OK, before I get into this post, I want to let you know that the friend I’m going to talk about knows that I’m talking about her. In fact, she’s excited about it.
There may be bloggers out there who have to worry about friends and family being upset if they write about them, but I’m not really one of those bloggers.
I do try to be careful, but my main problem is that they complain that I don’t talk about them enough.
Especially my mother and my husband. They’re always coming up with post ideas . . . about themselves.
Really.
Anyway, this post is about my dear “normal” friend whom I’ve written of before. Technically, she’s probably on the other end of the normal spectrum, because she gets a charge out of having (and actually following) a cleaning/organization schedule.
Bizarre, I know.
I’ve spent quite a bit of time in her home, often unexpectedly, and I’ve never, ever seen it in chaos. She errs on the side of throwing too much away, and revels in her nightly dishwashing routine. She’s mentioned the difference between her daily vacuuming and her weekly vacuuming . . . where she moves the furniture.
Seriously.
(I’ve accidentally moved my furniture before, and moved it right back . . . choosing to deliberately delete from my memory what I saw under there.)
Needless to say, we’re the kind of friends who accept each other for our differences. Our big-time differences.
So, when we made a fairly impromptu plan to get together on New Year’s Day this year, she (who knows about the blog and cheers me on in my deslobification process) warned me that she hadn’t been on her normal cleaning routine for the two weeks her kids were out for Christmas break. I laughed and said since it was ME, she didn’t have anything to worry about. I knew there was no way it was as bad as my house would be was after (at least) two weeks of being out of my cleaning routine.
She said, “Oh, of course . . . but I’m just afraid you’ve put me up on a pedestal for being a good housekeeper. I don’t want you to be horrified when you see dust bunnies.”
I said, “Can I bring my camera?”
Her house looked great and clutter-free. But I went searching for those dust bunnies. They weren’t easy to find. I was concerned that this was going to be the “worst” picture I could come up with:
It was in a totally-out-of-the-way corner, behind a couch, where no one would ever even look.
I was getting a little nervous.
But as a slob-blogger in search of an earth-shattering story, I kept looking. In another out-of-the-way corner, I found this:
Aaaaaahhhhh . . . dust bunnies.
Actually, this is mostly due to a hormonal imbalance her dog is going through, but still, I was excited to find it.
Why so excited over someone else’s dust bunnies?
It’s just so nice to know that even people whose homes are always orderly and who don’t experience palpitations at the sound of a door-bell . . . occasionally take a few weeks off from their normal cleaning routine.
It’s also nice that one of those people is a close enough friend to let me post pictures for all the world to see.
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barefootandmarried.com says
I don't know if I've ever commented here before, but I've enjoyed reading your blog for a few months now. I definitely am more on your side of clean-messy spectrum, and also am working on it, more for the sake of my husband, who was raised in a significantly cleaner household, and had a bit of shock after we were married … oops!
Just wanted to say I love that you and your friend are able to appreciate your differences. Cleanliness is a surprisingly divisive factor! I'd love to see some more posts on any issues it might have created with you and "normal" people.
Loving your blog!
Amy says
Love it! I have a good friend like yours who cleans things regularly that I've probably never ever even thought about cleaning. Anyways…I'm always a little embarrassed when she comes over because I know my super clean house is probably the equivilant of her messy house. Good thing she loves me for me. 🙂
Jimmie says
You crack me UP! Did some medium cleaning (not light and certainly not deep) yesterday and thought of you. 🙂 I even changed the vacuum bag and moved some furniture!
Smockity Frocks says
Okay, I'm glad I'm not the only one who has a husband who comes up with all kinds of posts for me to write about HIM! Funny!
Sabrina says
LOL..your so funny! I have been reading your blog for quite sometime. I get a lot of ideas from you. I myself am a SLOB…… I didn’t used to be, when my hubby and I got married (before CHILDREN) the house was spotless and even in the corners, also we had a cat and a dog inside only. I had our 1st daughter she is 11 (pre-teen now) it was clean even after I had her. Something happened after I had our 2nd daughter now 9 yrs., I started to either become lazy or I don’t know what…. I even have a cleaning business and clean for others to make money…LOL. I can’t seem to get on top of my own home. I do laundry (which I HATE) and wash but, it doesnt seem to get folded and put away. Hubby is so used to his clothes not being in the drawer that he will go looking on the couch or dryer for clothing and is surprised if it does make it to his dresser sometimes, LOL. Growing up my mother always had a seemingly clean home to the eye but, I remember she hated to iron so there were always clothes to be ironed in a basket on top of dryer. I don’t remember if our home was spotless but, now that I’m a trained cleaner in business I can spot things in her home that need to be cleaned and she will ask me to come and help her sometimes. I want a spotless home too but, I just can’t seem to get there. You can see my kitchen right off the entry and I’m always upset if someone stops by unannounced. Anyway, I enjoy reading your blog and hopefully I will get my home in order soon.
Cheap&Sweet says
You mean she “Seriously” Moves her furniture that is just weird.
Martha G says
I know this is a couple years late, but I’m reading through your blog from beginning to end and just hit the dust bunny post. I had to laugh because I actually looked under my bed yesterday and didn’t see a dust bunny, but a dust Sasquatch. We have wood floors and 3 (small) dogs. The funniest part was that about 5 months ago we moved the furniture around and I really cleaned the floor. And just after Christmas I stuck the vacuum hose under there and sucked out whatever was living there.
I’m getting up from the computer right now to get the vacuum. The Sasquatch has to be evicted.
Fiona says
Hahaha love it! I looked at the pic and thought “THAT is a dust bunny?? Then what on earth are MINE?” What I vacuumed up yesterday was more like a dust dinosaur! (Four cats…they shed… what can I say?)