Eleven days left in October to ponder my history. Last night it became very clear how much my past colors my present if I don't make a conscious effort to change. Seriously. Same old fight: I don't do enough, don't do it right.
I am not a good housekeeper. It's a statement of fact. While I enjoy a clean house (who doesn't?), I find it very hard to motivate myself to keep my home clean. I like to invite people over for dinner to spur myself into a cleaning frenzy.
Where I lack in housecleaning skills, I have an abundance in talent for ignorance. I can step over a Canon-escaped, soggy, pull-up 20 times, never bothering to take it to the trash. I only clean my stove top foil things when they become a fire hazard. I love to start projects and leave them out for days in case I can get back to finish them.
It's the finishing that always gets me. I do what it takes, but I fail to finish:
1. I change the diaper, but don't take it out.
2. I make the dinner but don't do the dishes.
3. I sanitize the counter tops but fail to sweep.
4. I put water bottles by the sink but never wash and refill them.
5. I take the laundry upstairs but don't fold it and put it away.
6. I eat food but don't take the dishes to the sink.
7. I take a shower, leave my underwear on the bathroom floor and all my make-up and hair stuff on the tiny counter top.
8. blah, I'm just not great at finishing stuff.
Then, I ignore the bad stuff. I had to do that when I was a kid. We had between 4 and 7 people in a tiny 4 bedroom house (two of those bedrooms were in the unfinished attic and one was a sectioned off half of the living room - so, officially, a 1 bedroom house). When I left home, summer of '96 the dogs living in the house were: Star, Fetch, Runa, Mickey, Buddha, and Potlicker. There were 3 cats, and 1 iguana. The dogs were not house trained and the cats had no litter box. Every morning there was urine puddles and poop piles to avoid, but it was impossible to avoid it all. You never wanted to get up in the middle of the night; it was common to step, barefoot in dog crap. I tell you this so you understand how one might develop a "blind eye and nose." It was a matter of not smelling bad smells or be unable to sleep.
But coming from that, even with my awareness, it is so easy to slip back into the state of ignorance. To ignore the kitty litter box, the dirty diaper on the porch, the piles of laundry.
I need to reevaluate my current habits - I have gotten lazy, too lazy. My current theory, trick, attempt to form new healthy habits will be to ask myself what I was doing and if I finished. Every time I want to sit and watch TV or blog or whatever, "What was I doing?" Oh yeah, changing a diaper. "Did I finish?" Nope, let me take that out now. There is an element of diffusion of responsibility, between me, my husband, and my mother all here. None of us are perfect at cleaning after ourselves. I guess I just need to take all the responsibility and distribute the work as opposed to hoping individuals will put away their stuff.
Mostly, let's think of the children. I want them to have a clean, organized environment. How can I expect them to keep their room clean, when I don't? And they need to learn, by experience and by example, how to clean and care for their stuff.
So, lunch, then a new leaf.
4 Brilliant Bits of Inspiration:
While reading your blog I had several thoughts:
1. I believe that if it's not posing a health hazard (i.e. growing or decomposing) it's clean enough... diapers would be a decomposing/growing hazard. Crumbs on the kitchen floor have several days before they cross the line.
2. The drip pans in your stovetop clean themselves if you put them inside the oven on the self-clean cycle every couple of weeks. Bonus... your oven gets clean too... if you wipe the ash out (I sometimes don't follow through to the end on this one).
3. Laundry is like the hydra of mythology. If you think you've finished with it it just grows more heads and attacks when you're not looking. I find it helpful to move the clean pile to the bed during the daytime and back to the couch when it's time to go to bed. This enables me to be aware which items are not folded and put away so I can find them when I need them. Plus it's a great start of an upper body workout... lift, carry, lift.
4. Kids grow up and wish to become helpful (around the age of four). At this time it's nice to allow them the use of a broom and mop. You'd be amazed how much cleaner the floor looks after they've been "playing" in the kitchen. Even if it's not perfect, it is a start. When it all seems like play the load is much lighter.
I hate laundry, it's one of the great evils, it's truly never done. I also agree with Janet, think of it as a workout moving the unfolded laundry. In our case it's from our bed to the guest bed.
I used to hate cleaning the drip pans on the oven, I was so excited then we got out flat top oven. I kept it sooo clean, for about 6 months. Now it's also cleaned occasionally too. As I'm writing this I'm really thinking I should be vaccuming now and writing later.
I don't think anybody really thinks they are as good a housekeeper as they could be. But your slips in housekeeping aren't dangerous or hazardous to your kids. And what all our kids will remember is the time we spent playing and interacting with them, not the unfolded laundry.
Wow, we are so alike :)
We are alike, too. If it helps, I once babysat for a couple of doctors, one of whom stayed home with their three children in a very fancy suburb (Winnetka), and their house was atrocious....my sister and I always sighed, rolled up our sleeves, and got to work on their appalling kitchen. I always say "at least I don't have things growing on my counters," and they DID. (Well, I think it was some sort of wheat stuff they were trying to germinate, but still). They also believed in having their children pick up dog 'plop' barehanded. Um, eww. So, whenever, I feel bad about my own house and the clutter involved, I always think back to the Strauss family (pronounced like 'straws,' the dad would always tell me, pretentious bastard).
But anyway, I do have to ask a question.....what does Greg do to help out? My Michael is allergic to the laundry (okay, I banned him from doing it since he screwed it up so many times), and I have to usually do the bathroom since he has a serious bathtub phobia (don't ask). In general, I usually do the rest, but when prodded, he will pitch in. On occasion. He does do the car and computer maintenance in general (I handle things like registrations, inspections, and such, he takes care of oil changes, we both do tire purchases).
I guess sometimes I get resentful when I find a dirty dish or an empty carton on the counter when the dishwasher is half-full or the trash is right there. But I do love him anyway.
Post a Comment