Anti-Ode to Cleaning

Growing up, my mother's house was immaculate. I-m-m-a-c-u-l-a-t-e.
I am so not my mother's daughter. Not only did the apple fall a ways from the tree, it just went ahead and rolled on down the hill too.

We are selling our house. In the short, this means that at any given moment my cell phone has the potential to ring and some mysterious voice from the Great Reality Torture Center for Chronically Cluttered Homes (G.R.T.C.C.C.H) will ask if they can show our abode in about an hour-ish....Right. Through a mix of frantic scrambling, amazing husband rescues and the afore mentioned mama, we have, by and large, been able to throw things together just in the nick of time. AND herd the three to four (depending on the day) wee lads and lasses off on some adventure and out of the (hopefully) well groomed hairs of yet another set of potential buyers:)

In face of such a large number of last minute, grasp-your-mop-and-scrub panic attacks, you might think I'd learn to maintain the home front a touch better. Yes? Natural assumption. And in my defense, the house isn't ridiculously dirty. It just tends a bit more towards a battlefield meshed with a daycare center:)

There are actual, real-live people who confess a LOVE of cleaning. Such people make me nervous--but they do exist. People with a contented, warm, fuzzy feeling after a day spent arm deep in bleach and grime (that warm, fuzzy feeling is probably a result of too much bleach inhalation and wrinkled finger nubs...alternately, such people most likely aren't faced with alarming probability of toe-puncture-by-stray-block with each jaunt across the living room.)

Contemplating that, I've devised a list. A list which shall (potentially) resolve me of all guilt and lead you, dear reader, to a greater understanding of why not all things sanitized are the most wondrous.

Genna's List of Contentment Giving Things:

1) Watching your children discover puddles, books, a new idea, God
2) Inventing a victory dance after crossing your son's Hot Wheels strewn room w/out twisting an ankle.
3) Discovering your beta fish loves sugar ants...and feeding them to him :)
4) Successfully convincing your man that nothing is hotter than a dude who cleans the toilet!
5) Finding a valid reason for staring at your cuticles for 5 hours rather than clean the front windows.

Be warm and fuzzy: Gen