I don't do Windows

Or....toilets? And the hair that collects in the tub drain? I sort of wretch when I have to clean it. And I hate cleaning the sink. Or that gunk that gathers around the edge of the sink. The microwave is really gross, too, and I'm not very good at cleaning that, either.

Oh hell.

I'm just a bad housekeeper. Anyone who's been to my house knows I'm not a cleaner. I'm not DIRTY, necessarily, I'm just not all that bothered by leaving the dishes in the sink after I've cooked a big supper. I vacuum...just probably not often enough. And I really don't dust. We don't really make our beds, either. And I don't really get all worked up about the boys' rooms....or my room for that matter.

I do blame my mother. Of course. Most of what's wrong with me is her fault. No, seriously, it is. Especially the cleaning part. Growing up I had chores, but not the house keeping kind. I was so much older than my siblings that most of my chores revolved around being Mom #2. (Much to the chagrin of my siblings, too.) My mom says she's not a big clean freak because she grew up in a home like that and she totally rebelled when she had her own home.

She'd get soooo mad when she'd have us help clean the house and I'd say "Is grandma coming over or something?" That made her nuts.

But the really good thing about all this is that I married a guy who IS a good house cleaner! He knows when to vacuum, mop the floor, clean the toilet (which is good because it sure seems like the boys in my house make the toilet area VERY dirty...if you have men in your home, you know what I mean) he also scrubs a mean tub...

Mostly it's cool because he doesn't really get on my case about my own poor cleaning habits. Maybe it's cuz he knows it wouldn't do him any good anyway!

Pretty much the rule at our house is if you don't like the way someone does something, it's best just to do it yourself. I think it's a pretty damned good rule too.

In my defense, I will say that I'm the one who fixes stuff around here. I can change spark plugs and oil in our cars...when the lawnmower won't start, he calls me outside to help fix it. And I really LOVE to use the snowblower. Of course, there's never enough snow to blow around here but...

I know that my "payback" will be that my boys will have significant others who are total neat freaks and probably won't ever want to set foot in my messy house.

Maybe by then I'll have the house cleaned up enough to hire a cleaning service.