I'm joining in on a blog hop with The Gnome's Mom to share a little bit about the life I lead here. I know I do that quite a bit anyway, as I'm not really doing many giveaways, but I thought it would be a fun thing to do! The Gnome's Mom is one of my favorite blogs to read and follow on a regular basis as well. If you're a blogger and would like to link up, feel free! And add us on Twitter with the hashtag #MMM
One of my best friends and I were talking on the phone a few weeks back (yes, some of us still use telephones occasionally), and started on the conversation of housekeeping. "Blondie" (as I will refer to her) has an extremely OCD-clean mother. To the point that if she's babysitting and Blondie has ANY dishes in her sink, Grandma will complain that Blondie "Never washes dishes." No lie. Blondie tells me one day that her mother was complaining that her house was "filthy." I had been there earlier that day and, to me, it was "a little messy" but to be expected when you have a 4- and nearly-2-year-old running around everywhere. So, this led to our discussion of levels of mess.
Blondie, although she'd never actually tell me this, thinks my house is generally a mess. I
How do we get this way? Are we just innately born with a "mess level" that is acceptable to each of us? Or are we trained by our parents/caregivers to accept their level of mess and adopt it as our own?
I will be the first to admit that I am a terrible housekeeper! Part of that is due to lack of space in my 2-bedroom home for our growing family and our ever-increasing amount of stuff. Another part is that I was never asked to clean (or cook, or do laundry) while growing up. I grew up with my great-grandmother and always knew that if I waited long enough, she'd end up doing it. If I wait long enough now, hubby MAY do it just because he can't stand it anymore, but most likely I'll have to do it anyway and end up stressing myself out endlessly because I waited too damn long in the first place! As I get older, I'm trying to be better. I try to do my dishes as I get enough for a load in the dishwasher. I try to put my clothes (and hubby's) in the hampers - sorted by warm/cold/delicate - as they get dirty and do loads during hubby's off days so he can help watch Fuss. The folding usually doesn't get accomplished for all the clothes because I run out of storage space and get angry. I'm working with Fuss right now to get her to put away her toys each night before bed. She can play with anything and everything as long as it goes back in the box at the end of the day. Some days this works, some days it doesn't. Vacuuming doesn't happen as frequently as I'd like. I'm working on that too.
Old habits certainly die hard. Feeling crappy for ANY reason definitely doesn't help. I'm still behind on my cleaning and laundry from being sick 2 weeks ago! It seems that the second you stop, it builds so fast that it's nearly impossible to catch up! Here's to hoping we can all stay illness free for a few months and get everything spick-and-span for the spring/summer! I want to have the type of house that Blondie lives in. :) I wish I had that level of mess in my home!
My tolerance is slightly higher than my moms and has seriously increased since having The Gnome. My husbands level is MUCH lower and drives me crazy.
ReplyDeleteHow funny is it when "mess level" doesn't quite match up!? It drives one person crazy, but they usually don't say anything for fear of messy retribution.
DeleteI too am a terrible housekeeper. I think what's e point with a 3 year old and baby? It just gets messed up fa quicker than it takes to tidy it. My husband is like Monica from friends and he's always whinging about it;)
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading my post, look forward to getting to know you too. Aly x
My husband always thinks our house is messy. I never care.
ReplyDeleteTara - Love the blog!! Glad I found it. I love Blog hops for just this reason. I am the same way with my little one, I try to get her to put her stuff away, and my hubby and I are horrible house keepers...we let stuff pile up and then all of a sudden it bugs us and we clean like mad! :)
ReplyDeleteThat seriously sounds like us! I may have to do a before and after sometime...you know when I'm not too embarrassed.
DeleteI think it must be part of what we grow up with. I always have piles of papers and some random stuff that for the most part, I'm too lazy to do anything with. I know where most of it goes, I just don't care. John will get home and complain that it's a mess which just annoys me! I figure, hey, the dishes are done, the foods put away, laundry is done (usually), toys are picked up, vaccuumed, swept and sometimes mopped. In my book, that's good enough. He will follow our daughter around and pick up toys as she finishes playing with them - what's the point! The only part he hates though is the piles of papers I have sitting out. Finally instead of complaining, he told me why it bothers him. His mom always did that and so it makes him crazy, he just sees it as clutter.
ReplyDeleteI dislike messiness, but dislike cleaning more! Thankfully, my husband is patient with me. My family lives in a one bedroom apartment which doesn't help. I do laundry when my daughter's napping or has gone to bed at night, but when I try putting it away, she wakes up crying and is mad that somebody woke her up. Which means I leave it out and am lucky if I even fold it. Then am luckier if I put it away the next day. One good thing about the limited space though, is it has caused me to ask myself, "Do I need this?" If so, I keep it, but if not, I give it away to a friend or thrift store.
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