Tuesday, July 19, 2005

I've got a bad case of the Tuesday afternoon bluuues

It has been a surprisingly productive day. The week's work is moving forward, with some interesting twists and turns.

And I've gotten a few domestic chores done that have been hanging over my head for far, far too long. I may be pulling myself up out of the pit of slobdom, slowly but surely. The surprising incentive was one of the morning court shows (Judge Joe Brown? Judge Mathis? one of those.) Anyway, a 22-year-old man was the defendant, being sued by his parents for "destroying his room."

The kid was an absolute slob who refused to clean his room. He never threw away his trash (mostly drink cups from fast-food places and various food wrappers); he burned cigarette holes in the carpet; he never did his laundry, not even bothering to put it in a hamper or basket. A. Real. Pit.

The verdict: $500 to the parents for the carpet, plus an order from the judge to say "I am pitiful." (I love the way TV judges can humiliate ne'er-do-wells.)

OK. I didn't want to wind up on this show having to declare myself pitiful. I looked around and realized that I was veering too close to this same sort of slobdom. (This is VERY painful to admit publicly!!)

So, in between phone calls and other work tasks, I've been doing the laundry hokey-pokey, flip-flopping several loads; the dishwasher has been swishing away as well. The trash was taken out this morning and hauled off by the garbage truck.

This kid's face keeps haunting me. I don't want to be a slob any more. I want to get back to the days when I would Windex my desk top before leaving the office on Fridays. Not that I've ever been a Martha-Stewart type housekeeper, but I do like a tidy work area. Working from home just increases the work space and means there's more work area to keep clean!

The work day is supposed to be over now for most normal people; I may get some callbacks this evening from people who weren't able to talk during the day. That's fine by me since I work from home. But I need to keep moving and reclaim my turf from Slob-Me (who is a cousin of Mini-Me, I believe.) I'm grounded!!

(Who said confession is good for the soul?)

3 comments:

Erudite Redneck said...

Can people sue themselves? Ahem.
Would a NASCAR tire in the livin' room be a mitigating factor?

Trixie said...

Hmm, it could be a case of eminent domain, E.R., or more likely a violation of health and safety codes here at my house. I'm not sure what the ruling would be on the NASCAR tire!

I'm also trying to figure out where I'm going to put the one-man cross-cut saw that currently is in the back seat of my car.

SBB said...

Could you mount the saw on a wall? I've seen saws used as decoration before.

Clutter sneaks up on us. I find I have to spend about an hour a day to keep mine within manageable limits. One task I really dislike is dusting. And making my bed. But it's nice to pull those covers down when you get in at night so I make it anyway. Besides it impresses people to see a neatly made bed.