Tuesday, March 25, 2008

The Truth Shall Set You Free


Mel over at Pipe Dreams and Purling Plans brought this to my attention last week - it's a new thing called "Messy Tuesday" where we all come clean (but only in the figurative sense) about our 'unideal' homes. She posted her first Messy Tuesday today, and luckily I will never have trouble coming up with something to post on at least ONE day a week.




Just inside the front door. Note the bits of leaf and dirt, bag of thrift store donation, bike helmet, recyclable grocery bags, assorted shoes, and scuffed-up flyer.



The stereo cabinet. The perplexing thing about this mess is that it is so obviously a quick and easy clean. And yet, there it sits. (Let's conjugate that verb: It sits, it has sat, it will sit.)



The top of the cedar chest in my bedroom. Clean, folded towels (they are on about day 8 on the chest), a coin belt (day 7), crumpled discarded clothes (various vintages). At bottom left-centre you can also spot the end of another laundry basket which is full of odds and ends from a crisis clean a few weeks ago. You know the kind of thing - grab a laundry basket and run through the living room, sweeping everything off surfaces and into the basket, deposit the basket in a bedroom and shut the door, with the vague intention of sorting it all out later.

Mel says I should do something that's NOT cleaning and tell you about it, so I will go have a cookie and read some more of Time Will Darken It while the kids are watching Max and Ruby.

Man I have a great life.

Thanks Mel.

Edit: Are you guys serious? You don't think that's messy?! Okay, then what about THIS:
Floor in the corner of the bathroom. NOTE THE DIRT.
Or THIS:
Laundry room.
Is that better?
I've got one awful picture I'm holding in abeyance, but please don't make me show you a flash photograph of the floor behind my toilet. Please.

20 comments:

Gwen said...

Whoa Nelly - THAT'S messy? Come on... you can do better than that. Show us a closet. ;D

I might do this one: my shoddy housewifery is well demonstrated by the laundry area and the playroom closet. Or should it be the basement? So many options... stay tuned.

Gwen said...

That was a really creepy comment, and the sentence structure is baffling. Pardon me.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, those were pretty tame. You're building up to it, hey?

I saw this when Mel linked to it in the comments last week, then forgot about it. Perhaps I will join in today, there's certainly lots to take pictures of :-)

Shan said...

I have a feeling a lot of people will have the same reaction you guys did. Look at the comments on Mel's post for today - they're all similar. "That isn't messy - I can show you messy!"

Anonymous said...

When I looked around and took some pictures for it, I felt like people would say the same thing to me. Then I realized - maybe it is more our feelings in inadequacies in dealing with our messes that exaggerate them in our minds. Odd, isn't it?

Anonymous said...

I love the concept but am unsure whether I am brave enough to photograph the contents of my own brand of mess. It's a bit more, um, disgusting than yours.

Jo said...

I think I have enough messy pictures of my house to have messy everyday blog feature. I have no clue how some people keep up with the cleaning.

Dave Hingsburger said...

Messy?? Messy??? Hmmmm girl I thought you had a university education ... it's not MESSY ... it's 'comfortably lived in' ... it sports a 'well loved and well used ambiance' ... it resembles a 'hearty return to the days of peasantry' ... it could be a 'country clean' ... or perhaps a room designed by family ... it definately is a rebellion against Martha Stewart's Stepford Clones ... and finally ... a booby trap (was that your bra in the picture) for night burglars. There ... my home is NEVER messy, but it's sometimes, rustic.

Stace' said...

Love this! I'm doing this next week when I get back from Charleston, SC.

Jenny said...

The last picture looks about like our basement!!
I suck at laundry...will take a pic tonight to show how bad I suck!!LOL....

Shan said...

HA HA HA HA!!! DAVE!! "booby trap", I'm DYING here.

No, that was Mr HSB's bra.

Just kidding....

....smirks.....

Anonymous said...

I love you, thank you for adding the extras :)

Mine are tame, too, no real dirt in them. Perhaps the hot water tank closet, which is also the cat box room .... or maybe not.

Dave Hingsburger said...

Gwen, I've hesitated asking, but 'who's nelly?' You mention her often.

mel said...

Can I just say without sounding creepy that I love you, and your commenters? Seriously. I'm supposed to be cleaning my messy desk at work right now and my 2 minute diversion has turned into 10 minutes of rolling laughter - you're all going to get me in trouble!

I can see this degrading into a sort of excellent messy competition ;) And I'm completely stealing Dave's description of "rustic" - appropriate as the dead leaves are now starting to pile up at the door.

I'm ok with being messy & happy, I just haven't reached the point where I can be unapologetic about it. My grandmother was a homemaker (and a brilliant one) her house was always in impeccable condition and I think she was very happy doing it - I shudder to think of the eyeball I would receive if she were here to walk through my front door!

Annalea said...

This is strangely appropriate for me this morning, since I'm about to go do some seriously FAST cleaning for a real estate showing at 10am. The trick is, I can't stash things much, since they'll be looking in the closets! ack.

I do have one secret weapon, though . . . the back of the 4Runner and minivan! ;o) (That's where the laundry usually goes.)

Off to fight a good fight . . .

Kristine said...

Seriously, I adore you (and this Mel person with whom I am not acquainted) for posting this. I think my camera may have to participate. :)

Shan said...

I just reread "a hearty return to the days of peasantry" and now I'm laughing all over again at this mental image of a chunk of cheese on my table with a dagger sticking out of it, maybe a few flies buzzing around. I could be the slatternly wench standing with frizzy hair, dirty apron, and arms akimbo.

Kris said...

snarkity snark... I know I can beat all y'all hands down. I can't remember the last time the bathroom was truely cleaned. 50 year old grout people. 50 year! And the basement? Well, let's just say that I am looking forward to the yard sale this summer and off-loading a pile of crap. If it doesn't sell it gets donated.

Susan said...

Oh I love it! Messy Tuesdays - do we get more points or more readers or more comments the messier we are?

(...and does my husband's video-game room count as 'my' mess???)

Finally - a concept in knitting blogland that I can totally accomplish while simultaneously doing what I really want to do - KNIT!

Man, this is too easy. It feels like cheating.

Tabatha said...

Well at least you will feel at home in my home when you come to visit.