Go Ahead, Hit Me Right Between The Eyes

A Facebook friend recently shared an article called "10 Great Ways To Be An Unhappy Mom." A couple of these really hit home for me, especially number 3:

"Base your contentment on the state of your house. I like a tidy house. I feel more on top of my game, at ease and productive once it is relatively “clean.” But I would have gone insane (and taken everyone with me) if I held onto the idea that I could only be content once everything was “in its place.” Kids exist to dispel this notion. Likewise, feeling the need to apologize for the state of things upon welcoming unannounced visitors is like saying, “I’m sorry you have to see that we live in this house.”  The notion that homes must look like display windows before they are presentable to guests is a crying shame in a culture so starved for community."

Guilty as charged, unfortunately.  I'm the crazy woman who cleans the house before anyone comes over, including my best friends, babysitters, and the cleaning lady (back when we had one.)  No joke.  Even in the absence of visitors, I can only take so much disorder before I go ballistic and start ordering all of my minions (aka Himself and the kids) to start tidying up their crap before it all gets tossed.

I am descended from a long line of Italian neat freaks.  My grandmother raked her shag carpets multiple times a day, for crying out loud.  It's in my genes to prefer order, but that just isn't realistic in a house with three kids and a dog and a crazy schedule.  Piles of paper accumulate on flat surfaces, and dust bunnies that are 90% dog hair in corners, and spiderwebs on the ceiling, and this is the way it is.  Eventually I will give in and accept that I am doing my best with the time and energy that I have and that my best is not going to involve a perfectly clean house at any point in the foreseeable future.  I hope I will, anyway.

Thinking about this because a new friend and her family are coming over for dinner on Saturday.  I've never seen her house, and so have no idea how ours compares.  My goal for the evening is to spend more time enjoying my friends and less time worrying about the house looks.  I'll let you know how well I succeed with that.

Wish me luck!