Hi bbcakes! Got a short one for you today!🌈
OK: Have you ever been served up a video from @ melitsmoi?
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I have. Man, have I ever. At this point, my algorithm knows to show me videos from melitsmoi first, even before it shows me reaction-vids from dermatologists mocking influencers’ 27-step daily skincare routines. And that’s saying something, because my kingdom for a board-certified hot gay doctor screaming with rage over single-use facial towels wrapped in plastic!
Anyway! The melitsmoi account is run by a 20-something person living in shared co-op housing in Germany. I have no idea who melitsmoi is and know zero other details about their life, besides the fact that they struggle to keep their space clean. Oh, and that English isn’t their first language and they’re really funny, which makes me also suspect this person is a genius, because consistently landing jokes in another language???? call the MacArthur foundation!!
But all this account is is watching melitsmoi spin a wheel of chores they made online. They spin the wheel, it lands on a chore, and they do the chore and remove it from the wheel.
I love watching this process. It’s so satisfying, to see their floor go from cluttered to neat; to see their drawers go from bulging and unable to shut to half-empty and organized. I love to watch melitsmoi recycle bottles and hang up pictures and do their laundry and clear out the pantry. I can’t explain it, but it’s almost like I’m doing my own chores!
Except I’m not. I’m lying on my couch, slack-jawed, eyes twirling, watching a stranger on a lit-up tiny screen do the exact same tasks I’ve had sitting on my to-do list for days, weeks, months on end.
It took me far too long to realize the truth: I like to watch melitsmoi do chores because it makes my brain feel like I’ve accomplished something.
And I haven’t! I have not yet figured out how to get tiny photos printed for a locket! (How tf do you do this, does anyone know?? the internet isn’t helping.) I have not repotted the cute fuzzy plant that has been slowly and obviously dying right in front of me from having a pot that’s too small! I have not removed the dog hair from my car seats, or put together the ikea chair, or mailed that one package I’ve been meaning to mail for eight real-time months!
Well, no more! Last week, while watching melitsmoi, it occurred to me for the first time that I could make a wheel of chores. My own wheel.
Did this thought take two years to materialize in my dim, fretful little mind?
Yes! But just look at my wheel:
And guess what else? IT’S WORKING. I’ve been picking a 30-minute window each day and saying, “I’m going to do as the wheel commands”, and BAM: I will spin the wheel and accomplish a chore. Usually, it’s something I’ve been putting off (for no real reason) for some time. It’s also usually something that takes 10 minutes or less.
The simultaneous satisfaction and sheepishness is immense.
Something about the randomness of the wheel’s selection is overriding my silly internal avoidance of small but annoying things I have to do. It makes no sense to me, but also, today, in the space of 40 minutes, I:
texted someone I was dreading answering back
folded the laundry
emailed a time-sensitive work request with a firm deadline to a notoriously difficult colleague
replaced all the spent tealights in all the holders
decluttered a shelf of books
brought in the compost bucket and changed the liner
And if doing all that in just 40 minutes seems normal to you…?
babe, tell me your secret!!!
OK I love you, have a great Tuesday!!! 💋💋💋
And please tell me if you make a wheel!!!
Re: tiny photos -
You'll need to use Photoshop or Canva or similar. First, figure out what size the photo should be. Next, make a document that's 3" x 5", and put the photo into in the page, and scale it down to whatever tiny size you need. You can put a bunch of tiny photos into this one document, then send it to Walgreen's or similar to print. You'll end up with a 59 cent photo with a bunch of tiny photos that you can cut out.
1) Almost as soon as I followed your link to the tiktok, I found the website and created my own wheel! 2) Thank you for sharing, I’m obsessed with the videos! 3) I’m glad it’s working for you!