Terrified of Dirt

Okay, I'm not really scared of dirt. However, my mother is coming to visit. And I'm not a great housekeeper. I'm not the world's worst housekeeper, not by any stretch of the imagination. But I just don't like cleaning (granted, who does?), and I find things to do to avoid it. Like type up blog posts, or something.

However, like I said, my mother is coming to visit. So, of course, I have to clean. I spent this evening in the kitchen, doing dishes and trying to figure out where to put all the stuff that accumulates on the counter. Organic Guy was a great help, and organized the liquor and wine bottles. What a guy. Of course, he also brought home daffodils for me tonight, so he's really completely off the hook. Organic Kid cleaned her bedroom (whatta gal), and helped a bit in the kitchen too. And she got all her homework done early, and cleaned out her snake's aquarium, so she's definitely in my "great kid" column right now.

Ya know, the funny thing is, I'm struggling with how much cleaning I should do. I have a difficult relationship with my mom. I'm hoping this visit will mend some fences, will open up lines of communication. But at the same time, I don't know how much I want to disrupt my normal routine. I mean, I do laundry so that we have clean clothes, and get those put away. I do the dishes and wipe down counters and sweep and vacuum. But if books or papers get piled on the counter, I don't worry about it too much, and put them away when I get a chance. If those little pan thingies under the burners aren't sparkling, I don't worry about it. I clean them when I clean the oven. I pile newspaper on the corner of the fireplace, and take out whole bunches of recycling at once. I don't stress over dusting. Actually, I consider dust a historical reference point. If I dusted, how would I know where things go? Not dusting leaves a good reference! I keep the food put away, but the counter may have a toaster and a cutting board and a blender on it. Right now, I'm thinking I should clean it all. Everything should sparkle. But I also want my mom to accept my life as it is.

So. I think I'll just keep doing what I'm doing....avoid it all while creating a new blog post. Elegant answer to a unsolvable situation, n'est-ce pas?