Sunday, August 26, 2007

Mess Maker, Mess Maker, Make me a Mess

Some people are neat freaks. Some people are messies.

I am a messy. I wish I was a neat freak. Actually, I wish I could have a live-in neat freak to clean up after me.

If I thought no one would ever come by our house, I would never pick up around here, and our home would be covered in cinnamon toast crumbs, scratch paper, and dirty socks. Which is exactly what happened yesterday.

After a whirlwind of a day that included 3 birthday parties (one at the beach and one at the ice skating place) one trip to the grocery store, one hot home-made dinner for another family, one last minute towel to sew (I'm also a closet procrastinator) and two videos at family movie night, our house was a mess from top to bottom.

I was too tired to clean up and went to bed without so much as rinsing a dish. I even left my dirty clothes in a pile in the bathroom. Waking up to dishes in the sink, brownie crumbs on the floor and blankets piled all over the family room made me want to run back to bed, bury my head under my pillow and suck my thumb.

Why do I always have to be the mom?

We cleaned up and things are looking better, but I have a feeling that this house is just one busy day away from complete melt down.

Yikes!

It might be time to dust off my flylady notebook....

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wendy,

I'm sorry you don't think of me as your live-in neat freak.

Love you!
Nate

Carrot Jello said...

I was thinking how nice it will be for the kids to start back to school, because at least my house will be semi-clean during the day.

Donna Boucher said...

I am right there with you...
except for the Flylady part.

We need some company, that's what we need!

I had a cleaning lady for many years....
and well,
I kinda have never gotten into the swing of doing it all myself.

Katie LOVES to clean.

How lucky is that????

Millie said...

Yeah, I still get her "condensed" newsletters but I don't read them anymore. I should probably unsubscribe. Again.

Your title made me laugh. :)

orchard_girl said...

I always thought you were the neat one of our family, but truely we are sisters. Why do people always stop by when my house is in disaster mode and not when it is cleaned up? Is it because it is a disaster more often than clean?
Heather

wendy said...

Hi Nathan - the problem is you are gone this week...

Carrot - school brings with it papers. lots of papers. and backpacks and lunchboxes...

Donna - Company! Great idea! That would do the trick. Atleast dinner guests...

Millie Vanillie- I've never taken her emails, but I did read her book. I like the theory, but have a hard time with follow through.

Heather - I think Mary is the cleanest.

Mary said...

Wendy, I think you are the cleanest. Mom calls me a straightener, which is true, but really deep cleaning is where I fall sadly short.

I'm having a hard time believing that you are messy. Yeah, yeah, maybe one busy day threw off your normally neat house, but I'm sure your place always looks great.

But I hear you on procrastinating! It's my favorite pastime.

This morning, while I took 2 minutes to use the potty alone, Lindsey colored on the wall, on Rand, on her shirt, and on the couch. As I was cleaning the couch cushion, I noticed how terrible our carpet looks. Vacuuming isn't cutting it. I really need to clean that! Oh, and speaking of floors, the wood floor is nast-a-tasty! That's all.

nikko said...

Sigh. I've decided that I'm just messy, too. And lazy. And a procrastinator.

The last thing I want to do is spend my precious time cleaning. Of course, I get really embarrassed when someone comes over and the house is a disaster.

I'll pull out my flylady notebook if you will...

Tori :) said...

I'm the same way. Yesterday I had a meeting at my house and I thought I had already "picked up" and that the house was looking good. Well, Sei got up and immediately started cleaning where I had already "cleaned." Why do even try? I'm no good at it.

Amanda said...

At least you are out having fun instead of sitting on the couch reading vampire books while the house turns to shambles around you. But the books were really good!

wendy said...

Mary - I caught John with a permanent marker yesterday. He was decorating his race car (and his shirt and his fingers...)

Nikko - I just checked: This week's zone is the Living Room...

Amanda - my mom was just telling me about those books. I'm going to have to see if our library has them.

Steph said...

I am glad to hear that there are other messy people besides me! Seriously, everyone on my block has a perfectly cleaned house ALL THE TIME except for me. Of course, I like to rationalize that I am outside with my son playing while they clean. I could probably do a little more cleaning at night though...sigh.
I also think Mary is super clean. She and Jessica had the nice, clean room in our apt and Jenica and I had the pigsty. :)
Steph

Super Happy Girl said...

The way I heard it was that there are no messes in the islands, just "fun parties places".

Deanne said...

We have kids....so, alas our work is never done.

Elizabeth-W said...

I'm with Donna--company is what keeps me in line.
I'm a flylady sometimer--I'm hoping with school starting back I can get back on the wagon, too.

Sketchy said...

Messies of the world unite (actually I typed that first as untie, and I'm not sure how that really works, but as a fellow messie I think some how it does.)

Jenn said...

We're TWINS! This is definitely me. But it's so worth the memories. You know they'll never remember the crumbs on the floor. They'll just remember making the brownies, cuddling with mom, and having a blast.