Confessions of a Clutterbug

Confessions of a Clutterbug:



1. I am not very good at keeping house.



2. I am pretty okay with not being very good at keeping house.



3. I have saved almost every greeting card that has ever been given to me since about the 8th grade. This also applies to ticket stubs but I am getting better about purging those.



4. I am VERY good at the 10-minute tidy: aka: shove as much in the closet and under the bed as possible. I perfected this maneuver in high school when my parents said that I had to have my room clean before I could go out with my friends. Sorry, Mom and Dad; but at least the floor was clean! I would also like to send a shout out to all of those friends who would actually come and help me clean before we were going out because they knew that was the fastest way to get out of the house. You know who you are! :)



5. I am still holding on to some souvenier packets of sugar from my Spring Break trip to Paris that I took my Senior year of high school. You never know when you are going to need to utilize your emergency stash of imported sweetners!



6. I have acquired quite an eclectic collection of matchboxes over the years; which I hope does not decide to spontaneously combust some day. Especially since I just remembered that at the moment it is in Maddy's closet! Yikes.



7. I believe that dusting and vacuuming are over-rated. I will blame this one on my allergies and that anytime I partake in either of the aformentioned chores I am left with a sad sniffle and stuffy snout.



8. I threw away two bags of Halloween candy yesterday after getting a hankering for something sweet only to discover that most of the contents were inedible or tasted/smelled like pesticide. I then realized that half of the candy was from two years ago. This is a true story but at least I lived to tell the tale.



9. If you have ever traveled anywhere with me at any time no matter how short the distance or how brief the trip, you know that there is a good chance that if the need arises for ANYTHING random, I will have it. I have a not-so-secret fear of being away from home and needing something and not having it. And to all of those who have traveled with me, especially those of you who have endured countless hours in the car surrounded by my extensive stash of emergency sewing kits, medical kits, cordless butane curling irons, coils to heat my cup-o-soup, etc. and having to assist me with suitcases bigger than I am, THANK YOU!

Sub-confession #9: I have had more than one occasion when my suitcase came out onto the receiving carosel adorned by a "HEAVY" label fashioned in an exceedingly glaring and derogatory shade of floursecent orange.



10: I actually let my mother-in-law dust my blinds when she visits!





Whew! I can't tell you how liberating it feels to get all of that off of my chest. I feel less cluttered already! Now before any of you don your haz-mat uniforms, call CPS, or nominate me for Clean Sweep, let me assure you, I am trying to reform myself. I struggle daily with feelings of inadequacy for not keeping a tidier domicile. Some of my friends make it looks so easy. Allbeit, many of them are able to "outsource" some of those duties and more power to them. Believe me, I would if I could. Anyway, I am tired of feeling like a failure just because I didn't make my bed today or because I left my breakfast dishes in the sink until I heard my husband's car pulling into the garage after work. Isn't it more important to concern myself with cultivating a home of love and peace and righteousness than concerning myself with not cultivating certain mystery strands of bacteria? I know the old saying, "Cleanliness is next to Godliness" and I do try to be a good steward of what the Lord gave me but I am only one woman. Mortal and imperfect. A friend sent me an annonymous saying a while back and I think it is going to be my new mantra. I am determined to have it hanging as a reminder in every room of my house. This is what it says:



Hope my children look back on today
And see parents who had time to play
Cooking and cleaning can wait till tomorrow
For children grow up, I've learned to my sorrow
So settle down cobwebs, dust go to sleep
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

It's so true!

Okay, now that I have gotten all of that out, maybe I will shut 'er down and go pick up a bit. Later!