I am a pathological picker-upper. I can’t abide seeing things that are out of place in my surroundings. Even at other people’s homes during the later hours of a party, I’m the one you’ll see wandering about collecting lip-sticked wineglasses and empty chip bowls and carrying them to the kitchen, because I just can’t stand it any more. If you’re really lucky, I’ll sometimes even WASH THEM.
In this respect, having children has been a huge test of willpower and endurance for me, given their tendency to liberally cover the floor with lego or plastic animals or paper and leave it LYING THERE FOR DAYS. Every once in a while, I think to myself, after walking by something for the 2nd time that isn’t where it belongs: “I wonder if I just ignore that how long it will stay there before the person who owns it puts it away?” However, I have it on fairly good empirical authority that the answer is: TO INFINITY and beyond.
Are you a picker-upper, too? If you’re not, is there someone else who fulfulls that function in your home? And if not, HOW DO YOU STAND IT?
Yesterday, while Karin was making her after-dinner ice-cream-soup
Karin: *addressing both of us* Mama, Papa, which one of you is the boss in the family?
Anders & Liz: *look at each other with raised eyebrows*
pause while Karin looks back and forth
Liz: Why in the world are you asking?
Karin: Well, because mama is the one who is all Go pick up your room and go feed the fish and go take a bath and…
Anders: *conspiratorially to Karin* Notice who answered first?
Liz: Shuddup
Anders and the kids are going on a camping trip tomorrow night with 2 of his good friends and their kids. All of the mothers were asked if they wanted to go, but to a (wo)man, the answer was “no, thanks, have fun!” My plans for the weekend involve sleeping in, playing music really loud, reading and not having to wrestle the computer away from my children to work on the website project.
Oh, and by the way, in case you were following along, The Long Winter is FINALLY over.