I have more important things to do than clean my house. And I think that makes me a fun mum. Would you agree?
The other day, I finally stole some time and vacuumed out my minivan. I was starting to live in fear of someone asking me for a ride.
Not only was there garbage, random hats, a broken umbrella and tracked-in leaves on the floor, there were bits of pretzels and popcorn and some unidentifiable foods stuck between the seat cushions of the middle and back seats. My kids weren’t complaining (which was good, since they were mostly responsible for the mess), but it was crossing the line from messy to unsanitary.
We just aren’t neat people.
Our house is constantly cluttered. It’s not like we don’t ever clean – we do, and we hire people to come and really clean every couple of weeks. But surfaces (tables, countertops, chairs, sofas, floors) get covered (with books, newspapers, magazines, coats, school papers, clothes, toys and various random objects). It’s their natural state. We’re not going to get featured on “The Hoarders” or anything, but it’s a bit chaotic. Not only that, but as the house is old, there’s always something that we are in the midst of fixing. Let’s just say that entropy rules.
With six people (our eldest has moved back in with us), a dog and two cats, clean is hard to come by - at least not without a fair amount of effort. It's totally true that I could come home from work and get everything off the counter and table (again) and clean the bathrooms (again) and yell at the kids (again) to pick up all their stuff, but, well, I'd rather not.
When I was growing up, I spent a lot of time with the Sheehan family. They lived around the corner from us, and their two daughters were the same age as my younger sister. The father was a professor at the local university, and he hired me to come over after school and watch the girls so he could get work done.
I loved that family (I still do). They enjoyed each other and enjoyed life. They laughed a lot, read lots of books, cooked wonderful meals and loved to talk. They made everyone who visited feel welcome and appreciated - including me. It was fun to be there.