How Clean is Your House?

"Why is your house always so immaculate?" Donna asked as she stepped inside. This was the third or forth time she'd been to my house, all of them being this year. 

It didn't take me a second to reply, "Well, for one thing, I don't have six kids."

It's just the two of us now, so when I clean a room chances are it's going to stay that way until either he or I do something to change it. And I work from home, which allows me to run a sweeper or clean a toilet at any given moment. My friend has six kids (four at home), several dogs and cats, and works a full time job as a nurse. And she's a pastor's wife. #PlateFull

I think the six kids thing gives her a free pass for years.

Sometimes it's easy to see someone else's life situation as an unattainable goal. We look at our own situation and see a big red failure stamp on it. It's not wrong, it's not a failure, it's just different.

There's a time in all of our lives when we will have a clean house. Honestly, I'd rather have my kids at home these days than a clean house. It's too quiet here. My daughter married and left me for a man at the very end of last year. It's been very quiet ever since. I miss the noise that was proof of her living here. I miss the shoes left on the living room floor. The dirty dishes in the sink. The makeup on the bathroom counter top. All those things that used to drive. me. crazy. I miss them all.

Then there's mealtime. Cooking for two just isn't as fun as cooking for four, or even three, was. I totally understand why people older than me go out to eat a lot. I'm there. 

Not old. 
Totally not old. 

But there wanting to go out to eat a lot. Half a package of noodles feeds us now, and we still have leftovers. I miss cooking the whole pound of pasta. I haven't fully adjusted my grocery shopping down to accommodate just two people and a dog. Yes, I want to eat all of the vegetables, but my new reality tells me that we will not eat the Brussels sprouts, kale, zucchini, and fennel in one week. So now I buy one *major veggie a week. It's a sad day in the produce department.

But my friend Donna, she can buy all the vegetables.

So while I have a clean house, it's a quiet house. I do love me some solitude, but the quiet is so empty. 

I think it always looks greener on the other side. Until you get to the other side and you realize how green your grass truly was. 




I still get all of the regulars. No need to worry, we are not vegetable deprived.