 10 that night to the construction zone, where my girl and her friend climbed over the wreckage and plopped into bed.

“Mom, can you please clean out your desk so I can have it tomorrow?” she begged.

“We have church all day, but sometime tomorrow night I will get to it,” I sighed. I couldn’t handle this mess for another day, but I had no choice. It would have to wait until tomorrow.

The next afternoon, I tended to the task, which I thought would be an easy job—I hardly had too much to clean out, because the desk is quite small.

You can check out the rest of this article on Scary Mommy's Club Mid. When you're finished, leave a comment and share how you've turned one project into 20.