This Damn House

Part of the challenge of making and keeping our house in good condition is that none of our five household members are natural neatniks. The Mr. and I were able to sorta keep the house presentable before we added a gaggle of children to the mix. Now...it's hopeless.

Sometimes I worry that we are fundamentally broken, because everyone else's house we go into seems reasonably neat and tidy. Whereas ours...not so much.

But it also occurs to me that I may not see most people's homes in their natural state. Whenever we have guests, we tidy up. Of course, our "tidy" looks like other people's "hurricane just came through", but still... if we tidy up before visitors see the place, maybe other people do too. Maybe most people only show their true houses to their most intimate friends and relations.

If that's true, then I say, to heck with it! Let our true domiciliary natures shine through! Fellow pre-visitor-tidiers, do not be ashamed of your imperfect housekeeping! Let us expose our shameful habits to the light of day and show the world how we really live!

I'll start with a few pictures taken on a random non-visitor non-tidy day here at This Damn House.

	First a picture of my very own office. I'd like to note that, whatever other cleanliness sins I have, I do not leave my wet towels on the floor. Instead, I carefully drape them over the first raised surface I see. Then, when I take my next shower, I can't find it, so I get a clean one, and drape that, too, over the nearest surface. In this way I have carefully blanketed most of my house in clean towels.
	Next up is our kitchen. The bright sunny ambiance is courtesy of a skylight (not shown). What is shown is the fact that it is physically impossible to keep our counters clear for more than 37 seconds. Seriously! I will be alone in the house, cleaning the kitchen, and clear the counters; I step out of the room for a moment, and when I return, they are covered with piles of dishes...sometimes dishes I don't even recognize. I'm absolutely certain there's a portal to another universe right in our kitchen, and some other family is depositing their dirty dishes onto our counters!
	Shown here is a combination bed room and office. Ignore the laundry and you'll note the gorgeous eco-friendly cork floors we installed last year, the tres hip Ikea bookshelves, and the.... What's that? You can't ignore the laundry? Well, are we just so special! Maybe I'll bring our readers to your house next time.