Some thoughts on housework...

Confession time. I'm a lax housekeeper. I see it as one of my primary duties as a SAHM (stay at home mom...took me a while when I first saw that too), but if truth be told, I certainly don't keep up with it with any sort of verve or urgency. This is in direct contrast to how I was raised. My mother, another SAHM, was a committed and devout, details oriented housekeeper. That is, until she finally got to an age where she hired a cleaning lady. Honest to goodness, half of the house I grew up in looked like a magazine spread. It was impeccably decorated and impeccably kept, mostly because no one was allowed in those rooms. You know those houses where they have a formal living room that no one sits in and you're just supposed to hurriedly run through on the way to your room? Yeah, that was my house.

This was my psychic landscape as well. Over the years, it's crept into more and more of my subconscious, taking over those parts of the brain that are well suited to adolescent rebellion and keeping all of your worldly belongings in a heap on the floor. Things really started to change in university, where I roomed with perhaps the most disorganized person I've ever met. In first year I ended up with two roommates in residence, one of whom was prone to walking on her bed with her shoes on (books on a shelf up above and she only 4' 10") and a wide variety of food stuffs to be found in amongst her bedding. Whenever she left for a weekend, my other roommate and I, tidy organized people that we were, would pounce on her third of the room and clean it up. I don't think this ever sat well. In any case, my little corner of the universe at that time was always swept, mopped, be-postered and pretty smelling. It was then that I started making my bed on a regular basis. It just calmed me down to come back from my classes (when I went) to see the quilt my grandma made and the afghan my mom made smoothed out and welcoming me to blow off my reading and instead sit down and watch some Star Trek.

Now I live in an unfinished and in perpetual renovation house devoid of baseboard in most rooms or real flooring in the entire upstairs, half finished moldings around the windows and more dog hair and claw scratches than I had ever anticipated living with...ever. Yet my expectation of my home is to live in something resembling House and Home. Thank you mother. I continually endeavour to lower my expectations. In doing so, I've come up with some basic rules of thumb for me to live by.

1) Whenever I get cranky about having to do housework, which we've already established is not often, I try to remember the kind of effort it would've taken to do 100 years ago and then I calm down about it. I put the clothes in the washer and walk away. An hour later, I come back and put them in the dryer, then walk away. I put the dishes in the dishwasher, set the 4 hour delay button and go to bed. When I wake up there are clean dishes (this NEVER ceases to amuse me). So all in all, it's really nothing to get so uptight about.

2) My benchmark for cleanliness is Hoarders. Have you ever watched that show? These people who are literally burying themselves alive with crap (sometimes, literally)? If I can stave off that particular outcome, I think I'm meeting my quota.

3) Really, no one in this house seems to really give a sh*t about this except me. I'm not counting the little one or the dog, so we really know who I'm talking about here. He never complains, so I guess I shouldn't get so bent out of shape over it.

4) When things get to the point where they start to make MY skin crawl, it's time to break out the Lysol.

5) Other than keeping the kitchen and the bathrooms at peak cleanliness at all times, everything else can wait until I have company coming.

This, of course, is all just a series of elaborate excuses to create more time for crafting. Hence;



I'm addicted to granny squares lately. I had some acrylic scraps and I broke into them to try out this rainbow-y blanket. This took me two evenings to do, which is why I heart crochet so much. I've used up as much of the scraps as I can for this, so now I can throw the rest away with a light heart.



I can't stop spinning!! Seriously. I think I've done nerve damage. Both my legs feel tingly all the time. But still, I can't stop. Chicken Betty sent me some fiber eons ago and it's so lovely that it practically spins itself. I've spun up about 400+ yrds already and have roughly 5 oz left to do. I think I'm really starting to get a hang of this too.



Little A is really into ballerinas right now, and on my latest trip to the fabric store I found this ballerina themed flannel. Gimme a bunch, please. I had hoped to make jammies and a fitted sheet for her crib, but instead bought enough for jammies and a top sheet. This is her throwing a mild tantrum over Idon'trememberwhat. But she was still for about ten seconds, so I managed to get a photo in.

This last one comes with a warning. Upon viewing, you may be overcome by an insatiable urge to make this. Just sayin'.



I got this through the Martha Stewart Craft a Day email. I pretty much get only newsletters in my inbox anymore. Anyhow, this looked irresistible so I had to try it. Felted sweater teacup pincushions. Really too easy. I raided Frenchy's for all the wool sweaters they had and came up with these two...so far. I still need some i-cord trim for the saucers, but really, in an evening (sans i-cord mind you...I did those another evening), they were done. And adorable. They're from designer Betz White.

Speaking of housework, I've gotta go figure out what to make for dinner. That's a whole other post.

Until later...