A Clean House

I have started to clean my house.

I know that may not be a huge statement for most, but for those who know me, or by rare occasion have actually stepped into my incredibly humble abode, you realize how huge of a statement that really is.

Now, I was not raised in a dirty or messy home. Nor was I raised with bad cleaning habits.
Every Saturday was cleaning day, growing up. My room was cleaned, my laudry was washed, and we (my brother, sister and I)had to pick a portion of the house to pick up, wipe down and vaccuum.

Those particular duties have not followed me, however, as I have moved on into adult-hood. I am not comfortable in a spic-and-span home. I like a "lived-in" feel.
Yet, I taken that to extremes.

I can leave my dishes in the sink for extended periods of time, let my laundry pile up and let my living room become a virtual dumping ground for anything that happens to wander into it.

My excuse, as always, is that I am too busy to deal with it. I leave my home in the early morning hours between 7:00 and 8:00am and make it back to darken my doorway somewhere between 9:00 and midnight...sometimes later.

I was accused once by a neighbor of renting an apartment for storage, since I seemed never to occupy the space.

Interestingly enough, on my road to self discovery I am learning some things about myself.
One of these is the realization that my house is a direct reflection of my mental mindset.

I have found that when I harbor negative emotions, when I have things that I don't want to deal with, when I have trouble facing certain things, it is then that my house (not to mention my car) are the messiest.
I treat my house the same way I treat my mental/emotional/spiritual "home".
I ignore it. I keep it a mess. I choose not to look at it.

The problem with that logic is, well, it just keeps getting messier. These things don't just go away (duh), they just keep getting messier.
It starts to get inconvenient. I trip over things. I can't find what I am looking for, and it invites other things into the mess. Spiders, ants, mice.

In the "cleaning process" of my m/e/s "home", I am finding that I am losing tolerance of the mess in my house.
I notice things that I normally wouldn't. I take the time to pick up things that I normally let lie. I have a desire to do my dishes right away rather than "save them for later". And I am starting to open the door to let visitors in.

Now, my house is not spotless. I doubt it ever will be. Like I said, I like a "lived in feel". Yet I am tiring of old messes. I want to clean things up right away rather than let things lie. I want to catch and do away with creatures that sneak into my home, rather than let them lurk where they're not supposed to be.

This post, in and of itself, is a confession and an admission of the messes in my life.
When my car is so messy that I can't let one person in. When my doors stay locked and my blinds stay closed.
These are the times when I am messiest. When I refuse to look at the garbage that I have collected.

Thank you to those of you who have unwittingly helped me in the cleaning process. Those of you who have commented on my vehicle looking like a traveling yard sale. Those of you who have darkened my doorway, pounding on the door until I answered..even though the conversations took place on the porch or through the door's small window.

I will soon have an empty couch to sit on and a clean dish to eat from. And a welcome mat at the door.

You have been blessings to me in more ways than you will ever know and I love you.