Where's Mr. Clean when you need him?

Coming home to a clean, fresh smelling, well organized apartment is my definition of a wet dream. A cat hair free oasis. A haven of dustlessness. A sanctuary smelling of clean linens.

Yes, just such a place does excite me.

MY apartment however is where that dream went to die. FYI, dead dreams smell a lot like cat crap and sweaty Kid with just a hint of garbage and a soupcon of last night's dinner.

Even with a small apartment, I find it difficult to keep up with the list of things that need doing never mind the other list of things I would like to get done but only if I have the time. The first list contains the 20 or so daily things that all of us do, from washing the dishes to scrubbing the toilet to vacuuming the carpet. Yes I do vacuum everyday. I have to with 3 cats. Then the second list, which is forever expanding and increasingly difficult to eradicate, consists of items like stripping the wax off the floors, wiping down the walls and ceiling and organizing the cabinet under the bathroom sink. That in itself is a damn scary task. It's the 'Junk Drawer' of the bathroom. A virtual Bermuda Triangle of the home but nothing actually disappears there.

So here you are busting your hump always taking care of stuff from List #1 and taking care of any number of other responsibilities that you may also have like:
*kids  *spouse  *work  *blog  *friends  *pets  *illness  *family illness  *school  *volunteering  *leisure

All those things are a part of what makes your life...well...your life, right? If you didn't have them you'd be a loser or really bored or maybe the happiest person on earth. (Depending on perspective, I guess. It's all relative after all.) But are you willing to give any of that up in order to complete List #2? If anything, you'd probably give up doing List #1 (I know I would.) but then your home would look like crap. Maybe some of you don't care if the home maintenance gets put on the back burner for a bit. Really when does the overwhelming pressure of The List become too much? Do we need to suck it up and get back to work, put our noses to the grindstone because this is life, it's dirty and it has to be cleaned up? Or can we allow ourselves some slack? Just a little mind you. Just enough to make us feel like we're not slaves in our own homes. Or have we earned the right to say screw this and let the chips fall where they may?

Now hold on a minute. Before you answer, let's have a look at what happens when the chips fall...

Screw slack. I'll waste my time cleaning thanks.