Every time that I come home I try to find something I can do to avoid it, yet it is all around me.
I find myself inventing random errands that I need to run, simply to escape from it. Perhaps I will go to the library today...don't I need to go to the Superstore and buy, um, hangers?
What is it? What is this thing that is driving me out of my own home?
It is my home itself! It's driving me absolutely up the wall! It is jammed and crammed with all of the stuff that we have tossed here and there the many times we have come home and left in the last few weeks.
When we got home from Oregon just over a week ago it was spic and span! I had cleaned it thoroughly before I took the train down because I hate returning home from a trip to a messy house.
Don't get me wrong, I am not a neat freak by any means. My parents would attest to that. When I was in middle school and high school I was the lucky one with the bedroom in the basement, the one that no one ever entered except myself. It was a disaster zone! I'm not really sure how I found anything in that room, but somehow I managed. I do remember, though, my parents laying down the law various times by informing me that I could not go out with my friends until my room was cleaned up. That's where my dear friend Vanessa came in. I'm not sure how she did it...she was like a magical fairy or something. I would sit on the bed, watching her flit and float around the room and I swear, within 30 minutes the horror that was my room became a calm, organized space. Why could I never keep it that way? I'm not really sure...I just know I was thankful for Vanessa! I know, I know...I realize now how terrible it was that I let her clean my room but I'm not kidding, she enjoys it! Vanessa is one of those people that I don't quite understand that actually enjoys cleaning. There are a few other people like that in my life as well. My grandmother, for one, and my good friend Nicole. Nicole, would you like to stop by and help me out today?
I have grown out of the disaster zone stage. I think it happened in University when I had to share a 10 x 10 room with a complete stranger. I knew that it wasn't really fair to her to have my stuff all over the place. She was also a pretty neat person and I learned a thing or two about organization from her.
After University, when I moved away to California for my first real job I gained a new roommate. Tami was a gem. We laughed together, we went on trips together, and we generally had a blast. Yet again, though, I had a roommate that was much neater than I! I know it drove her crazy when I would leave the pots and pans that had to be handwashed in the sink for a few days at a time. I'm sure that she wondered why...she never complained though, and I tried to do them sooner for her sake.
After I left California and came to Canada I had my own place for the first time in my life. Well...sort of. Since Kevin came over to visit every day it wasn't really like my own place but I was the only one sleeping there! The bad thing about that place? It had no dishwasher! I know of some people that actually enjoy doing the dishes by hand and I have to say, that is far beyond my realm of comprehension! Why on Earth would you want to do the dishes by hand wasting time when there is a machine out there that will happily do them for you? Kevin would come to my house to visit and see the dishes piled up in the sink. I knew I was truly in love when I watched him time and time again stroll to the sink, fill it with hot, soapy water and then proceed to attack the pile of dishes that I had used but refused to clean. What a man! Is it any wonder that one of the first things we purchased for our apartment together after we got married was a dishwasher? Who do you think does most of the dishes in our house?
Another area in which I am weak is laundry. I can't really complain there, either. Kevin does all of his own laundry and he folds and hangs it the minute it comes out of the dryer. I, however, am a bit different. I get my laundry through the dryer part and then it sits...and sits...and sits. I somehow can't seem to get the laundry from the basket into my closet. I know that it's simple, I know that it is an easy process but for some reason one of the things I detest is folding my laundry. It seems like such a waste when I'm just going to use it right away again!
I have digressed, back to the state of my home. We have come home and left again several times in the last week. We have two, yes, that's right, two completely packed suitcases simply sitting there...one in our bedroom, one in our living room. Our table is covered with the mail that we have accrued over the past two weeks and have yet to open. (For some reason I only find it fun to open things like cards and letters!) In the middle of our living room is a huge container holding all of our camping items such as our tent, sleeping bags, and flashlights. We can't bring ourselves to put it away because we know we will be using it in just a week and it really is massive, and kind of heavy!
Our house simply needs a deep cleaning.
I know that I need to do it.
I just don't want to.
I'm hoping that by posting about it I will get the motivation to actually do something about it. Maybe by the end of the day I will be posting pics of my clean house, not my messy one. Until then, enjoy these!
Anyone out there that enjoys cleaning, feel free to phone me today.
Hmm...well I seem to remember a day when I wasn't so into cleaning (or maybe not so into cleaning my roommate's dishes) To quote: "Get your dishes out of the hallway...they smell like a**." Yeah...good times.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't I remember your roommate's gizillion pairs of jeans hanging from beneath your loft? :)
hey! you have a cute apartment! my apartment is jam packed with baby toys! it seems to be some kind of organized chaos. i laughed at the laundry in the dryer. that is one thing I can remember from Cali!!! But, I think we both finally started giving in and putting pots and pans in the dishwasher! i do it all the time still to this day! :) don't you have a closet somewhere you can just throw it all into? that's my trick :)
ReplyDeleteWell, just wait until you throw children into the mix. You are fortunate that Kevin is already good at helping out with that stuff, and Jamey will help out when I need him to and ask, but he doesn't just start doing it unless he's in The Zone. Then, when he gets in The Zone, I stand back (far out of the way) and just watch. I don't talk to him or distract him in any way, because if I do, it might all be over...he'll sit down to talk to me, and that will be it.
ReplyDeleteBut, thanks to The Zone, every other month or so, James goes on a cleaning binge and deep cleans something I mean to get to eventually, but probably never will. Such as, cleaning out the pantry cabinet. There's stuff in there from when we moved in that we will never use and needs to be thrown away, but it's so tall, I just keep cramming stuff in there and I don't know what's in the back.