I had a friend over for lunch yesterday. I thought it was supposed to be today, but then I got an email from her on Wed. night asking if we were still on for “tomorrow.”
Uh, sure!
Yesterday and today were both equally fully scheduled, so it really didn’t matter. And hey, I’m so much less paranoid about the dreaded doorbell.
The problem? This is the friend who spoke to my mom’s group about keeping an organized home. She has it down. She even has FOUR kids, and her house is pretty much always perfect. And, she even cleans a few houses on the side.
I heard someone say once that if someone is just coming over as a friend to socialize (as opposed to a real party) you should be okay with letting them see how you really live. For example, the bikes parked in the dining room so they can be used more easily than if they had to be dragged through the house from the garage. I put them up on Sunday nights when we have a group over, but I decided to leave them out yesterday.
Yes, I’m trying to take that advice, since now I feel like I can be proud of the fact that our house looks “lived in” instead of “trashed.”
But then I started to feel funny. We stood in the kitchen talking as I got the kids lunches together, I was much more keenly aware of my crazy-full fridge every time I opened it. I cringed at small, but existent, pile of mail. And then, things started flying through the air. Literally. We didn’t know what it was at first. Then I realized that it was from the ceiling fan that I had turned on for the first time in a week or so, since it was so muggy. Dust was flying all over the kitchen. At that point, any pride I felt that my house was in much better order than it used to be, was gone.
I still have so far to go. A dusty ceiling fan is still at the bottom of my priority list since there are so many places left to declutter. It is far enough down on the list, that I am still very good at ignoring it. I have noticed that it was dusty, but I’ve told myself that no one else would notice. Seriously? I would notice it in someone else’s home.
I’m really completely delusional at times.
Chocobi says
I love your blog! I just discovered it, and am reading it from the earliest posts forward.
One thing I'm dying to understand… How come the bikes can't be kept in the garage and taken out the garage door to be used? Why do they have to be brought through the house? I can't wrap my mind around that scenario. (It's none of my business, I know, but I'm so curious.) Does that mean if you had a snowblower or lawnmower in the garage, it would have to be dragged through the house to be used, too? LOL!
Anyway, I can't wait to keep reading more! You've inspired me to…think more seriously about maybe starting to change my ways. Someday. 🙂
Nony the Slob says
Haha! Go ahead and ask, I don't mind sharing! Our garage is in the back, and we have a short driveway back there and a dangerous alley, so there's really no way for the kids to ride anywhere straight from the garage. So, it's a choice between pushing them through the grass to the front of the house or storing them in the dining room. And by the way, they're in the garage right now, but they aren't being used as much. So that's another reason I guess.
Thanks for commenting, I love comments on older posts!
Maggie says
So I read someone with lots of young kids and homeschooled, can’t remember who, would turn the fan on before dusting, because the fan just wasn’t a priority. Now my problem is dusting isn’t either for me, but it’s higher than the fan. 🙂
shirley says
silly girl! if you just leave the fan on ALL THE TIME like i do, then you don’t have to worry about it. but i must admit…last winter when the inlaws were here visiting, the fan was off and my m.i.l. DID notice the “dust monsters” on the edges of the blades. AND pointed them out. i feel your pain!
ps – i also am reading your blog from the beginning forward. i have to limit myself or i would sit here for HOURS reading! i’m making a list of your “new non-negotiables” that you add each week so i can have some ideas of things to add to my list. i have also started writing a blog/journal whatever, but have not published it anywhere. i have no idea where to begin with that. right now it’s just in “my documents” on my laptop. but even so, just writing it all down as i go is somehow keeping me more accountable. incidentally today is day 3 and it seems like i’ve been going for weeks! was it like that for you in the beginning?
Kristy K. James says
I don’t even want to look at my ceiling fan, though I do try to keep the one in my office sort of dust free. It’s just that I don’t usually notice it until there’s a very visible accumulation…which is almost always when it’s not putting out as much air as it should be. 🙂
I like the attitude one couple I know has. That house is literally nothing but narrow paths through piles and mountains…and would qualify for an episode of Hoarders, only the people on the show would give up and quit because the family that lives there doesn’t like to get rid of anything. They’re my measuring stick for making sure the clutter doesn’t get as bad as it could. Anyway, their opinion is, if you’re coming to criticize my house, we don’t care. If you’re coming to visit because you like us, great!
Charity says
I’ve been reading your posts from the beginning, for the last few days and have felt like commenting many times (mostly, in awestruck wonder that I’m not alone). However, I’m more of a blog lurker, than a blog commenter. But this post was too much. I had a similar fan incident, involving our regular game night with some close friends. My husband, for some unknown reason, decided to switch the direction the blades were spinning, sending dust clumps flying all over our dinner. I was beyond mortified and of course, blamed my husband. I’d worked so hard to build the illusion that I was a decent housekeeper and he shattered it with one small flick of a switch. How dare he try to keep our guests cool!
Thank you, so much, for chronicling your journey. Your brutal honesty is causing me to admit some painful truths about myself. How can I be a slob, when I love having things neat and clean?! How can I possibly be lazy, when I stay at home with 4 small children, get up at 4 or 5am, most mornings and hardly feel like I get 5 minutes to myself all day?? How is that possible? As much as it hurts to admit it (I, seriously, have tears in my eyes. So dumb), I may be a bit of both. Hey, acceptance is the first step to change, right? Or something like that. Thanks again. I’ve got some more reading to do, now…
Dana White says
Welcome! And thank you so much for this comment! It means so much to know sharing my struggles (that I truly thought were ONLY my struggles) can help others.
Twyla Hajdukiewicz says
Like so many others, I am reading backwards from the beginning. I haven’t posted till now, though I’ve been tempted, but this one just gets me. I, too, have a ceiling fan story, but mine has a happy ending. When I first married my hubby four and a half years ago, he made a comment about how dusty the ceiling fan was and why didn’t I clean it. I said I knew I should, but I hated to have to get out the ladder and reach way over my head only to have the dust fall in my eyes. He said it wasn’t so big a deal and proceeded to reach up – NO LADDER – and simply wipe the dust off with a damp paper towel. It’s been his job ever since!
Dana White says
I love it!!
Livvy says
A FlyBaby had a good tip for this – use a pillowcase to wipe the blades and it traps all the dust inside.
Elisabeth says
I recently had 2 friends over to discuss a serious problem we were having. I needed to step out for a moment and jokingly warned that they better not be looking in my underwear drawer when I was gone. Lo and behold I came home to find my pretty panties hanging from the ceiling fan. It wasn’t until that evening that I realized, “Oh, no! Now I have to dust my panties.” Good times!