On the outside, I look like your average suburban woman. I have a loving husband, three amazing children & live in the “right” kind of neighborhood. Take the kids to activities. Field hockey, karate, story time, Girl Scouts, etc. I stay at home with my children. On the outside, it seems to the average person that I have the perfect life. And I pretty much do. Except for my secret. Yes, I have a secret. One that not many are privy to. Ready?
I am a…SLOB!!!!!!
Yup, I am a totally disgusting, unorganized, dirty, completely out of control slob. I hate cleaning, therefore, I simply don’t do it. I can’t stand dishes, loathe laundry, turn my nose up at dusting & detest cleaning toilets. Oh, also, floors annoy me, so I don’t bother with those. I never throw anything away, so the clutter is everywhere. Stuff gets put down somewhere & stays there for days.
Now, I will be the first to admit, I have always been like this. Learned it from my mama. She was a slob when I was a kid. Never cleaned anything up. Grew up with crap all over the place. When my room would get to the point where you could not see the floor anymore (which was often), I was not allowed out of it until it was clean. I could never understand why I had to clean, but my mother never did. Very unfair in my young mind.
I don’t enjoy being this way. I envy those that not only keep their homes clean, but enjoy cleaning them. Think they are a bit demented, but hey, whatever. I have a good friend who would take a day off of work to clean her house. Not because it was a disaster, but because she wanted to! She enjoyed it! She actually would get excited for it for goodness sakes! And then she would call me that night, when she was all done, basking in cleanliness glory. Never understood it.
I get into moods like that every once in a while. Go nuts for a couple of weeks, clean everything, get all caught up on laundry, make a “cleaning schedule” for myself that I would strictly follow for a little while. I was always in such a better mood when everything was clean! My husband was in such a good mood when he came home, knowing that he was coming home to a clean house. I knew where everything was. It was great! Then, my mojo would fizzle out, clutter would come, laundry would pile up & it was over. I was done!
Sometimes, I aimlessly walk around my house, looking at the mess in every room. The dust bunnies in pretty much every corner, papers & crap piled up, the crumbs on the floors, the dust everywhere. LAUNDRY, LAUNDRY, LAUNDRY! As I walk around, the overwhelming feeling of “where do I even start” takes over. I get so frustrated with everything, I say forget it! Nevermind, not gonna deal with it at all. I will then proceed to close my eyes to the mess, just accept it as who I am and do something else. Play with the kids, go online or even plop my butt on the couch & watch something off the DVR. I am the BEST at procrastinating when it comes to cleaning. I can find something, ANYTHING else to do. Even right now, instead of resolving the situation, I am blogging about it! I mean HELLO! WTF?????
But, I am noticing something. My children are getting to be slobs too. They don’t bother to pick up their stuff. I used to make my daughter keep her room clean & make her bed every morning. She got mad one day when I yelled at her for forgetting to make her bed & yelled to me “how come I have to but you never do!”. while of course it can be said that a child must do as they are told, she did bring up a good point. If I am supposed to be setting the example, but I am not, how can I expect her to do something that I NEVER do. I guess it has come full circle.
So, to all my faithful readers (all 3 of you), I am giving myself a challenge this great month of November. A cleaning challenge. But I need your help! I will be needing some strategies. Each blog will have a theme. And I will be looking for your advice. Give it to me straight!
Something to think about tonight…LAUNDRY!
Gen X Mama 