Tuesday, October 30, 2007

It's A Jungle In Here


When you live in your own house, you get used to your surroundings. Some things - like dust - you just don't see anymore until it reaches that level where it refuses to be ignored and then you take action.

Since cutting back on my work schedule a few years ago, I find that I tolerate more clutter and dust than I ever thought I would.
I used to be a "a place for everything and everything in its place" kind of person. Even when the kids were little, our house was pretty neat and clean and as the kids got older, they were employed to help keep it that way. For some strange reason, Jenna took a liking to cleaning of all types, actually making it her hobby. She did laundry, dishes, and kept the house clean.

I got spoiled.

Then the day came when both girls were gone to college and off on their own. Now it was up to me. Romie has always been my equal when it comes to household chores (he dusts, vacuums, does dishes and laundry), so it wasn't all up to me, but with me not working much anymore, I felt like the bulk of the responsibility was mine. And while I still want my house to be organized and clean, the fact of the matter is, it isn't.

There are probably several reasons for this:

  • I'm The Queen of Procrastination.
  • I'm overwhelmed by all there is to do and don't know where to start, so I don't.
  • I have a really hard time making decisions, so some things don't get discarded because I can't decide if I should keep it or not (I might need it later!) and if I keep it, where's the best place for it?
  • I don't have the energy to do all I need to do in the garden and the house at the same time, so it's one or the other and gardening is more fun. I only dream of the day when I can do both simultaneously.
  • I have developed selective vision. You've heard of selective hearing? It works with eyes, too. Look at something long enough and after awhile you don't see it anymore. Nope, can't see the praying mantis molt laying on the desk . . .

There are a couple of other reasons too, but I'm not willing to admit those yet. But I have decided there's nothing that makes you more aware of how your house really looks than to have another person set foot in it.


Sunday night, we went to Van Wert and got Grandma and brought her out to the house to spend the night. There's something about walking into your house with another person behind you that all of a sudden makes you see things through their eyes. How does that
happen?

This time, all the plants that we had to bring in for the winter just jumped out at me. I counted them last year and it was some ridiculously high number, but there are even more this year. Mom had a few she was going to throw out and I couldn't bear for her to do that with perfectly good plants, so of course I took them in. Cats. Plants. They're all the same to me. And then there are all those brugmansias, God help me.

Even with our "greenhouse in the basement" it's a jungle in here. The air quality is undoubtedly fabulous, what with all that conversion of carbon dioxide to oxygen going on. You'd think that would boost my energy level, wouldn't you? I haven't noticed it.

The cats seem to like all the greenery around, with Simon munching down on anything that even remotely resembles grass and Baby hiding under the larger plants when one of the other cats sneaks into the house.

There will be a natural attrition over the winter, but for the most part we live in a botanical conservatory. It's not so bad, in fact, Romie likes it and so do I, but visiting friends and relatives are somewhat shocked as they walk into it. That's okay. It's our house and it's only five months till spring and everything will begin to go back outside.

Maybe I should start conducting tours and charging for admission to our indoor gardens. Maybe we could make enough to hire a cleaning lady.



12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wish I could have all sorts of plants in my dorm room, but I don't think I have enough light. :-( You're lucky!

Unknown said...

Darn it, Kylee... you just made me turn around and take a fresh look at the dining room behind me. A huge jade plant on a high stand, a trashpicked coffee table converted to a plant stand with a few begonias, plectranthus, cactus, rubber plant, crown of thorns... and then some potted licorice plant and coleus stuffed underneath. A bucket of bulbs on the dining room table... sedums and wandering jew rooting in the middle of the table...

I'm not ready for tours yet, but I definitely have the selective vision down. lol. Most of this stuff I haven't "noticed" since I brought it inside!

Anonymous said...

I had to smile when reading your post, Kylee! Did you write about "my" jungle??!! It seems so!
Barbara

Lisa at Greenbow said...

I think we just don't care so much about dust or as we get older. Life it too short ot worry about it.

I definitely like the tours for cleaning lady angle. Haven't tried that one yet. tee hee...

Priscilla George said...

I have the same feeling when people come to my apartment. When no one is there but me and hubby I feel like it is in okay condition. The moment someone calls to come over I go into speed demon clean mode because I feel everything is dirty. I wish I had that many plants indoors. I only have a handful. I'd pay admission to come to your indoor garden! Ha.

Muum said...

I am still contemplating where to put my tender treasures, what do you do to clean /de bug them before you bring them in?

Robin's Nesting Place said...

I know what you mean about selective vision. I have three neighbor families coming over Saturday and I'm getting in a panic mode. I love plants inside, I just get tired of watering everything after a while.

Unknown said...

Jungle is good. Jungle is healthy. We do jungle here too...then I can claim that the hairballs that free-range past us are wild creatures that belong in the jungle, of course. :-)
Procrastinators, unite--of course, we'd never get around to having a meeting....

Cindy Garber Iverson said...

Your post reminded me of the Martha Stewart quote that went something like...

If you leave a gym sock on the fireplace mantle long enough, it eventually becomes part of the room decor.

I like how you've just given yourself permission to have things the way they are because it's your house! So cool!

Cindy at Rosehaven Cottage

Yolanda Elizabet Heuzen said...

Kylee, my dear, I wouldn't want to change a thing about your house. All that greenery looks just absolutely right to me. If anything you should have more instead of less. ;-)

Conducted tours to fund a cleaning lady or gent sound good to me. ;-)

min hus said...

Can I still be a real gardener if I only have three plants inside? :) I'd probably have more if my cats didn't eat them, turn them over, dig in them, etc. There's only so many cat proof places for plants, ya know?

Merisi said...

*smile*
You were kidding, right? Or did you make the photos after cleaning up? It looks so clean and orderly, I am getting doubts about my view of things. :-)

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