True Friends Will Like Me After Seeing My Mess

When someone walks into my messy house it makes me feel embarrassed, exposed, and ashamed of every bit of fun time I took for myself.  I think those guilty feelings are unnecessary.

I’m not advising you to forget cleaning when you invite someone over.  I’m saying that sometimes it’s good to just say, “Come on in.  This is my home.  This is how I live.”

In high school I checked my hair a lot.  Most high school girls do.  I remember my mother saying, “If they are really your friend they will like you whether your hair is messed up or not.”  Made me think then; Makes me chuckle now.  Now I change it to, “True friends will still like me after they see my messy house.”

I remember a few times when we had friends into our house without a second of clean-up.  I’m glad we did.  Usually they were another family with children close to the same age as our children so they understood.  [The first time they came over it was nice and clean.] You know what?  They’re still our friends.  If anything I think they are closer friends than they would have been if I’d said, “Sorry, we’ll have to stay outside because I didn’t get a chance to clean up.”

I can’t say it didn’t bother me that my house was messy.  But when I look back I first remember the fun we had, the laughter and the food we shared.

I don’t want to say what Erma Bombeck saidI would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained, or the sofa faded.”  I want to invite them over while I can.

Under The Table

This is a public service announcement to tell you to check the underside of your table.

I try to keep the top of my table all shiny and clean.  ”Try” being the key word in that sentence.

Recently I discovered that the underside of the table needs scrubbed.  It was really icky.

Now maybe mine are the only children that put their cheesy chip fingers under the table.  That’s okay.

Maybe I’m the only mother that doesn’t think to wipe under the table each time.  That’s okay too.

Either way I hope your table’s not as icky as mine underneath.

Maybe I’ll just invest in a table cloth.  Then they can wipe their cheesy chip fingers on the cloth instead of the table.

Think it’ll help?

Love This Sign

Make Yourself at Home

CLR Tackle It Tuesday

I received a mysterious box in the mail.  What is it?  The reply, “I don’t know.  It has your name on it.”

It was a bottle of CLR.

And this is the first thing I did with it.

I even read the directions first.  Put my gloves on, sprayed and let it soak.

For the kitchen sink it took 3 sprays and soaks.  Well, I could have just scrubbed and scrubbed, but it was easier to spray, wait, and wipe.

Then the bathroom, which wasn’t as bad.

After I did the faucet I actually used the CLR on the shower floor, the toilet, and the linoleum.

I was able to just rinse it out of the shower, but the floor got sticky and took some extra hands-and-knees time wiping to get all the CLR off the floor.  So I don’t recommend using it to clean the floor.

It did work great on build-up from hard water.

Getting new cleaner was definitely a motivation for me.  My husband will welcome any company that wants to send me more cleaning stuff. ;)

To see what other bloggers did with their CLR visit 5 Minutes For Mom.

Finally Vacuumed The Truck

So, what is it about blogging that makes people tell the whole world weird things? And even more importantly, why do other people read it?

I really can’t say much because I’m in both those categories.

When I read about Shannon’s carnival I thought, “Why not? The Suburban needs cleaned anyways.”

So here is the list of what I removed from our family truck.

  1. Pencil – still sharpened amazingly.
  2. Clifford ball cap
  3. 3 empty drink bottles – from this very afternoon, really.
  4. Dishcloth – doesn’t everyone keep one in their vehicle?
  5. 2 blank and empty CD cases – about these I have no clue.
  6. 3 empty plastic bags – from 3 different stores even.
  7. 1 empty bread bag and the twisty to close it
  8. 1 used tissue
  9. 1 used napkin
  10. Parking ticket from the Farm Show
  11. Little girls white barrette
  12. 2 unopened straws – they were quite bent.
  13. Date card from inside a library book due back Mar 27 – no book though.
  14. Little girls headband – obviously things come off my children’s heads during car rides.
  15. Empty key chain – this one is my fault, I remember switching keys.
  16. Papers including a shopping list, gas receipt and directions; even 7 sheets of blank copier paper.
  17. Lollipop stick

These things stayed in the truck. I didn’t include the glove box or storage compartment between the front seats.

  1. Stroller – necessity.
  2. Umbrella – goes without saying.
  3. Ice Scraper and Brush – if it stays in year round we know where to find it.
  4. Small air compressor
  5. 2 board books
  6. My sunglasses and 3 children’s sunglasses.
  7. Mint gum – yet to be chewed.
  8. Pair of black gloves – for working? I’m actually not sure whose they are or what they are from so I stuffed them back under the seat.

There you have it. Whether you wanted to or not.

There wasn’t anything too gross. That’s one prize I’ll gladly take a pass for.

If you want to read about other people’s dirty vehicles – beats me why you’d want to, but just in case you do – click on the pink car graphic.