Biohazard

I admit it. I am not a good housekeeper. It takes every ounce of intestinal fortitude I have to clean things up and keep them orderly. It's a glitch in my brain, I think, because any halfwit is capable of cleaning a house. For me, it is an arduous undertaking and I become very overwhelmed and don't know where to begin. Heart palpitations ensue.

This is a lifelong problem. As a child, I was forever being kept in at recess to clean out my desk. I believe I have some form of ADD (or possibly schizophrenia) that keeps me from being able to keep up with the clutter. I would not consider myself to be a lazy person - but you'd never know it if you saw the state of things. There's no dirt, mind you, as I cannot abide a dirty bathroom or sticky floor. But the clutter may overtake us all, and it does not help that we live in an 1885 Victorian devoid of closet space. Our house was built at a time when people had 2 outfits and one wooden toy, so there was no need for them.

Homeschooling does not help, either. Not only does it require copious books and art supplies, but my children aren't away all day - they are home messing things up! Today I reached the breaking point. I sent the kids outside and furtively cleaned up their art corner, throwing away certain masterpieces with abandon before they re-entered the house and claimed them all as favorites.

I tossed out broken crayons, dried markers, approximately 7500 pieces of paper that were drawn upon, superhero masks, a cardboard castle and some unidentifiable thing that I believe may have been alive at some point before it got caught in a glob of glue. It is disgraceful.

Below is photographic evidence of the kids helping, in their rubber biohazard gloves (yes, I have these on hand for dangerous science experiments). Note the helter-skelter way the books are arranged on the shelf. I wonder what a psychotherapist would say about that? The lone glove on the floor is further evidence that their task was abandoned along with my hope of an ordered home. Is there any chance that the messy gene will skip a generation? Lordy, I hope so...