Blooie, I'd surely kick you out, but you know I love you too much for that. Instead, I'll have you lead the OCD crew at my house on Thursdays.. Um, I'm one of those ladies who can't sleep if there are any dirty dishes in the sink. Even with my nightly Ambien, stuff like that makes me fret. I clean up and wash things as I cook and/or prep so I cut down on what I have to do after we eat. I'm also a get-out-of-bed-turn-around-and-get-it-made kind of person. I have floors done either last thing at night or early in the morning because I have Kendra there and crawling is her main means of "transportation". I can't handle cluttered countertops either. To me it's so automatic that I never really think about it. Now, toilets and dusting are two entirely different things - hate them both and if I could get by with never doing them I'd be happy! Um, do I have to give up my membership now?
You got me guffawing over that one! You and I would make a nice pair, but, I fear we'd never find each other!
Yep, that's our Blooie!!!
I've not seen a cleaning elf here in probably 8 years. I hate it all. I'll go out and play in the dirt, and let the rest of you have the house. I'll start all of your tomato and pepper seedlings.It's too bad we don't all live close to each other. We could form a cleaning co-op. I like doing laundry but not mopping floors so one day a week I could do someone's laundry in exchange for them mopping my floor.
Because Rachel's right, those darned elves just aren't reliable!
I got kind of a chuckle out of Katie a couple of weeks ago. We started this thing where once a week she comes over for "cooking lessons", as she calls it. Her mom is kinda funny - won't let Katie use a knife or the stove or anything like that. But Katie loves to do it, and I don't mind showing her. I think Jenny's concern is trying to keep an eye on Katie in the kitchen and not lose track of Kendra at the same time, and Jenny won't do a dish for days, until she has none left to use.
Anyway, we were making wedge potatoes, pork chops, corn and something else (can't remember) and told her get get everything out that she'd need for the potatoes first because they took the longest to cook.... I had her get out the seasonings, the olive oil, prep her baking pan and get the big bowl, the wooden spoon, the cutting board and the knife before she got started. Then I told her, "As you use each thing, take a second or two to put it away." So she cut up her wedges and put them in her big bowl, then put the knife and the cutting board in the sink. She drizzled the potatoes with the olive oil then put that away. She followed carefully with her seasonings, gave everything a good stir, and back in the cabinet they went, with the spoon joining the cutting board and knife in the sink. "Now, Katie, you KNOW that you have everything in there because none of it is still sitting out. And what's left on the counter?" She looked around and said, "Just my bowl full of potatoes and my baking pan."
After her potatoes were in the oven, we did the same thing with everything else she had to make. It all went like clockwork again and while her chops were cooking I had her put warm water and soap in the big bowl and wash it and the other things then wipe down the counter. Done and done, all before the timer went off! She looked at me and said, "Gee, Gramma, cooking here isn't messy at all! At home Mom usually has to shove stuff out of the way and wash pans or spoons before she even starts."
So a couple of weeks later she was here and she made spaghetti, garlic bread, and salad. She got pretty nervous draining the pasta but all in all she did a great job, and cleaned up as she went without me even reminding her. She was setting the table with me and she suddenly asked, "So am I unusual?" Huh? How so? "Well, I'm only 11 but I can cook without making a mess. I thought that was something only really old people did." Yeah, that's it, Katie.....I'm really old and you're unusual!
