What a Change

Today it is hot. Really, I just checked and the temp is 90F right now. So that really bothers the fibro, but, not so bad today as it could be.

Got a lot done. Got my standard routines, got all laundry done and put away - 4 loads.

Got a lot of school done with The Wild Child and still helped her make a batch of cupcakes. Her Brownie troop has its end of year BBQ and awards night Friday and we all have to bring something. She is bringing cupcakes. She made white cupcakes with fudge icing today and is saving one dozen and then tomorrow making chocolate with vanilla icing to have a dozen. So we also have lots of cupcakes for snacks.

Not sure what dinner is. Think it will be grilled pork chops. It is just too hot to think of anything that requires inside heat. Although, we made cupcakes, and actually that is probably why I feel like outside now. Just have to think of a side and make a salad.

In the first chapter of The I Hate to Housekeep Book, Peg tells us there are five important things to keep in mind.

1. Don't cover things up unless it is absolutely necessary. It just means you''ll have two things to take care of and keep clean instead of one.

2. Keep the pots and pans you cook in out of sight, in the cupboards or drawers.

3. Each tie you give the hosue a good going-over, start with a different room.

4. Establish a clutter depot.

5. Act immediately on whatever housewifely impulses come your way.

Words to live by, my friends.

Peg then goes on to mention what I really feel is the most important thing about homemaking. Know the answer to this question - "Who, or whom, are you keeping house for?"

"Certainly not for your friends and neighbors. If their windows are shinier than yours are, it will make them feel all warm inside, and they'll like you for it. You never heard a woman say "I simply adore Marcia, she's the most marvelous housekeeper.

Certainly not for your children. You don't keep house for them, but in spite of them.

No, what you keep house for is for you and your husband, but, mainly for you. Because if things get oo cluttered you won't be able to think straight and you never will get to record twoin your Conversatiolnal French course."
(uh, it is from 1958, remember?)

Peg goes on to add:

"Husbands with few grim exceptions, don't care much. They want a modest modicum of order, tha's all. They'd rather not see how it got there either, and they hate the whine of a vacuum cleaner only slightly less than the wail of a policeman's siren hard behind.

This modest modicum, then, is the thing to keep in mind. And don't let it be upgraded too far by other housekeepers. Remember, women have a tendency to grow neater as they grow older anyway. In spite of yourself, you can turn inot a compulsive picture-straightener, shade-twitcher and ashtray-emptier, which is a straight shoot to a terribly nervous old age."

Okay, I don't know about all of that about becoming neater as I grow older. Maybe I care more. I suppose that is it.

What I really agree most about is the modest modicum of order. That is what I strive for. The other part, about husbands (most of them) only wanting that is, in my opinion, pretty accurate. I know I was smart enough in my single days to run from a couple neat freaks I encountered. Great guys, but, I know there was no hope of a happy future. Not that I am now, nor have I ever been a slop or lived in squalor, but, I could tell pretty quick that my standards and theirs wouldn't be the same. I like things good enough to allow the rest of life to happen with ease. I strive for that. And luckily, I did find a man who's happy with that!