Saturday, October 27, 2007

An annoying irony

My house is messy. It's almost always messy. The floors stay pretty clean because there's so much junk on top of them that the dirt can't reach.

But the kitchen. It gets frustrating. This morning, Eric started washing the stuff that can't go in the dishwasher. Zip-lock bags. Reusable plastic containers. Spatulas full of egg. I worked on clearing the crap off the bench. And the crap under the bench. And the crap beside the bench. Eric scoured the counter tops.

It looks much better in there.

But now it smells funny. And that's just wrong. What the hell happened? When you clean, it is supposed to smell better, not worse. We must have hydrated something that had died and dried without odor. But add water, and *PING* it reeks.

Maybe messy isn't so bad.

Well, yeah, it is.

6 comments:

the rotten correspondent said...

There are times I really think you and I are the same person and just don't know it.

Yesterday my dishwasher died. It was, of course, full of (dirty) dishes when it went. I have spent most of the morning washing all the dishes on the counter, sink and table just so I could empty the dishwasher and start on those.

And you know what? My kitchen still looks like shit. The only good thing is at least it's consistent with the rest of the house.

Eric said...

Lot's of studies have shown that single men's living spaces and offices have a lower bacterial count than women. This is because they don't clean as often and therefore don't disturb the heap and let things dry out more.

Amy and I both like a cleaner house and we both want the other to do it. It usually takes a lot of emotional energy to get one of us to start cleaning. Then a call of, "Cleaning frenzy!" echoes through the house and the kids scatter.

Ah, life in the Knapp house, what could be better?

laurie said...

i think eric's on to something--the stirring-up business. better to let sleeping dirt lie.

Amy said...

Proof that a clean house is conducive to a happy life: I made a real meal last night, and everyone ate it, even the cooked carrots, even the spinach lasagna. Of course, the apple cake went, too – all of it.

RC, I am often amazed at the similarities between our lives. I should just direct people to your blog so they can read about my day.

If I didn't have a dime to my name and my dishwasher died, I'd spend money I didn't have to get a new one. I cannot live without a dishwasher. We would never, ever have a clean dish without it. We'd probably use paper everything and stuff an entire landfill ourselves.

Eric, we complement each other well in the filth, grime and clutter departments. Remember the first poem I showed you?

Laurie, sleeping dirt – that's probably scarily accurate. And it definitely gets little molesting around here.

Anonymous said...

My house is constantly a mess. I'm sick of telling the farmer and Amy to tidy up and I don't bother doing it myself unless someone's coming to visit.

I have been to much messier houses that mine, however. This always makes me feel better!

Crystal xx

Amy said...

What kills me is when I go to someone's spotless house and they apologize for it being untidy. Puhleez. And don't they have anything better to do?