Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Funk

I do believe February has caught up with me. Maybe I'm not in a full-on funk, but I am feeling frustrated...

I'd like to spend the day sewing and knitting, but Rob's sisters and one of his cousins are coming out on Sunday, so I need to begin making the house company-ready. Unfortunately for me, that phrase means different things to me and Rob. For Rob, it means the house must look like the freakin' Waldorf-Astoria. And I hate when he cleans. Have I mentioned that before? Well, I can't stand it. I'm not sure if it's because I feel like I'm being judged--like I don't keep a clean enough house--but I'm about ready to let go of that. I think it's partly his competitive nature--he's the oldest, so he should have the nicest (and hence cleanest?) house. Let's not delve any further into the psychology here.

Mostly I hate when he cleans because he doesn't do it the way I do it. You know what I mean, right? When I clean the bathroom, I use any old used washcloth lying around, and when I'm done, I toss it in the washing machine. I can't tell you how many paper towels were harmed during his last cleaning frenzy. He's all about chemicals! It makes me crazy. This is why, after my second cup of coffee, I'm going to get started. If I can clean for an hour or so each day, I should have it done by Sunday--or done enough that all we'll have to do on Sunday is repair the damage the kids will have inflicted on Saturday!

And this cleaning plan should give me time to do a little more sewing. I do have to make a birthday present by Saturday--for a five year old boy. Not easy to figure what home-made thing a boy is going to like (since my five year old boy thinks most of what I make is stupid).

The purpose for Sunday's visit is a triple birthday celebration (one belated, two early). That will give me an excuse to hang this: our new family birthday banner!
This is also from Stitched in Time, and it was much more fun to make than the heart garlands. I tell you, having to sew, stuff, and embroider around those hearts just about put me over the edge! But this was a fairly quick project. It's all machine-stitched, and the most difficult part was choosing the fabrics.
Caitlin's birthday party is in a couple of weeks, and I can tell you this place is going to be fairy central! I'm still waiting on a delivery from Oriental Trading, and then I'm going to be painting fairy wings and sewing fairy skirts into the wee hours. I guess it's a good thing I have to clean the house this week, because there is so much crafting to be done between now and April first, I'm not going to have time to clean later.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

My husband just doesn't clean! I'm over it too :) Hope you have a good week getting stuff together - the fairy party sounds like a ton of fun!

Journeying Five said...

what absolutely amazed me was when my husband's family came for Christmas 2007...he was ripping apart and cleaning parts of the house i didn't think he knew existed! sigh! i tried not to complain and remember that he was cleaning!

Unknown said...

My husband is a speed cleaner and misses key spots often. I am a perfectionist and either clean for hours, needlessly, or give up in the sheer frustration of feeling overwhelmed. I hate housework soooooo much. It's a major life force-sucker! Good luck my dear!

Amy said...

a clean house? what's that?!
Oh you should have my inlaws! my mil is ocd and windexes cangoods before opening them. she uses a roll of paper towels a day. she wont go into restaurants. and when she rarely goes shopping (usually just grocery) she holds her breath when she passes people because they might not be clean! Now I tell you- invite someone like that to your house!!!! Simply put- I DONT ANYMORE. She is too weird for my blood!
Steve doesn't clean the way I do either and it bugs the crap out of me as well!

Anonymous said...

It's a bit too late, but one of Raike's favorite birthday presents was a tee shirt that read "don't read this."

His friend came up with the phrase, and his mom used dark tee shirt transfers to make them each a shirt. They were 11 back then, but I think it would transcend all time. ; )