Sunday, January 14, 2007

Cleanliness

I am on the library rotation at my church. I was doing my hitch behind the circulation desk this morning and I had one patron in there with me. She was looking for her books, mumbling and muttering the whole time. I wasn't really paying attention to what she was saying. She got her books and came to the desk to check them out, still mumbling. All of the sudden, out of the blue, she looked straight at me and said, "I'll bet your house is spotless." I had to laugh at that. While I to try to maintain a semblance of order, my house is far from spotless--especially with a teenage boy, a dog, and a yard full of mud from all the rain we've had lately.

On FOX network, they have this show called "Trading Spouses." Two families trade wives for a week. (No hanky panky--the wife must have her own room.) On this latest episode, when the new wife walked in to the house, you could see the shock, horror, and disbelief on her face. This house looked like it hadn't been cleaned--ever. There was filth everywhere. Dirt and grime covered just about every surface of the house. Dead bugs and mice littered the window sills, cabinets, and floors. Live bugs crawled around in plain sight. Food was left out, rotting and covered in flies. Poop of unknown origin was scattered across the floor. It was digusting.

Needless to say, that wife spent her week making the husband and kids clean that house from top to bottom. I'll bet it doesn't stay that way, though.

My house may be cluttered, but at least it isn't nasty.
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4 comments:

Buck said...

"Cleanliness is next to Godliness."

One tends to view life through filters of our own making. One of my filters is neatness, orderliness, and cleanliness. I'm always shocked when I encounter an ill-kept space, be it a home, a business, or a bar (even). Even though I AM male, my standards are pretty danged high. It's the former-military in me, I'm sure.

Becky G said...

That's funny, because the wife who went to that house is a former active duty Marine. What gets me, though, is at the end of the show, the two wives meet each other and tell each other what they think of the other ones family. The wife who lived in squalor made the excuse that she worked full time and just couldn't keep up. Well, her husband is self employed, working out of the home. Plus they have two kids. She needs to learn to delegate.

You'll never guess what the husband's business is...go on, guess.

Alright, I'll tell you. He is a BAKER!!!!! I sure as heck wouldn't want to eat anything cooked in a kitchen that nasty. It turned my stomach just looking at it.

Buck said...

I'll bet the baker's career took a nose-dive after that show aired. NO one likes to eat anything cooked in an unsanitary space.

Was it the clean Mom or the slovenly one who was a former Marine? I really don't need to ask, right?

Becky G said...

I wonder that it didn't get shut down by the health department.

You are right, you don't need to ask. I'm sure you guessed correctly that it was the former Marine.

When I was in school on an army post in Georgia, the army guys used to joke about whether something was clean or Navy clean. However, they were the ones who would sweep the dirt off of the sidewalk into the dustpan and carry it inside to put it into the trash. I asked one guy why they didn't just sweep the dirt into the dirt and he replied that it might have lint in it.