Friday, February 6, 2015

To Clean or Not to Clean?

A few months ago I walked into my kitchen and it looked like this:



We hadn't been robbed. I had made dinner and cookies...at the same time. And August helped out by taking a bunch of stuff off the shelves.

When I walked into the kitchen, I just started laughing. I had been in there working for at least an hour, but when I walked out and came back in, I saw what had happened. And it was so funny.

Some people love cleaning. I am not one of those.

On New Year's Eve, I had a big plan to clean my bedroom—the one room in the house where I can close the door and no one has to see, so it never ever gets cleaned. But then, I had a moment of genius remembering the party poppers my sister brought back from England for Christmas a couple of years back and thought I should make some of those.

So instead of cleaning, Penelope and I made confetti.




Oh the irony. I could choose to clean and bless my husband for once by not having an unsettling, tornadic sort of bedroom, but I chose to make something that would ultimately make a huge mess in our house. (There are still bits of confetti in the spare bedroom where we made it, too.)

I'm not sad about that choice. We had a few friends over that night, and actually made it to midnight (first time since P was born). The poppers were the best way I've ever brought in the New Year.


Some people like to clean. Other people clean because they can't function in chaos. I've discovered it's easier for me to live in chaos than to create order. And not that my house is horribly disgusting, it's just not that clean. It takes me longer than other people to clean. And then whatever I do immediately gets undone by my kids. So it all seems pointless.

I prefer to create. But creating makes messes. And I'm ok with that.

There have been times where I have become overwhelmed by the blog world's obsession with having clean, organized, and perfectly decorated houses. It just seems so idyllic. And perfect. So, I would try to maintain the order that appears in a photo (which is actually only representative of one moment of time) and then I would fail.

I know creating order is helpful; I'm not against it. But I had to laugh at this list I saw on Pinterest today:



People seriously disinfect light switches on a weekly basis? Instead, I will play basketball with August, put a puzzle together with Penelope, or clean up breakfast from the table.  And I will revel in strengthened immune systems at our house from light switches that have never been disinfected.

If you are a cleaner, I am so happy for you. You have a gift. And you can share that gift with your messy friends. :)

If you tend to be a little more whimsical and a mess seems to trail behind wherever you are, just know that you are really great, too. Feel free to invite me to your house in the middle of your mess. I won't judge. I will feel at home.