Friday, September 30, 2005

Mrs. Clean

Did you miss me yesterday? I meant to blog, really I did, but I had such an unblogworthy day! I considered posting a quiz, but have decided my quiz addiction is getting a wee bit out of hand and I'm trying to cut back. Not stop, mind you. I enjoy the little buggers too much for that. But to maybe keep it down to one a week or so would be a good thing, yes? So yesterday I was Little Miss Susie Homemaker. Bleah. Have I mentioned how much I really, truly HATE housework? Well, I do. I wouldn't mind if it was something you could do and it would stay done, even for a little while. Like, if I could thoroughly clean my house and it would STAY clean, exactly the way it was when I was finished for, oh say, one week before starting to look crappy again, I think I could deal with that. But no. I live with dogs, y'all. Three of 'em. BIG ones. And a cat. Also large. And J and I are not exactly petite neatniks either. All of which pretty much means that by the time I've cleaned the house from one end to the other, the end I started with is already looking like I haven't touched it in just a little too long. ***sigh*** So long ago, I decided life is too damned short to worry about my house looking perfect. I'd rather spend what time I have here on this planet doing other things. So when it comes to housekeeping, I do the basics...well, my version of the basics. Heh. But mostly I'm pretty content to live in the midst of a certain amount of messiness. I have a few things I'm picky about, but I can, for instance, look at teetering stacks of books and magazines for a long, long time before I'm bothered enough to do something about them, and I've been known to name the dustbunnies and consider them just a few more members of the family. Anyone want to meet Ralph and Julio? But then (cue dramatic music) someone wants to visit. And suddenly all my Good Girl training comes rushing to the fore and I am filled with anxiety about being Less Than Perfect. What if I have Hard Water Stains in the bathroom? What if my carpets are Not Fresh? What if my windows are the ones birds like because they aren't Windex Clear?? OH Nooooooo! The Horror, the Horror... Uh...sorry...I was living in TV AdLand for a minute there. But really, there is some part of me I haven't yet been able to get with the program that hates the idea that visitors - even people I love (especially people I love?) - will go away saying I'm a Bad Housekeeper. Which I AM. But just because I know it and say it myself doesn't mean I want other people saying it. **snort!** So yesterday was spent scrubbing bathrooms, sweeping floors, dusting furniture (I've always thought that should be UNdusting furniture), etc, etc, etboringc. And today I'm going to mop, clean windows, and cook. All so two more people and one more dog can come live in my house this weekend and mess it up again. Yay! You know what? If I ever become suddenly and unexpectedly wealthy, I am hiring a housekeeper. Then if someone wants to visit and the house looks like the Before photo in an ad, I can blame it on someone else. HA! Hhhmm, I just scared myself a little with that last paragraph. Maybe I should go into politics.