Housekeeping

I admit it: I am a slob. I have always been a slob. As a kid, my most common source of conflict with my parents was my incessantly messy room. And it wasn't just a little bit messy. It was can't-even-see-the-carpet (and most of the bed) messy. Occasionally, my mom would get fed up and would tell me to stay in my room until it was clean. Usually, I would just shovel everything into my closet and close the doors. Luckily my parents never looked in there. They might've been buried in an avalanche of junk.

Dramatization

After I moved into a bigger bedroom in the basement, I was slightly better about keeping it clean, but it wasn't really because I had turned over a new leaf. It was for only one reason: bugs. It is a lot harder to hunt down and kill crickets and spiders if they had too many hiding places available.

When I moved out for college, I had to share a room for the first time in my life. Since I had a roommate, I felt obligated to keep things relatively tidy, meaning I would just pile things deeper in my corner instead of letting it spread throughout the room.

My room as I prepared to move out - 2003

Then I got married. Dave is not a slob. He likes things clean and organized. For the sake of our marriage, I have attempted to improve my slovenly habits. I am much tidier than I used to be, but I'm still not up to Dave's standards. I take my shoes off in random places. I pile dirty dishes all over the countertop until guilt (translation=there is no counter space left) compels me to put them in dishwasher. The floor in front of my dresser is generally carpeted with my clothes. I try not to get upset when Dave puts all the clothes from the bedroom floor into the dirty laundry even though half of them are clean (I know which are which).

So when I got up at 7 AM on Valentine's Day to find that Dave had already been to the store to buy me flowers and made chocolate chip banana pancakes, I decided I needed to do something nice for him in return. So I spent the day cleaning. Much to his surprise, he came home from work to find a sparkling kitchen, vacuumed carpets, clean (and folded) laundry, and no clothes on the floor in any of the bedrooms. It was a Valentine's miracle!