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Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Maybe It's Genetics...

...that keeps my children from being more tidy than I'd like. Don't get me wrong, I know they are kids, and will play, etc. But honestly? I think my kids are slobs!! I can't keep the main area of my house clean for one day without my kids making it look like a bomb hit it ..... here's what some of my house looks like right now:

My Living Room


The Dining Room (Emily at the table)


Now, I know the kids have got something against them that keeps them from not being somewhat "clean" players -- MY genes.

Yep, I am a slob. I always have been. Evidence of my sloppines you ask? Here's my desk - which hasn't been cleaned properly for about a month. and I just did a tidy up on it last week:



But eventually I will take a look around my living space, and just get FED UP and clean like a maven. I mean, I clean. But the problem is, it takes a LOT of motivation to get my ass in gear to do it. My husband is not much better. We were made for each other: Two slobby peas in a messed-up pod. But even he gets sick of the mess before I do, more often than not. So I clean to shut him up. My children, however, do not seem to follow this little characteristic.

Emily, my oldest, will complain to me when I tell her to clean up her messes:

"But Mama, I'm too tired! It's so hard!"

My response?

"Well, maybe I need to throw out your toys/papers/clothes and then you won't make such a mess!!"

This is often followed by shous of:

"NO! I'll clean it up Mama!"

Which is then followed by tears, and one or two things removed from the floor. Then the whole process starts all over.

Kaitlyn, well, she can barely put 5 words into a tangible sentance. I can barely keep her from running around my house nekkid all the time. Asking her to clean, no, asking her to do anything I ask of her, is like trying to ask a local where a clean bathroom is in Mexico: you're not gonna get him to understand what you want.

Like I said, I'm no June Cleaver. I certainly don't clean as often as she did. And it'll be a cold day in Miami Beach when I wear 3-inch heels to vaccuum the rug in the living room. But while musing over the ruins caused by Hurricanes Emily and Kaitlyn, I had a thought: my mom was a slob too. And I'm a slob. So maybe it's not really their fault.....but then why do I get the bug to clean, almost obsessively to the point where I will spend an hour just organizing my food pantry because the dishes and counters are clean and I want everythign to look perfect? Why don't my kids get that? Did my mom ever get that? I don't remember her ever being a tidy person. Our house always looked like a bomb hit it. It was embarrassing. But I never did much to improve it myself, either.

Ya know what? I have a friend, John, who has the uncanny ability to drop by on his lunch hour when my house is looking it's ABSOLUTE worst. I feel the familiar sting and burn in my cheeks just thinking about my reaction to openeing the door and seeing him on my stoop. Of course I invite him in, and apologize for the mess -- but I don't think he's YET to see my house clean. Seriously....

My point, and I am pretty sure I have one, is that I think my mother's side has always been slobs. I think that my kids' kids will be slobs. And their kids, and their kids.... I can only hope that the "get a fire under the ass and start cleaning" gene will eventually kick in, and like me, they will be very thorough about their cleaning -- once they get around to it!

Now to light that fire......anyone got a match?

0 flame(s) added to the fire: