Either You've Got It Or You Don't

Lillian as a young woman

I've been cleaning house today.  I like it when things are neat and tidy but honestly, I think you are either born with the neat gene or not.  I think I missed the genetic boat on that one try as I might.  I can clean with the best of them (when I get around to it) after all, I had a grandmother who cleaned for sport.  Sport you might ask?  Yes she actually was one of those people who loved to clean.  So when my house gets (ahem) a wee bit out of control, I swear that she shows up, clucking her tongue and chastising me for being so slovenly.  This coming from a woman who actually turned the easy chairs upside down to scrub the springs under the seat and had (lovingly) scrubbed all the gold off of our prized set of World Book Encyclopedias.  I wish I actually cared that much but honestly I don't.  There are too many wonderful projects to work on and chores (besides cleaning) to be done so I clean when I really need to but I never was good at keeping on it all the time.

"Tiger Lill" - The Queen of Clean

Now, my mother couldn't do it either when we were kids although she talked about how clean her mother's house always was and how her job on Saturday mornings was to pull up miles of carpet tacks, take the rugs out, hang them on the line and beat the dust out of them.  I guess she thought that that should inspire me not to complain while dragging an upright vacuum around.  She finally got a handle on her own house after she retired, moved, and gave all of her stuff to Me.  I am still moving a lot of that stuff around because they are family heirlooms and I do cherish them but I'm beginning to think about sending some of it down the path to my kids....