Lowering your standards

Scully on the couch… using a quilt to clean her paws!

I am not what you’d call a housekeeping fanatic… I’m more of a housekeeping moderate. I can live in a certain amount of chaos, I can have numerous stacks spewed around, and I’m not opposed to leaving the kids latest building project in the middle of the floor. BUT, my house needs to be clean. "Messy on clean", yeah, I guess that best describes me.

However, come the spring, when we are in and out of the gardens all the time, I must admit, I need to lower my standards of "clean" or I would go crazy! I’ve long since given up trying to get Tim to take off his shoes or to brush off before he comes in. And, who am I to complain? He works for smiles, something I can actually afford to pay! And the fact that we have 3 dogs, one of which has a hard time understanding the word "path" and leaves muddy paw prints hither and yon! (Not to mention sleeps on the couch, and my all time favorite, rolls on our bed!)

So, I have 2 choices, well I suppose 3. First, stop gardening. Okay, THAT’S ridiculous. Second, spend the better part of my day trying to maintain clean, OR, and you guessed it, my choice, go play in the gardens, with family, friends and dogs, and wait to mid summer, when what I think of as "dirty gardening" is winding down, to hose down the house, and reestablish my "messy clean".  

1] Kitchen counter with seedlings.

2] Dining room table doubling as a potting table.

3] Suspicious paw prints on a just cleaned floor.

4] My gardening shoes, which should remain in the garage BUT I hate checking for critters every time I put them on so they’re by the back door!

HEAVY SIGH!!!