Six degrees of domestication

[vanillafluffy]

I've been laboring in my bedroom---the southeast corner was dreadful. I've been acquiring egg boxes from Wal*mart---they're excellent for packing up the overflow of books and have reduced the number of stacks substantially. This took less time than I expected, which is often the case with things I procrastinate about.

I need to do laundry from the stuff I unearthed in the bedroom, and the kitchen---! There are alien life forms in my fridge, my sink is a biohazard, my countertops are a landfill---I used to have a lapel button that said, "The only domestic thing about me is, I was born in this country."---and it's true!

Why am I such a horrible housekeeper?! Part of it has been the heat---when it's 90ish indoors, all I want to do is take shelter in the A/C'ed bedroom. Today it's in the low 80s, and I can actually contemplate doing something for more than two minutes.

There's also the fact that I was never instructed in the finer points. I lost my mom when I was 16, and before she got sick, she did it all. I dusted intermittantly, and after she was gone, reluctantly added dishes and vacuuming to my repertoire. After my dad died, I pretty much slacked off to the minimum. I got rid of the wall-to-wall so I wouldn't have to vacuum, and everything else was pretty hit-or-miss.

(Yes, I've heard of FlyLady. I've just signed up again, hoping this time it'll "take".)

Anyway, that's how my day's been going.

Comments

[jdsgirlbev.livejournal.com]

I'm a horrible house keeper as well. My mother was one of those who iron socks. Perhaps I'm a wee bit harsh on myself.

*contemplates*

No. No, I'm a horrible houskeeper.

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

I got two big black trash sacks out of one CORNER of my 12' x 12' bedroom. Got another sackful out of the fridge (more heavy than full, I admit), including milk from July, spinich from April and hummus from January. It took 40 minutes to handwash the dishes---they've been piling up for at least a month---and my counter is still a foot high in debris. There is overflow on the floor; another bag is in progress, it never ends!

[jdsgirlbev.livejournal.com]

If I was living alone that would be my fridge too. As it stands I have a roommate and her kid, and they seem to prompt me to more cleaning than normal. A good thing, I suppose.

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

I need to finish the fridge---I did a fast fling on the worst of it, but I didn't want the remaining items to get too warm. The shelves need a quick wipe-down---right now they're very icky---and I'm sure there's more I can toss. I didn't scrutinize all the expiration dates the first time through. Once I get through in there, I can organize the freezer---I have lots of stuff in there I probably ought to thaw and consume. It'll certainly help on my grocery bill over the next few weeks....

Btw, *love* the icon!

[jdsgirlbev.livejournal.com]

Do you have a picnic hamper? I put my fridge stuff in one when I'm doing my semi-annual fridge purge.

The base of the icon comes from may7, and I've been wanting to do a 'hero' one of John for a while, and that pic had just the quiet mood I was looking for. :D

[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

My mother had some odd form of obsessive-compulsive disorder and would simply not see certain problem areas (like green furry stuff in the fridge and laundry knee-deep on the floor around the washing machine) while she obsessively bleached the kitchen sink and waxed the living room floor on her hands and knees.

If I lived alone, I'd probably be slightly more messy than I am now, but not much. There are too many memories of trying to find clean socks and underwear for school and cleaning the science projects out of the fridge to ever slip very far.

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

Oh dear...that sounds like an awfully sad childhood! I didn't have to do my own laundry until I was in high school, and refrigerator science came even later. (I was the baby of the family, a "change of life" surprise, so I was a pampered little beast.)

[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

Children are very accepting of whatever's normal around their house, and it wasn't until I was grown and looked back on it that I realized that was not quite right. It tended to make me quite tidy, although it had the opposite effect on my brother. I have never seen anything like his kitchen -- the countertops look like they haven't been wiped off since he installed them 15 years ago. I wouldn't eat food at his house if you paid me a thousand dollars.

To this day, though, I have a thing about having enough socks and underwear. I have two full drawers of socks, one for summer and one for winter! :D

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

You'd probably want to avoid my kitchen, too. I would, if it wasn't mine. And I guess I *have* been avoiding it lately...there's just about enough room to open the microwave door to heat things, but it's been quite a while since I did any proper cooking.

[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

You haven't really had time for proper cooking since you started the great commute again. And then there was housesitting and all the anxiety about the car, so it's understandable that things got away from you there.

I'm mostly of the "pick up and clean as you go" school of housekeeping, but there are a few big projects I've been averting my eyes from. Our living room carpet either needs shampooing or a crop of corn planted on it -- I just can't decide which!

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

Corn would require grow-lights, which would probably be more expensive than shampooing. On the other hand, they'd last longer and could probably be used for tanning in the winter. ;)

[socialhermit.livejournal.com]

Oh, man.... I'm so sorry about your losing your mom, and at such a young age. Yeah, I know it was a long time ago (not THAT long - you know what I mean!) but I don't think that's the kind of thing you ever truly get over. *hugs you*

As for the housekeeping, eh. Don't be too hard on yourself - not your thing, apparently. You have other things you're good at and that take priority. While I admit I'm a neat freak and I like everything in its place, I also admit (sheepishly) that my neatness isn't always cleanliness. It just LOOKS that way because it's all tidy and organized.

My mother (who, fortunately, is still with me) is an immaculate housekeeper. I mean that in a positive way - she's good and thorough without being obsessive or ridiculous. Why that didn't rub off on me, I have no idea!

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

She'd been ill on and off for about two years...which is a long time when you're 16. She had had several crises...by the time she died, it was like I'd already lost her. There are a lot of things I wish I could ask her, but on the other hand, I think I'd be a disappointment to her (and my dad, for that matter).

I was blessed to make friends with BC, and to be introduced to his family. His mom, the oft-mentioned Kat, took me under her wing, and I've told her that she's been like a mother to me for longer than my mother was a mother to me. It was Kat who taught me to drive a stick shift, who drove me to the eye doctor the time my eyes were swollen shut from my contacts, who came and got me when my car conked out on the way home from a concert 80 miles away. Now she's fighting lung cancer, and I'm bracing myself, in case it's time to lose another mother.

My house is neither tidy nor organized. The closest I come to that is my pantry, which I go through about once a year, and my books, which are glancingly organized---I keep stuff from my fav authors together. If I could ever get enough shelf space for all of it, I'd have the Dewey decimel system going....

[socialhermit.livejournal.com]

I know you're not looking for my sympathy, but it just breaks my heart that you lost your mom that way. *chokes up* God (or your diety of choice) bless BC and Kat for being there for you like that.

Oh, and I doubt very much that your parents would be disappointed in you. You're an awesome lady with a lot of terrific qualities, who works hard and pays taxes and tries to do the right/best thing. I'm sure they'd be quite proud of you. :-)

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

In some ways, I think they'd approve. Others, not so much.