This meme comes via the RevGalBlogPals.
List five chores you do unwillingly, resentfully, or half-heartedly:
1. Emptying the cat litter boxes.
2. Cleaning up after the cats when they pee in strange places.
3. Grocery shopping. Any kind of shopping.
4. Cleaning the bathroom. Cleaning the kitchen. Any kind of cleaning.
5. Grading papers.
Is there anyone who likes doing those things? Is there anyone out there who says, "Hurray! The cat peed in the corner of the living room AGAIN and I can’t wait to wholeheartedly clean it up!" Yeah, right. I would have added laundry to the list too, except I haven’t done any laundry in years because Spouse has always done the laundry. But when I do have occasion to do laundry, often because someone is vomiting during the night, you can bet I do it unwillingly.
I can't stand any chore that has to be done every day. No matter how often the dishes are washed at my house, there are always dirty dishes on the counter because at any given time, you can find at least three people eating something somewhere in the house. As I type this, for instance, Shaggy Hair is sitting in the comfy chair with a book and a glass of juice. Boy in Black just disappeared upstairs with a glass of chocolate milk and a plate with a sandwich on it. With-a-Why and Neighbor Girl had a snack earlier and left the plates and cups on the counter. And I have a cup of herbal tea on the window sill behind me.
I am a binge cleaner. I like projects like cleaning out a closet or painting a room or organizing a cabinet. That way, when I am done, things look different. And I feel a sense of accomplishment. But really, what is the point of doing dishes if they are just going to get dirty again?
Chores I don’t mind doing:
1. Mowing the lawn. Any kind of yard work.
2. Gardening. Hauling mulch from the DPW. Turning over the gardens in the spring. Planting seeds or plants. Weeding. Picking vegetables.
3. Shoveling snow. Especially in the evening when the stars and moon are out, and the house with looks so cosy with light spilling from the windows.
4. Building a fire. Splitting wood. Stacking wood.
5. Packing for a camping trip.
These are the chores I do willingly. And everything else – well, mostly nowadays, I delegate them. That's one of the benefits of having a houseful of teenagers.
9 comments:
I really don't mind doing the grocery shopping as a general rule. There are days, I guess, but as a general rule I don't mind it. And cleaning bathrooms is not exactly something I would do as recreation, but on the list of cleaning activities, it is not high on my distasteful list. I'll clean the bathroom over cleaning up after the cats any day. Then again, we've got a diabetic cat who produces gallons of urine, so cleaning up after them is a major, and oft-repeated chore.
I used to like grocery shopping when my kids were little because they would help me pick out stuff and they would keep me company. They were fun to shop with. But now that I've got teenagers, I usually end up going alone -- and the amount of food that I have to buy for this household is ridiculous. It's very hard to fit everything into one cart.
I like grocery shopping, but I really hate putting everything away in the cupboards afterwards. I don't think there's any other chore I remotely enjoy.
Cleaning up after cats is definitely the pits. That gets my vote for sure. We have gallons and gallons of vinegar around the house b/c one of our cats periodically gets into pee-fests and it's just a drag. Made all the more so by Politica's allergies, which means I'm usually the one who has to go crawling around trying to find the place where smells are emanating in the basement. Yuck.
I hate doing dishes, even though it is just rinsing and putting them in the dishwasher. I also hate folding clothes. I guess I hate the bathrooms too. REally, I hate all forms of house work. I do, I really do. I don't mind sorting, like mail, or books, or socks. That isn't bad, those are mindless and easy tasks, and I can think about other things while I am doing them. I hated cleaning the cat pee, but I so miss Bootsie. I'd take the cat pee back anyday to have him here too. Well, if he were still alive, I'd want him to not have a kidney problem and then the cat pee wouldn't be a problem. Oh well, I just need a maid, really, I need a housewife from the past, like from around the 50's. Yep, one that does everything while wearing a full skirt and pearls. Mr. Zelda and I both would enjoy that, not in a perverted way, but a look here's Beaver's mom kind of way.
There are days when I wonder if jo(e) is really me blogging in blackout, she so accurately describes the inside of my head. Then I read other posts and know that's not true. But I could have written this one.
About the cat pee...I will have to report back on my first person experiences with this since I don't have any yet, but my bloggy pal Waveflux recently wrote about a product sold by PetSmart called Nature's Miracle. Here's a link to his post: http://www.waveflux.net/archives/002086.php
The stuff doesn't stop the cats from peeing in inappropriate places, but it does apparently deal with the aftereffects.
Hey, if Waveflux says it works, good enough for me. And that reminds me that a trip to PetSmart is on my to-do list for this weekend.
I don't mind dishes, and most of the time I don't mind laundry, but most other domestic tasks I'd just as soon avoid. I used to enjoy cooking but I lost my motivation for that a few years back, and I'm slow to recover it. And shopping--gack, and cleaning--GACK! But I do it because it's just me and the Kid and who else is gonna if I don't?
Oh well, I just need a maid, really, I need a housewife from the past, like from around the 50's.
I've been looking for a combination nanny/IT specialist, someone who can watch my kids and get the new internet connection to work right.
I hate cleaning up after the cats and dog. We share this delightful task at our house.
I don't make the bed for the same reason you don't like to do dishes. I just can't see the point when we will get back in the bed.
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